Forget Solar: The Energy Breakthrough That Could Provide 10% of US Electricity

That headline is very much the essence of the big wake-up call issued by a US investment analyst this month. Yes. At last, the financial community is beginning to see the huge potential for energy from waste in the US, and because they are such big waste producers, it IS an enormous new investment area for investors to consider.

As they point out, there is "low hanging fruit" in the US as well, in the form of landfill gas extraction from existing and propose landfills.

The size of the opportunity for those wishing to invest in landfill gas can be seen, and is undisputable if their figure of only 1 in 5.7 landfills being equipped for LFG extraction and energy production is correct - and we have no reason to doubt it.

That opportunity has long since passed in Europe, but the US is wide open for new landfill gas projects. If the sites are remote from a big enough power line, then no longer is that a problem with the biogas upgrading equipment now available.

This means that the gas coan be cleaned up and used for vehicle use or injected into gas grid mains, and many can use it to run the refuse vehicles for a start, with plenty left over.

Please visit the original website via the link below, after you have read the excerpt below:

Today, I want to tell you about a true game changer in the energy industry. Up until a few years ago, this initiative would have seemed almost impossible. It would have been the subject of sci-fi movies. But don't worry, what I'm about to tell you is very real. In the past five years alone, some of the world's leading businesses have poured more than $18.2 billion into this unique idea.  I'm talking about turning trash into energy.

 Here's the story... According to Waste Management (NYSE: WM), the average person generates roughly four pounds of trash a day. That adds up to 227.5 million tons of "municipal solid waste" every year, enough to fill a line of trash trucks nearly 100,000 miles long, which would circle the Earth four times.

All of that trash has a pretty predictable profile. As the chart below shows, a good portion of it is recyclable: The glass, plastic and metal can all be reused.

But the majority of trash is organic material: Wood, food, yard waste and paper account for 62.5% of the trash Americans toss out. This adds up to 142.2 million tons of rotting material every year, just in the United States.

As much of that organic waste decomposes in the landfill, it emits gas... quite a lot of it too. Made up of about 60% methane, landfill gas is combustible. Enough so to create high-pressure steam that spins turbines to generate electric power in exactly the same way utilities burn natural gas.

Right now, there are more than 540 landfill gas-to-energy projects in the United States. Those projects are delivering 1,684 megawatts of electricity to corporate and government users, which is enough energy to power 1.7 million homes.

With only one landfill-gas site for every 5.7 active landfills, there is room for serious growth. Those untapped landfills are like having open wells bleeding gas into the air, where it vanishes, instead of into a pipeline, where it can be sold.

There are many companies out there that see that waste, yearn to harness that energy and might well make a fortune in the process. That's one reason market intelligence firm Pike Research expects this industry to at least double worldwide in the next decade.

The American Biogas Council estimates there are 12,000 undeveloped biogas sites in the wastewater (3,300), agriculture (8,200) and landfill (500) sectors. Using the energy created from these sites, biogas could replace up to 10% of the United States' electricity needs. We are, after all, already "making" all this gas. The opportunity lies in capturing and harnessing its power.

Right now, one of my favorite plays in this space is Tetra Technologies (Nasdaq: TTEK), a massive engineering firm that is always on the cusp of "the next big thing." That's one reason it has, in its history, delivered fully four times the Nasdaq's return.

As a member of the America Biogas Council, Tetra Tech is one of the few companies with the expertise and ability to build a commercial-scale turnkey biogas facility.

The company is also solidly profitable and well-run, as evidenced by its strong historical growth in equity. And, with a $1.73 billion market cap, it still has plenty of space to grow -- or the potential to be acquired at a substantial premium.

View the original article here

300 Farm Biogas Digesters Now in Use in Central Java for Energy

We are pleased to bring you the news that farmers in Central Java have started to produce biogas processed from animal dung to meet their electricity needs. The Group Association of Farmers Qaryah Thayyibah (SPPQT) in Salatiga, one of the regencies in the province, has claimed success in the program. We thought it would interest our readers, and these digesters are waste driven so there are no food crop depletion issues. If you find the excerpt from the original article that we have provided below to be interesting, please also visit the original site by following the link provided:

The association announced at a recent ceremony that it had created 300 units of biogas digesters in 20 subdistricts across the province.

The ceremony on Tuesday was witnessed by State-Owned Enterprises Minister Dahlan Iskan.

SPPQT chairman Khidziq Faisol said that the association initiated the biogas program upon its establishment in 1999 in Salatiga, inspired by the abundant waste products from cow farming.

“This program has helped empower the community to meet their own daily energy needs,” Khidziq said.

He said farmers owning more than two cows could utilize their animals’ dung to produce enough energy for both cooking and lighting.

“A farmer with at least three cows can produce a cubic meter of biogas,” said Khidziq, adding that the amount could produce energy for cooking and lighting in one household for a whole day.

SPPQT has 16,348 member farmers, comprising 660 farmer groups in Batang, Boyolali, Demak, Kendal, Magelang, Purwodadi, Salatiga, Semarang, Sragen, Temanggung and Wonosobo.

Apart from biogas, the association has also succeeded in establishing a micro-hydropower plant with a 170,000-Watt capacity, built for subdistricts located along riverbanks. The association earns some Rp 50 million (US$5,400) per month from the sale of the electricity the plant produces.

“The riverbank communities receive 30 percent of the income and the remaining 70 percent goes to the association to fund its activities,” Khidziq said.

One of the association’s supervisors, Tri Mumpuni, said the entire community was required to participate for the success of the two empowerment programs, including environmental preservation.

“In order to create a permanent income for the subdistricts, we are currently negotiating with PLN [state-owned electricity company] to buy our electricity,” Tri said.

Dahlan applauded the empowerment program, saying civil society movements should start within subdistricts where people could be empowered through a variety of activities.

With the biogas they produced, people no longer needed to purchase kerosene to fulfill their needs for cooking fuel, Dahlan said.

The program, he added, was also in line with his ministry’s target of reducing imports of cattle, by purchasing 100,000 cows to be bred at the ministry’s plantations across the country.

“There is a possibility that we will collaborate with the SPPQT to the rearing of cattle and we will buy the calves bred through the program,” Dahlan said.

View the original article here

Pig Farms to Become Less Stinky Down Under Due to Covered Anaerobic Pond Design

It is good to see that an innovative biogas system, developed at NIWA Hamilton, has been embraced by the Australian pork industry. It provides an alternative electricity and heating source and was developed by New Zealand's National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA). Personally,

I am surprised that these lagoon systems would make sense in the cool New Zealand climate, much better that the Aussies use this technology which should work well in their hot climate. Read-on for more about this development, and also I encourage you, as always, to visit the original article by following the link which is provided below the article:

The Australian pork industry association, Australian Pork Limited (APL), has collaborated with NIWA and several pork producers to design and build covered anaerobic pond based biogas systems. So far, four systems are currently at various stages of construction.

NIWA worked in collaboration with the New Zealand Pork Industry Board and Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) on the New Zealand prototype.

NIWA identified that anaerobic digestion in covered waste ponds holds significant potential to reduce odour and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, while providing biogas as a local energy resource.

Australian pig farmers are incentivised to use the technology to reduce farm GHG emissions. The recently introduced Carbon Farming Initiative (CFI) allows farmers and land managers to earn carbon credits by storing carbon or reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the agricultural sector. These credits can then be sold to businesses with an emission liability, such as fossil fuel power plants or chemical processors.

"The system makes good sense," says NIWA research engineer Stephan Heubeck, who has driven the development of the technology. "Anaerobic digestion in covered ponds holds significant potential to reduce odour and greenhouse gas emissions from the farming sector. At farm scale, this energy resource can be used for heating and/or to generate electricity."

The first pond based biogas system that NIWA designed was a purpose-built 7000m3 covered anaerobic pond for Steve Lepper's piggery in Taranaki.

NIWA's simple and low cost design has proven effective and reliable over the last two years. At the Lepper piggery, the biogas is used for electricity generation and heating in a combined heat and power unit (CHP).

As well as providing the majority of the piggery's electricity needs during daytime, waste heat from the generator is used in a reticulated hot water system for keeping young pigs warm.

Steve Lepper expects to recoup his $120,000 investment ($30,000 of which came from an EECA grant) within three years.

For additional information:

NIWA

View the original article here

Could Ananerobic Digestion be Rivalled by Microbial Fuel Cell Which Produces Biogas and Energy from Wastes

I hope that readers will forgive me applying a healthy dose of scepticism to the following announcement. I wish all alternative energy technologies success, and have nothing against this one, it is just that at the current pilot scale of 1 cubic metre, it is surprisingly hopeful to suggest that this can be successfully applied to food waste, and that achieved with only £150,000 funding.

(The video below is about a different unrelated microbial fuel cell development.)

Also, is this really biogas (methane) which is being referred to here, or a process gas, which it would have to be if the gas is "hydrogen rich"? Read the article, visit the original website, and give us your views:

A 'Microbial Fuel Cell' (MFC) has been developed by a team of scientists and businesses in the midlands to help farmers and dairy producers dispose of slurry, and at the same time harvest energy which can be re-used on site.

The team consists of Sutton-in-Ashfield based Lindhurst Engineering, scientists at The University of Nottingham, dairy products co-operative Arla Foods and treatment systems company Clearfleau.

The developers said that pilot testing is being undertaken at dairy and farm sites over the next two years to develop a commercially viable and affordable production model.

The iNet's contribution will focus on looking at how the process can also be used to harness energy from the different types of waste produced during food manufacturing.

Testing will be carried out with selected food manufacturers that produce a range of different food waste products, before three large-scale trials later this year.

Current methods of dealing with the organic content in industrial effluent are costly and waste the potential energy contained within it, according to the team, which claimed that its MFC technology is able to harness the energy - hydrogen rich biogas - using a series of anodes and cathodes.

According to Nottingham University, microbial fuel cells use bacteria to oxidise the organic compounds in the slurry or dairy by-products and generates a current. The process produces not only electricity, but carbon dioxide, hydrogen and water.

After trialling the technology last year in a one cubic metre capacity pilot plant, the team said that it has calculated that a larger production scale sized cell will be able to supply a farm with a large proportion of its annual energy needs if fed with slurry from 200 cows.

Now the team is turning its attention to how the technology could be used to help food manufacturers to dispose of food waste and create energy. The developers said that they are currently looking at the different types of food waste produced by food manufacturers during processing, with the aim of developing a pre-treatment system to transform solid food waste into a suitable consistency for the MFC.

This will be followed by trials with a number of manufacturers to look at commercial viability of the MFC and pre-treatment process, along with analysis of how much energy and biofuel would be created and the cost savings incurred from the type and volume of waste the business generates.

Funding

According to the team, trials have proved that the system works and it has now been awarded funding from a number of sources, including the Food and Drink iNet which has given the project a 154,000 grant to develop a pre-treatment process to enable the Microbial Fuel Cell to take solid food waste as well as waste water.

Part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), The Food and Drink iNet co-ordinates innovation support for businesses, universities and individuals working in the food and drink sector in the East Midlands.

"This project has tremendous potential for the food and drink sector, as the disposal of food waste can be a costly affair," said Food and Drink iNet director Richard Worrall. "If the waste can be disposed of easily on-site, and at the same time create hydrogen which can be turned into electricity, it's a win, win situation."

As well as investment by the companies involved, the development has also received funding from the government's Technology Strategy Board (TSB), involving a two-year KTP (Knowledge Transfer Partnership).

Martin Rigley, managing director at Lindhurst Engineering added: "This will give us chance to trial our technology on a range of waste food products and enable us to tailor our system to various waste streams."

"The ultimate objective is to have a cost-effective way of releasing the inherent energy contained within waste at source. This will lead to cost savings in handling the waste with the added advantage of a payback from the energy released," concluded Rigley.

Read More:

View the original article here

Konzen Clean Energy Gets Biogas Plant Contract Worth US$2.5 Million - Bernama

October 28, 2011 15:07 PM

Konzen Clean Energy Gets Biogas Plant Contract Worth US$2.5 Million

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 28 (Bernama) -- Konzen Clean Energy Sdn Bhd (KCE) has been awarded a US$2.5 million (US$1=RM3.03) contract by Indonesia's PT Paramitra Internusa Pratama to set up a biogas plant at its Belian Estate in West Kalimantan by July 2012.

KCE is a BioNexus-status firm facilitated by Malaysian Biotechnology Corp Sdn Bhd (BiotechCorp) while PT Paramitra is a unit of PT SMART Tbk Agribusiness & Food.

In a statement Friday, BiotechCorp's chief executive officer, Datuk Dr Mohd Nazlee Kamal, said the initiative by KCE delivered on the agenda for Phase II of the National Biotechnology Policy -- commercialisation of biotechnology.

"It also reflects the maturity and strength of our local biotech firms and their competitiveness in embarking on strategic partnerships for the robust development of the industry," he said.

Under the agreement, KCE will provide the design, supply, engineering, installation, commissioning and project management of the effluent treatment plant, complete with anaerobic digester tanks and state-of-the-art process control system of the biogas plant.

The plant will have sophisticated monitoring equipment that facilitates comprehensive data logging, useful for plant improvements and future research and development work under the ongoing developmental activities of KCE.

Biotechcorp said the technology transfer from KCE for the development of the biogas plants plant would therefore be relevant far beyond the project itself and would be appreciated by industry in the future.

It said as an alternative to fossil fuels, PT SMART planned to use biogas at this plant produced from its palm oil mill effluent to generate electricity for its palm oil mills, the statement said.

"The surplus supply of the electricity would be directed to the community," it said.

View the original article here

QL Resources plans to sell renewable energy - Malaysia Star

SHAH ALAM: QL Resources Bhd is looking at selling biogas-generated electricity from its palm oil mill in Tawau, Sabah, under the feed-in tariff system for Malaysia's renewable energy sector, which is due to be implemented in December.

The system will allow domestically produced electricity from renewable energy resources to be sold to power utilities at a fixed premium price for a specific duration.

QL's core divisions are marine products manufacturing, integrated livestock farming and palm oil activities.

Managing director Chia Song Kun said the biogas energy facility at one of the group's two palm oil mills in Sabah would be commissioned this week. The biogas comes from the effluent resulting from the milling process.

“A 50-tonne-per-hour mill can generate two megawatts of electricity.

“Every palm oil mill can sell electricity if they do this (biogas energy). If this project is successful, we may look at selling green power to the Sabah government,” Chia said after the group's EGM yesterday.

He added that the excess bioga-genrated electricity could be used to power other utilities at each mill as well as for the the production of palm pellet biofuel, which is produced from palm oil mill by-products such as empty fruit bunches.

On the murky economic outlook, Chia said QL's performance in the near future might be affected slightly by potentially lower demand for its premium surimi (processed fish paste) products.

“We think there will be weaker demand for higher grade surimi,” he said.

About 30% of QL's marine product sales are from exports to countries such as Japan, South Korea, Singapore, China, Taiwan and Vietnam.

“We are still aiming for double-digit growth this year although the economic environment is not favourable,” Chia said.

For its first quarter ended June 30, the group posted a 3.7% year-on-year jump in net profit to RM27.8mil while revenue grew 18.2% to RM454.57mil.

QL attributed the growth in turnover to improved crude palm oil prices, better volume of palm oil fruits processed and higher unit value of feed raw materials.

View the original article here

ENERGY: Regulators reduce wind, biogas subsidies for on-site generators - North County Times

Residents and businesses looking to install wind power, fuel cells or other alternative electricity generators - but not solar power - will get lower subsidies after a decision made this week by the California Public Utilities Commission.

The new rules apply to the Self-Generation Incentive Program, which provides subsidies to businesses and residents who install power generators on their own property. The new rules require new generation projects to reduce to the net production of global warming-causing gases such as carbon dioxide in order to be eligible for the subsidy. They also reduce the subsidies by as much as half, depending on the technology in question.

"Today's decision represents a team effort between the California Air Resources Board and the CPUC as we strive to reach goals of achieving 33 percent renewable energy by 2020 and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020," said commission president Michael Peevey in a written statement issued Thursday. 

A 2006 state law established a goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. 

Under the rules for the program, applicants must show that proposed generation reduces the amount of net greenhouse gases produced compared with the amount of greenhouse gases produced from normal electricity generation. The exact amount of reduction was left open for a future decision after the commissioners disagreed with staff's method of calculation.

The commission also ruled that some technologies had become popular enough that subsidies could be reduced. Wind turbines will now be eligible for $1.25 per watt, down from $1.50 per watt; fuel cells, which produce electricity from natural gas without burning it, will be eligible for $1.25 per watt, half the previous subsidy; and biogas generators, which are fueled by methane from sewage and landfills, will see no reduction in a $2 per watt subsidy, but companies must buy it on a 10-year contract, twice as long as before.

The new rules require businesses applying to undergo an energy audit, which will highlight areas where the applicants could make better use of their electricity, before they receive a subsidy.

Call staff writer Eric Wolff at 760-303-1927 or follow him on Twitter at NCTRealEstate.

View the original article here

GE unveils Waukesha APG1000 biogas engine - Energy Business Review

GE unveils Waukesha APG1000 biogas engine EBR Staff Writer Published 24 August 2011

GE has unveiled its 1MW Waukesha APG1000 gas engine to be utilized for smaller anaerobic digestion projects.

(Not an official GE video, but amusing?)

The new Waukesha gas engine can utilize biogases from landfills, wastewater treatment plants and agricultural waste.

Under an 18-month redesign and testing initiative, GE has done modifications to the combustion chamber; a new spark plug design; and a new fuel control system that simplifies engine start-up and operation. (Visit http://www.anaerobic-digestion.com )

GE said the changes were required to address the unique operational challenges of using biogases and were validated at both landfill and digester biogas-to-energy project sites.

Entec Services managing director Bob Weston said the APG1000's new biogas fuel system has made a significant improvement to the engine's load stability, despite fluctuations in the heating value of the fuel gas.

"The new system provides an automated response to fuel gas fluctuations that results in faster, more reliable engine starts as well as more consistent engine output with less manual intervention," Weston said.

GE Power & Water Gas Engines CEO Rafael Santana said the launch of the Waukesha APG1000 biogas engine helps to address the
demand for more biogas engine choices in the lower output range as more industrial customers seek to recycle their own waste gases to generate cleaner and more cost-effective onsite power.

View the original article here

Human waste to be turned into energy at Blackburn plant - Blackburn Citizen

Monday 22nd August 2011

HUMAN waste is being turned into usable energy in a revolutionary multi-million pound project in Blackburn.

 

(Video content is not related to the article. We hope you find it interesting, nevertheless.)

In a first for East Lancashire, United Utilities is converting a by-product of waste-water treatment at its giant plant into gas.

The biogas, which is produced when wastewater sludge is broken down by the action of microbes in a process known as ‘anaerobic digestion’ or AD, will help the company generate a seventh of the power it uses in its operations.

Steve Mogford, chief executive officer of United Utilities, said: “The plant can process up to 168 mega-litres of sludge each day, which arrives from other UU sites in a 15-mile radius, and includes industrial waste from the Inbev Brewery and the local BAE Systems operations.

“The power generated helps run the adjacent sewerage treatment works.

“We already use AD technology to treat sewerage sludge and generate electricity at a number of our large treatment plants across the North West.

“Blackburn is the first in East Lancashire to use a sustainable power supply to run its heating and machinery.”

Mr Mogford demonstrated the high-tech site to the Conservative Defra Minister, Lord Henley, who holds the Government’s portfolio for waste and recycling, on Wednesday.

The plant, in Roman Road, also exports highly nutritious fertiliser, free to farmers, to use on agricultural land across East Lancashire.

Last year United Utilities generated 340GWh from sewerage gas combined heat and power and hydropower.

Mr Mogford added: “That is one seventh of our total electricity needs and it is proof that we are serious about reducing our carbon footprint and reducing the amount of power we import from the national grid.”

* Human waste, animal waste and even food scraps can be turned into biogas – a fuel that can be used for generating electricity.

* Digesting equipment uses bacteria to break down waste into sludge, much like a septic tank.

* In the process called anaerobic digestion, the bacteria emit gases, mostly methane. But instead of being vented into the air, they are piped into a storage canister.

* The biogas is then further cleaned up before being fed into the gas grid.

View the original article here

Renewable Energy - Pig Farm Biogas in South Africa - FM.co.za

There’s a gold mine of energy waiting to be produced from animal waste on SA’s farms. Biogas projects could play an important role in helping SA reach its renewable energy targets of 10000GWh by 2013 — if only producers were given some more support.

There is only one farm in SA producing electricity from pig waste. In 2006, Humphries Farm in Bela-Bela, together with international agricultural company Cargill, pioneered a waste-management system that uses a large-scale bio digester that processes pig waste .

By 2009, the farm was generating electricity — but always just 10 kW less than the farm needed, so that power was still drawn from Eskom. “It was a gentlemen’s agreement so that local knowledge could be developed,” says Andrew Taylor, managing director of Cape Advanced Engineering, who designed and supplied the power plant.

The project has the environmental benefits of responsible waste management and carbon emission reduction. This comes through generating electricity that would otherwise have been fossil fuel-generated by capturing methane gas that would have been released into the atmosphere.

Taylor is planning 10 more projects like this one, which could be producing a combined 1,9MW by the end of 2012.

The success of the Humphries Farm, however, and the possible success of Taylor’s other projects , is largely through the use of local technology . He says if the engines had to be imported, the project would not have been feasible .

In fact, the project was developed on the assumption of government’s renewable energy feed-in tariff (Refit) of 90c/kWh. Now that the proposed Refit tariffs have been scrapped, the ceiling price for biogas is 96c/kWh. But though the Humphries Farm project can break even at 35c-40c/kWh, Taylor says he doesn’t believe “that any biogas plants will work with 96c as the upper ceiling”.

There seems to be a gap between SA’s potential and what is being done to reach it. According to Industrial Development Corp energy specialist Raoul Goosen , SA can produce 5% of its electricity needs from biogas. This would be on-site, localised generation because of the size of the plants. “The largest one could reach about 5MW, but they would typically generate less than 1MW,” says Goosen. A typical Eskom power station generates around 1600MW.

This could go a long way in not only bringing low-emission electricity into SA’s energy mix, but also taking pressure off the national grid, which is struggling to keep up with demand.

And there is no lack of innovation waiting to fill this space.

Trade plus Aid (TPA), a nonprofit organisation, and Premier Pork Producers, the representative body for pig producers in the northern region of SA, have 13 farms lined up to become biogas producers under a commercial biogas programme.

Each farm will need around R4,5m to install the technology, which will be funded through the sale of certified emission reductions (CERs) under the UN’s clean development mechanism (CDM). The farms will be registered under a “Programme of Activities”, which means an unlimited number of farms can be added to the programme. The CERs will come from the substitution of fossil fuel- based electricity, as well as captured methane.

However, TPA’s Matthew Hayden says he has struggled to secure the necessary environmental authorisation from the department of environmental affairs.

The first application was submitted 17 months ago. The 104-day timeframe for the authorisation of a final environmental impact assessment has been exceeded.

The environmental authorisation is the first step of many in the process of generating CER s. Without CERs the projects are not financially practical.

“We’ve complied with all the timeframes,” says Rebecca Bowd, environmental assessment practitioner at Green Door Environmental Consultants, which is handling the process. “But the department says it has capacity constraints.” Comment from the department was not forthcoming.

Those involved say given that the growth of such renewable energy projects is a stated national priority, projects like this should be treated as such, with a concerted effort from government to support them. “We’re trying to rectify something from an environmental perspective that’s always been wrong on farms,” says James Jenkinson, chairman of the SA Pork Producers Association. “But we keep on running into brick walls — there is total frustration [among those involved].”

Jenkinson’s farm in Pretoria is also the site for TPA’s pilot project, where it plans to install the first Capstone microturbine (imported from the US) as a showcase to investors. The plant should be commissioned by the end of September, and the imported turbines will play an important role in transferring technology to SA, says Hayden.

But if Hayden doesn’t receive a response from the department soon, he says investors may withdraw their funds. “The project is under threat, and it’s such an obvious environmental upgrade and investment into renewable energy.”

Perhaps more importantly, if these projects fall through, so will another set of projects. Three years ago, TPA’s investors asked for funds to be channelled into clean technology. Hayden began introducing household-size biogas digesters in rural homes with sufficient kitchen and agricultural waste to run them.

The commercial biogas programme that is being held up by government was intended to raise funds for the domestic programme. Any extra CERs will be used to fund this .

The domestic project gives families a cleaner, more reliable source of energy than wood, and reduces carbon emissions. They can also use the fertiliser , which comes as a byproduct, to grow food gardens. The developmental and environmental spin-offs are clear.

But funds from investors dried up quickly: at R35000 a digester, Hayden says it’s a “hard sell”.

SA does not lack renewable energy solutions. What is lacking is the will to create an environment where these solutions can be implemented

View the original article here

Bloom Energy Biogas Powered Fuel Cells Attract Data Center Operators

Silicon Valley’s fuel cell maker Bloom Energy continues to add customers looking to power part of their data center operations with distributed, cleaner power in California. On Thursday, the U.S. division of Japanese telecom giant NTT, NTT America, said it will install five Bloom fuel cells at one of its data center facilities in San Jose, Calif.

Nine-year-old Bloom Energy sells an industrial-sized fuel cell (which looks like a large refrigerator) that uses a chemical reaction to produce electricity. The Bloom Boxes suck up oxygen on one side and fuel (usually natural gas or biogas) on the other side, and produce power on-site for companies in a more efficient and less carbon-intensive manner than using the grid (depending on what fuel the company uses).

NTT America says it will use biogas (gas generated by decomposing organic material) produced at a California dairy farm as fuel for the Bloom fuel cells. That means NTT’s fuel cells won’t emit as much carbon as many of the Bloom fuel cells that are being powered by natural gas. Updated: NTT America has corrected the source of the biogas to two landfills in Pennsylvania.

Five Bloom fuel cells have a capacity of 500 kilowatts, which is the equivalent power for about 500 houses or five large office buildings. Each Bloom fuel cell costs around $700,000 to $800,000 before subsidies, so NTT is spending a couple million dollars on the installation.

Data center operators are looking for ways to make their facilities more energy-efficient and greener as a way to cut growing energy bills and also to highlight company sustainability. While fuel cells are still not commonly used to power data centers, Bloom has been slowly growing its customer list of telcos and Internet companies that want to use the Bloom boxes for part of their data center operations.

Earlier this month, AT&T said it plans to install a whopping 7.5 MW worth of Bloom fuel cells (that’s 75 fuel cells) at 11 AT&T offices in California. AT&T said it would use the fuel cell power for data centers as well as administration offices and facilities that house network equipment.

Fuel cells likely won’t be used as a main, or stand alone, power source for a data center. As we pointed out on GigaOM Pro (subscription required) last year, data centers need a power source that is so-called “five nines” (99.999 percent). Google has said the Bloom Box it was using on its campus had an availability rating of 98 percent, which translates into around seven days of downtime a year: no good for a stand alone power source for a data center running web sites that can’t go down.

Bloom has also found success with data center operators in California because state subsidies make the Bloom boxes a lot more economical in California. Customers in the state include Google, eBay and Adobe .

Top image is NTT’s installation, and the bottom is the installation at Adobe.

View the original article here

NTT America deploys Bloom energy servers running on biogas - Industrial Fuels and Power

Infrastructure services provider NTT America, part of NTT Communications Corp (NTT.NYSE), has deployed Bloom energy servers at its Lundy Data Center, San José (CA).

The initial deployment encompasses five energy servers with a total capacity of 500kW, which will enable the company to produce over 4.2GWh annually. In addition, the firm will be able to reduce CO2 emissions by around 730t per year.

The energy servers are connected to a natural gas pipeline and use biogas from a local diary farm to generate electricity on-site.

The company considered Bloom Energy’s proven fuel cell technology, running on directed biogas, as the best option to minimise its carbon footprint and reduce power intake from the national grid.

“As one of the major data center operators in the world, we recognize the importance of energy efficiency and the need for distributed generation and use of clean fuels. Equally important is our enterprise customers’ interest in, and support of, energy efficiency both from the environmental and cost reduction avenues. As a key driver for the future of the data center, NTT America will continue to evaluate, support and deploy technologies that can be environmentally sound and cost effective for our customers,” said Kazuhiro Gomi, president and CEO of NTT America.

View the original article here

Conergy sells biogas projects - Renewable Energy Focus

VERBIO biogas plant feeds into German grid

VERBIO Vereinigte Bioenergie AG’s biogas plant in Zörbig, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, is now feeding into MITGAS Netz’ high pressure gas grid. Looking at biogas in Central Europe.

Note: Video and article are not associated.

Biogas could be an important part of EU’s 2020 targets for renewable energy, and the EU project Sustainable and Innovative European Biogas Environment (SEBE) is now looking at technology and regulatory frameworks for biogas. Europe adopts report on biomass sustainability

The European Commission has adopted a report on sustainability requirements for the use of solid biomass and biogas in electricity, heating and cooling, concluding that more detailed legislation is not necessary at this stage. Growth in biogas predicted in Germany

About 760 biogas plants were connected to the German national electricity grid in 2009 - three times the number in 2007 - according to estimates by the German Biogas Association. This is around 100 times more than exist in the UK. Introduction to feed-in tariffs

The feed-in tariff is often held up as a ‘must’ for renewable energy to succeed. David Jacobs explores feed-in tariffs in all shapes and forms, and illustrates what should be taken into consideration when designing them.

11 February 2011

Conergy AG, based in Hamburg, Germany, announces that it has sold its biogas subsidy EUPRON to RES Projects, specialists in biomethane installation.

With this sale RES Projects will acquire a number of biogas ventures at different developmental levels amounting to more than 23 MW of energy being generated from biogas activities.

These new biogas projects are to be installed in the next few years and will be mainly located in Germany.

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Bioenergy

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The Final Product Of Biomass Energy

Utilization of biomass as an alternative energy source has attracted people to promote its use. This is caused by a decline in fossil energy reserves. This is a dangerous point for energy security in the last decade.




To avoid future energy crises, they began to increase use of renewable energy sources such as biomass. More than that, the use of fossil fuels increases the concentration of sulfur and greenhouse gases in nature.

Governments in various countries around the world have adopted policies favorable to the use of biomass as an energy alternative. So that industry players will get a subsidy from the government.

Biomass can be used as energy with a wide variation. Utilization of biomass produces electricity, heat for industrial facilities, home heating and fuels vehicle.

Conversion of biomass for energy is called bio-energy. This conversion can be achieved with some solutions that thermochemical and biochemical technologies. Thermochemical process is divided into three technology solutions are combustion, gasification and pyrolysis.

To understand the meaning of each Technology solution, we can learn from the final product On combustion, have the final product steam, process heat and electricity energy. Each has its own type of function. Steam can be used to drive steam engines, while the heat can be used for processing in the chemical industries.

The final products of electric can be used more flexibly. This product of gasification is the steam, the process of heat, electrical energy and methane gas fuel and hydrogen. Methane and hydrogen can be used as a fuel cell system. This system is increasingly popular as the technology of the future.

Pyrolysis technology solutions, has the final product is charcoal, coal and bio-gas fuel. Charcoal and bio-coal can be an analogy as coal but more environmentally friendly. This is because emissions from the production of bio-coal and charcoal lower than coal. Biochemical process produces anaerobic digestion the technology solution. This technology has the final product of ethanol, water for irrigation, compost and biogas.

Nugroho Agung Pambudi has been writing articles including papers for nearly 3 years now. His journal papers can be reached both international journal and conference. Come visit his latest website at http://www.geothermalheatingandcooling.us which help people find information about geothermal heating and cooling

The New Waste Technologies: Recycling and Creating Energy From Waste

Many governments, towns and communities throughout the Western world are making new rules concerning the treatment of Municipal Solid waste (MSW). New concepts of waste management are needed in which the idea of recycling is of major importance.

Incineration will be used for the easily burnable fraction of what cannot be recycled, and for some kinds of hazardous wastes such as hospital waste, while the left over will be disposed of in sanitary MSW landfills.

The recycling of products is best done at source by the public when they put their waste out for collection and this is called source separation. However, if the waste is mixed up when collected it can still be separated again by mechanical separation plants or by hand picking using human labour and a conveyor.

The plants in which the separation of mixed wastes is carried out are usually called Mechanical Bioligical Treatment Plants, or MBTs. These plants cost a lot to build, are expensive to run. They also use a lot of power which reduces the value of recycling by expending non-renewable energy in the process.

The last decade has seen source separation introduced in many countries, especially in Scandinavia, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria and Canada. Now, more recently source separation is being implemented in the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe now that European Waste Regulations require so much of the MSW produced not to be landfilled.

The most important reasons to separate waste at the source are:

- The difficulty to find sites for new landfills and the negative attitude of the public towards landfilling and incinerating.

- Source separation improves the quality of the products which will have to be recycled. The fact that the organic fraction is separated from the inorganic fraction means that the organic fraction will have a low concentration of heavy metals and will be free of metals, glass and stones, while the inorganic fraction will be drier and less dirty.

The degree of recycling which can be achieved depends of the system used for source separation but it is the highest if the separated waste is picked up at the houses in separate containers.

A high percentage of recycling can only be achieved though by recycling the organic fraction of MSW whereby anaerobic techniques such as the anaerobic digestion process are very promising since they not only produce a humus-like residue, comparable to the compost produced in aerobic conversion techniques, but also a form of energy, biogas, which can be easily upgraded to several forms of valuable energy.

So, by source separating your waste you can make a difference - especially if there is an Anaerobic digestor in your area.

Why not find out more about waste technologies, and encourage your friends to recycle. Your children and later generations will benefit - don't they deserve the same opportunities you had?

Steve Last is a regular contributor of waste management related articles. Visit http://www.waste-technology.co.uk, the Waste Technology Web Site to find out more.

He also maintains a dog breed and many others at The Dog Breeds Compendium Tibetan Terrier page.

What You Should Know Green Energy

Green energy refers to the use of power that is not only more efficient than fossil fuel but that is friendly to the environment as well. Green energy is generally defined as energy sources that dont pollute and are renewable.

There are several categories of green energy. They are anaerobic digestion, wind power, geothermal power, hydropower on a small scale, biomass power, solar power and wave power. Waste incineration can even be a source of green energy.




Nuclear power plants claim that they produce green energy as well, though this source is fraught with controversy, as we all know. While nuclear energy may be sustainable, may be considered renewable and does not pollute the atmosphere while it is producing energy, its waste does pollute the biosphere as it is released.

The transport, mining and phases before and after production of nuclear energy does produce and release carbon dioxide and similar destructive greenhouse gases. When we read of green energy, therefore, we rarely see nuclear power included.

Those who support nuclear energy say that nuclear waste is not, in fact, released into our earths biosphere during its normal production cycle. They stress as well that the carbon dioxide that nuclear energy production releases is comparable, in terms of each kilowatt hour of electricity, to such sources of green energy as wind power.

As an example of the green energy production the average wind turbine, such as the one in Reading England, can produce enough energy daily to be the only energy source for 1000 households.

Many countries now offer household and commercial consumers to opt for total use of green energy. They do this one of two ways. Consumers can buy their electricity from a company that only uses renewable green energy technology, or they can buy from their general supplies such as the local utility company who then buys from green energy resources only as much of a supply as consumers pay for.

The latter is generally a more cost - efficient way of supplying a home or office with green energy, as the supplier can reap the economic benefits of a mass purchase. Green energy generally costs more per kilowatt hour than standard fossil fuel energy.

Consumers can also purchase green energy certificates, which are alternately referred to as green tags or green certificates. These are available in both Europe and the United States, and are the most convenient method for the average consumer to support green energy. More than 35 million European households and one million American households now buy these green energy certificates.

While green energy is a great step in the direction of keeping our environment healthy and our air as pollutant free as possible, it must be noted that no matter what the energy, it will negatively impact the environment to some extent.

Every energy source, green or otherwise, requires energy. The production of this energy will create pollution during its manufacture. Green energys impact is minimal, however.

James Copper owns www.propertycareerskills.co.uk who offer energy training and assessment.

Prospect of Jatropha Curcas as Energy Plant (3)

Solid fuel from physic nut waste

Physic nut seed contains the oil around of 25-35% of the total unit weight. This form of waste has a crude oil content of 75-65%. Waste can be processed into solid fuel through a process of densification. The process of carbonization or non-carbonization can also be applied to improve the quality of these solid fuels.




In the carbonization process, waste is inserted into the reactor in order to remove moisture, volatile matter and tar. After this process, they are sent to the densification process. This process forms the material into briquettes using a press machine.

There are two types of press machine used, is hydraulic and screw machine. Densification product is densified material called briquettes. This fuel can be used as solid fuel. Briquettes can be easily burned into the furnace or conventional stove. In commercial production, briquettes used to burn water in the boiler. Steam generated, is sent to a steam turbine. This steam spins the generator wheel to produce electricity.

Gas fuel from physic nut waste

The gas fuels can be produced through an anaerobic digestion process. This process is a chemical process involving microorganisms without the presence of oxygen in a digester. This process produces the methane, carbon dioxide, hydrogen, nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and a small amount of gas. Methane is the largest composition compared with other gas products. This process can be classified into two types: dry and wet anaerobic digestion. The Differences between these anaerobic processes are the ratio of biomass and water used in the digester.

Nugroho Agung Pambudi has been writing articles including papers for nearly 3 years now. His journal papers can be reached both international journal and conference. Come visit his latest website at methylcobalamin which help people find information about vitamin B12 methylcobalamin

GCC looks into using renewable energy - Stroud News and Journal

RENEWABLE energy could be used in future to power Gloucestershire County Council’s buildings, to save money and cut carbon.

The innovative idea, being looked at by the Environment Scrutiny Task Group, could see the council saving £5m annually, generating income and becoming almost carbon neutral within 10 years.

In our video below we provide an example of a renewable energy biomass boiler in the London Borough of Havering. AD is another method which could be used.




Currently the council produces around 60,000 tonnes of carbon every year and spend more than £8million on energy bills.

The pioneering approach to renewables would make Gloucestershire one of the first councils in the UK to look at generating and selling our own electricity on this scale.

This will involve using green technology like solar panels, wind turbines and anaerobic digestion to become a lean, green council which provides all its own energy, reducing the financial burden on the council taxpayer.

At the moment there are no firm plans in place, but feasibility studies will be carried out over the next six months to determine what could be done.

One of the ideas is to set up a separate company to sell our surplus energy generated back to the grid, which will generate further income for the council.

The scrutiny group charged with looking into the issue was asked to investigate everything that we could achieve.

If GCC takes on all the ideas scrutiny have looked at, an estimated capital investment of £180 million would be needed to put all these ideas into place – but that would bring an annual return of £420 million.

To achieve the £5million savings and become carbon neutral would mean investments of around £25million, however no money has been committed to this project yet.

The council would also be eligible for funding from government if it decided to go down the renewable route and if the renewable plans are feasible they could generate additional incomes of around £14 million a year.

Cllr Mark Hawthorne, leader of the council, said: "This is not a quick fix, it’s about finding a sustainable way of working which dramatically cuts costs, reduces our impact on the environment and increases the security of energy supply.

"There is a cost involved here and before we commit to spending any money, we will ensure whatever we end up doing is worthwhile and will provide the benefits we expect.

"We have to invest now to save for the future and if we can save around £5 million every year and then make money on selling energy on top of that, this money can be ploughed into frontline services and that for me is the most important thing."

Cllr John Cordwell, who is the chair of the scrutiny committee looking into the project, said: "This group is looking into ways of saving money and investing into renewable energy by using council buildings and land.

"We are pleased to see the administration is of the same mind and we shall look forward to scrutinising the plans as they develop."

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Government must prioritise food waste for AD - New Energy Focus

Friday 08 October 2010

ADBA claims food waste should be prioritised for AD over incineration and composting

The government must prioritise food waste for anaerobic digestion due to the benefit of energy generation, a renewables trade body has claimed.

In response to the coalition's Waste Review, which closed yesterday (October 7), the Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas Association (ADBA) has called for food waste to go to AD over composting and incineration.

And, it has stressed the need for a massive increase in household food waste collection and is advocating separate collections, where households have a bin reserved for food waste, so that the "valuable" resource can be more easily used for AD.

ADBA notes that the coalition is committed to a ‘huge increase in energy from waste through anaerobic digestion', but claims that the government will fail to achieve this unless the waste is made available for digestion. This will require changes to waste collection, and priority for treatment through AD, it says.

With cuts imminent in this month's Spending Review, ADBA highlights that many local authorities may be considering shelving schemes to segregate food. However, the association claims that while there are short term savings available now, they will lead to much higher costs to the whole community in the medium term, "especially if we do not build an infrastructure to deal with organic waste away from landfill".

According to ADBA, processing waste through AD offers a sustainable solution for landfill waste, with the added benefit of preserving crucial finite nutrients, such as nitrates and phosphorus.

Commenting on the need to secure food waste for AD, ADBA chairman, Lord Redesdale, said:

"The government knows it must act now to meet the UK's responsibilities on climate change.
Committing to AD technology was a good first step, but it must be followed up by the right decisions about how we deal with waste if the industry is to flourish."

"We need to collect food waste and prioritise it for AD, so that it can make the maximum possible contribution to targets for renewable energy, climate change, landfill mitigation and preserving resources such as phosphorus. This review needs to do more than move towards a "zero-waste" economy, it must also ensure we maximise the use of waste as a valuable resource."

The association added that if supported appropriately, AD could meet up to 40% of the UK's target for renewable heat production by 2020.

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Prominent UK business group calls for more energy from waste

Launching a new report, Going to waste: Making the case for energy from waste, the leading business group highlighted the important role that energy from waste could play in a broad-based energy mix, which improves energy security.

Technologies include using anaerobic digestion, where biological processes produce bio-gas from waste, and incineration. These provide consistent and reliable power supplies, unaffected by the weather, and are not imported.

With strong leadership from the Government on planning, financing and procurement, the UK could quadruple the proportion of energy it generates from waste from 1.5% to 6% by 2015.

And the CBI warned that unless urgent steps are taken to cut landfill use, the UK will face fines from the European Union of around £182.5m a year.

Neil Bentley, CBI Director of Business Environment, said:

“We cannot continue dumping rubbish in landfill sites. Waste that can’t be recycled could be used to heat homes and produce electricity, as well as improving our energy security.

“Across Europe, generating energy from waste is common and compatible with high levels of recycling.

“The Government needs to encourage the development of more anaerobic digestion and incineration plants, and tackle delays in the planning system.”

The report focuses on the family of energy from waste technologies, which can be broadly divided into biological and thermal types. Anaerobic digestion can be used on-site to produce heat and electricity, or injected into the National Grid after being purified.

Thermal treatments include technologies, such as gasification and pyrolysis, which involve heating waste to produce gas, as well as incineration. The CBI argues that non-recyclable waste should be incinerated, and emphasises that it is cleaner, more efficient, and environmentally sounder than burning fossil fuels or relying on landfill.

Among the CBI’s recommendations for the Government are:

Recognising the important role that energy from waste could play in reducing the UK’s landfill, securing energy supplies and increasing the proportion of renewable sources;Avoiding picking winners from the various energy from waste technologies and allowing the market to decide the most cost effective option;Reassuring the public that delivering more energy from waste is compatible with high levels of recycling and that new plants are clean and safe.

Echoing her support for the report, Gaynor Hartnell, Chief Executive of the UK Renewable Energy Association (REA) said,

“The Government has already said it wants to encourage Energy from Waste, and it would do well to heed the CBI’s recommendations. Most of the energy content of our household waste is renewable, yet often projects are dogged by overly complex and unnecessary regulation, which prevents them from getting the rewards they are entitled to for generating green energy. A healthy dose of pragmatism would be in everyone’s interests and would enable one of the cheapest forms of green energy to play its part in meeting the UK’s renewables target.”

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