The energy storage industry is assured of a successful future. There will be setbacks in these difficult times, of course, in a sector that has many vulnerable pre-commercial technology developers. However, storage has all the attributes of a cornerstone technology, enabling real progress in areas that are certain to be of huge significance: the effective use of […]
Renewables and the Grid Conference – May 13-14, 2009 | Almas Temple Club, Washington, DC
Part Two of an Interconnected Conference with: National Energy Policy Transmission holds the key to meeting renewable energy goals nationwide. It is projected that nearly all easily accessible wind sites will be exhausted within two to four years, and both utility-scale solar and geothermal are likewise transmission constrained. Hundreds of billions of dollars of […]
HOUSE OF COMMONS SEMINAR ON LAND VALUE TAXATION
Organised by The Coalition for Economic Justice Hosted by Vince Cable MP Panel of Speakers: Sir Sam Brittan, Financial Times Fred Harrison*, Land Research Trust Prof Iain McLean, Professor of Politics– Oxford University Ashley Seager, The Guardian Molly Scott Cato, Green Party Economics speaker David Triggs, Henry George Foundation * Author of Boom […]
"Lazy NPower can't be bothered to lay a heat main to re-gas the LNG at Milford Haven" – our correspondent
FOE Cymru were gutted by the recent consent given to the 2GWe CCGT Npower application at Pembroke power station site. Its on the south side of the Haven and will dump 9 TWh/y into the waterway (capturing 6 TWh/ would have been enough to heat 330,000 homes rising to 500,000 if insulation programmes reduced annual […]
the finance industry has effectively captured our government says a former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund
But you heard it here first – we pointed this blindingly obvous fact out a few months ago after the last Claverton Conference……… The crash has laid bare many unpleasant truths about the United States. One of the most alarming, says a former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, is that the finance […]
Water Meters – confusing cause and effect ? Letter from Prof Lesley
Dear Editor, Is today’s front page story another attempt by the Government to tax us more ? UK homeowners (with or without meters) already pay more for water than Continentals. UK water use if wasteful. About 90% of domestic water flushes toilets and washes; ourselves, clothes and dishes. Fortunately the washing machine makers have reduced […]
ZERO EMISSION HYBRID RAILCAR
Ultra Light Rail – the Fast Track to Fuel Cells Introducing Fuel Cells to the Commercial Public Transport Market Fuel cells are now recognised as a key technology in the process of weaning the modern world from its dependence on fossil fuels and leading it into a new age of alternative energy. The principal obstacle […]
How Much Wind Energy is there? – Brian Hurley – Wind Site Evaluation Ltd.
Introduction
The starting point is an estimate of the total quantity of kinetic energy in the atmosphere. Lorenz gives 1.5 x 106Joules/m2 as the quantity of kinetic energy contained in the atmosphere(1). Smil gives a figure described as the annual “solar radiation reaching the earth” as equal to 5.8 x 1024Joules, or 1.84 X 1017W, and 360W/m2(2). Annual Solar radiation absorbed by earths surface(land and sea) 2.9 x 1024Joules, or 9.19 X 1016W, and 180W/m2. Note the solar constant is 1,366W/m2. Smil refers to a source from Lorenz(1976) that “atmospheric motion” was about 2% of 3.5PW insolation. ( Applying 2% to Smil’s 9.19 X 1016W giving 1.84 X 1015W with his figure for winds below 1km 1.22 x 1015W is the right order of magnitude
Earthwatch Lecture – Forests and Climate Change
Earthwatch Lecture – Forests and Climate Change Thursday 26th March, 7.00pm-8.30pm at the Royal Geographical Society, 1 Kensington Gore, London SW7 2AR Our forests, home to an extraordinary range of biodiversity, and arguably one of our greatest safeguards against climate change, continue to be depleted at an alarming rate. How can we set about securing their future?
BWEA MEDIA ROUNDTABLE AT BLOOMBERG, APRIL 8th 2009 9:30 to 11 am – PLEASE BOOK IN ADVANCE
BWEA (British Wind Energy Association) will be launching its first Budget submission, ahead of the Budget speech on April 24th. Following a consultation process led by the BWEA, the UK wind industry is putting forward proposals to the Treasury on how to maintain the momentum in the wind sector, on and offshore, during the […]