Daniel Yergin, chairman of CERA, received the Pulitzer Prize for “The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power” and the United States Energy Award for lifelong achievements in energy and the promotion of international understanding. Vist CERA at http://cera.ecnext.com.
Posts Tagged ‘cheap solar’
Wind Power Jobs on the Rise
First, we should examine how this boom came to pass in the first place. For one, wind energy is quickly becoming a popular idea. It?s one of the most rapidly expanding sources of energy in both the U.S. and Europe. In fact, out of all of the new electricity generation installed in the U.S. last year, wind energy made up 42 percent. This figure was no doubt due to the fact that there was a fifty percent increase in installed wind capacity, with enough megawatts coming online to power two million homes. Another key factor to the jump in jobs in the industry is the fact that in 24 states, new wind turbine and component manufacturing facilities were announced, opened, or expanded.
Texas continues to lead the country in megawatts of wind generation, but 2008 saw Iowa (which, like Minnesota, generates seven percent of its electricity from wind power) surpass California for number two on the list. Other states that are notable for their wind power are Washington, Oregon, Colorado and Minnesota. According to the study, Texas has the largest wind farms installed and Indiana is growing the fastest in wind energy (based on percentage).
With expansion and growth happening in so many different states, it should come as no surprise that wind power jobs spiked dramatically last year. When an industry gets bigger, an increase in manpower is required to ensure that it runs smoothly. Wind energy is no different. Expansion allows the need for more skilled workers in different areas. The workforce is greatly benefited by this expansion. For example, people who are capable of manufacturing turbines and their components will be needed. In fact, manufacturers of the turbines and their components created 13,000 jobs alone last year. Expansion also creates jobs for people who can both build and install turbines. It also creates jobs for people to operate and maintain them. Then there are all of the people who don?t have a hand in the actual workings of the wind turbines but who are just as important: the lawyers, the marketing departments, the administrative assistants. It takes countless people in a wide array of different positions to make the industry run.
Like any industry these days, the future is unclear. While there are many bright spots, the current state of the economy makes it difficult to predict what this year will bring. Some say it?s unlikely that 2009 will see the same gains 2008 saw. Layoffs have hit companies that produce turbines and their components; developers are having a more difficult time financing projects. Since wind energy is initially more expensive to develop than other power generators; interest in developing new wind farms will likely decrease during tough economic times. Less interest in developing wind farms will in turn lead to less jobs being generated in the field.
Still, others maintain that the growth can continue. They site factors like the economic stimulus plan that put billions of dollars aside for alternative energy and President Obama?s desire to dramatically increase our reliance on alternative energy sources. In fact, in a recent trip to Iowa, President Obama announced plans to allow off-shore wind energy production?a step clean energy giant Spain has also recently taken. Echoing the U.S. Department of Energy?s findings that by 2030 wind power could provide twenty percent of our country?s electricity, President Obama went on to say that this new step in alternative energy could create 250,000 jobs.
Having a President that is so dedicated to clean, alternative energy sources is a big bonus for the wind power industry. With the economy leaving everything shaky, the best thing any industry can hope for right now is high-level support. To continue at the level of success the wind energy industry is currently enjoying, policies need to be put in place and money needs to be committed to the cause. Luckily for the industry, they have the best ally and spokesperson they could ask for in President Obama.
Will Innovation Transform Energy?
Something big is going on throughout the energy business. It’s a great bubbling of innovation in every part of the industry. This bubbling is the brew of many different ingredients-from the impact of high prices and geopolitical uncertainty to the growing focus on “clean tech” and climate change. Will Innovation Transform Energy?
Though invisible to the consumer, an enormous amount of technological advance is embedded in every gallon of gasoline. Less than 30 years ago, the absolute “deep water” frontier for drilling was 600 feet of water.
Today, companies are working in what is called ultra-deep water, drilling through as much as 12,000 feet of ocean. Explorers can now use a new technology called WAZ-wide azimuth seismic-to “see” deep resources previously not visible through salt barriers thousands of feet below the seabed.
Companies are integrating a wide variety of information
technology capabilities to turn the “digital oilfield of the future” into the digital oilfield of the present, increasing efficiency and output. The large-scale conversion of natural gas into high-quality, diesel-like fuel is getting closer.
What is very visible today in the public’s eye is the innovation in renewables of every sort. Renewables received much attention in the 1970s and early 1980s, but faded away in the face of falling fuel prices and ample supplies. Their rebirth is partly the result of market forces. But it is also driven by continuing technology improvements and by mandates and subsidies from federal and state governments in the United States and the European Union, and by similar programs in countries like India, China and a growing number of other nations.
This year will certainly see the incentives and mandates expanded in the United States, as is already evident with the higher target for ethanol in the State of the Union speech.
The effects of the surge in alternatives are being felt in unexpected ways. Growth in renewables is going so fast that it is straining capacity in people, materials and supplies. If you want to order turbines and blades for windmills or silicon for solar photovoltaic cells today, you may have trouble finding supply. Livestock raisers and dairy farmers in the United States-along with Mexicans for whom tortillas are a staple are complaining about the sharp rise in the price of corn being fueled by rapid growth in corn-based ethanol production.
Renewables may be called “alternatives,” but they already constitute a considerable business. The one is that is well on the way to becoming conventional is wind power, which has gone through a considerable evolution over the last two decades. Along the way, costs have declined by a factor of ten.
Last year’s worldwide investment in wind and solar is estimated at over $40 billion. Yet, while the prospects for renewables are very large, they also need to be seen in context. In this case, the context is the huge scale of the overall system and the long lead times that are needed to develop any form of energy.
Moreover, these sources eventually have to establish themselves as economically competitive in the marketplace on a large scale. Even with all the advances, they are still a very small part of the overall energy mix. In the United States, wind is 1 percent of total electric generating capacity. But wind and the other renewables will continue to grow.
Underpinning the “great bubbling” is the rapidly growing spending on energy innovation.
A decade ago, I chaired a task force on energy research and development for the U.S. Department of Energy. That was a time of low interest in energy; and, not surprisingly, interest in the subject of our task force was also relatively low. After all, in the aftermath of the First Gulf War, there was little concern about the availability of future supplies. Climate change was hardly on the horizon as an issue. It’s a very different situation today. The reasons are multiple.
Prices and worry about supplies and energy security are important. So is the prospect of the vast growth in energy demand in Asia, which will change the global energy balance. Also looming large are environmental worries and the growing quest to reduce carbon emissions because of climate-change concerns.
All these factors mean that energy is now a major focus for technology investment. Governments and companies continue to be big players, and they are stepping up their investment. Research-and-development spending by the U.S. Department of Energy was $1.8 billion last year and is currently expected to grow by at least 25 percent in 2007-and could be even more with the new Congress.
And now there are new players: venture capitalists. The funding sources that brought immense innovation in information technology and life sciences-and created Silicon Valley along the way-are now honing in on the energy industry. To be sure, some prominent venture firms are standing back, saying that venture capital does not fit the longer time horizon and larger capital requirements of the energy business. But many others see this as their next frontier.
“Clean tech” is the new rubric under which much of this money is flowing, and the flows are increasing significantly. In North America, venture-capital investment in energy reached $2.1 billion in 2006-four times what it was in 2004, according to the Cleantech Venture Network. Venture capital is not merely a source of money; it is also a source of focused, results-driven discipline. This also means a wide diversity of ideas and technologies will be explored.
Inevitably, many of the new initiatives will end up being venture’s version of dry wells. That’s the character of research and development- and venture investing. The kind of surge we’re seeing today comes not only with hope but also with hype. This will remind some of the Internet boom. That boom left many deflated hopes and even more deflated valuations. But it also initiated a transformation of the way the world works.
And, by contrast, in the Internet boom there was often no clear idea of how to make money. It was about “firstmover advantage” and “land grabs.” This time, the opportunity is clear and can be measured against costs and prices in the marketplace.
The innovation frontier in energy is very broad. The systematic application of biology to energy is new, and could end up having a big impact. Ethanol is already being called a “firstgeneration” biofuel, and there is a growing debate as to the biology driven “second-generation” fuels.
Another area that will receive much greater focus is energy efficiency. This is building on a more solid foundation than may be recognized. It’s often said that the United States has made little progress on energy conservation or energy efficiency. In fact, the United States, along with countries like Japan, is twice as energy efficient as it was in the 1970s.
Much technological effort will go into the effort to double once again. This push is not limited to the United States. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has made energy efficiency the centerpiece of her agenda as chairman of the G-8 nations and president of the European Union.
This “great bubbling” represents what is the broadest drive ever for energy innovation. It has the potential over a period of 10 or 15 years to work major transformations in how energy is produced, transported and consumed. But it is not a sure thing.
Two ingredients will likely be required if it is to have this effect. One is consistency-maintaining the level of financial commitment and stability over the cycles. And that gets to the second ingredient: Prices, and what people expect of them, will also be an important part of this brewing future. One way or the other, they will likely add much spice over the coming years.
Know The Different Types of Alternative Fuels
There are many different types of alternative fuels that are being developed these days which is an exciting innovation in the vehicle industry. Alternative fuels are the wave of the future as scientists look for cleaner burning fuels that will not damage the environment while providing great advantages to the vehicle owner. They have come up with several.
Probably the most well known type of alternative fuel is ethanol. Ethanol is often called grain alcohol as it is made from corn and or soybeans. Right now on the market is E85 which is 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. Even though it still has gasoline in it, ethanol burns much cleaner than regular gas and saves on gas mileage for those who use it. Ethanol can also be made from organic materials including agricultural crops and waste, plant material left from logging, and trash including paper.
Another type of alternative fuel is methanol, a cousin of ethanol as they are both alcohol based products. Methanol is sometimes called wood alcohol and can be made from various biomass resources like wood, as well as from coal. However, today nearly all methanol is made from natural gas, or methane, because it is cheaper.
Propane, or compressed natural gas has long been used to provide energy to homes, but it is rising in popularity as a type of alternative fuel for vehicles. Like oil, this common fuel comes from underground. However, natural gas, as the name implies, is a gas much like air, rather than a liquid like petroleum. It has been found to be one of the most environmentally friendly fuels, and its popularity is growing.
You can find another type of alternative fuel in the form of good old fashioned electricity. In fact, electric vehicles have been around for a long time, and they are coming back in popularity due to environmental concerns. Electric vehicles do not burn gasoline in an engine. They use electricity stored on the car in batteries. Sometimes, 12 or 24 batteries, or more, are needed to power the car.
One of the most interesting and promising type of alternative transportation fuels is hydrogen. While mostly only experimental vehicles are operating on this fuel now, the potential for this unique energy source is excellent. Hydrogen is the lightest of all elements and is easy to produce which is why it is sending excitement waves throughout the alternative fuel industry as they next big type of alternative fuel that can be used in vehicles.
These are only a few types of alternative fuels and more are being developed all the time. With a growing concern over global warming, the use of alternative fuels will grow in popularity over time and you will likely begin to see many other types of alternative fuels make their appearance.
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Solutions Of Renewable Electricity Generation – Unusual Report !
If it happens to be that you search the web for information about solutions of renewable electricity generation then you must read the following – you are sure to be intrigued. First of all, how about being able to produce more than enough electrical power to run every appliance in your home, without outside assistance, and without spending a fortune – sounds impossible? Take a look at the following paragraphs and find out the answer.
Most of the general public have to buy all the electricity they use; they pay their bills month-by-month and say good-bye to the hard-earned money they spend on something like electricity. But then there are those who found another way of doing things, since they didn’t want to live that way, they realized they could use green technology to generate infinite free energy and would meet their current and future needs.
So, before you try to find out more about solutions of renewable electricity generation please note that it is indeed possible for you to start generating your own power; in just a few short days, you can start enjoying your new, no-cost power supply – all you have to do is get started now. I guess that by now you are already full of curiosity as to how this is possible; let me explain – it’s just a technique for taking advantage of the earth’s natural power suppliers – the wind and the sun. Do you know that it’s possible for anybody to construct a solar and wind energy generating system of their own in just few days without needing outside help?
Even if you are only interested about solutions of renewable electricity generation you should understand that you can quite easily create an efficient energy generating system which will allow you to stop wasting your money on high power bills. I imagine you’re still thinking that this will be very technical and expensive; however, green technology has gotten both easier and less expensive – happily for us, a respected professional who is on the cutting edge of the green technology movement is willing to share his vast experience to benefit all of us.