In 1866, Stanley Jevons wrote about the seemingly contradictory determination that increased efficiency results in increased consumption: "It is wholly a confusion of ideas to suppose that the economical use of fuel is equivalent to a diminished consumption. The very contrary is the truth. As a rule, new modes of economy will lead to an increase of consumption."
It is now referred to as Jevon's Paradox. A copy of Stanley's book can be accessed here: Jevon's Paradox
Friday, December 19, 2014
Sunday, December 7, 2014
Innovation Powering Up India
1.5 Billion People in the World do not have Electricity
India is Deploying Renewable MicroGrids to Close the Gap
December 7, 2014
Author:
Donald S. Bradshaw, Jr., President, Velerity
An innovative hybrid solar-biomass DG power plant in India
is bringing electricity for the first time to villages in the Indian state of
Bihar. Another innovative design, a
biomass gasifier running on rice husks, has been deployed in 85 locations across
Bihar. According to an International
Energy Agency study, approximately 579.1 million people do not have access to
electricity in India. [1] According to a study published by the Vasudha
Institute in India, “…close to 100,000 villages remain un-electrified, with
over 45% of the population having no access to electricity.” [2] Based on the results of the 2011 Census, out
of 246.7 households in India, 32.8% of households, or 80.9 million households,
did not have access to electric light. [3]
There is a strong link, both empirically and statistically,
between access to energy and economic well-being, as seen in the following
chart. According to a recent report,
Rural Electrification in India, having access to reliable electricity
“…represents a key driver behind economic development and raising basic
standards of living.” [4] On average, increasing per capita GDP by $10
requires approximately a 93,000 Btu increase in primary energy
consumption. In the data below, Indian
primary energy use is 20 million Btu per person per year, and per capita GDP is
$1,055 per year. [5]
Electrification in India brings significant benefits to agrarian
economies, increasing irrigation and crop production. It has also been shown that bringing
electrifying households can reduce a household’s expenditures, when switching
from kerosene lighting to electric lighting.
One of the States in India with the lowest penetration of
electricity for household lighting is Bihar, with only 16.4% of its households
reporting electric lighting in the 2011 Census.
This corresponds to 15.8 million households in Bihar which do not have
electricity, out of a total of 18.9 million households.
Being connected to the grid, however, does not guarantee
having access to electricity. Once a village
in India has connected to the grid, generation capacity in India is inadequate
to meet demand. There are four main
reasons why supply does not meet demand.
The first is inadequate installed supply. Economic growth in India in recent years has
outstripped the ability to add additional power plants. The government of India estimates in 2014
that there is a daily shortage of capacity in the country of 30,000 MW. This results in power rationing through
planned outages. [6] A second major factor is breakdowns and
maintenance schedules of existing power plants, forcing plants to be off line even
though power is required. The third
reason is the lack of available capacity in the distribution and transmission
lines to transport the power. The fourth
reason is the lack of revenues due to subsidization, customers not making
payments, and the stealing of power.
According to the World Bank, “In India electricity theft leads
to annual losses estimated at US$4.5 billion, about 1.5 percent of GDP.[7] According to the World Bank, annual losses
by the power sector are expected to reach $27 billion per year by 2017. Between 2007 and 2012, India installed 50 GW
of new generation capacity, which fell short of the original goal of 78 GW.
Planned outages typically occur during times of peak demand,
which is in the evening hours. Outages can
last from 2 to 20 hours per day.
There are many solutions being implemented to address India’s
power situation. For villages that have
no power, solutions include:
The plant has been given the designation SCOPE BIG, which
stands for Scalable CSP Optimized Power Plant Engineered with Biomass Integrated Gasification. It is designed to be demonstration project
for which additional larger scale deployments will follow.
Participants in the project include Indian-based CSTEP
(Center for the Study of Science Technology and Policy, Thermax, the Bihar
State Power Generation Company, Energy Centre of the Netherlands, and the
National Centre for Scientific Research, based in France. Fraunhofer Germany is also participating.
Another innovative approach being taken to address energy and poverty issues in Bihar is Husk Power Systems, which has deployed approximately 85 off-grid biomass
gasification plants in India with agreements in place to deploy additional systems on the African
continent. In 2012-2013, India produced
an estimated record crop of rice, amounting to 104.4 million tonnes. [8] As a by-product of rice production, this
means that India also produced an estimated 25.1 million tonnes of rice husks. [9] For the most part it has been determined that
these rice husks are disposed of in landfills.
After evaluating several alternative approaches, the founder of Husk Power Systems,Gyanesh Pandey, developed
a gasification system that utilizes waste rice hulls as feed stock. The system is comprised of a rice husk
gasifier, a series of filters to clean up the gas, a gas engine, a 35 kW
generator, and a 240 Volt Alternating Current system to connect customers
within a two kilometer distance from the plant.
Within several months of an installation, the company usually has a 75%
market penetration rate. The average
number of customers per system is between 200 to 250 households and additional
commercial customers. Each residential customer
receives two 15 watt compact fluorescent light bulbs and a phone charger. Each customer pays about $2.20 per month for
the service, which reduces their Kerosene use by about 6 to 7 litres per
months, with a net saving per household of an estimated $4.40 per month. Customers can have increased levels of
service, if desired. [10]
The system needs about 110 pounds of
corn husks per hour to operate at full output.
There are many innovations that have been deployed to drive
costs down and make the system successful.
One of the interesting outcomes is that the bulk of the payments that
customers make for their electricity is recycled back into the local economies,
for labor and biomass. More information can
be found on their web site: http://www.huskpowersystems.com/
[1] Rural
Electrification in India – an overview, Bilolikar & Deshmukh, National
Power Training Institute, Faridabad
[2] An
Endless Wait with an Uncertain Future: Unpacking the Energy Crisis,
[3]
Source: http://www.devinfolive.info/censusinfodashboard/website/index.php/pages/source_lighting/Total/electricity/IND
[4]
Economic and Institutional aspects of Renewables, James Cust, Anoop Singh and
Karsten Neuhoff, December 2007
[5]
Sustainable Economics, Donald Bradshaw, Book Draft, December, 2014
[6]
India faces a daily power outage of 30,000 MW, Livemint, August 11, 2014
[7] Reforming
the Power Sector, Public Policy for the Private Sector, Note Number 272, World
Bank, September 2004
[8]
Pocket Book on Agricultural Statistics 2013, Government of India, Ministry of
Agriculture, December, 2013
[9]
Agriculture Fuels Renewable Energy in India’s Rice Belt through Husk Power Systems,
Feed the Future, Newsletter, November 22, 2013
[10]
Husk Power Systems India, Case Study Summary, Ashden Awards Case Study, 2011
Ashden Award, April 2011
Friday, February 21, 2014
Salem MA Natural Gas Plant Approved with Expiration Date
FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/21/business/energy-environment/massachusetts-approves-a-gas-power-plant-with-an-expiration-date.html?hpw&rref=science
In a hearing in Boston, a state siting board voted 5 to 0 to accept a proposal by a major New England environmental group and a company that wants to build the plant that would allow the plant to open, but require it to emit less and less carbon dioxide until it closed by 2050.For years, proponents of natural gas, including President Obama, have promoted it as a “bridge fuel,” cleaner than coal but not clean enough to solve the climate problem. On Thursday, regulators in Massachusetts, in an unusual vote, put that theory into practice when it approved a new gas-fired power plant with only a limited life span.
The Conservation Law Foundation and Footprint Power reached an agreement over a proposed $800 million plant to be built in Salem Harbor, at the site of a coal plant that will shut this year. The new plant would generate 630 megawatts — although in later years, it would either have to limit its hours of operation, install carbon capture or make investments in renewable energy to stay under the declining emissions cap.
The agreement for progressively lower output and a definite retirement date is a first, according to Jonathan Peress, a vice president of the Conservation Law Foundation. Gas cuts carbon dioxide emissions by about half compared to coal, but it is still far too high in carbon to meet the ultimate climate emissions requirements, he said.
“We want gas to continue to displace coal,” he said. “We just don’t want to worry that we’re going from heroin to methadone.”
The agreement was submitted to the Massachusetts Energy Facilities Siting Board this week.
The plant is scheduled to open in 2016 and would operate normally until 2026, when progressively stricter limits would be imposed. In 2049, its last year of operation, its limit would be about one-quarter what it was in 2016.
Joining in the agreement was a state agency, the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, which promised that if the deal was approved, it would be written into the state-issued operating permit for the plant. The state would embark on a program to reduce leaks of unburned natural gas. Methane, the main ingredient of natural gas, is a potent global warming gas.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/21/business/energy-environment/massachusetts-approves-a-gas-power-plant-with-an-expiration-date.html?hpw&rref=science
Massachusetts Regulators Approve a Gas-Fired Power Plant With an Expiration Date
By MATTHEW L. WALD FEB. 20, 2014In a hearing in Boston, a state siting board voted 5 to 0 to accept a proposal by a major New England environmental group and a company that wants to build the plant that would allow the plant to open, but require it to emit less and less carbon dioxide until it closed by 2050.For years, proponents of natural gas, including President Obama, have promoted it as a “bridge fuel,” cleaner than coal but not clean enough to solve the climate problem. On Thursday, regulators in Massachusetts, in an unusual vote, put that theory into practice when it approved a new gas-fired power plant with only a limited life span.The Conservation Law Foundation and Footprint Power reached an agreement over a proposed $800 million plant to be built in Salem Harbor, at the site of a coal plant that will shut this year. The new plant would generate 630 megawatts — although in later years, it would either have to limit its hours of operation, install carbon capture or make investments in renewable energy to stay under the declining emissions cap.
The agreement for progressively lower output and a definite retirement date is a first, according to Jonathan Peress, a vice president of the Conservation Law Foundation. Gas cuts carbon dioxide emissions by about half compared to coal, but it is still far too high in carbon to meet the ultimate climate emissions requirements, he said.
“We want gas to continue to displace coal,” he said. “We just don’t want to worry that we’re going from heroin to methadone.”
The agreement was submitted to the Massachusetts Energy Facilities Siting Board this week.
The plant is scheduled to open in 2016 and would operate normally until 2026, when progressively stricter limits would be imposed. In 2049, its last year of operation, its limit would be about one-quarter what it was in 2016.
Joining in the agreement was a state agency, the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, which promised that if the deal was approved, it would be written into the state-issued operating permit for the plant. The state would embark on a program to reduce leaks of unburned natural gas. Methane, the main ingredient of natural gas, is a potent global warming gas.
Monday, January 20, 2014
Thursday, January 2, 2014
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