The word sustainability is used by many people today. Many companies and individuals are promoting a ‘green’ future and even governments are now tackling the energy equation, from production through to consumption. Some are even developing new policies based on sustainable strategies.
This past week the German Ministry of Environment, for example, indicated that it could achieve a 43% decrease in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, the date set by the Europeans as having special significance. Living in Berlin, Germany, I see the change in energy action all around me. It is in the agricultural fields as greater numbers of wind turbines are spinning around, it is atop the houses with growing numbers of buildings adorned in blue shiny panels.
A trip to a German building and home show is perhaps the single most evident place to find the move to energy efficiency and sustainability in action. Almost everything within the show has an energy angle, pointing out the energy saved, heating gained or lower cost of electrical consumption. The building materials are rated, the construction methods altered to meet energy requirements, and the techniques for construction improved, often made more light-weight and durable.
In simple terms, energy sustainability means that production and consumption match – net zero gain. Yet, we all know that a growing population around the globe is consuming energy at a rapid rate, and not likely to reduce this pattern any time soon. The struggle to meet sustainability either means changing energy types, thereby pursuing those that are more capable of producing more energy per unit than others, or working on the consumption part of the equation and reducing global energy use.
When I consider all that I see around me in terms of a country, which happens to be a leader in terms of the net zero energy pursuit, it really causes me to wonder. The initiatives and their magnitude are large. The country already has some 13,000 turbines spinning in the wind. They seem to be common when traveling now. In some areas, solar panels are on so many roofs that it is near impossible not to see them.
What’s going on here? Germany has half the sun of San Diego, yet 40,000 people work in the German solar industry, which is growing as research continues. A new ‘Hybrid’ power plant north of Berlin recently opened, it combines energy sources into one integrated energy supply – a reflection of the future in its own right.
At the same time, nuclear energy is making a comeback of sorts, evident to the north in Scandinavia mostly, but more often talked about in Germany as well.
The changes are happening. I see them, they are everywhere. Not only are they happening, but they are being measured. The ‘Renewable BootPrint’ as I’ll call it, is the measurement of environmental indicators under the influence of sustainable energy policies involving renewable sources that provides a wealth of maps, data and otherwise important indication of the real changes happening. See them here.
I realised a while back that my mind is way beyond the climate change debate. The obvious is obvious to me. The pursuit of sustainable energy, en force, is a veritable gold mine of activity in research, education, sales, scientific study and exports. By simply pursuing it, with a vengeance, climate change will be significantly mitigated, significantly – although I am not sure about net zero given population growth.
Energy Sustainability is looking more like something that runs through the entire economy. Something that is dynamic and connects different people and objects locally, but whose relationship changes instantly at times, and slower at others. It seems like it is more readily measured now than before, and monitoring it will get easier, not harder – if we clue into it and make the effort, assigning the resources and focusing on the job of doing.
The part that is not yet understood as well, is how people will behave while living in a society where objects around them ‘think’ with energy mindsets.
———————————————————————————–
Jeff Thurston is editor of V1 Energy Magazine and V1 Magazine. He is based in Berlin and responsible for Europe, Middle East and Africa for Vector1 Media.
There’s growing sentiment in the United States that countries across the world are getting the jump on renewable energy innovation. Thomas L. Friedman of the New York Times has written repeatedly of the need to go green, and he warns in a recent column that China’s decision to go green should be seen as, “The New Sputnik“. There’s also a recent column in the San Francisco Chronicle that extols that the “U.S. Must Take the Lead In Renewable Energy.” While the sense of urgency is compelling in light of energy’s role in climate change, what else is at stake regarding this new global competition for renewable energy dominance?
Economics of Innovation
America has long been on the global forefront of innovation, leading the way in developing automobiles, electricity, computers, and information technology. While a great deal of early renewable energy innovation took place here in the 1970’s during that oil crisis, the world has largely passed us by in developing renewable energy technologies and harnessing clean power.
There’s a pride of innovation here as well as the distinct potential for China’s large-scale renewable production efforts to make it become the number one global economy. America has largely gone from a producing to a consuming nation, which works when the technology that we buy is owned by U.S. companies, but manufactured elsewhere. Without American companies innovating in the renewable energy sector we stand to suffer a large economic impact as global change continues to force us to go green.
Energy Independence
The fossil fuel dependence in the United States is largely blamed as the impetus for our involvement in the conflicts in the Middle East. This dependence on foreign oil leads to dramatic economic imbalances when oil prices spike, harming the viability of a number of oil-dependent businesses.
The global security implications of this dependence has spurred the U.S. military to make sweeping commitments to renewable energy to power their bases. It’s interesting that the Pentagon has embraced renewable energy far in advance of our political leaders.
Without more federal leadership in the shift to go green, Americans will be surpassed by other countries, regions and companies. Energy technology is the next great emerging market, and no country can afford to lag in innovation.
The European Union has embarked upon the discovery of new tools and technologies for determining progress, wealth and growth in nations. Current measurement of GDP alone is highly focused upon economic factors. However, as most energy producers and energy efficiency industries know, environmental factors and non-economic indicators are considerable contributors toward progress and growth.
The idea is not new, many people have thought about this for quite some time. However, bringing it to action has been a sticking point that has avoided the pursuit of this information more diligently and the development of tools and technologies for assessing efficiency and progress.
The so called ‘new approach‘ has direct implications for many energy producers and energy products, since, they can be further assessed for non-tangible contributions to society, some of which, are often over-looked.
The process of developing energy includes the development of technologies and processes throughout the planning stages that contribute toward an understanding of regional water tables, climates, geology, distribution factors and a host of other information. Some of this information is held in a proprietary sense, however, cases can be made for the contributions of certain types of energy related information to regional policy and understanding. Many of these avenues have not often been explored, but identify valuable contributions toward wider regional development and policy making.
The Toronto Star reports on renewable energy in France. The French population is against wind turbines on the landscape and large areas of solar panels. The solution – to build renewable energy devices within buildings near the top. This would combine architecture with efficiency.
From the Toronto Star -
“In France or Europe, you have people who are against wind energy because it creates a big impact on the landscape,” said Ménard. “That is too bad; we cannot afford such a luxury.”
The new turbines should be located in unobstructed areas, he said. But the group is looking into developing turbines that would work on the top of buildings as well.
The Canadian government launched a new Clean Energy Fund today with a $1 Billion investment. The fund is designed to promote new innovation as well as create new jobs.
From the release – “By investing in the Clean Energy Fund, our Government is encouraging new technologies now to help protect and preserve our environment for future generations,” said the Honourable Lisa Raitt, Minister of Natural Resources. “Not only will this funding protect our long-term energy security, but this additional stimulus creates high-quality jobs for Canadians at a time when they’re most needed.”
The Fund invests $850 million in technology development and demonstration. This includes $650 million for large-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) demonstration projects and $200 million for smaller-scale demonstration projects of renewable and alternative energy technologies.
Minister Raitt also announced that there will be a $150-million research component. This will fund initiatives ranging from basic research to pre-demonstration pilot projects of technologies ranging from next generation renewable and cleaner energy systems to new technologies to address environmental challenges in the oil sands such as water use and tailings.
Read More
A new report in the UK says that green cars are a step in the right direction, however, the real goal is to see less cars on the road in favor of public transportation. From the report - “The UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC), the focal point for UK research on sustainable energy, today launched an in-depth review of policies which could significantly reduce transport C02 emissions. The report finds that Government must do much more than promote electric cars if it wants rapid and deep cuts in transport emissions.”
In the article ‘Energy limits to growth: integrating energy sources – part III‘, author Richard Heinburg addresses the issue of consideration to the limits of energy sources. About 85% of our current world energy needs is dependent upon oil, gas and coal. In a earlier blog post – Energy by Source, Time and Geography – a similar 
point was made. Geography itself is a valuable consideration for evaluating efficiency because the necessary energy construct, maintain and provide infrastructure for distant energy sources could consume significant amounts of energy itself.
There is a sustainability consideration involved in the pursuit of energy, more specifically the efficiency of the entire production for delivering a unit of energy to a given location. Naturally this involves exploration, research, installation, production and delivery.
Heinburg says, “A process for designing the energy system to meet society’s future needs must start by recognizing the practical limits and potentials of the available energy sources. Since primary energy sources will be the most crucial ones for meeting those needs, it is important to identify those first, with the understanding that secondary sources will also play their roles, along with energy carriers (forms of energy that make energy from primary sources more readily useful—as electricity makes the energy from coal useful in millions of homes).”
EUROGIA+ evolved as a Pan European initiative (Eurogia) that was previously focused on the OIl and Gas industry alone. The new project initiative involves regional clusters across Europe all oriented toward a ‘mix of energy’ source types and with a purpose to design, build and operate new alternative energy technologies.
A first call for proposal outlines to the project has finished, but the second call which opened January 1 will be closing March 17, 2009.
Our Calls for projects i nv o lve a two ? step proced ur e with con ti nuous involvement of the relevant national funding authorities. First, short Project Outli nes (P O s ) are submi tted . For tho s e approve d outlines, the next step is to submit a Full Project Pro posal (FPP). These are evaluated a nd, if approved, given the EUROGIA+ – EU REKA endorsed – la bel. Project parti cip ants can the n apply for pu blic fi nancia l support from their respective coun tries.
Keep in mind that these proposals may cross between energy sources, technologies and include monitoring and efficiency technologies.
The International Energy Agency was formed in 1991 and includes many countries together with private industry. The IEA serves as a research agency that looks into deep reductions in greenhouse gases in an informed manner. The group explains greenhouse gases, current efforts to resolve the issues and also provides a summer school for students to lean about these issues.
