energy

Zarkon Group Real Estate Builders & Developers > Blog > energy

Tag: energy

Highlighting Useful Technologies for Getting to Zero: The New Zero Energy Project Product Directory
CategoriesSustainable News Zero Energy Homes

Highlighting Useful Technologies for Getting to Zero: The New Zero Energy Project Product Directory

By Zarkon Group,

New technologies are making zero energy homes and buildings more affordable, healthier, and more comfortable than ever. The Zero Energy Project now helps you keep up with advanced building equipment and materials through our new Zero Energy Product Directory. Our focus is on energy-efficient, environmentally-friendly products that support and hasten the transition to zero energy homes and buildings.

 

Improved Efficiency

At ZEP, we are fond of saying that you can buy all the products you need to build a zero energy building “off the shelf”. While that’s certainly true, even mature technologies are improving their energy efficiency every year. For example, the success of heat pumps in heating and cooling homes is well established, and using heat pumps for water heating is gaining acceptance. Now heat pumps are being used for energy-efficient clothes drying as well. And mini-split heat pumps are now capable of heating a home even when outside temperatures drop below -13°F . As product offerings change and new products are introduced, one of the goals of the directory is to help you find the latest equipment and materials for your building project.

 

More Choices

While the key to affordability in zero energy buildings is, and always will be, good design, new technology offers designers many more choices. Technological advances are increasing efficiency and changing the balance between efficiency due to structural measures and efficiency as a result of high-performance equipment. For example, the rapidly falling price of solar electric panels is changing the relative cost-effectiveness of on-site generation versus that of structural improvements. Furthermore, solar roofing combines two functions that can be installed at the same time at lower cost than roofing and solar panels separately.

 

Lower Cost

It’s also true that it is sometimes cheaper to purchase an advanced product than to spend time and money on a labor-intensive, conventional approach. For instance, Aerobarrier is an aerosol sealant for buildings that can reliably reduce air leakage to a specified level in only a few hours. Air leakage is a complex problem with at least a dozen unique solutions. But this one technology promises to revolutionize the task of air sealing, especially for production builders.

 

New Capabilities

Finally, some new products offer capabilities that simply haven’t existed in the past. On-site battery storage is already a key component of major grid-integrated zero energy housing developments. This could become standard equipment in future zero energy homes and buildings. It’s a nascent technology that can benefit builders and buyers, while helping utilities even out the loads on the grid.

 

Greenhouse Gases

Reducing the energy needed to operate buildings has been the focus for years. Now that we are closer to realizing the goal of buildings that operate entirely on clean energy, it’s time to integrate the greenhouse gas impact of creating the products themselves. Sometimes called embodied energy, this is the greenhouse gas emissions resulting from extraction of raw materials, transportation, processing, manufacturing, installation, and disposal or recycling.

Products selected for the Zero Energy Project Product Directory exhibit low global warming potential compared to conventional materials or products. When available, the manufacturer has completed and made public a full life cycle assessment to show the range of benefits and impacts of its production, use, and disposal.

 

Indoor Air Quality and Environmental Safety

Since zero energy homes are so air-tight, it is important that the products used in them do not off-gas toxins, such as volatile organic compounds or formaldehyde, or contain chemicals contained in the Living Building Challenge Red List. These chemicals are a risk for homeowners, builders, fire safety personnel and for the environment.

 

New or Existing Buildings

New zero energy construction offers the easiest opportunity for installing these products.  On the other hand energy efficient equipment has an especially important role to play in renovating existing homes toward zero. In these homes where the structure is already established and access is limited, upgrading the energy efficiency of the shell is more difficult and expensive. So it becomes necessary to take advantage of the opportunity to replace failing equipment with new, high-efficiency products, either over time or as part of a major energy upgrade on the path to zero. The energy savings that result may be sufficient to avoid having to make major structural changes.

 

Suggest Products for the Directory

While the Zero Energy Project Product Directory is not intended to be an exhaustive list of everything needed for high energy performance, our hope is that the Directory will stimulate the supply chain of cost saving, energy efficient products in a way that will help drive the zero energy movement forward. Our goal is to help you identify useful products, both new and tried-and-true, that will make it easier to build a zero energy home. We invite your suggestions for products to add to the directory as well as your feedback on listed products, which you can provide in the comment section at the bottom of each page.

Please Note: While the Zero Energy Project is funded in part by sponsorships, sponsors will have no effect on our editorial content or mission, which is to help us all advance towards a zero net energy, zero net carbon, society. Contact us for more information about sponsorship.

Reference

Solar Greenhouse is a prototype for “zero kilometre” food production and energy generation
CategoriesSustainable News

Solar Greenhouse is a prototype for “zero kilometre” food production and energy generation

By Zarkon Group,

A team of students and researchers at the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC) has designed a prototype Solar Greenhouse for energy generation and food production with a “zero kilometre” philosophy.

The timber structure, constructed in Barcelona’s Serra de Collserola Natural Park, is intended to demonstrate how our most basic needs could be met in a more ecological way, in response to the EU’s aims to be net-zero by 2050.

Solar Geenhouse is perched on hilly terrain
Solar Greenhouse is an energy and food production prototype that was designed by students and researchers at IAAC

Led by Vicente Guallard and Daniel Ibañez, directors of the Masters programme in Advanced Ecological Buildings and Biocities, the students worked with a variety of experts in cultivation, energy and water.

While the prototype sits in a natural landscape, it is intended it to be scalable and adaptable to a variety of settings, such as on the rooftops of inner-city buildings.

Front elevation of the Solar Greenhouse that is accessed via a footbridge
It was constructed using timber

“The aim was to design and build a system that could be replicated in both rural and urban areas,” said the designers.

“[It] represents the next step towards a more ecological agricultural transformation and progress in tackling food and energy poverty,” they continued.

Person is pictured on the footbridge of Solar Greenhouse
The structure comprises two levels and features solar panels on its roof

The greenhouse is a simple, timber-framed structure with two levels, topped by glass panels and solar panels and wrapped in glass louvres that provide light and ventilation.

Germination takes place on the greenhouse’s lower level, while the upper level contains cultivation spaces, with a glass, diamond-shaped roof maximising its exposure to sunlight.

A network of pipes carrying nutrients and lighting for growth cycles is integrated into the structure. Hydroponics allow for plants to be grown without agricultural soil and LED strip lighting aids growth cycles.

The “zero kilometre” concept is normally used to describe food that is produced and eaten locally, and thus has travelled zero kilometres.

Here, the philosophy was applied not only to the greenhouse’s food production but also its construction, with materials being locally and sustainable sourced.

Interior image of Solar Greenhouse
The prototype will be used to grow plants without soil

The pine for the timber was processed in the IAAC’s nearby Vallduara Labs, and the substrate materials in the planting beds consists of recycled sawdust — a waste product of the Green Fab Lab also on the university campus.

“The water, substrate and building materials are obtained from the surroundings, allowing the food grown to jump directly from production to consumption, without the need of a supply chain,” explained the designers.

“The ultimate goal is for the knowledge and the locally achieved systems to be applied at a global scale and, in this respect, the Solar Greenhouse is a valuable step forward,” they continued.

Interior image of the lower level at the structure
Materials used in the construction were sustainably sourced

Students from IAAC also designed and built a cabin for self-isolation using wood harvested from within one kilometre of the site.

In Belgium, Meta Architectuurbureau and Van Bergen Kolpa Architecten recently completed a greenhouse in Belgium atop an agricultural market to create an urban food production centre.

The photography is by Adrià Goula.

Reference

Providing clean off-grid and on-grid energy for industrial and commercial clients 
CategoriesSustainable News

Providing clean off-grid and on-grid energy for industrial and commercial clients 

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: Many African countries receive more than 2,500 hours of sunshine per year, making the continent an ideal location for solar energy power. As the number of providers grows, so too does access to renewable energy sources. Nigerian-based Starsight Energy expanded into three east African countries before merging with South African company SolarAfrica. The new combined business now covers three sizeable areas of the continent and has plans to develop further.  

Tailored solar energy solutions provided by the company include a complete audit of an organisation’s power and cooling needs and a custom-designed installation. One of the main selling points of solar energy on the continent is its reliability combined with the lack of dramatic price fluctuations diesel customers contend with. Starsight says that its customers receive full power 99 per cent of the time. Depending on local conditions, the solar arrays can be on- or off-grid as best suits the situation.

To help make it easier for businesses of all sizes to afford the switch to renewable energy, customers pay no money upfront. Instead, clients pay a set monthly fee that includes all analysis, set-up, monitoring, and support services. Contract lengths vary with a minimum of five years. For businesses requiring energy at night, Starsight provides standby generators for sites requiring particularly heavy power loads as well as a Power-as-a-Service battery storage option.

The application of solar energy is expanding, with Springwise spotting innovations such as greenhouse solar systems that use wavelengths of light that plants cannot use, and solar cells printed onto construction steel for integrated energy generation.  

Written By: Keely Khoury

Reference

Finnish “sand battery” offers solution for renewable energy storage
CategoriesSustainable News

Finnish “sand battery” offers solution for renewable energy storage

By Zarkon Group,

Finnish companies Polar Night Energy and Vatajankoski have built the world’s first operational “sand battery”, which provides a low-cost and low-emissions way to store renewable energy.

The battery, which stores heat within a tank of sand, is installed at energy company Vatajankoski’s power plant in the town of Kankaanpää, where it is plugged into the local district heating network, servicing around 10,000 people.

The company behind the technology, Polar Night Energy, says it helps to solve one of the key obstacles in the transition to full renewable energy: how to store it for use during times when the sun isn’t shining or wind isn’t blowing, and particularly for use in the wintertime when demand is high.

Steel tank making up the Polar Night Energy sand battery in Finland
The Kankaanpää “sand battery” holds 100 tonnes of hot sand

“Solar and wind power is basically already really competitive in terms of energy price per produced energy unit,” Polar Night Energy co-founder and chief technology officer Markku Ylönen told Dezeen.

“The only problem with them is that you can’t really choose when it’s produced.”

He said that while lithium batteries are well suited for vehicles, “if we’re talking about gigawatt hours or terawatt hours of excess electricity, it’s not technically feasible to try to cover that with lithium batteries, and also the costs will be immense”.

“Even even if we dug out all the lithium in the world, we couldn’t build batteries big enough to accommodate all the fluctuation in renewable energy production,” Ylönen added.

Diagram showing excess energy from a wind turbine, tidal turbine and solar panel being stored as heat and sent to homes as heat for consumption
The battery stores excess renewable energy as heat that can later be sent to homes and businesses

Polar Night Energy’s sand battery stores heat for use weeks or even months later. It works by converting the captured renewable electricity into hot air by using an industrial version of a standard resistive heating element, then directing the hot air into the sand.

The heat transfers from the air to the sand, which ends up at temperatures of around 500 to 600 degrees Celsius and retains that heat well. To unlock it for use, the process is reversed and the hot air funnelled into a heating system used for homes or industry.

According to Ylönen, the process is low-cost – sand is inexpensive so the main costs are related to equipment and construction of the steel storage tank.

It is also low-impact, with the only substantial greenhouse gas emissions being embodied emissions from construction and the transport of sand, which should come from a location close to the battery site.

And although there is a sand shortage related to the material’s use in concrete and glass, Ylönen says the battery does not require this kind of fine-grain, high-quality sand.

Instead, they can use sand rejected by the construction industry, or even alternative “sand-like materials”, of which Polar Night Energy already has several contenders.

Excess sand from the building of the sand battery in Kankaanpää
The battery can be made with any type of sand from any location

The Kankaanpää battery is four metres in diameter, seven metres high and contains 100 tonnes of sand, but Polar Night Energy envisions future batteries being 20 metres across and 10 metres high.

This should give the battery one gigawatt hour of storage capacity, which is equivalent to one million kilowatt hours (kWh). The average UK home uses 1,000 kWh of gas and 240 kWh of electricity per month.

Several sand batteries of a standardised size could be placed around larger cities to service larger populations.

The sand battery would most likely only be used to provide heat and not electricity due to the inefficiency of the conversion process, but according to Ylönen, the world’s heating needs are great enough to justify having separate storage systems.

“The heating sector is something like one quarter or one third of the emissions of the world,” said Ylönen. “Along with the transportation and food industries, it’s among the largest sectors in terms of global warming.”

The urgency of transitioning to renewable energy has increased with the Ukraine war, which has led to spiralling energy costs and has revealed Europe’s dependence on Russian oil and gas.

Dezeen is on WeChat!

Click here to read the Chinese version of this article on Dezeen’s official WeChat account, where we publish daily architecture and design news and projects in Simplified Chinese.

Reference

Ubiquitous Energy aims to make solar windows the global standard
CategoriesSustainable News

Ubiquitous Energy aims to make solar windows the global standard

By Zarkon Group,

US company Ubiquitous Energy has invented a thin coating that turns windows into transparent solar panels, providing other ways to harvest renewable energy in buildings beyond rooftop panels.

Ubiquitous Energy describes its technology as being the only transparent photovoltaic glass coating that is “visibly indistinguishable” from traditional windows.

Any surface could become a solar panel

The company was founded in 2011 by researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Michigan State University (MSU), who engineered a transparent solar panel by allowing the visible spectrum of light to pass through and only absorbing ultraviolet and near-infrared light to convert to electricity.

Standard solar panels look black because they absorb the full spectrum of light, and because of their appearance, their deployment has been typically limited to roofs, walls and large rural solar farms.

With Ubiquitous Energy’s coating, which it calls UE Power, potentially any surface can be turned into a photovoltaic panel.

Gloved hands holding a transparent solar panel
Ubiquitous Energy’s transparent solar windows (above) are installed at Michigan State University (top)

“The mission is to turn all these everyday surfaces around us into essentially renewable energy generators,” Ubiquitous Energy VP of Strategy Veeral Hardev told Dezeen.

“Windows is where we’re focused first, but beyond that, think about vehicles, transportation in general, portable consumer electronics devices, sustainable farming like greenhouses – these are all things that see sunlight to some degree,” he continued.

“Why not improve them so that they can actually generate renewable energy themselves without changing their appearance?”

Hardev said the company’s modelling shows that with broad adoption of the technology to the point that in 30 years the coating is as standard as low-emissivity (or low-E) coatings on windows are now, it could offset 10 per cent of global carbon emissions.

All components are completely transparent

The solar window works in the same way as any other solar panel. It contains cells of a semiconductor material that create an electric charge in response to sunlight.

Wiring hidden in the window frames connects it to the building’s energy management system to direct power to where it’s needed in the building or to store it in a battery.

Close-up of person in a lab holding a vial and spatchula
The coating is made using light-absorbing dyes

The innovation with Ubiquitous Energy is that all of its materials are transparent to the human eye, including the semiconducting compounds, which take the form of light-absorbing dyes.

To achieve its thinness – the coating is about one micrometre thick, or about 80 to 100 times thinner than a human hair – it is made with nanomaterials, similar to those used in display technologies.

The semiconductor layers are deposited onto glass using vacuum physical vapor deposition (PVD) – a standard coating process using in the window industry – and Ubiquitous Energy plans to license its technology to existing glass manufacturers so that they can incorporate it into their product offerings.

Transparent panels only half as efficient

Ubiquitous Energy estimates the windows would provide about 30 per cent of a building’s electricity needs, depending on factors such as geographical location, elevation and tree cover, and imagine them being used in conjunction with rooftop solar panels to reduce the building’s reliance on the electrical grid.

Because some light is allowed to pass through, the transparent solar panel is only about half as powerful as a typical rooftop solar panel of the same size. But Hardev claims their potential scale of deployment compensates for this loss of efficiency.

“A few years ago, we reported the highest-ever performance for a transparent solar device, with near 10 per cent efficiency,” said Hardev. “Although there are options that are 20 per cent efficient today, we’re making this conscious trade-off of being transparent so we can put it in places where you can’t put traditional solar panels.”

Cities would theoretically be able to produce substantial amounts of solar power locally without changing in appearance, reducing the need for land for large solar power plants.

First factory to open in 2024

Applied in other ways, the coating could be used to make mobile phones that don’t need to be recharged, more energy-efficient cars and self-powering greenhouses, Hardev says.

“We’re first starting with windows because we think that is the area that is going to have the biggest overall impact,” said Hardev, citing the statistic that nearly 40 per cent of total global energy-related CO2 emissions come from buildings.

Ubiquitous Energy has completed a number of demonstration projects, including at Michigan State University and at the Boulder Commons apartment community in Colorado.

Ubiquity Energy solar windows installed at Michigan State University
The company is working to expand the coating’s applications beyond windows

The company plans to open its first factories producing floor-to-ceiling solar windows in 2024. It also hopes to grow its partnerships, which have so far included window companies Asahi, Pilkington and Andersen.

Past aesthetic solutions to the issue of intrusive solar panels have come from designer Marjan van Aubel, who created colourful skylights reminiscent of stained glass, and Tesla, which released camouflaged Solar Roof tiles.

Architects have also been creatively integrating the technology into buildings, with designs such as BIG and Heatherwick Studio’s “dragonscale solar skin” on the roof of Google’s Bay View campus in Silicon Valley and Shigeru Ban’s sail-like moving wall of photovoltaics at La Seine Musical near Paris.

All images are courtesy of Ubiquitous Energy.

Solar Revolution logo
Illustration is by Berke Yazicioglu

Solar Revolution

This article is part of Dezeen’s Solar Revolution series, which explores the varied and exciting possible uses of solar energy and how humans can fully harness the incredible power of the sun.

Reference

A thermal energy storage system reduces energy costs and emissions
CategoriesSustainable News

A thermal energy storage system reduces energy costs and emissions

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: Today, significant energy is spent on keeping buildings warm or cool. In fact, nearly half of the greenhouse gas emissions associated with buildings are the result of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC). Buildings, in turn, account for 39 per cent of energy-related global greenhouse gas emissions. In response, buildings are increasingly fitted with thermal energy storage systems that smooth and optimise heating and cooling throughout the day. Traditionally, these systems work by changing the temperature of water in huge tanks that are expensive and inefficient. This could be set to change, however.  

Instead of water, the HeatTank system developed by Hungarian startup HeatVentors, uses phase changing materials—substances that absorb and release heat energy when they solidify or melt—to store the heating or cooling energy from a building’s HVAC system. If the system is being used for heating, excess heat is stored, melting the phase changing materials (PCM). When the heat energy is needed later on, it is discharged and the PCM solidifies. The process is exactly reversed if the system is being used for cooling. Cold air solidifies the PCM, with the cooling energy later discharged when the PCM melts. The temperature range for solidifying and melting the PCM is much narrower than for water – 20 degrees Celsius for solidifying, and 40 degrees Celsius for melting.

By storing energy when it is most abundant and releasing it at more expensive times, the HeatTank system helps organisations reduce their carbon emissions while also saving money on energy costs. In essence, the system allows organisations to bypass the most expensive times of day or night for buying or producing energy. In addition, by more steadily regulating interior temperatures, the technology reduces the overall amount of energy an organisation consumes.

Rectangular in shape, the storage unit is 90 per cent smaller than current, water-based versions, making it suitable even for relatively small buildings. What is more, the system is 20-40 per cent more efficient than others on the market.

The company currently focuses on data centres, district heating and cooling networks, commercial buildings, and gas engines, all of which rely heavily on HVAC throughout much of the year. For data centres, a gap of cooling power for even five minutes can result in significant damage, something HeatTanks can help to prevent by providing immediate backup energy in case of emergency.

Energy storage remains one of the most significant challenges in transitioning entire economies to renewable energies. Innovators are seeking myriad solutions, from reusing old EV batteries for energy storage units to using captured CO2 for long-term energy storage. 

Written by: Keely Khoury

19th August 2022

Email: hello@heatventors.com

Website: heatventors.com

Reference

Home Energy Scores: If Ireland Has Them, Why Not the US?
CategoriesSustainable News Zero Energy Homes

Home Energy Scores: If Ireland Has Them, Why Not the US?

By Zarkon Group,

Wherever I travel, I enjoy a little window shopping for homes at real estate agencies. I like to compare prices and features in different places. On a recent trip to Ireland, I was surprised to see that every home listing included a home energy score: a BER or Building Energy Rating! The BER shows the home’s energy efficiency on a clear color-coded scale of A to G.

Building Energy Ratings in Ireland

Ireland has required these ratings since 2006. They cost about €150 to €300, and real estate agents must display them on listings of homes or apartments for sale, whether new construction or existing homes. 

The beauty of these ratings is that they show whether buyers are considering a home that is an energy hog and carbon polluter or a highly energy-efficient one. It gives homebuyers vital information regarding the home’s energy costs, so they can make a wise purchase. These ratings can motivate sellers to upgrade the energy efficiency of their homes themselves. While these ratings are not always consistent depending on the energy assessor or region, Ireland is working to remedy these discrepancies.

Home Energy Scores and upgrades in the US

So, where are we in the US regarding energy efficiency ratings? The US Department of Energy created a system of Home Energy Scores that cities and states can use to set up their own energy rating systems. In 2018, Portland, OR, was the first city to require these scores, mandating that every home for sale has a Home Energy Score report. This report estimates the energy use of the home, the energy costs, and the cost-effective energy upgrades proposed to improve the home’s energy efficiency and carbon footprint. 

So, how is it going in Portland? Currently, close to 92% of homes for sale in Portland have Home Energy Scores. Portland has trained its real estate agents and energy assessors to provide consistent results. They also work to make the process as easy as possible for sellers. Home energy assessors are available to homeowners in need of rating services. In Oregon, the cost of an energy rating by a licensed home energy assessor ranges from $150 to  $300. 

The goal is to support sellers in making energy upgrades before they sell: to offer a more appealing property, and for buyers to save money on their home heating and cooling costs while reducing carbon emissions. But few cities, or states, have followed Portland’s example. To date, Oregon is a leader with Portland, Milwaukee, and Hillsboro requiring Home Energy Scores. The city of Bend is actively considering passing one by December 2022. Other cities requiring Home Energy Scores include Austin, TX; Berkeley, CA; and Minneapolis, MN. Overall, adoption of Home Energy Scores by cities and states is way too slow to impact climate change.

 

Thermal Image of Heat Leak thru Windows

Take Action Now!

Yes, it would be helpful to have local, state, and national governments require energy ratings and proposed upgrades as part of full disclosure on the sale of a home. But it’s happening too slowly. Instead, you can work with your local government to develop a home energy score requirement.

For your own home, you can search for a home energy rater or energy assessor to help you obtain a home energy rating and suggest the most cost-effective ways to upgrade your home’s energy efficiency. Then, you can enjoy the benefits of a more energy-efficient, more comfortable home and sell it for a higher price. 

I advise homebuyers to insist on an energy rating in the closing agreement as part of the home inspection, and ask the seller to make the needed energy upgrades. If the seller does not agree, buyers can engage an experienced contractor to undertake a complete energy evaluation and immediately implement upgrades, before move-in. That way buyers can enjoy a healthier, more comfortable, energy-efficient home from day one. Lower utility costs and reduced emissions to help prevent global warming will continue for years. 

 

Reference

Generating clean energy from building steel
CategoriesSustainable News

Generating clean energy from building steel

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: As the world looks to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels, solar roofs could enable buildings to generate, store, and release their own secure supply of electricity. This concept is called ‘Active Buildings’ and has been successfully demonstrated by two buildings on the Swansea University campus for several years.

Now, experts at the university are taking the idea further by embarking on a three-year research collaboration with Tata Steel UK. The partnership will develop solar roofing panels which are greener, lighter, cheaper, and more flexible. And the key feature? The panels can be printed directly onto the steel used in buildings.

The panels use Perovskite solar cell (PSC) technology. PSC technology is a cheaper and lighter alternative to silicon-based solar panels. PSCs are made from a class of materials called perovskites, which can be readily produced from inexpensive and readily available ingredients. PSC could play a pivotal role in making solar power more affordable and accessible, and it could also be significantly more sustainable. PSC emits less than half the carbon of a silicon cell.

One of the key characteristics of the perovskite solar cells is that they are flexible and can be applied directly to surfaces, making them ideal for use in roofing materials or printing. Using techniques such as screen printing, PSC could be applied directly to materials such as coated steel.

Springwise has spotted a number of other innovations looking at decentralised solar power. Belgian startup Octave has designed a battery energy storage system (BESS) for stationary energy applications, while a UK company is incorporating solar cells into blackout blinds.

Written By: Katrina Lane

2nd August 2022

Email: k.g.sullivan@swansea.ac.uk

Website: swansea.ac.uk

Reference

Innovation and SDG 7: Affordable and clean energy
CategoriesSustainable News

Innovation and SDG 7: Affordable and clean energy

By Zarkon Group,

Energy is the bedrock of civilisation, so much so that the scale scientists will use to determine the sophistication of any alien civilisations we may one day encounter is based on their energy use. For most of human history, communities have relied on the energy of human and animal muscle. But since the industrial revolution, the world has tapped a different energy source – the power of the sun stored in the remains of organisms that died millions of years ago.

Fossil fuels changed everything. They have created unprecedented prosperity, brought the four corners of the globe within a 24-hour flight of each other, and transformed the way we produce food and a whole host of other products beyond the wildest dreams of our ancestors.

And energy from fossil fuels has allowed us to generate electricity, bringing the quiet revolution of light and refrigeration to our homes – not to mention smartphones, televisions, and a whole host of other gadgets. Or at least it has to most of the world. The number of people without access to electricity has fallen steadily – by an average of nine per cent per year between 2015 and 2019. Yet today, 770 million people still lack electricity, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa. The work of extending the life-changing benefits of electricity to everyone is therefore unfinished.

The issue of access to electricity and energy must be tackled alongside another existential challenge – the global energy transition. The burning of fossil fuels is heating up the planet’s climate—by at least 1.1 degrees Celsius already since pre-industrial times—causing a whole host of devastating impacts that are all too obvious to anyone following the news. The world as a whole must therefore transition away from fossil fuels towards affordable and clean energy – and fast. The role of innovation in what is arguably humanity’s greatest ever technical challenge is obvious. Yet the solutions innovators are finding are creative, and sometimes surprising.

New renewable energy sources

Today, the largest renewable energy sources are hydropower, wind, and solar. Wind and solar energy, in particular, are forecast to ramp up during the energy transition, and innovators are working to optimise these established sources incrementally. Wind turbines are becoming hardier, quieter, and more efficient, while solar panels are increasingly being integrated into the built environment in innovative ways – through walls, the facades of skyscrapers, and even blackout blinds.

But in addition to optimising solar and wind, innovators are also thinking outside the box about whole new energy sources. One company is using small turbines to turn almost any waterway into a power source, while another is seeking to harness the power of deep-sea currents. Even nuclear power, in use since the 1950s, is getting a makeover with seaborne nuclear plants that could act as mobile energy sources.

Energy storage

One of the key challenges we face as we move away from fossil fuels is how to store energy from variable sources. What do we do when the sun doesn’t shine and the wind doesn’t blow? Much of the focus has been on batteries, but these come with their own challenges – not least the demand they create for scarce materials that are extracted in environmentally damaging processes. Undeterred, innovators are working to create safer, greener, more efficient, and more affordable batteries, such as one developed in Germany that is made using globally abundant resources.

Batteries are far from the only game in town when it comes to energy storage, however. For example, a prototype system that stores energy in the form of heat and compressed air is 30-40 per cent cheaper than lithium-ion batteries. And another system stores energy on the ocean floor using a mechanism similar to a hydroelectric dam. Hydrogen, in particular, is considered a good candidate for energy storage, and two companies are exploring how hydrogen could be stored in underground shafts.

Energy efficiency

Target 7.3 within SDG 7 sets the goal of doubling the rate of improvement in energy efficiency, a reminder that we must look at energy demand as well as supply. There are many inefficiencies in homes around the world that lead to wasteful energy consumption. For example, in South Africa, a country that faces particular challenges with the security of the power supply, many homes use inefficient electric water heaters, known locally as ‘geysers’. One startup has developed an innovative device that reduces the impact of these systems by tailoring heating to user habits.

Another way in which energy efficiency can be improved is through new building materials that reduce the demand for energy-intensive heating and cooling systems. For example, engineers from China and Germany have developed a wood-based cooling foam that could reduce the cooling energy needs of a building by more than a third. Roofs and windows are another source of energy inefficiency. Researchers in Singapore have developed a window coating that blocks infrared but not visible light, while a smart roof coating developed in the US could also lead to energy savings.

Off-grid energy systems

Extending affordable energy to the remaining proportion of the population who lack it is particularly challenging. Many of these communities are remote, situated a long way from traditional energy infrastructure. Innovators have been responding with modular, portable energy systems.

For example, a Swiss company has developed fully autonomous solar-powered micro-grids that can be used and scaled up by almost anyone. The system is designed to be fully autonomous, and plug-and-play – allowing users to simply plug the system together with no configuration, specific know-how, or maintenance required. Another system developed by a company founded in Tanzania has developed a standalone ‘mini grid’ that draws on multiple energy inputs and a smart storage system to provide continuous power to off-grid communities across Africa.

Back-up generation

Energy systems need to be resilient as well as green and affordable. When natural disasters knock out the main energy grid, hospitals, data centres, and other essential services need to have access to backup supplies. Today, many backup generators still run on polluting diesel. To tackle this problem, one company has developed a generator that can run on a range of fuels, including ammonia and hydrogen.

And it’s not just hospitals that need backup power, so too do households, especially if they are situated in regions prone to supply disruptions. Grassroots NGO Deciwatt has developed a muscle-powered emergency generator for such vulnerable communities.

Words: Matthew Hempstead

Looking for inspiration on sustainability? Why not visit our SDG hub page for more articles on green innovation that matters.

2nd August 2022

Reference

Pay-as-you-go financing makes renewable energy more accessible
CategoriesSustainable News

Pay-as-you-go financing makes renewable energy more accessible

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: Many communities in rural Peru are mostly off-grid, relying on lanterns, cookstoves, and candles for heat and light. But now, renewable energy sources are replacing candles and diesel generators in much of the country. Provided by social enterprise PowerMundo, solar-powered lamps help children complete their homework, artisans work in the evening, and doctors attend to patients at night. The organisation also provides communication technologies, improved cookstoves, and water filtration systems.

Using a network of wholesalers, retailers, and sales agents to spread the word about the availability of the solar-powered devices, PowerMundo is also making it easier for individuals and families to afford the new type of power. Using a pay-as-you-go model, users can buy one week’s worth of solar energy at a time.

To make the financing option viable, PowerMundo is working with a range of partners to provide larger solar arrays from which communities can buy power. The larger installations provide enough energy for multiple households and do not require individual devices. A recent recipient of a Startup Perú grant, the company plans to put the money towards installation of additional and sizeable pay-as-you-go systems capable of producing substantial volumes of power.

Other off-grid solar power innovations spotted by Springwise include solar-powered water pumps and fishing lights, India’s first solar-powered town, and a plug-and-play solar energy system for swarm electrification.

Written by: Keely Khoury

29th July 2022

Email: info@powermundo.com

Website: powermundo.com

Reference