UK: First carbon neutral beer producer leads the way on biogas

Tuesday, 19 April 2011 Toby Price
Renewable Energy Magazine

Not content with producing the UK’s first carbon neutral beer, Adnams brewery in Suffolk on the southeast of England has entered into partnership with Bio Group to develop a ground-breaking anaerobic digestion (AD) plant; the first in the UK to use brewery and local food waste to produce renewable gas for injection into the national gas grid as well as providing gas for use as a vehicle fuel.

"Addressing Climate Change for Sustainable Development through Up-Scaling Renewable Energy Technologies"

3rd International Conference on
"Addressing Climate Change for Sustainable Development through Up-Scaling Renewable Energy Technologies"
12-14 October 2011
Kathmandu, Nepal

Click here to go to conference webpage.

CO2 as renewable energy storage vessel :: RenewableEnergyFocus.com

Research from Det Norske Veritas (DNV) shows that CO2 could be used, amongst other things, as storage for renewable energy.

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Food Security in Biofuel Certification :: The BioenergySite.com

The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations is currently developing a set of detailed criteria, indicators, good practices and policy options on sustainable bioenergy production that also helps in rural development and ensures food security, writes TheBioenergySite Editor in Chief Chris Harris.

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Global renewable energy vision for 2050 :: RenewableEnergyFocus.com

The Energy Report, published by Ecofys and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), claims that 95% of all energy could be renewable by 2050 using existing technologies and applying stringent sustainability criteria.

Only certain manufacturing processes, such as steel and cement, cannot yet be substituted by renewable fuels, according to the report.

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Why India Will be a Leader in CSP. RenewableEnergyWorld.com

Over the last couple of years, there has been very little talk of India becoming one of the biggest markets for concentrating solar power (CSP). Today, however, many factors are coming together which show me that the country will start to lead the industry.

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The Big List: 2010's Biggest Renewable Energy Projects. RenewableEnergyWorld.com

Renewable energy development continued at a good pace this year, with record-breaking projects announced almost as often as once per week. The editors of the renewable energy world network put our heads together to compile a list of the biggest renewable energy projects installed or completed this year as our year-end wrap-up report.

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China Adding 500 Gigawatts of Renewable Powers by 2020!

On the same day that Senate Republicans filibustered a vote for renewable energy in the USA, by contrast – China has just published an astoundingly ambitious and exciting renewable energy plan for the next ten years.
China’s plan is to get a total of 500 Gigawatts of renewable energy on the grid by 2020. It explodes wind power from a mere 25 GW on the grid now, to a staggering 150 GW, a six-fold increase on the previous already ambitious plan.

Liquid fuels would get a boost. The plan would grow ethanol production from 2 million tons to 10 million tons, to expand biodiesel from 0.05 million tons to 2 million tons, biomass pellets for heating, from under a million tons to 50 million tons, and biogas and biomass gasification from 8 billion cubic meters to 44 billion cubic meters.

China is already the world leader in solar thermal hot water heaters for rooftops. The solar hot water goal is to have 300 million square meters of solar hot water collectors, up from 100 million in 2006.

Tidal power: an update. RenewableEnergyFocus.com

Compared to wind and solar, tidal power is still regarded as a renewable energy technology that remains unviable on a large scale. But throw together climate change, political will in the UK and the US, entrepreneurial enthusiasm and academic research - with some significant investment - and a new mood of optimism is starting to pervade the sector.

Tidal current power, sometimes called tidal stream power, is the process of converting the kinetic energy of the tide – whether in tidal rivers (think London's Thames or New York's East River), streams or ocean waters, into useable power in the form of electricity.

The process typically involves an underwater turbine, and a plethora of devices are being developed – some in rivers or streams and others offshore. While a few technologies are past the testing stage and now feeding the grid, no company in the world has actually reached the commercial stage, delivering “proven technology”.

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What's Behind Record-Breaking Solar Cell Efficiencies. RenewableEnergyWorld.com

Part 1

Part 2

Rice husks help electrify India and fight poverty. RenewableEnergyMagazine.com

Half the population of the Indian state of Bihar lives below the poverty line, including, until now, having no access to any type of energy. "Empowering Bihar" is the title of a new Greenpeace India report showing how renewable energy, particularly biomass and solar, can promote social and economic development through a decentralised power generation system.


Husk Power Systems is the name of the initiative that supplies electricity to a population spread across 125 villages in Bihar. It is one of two projects that Greenpeace India recently unveiled to the press, outlined in the report “Empowering Bihar”. Both demonstrate the importance of decentralised renewable energy systems. The other project involves various solar installations at the Tripolia Social Service Hospital, an entity that performs an important role in medical and health care.

Gyanesh Pandey and Ratnesh Kumar, two young entrepreneurs, are the brains behind Husk Power Systems, which comprises a network of 35 small plants producing electricity from biomass gasification using rice husks. The electricity is then distributed through small networks to the 125 villages for at least six hours a day. Until now, these settlements had no electricity or only enjoyed very limited access (four hours maximum) at high costs because the power was generated using diesel and kerosene.

European union unveils new one trillion euro energy strategy. EnvironmentalExpert.com

The European Commission has sent an unprecedentedly clear warning to the EU member states that without strong new policy initiatives the EU's existing energy and climate strategy is unlikely to achieve the 2020 targets, and it is wholly inadequate to the longer term challenges concerning energy and climate-change objectives. To deal with this, the Commission is proposing to spend €1 trillion over the next decade on infrastructure, new technologies and electricity storage, as part of a new energy strategy to deliver on the EU's 2020 energy and climate goals.

'In the next decade, investment in energy, both to replace existing resources and in order to meet increasing energy requirements, will oblige European economies to arbitrate among energy products which, given the inertia of energy systems, will condition the next 30 years,' it says.

Read full article in EnvironmentalExpert.com

Global Biofuel Alliance formed. BiorefiningMagazine.com

The Global Biofuels Alliance has officially launched. The nonprofit organization will work to “give a voice to the producers, traders, feedstock providers, and equipment manufacturers of the emerging biofuel industry.” Made up of ten founding members from various energy sectors including energy trading companies, start-up biodiesel companies and large biodiesel production facilities, the alliance has already set its sights on the hottest topic in the biodiesel industry. “The biodiesel tax credit is a key agenda,” said Wade Randlett, a founding board member of the alliance and cofounder of Enagra Holdings LLC, a holding company for renewable energy projects worldwide. “Although it’s a bit broader than that. I think having some form of longer term incentive for any kind of a renewable diesel, regardless of the feedstock, the source or the technology is important.”

Denmark 100% Fossil Fuel Free by 2050? CleanTechnica.com

Following up on some great news regarding renewable energy targets and possibilities in Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Germany, Denmark also recently announced great potential for weening itself off fossil fuels.
A report by the Danish climate commission found Denmark could create an energy network completely free of fossil fuels by 2050 as a result of falling renewable energy costs combined with rising oil and gas costs.

The report predicts that biomass and wind energy could provide the majority of the country’s energy needs.
“The report will also send a very clear and important signal to other countries that wind is a sustainable source of energy for future development,” said Ditlev Engel, chief executive of Danish wind energy giant Vestas.

“This is a great opportunity to solidify Denmark’s reputation as a laboratory for green, CO2-free power technology solutions that are globally required.”

Scotland to get 100 pct green energy by 2025. Reuters

(Reuters) - Scotland should produce enough renewable electricity to meet all its power demand by 2025, First Minister Alex Salmond said Tuesday.

"Scotland has unrivalled green energy resources and our new national target to generate 80 percent of electricity needs from renewables by 2020 will be exceeded by delivering current plans for wind, wave and tidal generation," Salmond said.

"I'm confident that by 2025 we will produce at least 100 percent of our electricity needs from renewables alone, and together with other sources it will enable us to become a net exporter of clean, green energy," he said a statement ahead of a renewable energy investment conference.

NREL Releases Biomass Mapping Application. RenewableEnergyWorld.com

A mapping application shows where bio-energy facilities are located now and where more could be developed.

by Jennifer Runyon, Managing Editor

Published: September 28, 2010

Washington, DC, USA – With funding from the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Blue Skyways Collaborative and DOE's Biomass Program, NREL has developed a cool new web portal that may lead to more bioenergy developments across the U.S.
 
The portal is a bioenergy mapping tool in which users can start with a blank map of the country. They can then overlay the map with biomass feedstocks to see where certain feedstocks can be harvested and then overlay that information with ethanol and biodiesel plants both active and idle, existing transportation infrastructure, power plants, fueling stations, refineries and more.

Canada implements national RFS, allows open mandate for blenders. Ethanol Producer Magazine

By Kris Bevill

It’s been years in the making, but Canada’s first national renewable fuels standard (RFS) is finally in place. The mandate to require refiners to blend 5 percent renewable fuels into their gasoline supplies went into effect on Sept. 1 and was met with enthusiastic optimism from members of the nation’s ethanol industry, according to Canadian Renewable Fuels Association President Gordon Quaiattini. “This has been a long time coming and there’ve been some dedicated folks in the ethanol market in Canada who have waited a long time to see this national mandate come into force,” he said. “We’re no longer an industry in its infancy. I think it’s fair to say that we’ve achieved an adolescent stage and there’s more to come.”

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State-by-State Report on Renewable Energy in the 50 US States. RenewableEnergyFocus.com

15 September 2010

The American Council On Renewable Energy (ACORE) has released a state-by-state report on renewable energy in the 50 US states.

Renewable Energy in America: Markets, Economic Development and Policy in the 50 States has been published as an online resource, compiling financial, renewable energy resource potentials, market and policy information in an online format.

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Microbial Breakthrough Impacts Health, Agriculture, Biofuels. ScienceDaily.com

ScienceDaily (Sep. 9, 2010) — For the first time ever, University of Illinois researchers have discovered how microbes break down hemicellulose plant matter into simple sugars using a cow rumen bacterium as a model.

"This is ground-breaking research," said Isaac Cann, associate professor in the U of I Department of Animal Sciences and member of the Energy Biosciences Institute (EBI) in the Institute for Genomic Biology. "The implications are very broad, yet it all started with a simple rumen microbe. It's amazing how we can draw inferences to human health and nutrition, biofuel production and animal nutrition because of our new understanding of how a microbe works."

The cow rumen is an excellent model to study as it's one of the most efficient machines to deconstruct plant matter, Cann said. Microbes in the rumen break down plant matter into glucose and xylose to use as nutrients for fermentation and energy acquisition.

World's top 15 electricity producers... Rediff.com

The world is already in the grip of a major power crisis. With the developing nations' appetite and demand for more energy, the situation is likely to get even worse if steps are not taken to find alternate and clean/green sources of energy.

Almost all natural resources that are used to generate power -- oil, gas, even water -- seem to have limited availability. Thus alternative sources of energy -- wind, nuclear, solar -- might be the way out for the developing as also the rich countries.

After the Copenhagen Summit on Climate Change, many nations pledged to reduce their carbon emissions. Developing countries, including India and China, believe it is the responsibility of wealthy industrialised nations such as the United Kingdom and the United States to cut more carbon emissions as they have already achieved a certain standard of living.