Renewable energy is good. Here are some of the projects I did at university:
Glen Kinglas Hydro Scheme.
This was an interdisciplinary project in 4th year in which the optinum
hydro scheme was developed for a valley in the highlands.
Wind Turbine in a Box. The question this group project addresses is what is the most amount of energy you can fit in a shipping container? To add a bit of realism the group focused on designs that could be quickly implemented after natural disasters, as an alternative to diesel generators.
A Note
on Energy Use in Romania
1.Romania is the poorest EU state. However, 'reforms have increased
the growth speed.
Romania is now an upper-middle income country
economy.'
2. Romania suffered energy crises in the 1980's despite having good
energy reserves. This
can be attributed to the fact that a large
proportion of their electricity is imported and high
Romanian
industry demand is exasperated by production inefficiencies. Possible
development in
hydro; '35 percent of the technically feasible
hydroelectric potential' has been tapped
3.Romanian industry may struggle if new legislation on CO2 trading is
passed.'Romania and
Bulgaria, insisting that more debate is
needed on the EU's proposed climate measures'.
4. Romaina overthrow their communist leader in 1989. Since then it has made an attempt to eradicate corruption as a part of their bid to become an EU member in 2007.
Details of information sources used -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romania
The
quality of the reference is dubious with only the reassurance that
it has been
mentored by the wikipedia community.
http://countrystudies.us/romania/58.htm
This
website comprises of books published online by the Federal Research
Division of the
Library of Congress as part of the Country
Studies/Area Handbook Series sponsored by the
U.S. Department of
the Army (1886-1998). This likely to be good source, albeit dated
and
glossed over
http://environment.newscientist.com/channel/earth/dn14871-economic-turmoil-could-scupper-eu-climate-plans.html
Founded in 1956 this journal features articles that are often
speculative but well
informed.
energy data::
http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/world/country/cntry_RO.html
http://www.iea.org/Textbase/stats/balancetable.asp?COUNTRY_CODE=RO
A Note on Observed
Biological and Enviromental Changes
1. The effect of climate change on species relies on a subjective inferential assessment. For this reason the importance of various factors are held in higher esteem in some disciplines than in others.
1. Some changes highlighted in the Nature article are:
Phenological shifts:
In an assessment of 677 species 62% showed an advancement of spring.
Relocation of species: “New species have colonized previously 'cool' regions, including sea anemones in Monterey Bay and lichens and butterflies in Europe, whereas some Arctic species have contracted in range size”
Community representation sign switching: There has been a decline in polar species and an increase in temperate species. Cold winters in the Southern ocean have also decreased from 4 out of 5 in the 1970’s to 1 out of 5 causing a decline in the abundance of krill. [5]
Spatial sign switching: Butterflies have been found to be extinct in southern regions and now habitat more northern regions. Also more pink salmon have been found in more northern teritorties. [3]
Temporal sign switching: Studies have shown that animal locations have changed in accordance to changing climates e.g. northward shifts in the UK during warming and southward during cooling periods.
2. In addition IPCC noted the following:
An increase in El Niño events. These are fluctuations in the tropical pacific oceon temperatures at around Christmas time.
Increased coral bleaching, particularly during El Niño events
Non-polar glaciers have retreated
Snow cover has retreated by 10% since the 60’s
Duration of ice cover in bodies of water in the northern hemisphere has increased by 2 weeks in the 20th century.
3. The mongabay website also illustrated changes in
5. In Australia average yield of wheat has increased by circa 0.5 t/ha since 1952 mostly due to an increase in minimum temperatures. World production is, however, predicted to drop by 5%.
Pacific sea levels have risen by 1.5mm/yr over the last 80yrs.
1. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v421/n6918/full/nature01286.html. Since 4 November 1869 Nature has been publishing articles based largely on original research in a various degrees of technicality. A highly regarded source.
2. http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/technical-papers/climate-changes-biodiversity-en.pdf Sponsored by the UN. The organization’s remit is to evaluate the risk of anthropogenic climate change which is used for international policy making. Its work is based on published scientific and peer reviewed articles. It is therefore a sound resource.
3. http://news.mongabay.com/2006/0310-nsf.html. This site is up to date website with ‘more than 600,000 unique visitors per month, Mongabay.com is one of the world's most popular environmental science and conservation news sites. The news and rainforests sections of the site are widely cited for information on tropical forests, conservation, and wildlife.’ I belevie it is of reasonable quality
This is a journal that the university subscribes to.
5. The Global Casino by Nick Middleton. A good well referenced book written by an oxford lecturer.
A Note
on Energy Use and Health
Almost 3 billion people rely on biomass as their domestic energy supply. This results in 4-5% of worldwide mortalities. Evidence that indoor cooking is responsible for the following list of ailments has been found; respiratory infections (ARI) and otitis media (middle ear infection), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), lung cancer (from coal smoke), asthma, cancer of the nasopharynx and larynx, tuberculosis, perinatal conditions and low birth weight, and diseases of the eye such as cataract and blindness. In calculating the risk that an indoor fire poises, a plethora of variables must be included such as the state of the fire e.g. is it being refuelled, smouldering or moved as well as ambient conditions such as air moisture content and airflow.
80% of those affected by air pollution are in developing countries
In a study by the National University of Singapore it was found that the peak expiratory flow rates decreased 3.4% after exposure to from gas cooking.
Unexpectedly in a two year study beginning in 1994 it was found that there was no correlation between palimony function of healthy female non-smokers and indoor cooking using bio fuels or LPG. This may be due to better ventilation than in previous studies.
Energy use affects the quality of life, which is related to the general mental and physical health of a person.
Health risks of indoor fires can be reduced in the following ways:
Better fuel-stove combination, although the actual benefits are uncertain since emission testing has typically been carried out in a controlled environment in which the peak performance has been achieved. This is unlikely to be the case in the average home.
Cleaner fuels will benefit the cook mostly as they are exposed to peak levels of pollution when the fire is disturbed.
Better ventilation is beneficial, but is not as important for the cook as it does not reduce the peak emissions significantly.
Bioaccumulation of arsenic and fluorine caused by the drying of food can be reduced by different drying practice and washing the food before eating it.
Further problems with biomass is that it is generally labour intensive to gather and somewhat hazardous and is not always done in a sustainable manner.
In the US there were over 20,000 electrical fires. This is an indirect effect of power consumption in homes.
In the same vein, there were 560 deaths in 1995 due to electrocution.
Details of information sources used -
1. http://www.ehponline.org/members/2002/110p1057-1068ezzati/ezzati-full.html
A peer-reviewed journal of the United States. It is top ranking with an inpact factor of 5.86.
2,6.http://arjournals.annualreviews.org/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev.energy.29.062103.121246?cookieSet=1
This is sponsored by the US government.
3. http://thorax.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/56/8/596
A study by the National University of Singapore.
4. http://medind.nic.in/iae/t04/i2/iaet04i2p85.pdf
A reputable source, from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences which is funded by the Indian government.
5. http://eab.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/36/1/70
A good quality study from academics with various accolades.
7. Sustainable Energy Systems Boyle et al
Recommended text
8. http://www.nfpa.org/assets/files/PDF/ElectricalDistSum.pdf
This is from the national fire protection association and should be fairly
accurate.
9. http://www.cpsc.gov/library/shock95.pdf
A Note
on Hydro Power
Hydro has existed for centauries with various designs from the waterwheel to the damless hydro. Notes on the most common type, hydroelectric, are given below. [10]
The UK currently generates about 0.8 per cent of its electricity from hydroelectric schemes – most of which are large-scale schemes found in the Scottish Highlands. Hydroelectric capacity in the UK is approximately 4,244 MW (including 2,788 MW pumped storage) with theoretical possibility of expanding a further 1GWh which is 3% of our current electrical UK consumption [9].
(1) 1. Water flows through a turbine converting its kinetic and gravitational energy into mechanical work which is used by a generator to produce electricity. The most modern plants have energy conversion efficiencies of 90 per cent and above. The energy is feed to the national grid.
2. Due to the fact that the majority of hydroelectric schemes are far from civilisation there are significant transmission losses.
3. Because of this an estimated further 1.36GW of renewable energy could be developed under a new funding proposal.
4. This is in addition to existing Renewable Obligation Certificates which, hydroelectric receives the lowest support of 1ROCs/MWh as it is a proven technology qualifying it as reference section.
(2) 5. Many smaller schemes already exist and more continue to be developed. [1] Almost all large scale hydro opportunities have been exploited; however Glendoe hydroelectric scheme is being constructed on one of the last remaining viable sites.
6. 100MW hydroelectric scheme potentially producing 3.15*10^27 PJ per year. Power produced at Glendoe will be equivalent to a £100m 50-turbine wind farms.
7. The scheme is a Scottish and Southern Energy venture.
8. In terms of water/power this scheme is very efficient due to the high head. Plans for a 190MW version were drop due to the increased environmental damage, and decrease in return on investment.
One of the rivers that will be dammed is the river Taff which floods regularly so main reservoir can be filled during heavy rainfall to help prevent flooding. The loss of habitat on the site is not of great importance in respect to its type (bog) and geography.
Details of information sources used -
This source is sponsored by the parliament and is the thesis from a PhD student in the University of London. As such the quality will have been rigoursly examined and verified.
5. http://www.berr.gov.uk/whatwedo/energy/whitepaper/page39534.html
6.http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/highlands_and_islands/6129512.stm
7.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_and_Southern_Energy#Renewable_energy
8. http://www.glendoe.co.uk/static/docs/Environmental_Statement.pdf
An official document likely to be a good source
9.http://www.berr.gov.uk/whatwedo/energy/sources/renewables/explained/hydroelectric/current-use/page17481.html
10. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydropower
Any of the references to the berr website are likely to be of a high standard as the site is run by a department in the British government, whose interest it is to have accurate information for their citizens.
The quality of any Wikipedia reference is dubious with only the reassurance that it has been mentored by the Wikipedia community.
A Note on Barriers to Energy Efficiency
It is thought that Climate change can be ameliorated by efficiency gains, therefore understanding the barriers is important. [1] The barriers can be split into three categories.
Financial: Deep seated market imperfections and antiquated market analysis combine to hinder profitable investment in energy efficiency. [2] Market forces are not enough as they don’t incorporate environmental costs which are predicted to cost far more than the savings made now. [2,3,4]
It is in electricity companies’ interest to sell as much as possible whereas the opposite should be the case. [1,5]
It is more expensive in the short term and requires capital investment which not everyone can get a hold of. [1]
An example of increased costs in achieving energy efficiency is the refinement of particular petrol mixes for specific regions adding another constraint which leads to bottle necks and price hikes. [2]
2. Society: With the landlord/tenant arrangement investment in greater efficiency is made more unlikely since the tenant usually pays the energy bill. [1]
Behavioural: We are in a self locking position which relies on the use of cars. An example of this is the existence of large supermarkets, which are on the outskirts of cities. To reduce energy consumption involved in shopping it is necessary for the comeback of more local stores within walking or cycling distance. Also cheaper and faster transport encourages more frequent and distant commuting and holidays. [5]
2.1 A greater number of households nowadays due to lower occupancy rates undermine energy saving measures. [5]
2.2 Laziness: The study predicts that £11bn and 43 million tonnes of CO2 emissions will be wasted in the UK by 2010 unless energy wasting habits are curbed. [5]
2.3 Ignorance: A lack in willingness to invest in energy efficient homes can be attributed partly to a lack of knowledge and dissemination of information. [1,5]
3. Lack of enforcement and Institutional barriers: Eco-Home Excellent Standard homes require 2% more investment which 84% of buyers will pay for but this is not reflected by developer’s projects. [5]
3.1 A case of insufficient enforcement would be German laws on engine size which tax large engines but not consumption rate or fuel. Worse still is the lack of tax on aviation fuel. [2]
3.2 Ill thought out legislation on cogeneration plants means that second grade heat is being thrown away. [2]
3.3 Current legislation is piecemeal and a comprehensive policy is required which accurately prices fuels. [2]
Details
of information sources used -
The Energy, the State and the Market by Helm
A library book which has an in depth look at economics and energy. It is well referenced and likely to be a good resource.
Online copy of Confronting Climate Change, I believe the chapter on economics of near term reductions in CO2 which I used was reliable, as the author is a co-director of the Centre for Energy Policy and Economics.
Summary of the stern report. The stern report is a highly regarded paper which has been fundamental in policy making.
An interesting report sponsored by the Rice University in Houston and the Council on Foreign Relations. Both are old institutions add reputability to this resource.
This was produced by WWF in collaboration with Scottish councils. WWF are prominent environmental organisation. This document has a wide range of references and therefore quite trust worthy.