Category Archives: Renewable Energy

Solar Energy Guide for Students

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Have you ever wondered why the world isn’t taking advantage of the energy that our sun offers us? It’s free and it’s always there. Unlike natural gas or oil, which gets depleted, solar energy is clean and renewable.

Such energy will still be around, even when we humans won’t be. Other renewable energy sources include hydroelectricity and wind, or the use of water to run turbines to generate electricity. If you’re interested in solar energy, here is a guide for you.

Solar Energy Guide for Students

What is solar energy?

The sun has been our source of life. Most of the energy on Earth comes from the sun. This star keeps us warm, helps us grow plants to consume and to feed our animals. Flora and fauna from the past depended on the sun’s energy to thrive too.

When they died, their bodies broke down and became fossil fuel. Today, this product today is usually refined and used to provide energy for machines and vehicles. Unfortunately, this energy source won’t last since it’s not renewable. This is where solar energy comes in. Even if you run your vehicle or machines all day, every day, you cannot deplete the energy of the sun – that is, if we can harness this energy effectively. Solar power is the use of solar energy directly to produce electricity or heat.

Research on the importance of solar energy

In harnessing the energy of the sun, we must be very careful. If it’s not done right, it can affect the environment negatively. For instance, in a study done by a professor and his students, they found out that a huge amount of valuable agricultural land and forest habitat is disappearing because of solar farms development. They conducted this research to examine the effects of solar farms on rural areas. According to the findings, the land used by the development of solar farms is equal to about a third of Worchester city’s land area!

They also found that in today’s solar farms’ sighting regulations, the developers didn’t take into account the environmental effects. This means that the development of solar farms has caused the loss of forests and the environment’s fragmentation, both of which aren’t good for various species.

top universities to study renewable energy

In addition, the researchers voiced their concerns about transforming agricultural fields to solar farms since doing this will take the lands out of production. It was further discovered that solar farms could range in size from the equivalent of one-fifth of the size of a football field to the equivalent of twenty-six football fields. The researchers also suggested that there is a chance to encourage more solar panel development on the rooftops of urban areas where there is the highest demand for electricity.

Learn about solar energy through essay samples

Whenever you try to learn about important issues for a college assignment, you need to find sources that provide reliable information for students. For example, when you’re learning about solar energy and you have an assignment, you need to do some research. If you’re stuck, you can always reach out to do my research paper service StudyClerk. Here, you can go through many solar energy articles for students that will help you while you’re learning solar energy and how it affects us.

Harnessing solar energy for electricity

Photovoltaic cells absorb light and convert it into electricity directly. A group of these cells is commonly called a solar panel. Many of us have seen these solar panels installed on electric road signs, parking areas, or in houses to provide light.

Houses powered by solar panels now purchase less electricity from the utility companies since they produce some electricity on their own. If they have more solar panels, they can even generate more power than they need. In some states, this could mean that people can run their electric meter backward, then give their excess electricity to the rest of the people in the community.

Harnessing solar energy for heat

You can use solar power to heat air or water and you can do this actively or passively. With passive heating systems, you would use solar energy without using mechanical parts for moving the heated air or water elsewhere. You may include this passive heating in the design before construction.

Conclusion

Solar power is renewable energy generated by the sun in the form of either thermal or electric energy. We can capture solar energy in different ways but the most common of these is through the use of photovoltaic solar panel systems that convert the rays of the sun into energy we can use.

Innovative Hydrogen Technology: Revolutionising Water Storage and Energy Savings

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You might be familiar with hydrogen technology, a novel method addressing our increasing thirst for renewable energy alternatives. With each passing year, sustainable power gains more traction, stimulating the brains of researchers and scientists to innovate ways of energy production and storage with less environmental impact.

innovative hydrogen technology

Nestled within these innovations, hydrogen technology stands out, promising not just a leap into clean energy, but also a revolution in water storage and energy saving.

Buckle up for this blog post, where we’ll embark on a journey through how these exciting technologies are molding the contours of our contemporary world, all whilst preserving our dear Mother Nature.

A Deeper Understanding of Hydrogen Technology

Before we take a deep dive into the ongoing advancements, it’s pivotal to grasp what hydrogen technology fundamentally is.

Chances are, you are aware that hydrogen is one of the most abundant elements on our blue orb, accounting for approximately 75% of our atmosphere by mass.

What might surprise you though, is the multifarious ways this element can be tapped – from generating clean electricity using fuel cells right to powering an eco-friendly method of transportation.

This all begins with water electrolysis – a process where electrical current disassembles water molecules into discrete oxygen and hydrogen gasses.

While some conventional methods depend on fossil fuels to manufacture hydrogen, contemporary developments aim to leverage renewable energy resources to promote greener production undertakings.

Being emission-free at the point of use (only exhaling water vapor when used in fuel cells), it isn’t hard to understand why hydrogen technologies are touted to potentially revolutionize energy supply chains globally.

Water Storage: Bigger than you Thought

By now, you might be wondering how hydrogen technology can improve water storage solutions. To understand this, let’s take a closer look at the role of hydrogen in such systems.

In conventional water storage methods, multiple factors limit the available capacity – including evaporation losses and geological constraints. The idea behind using hydrogen in these applications is that once it gets produced from water through electrolysis, it no longer has to remain stored as an independent element.

Instead of dealing with large storage structures for water like tanks and reservoirs, hydrogen can be efficiently compressed into containers or even injected into underground rock formations.

When needed again for power generation or other uses, the hydrogen undergoes another process (such as fuel cell catalytic conversion) and turns back into energy and pure water. This ingenious method thereby eliminates many problems associated with traditional water storage while still preserving the natural resource we all rely on.

Hydrogen-Powered Energy Savings: How Does it Work?

Saving energy has become more critical than ever before due to global climate change concerns and increased awareness about Earth’s finite resources.

Hydrogen technology, including fuel cells that are on sale, inherently exhibits impressive energy-saving capabilities mainly thanks to operating with efficiency rates far beyond those of combustion engines..

Fuel cells work by combining hydrogen and oxygen to generate electricity without burning any fossil fuels – releasing only heat and water vapor as output emission.

This process results in minimal losses compared to internal combustion engines whose exhaust gasses need proper after-treatment before release, making them less efficient overall.

Moreover, since hydrogen is easily producible through renewables-driven electrolysis processes, it unlocks avenues for truly sustainable energy generation with zero greenhouse gas emissions when used alongside green-powered devices like wind turbines or solar panels. You can learn more about these processes on our home page.

Innovative Products That are on Sale Today

As the hydrogen revolution continues to gain pace, a variety of innovative products are already available on sale for consumers and industries alike.

Hydrogen-Powered Energy Savings

From hydrogen-powered vehicles like Toyota Mirai or Hyundai NEXO that promise zero emissions and sustainable transportation solutions, to stationary fuel cells employed in buildings and energy plants – there’s no shortage of opportunities for you to join the green energy movement.

Fuel cell systems are increasingly used in backup power applications while remote regions can rely on compact units such as Intelligent Energy’s 801 fuel cell system, built upon their best-in-class lightweight air-cooled architecture.

This product caters especially well to those searching for dependable off-grid power alternatives that won’t exhaust Earth’s valuable resources or contribute to greenhouse gas emissions.

Case Study: Power-to-Gas Project in Germany

Germany is spearheading the adoption of hydrogen technology in their national energy transition journey, famously known as Energiewende.

Taking a peek at a practical illustration of this thrilling innovation being orchestrated for grand projects, the German region of Lower Saxony inaugurated a power-to-gas plant that employs hydrogen, borne of electrolysis, for underground storage – essentially morphing renewable electricity into raw material for natural gas.

Hand in hand with local utility giant Avacon AG and technical collaborators from the Osterholz-Scharmbeck district, this multi-million-euro endeavor serves as a stellar example of how stockpiled hydrogen can meet supply demands efficiently whilst harmonizing fluctuating renewable sources such as wind turbines during periods of limited grid availability.

Conclusion

Hydrogen technology is redefining energy and water storage with cutting-edge products, presenting a sustainable power source that provides clean electricity and efficient water conservation. From Germany’s pioneering power-to-gas projects to innovative fuel cell systems for off-grid use, this technology shows great potential for global positive impact. As we strive for a greener future, adopting such advancements is crucial in preserving Earth’s resources and environmental stability.

Sugarcane Trash – A Renewable Fuel of Today and Future

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In Indian sugar mills, the frequent cycles of ups and downs in the core business of selling sugar has led to the concentration towards the trend of ancillary businesses, like cogeneration power plant and ethanol production, becoming the profit centres. These units, which were introduced as a means to manage sugar mills’ own byproduct, like bagasse, are now keeping several sugar mills financially afloat. Thus, the concept of ‘Integrated Sugar Mill Complex’ has now become a new normal.

Limitations of Bagasse

Bagasse is a ubiquitous primary fuel in cogeneration plants in sugar mills, which adds more than 2,000 MW of renewable power to the Indian energy mix. The inclination of cogeneration plant managers towards bagasse is primarily because of its virtue of being easily available on-site, and no requirement to purchase it from the external market.

This remains true despite its several significant shortcomings as a boiler fuel, prime among which are very high moisture content and low calorific value. As a result, the fuel-to-energy ratio remains abysmally low and the consequent lesser power generation is depriving these sugar mills from achieving true revenue potential from their ancillary power business vertical, which is pegged at ~10,000 MW.

Sugarcane Trash – A Wonder Waste

Though, there is a much neglected high calorific value biomass which is available in proximity of every sugar mill and is also a residue of the sugarcane crop itself, which could enable the cogeneration units to achieve their maximum output potential. This wonder waste is sugarcane trash – the dry leaves of sugarcane crop – which is left in the farms itself after sugarcane harvesting as it has no utility as fodder and generally burnt by farmers, which harms the surrounding air quality substantially.

Given its favourable properties of having very low moisture content with moderate-to-high calorific value, sugarcane trash could be used in most of the high pressure boiler designs in a considerable proportion along with bagasse.

cane-trash

Undeniably, sugar mills should not discontinue using bagasse as the primary fuel, but surely complement it with sugarcane trash as it would lead to an increase in their revenue generation and would also allow them to expand operations of their cogeneration plant to off-season, as using sugarcane trash with bagasse in season would leave more bagasse for off-season usage.

Hurdles to Overcome

Despite these evident benefits, the major obstacle in development of sugarcane trash as an industrial boiler fuel has been its difficult collection from thousands of small and fragmented farms. Moreover, the trash becomes available and needs to be collected simultaneously during the operating season of the sugar mills, which makes deployment of resources, human or otherwise, for managing the procurement of trash very difficult for any sugar mill.

As a matter of fact, the sugar mills which initiated the pilots, or even scaled commercially, to utilise sugarcane trash along with bagasse, had to sooner or later discontinue its use, owing to the mammoth challenges discussed above.

The Way Forward

Thus, in order to utilise this wonder waste, there is a dire need to outsource its procurement to professional and organised players which establish the biomass supply chain infrastructure in the vicinity of the cogeneration units to make on-site availability of sugarcane trash as convenient as bagasse and enable them to procure the rich quality biomass at sustainable prices which leads to an increase in their profits.

sugarcane-trash-burning

Burning of cane trash creates pollution in sugar-producing countries

These biomass supply chain companies offer value to the farmers by processing their crop residues in timely manner, thus prevent open burning of the crop residue and contribute to a greener and cleaner environment.

Indeed, owing to its favourable fuel properties, positive environmental impact and now, with ease in its procurement, sugarcane trash is the renewable fuel of today and future for the Indian sugar mills.

4 Solar Energy Trends in the Philippines

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The solar energy market in the Philippines has been growing exponentially since 2018. In fact, the Philippines Board of Investments (BOI) had approved eight solar projects that year. The Solar Philippines Commercial Rooftop Projects Inc. oversaw all eight that were equivalent to $1.65 billion.

Even though, as of today, the solar power industry is still on the nascent stage, it is expected to gain massive support from the government moving forward.

solar-energy-trends

Solar panels are becoming more accessible, for homeowners and businesses

The Philippines has hot and humid weather, which means households always require air conditioning. Thanks to the introduction of solar air conditioning, many homeowners can reduce their utility bills.

Some of the factors that will drive growth in the solar energy sector are the growing population, as well as the Philippines’ rapid economic development. When the Philippines succeeds in replacing diesel generators in most islands with solar energy, there will be a significant reduction in power outages.

Solar energy and other renewable energy sources will guarantee grid stability throughout the Philippines. Here are the four main trends in solar energy in the Philippines.

1. Accessibility for Private Households

A couple of years back, utility-scale solar was difficult to achieve due to the market’s regulatory changes. The price competition was too high, and only the largest capitalized developers could compete.

However, this is set to change because the new generation of renewable energy can now be distributed to private households. This ensures that each household can install a solar-powered air conditioner to reduce utility costs.

It is a huge win for homeowners and business people because they can now have more control over their energy consumption. Photovoltaic panels can be installed on the roofs of homes, apartment buildings, as well as business establishments.

This means that business owners can generate as much energy as they desire and even sell residual to energy supplies near them.

2. Significant Growth of Solar PV

The production cost of solar energy is expected to fall significantly between 2020 and 2025. As a result, solar will take first place for the cheapest source of energy in the Philippines.

The growth of photovoltaic systems in the Philippines will provide an immediate and more permanent solution to the country’s energy needs. The market is already registering a significant fall in the costs of photovoltaic cells.

Many households are jumping on this bandwagon and taking advantage of the affordability of solar power equipment. As a household in the Philippines, you greatly benefit from purchasing a solar air conditioner.

Residents are also adopting small-scale solar photovoltaic systems because the declined cost of PV technology makes financial sense.

3. Increased Grid Parity

The Philippines has a huge population, and without alternative sources of energy, the grid easily gets unstable. However, due to the introduction of renewable sources of energy like solar and wind, we can see a future where grid parity is guaranteed. Wind Tower has been a popular source of energy.

Since more private households can now depend on solar energy for their electricity needs, grid parity has steadily increased. Most households today use solar air conditioner to maintain a comfortable indoor environment. This is a highly cost-effective solution because solar energy is steadily getting cheaper than traditional energy sources.

solar-AC

Not to mention that the overall cost of electricity from the grid is decreasing as well. This can be attributed to the contribution of solar PV. Technological advancements are ensuring manufacturers can produce solar panels with higher solar PV module efficiency.

This means that you can install a solar hybrid air conditioner at home without worrying about the running cost.

4. Storage

There are plans underway to develop solar-storage microgrids in the Philippines. When this plan succeeds, solar energy will play a huge role in improving environmental health, human health, as well as people’s quality of life.

This will be a huge step towards achieving Philippine’s national climate change, greenhouse gas emissions reduction and renewable energy goals. Solar energy production allows the Philippines to reduce its reliance on fuel. The transition to low-carbon energy sources like wind and solar opens up economic development opportunities from a climate perspective.

It is essential to pair solar systems with solar-storage because this boosts the positive impact solar energy has on the economy.

During spring and summer months, the Philippines experiences great solar generation. However, without a storage solution for solar energy, this energy cannot be saved for later. Storage prices are still very high, not only in Asia as a whole but the world over. There are already hybrid solar storage projects in place, but they’re nothing close to bulk solar storage.

One thing is certain though, the prices keep coming down, and more and more solar farms are springing up. Soon enough, the Philippines will be in a position to store solar energy and eliminate over-reliance on fuels.

Conclusion

Harnessing solar energy has ensured that many households in the Philippines can make it through hot and humid days. Solar air conditioners allow homeowners to achieve a comfortable indoor environment without digging too deep into their pockets. These latest trends show that things are only getting better. We can see a future where solar energy is the main source of electricity in the Philippines.

Everything You Should Know About An Algae Biorefinery

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High oil prices, competing demands between foods and other biofuel sources, and the world food crisis, have ignited interest in algaculture (farming of algae) for making vegetable oil, biodiesel, bioethanol, biogasoline, biomethanol, biobutanol and other biofuels. Algae can be efficiently grown on land that is not suitable for agriculture and hold huge potential to provide a non-food, high-yield source of biodiesel, ethanol and hydrogen fuels.

algae-biorefinery

Several recent studies have pointed out that biofuel from microalgae has the potential to become a renewable, cost-effective alternative for fossil fuel with reduced impact on the environment and the world supply of staple foods, such as wheat, maize and sugar.

What are Algae?

Algae are unicellular microorganisms, capable of photosynthesis. They are one of the world’s oldest forms of life, and it is strongly believed that fossil oil was largely formed by ancient microalgae. Microalgae (or microscopic algae) are considered as a potential oleo-feedstock, as they produce lipids through photosynthesis, i.e. using only carbon, water, sunlight, phosphates, nitrates and other (oligo) elements that can be found in residual waters.

Oils produced by diverse algae strains range in composition. For the most part are like vegetable oils, though some are chemically similar to the hydrocarbons in petroleum.

Advantages of Algae

Apart from lipids, algae also produce proteins, isoprenoids and polysaccharides. Some strains of algae ferment sugars to produce alcohols, under the right growing conditions. Their biomass can be processed to different sorts of chemicals and polymers (Polysaccharides, enzymes, pigments and minerals), biofuels (e.g. biodiesel, alkanes and alcohols), food and animal feed (PUFA, vitamins, etc.) as well as bioactive compounds (antibiotics, antioxidant and metabolites) through down-processing technology such as transesterification, pyrolysis and continuous catalysis using microspheres.

Algae can be grown on non-arable land (including deserts), most of them do not require fresh water, and their nutritional value is high. Extensive R&D is underway on algae as raw material worldwide, especially in North America and Europe with a high number of start-up companies developing different options.

Most scientific literature suggests an oil production potential of around 25-50 ton per hectare per year for relevant algae species. Microalgae contain, amongst other biochemical, neutral lipids (tri-, di-, monoglycerides free fatty acids), polar lipids (glycolipids, phospholipids), wax esters, sterols and pigments. The total lipid content in microalgae varies from 1 to 90 % of dry weight, depending on species, strain and growth conditions.

What is Algae Biorefinery

In order to develop a more sustainable and economically feasible process, all biomass components (e.g. proteins, lipids, carbohydrates) should be used and therefore biorefining of microalgae is very important for the selective separation and use of the functional biomass components.

The term algae biorefinery was coined to describe the production of a wide range of chemicals and biofuels from algal biomass by the integration of bio-processing and appropriate low environmental impact chemical technologies in a cost-effective and environmentally sustainable.

If biorefining of microalgae is applied, lipids should be fractionated into lipids for biodiesel, lipids as a feedstock for the chemical industry and essential fatty acids, proteins and carbohydrates for food, feed and bulk chemicals, and the oxygen produced can be recovered as well.

The potential for commercial algae production, also known as algaculture, is expected to come from growth in translucent tubes or containers called photo bioreactors or in open systems (e.g. raceways) particularly for industrial mass cultivation or more recently through a hybrid approach combining closed-system pre-cultivation with a subsequent open-system.

Advantages of Algae Biorefinery

The major advantages of an algae biorefinery include:

  • Use of industrial refusals as inputs ( CO2,wastewater and desalination plant rejects)
  • Large product basket with energy-derived (biodiesel, methane, ethanol and hydrogen) and non-energy derived (nutraceutical, fertilizers, animal feed and other bulk chemicals) products.
  • Not competing with food production (non-arable land and no freshwater requirements)
  • Better growth yield and lipid content than crops.

Indeed, after oil extraction the resulting algal biomass can be processed into ethanol, methane, livestock feed, used as organic fertilizer due to its high N:P ratio, or simply burned for energy cogeneration (electricity and heat). If, in addition, production of algae is done on residual nutrient feedstock and CO2, and production of microalgae is done on large scale in order to lower production costs, production of bulk chemicals and fuels from microalgae will become economically, environmentally and ethically extremely attractive.

Anaerobic Digestion of Animal Manure

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Animal manure is a valuable source of nutrients and renewable energy. However, most of the manure is collected in lagoons or left to decompose in the open which pose a significant environmental hazard. The air pollutants emitted from manure include methane, nitrous oxide, ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, volatile organic compounds and particulate matter, which can cause serious environmental concerns and health problems.

In the past, livestock waste was recovered and sold as a fertilizer or simply spread onto agricultural land. The introduction of tighter environmental controls on odour and water pollution means that some form of waste management is necessary, which provides further incentives for biomass-to-energy conversion.

cow-manure-biogas-plant

Anaerobic digestion is a unique treatment solution for animal manure management as it can  deliver  positive  benefits,  including  renewable  energy,  water pollution, and air emissions. Anaerobic digestion of animal manure is gaining popularity as a means to protect the environment and to recycle materials efficiently into the farming systems.

Waste-to-Energy (WTE) plants, based on anaerobic digestion of cow manure, are highly efficient in harnessing the untapped renewable energy potential of organic waste by converting the biodegradable fraction of the waste into high calorific value gases.

The establishment of anaerobic digestion systems for livestock manure stabilization and energy production has accelerated substantially in the past several years. There are thousands of digesters operating at commercial livestock facilities in Europe, United States,  Asia and elsewhere. which are generating clean energy and fuel. Many of the projects that generate electricity also capture waste heat for various in-house requirements.

Important Factors

The main factors that influence biogas production from livestock manure are pH and temperature of the feedstock. It is well established that a biogas plant works optimally at neutral pH level and mesophilic temperature of around 35o C. Carbon-nitrogen ratio of the feed material is also an important factor and should be in the range of 20:1 to 30:1. Animal manure has a carbon – nitrogen ratio of 25:1 and is considered ideal for maximum gas production.

Solid concentration in the feed material is also crucial to ensure sufficient gas production, as well as easy mixing and handling. Hydraulic retention time (HRT) is the most important factor in determining the volume of the digester which in turn determines the cost of the plant; the larger the retention period, higher the construction cost.

Description of Biogas Plant Working on Animal Manure

The fresh animal manure is stored in a collection tank before its processing to the homogenization tank which is equipped with a mixer to facilitate homogenization of the waste stream. The uniformly mixed waste is passed through a macerator to obtain uniform particle size of 5-10 mm and pumped into suitable-capacity anaerobic digesters where stabilization of organic waste takes place.

In anaerobic digestion, organic material is converted to biogas by a series of bacteria groups into methane and carbon dioxide. The majority of commercially operating digesters are plug flow and complete-mix reactors operating at mesophilic temperatures. The type of digester used varies with the consistency and solids content of the feedstock, with capital investment factors and with the primary purpose of digestion.

Biogas contain significant amount of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) gas which needs to be stripped off due to its highly corrosive nature. The removal of H2S takes place in a biological desulphurization unit in which a limited quantity of air is added to biogas in the presence of specialized aerobic bacteria which oxidizes H2S into elemental sulfur.

Biogas can be used as domestic cooking, industrial heating, combined heat and power (CHP) generation as well as a vehicle fuel. The digested substrate is passed through screw presses for dewatering and then subjected to solar drying and conditioning to give high-quality organic fertilizer.

Renewable Energy Stocks to Buy in the UK

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The UK has become a leading voice in the fight against climate change. It’s cleantech and green energy sector consists of a startups and scaleups, all serving as a microcosm for the rest of the planet. Electric cars, renewable power and even insect-based protein for pets – this is the extent of innovation happening in the UK. Of course the UK isn’t the only country serving as an incubator for renewable energy companies – many other countries and companies are doing their part. However, if you’ve got an interest in renewable energy stocks to buy in the UK, then keep reading to know the best renewable energy companies to invest in the United Kingdom.

1. Recycling Technologies

A product of the University of Warwick conceived back in 2012, Recycling Technologies has aspirations towards a circular economy specifically for combating the effects of plastic. Thus far this green energy company has created modular technology that converts mixed plastic waste into a viable fuel for new plastic production, thus lessening the amount of new plastic on the planet.

recycling technologies

To date, Recycling Technologies has raised enough investment capital (£33.7m) to start building and commercialising its technology.

2. First Light Fusion

Conceived at the University of Oxford in 2011, First Light Fusion is looking at new was to utilise the power of inertial confinement fusion (ICF), a form of laser-focused fuel compression,  for the purposes of power generation. One of the major benefits of fusion is that unlike other forms of renewable energy like wind or solar, fusion can deliver energy in spite of weather conditions.

Thus far, First Light Fusion has secured £53m in equity funding and plans on upgrading its resources, hiring more staff and expediting its workflow. Anyone with an interest in energy and solar company stocks would do well to keep an eye on this one as it looks set to go places.

3. Propelair

Likely taking a page out of Bill Gates’ book, Propelair has developed a low-water flush toilet system for the business sector. It’s toilet system can be integrated into existing drains, thus making for low-cost installation and reducing the water usage in commercial buildings.

The company has secured equity financing to the tune of £16.5m and has global interests stretching as far as the Middle East and Australia.

4. SaveMoneyCutCarbon

Established back in 2012, SaveMoneyCutCarbon serves in a consulting capacity and acts as a singular conduit for all kinds of energy and water saving initiatives.  Catering to both households and companies, SaveMoneyCutCarbon provides consultancy services, analysis, advice and energy-saving product installations. The company also provides a slew of eco-friendly products for home use.

how to make your home energy efficient

To date, the company has raised £8m in equity funds. Throw in a pre-money valuation of £13.7m and a £3.65m deal with Barclays and you have a company with plans to grow locally and beyond.

5. Enertechnos

This energy efficient startup has developed a new type of electrical transmission cable that relies on capacitance technology to minimise the loss of energy. The end result is an electrical transport solution epitomised by the Captive Transfer System which lets energy travel from power plants to households and end consumers at a much more efficient rate than the archaic power-draining wires used in traditional power grids. This technology can also be integrated with other sustainable energy products like smart grids, electric vehicles and wind farms.

Equity funding to date totals £8.36m, pre-money valuation sits at £22.1m, and the company plans to expand commercial sales, its marketing team and its engineering.

Best MBA Programs for Renewable Energy

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For those considering a future in the energy sector along with an MBA degree, determining which schools boast superior programs for energy management careers might be interesting. As our planet increasingly prioritizes sustainable practices, there is an ever-greater call for adept professionals.

The best MBA admissions consultants can help you pursue top programs for renewable energy. These programs can give you both general business expertise and particular managerial abilities critical for prospering amid these ongoing shifts.

beginners guide to renewable energy

Selecting an MBA school for renewable energy management career involves multiple considerations. Apart from finding a program with courses related to energy policy, economics, and technology, it is crucial to opt for one that emphasizes sustainable development, renewable resources, and environmental management, such as one of the reputable online environmental science degree programs.

Exploring programs featuring tracks or specializations in energy management can also provide focused training on the subject matter. Furthermore, seeking internship opportunities or connecting with industry professionals can help gain practical experience.

Why Choose an MBA in Renewable Energy?

This course is an option for anybody who wishes to work in the renewable energy or power industries. To succeed as a future leader, a student requires extensive knowledge, strategic thinking, sound judgment, a global perspective, adaptability, and truthfulness. This management course may advance a student’s career and aid in developing these abilities.

Career Options for Those with an MBA in Renewable Energy

Let’s take a deeper look at a few of the most prominent management careers available to those with a green MBA.

1. Marketing and Management

Whether it’s the newest smartphone or renewable energy, individuals need to successfully market these ideas and goods to others. If you want a company to spend millions on solar PV panels or other sustainable energy sources, what arguments would you use?

Unfortunately, not everyone is aware of sustainable methods. Using your master’s degree in sustainability to promote environmental sustainability is a terrific way to put your marketing and advertising skills to work.

As per PayScale, the average compensation for a person with an MBA is $101,019.

2. Fossil Fuel Business

Fossil fuel businesses may not be considered a viable option by the general public. Yet contrary to popular belief, these businesses are keen to implement environmentally friendly policies. Oil giants like BP, ExxonMobil, and Shell have pooled their resources to support environmentally friendly initiatives.

List of the Best MBA Schools for Energy Management

Embarking on a career path centered around Energy and Natural Resources can set individuals up for success by seeking out educational institutions near thriving industry players such as those in Texas (USA), Alberta (Canada), or Scotland. That said, aspiring professionals should keep their options open because global business schools offer bespoke MBA programs focused on the energy sector and related fields.

Check out this roster for potential educational outlets if you’re interested:

1. Stanford GSB

The Stanford Graduate School of Business is renowned for its MBA program with a distinct focus on energy and natural resources. This program offers courses on energy markets, policy, and technology to provide students with in-depth knowledge of the industry. Additionally, various research centers and industry partnerships are established to further enhance the learning experience.

drone at a wind-farm

2. MIT Sloan

Similarly, MIT’s MBA program includes a concentration in energy and sustainability. The curriculum encompasses energy economics, policy, and technology courses while providing hands-on experience through the Energy Ventures Club and Energy Initiative.

3. McCombs School of Business

The University of Texas McCombs School of Business offers an MBA concentration in energy finance and development with courses covering renewable energy sources, financial planning, and energy policy. Moreover, the faculty has actively pursued partnerships with leading energy organizations to ensure students receive real-world perspectives.

4. Ross MBA

Another leading business school that provides high-quality sustainability education is the University of Michigan Ross School of Business. Its Ross MBA program includes a track in sustainability and business that covers relevant topics such as energy management practices and sustainable enterprise models, alongside offering hands-on training through Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise.

5. Yale

Yale’s School of Management offers its students an opportunity to concentrate on studying Energy markets by offering courses covering this crucial topic along with policies and technology domains. Their Yale Center for Business provides practical training opportunities for students looking to gain experience in business management and environmental problem-solving skills.

6. Technological Institute of Oregon

One of North America’s most popular renewable energy programs is the Bachelor of Science and Master’s degree in Sustainable Energy Engineering offered by Oregon Institute of Technology. In this way, they help students create, manage, and execute green energy solutions. Math, physics, and chemistry are all covered, as well as resource management, wind energy, photovoltaics, and fuel cells, all of which make up the core curriculum.

Do Green MBA Degrees Provide Value? A Closing Remark on Sustainable Management Master’s Degrees

Is there any practical benefit to being an MBA student? An MBA in sustainability is definitely worthwhile. Several doors may be opened for you after you have your MBA. An MBA with a concentration in sustainable energy management provides you with expert knowledge in your chosen sector. It’s possible that you’ll get paid quite well for your efforts.

There is a plethora of excellent institutions offering MBA programs with a focus on sustainability. Green MBA programs are now the most distinctive indicators of green business transformation.

If you’re interested in making a difference for the planet’s future, enrolling in and completing a green MBA degree is a great first step.

Biofuels from MSW – An Introduction

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Nowadays, biofuels are in high demand for transportation, industrial heating and electricity generation. Different technologies are being tested for using MSW as feedstock for producing biofuels. This article will provide brief description of biochemical and thermochemical conversion routes for the production of biofuels from municipal solid wastes.

drop-in-biofuels

Biochemical conversion

The waste is collected and milled, particles are shredded to reduce the size of 0.2-1.22 mm. MSW is pretreated to improve the accessibility of enzymes and make use of the enzymes in the bacteria for biological degradation on solid waste. The mixture of biomass is mixed with sulfuric acid and sodium hydroxide and autoclaved. After steam treatment, the mixture is filtered and washed with deionized water. The pre-treated mixture is then dried and drained overnight. The pre-treatment process improves the formation of sugars by enzymatic hydrolysis, avoids the loss of carbohydrate and avoids the formation of by-products inhibitory.

After pre-treatment (pre-hydrolysis), the mixture undergoes enzymatic hydrolysis for conversion of polysaccharides into monomer sugars, such as glucose and xylose. The common enzymes used for starch-based substrates are amylase, pullulanase, isomylase and glucoamylase. Whereas for lignocellulose based substrates cellulases and glucosidases.

Finally, the mixture is fermented; sugars are converted to ethanol by using microorganisms such as, bacteria, yeast or fungi. The cellulosic and starch hydrolysates ethanolic fermentation were fermented by M. indicus at 37 °C for 72 h. The fungus uses the hexoses and pentoses sugars with a high concentration of inhibitors (i.e. furfural, hydroxymethyl furfural, and acetic acid).

The composition of MSW feedstock effects the yield of the subsequent processes. A high composition of food and vegetable waste is more desirable, as these wastes are easily degradable and result in high yields compared to paper and cardboard.

Thermochemical conversion

Gasification process is carried out by treating carbon-based material with either oxygen or steam to produce a gaseous fuel which requires high temperature and pressure. It can be described as partial oxidation of the waste. At first waste is reduced in size and dried to reduce the amount of energy used in the gasifier.

Biomass_Gasification_Process

Layout of a Typical Biomass Gasification Plant

 

The carbonaceous material oxidizes (combines with oxygen) to produce syngas (carbon monoxide and hydrogen) along with carbon dioxide, methane, water vapor, char, slag, and trace gases (depending on the composition of the feedstock). The syngas is then cleaned to remove any sulfur or acid gases and trace metals (depending on the composition of the feedstock).

The main uses of syngas are direct burning on site to provide heat or energy (by using boilers, gas turbines or steam driven engines) and refined to liquid fuels such as gasoline or ethanol.

Syngas can then be converted into biofuels and chemicals via catalytic processes such as the Fischer-Tropsch process. The Fischer-Tropsch process is a series of catalytic chemical reactions that convert syngas into liquid hydrocarbons by applying heat and pressure. Hydrocracking, hydro-treating, and hydro-isomerization can also be part of the “upgrading” process to maximize quantities of different products.

Things You Should Know About the Uses of Hydrogen

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Hydrogen will be one of the critical assets in the energy stream in the coming decades for the sustainable development of society. The abundant availability of hydrogen and its application in electricity production using fuel cells without any harmful emissions makes it distinct. It can be produced from renewable and sustainable resources, thus promising an eco-friendly solution for the energy transition in the coming years.

Currently, hydrogen production using the electrolysis of water is most preferred. However, hydrogen production can vary in the range of sectors. Hydrogen can be used in electricity production, biomass, solar and wind power application.

applications of hydrogen gas

Despite its advantages, two significant issues hinder its commercialisation and generalisation as an efficient fuel, and energy transition toward zero-emission and fossil-free energy solutions. The first is hydrogen is an energy vector, which means hydrogen needs to be produced before its use and eventually lead to energy consumption in hydrogen synthesis. The second is the low volumetric energy density of hydrogen, which leads to hydrogen storage and transportation issues because of its lowest volumetric energy density (0.01079 MJ/L)

Researchers have suggested several solutions to attempt to increase this value:

  • compression in gas cylinders;
  • liquefaction in cryogenic tanks;
  • storage in metal-hydride alloys;
  • adsorption onto large specific surface area-materials
  • chemical storage in covalent and ionic compounds (viz. formic acid, borohydride, ammonia)

Applications of Hydrogen

The hydrogen applications are in the food industry to turn unsaturated fats and oils present in vegetable oils, butter into a saturated state. In the metal forming industry, atomic hydrogen welding is used as an environmentally sustainable welding process. In the manufacturing industry, hydrogen and nitrogen are used to create a boundary and prevent the oxidation of metals.

The recent advancements in hydrogen applications in the steel manufacturing industry are one of the most significant hydrogen applications for low or zero-emission iron ore conversion.

ecofriendly-manufacturing

The potential use of hydrogen can play a vital role in reducing greenhouse emissions and the global target of achieving a minimal no emission target by 2050. However, the automotive industry is still the largest consumer and most attractive sector in the current scenario. But with the future forecast of reducing hydrogen fuel cost can do wonders with the goal set during Paris Climate Summit.

Hydrogen use in stationary and automotive applications, such as fuel cell vehicles and hydrogen refuelling stations above all, has shown to be hindered by its volumetric energy density – the lowest among all the standard fuels nowadays used. Compression seems to be the most efficient solution to reach high storage levels, thus making hydrogen more common as a renewable and sustainable fuel.

uses of hydrogen

The availability of several hydrogen compression technologies makes the development of new innovative and environmentally-friendly solutions for the use of energy possible, leading to a transition towards a fossil fuel divestment and making a critical contribution to sustainable development