Sri Lanka on path to 100% renewable energy says a new joint report by UNDP and ADB

Sri Lanka on path to 100% renewable energy says a new joint report by UNDP and ADB: Sri Lanka can meet its current and future electricity demand by judicial use of renewable energy by 2050, according to a joint study by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Renewable Energy: Current and Potential Issues: Renewable energy technologies could, if developed and implemented, provide nearly 50% of US energy needs; this would require about 17% of US land resources

Renewable Energy: Current and Potential Issues: Renewable energy technologies could, if developed and implemented, provide nearly 50% of US energy needs; this would require about 17% of US land resources: The United States faces energy shortages and increasing energy prices within the next few decades (Duncan 2001). Coal, petroleum, natural gas, and other mined f

100% renewable energy sources require overcapacity: To switch electricity supply from nuclear to wind and solar power is not so simple -- ScienceDaily

100% renewable energy sources require overcapacity: To switch electricity supply from nuclear to wind and solar power is not so simple -- ScienceDaily: Germany decided to go nuclear-free by 2022. A CO2-emission-free electricity supply system based on intermittent sources, such as wind and solar -- or photovoltaic (PV) -- power could replace nuclear power. However, these sources depend on the weather conditions. Scientists have now analysed weather conditions using 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2015 data derived from the electricity supply system itself, instead of relying on meteorological data.

Renewable energy

Renewable energy: Renewable energy (sources) or RES capture their energy from existing flows of energy, from on-going natural processes, such as sunshine, wind, flowing water, biological processes, and geothermal heat flows. The most common definition is that renewable energy is from an energy resource that is replaced rapidly by a natural process such as power generated from the sun or from the wind.
Most renewable forms of energy, other than geothermal and tidal power, ultimately come from the Sun. Some forms are stored solar energy such as rainfall and wind power which are considered short-term solar-energy storage, whereas the energy in biomass is accumulated over a period of months, as in straw, or through many years as in wood. Capturing renewable energy by plants, animals and humans does not permanently deplete the resource. Fossil fuels, while theoretically renewable on a very long time-scale, are exploited at rates that may deplete these resources in the near future.
Renewable energy resources may be used directly, or used to create other more convenient forms of energy. Examples of direct use are solar ovens, geothermal heating, and water- and windmills. Examples of indirect use which require

Europe's Surging Carbon Price Is Helping to Speed the Demise of Coal Plants | Greentech Media

Europe's Surging Carbon Price Is Helping to Speed the Demise of Coal Plants | Greentech Media: Adverse economic conditions are driving coal out of European energy markets even faster than previously thought.

Electric cars won't save the planet without a clean energy overhaul – they could increase pollution

Powering up. Shutterstock.

Parakram Pyakurel, Solent University
Several countries – including France, Norway and the UK – have plans to phase out cars powered by fossil fuel before 2050, to reduce air pollution and fight climate change. The idea is to replace all conventional vehicles with electric vehicles (EVs). But this is unlikely to help the environment, as long as EVs are charged using electricity generated from the same old dirty fossil fuels.
Global electricity consumption from EVs is estimated to grow to 1,800TWh by 2040 – that’s roughly five times the current annual electricity use of UK. Using data from the UK as a benchmark, this would amount to an extra 510 megatonnes of carbon emissions coming from the electricity sector worldwide. But this massive impact could be drastically reduced if electricity is generated entirely from renewable energy sources, instead of fossil fuels.

A growing problem

To put things into perspective, 510 megatonnes is about 1.6% of the global carbon emissions in 2018. And while this may not seem like a big amount, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recommended that carbon emissions are reduced to net zero by 2050, to limit the average global temperature rise to 1.5°C above the pre-industrial era. So a 1.6% increase in carbon emissions is significant, and possibly catastrophic.
Perhaps this increase would be negated by the decrease in emissions, which results from phasing out polluting vehicles. But reducing global carbon emissions is not easy – in fact, emissions reached an all time high in 2018, despite the highest ever uptake of renewable energy.

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Read more: Climate change: 'We've created a civilisation hell bent on destroying itself – I'm terrified', writes Earth scientist

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Though their emissions are much lower than that of conventional cars, EVs also do generate carbon dioxide during the energy intensive manufacturing process – as do renewable energy technologies themselves.

Supply and demand

Another major issue with EVs is their impact on the availability, production and supply of rare earth metals and other scarce natural elements. EVs and their batteries contain precious metals such as lithium and cobalt. Scarcity of cobalt is already threatening the production of EVs, and alternative designs that don’t rely on scarce elements are currently being explored by car manufacturers.
This means that it’s critical to expand recycling plants dedicated to processing metals and other scarce elements for reuse. Also, detailed plans on retrofitting of conventional vehicles to turn them into EVs are needed – it’s simply not feasible to dump all conventional vehicles into landfill sites, in a scenario where they are replaced by EVs.

Problems piling up. Urban Woodswalker/Flickr., CC BY-NC-ND

There are further issues with EVs that must be dealt with, if they’re to help reduce global emissions and prevent climate disaster. People are likely to charge their EVs during evening hours, after they come home from work. As more people start to use EVs, the load on the energy grid is likely to peak in the evening. And this could cause problems for electricity distribution and transmission systems, at a community or city level.
These systems may need an upgrade. Or, energy suppliers could introduce a time-of-use tariff, which is higher during peak hours and lower during off-peak times, when there’s less demand for electricity. This would encourage consumers to charge their EVs during off-peak hours.
Smart charging is another possible solution: the idea is to charge more vehicles when local electricity production through renewables such as wind and solar is high, and reduce the charging when local renewables aren’t producing enough electricity. EVs charging time can be matched with peak renewable power production using smart systems and artificial intelligence to balance the local electrical grid.

Overcoming obstacles

The high cost of EVs and the lack of available charging stations are further obstacles that the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies has identified for the mass uptake of EVs. This could create a chicken and egg scenario: the cost of EVs may not go down unless they are mass produced, and they may not be mass produced unless the costs go down. The same goes for the installation of charging stations – authorities will need foresight to recognise that extra charging stations should be built for when EV uptake increases.

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Read more: The electric vehicle revolution will come from China, not the US

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Governments can help prevent these issues by subsidising EVs or providing financial incentives for clean transportation – as has already been done in China. Even on a city level, authorities can encourage people to use less polluting vehicles such as EVs through taxes or special clean air zones, as is currently being done in London.

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Read more: London's new charge on polluting vehicles – here's everything you need to know

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EVs have great potential to reduce pollution and give people a more sustainable way to get around – but electricity production must also be clean. It’s not wise to rely completely on scarce natural elements required for producing EVs and alternatives have to be explored. More recycling plants are needed to make the most out of rare elements and governments need to explore ways to ensure a smooth transition to cleaner transportation.
Parakram Pyakurel, Postdoctoral Researcher at the Warsash School of Maritime Science and Engineering, Solent University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

China's Jinko Solar sees more foreign sales as domestic market shaky - Renewable Energy World

China's Jinko Solar sees more foreign sales as domestic market shaky - Renewable Energy World: JinkoSolar Holding Co., the world’s biggest solar panel maker, sees China’s photovoltaic power additions slumping this year and a greater share of its revenue coming from overseas amid uncertainties over Beijing’s new policies.

Renewable Power-to-Gas: A technological and economic review - ScienceDirect

Renewable Power-to-Gas: A technological and economic review - ScienceDirect

Highlights

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Electrolysis and methanation technologies are compared with respect to the PtG chain.

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Efficiencies and economics of several PtG chains are presented.

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Hydrogen production costs dominate the whole process costs.

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Dynamics of biological and catalytic methanation mainly depend on the peripheral equipment.

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The dynamic behaviour of the methanation determines the size of the H2 storage.