On Monday, Japan elected Yoshihiko Noda as its new prime minister. He has promised to push for a gradual phase-out of all nuclear power. That parallels Germany's announcement in March that it would shut down all its nuclear capacity by 2022. Early this week, France's prime minister, Francois Fillon, got in the act by saying it won't build new reactors to compensate for Germany's shutdowns. He also called for the creation of an international task force to address nuclear accidents.
So, yes, it's safe to say that nuclear power is in a slump. Of course, most of this stems from the horrible situation at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi plant, which has been crippled since March. That plant is still in terrible straits. Three of its reactor cores have apparently ruptured. Cracks have begun to appear on the outside of the four-foot-thick concrete containment structures, and thousands of residents have been evacuated as a precautionary measure.
So it's time for renewables to step up in a big way -- right?
Given the situation, you might think the answer to that question is a resounding yes. But it isn't. The primary question -- what to do when the sun doesn't shine and the wind doesn't blow -- really hasn't been answered yet.
"We still can't store the power," Jeff Terry, an assistant professor of physics at Illinois Institute of Technology, who splits his time between studying solar and nuclear power, said in a Design News interview last week. "Right now, it looks like nuclear is the power source that can take us through the next 400 years. Solar and wind still have huge problems."
Terry isn't alone in thinking this way. In 2008, we talked to scientists and engineers at the national labs, along with professors at numerous universities. The consensus was that if more than 20 percent of our power came from renewables, we would need storage.
"Having no form of storage is not a problem right now, because only a few percent of our power comes from wind and solar," George Crabtree, a senior scientist and distinguished fellow at Argonne National Laboratory, told Design News in 2008. "But that won't work if you intend to get really serious and create 30 percent to 40 percent of your power that way. Every wind and solar source has to have a backup."
"If you can't store it, then it's no good," Donald Sadoway, the John F. Elliott Materials Professor at MIT, said in a 2008 interview. "Name me someone who will put a company in an area where they have unreliable sources of power."
Strings of lead-acid batteries can store energy in low-megawatt capacities. (Photo courtesy of Electric Power Research Institute.)
Backups do exist, of course. Pumped hydro, in which water is pumped up a hill for storage to spin a generator, has been available for many years. So has compressed air energy storage. Researchers have also begun to look at such technologies as "vehicle-to-grid" and battery farms.
Unfortunately, those technologies only provide a tiny fraction of what's needed to replace a 1.5GW nuclear plant. Battery farms, for example, have produced as much as 10MW.
For some reason, the storage issue rarely gets attention. National news magazines have devoted entire issues to the future of energy, packing them with stories on solar panels and wind turbines, with nary a mention of storage. And the use of wind turbines in television commercials has become a cliché. But Americans seldom ask the incredibly elementary question: What happens when the sun goes down and the wind doesn't blow? I suspect, but can't prove, that many people believe there's a room full of spare electrons somewhere.
We could go a long way before we need to worry about storage. Today, renewables produce only a few percentage points of our total energy. But if we're considering shutting down the nukes, the power's going to have to come from somewhere.
"The number everyone talks about is 20 percent renewable," Donald Kintner, a spokesman for the Electric Power Research Institute, told DN in 2010. "I don't know how long it's going to take to get there. But the truth is, once we get to that threshold, we're going to need storage."
I agree that storage is vital piece of a viable renewable energy strategy. Air-conditioning has helped to create demand issues and it can be part of the solution as well.
In 2006 Buildings used over 70% of electricity produced so designs and changes to their consumption can impact the grid dramatically. High Performance Buildings designs, both new and retrofit, using hybrid cooling systems that include thermal energy storage can help provide the grid with energy storage. Buildings with energy storage can act as virtual generators when renewable energy is not available because of weather related issues. Additionally, these storage systems can provide a load for night time wind that is currently wasted because of low night time loads. Thermal energy storage in buildings can help the intermittant aspect of renewable energy while creating a load for it as well making the economics of renewable energy more viable.
Thermal energy storage systems are affordable and can be applied to a wide range of facilites including K-12 Schools, Community Colleges, Universities, Hospitals, and Offices. Product improvements, better design tools, and improved practices have made thermal energy storage systems both affordable and reliable providing cost savings for users, storage for the grid, and lower demand during summer peaks for the utility.
Successful implementors of thermal energy storage include Stanford University, the University of Arizona, SAP US headquarters in PA, Bank of America in NY, as well as Sarasota and Hillsborough County Schools in Florida to name a few.
Thermal energy storage need to be discussed more at state and federal levels to make sure policymakers understand the how thermal energy storage can help. Bills like California’s recently passed AB 2514 represent a good start at the state level. AB 2514 calls on the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to open a proceeding to establish a common framework for valuing the costs and benefits associated with storage, to help ensure that regulated utilities consider storage alongside other options for meeting reliability needs. In doing so, the bill it will bring various stakeholders together and elevate storage into the daily discussions about how we serve future energy needs. What role will storage play, at the lowest possible cost and in an environmentally responsible manner?
On the Federal level, bills like last year’s STORAGE Act can help extend tax credits, financial incentives and loan guarantees to energy storage projects, while the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, and many state PUCs are taking steps to understand how to value storage in a regulatory sense, and to measure its cost-effectiveness.
So, please, don't forget to mention thermal energy storage as part of the storage solution reqired for implementation of renewable energy.
Increases in the use of geothermal energy particularly in larger buildings does have high potential to reduce electricity need for local communities. Some municipalities have seen this and are starting to mandate the use of geothermal technology on new construction over certain square footage.
It seems that the major driving force of the renewables is their so-call environmentally friendly advantage. At least, that is what those driving the subsidies to those markets are saying. However, I wonder what the net impact is when the entire systems is looked at. How much space is required for the farms or the hydro storage? What happens when the batteries die? What sort of infrastructure is necessary, say, for a factory to have its own battery house? Even more important, at the end of the day what is cost per KWH?
Ivan, the idea of temporary storage at the residential location has some appeal, especially since more and more of us are getting emergency generators (either portable gasoline models or built in natural gas). The question becomes, what size system would be needed at an average size house to meet the minium requirements for service continuation (i.e., a calm day for a wind power system) vs. longer term emergency backup for a couple days when a storm takes out power.
I do remember seeing an article about those mini reactors a while ago. I think the concern with them, at least when I saw it was security. From a purely technical point of view, I did like that solution.
Thermal Energy Storage (TES) in typical applications makes up about 30% of a hybrid cooling system. The amount amount of space required for that is relative equivalent of the amount the water heater requires in the average 2,000 sq. ft. home. Partial ice storage systems require 1/4 of 1% of the conditioned space. Water thermal energy storage requires more space.
Some ice storage systems are 99% reuseable or recyleable making them a very sustainable choice. Ice energy storage systems typically will last over 30 years and not degrade in performance like batteries making them an ideal choice to store energy and lower connected load.
Of course all forms of energy storage will be needed to make renewable energy goals possible and viable. Utilities like to build and manage large projects so TES often is overlooked when it is a viable and necessary part of the solution.
Renewable energy will need the smart grid. The smart grid will need smart buildings. Smart buildings will need energy storage operate efficiently and affordable.
Thermal Energy Storage (TES), ice for example, combined with central geothermal systems offer storage and efficiency. Ice storage with geothermal heat pumps can provide a very efficient flexible cooling system for smart buildings. Here is a great example at this link. http://www.blattnerenergy.com/about_responsibility_green.php
Consider a few years into the future. Electric cars have been on the road for a while, and their batteries no longer have the capacity they once did (probably at 60-80% of original capacity) - its time to replace the battery.
What to do with the old battery? Re-use it!
The battery is no longer usefull for traction (e-vehicles), but it would serve well as stationary energy storage for a home or very small business, even at half the original capacity. Attach an inverter/charger, and volia! Instant local storage.
I've got a problem running away from a challenge (or problem, depending how you look at it) just because I experienced a failure. Einstein comes to mind...instead of walking away from the lightbulb experiment, he is quoted saying "... And why would I ever give up? I now know definitively over [###] ways that an electric light bulb will not work. Success is almost in my grasp."
The world needs clean, reliable ways to generate electricity. The United States is expected to need 300 gigawatts of new capacity – that’s 150 times the capacity of Hoover Dam – by 2030. Developing nations can only grow as fast as they can power their economies. Global demand for new electric capacity will outpace the U.S. by tenfold in the same period.
I think we need to embrace the great strides we've made in nuclear technology and figure out ways to conquer the down sides (i.e. where to put the waste OR recycle it by turning it into something else, weatherability, and what happens when it gets old).
With LEDs dropping in price virtually every year, automakers have begun employing them, not only on luxury vehicles, but on entry-level models, as well.
Using almost 200 light-emitting diodes in the front and back of the new 2014 CTS, Cadillac designers are showing how LEDs can change the character of a vehicle.
We recently posted an online slideshow called, “18 People You Didn’t Know Were Engineers.” Within hours of its publication, readers began to suggest names of other luminaries -- astronauts, politicians, athletes and actors -- who were educated or had worked as engineers.
In yet another sign that hydrogen is creeping into the consciousness of global automotive designers, sports car maker Aston Martin plans to run a hydrogen-fueled vehicle in a 24-hour Grand Touring race later this month.
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A quick look into the merger of two powerhouse 3D printing OEMs and the new leader in rapid prototyping solutions, Stratasys. The industrial revolution is now led by 3D printing and engineers are given the opportunity to fully maximize their design capabilities, reduce their time-to-market and functionally test prototypes cheaper, faster and easier. Bruce Bradshaw, Director of Marketing in North America, will explore the large product offering and variety of materials that will help CAD designers articulate their product design with actual, physical prototypes. This broadcast will dive deep into technical information including application specific stories from real world customers and their experiences with 3D printing. 3D Printing is
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