Tag: energy price

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A Brief Account of Wind Energy in the United States, Canada, and the European Union

Wind energy is short for the conversion of energy captured from wind to electrical or mechanical energy. Wind power turbines produce electrical energy and windmills produce mechanical energy. Other forms for wind energy conversion are wind pumps which use wind energy to pump water or sails which drive sail boats.

The cheapest US energy prices by source and county, Source: Energy Institute, University of Texas Austin

Since its first use on sail boats, wind energy is wide spread. Windmills have been used for more than 2,000 years as source of mechanical energy. The Scotsman James Blythe was the first who demonstrated the transformation of wind energy into electrical energy. As wind energy is a renewable source of energy, electrical energy generated by wind turbines is a clean and sustainable form of energy. Wind energy is often also cheaper than natural gas, for example throughout the entire American Midwest, as shown by the Energy Institute of University of Texas, Austin. It is therefore not surprising that wind energy is one of the fastest growing markets in the renewable energy sector worldwide. In 2015, 38% of all renewable energy in the United States and the European Union was generated by wind turbines.

Wind and solar energy production in the US and Canada in 2015. Sources: EIA, Statistics Canada

More efficient than single wind turbines is the use of wind parks where clusters of large turbines constantly generate electrical power. There are two kinds of wind parks, on-shore and off-shore wind parks. Off-shore wind parks are often more expensive but do not use valuable farmland as it is often the case for on-shore wind parks. However, wind parks on farmland can be a valuable addition for farmers seeking an extra income.

Wind and solar energy production in the European Union and the Euro-zone in 2015. WSH is the fraction of renewable energy of the European energy market. “Hydro” is the fraction of hydro power. Source, Eurostat
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You Can Have the Pie and Eat It

In Paris, humanity has set itself the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 °C. Most people believe that this will be accompanied by significant sacrifice of quality of life. That is one reason why climate protection is simply rejected by many people, even to the point of outright denial. At Frontis Energy, we think we can protect the climate and live better. The latest study published in Nature Energy by a research group around Arnulf Grubler of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Laxenburg, Austria, has now shown that we have good reasons.

The team used computer models to explore the potential of technological trends to reduce energy consumption. Among other things, the researchers said that the use of shared car services will increase and that fossil fuels will give way to solar energy and other forms of renewable energy. Their results show that global energy consumption would decrease by about 40% regardless of population, income, and economic growth. Air pollution and demand for biofuels would also decrease, which would improve health and food supplies.

In contrast to many previous assessments, the group’s findings suggest that humans can limit the temperature rise to 1.5 °C above preindustrial levels without resorting to drastic strategies to extract CO2 from the atmosphere later in the century.

Now, one can argue whether shared car services do not cut quality of life. Nevertheless, we think that individual mobility can be maintained while protecting our climate. CO2 recovery for the production of fuels (CO2 recycling that is) is such a possibility. The Power-to-Gas technology is the most advanced version of CO2 recycling and should certainly be considered in future studies. An example of such an assessment of the power-to-gas technology was published by a Swiss research group headed by Frédéric Meylan, who found that the carbon footprint can be neutralized with conventional technology after just a few cycles.

(Picture: Pieter Bruegel the Elder, The Land of Cockaigne, Wikipedia)