Tawanai

Green is in these days. The US cellular company Sprint has come up with an “Eco-friendly” phone which it thinks will help it with winning over those who favor green products. The phone is said to be made up of 80% recycled material and also offers quick access to eco-friendly applications. Sprint has been facing a decline in subscribers and is looking for ways to regain market share. See their marketing approach below. Will you go with a phone company because of their approach towards environment or for that matter, that company’s business practices? or do you care about their service and price above all?

Via: TelecomPk.Net

Clean Technology, Consumers, Economics, Green phones

Siemens has announced the release of a new 3.6-megawatt (MW) wind turbine featuring a 120 meter rotor diameter. The SWT-3.6-120 turbine is based on the proven technology of the SWT-3.6-107 – the world’s most popular offshore wind turbine. The new machine will be equipped with 58.5 meter long rotor blades. The turbine has a swept area of 11,300 square meters, which is equivalent to nearly two football fields.

“We anticipate that our new SWT-3.6-120 wind turbine will generate roughly ten per cent more electricity at a typical offshore site compared to our SWT-3.6-107,” said Andreas Nauen, CEO of the Siemens Wind Power Business Unit. “With this new wind turbine we will continue to maintain our technology leadership in offshore wind power. We have already seen a lot of interest from the market in this new product.” The SWT-3.6-120 extends the performance of the proven Siemens 3.6 MW turbine type, which is already established as the preferred offshore turbine type in the multi-megawatt class. Siemens has installed 100 of its 3.6 MW wind turbines and has another 700 turbines on order.

Earlier this year Dong Energy signed orders for more than 450 SWT-3.6-120 machines. 175 of these new wind turbines will be installed in the first phase of the British London Array project, which will ultimately be the world’s first offshore wind farm on a gigawatt-scale. Furthermore, 51 SWT-3.6-120 wind turbines will be installed at the Walney II Offshore Wind Farm, also in the U.K. These orders from Dong Energy are part of the world’s largest wind power agreement for the supply of up to 500 offshore wind turbines, which was signed earlier this year. The wind turbines to be delivered under the supply agreement will have a total capacity of up to 1,800 megawatts.

The first two prototypes of the SWT 3.6-120 will be used by Dong Energy at Avedøre in Copenhagen, and installed in time for the COP 15 / UN World Climate Summit in Copenhagen. The Hvidovre Vindmøllelaug, a group of local investors, is contributing to this project.
Wind turbines are an important component of the Siemens environmental portfolio, which earned the company revenues of nearly EUR19 billion in fiscal 2008, roughly a quarter of the company’s total revenues. Today, Siemens is the world’s leading supplier of environmentally friendly technology.

The Siemens Energy Sector is the world’s leading supplier of a complete spectrum of products, services and solutions for the generation, transmission and distribution of power and for the extraction, conversion and transport of oil and gas. In fiscal 2008 (ended September 30), the Energy Sector had revenues of approximately EUR22.6 billion and received new orders totaling approximately EUR33.4 billion and posted a profit of EUR1.4 billion. On September 30, 2008, the Energy Sector had a work force of approximately 83,500.

Source: www.powergeneration.siemens.com

Clean Technology, Energy, Renewable Energy, Wind

American solar developer, First Solar, inked a pact with Chinese government officials to build a 2 gigawatt photovoltaic farm to go up in the Mongolian desert.

This First Solar project represents the world’s largest photovoltaic power plant project to date, and it is part of an 11.9 gigawatt renewable-energy park planned for Ordos City in Inner Mongolia. This farm should be ready to go in 2019.

The deal could open the market in China and follows the Chinese government’s wishes to accelerate development of renewable energy. First Solar is the world’s largest photovoltaic cell manufacturer,

When completed, the Ordos solar farm would generate enough electricity to power about 3 million Chinese homes, according to First Solar.

Tempe, Ariz.-based First Solar will also likely to build a factory in China to make thin-film solar panels, said Mike Ahearn, the company’s chief executive. “It represents an encouraging step forward toward the mass-scale deployment of solar power worldwide to help mitigate climate change concerns.”

Most proposed large-scale solar projects use solar thermal technology, which deploys mirrors to heat a liquid to create steam that drives an electricity-generating turbine. But as photovoltaic technology becomes more cost-competitive, utilities are turning to companies like First Solar for big solar power farms.

First Solar said the 2 gigawatt power plant would cost $5 billion to $6 billion if built in the U.S. today, but it said the cost to build such a project in China would probably be lower.

“Discussions with First Solar about building a factory in China demonstrate to investors in China that they can confidently invest in the most advanced technologies available,” said Cao Zhichen, vice mayor of Ordos Municipal Government.

First Solar’s cadmium telluride solar cells are less efficient at converting sunlight into electricity than standard crystalline silicon cells made by other companies. But the catch is First Solar can manufacture them at a significantly lower cost.

Plans for the Ordos renewable energy park call for wind farms to generate 6.9 gigawatts, photovoltaic power plants to provide 3.9 gigawatts, and solar thermal farms to supply 720 megawatts. Biomass operations, fueled by organic materials like wood chips and straw, will contribute 310 megawatts; 70 megawatts will be available from hydro storage, a load-balancing technology that uses off-peak power to pump water to a high reservoir from which it can release to turn turbines at peak demand periods.

First Solar will have to establish a supply chain to provide power inverters and other hardware needed for its part of the project as well as train Chinese contractors how to build and operate solar farms. Another hurdle is China must upgrade its transmission system to connect the solar power plant to the grid.

Buildings, Clean Technology, Energy, Infrastructure, Solar

It seems strange but in developed countries, there is resistance to solar and wind projects. Why? Because of the way these infrastructure impact the current lifestyle – noise, views etc. WSJ ran this story recently.

Technology changes, but human nature doesn’t. Environmentally friendly energy projects are running into the same cries of “not in my backyard” that stymied a previous generation of alternative-power efforts.

Even as Americans tell pollsters they are eager for alternatives to fossil fuel, some are fighting proposals for solar and wind projects and for the thousands of miles of transmission lines that would be needed to carry the cleaner energy to market. The protests echo grass-roots opposition that has blocked nuclear plants and energy-producing trash incinerators for decades.

The new backlash is fueled by worries that renewable-energy projects would occupy vast amounts of land to produce significant amounts of power. Either renewable projects would have to be centralized and sprawling, covering many square miles apiece, or they would need to be distributed in pieces across millions of rooftops and lawns.

Renewable-energy projects would reduce pollution and combat climate change. The trade-off is that many more people would have to see wind turbines, solar panels and other energy infrastructure near their homes in order to diminish the need for coal mines and other fossil-fuel facilities.

In California, which is considering a goal of producing a third of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020, some residents are fighting proposals to build vast solar-energy plants in the Mojave Desert, one of the most remote and reliably sunny spots in the U.S. Up and down the East Coast, meanwhile, residents are opposing plans for wind farms, fearing they will mar views and lower property values.

Clean Technology, Consumers, Environment, Solar, Wind

The world of today desperately needs a breakthrough in solar power. The challenge has been to bring the price down. Here’s one more effort in this direction: Photovoltaic cells made from organic polymers, rather than crystalline silicon, could make solar power much cheaper.

Last year Konarka, a startup based in Lowell, MA, opened a factory for such solar panels, which are flexible and produced in a process akin to printing (see “Mass Production of Plastic Solar Cells”).

The first application of Konarka’s potentially transformative technology? Umbrellas. SkyShades, based in Orlando, FL, is incorporating the panels into umbrellas designed for outdoor seating areas in places like restaurants and bars. Patrons can recharge mobile devices such as laptops and cell phones from outlets built into the stem of the umbrella. The four-meter-wide Powerbrella can generate up to 128 watts of electricity, which charges a bank of batteries located in its base.

Via Tech Review.

Clean Technology, Consumers, Energy, research, Solar invention, photovoltaic cells

Interesting push from our goverment. Our energy minister has a tough job, I am sure!

Pakistan government is fully supportive of all efforts for production and promotion of solar water heaters in Pakistan, said Raja Pervez Ashraf, Chairman AEDB/Minister for Water and Power, while presiding over the 19th AEDB Board meeting here on Friday. He said that the use of solar water heaters would drastically reduce gas consumption in Pakistan, besides electricity, wood, cow-dung etc were spent on water heating would also be saved. More from the Press Release:

Raja Pervez Ashraf highly praising AEDB and local entrepreneur for establishing the first-ever solar water heaters manufacturing unit in Pakistan near Islamabad directed AEDB to help create a market for the solar water heaters and take all possible steps for promoting the use of solar water heaters in the country.

He also directed AEDB to arrange meetings with the prospective investors, and to especially involve local Chambers of Commerce and Industries to chart out a course of action for attracting investments in this vital sector that would largely help in conserving the fast depleting gas and forest reservoirs and heavy foreign exchange spent on oil imports annually.

Raja Pervaiz Ashraf stressed upon the public sector organisations to immediately take lead in switching over to solar water heating system. The Federal Minister informed the Board that the Federal government would establish Northern Areas Electricity Development Company to facilitate setting up of power generation projects in the region. He said that the decision was taken by the Economic Co-ordination Committee (ECC) on a summary moved by Ministry of Kashmir Affairs and Northern Areas in consultation with AEDB and Ministry of Water and Power.

Read more…

Clean Technology, Electricity, Gas, Pakistan, Solar solar heaters

Found this interesting presentation from IBM about their work on Smart Cities. MASDAR city, which we mentioned before as well. The pdf presentation can be downloaded from this link.

Buildings, Clean Technology, Energy, Infrastructure

SNG is a technology which is based on a mixture of natural gas and air. It is cheaper and has been in use at Gwadar. Excerpts from the Business Recorder story:

Owais Mir, head of SNG providing company in country Dynamic Engineering and Automation said that installation cost of SNG plant is six times lesser than LNG plant whereas the cost of one MMBTU SNG is 25 – 30 percent lesser than LNG.

In Gwadar through SNG technology 60 MMBTU gas per hour is being produced and successfully transmitted to the consumers. Moreover textile and ceramic tile industry have already started having the benefit of SNG as alternative source of energy.

He informed that the developing countries like Argentina, Brazil and Chile etc are managing their natural gas shortage through SNG technology. Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) has also invited bids for such system which will be a mile stone to fulfil the requirement of natural gas in the country

Clean Technology, Gas, Infrastructure LNG, SNG

Taiwan recently finished construction on an incredible solar-powered stadium that will generate 100% of its electricity from photovoltaic technology! Designed by Toyo Ito, the dragon-shaped 50,000 seat arena is clad in 8,844 solar panels that illuminate the track and field with 3,300 lux. The project will officially open later this year to welcome the 2009 World Games.

Via: Gurdian Network.

Buildings, Clean Technology, Energy, Solar

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Clean Technology, Economics, Electricity, Energy, Renewable Energy twitter