Renewable Energy, Renewed Planet?

Renewable Energy, Renewed Planet?

There are a numbers of questions that surround the applicability of renewable energy such as whether we can reach 100% renewable energy, whether it will provide us with the energy we need to meet demands or whether it will reduce the effects of or even better fix environmental change!

With various countries announcing plans to switch to 100% renewable energy, hope in the feasibility of renewable energy is offered. Having said that, the vast majority of countries are doing little in the way of increasing their use of renewable energy - which isn't very surprising! But, these contrasts have set off debates over our use of renewable energy, its barriers and the desirability of these forms of energy.

Resolving these debates is important and is something I seek to do in this blog as I explore the potential of the various renewable technologies to address environmental change. 

But first, a little look at renewable energy technologies would be helpful, I imagine, because when people think of renewable energy they often think of wind energy, or more specifically wind turbines, and solar energy or more specifically solar panels on houses! There are however many more renewable energy technologies out there and for this reason I will outline them now and explore debates surrounding them in my blog at a later date.

Solar

Solar power is the fastest growing energy technology in the world and works even in northern climates such as the United Kingdom! There are two types of solar power: solar photovoltaics (PV) which is basically the solar panels you see on rooftops to generate electricity and solar thermal which is panels that are designed to heat water systems.

Solar Panels - on a house that still looks quaint!

Wind

Wind mills, wind turbines and wind pumps – all of these can be used to generate renewable electricity. Wind power equipment can be both small and large scale, onshore and offshore. The overall reliability of wind turbines is high - over 97% - and so they propose a promising energy source.

A Wind Farm in Kent

Biogas

Biogas is the gas that, in the absence of oxygen, is produced from the natural breakdown of organic waste or matter – so plants, animal and food waste. This efficient use of waste can play a key role in the reduction of greenhouse gases!

Renewable Energy Association - Biogas

Biomass

Biomass is the substances that have been created from animal and vegetable matter. It can be used for heat, power generation and other fuels such as biomethane and makes greenhouse gas emissions savings.

Wood Fire Biomass Power Station

Energy from Waste

Waste materials can be used to generate energy. Once all recyclable materials are removed the residual waste left can be utilised through various of technologies such as gasification, combustion and anaerobic digestion - processes that biogas uses.

Composting

Composting is the self heating, decomposition and stabilization of biodegradable waste. It occurs in a controlled setting to ensure the end product is sanitary and can therefore ultimately be reused to aid agricultural, horticultural and ecological improvements.

Composting for agricultural uses!

Deep Geothermal

Geothermal technologies make use of the Earths natural radioactive decay to generate surface heating and steam-generated power. Developments so far have enabled systems 5km deep to be engineered and so further development in this area could result in systems that are both a reliable and cost effective source of renewable energy.

A diagram of how Geothermal Energy works

Heat Pumps

Heat pumps take heat from a natural source and concentrate it in one location to generate energy from it  for domestic heating or hot water. You can have ground, air and water source heat pumps. 

Ground Heat Pumps

Hydro

Hydro power is created when the kinetic (moving) energy of flowing water is converted into electricity. Hydroelectricity is covered under the Governments Feed-in Tariff scheme and the Renewables Obligation which offer incentives for using hydro technologies.

Marine

Wave and tidal energy make up marine renewable energy sources. They are a massive source of power but are also massively untapped and so if utilised they have the potential to become a significant energy source.

Pelamis Wave Energy Convertor - The Red Dragon

Renewable Transport Fuels

Renewable transport fuels are a promising, sustainable form of energy. They provide savings on carbon and are also biodegradable meaning they don’t cause any pollution to soils or waterways and consequently present a much less environmentally dangerous alternative to fossil fuels. Renewable fuels include biomethane, biomethanol and biodisel. 

Thanks for reading! 

The Taboo Topic of Geo-engineering

The environmental changes that face the world today are, from an environmental governance perspective, largely outside the range of past experiences. The nature of the environmental changes we face today are problematic and for that reason it's not surprising that political leaders, policymakers and managers are struggling to find effective global solutions.

Up to now, attempts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions have fell short of expectations. The significance of needing to put effective global governance systems in place is evidenced by the centrality of this issue at the Copenhagen Climate Conference in 2009. As my previous post on Climate Change for Beginners highlighted, the prospects for our future don’t paint a very happy picture as some of the Earth's key thresholds/boundaries have already been passed.

In light of this, more recently the ‘taboo topic’ of geo-engineering has rapidly become a serious research topic and is the subject concerning many a debates!

With the experts defining geo-engineering as …

‘The intentional large-scale manipulation of the environment, particularly manipulation that is intended to reduce undesired anthropogenic climate change’ (Keith, 2000)

... it seemingly offers a solution to resolve the problematic environmental changes we are faced with today (#winnerwinner). Oh how joyous one could be if this were the case! Unfortunately it is not (#ornot), in reality geo-engineering methods are couched in debates and implementation has consequently been hindered. 

Anyway, before we get ahead of ourselves lets have a look at what geo-engineering entails... 

In the major review by The Royal Society, geo-engineering methods were divided following these basic principles. The two categories are carbon dioxide removal (CDR) and solar radiation management (SRM).

Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR)

CDR methods comprise of techniques aimed to remove CO2 from the atmosphere. CDR directly addresses the issue of having undesired and dangerous concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere today. The methods have relatively low uncertainties and risks and as a result, in comparison to SRM, they are a sustainable option. Consequently the methods are more attractive in providing a solution to climate change as it addresses the root cause and has less risk. That said, the techniques have high costs and work slowly to reduce temperatures, which means implementation would need to be done fast if we want to look towards a cooling in the future.

Solar Radiation Management (SRM)

SRM methods involve techniques  which aim to reflect a small percentage of the sun’s light and heat – its solar radiation – back into space. In contrast to CDR, SRM methods work quickly and subsequently provide a desired time frame and potentially the only way in which global temperatures can be reduced in order to prevent a climate crisis. As a result of this, SRM is very much at the centre of debates surrounding the taboo topic of geo-engineering. While pro scientists advocate the quick results SRM brings, sceptics highlight the issue that not all climate change effects are reduced nor are the all important CO2 levels affected and consequently the wider effects of climate change itself are argued as not being addressed.

Geo-engineering methods get rated!

In August this year, The Oxford Conference on Negative Emission Technologies was held and the focus of discussions was on the urgent need to remove CO2 emissions from the atmosphere. To transform the Earth and fix environmental change a combination of methods (listed on the map below) is proposed as each CO2 sucker is not enough alone. 

Transforming Earth

A combination of methods or not, one thing that is for sure is that if we 'don't employ some of these technologies, we will go above 2°C'  - that means we need to take action immediately. So, is geo-engineering the fix to environmental change? If so, should both CDR or SRM be used, or just one? 

Fear not, these questions will be answered as I delve deeper into the geo-engineering debate, exploring the various techniques proposed, eventually comparing them to renewable energy methods to determine which, or maybe both, can and should be used to fix climate change!

Thanks for reading. 

An Energy Crisis

As my blog looks at environmental change and the need to find an alternative approach for humankind to receive the energy they need to sustain I thought a few of the issues from this week's news were very relevant in depicting how pressing this issue is.

The Headlines this Week...

'Npower to raise energy prices by 10.4%'

Sir John Major calls for windfall tax on energy profits

This week, Npower became the third of the countries large energy supplier to raise it's gas and electricity bills. Alongside SSE and British Gas these firms have now announced price increases of between 8% and 10% and other big players such as Scottish Power, E.On and EDF are expected to follow suit with similar price increases.

This article really highlighted to me how pressing the issue of trying to find alternative energy use methods really is. Particularly when today Sir John Major announced that these increases would mean that for some this Winter a decision between having either food or electricity would have made (BBC, 2013). I don't believe that anyone should have to make that sacrifice however I also don't believe that the price freeze proposed by Ed Miliband is enough to address the energy crisis we are faced with today.

Ed Miliband Twitter

This weeks news resonated with me and made me all the more motivated to find a resolution to issues such as the energy crisis that we are faced with as a result of global environmental change. Hopefully this blog will aid me in finding some solutions in geo-engineering and renewable energy methods.

Well, let's find out ...

A Beginners Guide to Climate Change

Before I embark on my journey of trying to determine whether geoengineering or renewable energy provide a resolution to global environmental problems I thought that firstly it would be nice to give you a brief history of environmental change, the causes of it and the resulting situation that we are faced with today. So, here is my 'Beginners Guide to Climate Change'. 

History

The interactions between humans and the environment go beyond that of modern human existence to the time of our hominoid ancestors. In their hunt for food, our ancestors became more knowledgeable about their surrounding environments, they discovered how to manipulate fire and became better at hunting. This allowed them to switch their diet from a vegetarian to an omnivorous one. This new, protein based diet meant the brain size of humans grew threefold enabling them to begin developing stone technologies and ultimately the power to change the Earth. Although our ancestors did not ever fully transform an ecosystem, the progression of humankind begun with them, continuing to eventually culminate with the Industrial Revolution - a Revolution wherein humans became able to influence the environment (Steffen et al, 2011). 

                                                      Source: Youtube - Dr. Rick Potts

The Industrial Revolution has its origins in 18^th Century Britain and 19^th Century Western civilization.  The discovery and subsequent exploitation of fossil fuels replaced agriculture as the most dominant human activity. Humanity was able to undertake new activities with these new fuel sources and existing activities expanded (Steffen et al. 2011).  Populations and economic production grew, more land was transformed for human activity and there was a rise of greenhouse gases –CH4 and nitrous oxide (N2O) and in particular CO2. Consequently, mankind left a significant imprint on the environment.

Further to this, after World War II, human enterprise switched gears, stepping up activity to such an extent that the period of 1945-2000 is known as the Great Acceleration (Hibbard et al, 2006). Trade was made open and capital flows were encouraged in the neoliberal post-World War II economy leading to a spike in the growth levels of all industries. 

Source: Steffen et al., 2011

The emergence of global environmental problems were ignored and growth continued into the twenty first century with the rapid development trajectories in China, India Brazil, South Africa and Indonesia further contributing to the impact of humans on the Earth System (Steffan et al.,2011).

The relationship between humans and the environment changed significantly as they began to alter most of the Earth’s systems; its atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere and lithosphere (Zalasiewicz et al, 2011). Consequently, it is asserted that these anthropogenic driven changes provide evidence that humans have altered the Earth system to such an extent that we have entered a new geological epoch: the Anthropocene (Ellis, 2011). The concept of the Anthropocene therefore suggests that the Earth is moving out of its current epoch of the Holocene and that humans are responsible for this due to them having become a ‘geological force in [their] own right’ (Steffen et al.2011). 

Where Does This Leave Us Now?

The continued change inflicted upon the Earth by humans has caused a lot of damage to the Earth system, some of which is irreversible. The Fifth Assessment Report by the Intergovernmental Panel and Climate Change (2013) provides us with the most up to date account of the current state of the Earth system. 

The IPCC report asserts that:

'Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, and since the 1950s, many of the observed

changes are unprecedented over decades to millennia. The atmosphere and ocean have warmed, the amounts of snow and ice have diminished, sea level has risen, and the concentrations of greenhouse gases have increased' (IPCC, 2013). 

Anthropogenic climate change is now beyond dispute. Human influence on the climate system is evident in the increased atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations, observed warming, positive radiative forcing (see definition at bottom) and improved understanding of the climate system (IPCC Summary Report for Policy Makers, 2013). It has been concluded therefore that athropogenic influences have caused changes to a number of the Earth's systems: sea level rise; spring snow cover retreats; glacier retreats; stratospheric ozone depletion - the list is large.  

'Continued emissions of greenhouse gases will cause further warming and changes in all components of the climate system' (IPCC, 2013). It is therefore vital that we limit climate change in order to not transcend the thresholds that define a safe operating space for humanity with respect for the Earth system (Rockstrom et al., 2009). Rockstrom et al. (2009) identify nine Earth system boundaries and associated thresholds that, if crossed, could cause a dangerous level of environmental change (see below). Their analysis shows that three of the Earth system processes - climate change, nitrogen cycle interference and biodiversity loss - have already crossed their boundaries and the other boundaries aren't far off being crossed either.  

Source: Rockstrom et al., 2009

The seriousness of the issue of environmental change thus goes without saying. Even if emissions were stopped many of the effects of climate change would persist for centuries and a large fraction of climate change resulting from CO2 emissions will be irreversible, unless a large scale removal occurred.  Preventing further change is therefore something that requires substantial and sustained reductions in greenhouse gas emissions (IPCC, 2013). 

The large task at hand thus brings to the fore the methods proposed under the terms geo-engineering and renewable energy. The former of these methods seeks to alter the climate system to counter climate change while the latter provides a source of energy free of greenhouse gas emissions. Can the climate be fixed by either of these? Which, if any offers the better solution?

Lets find out ... 

Definition:

Radiative forcing14 (RF): quantifies the change in energy fluxes caused by changes in Natural and anthropogenic substances and processes for 2011 relative to 1750. Positive RF leads to surface warming, negative RF leads to surface cooling (IPCC 5th Assessment Report, 2013).