www.business-standard.com
10 Jul 2013
A UAE-based university has claimed that its researchers have fabricated the very first polymer based organic solar cell, marking a technological breakthrough for the oil-rich country in the clean energy sector.
Mejd Alsari, a UAE national student, and Samuele Lilliu, a post-doctoral fellow working at the Nano-Optics and Optoelectronics Research (NOOR) Laboratory have fabricated the first polymer-based organic photovoltaic solar cell (OPV), which can also be conveniently printed on flexible substrates, Masdar Institute of Science and Technology said in a statement.
This has been achieved using Masdar Institute's cleanroom facilities internally without any assistance from external fabrication facilities or expertise, the institute said.
"The OPVs with advanced aesthetic characteristics such as colours and design will be developed with inkjet-printing deposition techniques. These prototypes could be highly interesting for Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) applications and designers globally and in the region. ]
Further to the OPVs research, large area organic photo-detectors based on the same technology, with potential applications in the medical, security and entertainment industry could also be prepared", it said. These are also the very first solar cells fabricated at the Masdar Institute cleanroom. A start-up venture based in Masdar City to transfer prototypes into final products may also be set up at a later stage, it added.
"The outstanding feat of our researchers and faculty consolidates the status of Masdar Institute as a research-driven institution, continuously striving to contribute to the Abu Dhabi's long-term objectives in advanced technology", Fred Moavenzadeh, President, Masdar Institute, said.
The first bulk-heterojunction OPV solar cells fabricated at Masdar Institute are part of a new major research project on organic photo-detectors undertaken by Dr. Lilliu and Dr. Dahlem from the NOOR Laboratory.
Established as an on-going collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US, Masdar Institute integrates theory and practice to incubate a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship, working to develop the critical thinkers and leaders of tomorrow.
Showing posts with label Polymer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Polymer. Show all posts
Thursday, 12 September 2013
Saturday, 27 July 2013
New Design for solar panels that can simultaneously generate and store energy
www.azonano.com
18 Jul 2013
The potential energy available via solar power might seem limitless on a sunny summer day, but all that energy has to be stored for it to be truly useful. If you see a solar panel on a rooftop, in a large-scale array, or even on a parking meter, a bulky battery or supercapacitor is hidden just out of sight, receiving energy from the panel through power lines.
However, that's a storage method that doesn't scale well for solar-powered devices with no space for a battery pack. In a quest for a smaller, more self-sustaining solar power source, a UW-Madison electrical engineer has proposed a design for solar panels that can simultaneously generate power from sunlight and store power reserves for later, all within a single device.
Hongrui Jiang and his students developed the idea, published in the journal Advanced Materials June 6. Jiang is the Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor of electrical and computer engineering at UW-Madison and specializes in microscale devices. He and his students developed the technology as an offshoot of a National Institutes of Health grant to design a self-focusing contact lens that adapts to the eyes of adults suffering from presbyopia, a natural aging process that stiffens the lens and reduces the eye's ability to focus, especially at short distances.
To power that contact lens, Jiang and his team have worked out a design that balances energy harvesting, storage and usage. "We needed a multi-functional and small-form-factor device in order to integrate it all into a single contact lens structure", says Jiang.
The top layer of each photovoltaic cell is a conventional photo electrode, converting sunlight into electrons. During that conversion process, the electrons split off into two directions: most electrons flow out of the device to support a power load, while some are directed to a polyvinylidene fluoride polymer (PVDF) coated on zinc oxide nanowires. The PVDF has the high dielectric constant required to serve as an energy storage solution. "When there's no sunlight, the stored power will come back through the nano wires to power the load".
Read more
18 Jul 2013
The potential energy available via solar power might seem limitless on a sunny summer day, but all that energy has to be stored for it to be truly useful. If you see a solar panel on a rooftop, in a large-scale array, or even on a parking meter, a bulky battery or supercapacitor is hidden just out of sight, receiving energy from the panel through power lines.However, that's a storage method that doesn't scale well for solar-powered devices with no space for a battery pack. In a quest for a smaller, more self-sustaining solar power source, a UW-Madison electrical engineer has proposed a design for solar panels that can simultaneously generate power from sunlight and store power reserves for later, all within a single device.
Hongrui Jiang and his students developed the idea, published in the journal Advanced Materials June 6. Jiang is the Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor of electrical and computer engineering at UW-Madison and specializes in microscale devices. He and his students developed the technology as an offshoot of a National Institutes of Health grant to design a self-focusing contact lens that adapts to the eyes of adults suffering from presbyopia, a natural aging process that stiffens the lens and reduces the eye's ability to focus, especially at short distances.
To power that contact lens, Jiang and his team have worked out a design that balances energy harvesting, storage and usage. "We needed a multi-functional and small-form-factor device in order to integrate it all into a single contact lens structure", says Jiang.
The top layer of each photovoltaic cell is a conventional photo electrode, converting sunlight into electrons. During that conversion process, the electrons split off into two directions: most electrons flow out of the device to support a power load, while some are directed to a polyvinylidene fluoride polymer (PVDF) coated on zinc oxide nanowires. The PVDF has the high dielectric constant required to serve as an energy storage solution. "When there's no sunlight, the stored power will come back through the nano wires to power the load".
Read more
Thursday, 11 July 2013
Organic polymers show sunny potential
phys.org
29 May 2013
(Phys.org)--A new version of solar cells created by laboratories at Rice and Pennsylvania State universities could open the door to research on a new class of solar power devices.
The photovoltaic devices created in a project led by Rice chemical engineer Rafael Verduzco and Penn State chemical engineer Enrique Gomez are based on block copolymers, self-assembling organic materials that arrange themselves into distinct layers. They easily outperform other cells with polymer compounds as active elements. The discovery is detailed online in the American Chemical Society journal Nano Letters.
While commercial, silicon-based solar cells turn about 20% of sunlight into electricity and experimental units top 25%, there's been an undercurrent of research into polymer-based cells that could greatly reduce the cost of solar power, Verduzco said. The Rice/Penn State cells reach about 3% efficiency, but that's surprisingly better than other labs have achieved using polymer compounds.
"You need two components in a solar cell: one to carry (negative) electrons, the other to carry positive charges", Verduzco said. The imbalance between the two prompted by the input of energy-sunlight-creates useful current.
Since the mid-1980s, researchers have experimented with stacking or mixing polymer components with limited success, Verduzco said. Later polymer/fullerene mixtures topped 10% efficiency, but the fullerenes-in this case, enhanced C-60 buckyballs-are difficult to work with, he said.
Read More…
29 May 2013
(Phys.org)--A new version of solar cells created by laboratories at Rice and Pennsylvania State universities could open the door to research on a new class of solar power devices.The photovoltaic devices created in a project led by Rice chemical engineer Rafael Verduzco and Penn State chemical engineer Enrique Gomez are based on block copolymers, self-assembling organic materials that arrange themselves into distinct layers. They easily outperform other cells with polymer compounds as active elements. The discovery is detailed online in the American Chemical Society journal Nano Letters.
While commercial, silicon-based solar cells turn about 20% of sunlight into electricity and experimental units top 25%, there's been an undercurrent of research into polymer-based cells that could greatly reduce the cost of solar power, Verduzco said. The Rice/Penn State cells reach about 3% efficiency, but that's surprisingly better than other labs have achieved using polymer compounds.
"You need two components in a solar cell: one to carry (negative) electrons, the other to carry positive charges", Verduzco said. The imbalance between the two prompted by the input of energy-sunlight-creates useful current.
Since the mid-1980s, researchers have experimented with stacking or mixing polymer components with limited success, Verduzco said. Later polymer/fullerene mixtures topped 10% efficiency, but the fullerenes-in this case, enhanced C-60 buckyballs-are difficult to work with, he said.
Read More…
Friday, 14 June 2013
Climbing robotic wind turbine inspector
www.engineering.com
28 Apr 2013
How do you inspect the outside of a wind turbine? Either stand on the ground and use a telescope, or set up some climbing gear and scale the tower. The first solution is imprecise and the second is expensive and dangerous. Both are time-consuming. Now there's a third option: the HR-MP20 Light Weight Magnetic Climbing Robot by Helical Robotics. This remote-controlled robot can scale a turbine tower while carrying up to 9kg (20 lbs) of inspection gear such as cameras and ultrasound. It clings to the tower using five neodymium magnets, the strongest type of permanent magnet available. A technician stands on the ground with a transmitter, directing the robotic inspector to various places on the turbine. (I know-technically that makes it a radio-controlled vehicle, not a robot. The company named it, I didn't.)
The HR-MP20 features a zero turning radius and it can climb at a rate of 20 meters per minute (65 ft/min) and descend at 27 m/min (90 ft/min). It uses a 15 Ah lithium-polymer battery pack for its drive motors, a 10Ah NiMH battery pack to power its payload, and a 4.5Ah NiMH battery for its radio. The radio operates in the 2.4GHz band with a range of 762 m (2500 ft). Its size and capacity can be custom-engineered according to client needs.
Inspecting the blades of a wind turbine requires that the blades be stopped. Using the telescope method, a technician stands away from the turbine and looks at the blades through a telescope. This process can take up to four hours per turbine. Climbing a turbine requires a lot of rope, a strong technician, and a hefty insurance premium. Robotic inspection is faster, safer, less expensive, and more reliable than the telescope or climbing methods. Less down-time translates into more energy production. The HR-MP20 has been proven to work in high winds (which you're likely to find on a wind farm, right?) and bad weather, both of which will delay manual inspections. Of course, you still need a technician to climb up the inside of the tower to perform maintenance on the internal gears, generator, and other moving parts. But the towers have ladders on the inside, and wind is not a factor inside the tower.
28 Apr 2013
How do you inspect the outside of a wind turbine? Either stand on the ground and use a telescope, or set up some climbing gear and scale the tower. The first solution is imprecise and the second is expensive and dangerous. Both are time-consuming. Now there's a third option: the HR-MP20 Light Weight Magnetic Climbing Robot by Helical Robotics. This remote-controlled robot can scale a turbine tower while carrying up to 9kg (20 lbs) of inspection gear such as cameras and ultrasound. It clings to the tower using five neodymium magnets, the strongest type of permanent magnet available. A technician stands on the ground with a transmitter, directing the robotic inspector to various places on the turbine. (I know-technically that makes it a radio-controlled vehicle, not a robot. The company named it, I didn't.)The HR-MP20 features a zero turning radius and it can climb at a rate of 20 meters per minute (65 ft/min) and descend at 27 m/min (90 ft/min). It uses a 15 Ah lithium-polymer battery pack for its drive motors, a 10Ah NiMH battery pack to power its payload, and a 4.5Ah NiMH battery for its radio. The radio operates in the 2.4GHz band with a range of 762 m (2500 ft). Its size and capacity can be custom-engineered according to client needs.
Inspecting the blades of a wind turbine requires that the blades be stopped. Using the telescope method, a technician stands away from the turbine and looks at the blades through a telescope. This process can take up to four hours per turbine. Climbing a turbine requires a lot of rope, a strong technician, and a hefty insurance premium. Robotic inspection is faster, safer, less expensive, and more reliable than the telescope or climbing methods. Less down-time translates into more energy production. The HR-MP20 has been proven to work in high winds (which you're likely to find on a wind farm, right?) and bad weather, both of which will delay manual inspections. Of course, you still need a technician to climb up the inside of the tower to perform maintenance on the internal gears, generator, and other moving parts. But the towers have ladders on the inside, and wind is not a factor inside the tower.
Saturday, 2 February 2013
New solar cells hit efficiency record
www.upi.com
21 Jan 2013
DUBENDORF, Switzerland, Jan. 21 (UPI)--Swiss researchers say they've developed thin, flexible solar cells with a record efficiency of 20.4% for converting sunlight into electricity. Scientists at the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology say the cells on flexible polymer foils offer a significant improvement over the previous record of 18.7%.
Such lightweight and flexible high-performance solar modules will offer an attractive technology for applications such as solar farms, roofs and facades of buildings, automobiles and portable electronics, the Swiss lab said in a release. They are also closing the efficiency gap with rigid, silicon wafer cells, the researchers said, and can be produced using a continuous roll manufacturing processes that should offer further cost reductions compared with standard silicon technologies.
The cells are based on CIGS semiconducting material (copper indium gallium (di)selenide.) "The series of record efficiencies for flexible CIGS solar cells developed at [the lab] demonstrates that thin film solar cells can match the excellent performance of polycrystalline silicon cells", lab director Gian-Luca Bona said. "Now it is time for the next step, the scale-up of the technology to cover large areas in a cost-efficient roll-to-roll manufacturing process with an industrial partner".
21 Jan 2013
DUBENDORF, Switzerland, Jan. 21 (UPI)--Swiss researchers say they've developed thin, flexible solar cells with a record efficiency of 20.4% for converting sunlight into electricity. Scientists at the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology say the cells on flexible polymer foils offer a significant improvement over the previous record of 18.7%.Such lightweight and flexible high-performance solar modules will offer an attractive technology for applications such as solar farms, roofs and facades of buildings, automobiles and portable electronics, the Swiss lab said in a release. They are also closing the efficiency gap with rigid, silicon wafer cells, the researchers said, and can be produced using a continuous roll manufacturing processes that should offer further cost reductions compared with standard silicon technologies.
The cells are based on CIGS semiconducting material (copper indium gallium (di)selenide.) "The series of record efficiencies for flexible CIGS solar cells developed at [the lab] demonstrates that thin film solar cells can match the excellent performance of polycrystalline silicon cells", lab director Gian-Luca Bona said. "Now it is time for the next step, the scale-up of the technology to cover large areas in a cost-efficient roll-to-roll manufacturing process with an industrial partner".
Thursday, 17 January 2013
New path to more efficient organic solar cells uncovered
www.sciencedaily.com
7 Jan 2013
Why are efficient and affordable solar cells so highly coveted? Volume. The amount of solar power lighting up Earth's land mass every year is nearly 3,000 times the total amount of annual human energy use. But to compete with energy from fossil fuels, photovoltaic devices must convert sunlight to electricity with a certain measure of efficiency. For polymer-based organic photovoltaic cells, which are far less expensive to manufacture than silicon-based solar cells, scientists have long believed that the key to high efficiencies rests in the purity of the polymer/organic cell's two domains -- acceptor and donor. Now, however, an alternate and possibly easier route forward has been shown.
Working at Berkeley Lab's Advanced Light Source (ALS), a premier source of X-ray and ultraviolet light beams for research, an international team of scientists found that for highly efficient polymer/organic photovoltaic cells, size matters.
"We've shown that impure domains if made sufficiently small can also lead to improved performances in polymer-based organic photovoltaic cells," says Harald Ade, a physicist at North Carolina State University, who led this research. "There seems to be a happy medium, a sweet-spot of sorts, between purity and domain size that should be much easier to achieve than ultra-high purity."
Ade, a longtime user of the ALS, is the corresponding author of a paper describing this work in Advanced Energy Materials titled "Absolute Measurement of Domain Composition and Nanoscale Size Distribution Explains Performance in PTB7:PC71 BM Solar Cells." Co-authors are Brian Collins, Zhe Li, John Tumbleston, Eliot Gann and Christopher McNeill.
Read More…
7 Jan 2013
Why are efficient and affordable solar cells so highly coveted? Volume. The amount of solar power lighting up Earth's land mass every year is nearly 3,000 times the total amount of annual human energy use. But to compete with energy from fossil fuels, photovoltaic devices must convert sunlight to electricity with a certain measure of efficiency. For polymer-based organic photovoltaic cells, which are far less expensive to manufacture than silicon-based solar cells, scientists have long believed that the key to high efficiencies rests in the purity of the polymer/organic cell's two domains -- acceptor and donor. Now, however, an alternate and possibly easier route forward has been shown.
Working at Berkeley Lab's Advanced Light Source (ALS), a premier source of X-ray and ultraviolet light beams for research, an international team of scientists found that for highly efficient polymer/organic photovoltaic cells, size matters.
"We've shown that impure domains if made sufficiently small can also lead to improved performances in polymer-based organic photovoltaic cells," says Harald Ade, a physicist at North Carolina State University, who led this research. "There seems to be a happy medium, a sweet-spot of sorts, between purity and domain size that should be much easier to achieve than ultra-high purity."
Ade, a longtime user of the ALS, is the corresponding author of a paper describing this work in Advanced Energy Materials titled "Absolute Measurement of Domain Composition and Nanoscale Size Distribution Explains Performance in PTB7:PC71 BM Solar Cells." Co-authors are Brian Collins, Zhe Li, John Tumbleston, Eliot Gann and Christopher McNeill.
Read More…
Tuesday, 2 October 2012
Gorgon gas project tugs save fuel using battery power
shipandbunker.com
25 Sep 2012
Four new tugboats being built for use in the Gorgon gas project off Australia's West Coast will run on more than two MWs worth of lithium-polymer batteries, reducing both fuel use and emissions according to Corvus Energy, the Canadian company that makes the batteries.
The project, which will be the largest natural resources extraction effort in Australian history, is located in an environmentally sensitive area, and the battery-powered vessels are intended to help minimise pollution. Corvus Energy said its 48 volt AT6500 batteries are about a quarter the weight of conventional batteries, making them the world's most energy-dense batteries.
"Corvus Energy is thrilled to be part of this major project and have our industrial lithium-polymer battery technology featured in the hybrid tugs", Corvus Energy CEO Brent Perry said in a statement. "We are confident that our 48 volt batteries will provide many years of economical operation as well as significantly reducing the environmental impact of such a large and important project", he added.
The batteries, which shipbuilder Siemens AS is using as it builds the tugboats, offer a fuel savings payback in about three years. The tugs, which have a maximum bollard pull of 75 tonnes, will be used in general offshore operations as the gas field is developed.
The Gorgon project is being developed by a joint venture of ChevronTexaco, Shell, and Exxon-Mobil, according to Offshore Technology. The first gas from the area is expected in 2014, and Chevron has supply agreements for 4 million tonnes of natural gas a year. Chevron Australia says the project includes the construction of a 15 million tonne per annum liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant on Barrow Island.
25 Sep 2012
Four new tugboats being built for use in the Gorgon gas project off Australia's West Coast will run on more than two MWs worth of lithium-polymer batteries, reducing both fuel use and emissions according to Corvus Energy, the Canadian company that makes the batteries.The project, which will be the largest natural resources extraction effort in Australian history, is located in an environmentally sensitive area, and the battery-powered vessels are intended to help minimise pollution. Corvus Energy said its 48 volt AT6500 batteries are about a quarter the weight of conventional batteries, making them the world's most energy-dense batteries.
"Corvus Energy is thrilled to be part of this major project and have our industrial lithium-polymer battery technology featured in the hybrid tugs", Corvus Energy CEO Brent Perry said in a statement. "We are confident that our 48 volt batteries will provide many years of economical operation as well as significantly reducing the environmental impact of such a large and important project", he added.
The batteries, which shipbuilder Siemens AS is using as it builds the tugboats, offer a fuel savings payback in about three years. The tugs, which have a maximum bollard pull of 75 tonnes, will be used in general offshore operations as the gas field is developed.
The Gorgon project is being developed by a joint venture of ChevronTexaco, Shell, and Exxon-Mobil, according to Offshore Technology. The first gas from the area is expected in 2014, and Chevron has supply agreements for 4 million tonnes of natural gas a year. Chevron Australia says the project includes the construction of a 15 million tonne per annum liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant on Barrow Island.
Thursday, 30 August 2012
Polymer-based organic solar cells set world record in efficiency
revmodo.com
22 Aug 2012
We can preach about the environmental benefits of solar power all we want, but until it costs the same as fossil fuels, we're not going to see energy companies tearing up oil fields to erect solar farms.
The good news is that the quest for cheaper solar power just took a giant leap forward: Chinese researchers set a new world record in power conversion efficiency for polymer-based organic photovoltaic (OPV) cells. The 9.31% efficiency was certified by the Newport Technology & Application Center's Photovoltaic Lab in Long Beach, Calif.
Unlike traditional, rigid solar cells, organic solar cells are made from flexible polymer. Instead of bulky wires, polymer solar cells use organic electronics, a branch of electronics that deals with conductive organic polymers or small organic molecules. As a result, OPV is lightweight, has a better performance in low light and is easier to manufacture, making it a potentially cost-effective renewable energy technology on par with current conventional energy technologies. Organic solar cells do not require exotic and toxic materials, so the final solar cell is nontoxic, an important factor for end-of-lifetime disposal or recycling.
Read More…
22 Aug 2012
We can preach about the environmental benefits of solar power all we want, but until it costs the same as fossil fuels, we're not going to see energy companies tearing up oil fields to erect solar farms.
The good news is that the quest for cheaper solar power just took a giant leap forward: Chinese researchers set a new world record in power conversion efficiency for polymer-based organic photovoltaic (OPV) cells. The 9.31% efficiency was certified by the Newport Technology & Application Center's Photovoltaic Lab in Long Beach, Calif.
Unlike traditional, rigid solar cells, organic solar cells are made from flexible polymer. Instead of bulky wires, polymer solar cells use organic electronics, a branch of electronics that deals with conductive organic polymers or small organic molecules. As a result, OPV is lightweight, has a better performance in low light and is easier to manufacture, making it a potentially cost-effective renewable energy technology on par with current conventional energy technologies. Organic solar cells do not require exotic and toxic materials, so the final solar cell is nontoxic, an important factor for end-of-lifetime disposal or recycling.
Read More…
Friday, 16 March 2012
Outlook inspires whispers
www.heraldsun.com.au
7 Mar 2012
THE 23m-high wind turbine that stands in front of Geelong firm Austeng's factory isn't the only thing that sets the company apart. As impressive, though less readily visible from the highway, are the engineering company's forward-looking attitude and willingness to innovate and change. "If we serviced only our old customers and produced the same products we'd always produced, we'd be out the back door so fast", says managing director and founder Ross George. "The future for manufacturers like us is about trying to be innovative and producing products that are new and different".
The world's quietest wind turbine, Eco Whisper, and a second product, pre-cast geopolymer graves, fit that bill. "Many of the new products we see being worked on here in Australia are tied up with environmental and energy efficiency and are about being green", Mr George said. "Because so many of our old customers are now sourcing from overseas, we've had to reinvent our customer base to survive and grow". Michael Le Messurier of Renewable Energy Solutions Australia, which owns the Eco Whisper technology, became an Austeng client last year. "Austeng came to us highly regarded and they've been passionate champions of our technology ever since", he said. "They really want to see it work".
As part of its role in the project, Austeng offered to buy and install an Eco Whisper on site. That was not only to test the product, but also to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. Eco Whisper is designed to offset energy requirements at commercial, manufacturing and industrial sites, as well as at shopping centres and schools. Mr George said the wind turbine would supply about one third of the energy Austeng consumes. "Having a carbon management policy and being perceived as carbon neutral is good for our business image--and it's helped our customer out", he said. Austeng will be producing four to six more wind turbines for RESA's Victorian customers over the next six months, as Queensland-based RESA focuses on the Victorian market.
7 Mar 2012
THE 23m-high wind turbine that stands in front of Geelong firm Austeng's factory isn't the only thing that sets the company apart. As impressive, though less readily visible from the highway, are the engineering company's forward-looking attitude and willingness to innovate and change. "If we serviced only our old customers and produced the same products we'd always produced, we'd be out the back door so fast", says managing director and founder Ross George. "The future for manufacturers like us is about trying to be innovative and producing products that are new and different".The world's quietest wind turbine, Eco Whisper, and a second product, pre-cast geopolymer graves, fit that bill. "Many of the new products we see being worked on here in Australia are tied up with environmental and energy efficiency and are about being green", Mr George said. "Because so many of our old customers are now sourcing from overseas, we've had to reinvent our customer base to survive and grow". Michael Le Messurier of Renewable Energy Solutions Australia, which owns the Eco Whisper technology, became an Austeng client last year. "Austeng came to us highly regarded and they've been passionate champions of our technology ever since", he said. "They really want to see it work".
As part of its role in the project, Austeng offered to buy and install an Eco Whisper on site. That was not only to test the product, but also to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. Eco Whisper is designed to offset energy requirements at commercial, manufacturing and industrial sites, as well as at shopping centres and schools. Mr George said the wind turbine would supply about one third of the energy Austeng consumes. "Having a carbon management policy and being perceived as carbon neutral is good for our business image--and it's helped our customer out", he said. Austeng will be producing four to six more wind turbines for RESA's Victorian customers over the next six months, as Queensland-based RESA focuses on the Victorian market.
Tuesday, 13 December 2011
A Tougher and lighter wind turbine blade design
cleantechnica.com
11 Dec 2011
A researcher from Case Western Reserve University has designed a stronger and lighter wind turbine blade design. First, a little insight into the issue of blade strength: As superior as large wind turbines are where cost and performance are concerned, the weight of their blades can cause problems. It is difficult to make such long (more than 200-feet in diameter) blades strong enough to bear their own weight, and especially at high speeds.
There is a tendency of objects in general to resist a change of speed (velocity)-called inertia. It affects everything that moves. When the wind turns a wind turbine blade, the rest of the blades are forced to move with it since they share the same hub (the rotating part at the center of the turbine). However, the weight of the blades impedes that by holding them back.
It is almost as if there is a force pulling back on the blades, and this force actually bends the blade a little, but the problem with this is the blades are not really flexible--therefore, instead of bending, they break. This force (inertia) is the same one that you have to overcome when you first start running, and when you are trying to accelerate your vehicle. This is why vehicles burn additional fuel to accelerate. Weight adds to this inertia problem, which is why heavier objects (such as vehicles) are harder to stop and harder to get moving. Typical wind turbine blades are designed to withstand the stress that normal operation would cause, so they don't break often.
This is why the same problem of inertia can be improved by making wind turbine blades both lighter, to reduce inertia itself, and stronger, to better withstand the inertia they are subjected to,.. and of course at a reasonable cost. Lighter wind turbine blades are easier to turn, and hence more efficient. So this is also important to their performance. Back to the new blade design: The researcher from Case Western Reserve University designed the 29-inch blades for a 400-watt turbine using polyurethane (a polymer) and reinforced it with carbon nanotubes.
"The idea behind all this is the need to develop stronger and lighter materials which will enable manufacturing of blades for larger rotors", Loos said. "Results of mechanical testing for the carbon nanotube reinforced polyurethane show that this material outperforms the currently used resins for wind blades applications", said Ica Manas-Zloczower, professor of macromolecular science and engineering and associate dean in the Case School of Engineering. "They will be used to emphasize the significant potential of carbon nanotube reinforced polyurethane systems for use in the next generation of wind turbine blades". Carbon nanotubes are still very expensive, but can be extremely lightweight and very strong compared to all-metal and composite materials.
11 Dec 2011
A researcher from Case Western Reserve University has designed a stronger and lighter wind turbine blade design. First, a little insight into the issue of blade strength: As superior as large wind turbines are where cost and performance are concerned, the weight of their blades can cause problems. It is difficult to make such long (more than 200-feet in diameter) blades strong enough to bear their own weight, and especially at high speeds.
There is a tendency of objects in general to resist a change of speed (velocity)-called inertia. It affects everything that moves. When the wind turns a wind turbine blade, the rest of the blades are forced to move with it since they share the same hub (the rotating part at the center of the turbine). However, the weight of the blades impedes that by holding them back.
It is almost as if there is a force pulling back on the blades, and this force actually bends the blade a little, but the problem with this is the blades are not really flexible--therefore, instead of bending, they break. This force (inertia) is the same one that you have to overcome when you first start running, and when you are trying to accelerate your vehicle. This is why vehicles burn additional fuel to accelerate. Weight adds to this inertia problem, which is why heavier objects (such as vehicles) are harder to stop and harder to get moving. Typical wind turbine blades are designed to withstand the stress that normal operation would cause, so they don't break often.
This is why the same problem of inertia can be improved by making wind turbine blades both lighter, to reduce inertia itself, and stronger, to better withstand the inertia they are subjected to,.. and of course at a reasonable cost. Lighter wind turbine blades are easier to turn, and hence more efficient. So this is also important to their performance. Back to the new blade design: The researcher from Case Western Reserve University designed the 29-inch blades for a 400-watt turbine using polyurethane (a polymer) and reinforced it with carbon nanotubes.
"The idea behind all this is the need to develop stronger and lighter materials which will enable manufacturing of blades for larger rotors", Loos said. "Results of mechanical testing for the carbon nanotube reinforced polyurethane show that this material outperforms the currently used resins for wind blades applications", said Ica Manas-Zloczower, professor of macromolecular science and engineering and associate dean in the Case School of Engineering. "They will be used to emphasize the significant potential of carbon nanotube reinforced polyurethane systems for use in the next generation of wind turbine blades". Carbon nanotubes are still very expensive, but can be extremely lightweight and very strong compared to all-metal and composite materials.
Wednesday, 5 October 2011
A simple way to boost battery storage
www.technologyreview.com
30 Sep 2011
Lithium-ion battery electrodes bound together by a new highly conductive material have a much greater storage capacity--a development that could eventually increase the range of electric cars and the life of smart-phone batteries without increasing their cost. Unlike many high-capacity electrodes developed over the last few years, these can be made using the equipment already found in today's battery factories.
The key is a stretchy, highly conductive polymer binder that can be used to hold together silicon, tin, and other materials that can store a lot of energy but that are ordinarily unstable. Researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory painstakingly engineered this new polymer binder and used it to make a silicon anode for a rechargeable lithium-ion battery with a storage capacity 30% greater than those on the market today. It's also more stable over time than previously developed electrodes.
When a lithium-ion battery is charged, lithium-ions are taken up by one of the electrodes, called the anode. The more lithium the anode can hold, the more energy the battery can store. Silicon is one of the most promising anode materials: it can store 10 times more lithium than graphite, which is used to make the anodes in the lithium-ion batteries on the market today. "Graphite soaks up lithium like a sponge, holding its shape, but silicon is more like a balloon", says Gao Liu, a researcher at the Berkeley Lab's Environmental Energy Technologies Division.
However, because the silicon anodes swell and shrink, changing in volume by three or four times as they're charged and discharged, the capacity of the battery fades over time. "After a few rounds of charge and discharge, pretty soon the silicon particles are not in touch with each other", which means the anode can't conduct electricity, says Liu.
One approach to the problem is to structure these anodes in a totally different way, for example growing shaggy arrays of silicon nanowires that can bend, swell, and move around as lithium enters and exits. This approach is being commercialised by Amprius, a startup in Palo Alto, California. But growing nanowires requires new processes that aren't normally used in battery manufacturing.
Today's anodes are made by painting a solvent-based slurry of graphite particles held together with a binder, a simple process that keeps costs low. The Berkeley researchers believe the key to making new battery materials like silicon work is to stick with this manufacturing process. That meant coming up with a rubbery binder that would stick to silicon particles, remain highly conductive in the harsh environment of the anode, and stretch and contract as the anode swells and deflates.
30 Sep 2011
Lithium-ion battery electrodes bound together by a new highly conductive material have a much greater storage capacity--a development that could eventually increase the range of electric cars and the life of smart-phone batteries without increasing their cost. Unlike many high-capacity electrodes developed over the last few years, these can be made using the equipment already found in today's battery factories.The key is a stretchy, highly conductive polymer binder that can be used to hold together silicon, tin, and other materials that can store a lot of energy but that are ordinarily unstable. Researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory painstakingly engineered this new polymer binder and used it to make a silicon anode for a rechargeable lithium-ion battery with a storage capacity 30% greater than those on the market today. It's also more stable over time than previously developed electrodes.
When a lithium-ion battery is charged, lithium-ions are taken up by one of the electrodes, called the anode. The more lithium the anode can hold, the more energy the battery can store. Silicon is one of the most promising anode materials: it can store 10 times more lithium than graphite, which is used to make the anodes in the lithium-ion batteries on the market today. "Graphite soaks up lithium like a sponge, holding its shape, but silicon is more like a balloon", says Gao Liu, a researcher at the Berkeley Lab's Environmental Energy Technologies Division.
However, because the silicon anodes swell and shrink, changing in volume by three or four times as they're charged and discharged, the capacity of the battery fades over time. "After a few rounds of charge and discharge, pretty soon the silicon particles are not in touch with each other", which means the anode can't conduct electricity, says Liu.
One approach to the problem is to structure these anodes in a totally different way, for example growing shaggy arrays of silicon nanowires that can bend, swell, and move around as lithium enters and exits. This approach is being commercialised by Amprius, a startup in Palo Alto, California. But growing nanowires requires new processes that aren't normally used in battery manufacturing.
Today's anodes are made by painting a solvent-based slurry of graphite particles held together with a binder, a simple process that keeps costs low. The Berkeley researchers believe the key to making new battery materials like silicon work is to stick with this manufacturing process. That meant coming up with a rubbery binder that would stick to silicon particles, remain highly conductive in the harsh environment of the anode, and stretch and contract as the anode swells and deflates.
Thursday, 17 March 2011
AGL to build $45m plant for Vic polymers maker
Canberra Times
Saturday 12/3/2011, Page: 8
AGL Energy says it will build a $45 million cogeneration plant in Victoria for polymers maker Qenos. The cogeneration plant is expected to reduce emissions from Qenos by 100,000 tonnes a year, equivalent to taking 24,390 cars off the road, AGL Energy said yesterday. AGL Energy will secure a 15 year operating and maintenance agreement on the plant with options to extend to 25 years.
AGL Energy also will become the sole supplier of natural gas to the site, expected to be 4.5 petajoules a year. "This represents the largest investment in industrial or manufacturing cogeneration in over 10 years", AGL Energy, Merchant Energy group general manager Anthony Fowler said. "It also helps Qenos remain competitive as Australia prepares for a carbon constraint". Qenos is the only Australia manufacturer of polyethylene and polymers, which are used to make plastics such as milk bottles, packaging, pipes and water tanks. The Altona plant will have a capacity of 21 MWs and produce 88 tonnes of steam per hour.
Cogeneration facilities work by capturing waste heat to produce electricity through a turbine generator. "As this form of energy production is more efficient, it produces less greenhouse gas emissions and is often highly economic for businesses", Mr Fowler said. Shares in AGL Energy were down 21¢ at $14.01. Qenos says it adds value to Australia's oil and gas reserves by creating "innovative products that promote sustainability across Australian industries".
Saturday 12/3/2011, Page: 8
AGL Energy says it will build a $45 million cogeneration plant in Victoria for polymers maker Qenos. The cogeneration plant is expected to reduce emissions from Qenos by 100,000 tonnes a year, equivalent to taking 24,390 cars off the road, AGL Energy said yesterday. AGL Energy will secure a 15 year operating and maintenance agreement on the plant with options to extend to 25 years.
AGL Energy also will become the sole supplier of natural gas to the site, expected to be 4.5 petajoules a year. "This represents the largest investment in industrial or manufacturing cogeneration in over 10 years", AGL Energy, Merchant Energy group general manager Anthony Fowler said. "It also helps Qenos remain competitive as Australia prepares for a carbon constraint". Qenos is the only Australia manufacturer of polyethylene and polymers, which are used to make plastics such as milk bottles, packaging, pipes and water tanks. The Altona plant will have a capacity of 21 MWs and produce 88 tonnes of steam per hour.
Cogeneration facilities work by capturing waste heat to produce electricity through a turbine generator. "As this form of energy production is more efficient, it produces less greenhouse gas emissions and is often highly economic for businesses", Mr Fowler said. Shares in AGL Energy were down 21¢ at $14.01. Qenos says it adds value to Australia's oil and gas reserves by creating "innovative products that promote sustainability across Australian industries".
Friday, 13 August 2010
Stick-on film could mean cheaper, better solar power
www.independent.co.uk
6 August 2010
A stick-on photovoltaic film developed by SolOptics can improve solar panel efficiency rates by over 12%, thereby reducing the cost of solar power for the consumer. The US Department of Energy confirmed the products' effectiveness on August 2. Groundbreaking technology for improving the performance of solar panels has been developed by SolOptics, a division of Genie Lens Technology Group, a leading specialist in applied innovative optics.
SolOptics announced on August 2 that the US Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) confirmed that SolOptics' recently developed FUSION technology can improve the energy conversion efficiency of both new and existing photovoltaic (PV) panels by up to 12.5%.
The FUSION product is constructed using thin film polymer technology onto which microstructures are embossed; these microstructures provide increased light absorption and anti-reflective coatings. The thin film can be applied to PV cells much like a sticker, generating increased amounts of solar power even in poor weather conditions.
Increased energy conversion efficiency in PV cells would not only improve performance, but also reduce costs for the consumer. Therefore making house-mounted solar panels a more feasible and cheaper source of electricity. The film developed by SolOptics is attracting critical acclaim amongst solar technology professionals as it can be applied by householders themselves, which allows them to avoid the costly installation fees normally associated with solar technology.
SolOptics is expected to license the product to a large manufacturer, but no further details or expected retail prices could be confirmed. Research and development of products which increase PV energy conversion efficiency is a highly competitive and rapidly evolving field. In June solar panel manufacturer JA Solar announced it was collaborating with Silicon Valley startup Innovalight to develop cells which achieve higher energy efficiency rates through use of a 'silicon crystalline ink.'
Thursday, 18 February 2010
A new wire twist on silicon solar cells
www.reuters.com
Feb 14, 2010
CHICAGO, Feb 14 (Reuters) - U.S, researchers have devised a way to make flexible solar cells with silicon wires that use just 1% of the material needed to make conventional solar cells. The eventual hope is to make thin, light solar cells that could be incorporated into clothing, for instance but the immediate benefit is cheaper and easier-to-install solar panels, the researchers said.
The new material, reported on Sunday in Nature Materials, uses conventional silicon configured into micron-sized wires (a micron is one-millionth of a meter) instead of brittle wafers and encases them in a flexible polymer that can be rolled or bent. "The idea is it would be lower cost and easier to work with by being more flexible than conventional silicon solar cells," Michael Kelzenberg of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, who worked on the study, said in a telephone interview. solar cells, which convert solar energy into electricity, are in high demand because of higher oil prices and concerns over climate change.
Many companies, including Japanese consumer electronics maker Sharp Corp and Germany's Q-Cells SE, are making thin-film solar cells using organic materials such as polymers, but they typically are less efficient at converting solar energy into electricity than conventional cells using silicon. The study is among the latest to combine the flexibility of the new organic or carbon-containing films with the high efficiency of silicon, which is heavy and stiff.
Kelzenberg said the material uses about 1/100th as much silicon per cell area as a silicon wafer. "It is potentially a route to bypass many of the costs associated with producing solar cells," he said. He said a big problem with working with silicon wafers is they are fragile. More testing is needed but Kelzenberg said the material would be about 15% to 20% efficient, about the same level as solar cells used on roofs to heat homes.
A similar effort is under way in the lab of John Rogers, a professor of materials science at the University of Illinois-Urbana-Campaign, who is working on ways to make inorganic materials more flexible. While many companies are investing in organic solar cells - - basically materials like plastic that contain carbon - - Rogers said these materials have relatively low performance, less long-term reliability and an unproven cost structure. "We like the inorganics - - trying to adapt them and use them in non-standard ways," Rogers said in a telephone interview.
Last year, his team reported on a new manufacturing process that creates thin arrays of solar cells that are flexible enough to be rolled around a pencil and transparent enough to be used to tint windows on buildings or cars. "We can make them stretch like a rubber band or bendable like a sheet of plastic," he said. He is founder of a start-up semiconductor company called Semprius Inc in Durham, North Carolina, that last month announced a joint effort with Siemens AG (SIEGn.DE) to develop large systems for utility-scale power generation. "The same technology they are using to make these rigid utility-scale modules could be used for flexible devices as well," he said. Rogers said that the company has funding from the U.S. Department of Defense and the CIA.
The Australian connection at Amity university
economictimes.indiatimes.com
14 Feb 2010
'Amity Indo-Australian Commerce Science and Technology Foundation', the launch of which was recently announced at the Amity campus, Noida, will work in the areas of commerce, science and technology and thereby, attempt to bring credit to both the countries. Amity Institute of Renewable and Alternative Energy organised a two day Indo-Australian Solar Energy Workshop from February 09-10, 2010 at Amity University Campus, Noida. Supported by Department of Science and Technology, Delhi, the workshop witnessed speakers and delegates from IITs of Chennai, Kanpur, Guwahati and Mumbai. The workshop was inaugurated by Lachan Strahan, deputy high commissioner, Australia.
In his inaugural address Ashok K Chauhan, founder president, Amity Universe promised that the projects developed out of the discussions and deliberations during the two day workshop would be commercially utilised. Chauhan formally announced the launch of the Amity Indo-Australian commerce, science and technology foundation.
Strahan said: "Challenge before us, as a planet and as a race is to find a living which is in harmony with the planet. I agree that IT has opened up wonderful new ways of communication but there is no substitute for coming together and meeting each other face to face. It's been two months that Copenhagen Conference took place where the world community grappled with the challenge of climate change. We all acknowledge that it was a difficult conference and agreement to so many issues was not reached."
Talking about the solution towards the problem, Strahan added, "We also know that technology must be a part of the solution to climate change; we must find ways of developing cleaner sources of energy. solar energy must be a part of that solution.The two Governments-Indian and Australian have recognized the fundamental importance of solar energy. India has its own solar energy mission; it has sets its ambitious targets for solar energy generation.
Australian Government has set its own renewable energy targets ie 20% by 2020. This conference will strengthen the expanding relationship between India and Australia" Most of the speakers pointed out on common thing and important fact that India and Australia are blessed with abundant sun, which should be utilised to the fullest extent.
Prahlada, chief controller, DRDO said: "Both the countries have abundant sun to play with. Normally, DRDO deals with missiles, aircrafts, torpedoes etc but off late, we have started looking at solar energy for various reasons, for example, we do develop unmanned air vehicles but now we are talking about solar energyed unmanned air vehicles which can keep roaring for days and days. The need of the hour is low cost, low weight solar batteries made of plastic or polymer. DRDO is encouraging institutes and students to carry on research in this area and in next ten years lot of opportunities exist for this in Solar Energy sector."
V K Jain, director, Amity Institute of Renewable and Alternative Energy while apprising the gathering about the proceedings of the workshop, said: "India is blessed with 300 sunny days in a year, which means over 5, 000 trillion kWs of solar energy in a year but the cost of solar energy needs to be reduced to make it a viable source of energy". The topics discussed during the workshop were - "High Efficiency Flexible Solar Cells", "Dye Sensitized Solar Cells", " Solar Thermal Systems", " Phase Change Thermal Storage for Solar Application" and the like.
Amity's Turkish Connection
The President of Turkey, Abdullah Gul, visited the campus in Noida, and addressed a cross section of people, including, students, faculty members of Amity and dignitaries from Corporate and educational sector. The University conferred a doctorate degree on the President. Ashok K Chauhan, founder president, Amity University and Atul Chauhan, chancellor, Amity University, honored the President of Turkey with a Doctorate Degree in Philosophy along with a citation.
Expressing his gratitude on being conferred with the degree, Turkish President, said: "it gives me profound pleasure to be in Amity University and address the students. I have special interest in the centers of higher education, they are the future of our world and are means to reach lasting peace, security and prosperity."
14 Feb 2010
'Amity Indo-Australian Commerce Science and Technology Foundation', the launch of which was recently announced at the Amity campus, Noida, will work in the areas of commerce, science and technology and thereby, attempt to bring credit to both the countries. Amity Institute of Renewable and Alternative Energy organised a two day Indo-Australian Solar Energy Workshop from February 09-10, 2010 at Amity University Campus, Noida. Supported by Department of Science and Technology, Delhi, the workshop witnessed speakers and delegates from IITs of Chennai, Kanpur, Guwahati and Mumbai. The workshop was inaugurated by Lachan Strahan, deputy high commissioner, Australia.
In his inaugural address Ashok K Chauhan, founder president, Amity Universe promised that the projects developed out of the discussions and deliberations during the two day workshop would be commercially utilised. Chauhan formally announced the launch of the Amity Indo-Australian commerce, science and technology foundation.
Strahan said: "Challenge before us, as a planet and as a race is to find a living which is in harmony with the planet. I agree that IT has opened up wonderful new ways of communication but there is no substitute for coming together and meeting each other face to face. It's been two months that Copenhagen Conference took place where the world community grappled with the challenge of climate change. We all acknowledge that it was a difficult conference and agreement to so many issues was not reached."
Talking about the solution towards the problem, Strahan added, "We also know that technology must be a part of the solution to climate change; we must find ways of developing cleaner sources of energy. solar energy must be a part of that solution.The two Governments-Indian and Australian have recognized the fundamental importance of solar energy. India has its own solar energy mission; it has sets its ambitious targets for solar energy generation.
Australian Government has set its own renewable energy targets ie 20% by 2020. This conference will strengthen the expanding relationship between India and Australia" Most of the speakers pointed out on common thing and important fact that India and Australia are blessed with abundant sun, which should be utilised to the fullest extent.
Prahlada, chief controller, DRDO said: "Both the countries have abundant sun to play with. Normally, DRDO deals with missiles, aircrafts, torpedoes etc but off late, we have started looking at solar energy for various reasons, for example, we do develop unmanned air vehicles but now we are talking about solar energyed unmanned air vehicles which can keep roaring for days and days. The need of the hour is low cost, low weight solar batteries made of plastic or polymer. DRDO is encouraging institutes and students to carry on research in this area and in next ten years lot of opportunities exist for this in Solar Energy sector."
V K Jain, director, Amity Institute of Renewable and Alternative Energy while apprising the gathering about the proceedings of the workshop, said: "India is blessed with 300 sunny days in a year, which means over 5, 000 trillion kWs of solar energy in a year but the cost of solar energy needs to be reduced to make it a viable source of energy". The topics discussed during the workshop were - "High Efficiency Flexible Solar Cells", "Dye Sensitized Solar Cells", " Solar Thermal Systems", " Phase Change Thermal Storage for Solar Application" and the like.
Amity's Turkish Connection
The President of Turkey, Abdullah Gul, visited the campus in Noida, and addressed a cross section of people, including, students, faculty members of Amity and dignitaries from Corporate and educational sector. The University conferred a doctorate degree on the President. Ashok K Chauhan, founder president, Amity University and Atul Chauhan, chancellor, Amity University, honored the President of Turkey with a Doctorate Degree in Philosophy along with a citation.
Expressing his gratitude on being conferred with the degree, Turkish President, said: "it gives me profound pleasure to be in Amity University and address the students. I have special interest in the centers of higher education, they are the future of our world and are means to reach lasting peace, security and prosperity."
Wednesday, 1 July 2009
Cement wisdom not set in stone
Australian
Monday 29/6/2009 Page: 24
A PRIVATELY owned Melbourne company about to bring lowcarbon cement into commercial production has taken issue with the government's proposed emissions trading scheme, saying it offers no incentive to the incumbent cement producers to lower emissions and might even allow them to collect windfall profits from gaming the system.
Zeobond, a company established and owned by the family of University of Melbourne professor Jannie van Deventer, has developed a product called E-crete. It claims 80% less emissions are produced than conventional cement.
E-crete is created by using geopolymers and a less emission intensive chemical reaction than conventional cement, which releases huge amounts of carbon dioxide one tonne of carbon for every tonne of cement mostly when limestone is broken down using extreme temperatures. It is estimated that three tonnes of cement are produced per person, per year. It is now estimated as the third-largest human contributor to greenhouse gas emissions after the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation.
Professor van Deventer's concern with the proposed ETS is that the cement industry has convinced the government there are no low emission alternatives, and because it is treated as an emissions intensive, trade-exposed industry, it will get 94.5% compensation through free permits. Professor van Deventer says using substitutes such as fly ash and slag can significantly reduce emissions. Australian cement producers do use such substitutes, but at a lower rate than many other countries.
Because of the way the ETS compensation is calculated based on the amount of clinker produced, rather than cement binder producers could add more substitutes earlier in the process, increasing the volume of free permits they could receive for the same volume of blended cement. Clinker is stuff that comes out of a kiln. "If you add ash you can get a totally perverse outcome, giving credits for material that didn't generate carbon in first instance," Professor van Deventer says.
Zeobond believes it is further disadvantaged because it is unlikely to enjoy the benefits enjoyed by emissions-intensive trade-exposed (EITE) industries for any energy emissions emitted in its own process, and so could be subject to the full carbon price. According to RiskMetrics, the cement industry would receive $190 million in free permits in the first full year of the ETS in 2012-13, and would have to buy only $14m of permits. Cement producers Boral ($64m), Adelaide Brighton ($54m) and Holcim ($35m) rank among the top 20 company recipients of EITE assistance.
Zeobond has proposed an alternative system, which would still provide compensation but would redefine the activity as the production of a concrete binder, rather than clinker. This would ensure that binders that do not use the conventional Portland Cement process such as its own are not disadvantaged. The incentive should not be placed in the hands of producers, but in the hands of users, Professor van Deventer says.
Zeobond already faces a hard enough task challenging the industry giants. Scale is the key, but this can only be achieved by having numerous plants in the big markets, as transport is a major cost. And Zeobond also needs to be able to access the fly ash and slag supplies, which are largely controlled by the cement industry. Our product is slightly more expensive (than the incumbents), mostly due to supply chain issues, but we don't buy enough quantities to push down the cost," Professor van Deventer says. "When you have scale, all that changes."
E-crete has been approved for use in footpaths and curb and guttering on main roads in Victoria, and Professor van Deventer says interest from local councils is very strong. "We don't need much penetration in the market to be very substantial." The key, though, is creating a network of plants. The company has one small demonstration plant that produces around 150 cubic metres a day a large concrete plant would produce that much in an hour but has signed licensing agreements with various groups.
The first commercial-scale plant should be ready within months. The company is currently raising money with the help of Macquarie Capital Advisors. Interestingly, the technology developed by Professor van Deventer is similar to that used by the ancient Romans, but the knowledge was lost. The production of conventional concrete has hardly changed in more than 100 years. "There has been very little innovation," he says. Now, he says, there is a strong desire in the Australian consumer market for change. "They really want to look at low-carbon products. There is a serious intent to do something."
Monday 29/6/2009 Page: 24
A PRIVATELY owned Melbourne company about to bring lowcarbon cement into commercial production has taken issue with the government's proposed emissions trading scheme, saying it offers no incentive to the incumbent cement producers to lower emissions and might even allow them to collect windfall profits from gaming the system.
Zeobond, a company established and owned by the family of University of Melbourne professor Jannie van Deventer, has developed a product called E-crete. It claims 80% less emissions are produced than conventional cement.
E-crete is created by using geopolymers and a less emission intensive chemical reaction than conventional cement, which releases huge amounts of carbon dioxide one tonne of carbon for every tonne of cement mostly when limestone is broken down using extreme temperatures. It is estimated that three tonnes of cement are produced per person, per year. It is now estimated as the third-largest human contributor to greenhouse gas emissions after the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation.
Professor van Deventer's concern with the proposed ETS is that the cement industry has convinced the government there are no low emission alternatives, and because it is treated as an emissions intensive, trade-exposed industry, it will get 94.5% compensation through free permits. Professor van Deventer says using substitutes such as fly ash and slag can significantly reduce emissions. Australian cement producers do use such substitutes, but at a lower rate than many other countries.
Because of the way the ETS compensation is calculated based on the amount of clinker produced, rather than cement binder producers could add more substitutes earlier in the process, increasing the volume of free permits they could receive for the same volume of blended cement. Clinker is stuff that comes out of a kiln. "If you add ash you can get a totally perverse outcome, giving credits for material that didn't generate carbon in first instance," Professor van Deventer says.
Zeobond believes it is further disadvantaged because it is unlikely to enjoy the benefits enjoyed by emissions-intensive trade-exposed (EITE) industries for any energy emissions emitted in its own process, and so could be subject to the full carbon price. According to RiskMetrics, the cement industry would receive $190 million in free permits in the first full year of the ETS in 2012-13, and would have to buy only $14m of permits. Cement producers Boral ($64m), Adelaide Brighton ($54m) and Holcim ($35m) rank among the top 20 company recipients of EITE assistance.
Zeobond has proposed an alternative system, which would still provide compensation but would redefine the activity as the production of a concrete binder, rather than clinker. This would ensure that binders that do not use the conventional Portland Cement process such as its own are not disadvantaged. The incentive should not be placed in the hands of producers, but in the hands of users, Professor van Deventer says.
Zeobond already faces a hard enough task challenging the industry giants. Scale is the key, but this can only be achieved by having numerous plants in the big markets, as transport is a major cost. And Zeobond also needs to be able to access the fly ash and slag supplies, which are largely controlled by the cement industry. Our product is slightly more expensive (than the incumbents), mostly due to supply chain issues, but we don't buy enough quantities to push down the cost," Professor van Deventer says. "When you have scale, all that changes."
E-crete has been approved for use in footpaths and curb and guttering on main roads in Victoria, and Professor van Deventer says interest from local councils is very strong. "We don't need much penetration in the market to be very substantial." The key, though, is creating a network of plants. The company has one small demonstration plant that produces around 150 cubic metres a day a large concrete plant would produce that much in an hour but has signed licensing agreements with various groups.
The first commercial-scale plant should be ready within months. The company is currently raising money with the help of Macquarie Capital Advisors. Interestingly, the technology developed by Professor van Deventer is similar to that used by the ancient Romans, but the knowledge was lost. The production of conventional concrete has hardly changed in more than 100 years. "There has been very little innovation," he says. Now, he says, there is a strong desire in the Australian consumer market for change. "They really want to look at low-carbon products. There is a serious intent to do something."
Monday, 29 June 2009
Dyesol shines offshore
Herald Sun
Monday 22/6/2009 Page: 26
AUSTRALIAN-based solar technology company Dyesol continues to attract more big investor attention overseas than it does at home. Its ASX-listed shares soared almost 8% on Friday, despite the lack of detail on its fresh deal with a subsidiary of oil and gas titan Petronas. Dyesol said on Friday it would supply more than $1 million worth of its solar cell products to a company fully owned by Asia's most profitable conglomerate.
A further, more detailed announcement describing the size and nature of the proposed project would be made in due course, Dyesol said in a statement. The company's technology harnesses solar energy to produce electric currents by artificially imitating photosynthesis using electrolytes, titania and a dye on surfaces made of metal, glass and polymer. Dyesol shares gained six cents to close at 0.820 on Friday.
Monday 22/6/2009 Page: 26
AUSTRALIAN-based solar technology company Dyesol continues to attract more big investor attention overseas than it does at home. Its ASX-listed shares soared almost 8% on Friday, despite the lack of detail on its fresh deal with a subsidiary of oil and gas titan Petronas. Dyesol said on Friday it would supply more than $1 million worth of its solar cell products to a company fully owned by Asia's most profitable conglomerate.
A further, more detailed announcement describing the size and nature of the proposed project would be made in due course, Dyesol said in a statement. The company's technology harnesses solar energy to produce electric currents by artificially imitating photosynthesis using electrolytes, titania and a dye on surfaces made of metal, glass and polymer. Dyesol shares gained six cents to close at 0.820 on Friday.
Friday, 27 February 2009
Making hay while the sun shines
Age
Tuesday 24/2/2009 Page: 6
IF YOU always thought there was big money in solar energy, you were closer to the truth than you might have imagined. Prototypes of a new generation of flexible solar cell have been produced using equipment built to print Australia's polymer bank notes. The breakthrough, conceived by the CSIRO, has the potential to enable mass production of solar sheeting at a far lower cost than traditional silicon-based cells. A trial of the technology was conducted successfully last week at the facilities of Securency International at Craigieburn, where the nation's currency is printed.
Securency International director of technical services Gary Power said: "It just so happens that the technology required to print solar cells is not a million miles away from the technology required to print polymer bank notes." The new generation of solar cells is still relatively inefficient at converting the sun's rays into usable power. A CSIRO project leader, Dr Gerry Wilson, put the figure at 3%. Normal photovoltaic solar cells grown on silicon are typically 25% efficient.
Dr Wilson was confident this would improve, citing a goal of 7% efficiency by next year. The chief benefit of the flexible sheets of solar cells was the ability to mass produce them, he said. Polymer sheets of solar cells could be placed on the roof of a domestic house or clad the walls of a commercial building to make them self-sustainable. The use of printing systems for polymer bank notes for solar cell technology is not as odd as it may sound. Both technologies emerged from CSIRO research and both involve using exotic forms of ink applied in layers.
Tuesday 24/2/2009 Page: 6
IF YOU always thought there was big money in solar energy, you were closer to the truth than you might have imagined. Prototypes of a new generation of flexible solar cell have been produced using equipment built to print Australia's polymer bank notes. The breakthrough, conceived by the CSIRO, has the potential to enable mass production of solar sheeting at a far lower cost than traditional silicon-based cells. A trial of the technology was conducted successfully last week at the facilities of Securency International at Craigieburn, where the nation's currency is printed.
Securency International director of technical services Gary Power said: "It just so happens that the technology required to print solar cells is not a million miles away from the technology required to print polymer bank notes." The new generation of solar cells is still relatively inefficient at converting the sun's rays into usable power. A CSIRO project leader, Dr Gerry Wilson, put the figure at 3%. Normal photovoltaic solar cells grown on silicon are typically 25% efficient.
Dr Wilson was confident this would improve, citing a goal of 7% efficiency by next year. The chief benefit of the flexible sheets of solar cells was the ability to mass produce them, he said. Polymer sheets of solar cells could be placed on the roof of a domestic house or clad the walls of a commercial building to make them self-sustainable. The use of printing systems for polymer bank notes for solar cell technology is not as odd as it may sound. Both technologies emerged from CSIRO research and both involve using exotic forms of ink applied in layers.
Friday, 6 July 2007
Virgin urges business to lead on warming
Australian
Friday 6/7/2007 Page: 40
AUSTRALIAN businesses have been urged to take advantage of technological breakthroughs arising from climate research. Virgin Blue chief executive Brett Godfrey said advances in technology to reduce greenhouse gasses could pay long-term dividends despite additional costs, in much the same way the costly space race between the US and the Soviet Union did.
Mr Godfrey this week challenged businesses to look beyond any short-term reductions in gross domestic product to the wider benefits. Recent figures in the The Economist showed global investment in renewable power generation, bio-fuels and low-carbon technologies rose to $US71 billion ($82.8 billion) in 2006, up 140 per cent in just two years, he said.
Mr Godfrey has become a vocal contributor to the environmental debate and has committed Virgin to a leadership role. He raised eyebrows last month by urging airlines to do more to address the issue, and warning that Australia's susceptibility to climate change meant that it could become unrecognisable if predictions of global warming were not addressed. Moves at Virgin to tackle the issue include the introduction of environmental programs aimed at reducing the airline's carbon footprint. In March it became the first airline to introduce what is believed to be the world's only government-certified airline carbon offset program.
Set up as part of an Australian Greenhouse Office initiative, it allows passengers to neutralise their emissions by donating money to approved greenhouse abatement projects such as reforestation, energy efficiency measures, recycling and renewable energy. It backed this with a board-approved financial commitment to address the greenhouse effect of crew, staff and other employees travelling on company business. It expects this to cost about $500,000 annually.
It last month introduced "waterless" aircraft cleaning by agreeing to coat its planes with a polymer that reduces drag and eliminates the need to wash the planes. Virgin has a fuel management group looking at strategies to further reduce fuel burn through more efficient flight planning and weight reduction and it is introducing waste, water and office recycling as well as green procurement. It has also joined 800 other businesses in the Greenhouse Challenge Plus program aimed at improving energy efficiencies, and will include its environmental impact in its statutory reporting from this year.
The Virgin chief likes to quote the Kermit the frog's famous it ain't easy being green" line when describing the transition. But, he says, the move is essential and soon, he believes, will be required of all businesses. Not surprisingly, he is opposed to suggestions that airlines should be subject to punitive taxes to offset environmental damage. He argues an across-the-board tax provides no incentive for people to innovate. But he strongly advocates carbon trading, even on a country-by-country basis. This puts him at odds with some of his international colleagues who argue carbon trading should not be introduced until there is a global system.
Godfrey believes business has been slow in acknowledging the sustainability issue but is now recognising that it is far better to be in the inner sanctum, participating in the design of future legislative change, than having it thrust upon them. This brings him back to his original point. "It is also likely that many companies are likely to be more inspired by the "carrot" of strategic and business opportunities than by the "stick" of regulation," he said.
The development of cleaner energy means new technology, and new technology to companies means money. "As crass as that sounds, nobody should be offended by it. In fact, it could be the profitability aims of business sector which become a key driver in rejuvenating our planet." To immediately address emissions in line with Kyoto expectations, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates that a price of $25-$60 per tonne of carbon dioxide by 2020-30 should see CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere begin to stabilise at acceptable levels.
The Virgin boss called on all governments in Australia to take a lead on the issue. This included setting a long-term goal of reducing Australia's impact on the environment and, in conjunction with the world community, agreeing to safe and stable levels of greenhouse gas emissions. Business and the Australian government should also work together on a solution that offered tax credits and other fiscal incentives to unlock private enterprise in research and development.
Friday 6/7/2007 Page: 40
AUSTRALIAN businesses have been urged to take advantage of technological breakthroughs arising from climate research. Virgin Blue chief executive Brett Godfrey said advances in technology to reduce greenhouse gasses could pay long-term dividends despite additional costs, in much the same way the costly space race between the US and the Soviet Union did.
Mr Godfrey this week challenged businesses to look beyond any short-term reductions in gross domestic product to the wider benefits. Recent figures in the The Economist showed global investment in renewable power generation, bio-fuels and low-carbon technologies rose to $US71 billion ($82.8 billion) in 2006, up 140 per cent in just two years, he said.
Mr Godfrey has become a vocal contributor to the environmental debate and has committed Virgin to a leadership role. He raised eyebrows last month by urging airlines to do more to address the issue, and warning that Australia's susceptibility to climate change meant that it could become unrecognisable if predictions of global warming were not addressed. Moves at Virgin to tackle the issue include the introduction of environmental programs aimed at reducing the airline's carbon footprint. In March it became the first airline to introduce what is believed to be the world's only government-certified airline carbon offset program.
Set up as part of an Australian Greenhouse Office initiative, it allows passengers to neutralise their emissions by donating money to approved greenhouse abatement projects such as reforestation, energy efficiency measures, recycling and renewable energy. It backed this with a board-approved financial commitment to address the greenhouse effect of crew, staff and other employees travelling on company business. It expects this to cost about $500,000 annually.
It last month introduced "waterless" aircraft cleaning by agreeing to coat its planes with a polymer that reduces drag and eliminates the need to wash the planes. Virgin has a fuel management group looking at strategies to further reduce fuel burn through more efficient flight planning and weight reduction and it is introducing waste, water and office recycling as well as green procurement. It has also joined 800 other businesses in the Greenhouse Challenge Plus program aimed at improving energy efficiencies, and will include its environmental impact in its statutory reporting from this year.
The Virgin chief likes to quote the Kermit the frog's famous it ain't easy being green" line when describing the transition. But, he says, the move is essential and soon, he believes, will be required of all businesses. Not surprisingly, he is opposed to suggestions that airlines should be subject to punitive taxes to offset environmental damage. He argues an across-the-board tax provides no incentive for people to innovate. But he strongly advocates carbon trading, even on a country-by-country basis. This puts him at odds with some of his international colleagues who argue carbon trading should not be introduced until there is a global system.
Godfrey believes business has been slow in acknowledging the sustainability issue but is now recognising that it is far better to be in the inner sanctum, participating in the design of future legislative change, than having it thrust upon them. This brings him back to his original point. "It is also likely that many companies are likely to be more inspired by the "carrot" of strategic and business opportunities than by the "stick" of regulation," he said.
The development of cleaner energy means new technology, and new technology to companies means money. "As crass as that sounds, nobody should be offended by it. In fact, it could be the profitability aims of business sector which become a key driver in rejuvenating our planet." To immediately address emissions in line with Kyoto expectations, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates that a price of $25-$60 per tonne of carbon dioxide by 2020-30 should see CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere begin to stabilise at acceptable levels.
The Virgin boss called on all governments in Australia to take a lead on the issue. This included setting a long-term goal of reducing Australia's impact on the environment and, in conjunction with the world community, agreeing to safe and stable levels of greenhouse gas emissions. Business and the Australian government should also work together on a solution that offered tax credits and other fiscal incentives to unlock private enterprise in research and development.
Monday, 18 June 2007
Sticky point of clean energy is storage
Weekend Australian
Saturday 16/6/2007 Page: 18
IN the ongoing debate about the role renewable electricity can play in combating global warming, energy storage is the game-changer. At present the curse word for wind and solar power systems is "intermittency". Calm days and variable wind patterns blight the market expansion of wind farms, as do night and dull days for solar arrays, not least because of the strains that unpredictable supply places on high-voltage transmission networks.
If the power gathered when the wind is blowing and the sun is shining can be "bottled" in a commercially viable way, the role of wind farms and solar arrays takes on a whole new importance in an increasingly carbon-constrained energy supply environment. Because the chief expense of these renewable systems is the initial capital cost, with low marginal costs of actually generating power, access to storage can make a substantial change to their market contribution.
Now a remote fishing community in Western Australia is about to take on role in helping the alternative energy industry to pursue its dream of being able to operate on demand in peak periods, when power prices are at their highest. Using a $1.83 million subsidy from the federal Government, part of a five-year $20.4 million program to promote electricity storage technologies, Vancouver-based VRB Power Systems and Australia's Cougar Energy Limited are setting up a trial of the Canadian startup company's battery technology at appropriately named Windy Harbour. The technology was initially developed at the University of New South Wales, where research on the concept is ongoing.
The joint venture established its first battery storage operation in Australia for Hydro Tasmania on King Island in 2003, and hopes to set up 90 more such trial sites across Australia over the next three years. These would be in addition to demonstration projects in electricity production and telecommunications support in North America, Japan, South Africa and Ireland.
The largest project is in Ireland's County Derry, where VRB has a $US9.4 million contract to support a 39MW wind farm with storage. The Irish Government's sustainability agency has estimated that if the trial is successful the opportunity exists to install storage capacity of 700MW to support a 3000 could meet a quarter of Ireland's power needs at the moment gas-based generation is its dominant method, fuelled from Russia.
The VRB battery technology involves pumping an electrolyte that contains vanadium and sulphuric acid through a membrane, causing a chemical reaction to release electricity, avoiding the degradation of solid surfaces present in conventional batteries critically, a process that can also be reversed to store power.
The company also boasts that its battery has the lowest ecological impact of all energy storage technologies, most of which rely on toxic substances such as lead, zinc or cadmium. Unlike conventional lead-acid batteries, VRB's invention does not wear out and the units are "scalable" they can be grouped to store more power for longer periods. At present a VRB battery and storage tank system the size of a fridge can hold enough electricity to power an average-sized house or a mobile telephone transmission tower, and a collection the size of a football field can store power from a 40MW wind farm.
VRB also puts the vanadium battery forward as a good complement for a diesel generator in an off-grid community and it acquired the rights to another "flow" battery system using chemistry based on bromine and polymeric sulphur from RWE, Germany's largest energy utility. VRB's initial marketing focus is on 200 island communities around the world and countries such as Australia, where there are large numbers of off-grid regional communities reliant on expensive and noisy diesel generation for their power. The company is currently also exploring prospects in Denmark, Spain, Scotland, Ontario, Oregon, Hawaii, California, parts of Latin America and New Zealand.
Its chief executive, Tim Hennessy, claims that the prospective global market is worth $US1.5 billion a year in the medium term and far more as the technology is developed. Meanwhile, the Department of Energy in Washington DC believes that electricity storage in America alone has a market potential of $U53 billion to $US5 billion annually. The Sania National Laboratories, a US government agency in New Mexico, adds: "The electricity industry is becoming aware that energy storage can be cost effective in certain applications and certain locations. It will change the way utilities and electricity consumers do business."
Saturday 16/6/2007 Page: 18
IN the ongoing debate about the role renewable electricity can play in combating global warming, energy storage is the game-changer. At present the curse word for wind and solar power systems is "intermittency". Calm days and variable wind patterns blight the market expansion of wind farms, as do night and dull days for solar arrays, not least because of the strains that unpredictable supply places on high-voltage transmission networks.
If the power gathered when the wind is blowing and the sun is shining can be "bottled" in a commercially viable way, the role of wind farms and solar arrays takes on a whole new importance in an increasingly carbon-constrained energy supply environment. Because the chief expense of these renewable systems is the initial capital cost, with low marginal costs of actually generating power, access to storage can make a substantial change to their market contribution.
Now a remote fishing community in Western Australia is about to take on role in helping the alternative energy industry to pursue its dream of being able to operate on demand in peak periods, when power prices are at their highest. Using a $1.83 million subsidy from the federal Government, part of a five-year $20.4 million program to promote electricity storage technologies, Vancouver-based VRB Power Systems and Australia's Cougar Energy Limited are setting up a trial of the Canadian startup company's battery technology at appropriately named Windy Harbour. The technology was initially developed at the University of New South Wales, where research on the concept is ongoing.
The joint venture established its first battery storage operation in Australia for Hydro Tasmania on King Island in 2003, and hopes to set up 90 more such trial sites across Australia over the next three years. These would be in addition to demonstration projects in electricity production and telecommunications support in North America, Japan, South Africa and Ireland.
The largest project is in Ireland's County Derry, where VRB has a $US9.4 million contract to support a 39MW wind farm with storage. The Irish Government's sustainability agency has estimated that if the trial is successful the opportunity exists to install storage capacity of 700MW to support a 3000 could meet a quarter of Ireland's power needs at the moment gas-based generation is its dominant method, fuelled from Russia.
The VRB battery technology involves pumping an electrolyte that contains vanadium and sulphuric acid through a membrane, causing a chemical reaction to release electricity, avoiding the degradation of solid surfaces present in conventional batteries critically, a process that can also be reversed to store power.
The company also boasts that its battery has the lowest ecological impact of all energy storage technologies, most of which rely on toxic substances such as lead, zinc or cadmium. Unlike conventional lead-acid batteries, VRB's invention does not wear out and the units are "scalable" they can be grouped to store more power for longer periods. At present a VRB battery and storage tank system the size of a fridge can hold enough electricity to power an average-sized house or a mobile telephone transmission tower, and a collection the size of a football field can store power from a 40MW wind farm.
VRB also puts the vanadium battery forward as a good complement for a diesel generator in an off-grid community and it acquired the rights to another "flow" battery system using chemistry based on bromine and polymeric sulphur from RWE, Germany's largest energy utility. VRB's initial marketing focus is on 200 island communities around the world and countries such as Australia, where there are large numbers of off-grid regional communities reliant on expensive and noisy diesel generation for their power. The company is currently also exploring prospects in Denmark, Spain, Scotland, Ontario, Oregon, Hawaii, California, parts of Latin America and New Zealand.
Its chief executive, Tim Hennessy, claims that the prospective global market is worth $US1.5 billion a year in the medium term and far more as the technology is developed. Meanwhile, the Department of Energy in Washington DC believes that electricity storage in America alone has a market potential of $U53 billion to $US5 billion annually. The Sania National Laboratories, a US government agency in New Mexico, adds: "The electricity industry is becoming aware that energy storage can be cost effective in certain applications and certain locations. It will change the way utilities and electricity consumers do business."
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