Advances in Energy Technology Promise More Than Global Warming Solutions

by Vicki Wolf

Advances and breakthroughs in technology this year range from energy efficiency with plug-in electric cars to improving ways to tap into energy from the wind and sun. Most of these technological advances promise ways to reduce dependence on fossil fuel, reduce global warming gasses, stimulate the economy and create jobs. Implementing these technologies also will mean better air quality. As large cities and businesses begin to use these technologies, the prices will come down for everyone.

Most experts agree we will need a broad array of technologies to stop global warming. Joe Romm, climatologist, author and host of the Climate Progress Blog, lists solar photovoltaics, wind turbines and plug-in hybrids. After researching clean energy technology he says, “The one technology closest to being a silver bullet for global warming is the other solar power.” He’s talking about Concentrated Solar Power (CSP), which concentrates the sun’s rays to heat a liquid that drives an electric generator. The key is cheap storage, according to Romm. “The easiest way to deal with the intermittency of the sun is cheap storage — and thermal storage is much cheaper and has a much higher round-trip efficiency than electric storage.” Romm says CSP has the ability to provide power reliably through the day to key locations around the world. He believes CSP is essential in what he calls “the full global warming solution.”

As new technology becomes available, governments and businesses will need to decide on the best investments to meet energy demand. Dr. Robert Harris, president of HARC (Houston Advanced Research Center) says energy efficiency is first on the list. “Technology that offers the best climate change solutions are those that contribute to a more resilient energy supply at the lowest cost. “Everyone agrees that energy efficiency is the most effective investment,” Harris says.

For years, Europeans have been collecting the energy in heat produced by large industrial facilities and using it for other heating needs. “HARC has demonstrated that low-grade heat can be extracted from exhaust pipes and put into other forms of energy such as hot water,” Harris says. It’s called combined heat and power (CHP), an integrated energy system that offers efficiency, reliability, and environmental and economic benefits. CHP is a way of capturing wasted thermal energy and using it for heating, and to generate electricity.

“Hospitals, for example can use the low grade heat to make them more resilient to disasters,” Harris says. By using low-grade heat, a by-product of power generation, the hospital can generate electricity on site. This enables the hospital to keep power on when the city’s power goes off without using fossil fuels. Harnessing this energy that once escaped into the atmosphere also lowers demand for electricity from the municipal grid and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. CHP is suitable for municipal buildings, commercial buildings, industrial manufacturers, institutions, and multifamily housing.

Photovoltaics technology is another area that is rapidly being developed and bringing costs down. Photovoltaics involves producing electricity directly from sunlight without creating any air or water pollution. Solar panels that contain photovoltaic cells, which convert light energy directly from the sun, are installed on rooftops and other places where they get direct exposure to the sun. The small panels you see at street lights and solar landscape lighting use photovoltaics.

HARC has initiated the East Harris County Solar project. Included in the project is the installation of photovoltaics in the Pasadena School District. “This is especially good to do at schools,” Harris says. “Showing innovative ways to create energy without using fossil fuels needs to be in the curriculum. Students need to see it, not just hear about it. It all gets cheaper as it is used more widely.” Working with the Department of Energy (DOE), HARC is implementing projects at the George Brown Convention Center and other locations in the Houston area.

Thin-film photovoltaics promise to lower cost as this technology becomes more available to the public.  Heliovolt in Austin, Texas is one of several companies manufacturing a thin-film solar cell that converts light into electricity with a micrometers-thick layer of a copper-indium-gallium selenide (CIGS) semiconductor. The glass laminate modules can be installed on rooftops, ground-mounted for large-scale solar farms or used as car parking solar shades.

For photovoltaics to continue to grow and provide energy at a reasonable cost, more sustainable materials for production are needed.  According to Harris, the photovoltaic cell is usually made from rare earth elements that cannot easily be obtained, and they are expensive. Researchers are looking at using pure silicon, which is sand converted into the appropriate state to use in solar collectors.

Texas leads the nation in the production of energy from wind. This renewable energy technology continues to develop and grow. Better transmission and storage for both solar and wind power are required to provide more energy where it is needed and when it is needed are.

“Our transmission grid is very antiquated,” Harris say. “We need to think about redesigning the grid to get energy from where it is produced to where it is needed.” Transitioning from the old grid to the new is a complicated issue. More lines are not desirable, but the old lines can’t be torn out until new ones are built. The environment is affected when large transmission lines are built across the land, lakes and rivers. Harris says the new grid will need to be environmentally sensitive.

“What we have not done yet ask is how do we integrate energy storage for wind and solar,” Harris says. It often happens that when the wind is blowing there’s not much sun, and when the sun is shining there’s not much wind. Why not use wind power when it’s windy and solar power when it’s sunny? “In West Texas, for example, during winter months the area get lots of wind and lots of cloudy days so there’s less solar,” he notes. “And in contrast when large high pressure weather systems set in, it is very hot with low wind.” Harris says there are a lot of companies developing forecasts to know day to day which energy source to use.

Moving toward more energy efficient design and clean, renewable energy will make even more sense as infrastructure ages.  “We will rebuild a large percentage of buildings because they are wearing out,” Harris says. “This will be a big opportunity to design for living with nature and for depending on life support systems from nature like the wind and the sun.”

Advances in technology for automobiles are very important to the global warming solution.  Transportation accounts for 28 percent of energy use in the United States. Personal vehicles, such as cars and light trucks, consume 60 percent of the total energy used for transportation. Currently, gasoline and diesel, two highly polluting fuels, account for 80 percent of all energy consumed in transportation. Plug-in hybrid vehicles are promising to bring this amount of fossil fuel usage down. These cars will provide even more benefit when electricity comes from power plants with zero emissions. “But even electricity produced from coal is an improvement over gasoline,” says Mark Kapner, Austin Energy senior strategy engineer. “Electricity produced from natural gas is a tremendous improvement.”

Plug-in all-electric vehicles require large batteries and need to stop and be plugged in when the battery runs down. Kapner says people may start to consider having two cars as all-electric cars become more affordable - an all-electric one for short trips in town and a hybrid for longer trips. In California, the NEV (neighborhood electric vehicle) is now available to consumers. One study shows that NEV users leave their full-size cars and trucks at home for shorter trips and drive the NEV. For the 260 NEV users interviewed in the study, the NEV replaced the gasoline vehicle two-thirds of the time. Use of the NEV accounted for 26.5 million zero-emission trips each year.

Until electric cars become more affordable, Vehicles powered with natural gas vehicles may be the best choice. Natural gas is less polluting than gasoline or diesel. The Honda Civic GX runs on natural gas. It uses the same natural gas that gas stoves burn. If you have a natural gas line at home, you can connect it to a “Phil” station and fill up in your own driveway. The price of natural gas varies and can be one-third the price of gasoline.

These advances in energy technology are exciting. They offer hope for a global warming solution. The decade ahead presents an opportunity to do things better. We can use technology to help reduce pollution, and stop destructive mining and drilling. We can improve quality of life and preserve the health and beauty of this planet for the next generation.