This report is intended as a non-technical examination of a basic question: Can any combination of known energy sources successfully supply society’s energy needs at least up to the year 2100?

In the end, we are left with the disturbing conclusion that all known energy sources are subject to strict limits of one kind or another.

Conventional energy sources such as oil, gas, coal, and nuclear are either at or nearing the limits of their ability to grow in annual supply, and will dwindle as the decades proceed—but in any case they are unacceptably hazardous to the environment.

And contrary to the hopes of many, there is no clear practical scenario by which we can replace the energy from today’s conventional sources with sufficient energy from alternative sources to sustain industrial society at its present scale of operations.

To achieve such a transition would require (1) a vast financial investment beyond society’s practical abilities, (2) a very long time—too long in practical terms—for build-out, and (3) significant sacrifices in terms of energy quality and reliability.

Perhaps the most significant limit to future energy supplies is the “net energy” factor—the requirement that energy systems yield more energy than is invested in their construction and operation. There is a strong likelihood that future energy systems, both conventional and alternative, will have higher energy input costs than those that powered industrial societies during the last century ...

CounterCurrents

Green fuels cause more harm than fossil fuels

Using fossil fuel in vehicles is better for the environment than so-called green fuels made from crops, according to a government study seen by The Times.

The findings show that the Department for Transport’s target for raising the level of biofuel in all fuel sold in Britain will result in millions of acres of forest being logged or burnt down and converted to plantations.

The study, likely to force a review of the target, concludes that some of the most commonly-used biofuel crops fail to meet the minimum sustainability standard set by the European Commission.

Under the standard, each litre of biofuel should reduce emissions by at least 35 per cent compared with burning a litre of fossil fuel. Yet the study shows that palm oil increases emissions by 31 per cent because of the carbon released when forest and grassland is turned into plantations.

Rape seed and soy also fail to meet the standard ...

Times  01 Mar 2010

Biofuel from the oceans

Big Oil Warms to Ethanol

Biofuels

Biofuels: Fields of dreams

Craig Venter

Exxon Mobil

Gene scientist to create algae biofuel with Exxon Mobil

'Green' power plants may burn palm oil

marklynas.org

Oil giant Exxon sees the future – and it is green algae

Palm oil and climate change

SGI

The guilty secrets of palm oil

The Great Biofuels Con

Regulation is holding back green power

Europe's biggest coal-fired power station is calling for changes to the Government's renewable energy regulations to enable Drax to convert one of its six coal generators to run on biomass.

Engineers are set to start work converting the facilities immediately and the green generator could be up and running within 18 months.

But under the current Renewable Obligation (RO) regulatory regime the plan – which would be the first of its type in the world – is simply not economic, says Drax.

"Biomass is the earth's fourth-most-plentiful energy resource," Dorothy Thompson, the company's chief executive, said yesterday. "For years it has provided more electricity in the UK than any other renewable resource, but electricity generation from biomass has not increased in recent years due to certain limitations in the policy framework."

Drax can already produce up to 500 megawatts (MW), or an eighth of its output, from biomass burnt alongside coal in "co-firing" facilities. But it is only using around half of the capacity because most of the 1.5 million tonnes of annual input comes from agricultural residue such as peanut husks (rather than specially-grown energy crops, such as elephant grass), which are up to three times more expensive than coal, on an energy output basis ...

Independent  01 July 2010    

Alternative Energy Sources

Biomass

Biomass

Biomass to Gas

Drax Co-Firing Plants

What is BIOMASS?

Wikipedia

Renewable technology that uses energy stored in the ground to heat buildings and provide hot water could be installed in hundreds of thousands of homes and offices by the end of the next decade, a report said today.

There are currently around 8,000 ground-source heat pumps systems in the UK – far fewer than in other European countries, such as Sweden, although the market is expanding rapidly and doubled last year, the Environment Agency report said.

The document concluded that the technology could be installed in 320,000 homes and businesses by 2020 with support from the government.

If enough support was given through the renewable heat incentive, which will be introduced in 2012 and pay homeowners and businesses a guaranteed price for generating renewable heat, more than 1m ground-source heat pumps systems could be put in place.

At the top end of its potential, ground-source heat technology could be installed in more than one in 10 homes and in 40% of commercial buildings, the report said.

Even if growth was limited to it being in 320,000 homes and business – 1% of households and 11% of commercial buildings – it could provide 30% of the renewable heat the UK needs to produce to meet its goals to supply renewable energy by 2020.

Guardian  09 Dec 2009

Britain's slow but steady march towards renewable energy took a step forward yesterday when plans were revealed for the UK's first power plant to produce electricity from geothermal energy – the Earth's own heat.

The plant is a joint partnership between the Eden Project, the Cornish ecotourism attraction which features the world's largest greenhouse, and a geothermal power company, EGS Energy. It is hoped the plant will be built on the Eden site near St Austell, and will power the whole complex.

It will be based around two wells, driven down 4km into the Cornish granite where the bedrock itself is hot enough to heat water to 150 degrees, which will then produce steam to power an electricity-generating turbine.

The plant should be able to produce about three megawatts of carbon-neutral electricity – about the same as a large wind turbine – which will be more than enough to supply Eden's needs. Power left over could be sold to the national grid.

While there is already a geothermal plant in Southampton which supplies heat to buildings in the city centre, this is believed to be the first such facility in Britain to generate electric power.

Engineers believe that the vast quantity of geothermal energy stored in Cornish granite would eventually enable them to make a significant contribution to UK energy needs – as much as 10 per cent of the total.

The Independent 02 June 2009

'We're mining for heat in Cornwall'

Renewable Heat Incentive

Energy Resources

Wikipedia

M4 in Wales to be 'hydrogen highway'

The M4 in south Wales is to become a "hydrogen highway", with alternative energy refuelling points, ministers are due to announce.

The scheme, to extend into south west England, is aimed at making hydrogen and electric-powered vehicles a viable alternative to petrol-driven machines.

Under the plan, Wales will lead in developing alternative fuels, including hydrogen from renewable sources.

The aim is to create an extensive renewable refuelling infrastructure ...

BBC NEWS 

Hydrogen car to be 'open source'

Hydrogen Fuel Vehicles are THE THING in regard to breaking our dependence on foreign oil, along with alcohol fuels.

But there are a few dark clouds hovering over this technology ...

1. Hydrogen is an energy carrier rather than an energy source ...

2. Costly to convert to liquid ...

3. Fossil Fuels May be Needed to Produce Hydrogen ...

4. The Hydrogen Hazard Stereotype ...

alternative-energy-resources.net

There are reasons to be hopeful about hydrogen's potential. The electric drive train of a fuels cell-driven car would be much lighter than a conventional gasoline or diesel drive train. Emissions ... consist only of water and heat ...

Unfortunately there's bad news as well.

A hydrogen energy infrastructure would be quite different from our present energy structure, and so the transition would require time and investment of large amounts of money and energy.. That transition would be aided ... if we were to switch present government subsidies from nuclear power, oil and coal to ... hydrogen.

But, given the political influence of car and oil companies and the general corruption and inertia of the political process, the likelihood of such a subsidy transfer is slim ... Yet if we simply wait for price signals from the market to trigger the transition, it will come far too late.

An even greater problem is the current ... reliance on natural gas for hydrogen production. ... Within only a few years, decision makers will be confronting the problem of prioritizing dwindling natural gas supplies - should they fund the transition to a hydrogen economy or heat people's homes during the winter? ... In terms of energy efficiency we would be better off burning natural gas or using PV or wind electricity directly, rather than going through the extra step of making hydrogen. ... it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the "hydrogen economy" ... will by necessity be a much lower-energy economy that we are accustomed to.

"The Party's Over" - Richard Heinberg, Clairview 2003

Chapter 4 is a thorough examination of the range of alternative fuel sources.

Phantom Eye hydrogen-powered spy plane unveiled

Powering up for a hydrogen economy

Hydrogen Fuel Alternative

Hydrogen Fuel Advantages

Hydrogen as Energy

The Hydrogen Economy

Using green algae to produce hydrogen

Solar superpower: Should Europe run on Sahara sun?

EVERY DAY, the sun pours more energy onto the surface of our planet than we use from all sources in an entire year. It is an inexhaustible powerhouse that has remained largely untapped for human energy needs.

That may soon change in a big way. If a consortium of German companies has its way, construction of the biggest solar project ever devised could soon begin in the Sahara desert. When completed, it would harvest energy from the sun shining over Africa and transform it into clean, green electricity for delivery to European homes and businesses.

Prospects for the project, called Desertec, have blossomed over the past year ... The current plan, outlined by the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) in a report to the federal government, envisages that the project will meet 15 per cent of Europe's electricity needs by 2050, with a peak output of 100 gigawatts - roughly equivalent to 100 coal-fired power stations ...

But is this really the best use of such a colossal amount of money? Critics are lining up to point out the project's shortcomings.

They say it could make Europe's energy supply a hostage to politically unstable countries; that Europe should not be exploiting Africa in this way; that it is a poor investment compared to covering Europe's roofs with photovoltaic (PV) solar panels; and that, while deserts have plenty of sun, they lack another less obvious but equally indispensable resource for a solar thermal power plant - water ...

New Scientist 26 October 2009

Zephyr solar plane flies 7 days non-stop

European Dream of Desert Energy Takes Shape

Guardian

How Solar Energy Works

Solar Thermal Energy

NEF

Wikipedia

Offshore energy report could dash defeatist arguments against the rocks

A new report on the capacity in the UK for offshore wind, wave and tidal power should be used to put pressure on ministers ...

... the Offshore Valuation report, just published by the Public Interest Research Centre (Pirc) ... examines only existing technologies – wind turbines with both fixed and floating foundations, wave machines, tidal range and tidal stream devices – and the contribution they can make by 2050.

It accepts the usual constraints on offshore renewables: maximum water depths, the need to avoid dense shipping lanes and other obstacles, the various technical limits. Having applied these constraints, it finds that the practical resource for offshore renewables in the UK is 2,130 terawatt hours per year. This is six times our current electricity demand.

Were we to use only 29% of the total resource, the UK would become a net electricity exporter. We would be generating energy equivalent to 1bn barrels of oil a year, which roughly corresponds to the average amount of North Sea oil and gas the UK has been producing over the past four decades.

The report estimates that this industry would directly employ 145,000 people and produce annual revenues of £62bn. The construction effort would be roughly similar to building the North Sea oil and gas infrastructure ...

Were we to make use of 76% of the resource, the UK would become a net exporter of total energy ...

Guardian  20 May 2010    A Globalised Train Wreck    Tidal Power_Severn Barrage

£2bn offshore windfarm to go ahead

Offshore green energy could make UK net exporter by 2050

UK on course to reap massive renewable energy harvest

The Offshore Valuation

PIRC

Expansions to offshore wind farm sites around the English coast which will provide enough power for an extra 1.4 million homes were given the green light today by the Crown Estate.

Five wind farm developments, off the coasts of Suffolk, Kent, Cumbria and in Liverpool Bay were given the go-ahead to extend their area, creating an extra 1.7 gigawatts (GW) of power.

All the area extensions will be subject to a full, new planning application, environmental impact assessment and consultation before construction can begin, the Crown Estate said.

And two projects off the coast of Norfolk have been given the go-ahead to install extra capacity to harness more wind energy within their designated offshore area.

In total the extensions permitted by the Crown Estate will provide an additional 2GW of power to the grid ...

Independent 11 May 2010

Britain reaches milestone for renewable energy

Offshore wind farms could meet a quarter of the UK's electricity needs

Turbine plan rejected unanimously

We don't want an ugly turbine

Hundreds of jobs to be created in UK wind turbine plan

Crown Estates names winners of wind farms bid

Britain's plan for giant wind farms will need 'super-grid' to take off

Dash for wind power leaves Britain with £15bn funding blackhole

Wind farms could power half of Britain’s homes, but jobs could go overseas

Generating power and jobs?

North Sea Power Grid

Foreign firms gain most

A new economy

Brown pushes wind power

Centrica and npower set to green light huge offshore wind farm projects

Centrica issues green energy warning

Government grants Vestas £6m – but factory will still close

Britain should rally round to protect our wind turbine industry

Green light for the world's biggest offshore wind farm

Hutton tells power grid to clear barriers to wind

PM heralds 'green economy' Budget

Tories criticised over wind farm refusals

Wind power boosted by £1bn in new loans

Wind power plan blown off course

Wind power: the silent majority must speak out, says Miliband

Wind power to drive green revolution

Wind turbine factory sit-in workers accuse Ed Miliband ...

Why London Array?