29/05/2009 by David Slade.

A study of the role of the North Sea in providing storage space under the sea-bed for carbon dioxide from European countries was commissioned today jointly by the UK and Norway.

Energy and climate change minister Lord Hunt and the Norwegian Minister Terje Riis-Johansen met to agree on a clear vision for the potential role of the North Sea in the future deployment of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) in Europe at the Climate Change and Technology conference in Bergen, Norway.

The study will look at how quickly the base of the North Sea could be needed for carbon dioxide storage and what the UK, Norway and other countries have to do to get it ready in time.

“Today’s agreement reaffirms the UK’s leadership in tackling the emissions from fossil fuel power generation,” said Hunt.

“Carbon capture and storage has the potential to reduce emissions from coal-fired power stations by around 90%. The strength of the UK’s offshore industries means we are well-placed to store that carbon dioxide under the North Sea.

“The benefits of CCS are not only environmental. There are clear business and job opportunities to be found in green energy technology.

“This study will help assist the governments in Europe to work together to store carbon dioxide safely under the North Sea and to plan the implementation of CCS.”

The aim of the study will be to build a profile for the whole of the North Sea, assessing each countries’ storage potential and projections of likely volumes and locations of CO2 flows, against a rising price of carbon.
This will involve identifying network issues and proposing methods for managing CO2 flows across borders.

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29/05/2009 by David Slade.

Generator ScottishPower today switched on the first carbon capture facility for a commercial coal-fired power station in the UK. A 30 tonne test unit will process 1,000m3 of exhaust gas per hour from Longanet power station in Fife.

Carbon dioxide will be removed using chemicals and turned into a liquid, ready for storage underground. Energy company ScottishPower wants to test technology which could lead to a full scale carbon capture plant becoming operational by 2014.
The prototype at Loganet, developed by Aker Clean Carbon, is an exact, small-scale replica of a full-scale carbon capture plant. It will allow ScottishPower to test the complex chemistry involved in capturing CO2 from powerstation flue gases.
By retrofitting the technology to an existing power station, ScottishPower believe it is well-placed to kick-start a carbon storage industry for the Central North Sea by 2014.

ScottishPower’s parent company Iberdrola today also confirmed that it will establish a global Centre of Excellence to develop Capture and Storage (CCS) technology in the UK. To launch this, the company announced today that it will be funding a Chair in Carbon Capture and Storage at the University of Edinburgh to provide a academic focus for the Centre of Excellence.

“We believe that the UK can lead the world with CCS technology, creating new skills, jobs and opportunities for growth,” said Iberdrola and ScottishPower chairman Ignacio Galán.

“There is the potential to create an industry on the same scale as North Sea Oil, and we will invest in Scotland and the UK to help realise this potential. Iberdrola will set-up its global Centre of Excellence for CCS in the UK to help accelerate the deployment of full-scale CCS.

“This prototype carbon capture unit is a major step on the road towards our Centre of Excellence and the essential data from the unit will shape our research. We are proud to be working with the University of Edinburgh, and this partnership will be pivotal in developing our Centre of Excellence.”

The prototype unit, which weighs 30 tonnes and covers an area of 85m2, will be able to process 1000 cubic metres of exhaust gas per hour from Longannet. Among other tests being carried out, ScottishPower scientists will be monitoring the effectiveness of the chemical amine solution that captures the CO2 under different conditions. The data will allow ScottishPower to better understand the science before a full-scale demonstration project is built, eventually capturing up to 90% of CO2 from Longannet. This would be equivalent to taking one million cars off the road.

“The test unit uses the exact same technology that we aim to retrofit to the station for a commercial scale CCS project by 2014, and the leap from 1MW to 330MW is now within sight,” said ScottishPower chief executive Nick Horler.

“There are over 50,000 fossil fuel power stations in operation throughout the world, and by proving that CCS technology can be retrofitted to existing stations, we can begin to address the carbon lock-in from these power plants.”

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29/05/2009 by David Slade.

A promising invention now being tested at Towson University in Maryland collects and stores solar energy, even when it isn’t sunny.

The inventor says the circular solar collectors placed along a wall gathers much more energy than flat panels, even when its a dim day or at night.

“Part of the ability we have that no other solar cell system in the world has is when headlights strike these tubes at night, they create electricity,” said Kahrl Retti, Solarroad Technologies.

The electrawall also stores what it collects in batteries.

Solaroad Technologies is part of a business incubator at Towson University, near Baltimore. The invention was recently shown to Maryland Congressman John Sarbanes, who’s committee is encouraging development of alternate sources of energy. The inventor claims a million feet of his collectors could match the output of a small nuclear generator.

“Solaroad is developing this technology that can be deployed very quickly across the country in ways that can capture the sun and capture light and produce energy from that,” said Congressman Sarbanes.

Professors and students at Towson are involved in testing of the solar tubes. “We have had at least one or ten student interns working in the company as well as research projects on the capabilities of the technology,” said Dyan Brasington, Towson University.

The company also wants to market a cube tube, which would be installed on top of a workers cubicle in an office and it would get energy from the florescent lights in the work space.

Every cubicle in America that has a computer, printer, light whatever could be powered using interior photo voltaic cells.

Source: Ecofriend .

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29/05/2009 by David Slade.

Scientists at Queen’s University Belfast have discovered a new eco-friendly way of dissolving wood using ionic liquids that may help its transformation into popular products such as bio fuels, textiles, clothes and paper.

Dr Héctor Rodríguez and Professor Robin Rogers from Queen’s School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering worked along with The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, to come up with a more cost and energy efficient way of processing wood.

Their solution, which is reported in the journal Green Chemistry, may see a new sustainable future for industry based on bio-renewable resources. At present wood is broken down mainly by the Kraft pulping process, which originates from the 19th century and uses a wasteful technology relying on polluting chemicals.

The key reason for tolerating this method is that it is very difficult to break down and separate the different elements of wood. Until now any alternatives to the process have presented similar problems.

The Queen’s researchers found that chips of both softwood and hardwood dissolved completely in ionic liquid and only mild conditions of temperature and pressure were needed. By controlled addition of water and a water-acetone mixture, the dissolved wood was partially separated into a cellulose-rich material and pure lignin.

This process is much more environmentally-friendly than the current method as it uses less heat and pressure and produces very low toxicity while remaining biodegradable.

Professor Robin Rogers said: “This is a very important discovery because cellulose and lignin have a wide variety of uses. Cellulose can be used to make products such as paper, biofuels, cotton and linen, as well as many other commodity materials and chemicals.

“Lignin can be used to create performance additives in various applications, such as strengthening cars and airplanes with a fraction of the weight of conventional reinforcement materials. It is also a source of other chemicals which are mainly obtained from petroleum-based resources.”

Dr Héctor Rodríguez said: “The discovery is a significant step towards the development of the biorefinery concept, where biomass is transformed to produce a wide variety of chemicals. Eventually, this may open a door to a truly sustainable chemical industry based on bio-renewable resources.”

The approaches that the scientists are considering for the future include the addition of eco-friendly additives to the ionic liquid system or the use of catalysts.

The researchers are hoping to eventually achieve better dissolution under even softer conditions and are also trying to achieve complete separation of the different elements in one single step.

Both teams are also focusing on biomasses which are rich in essential oils and can later be used in processes such as the manufacture of fragrances.

The Journal reference for the study is:

Sun et al. Complete dissolution and partial delignification of wood in the ionic liquid 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate, Green Chemistry, 2009; 11 (5): 646 DOI: 10.1039/b822702k

Source: Science Daily .

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29/05/2009 by David Slade.

A government-funded lab at the University of Waterloo has laid the groundwork for a lithium battery that can store and deliver more than three times the power of conventional lithium ion batteries.The research team of professor Linda Nazar, graduate student David Xiulei Ji and postdoctoral fellow Kyu Tae Lee is one of the first to demonstrate robust electrochemical performance for a lithium-sulphur battery. The finding is reported  in the on-line issue of Nature Materials.

The prospect of lithium-sulphur batteries has tantalized chemists for two decades, and not just because successfully combining the two chemistries delivers much higher energy densities. Sulphur is cheaper than many other materials currently used in lithium batteries. It has always showed great promise as the ideal partner for a safe, low cost, long lasting rechargeable battery, exactly the kind of battery needed for energy storage and transportation in a low carbon emission energy economy.

“The difficult challenge was always the cathode, the part of the battery that stores and releases electrons in the charge and recharge cycles,” said Dr. Nazar. “To enable a reversible electrochemical reaction at high current rates, the electrically-active sulphur needs to remain in the most intimate contact with a conductor, such as carbon.”

The Canadian research team leap-frogged the performance of other carbon-sulphur combinations by tackling the contact issue at the nanoscale level. Although they say the same approach could be used with other materials, for their proof of concept study they chose a member of a highly structured and porous carbon family called mesoporous carbon. At the nanoscale level, this type of carbon has a very uniform pore diameter and pore volume.

Using a nanocasting method, the team assembled a structure of 6.5 nanometre thick carbon rods separated by empty three to four nanometre wide channels. Carbon microfibres spanning the empty channels kept the voids open and prevented collapse of the architecture.

Filling the tiny voids proved simple. Sulphur was heated and melted. Once in contact with the carbon, it was drawn or imbibed into the channels by capillary forces, where it solidified and shrunk to form sulphur nanofibres. Scanning electron microscope sections revealed that all the spaces were uniformly filled with sulphur, exposing an enormous surface area of the active element to carbon and driving the exceptional test results of the new battery.

“This composite material can supply up to nearly 80 percent of the theoretical capacity of sulphur, which is three times the energy density of lithium transition metal oxide cathodes, at reasonable rates with good cycling stability,” said Dr. Nazar.

What is more, the researchers say, the high capacity of the carbon to incorporate active material opens the door for similar “imbibed” composites that could have applications in many areas of materials science.

The research team continues to study the material to work out remaining challenges and refine the cathode’s architecture and performance. Dr. Nazar said a patent has been filed, and she is reviewing options for commercialization and practical applications.

The research has been funded under a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada program

Source: National Research Council of Canada .

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29/05/2009 by David Slade.

French company Windela has created a street lighting system that works without any connection to the grid. The Windelux is powered by both a small vertical wind turbine and a solar PV panel.The lamp is comprised of 84 LEDs and automatically switches on when a photosensitive cell detects that it’s dark. A built-in control system stops the wind generator if the wind speed is too high and also allows the pole to act as a Wi-Fi relay.

Inside the pole is the battery that makes all this possible. A rechargable LiFePo battery stores the energy generated by the solar PV panel and wind generator and supplies four nights worth of light before needing to be recharged.

Street lighting accounts for a huge percentage of most cities energy use and costs. The Windelux seems to be an ideal solution for providing both street lighting and distributing Wi-Fi, without ever touching the grid. Currently, units have only been installed in France and Algeria.

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29/05/2009 by David Slade.

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has released the newest version of LEED (v3.0) in an attempt to address longstanding concerns over technical details and the arduous review and certification process.LEED certification has often been criticized for its confusing documentation requirements and lengthy project reviews. Some critics have suggested the consensus process used to develop the system is not backed by hard science.

Nonetheless, in the last 11 years LEED certification has been widely accepted as a standard measure for sustainable buildings. The USGBC has approved a total 21,000 projects, representing over 5 billion sq feet of construction, and LEED certification requirements have found their way into municipal building codes and government regulations.

LEED 2009 has made several adjustments to multiple areas of concern that should serve to improve the building rating system, the online monitoring an updating tool, as well as the certification and administration process.

LEED Rating Systems

Previously, individual rating systems each had their own point totals. For example LEED for Commercial Interiors could earn 57 points in total while LEED for New Schools could earn a maximum of 79 points.

In the new system, uniform certification sets a threshold across all the rating systems and introduces new standards based on a 100-point scale. Forty points is the lowest level for certification, while 80 points, or platinum certification, is the highest level an individual building project can achieve.

To achieve 100 points, or more, projects must focus on regional development and other innovations that extend beyond one particular building. For example, a project in New York State could earn extra points for preserving agricultural land, reducing light pollution, and minimizing storm-water runoff.

The larger aim of the new system is to provide incentives for new projects that deploy strategies with greater potential for environmental or human-health-related benefits. Projects that focus on GHG reduction, and water and energy use earn the most credit.

Strategies intended to increase energy efficiency and the reliance on renewable power generated on site can earn up to 26 points (up from 13 in the old system). Locations close to public transit can earn up to 6 points (up from 1)  and ambitious water conservation schemes can gain up to 10 points (up from 5).

It is now a requirement for basic certification to reduce indoor water consumption by 20% above and beyond core-compliant buildings. In order to earn points in this category projects must achieve at least a 30% reduction in water usage.

Monitoring and Updating

The USGBC invested several million dollars to revamp LEED Online, the automated monitoring system used to collect post-occupancy water and energy use information for each building. The system is also used to facilitate communication between the LEED reviewer and the project team to hasten the review and certification process.

Such an upgrade was needed when In March of 2008, in cooperation with the New Buildings institute (NBI), the USGBC underwent an extensive survey project to assess the standards of LEED certified buildings. Large variations were noted among individual buildings with 25 per cent of projects being better then expected while 21% were below baseline.

Certification and Accreditation

USGBC has moved the administration of certification and Accredited Professional (AP) programs to the Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI), a non-profit organization spun off from the USGBC in late 2007. For certification GCBI manages 10 organizations, including Underwriter Laboratories (UL) and Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance (LRQA) which oversees the quality review process.

The LEED AP program modifications now include a three tiered system of credentials, with lowest tier being a LEED Green Associate. For those that want to demonstrate a commitment to green building but not work directly on LEED projects. For example, lawyers involved in real estate development deals must take a “core concept and key points” exam, and 15 hours of education review twice a year.

The LEED AP Speciality tracks corresponds to the various LEED rating systems (Homes, Building and Design, Interiors, Neighbourhoods, etc.) and requires both a core concepts exam and one based upon the particular specialization. It also requires demonstration of LEED project experience and 30 hours of education twice a year.

Looking beyond 2009, those seeking to become a LEED Fellow, the top tier, will require an “elite” level of LEED expertise. LEED Fellows would become part of an extraordinary class of leading professionals distinguished by their years of experience and contributions to the standards of practice and body of knowledge for achieving continuous improvement in the green building field. This credential is still under development.

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29/05/2009 by David Slade.

House prices have continued a tentative recovery with the average cost of a UK home rising 1.2 per cent in May driven by a lack of supply of new homes coming onto the market.

The figures from Nationwide Buidling Society showed that despite the jump, which took the average British house price to £154,016 in May, prices remained 11.3 per cent lower than they were a year ago.

Nationwide said that it was too early to call the bottom of the housing market, as unemployment continues to rise and credit remains scarce.

Nationwide’s chief economist Martin Gahbauer said: “The improvement in house price trends is consistent with signs of stabilisation in several other economic indicators and suggests that any further price declines may occur at a less rapid pace than in 2008.”

RICS chief economist Simon Rubinsohn said: “The latest data from the Nationwide Building Society provides further evidence that house prices appear to be stabilising.

“This is consistent with the recent trend in the RICS sales-to-stock ratio which has now risen for four consecutive months; historically a good lead indicator of turning points in house price inflation.

“The lack of new supply of houses coming onto the market is a key driver for the current turnaround in prices.”

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29/05/2009 by David Slade.

The housebuilding industry has received a boost with applications to build new homes up 10 per cent in the three months to April, figures from the National Housebuilding Council have revealed.

The National Housebuilding Council statistics show 17,859 applications to build new homes were received in the three months to the end of April 2009.

The amount is 10 per cent higher than the previous rolling quarter January to March 2009 when 16,232 applications we received.

Some encouragement can be taken from April’s figures, which show applications to start new homes in the combined private and public sectors rose for the fourth successive month in a row to 6,379.

But activity levels during the three months to the end of April were still severely depressed, with a 53 per cent reduction compared to the same period a year ago.

NHBC chief executive Imtiaz Farookhi said: “While it is still too early to assume that these are definite signs of a recovery, some positive indicators are emerging which suggest that the severe downturn in house-building activity may be beginning to turn a corner.

“Anecdotal evidence from house-builders and developers also suggests that conditions are easing slightly on site, no doubt boosted by the Government’s recent £1 billion budgetary pledge to help the housing market and the Homes and Communities Agency’s (HCA) Kickstart initiative to open up mothballed sites.”

REGIONAL BREAKDOWN
Region    Feb to April 2009    Feb to April 2008    Percentage Increase / (-) Decrease

England- Regions   
North East                                 630    1,223    -48%
North West                              1,127    2,633    -57%
Merseyside                                  364    1,121    -68%
Yorkshire & the Humber        967    2,320    -58%
West Midlands                          936    3,033    -69%
East Midlands                         1,381    3,017    -54%
Eastern                                    2,618    4,342    -40%
South West                             2,280    2,935    -22%
Greater London                      1,375    4,924    -72%
South East                               3,061    5,736    -47%
Totals for England            14,739    31,284    -53%
Scotland- Councils                 1,561    4,011    -61%
Wales- Unitary Authorities    786    1,374    -43%
Northern Ireland - Counties      749    968    -23%
Isle of Man                                       24    125    -81%
Totals for UK              17,859    37,762    -53%

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29/05/2009 by David Slade.

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) released today its reference case projection from the “International Energy Outlook 2009” (IEO2009), which projected the world marketed energy consumption to grow by 44 percent between 2006 and 2030. The projection states that the increased energy consumption will be driven by strong long-term economic growth in the developing nations of the world, despite the current global economic downturn dampening world energy demand in the near term.

According to the projection, with economic recovery anticipated to begin within the next 12 to 24 months, most nations are expected to see energy consumption growth at rates anticipated prior to the recession. Total world energy use is expected to rise from 472 quadrillion BTU in 2006 to 552 quadrillion BTU in 2015, and then to 678 quadrillion BTU in 2030.

In the industrial industry alone, energy consumption is expected to grow from 175 quadrillion BTU in 2006 to 246 quadrillion BTU in 2030, growing at an average rate of 2.1 percent per year, according to the reference case. The “BRIC” countries (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) are expected to account for more than two-thirds of the developing world’s growth in industrial energy use through 2030.

Along with increased worldwide energy consumption, the projection anticipates that the world’s economies recovering will cause increased oil prices, persisting through 2030. The IEO2009 reference case shows world oil prices rising to $110 per barrel in 2015 (in real 2007 dollars) and $130 per barrel in 2030, with total liquid fuel and petroleum consumption increasing by 22 million barrels per day. Conventional oil supplies from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) are expected to contribute 8.2 million barrels per day to the total increase in world liquid fuels production, with non-OPEC countries contributing another 3.4 million barrels per day.

However, unlike the reference case, the full version of the IEO2009 includes three world oil price cases to take into account the extremely volatile nature of world oil prices. The price cases range from $50 per barrel in the low-price case to $200 per barrel in the high-price case, with supply outlooks ranging from 90 million barrels per day in the high-price case to 120 million barrels per day in the low-price case (compared to 107 million barrels per day in the EIA’s reference case).

Additionally, the reference case showed that unconventional resources, such as biofuels, oil sands, extra-heavy oil, coal-to-liquids, and gas-to-liquids from both OPEC and non-OPEC sources becoming increasingly competitive: The reference case shows the world production of unconventional resources increasing to 13.4 million barrels per day in 2030, accounting for 13 percent of total world liquids supply.

The reference case also discusses renewable energy use for electricity generation, which is expected to grow by an average of 2.9 percent per year. The renewable share of world electricity generation is expected to increase to 21 percent in 2030, up from 19 percent in 2006. Additionally, the reference case projects energy-related carbon dioxide emissions to rise from 29.1 billion metric tons in 2005 to 40.4 billion metric tons in 2030, a 39-percent increase, much of which is expected to occur among developing nations, especially in Asia. The reference case does not, however, take into account specific policies to limit greenhouse gas emissions.

To view the EIA’s full report on IEO2009, visit www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/ieo/index.html.

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29/05/2009 by David Slade.

The term “Intelligent Building” (IB) has become a very popular description covering almost all new commercial and residential buildings in major cities worldwide. In the general sense, IB relates to buildings that contain high-speed local area networks, protocols, fiber optics, multimedia environments and even satellite conferencing. It is generally believed that all modern IBs in the world possess advanced information technologies (ITs). The trend is for most building service systems to be integrated into an IT environment, which is an essential tool for an IB. IBs utilize advanced information, control and mechatronic technologies as well as employ smart structure and modern management theories. But IBs should encompass more than that; Davmark and our IIT solutions promote a true and comprehensive picture of IBs.

The definition of IB varies in different regions. Generally, an intelligent building is designed and constructed based on an appropriate selection of quality environment modules to meet users’ requirements by matching the appropriate building facilities to achieve long-termed building value. The definition includes two dimensions — the needs of the building developer/owner/occupants and the enabling technologies. The integration of these two dimensions will generate measurable long-termed building values such as productivity, market value, energy conservation, environmental friendliness and high working efficiency.

Posted in Intelligent building, Integration, Davmark, IIT, System intergration | Print | 1 Comment »