Carbon Trust launches UK bid for breakthrough in fuel cell technology

An example of fuelcell technology - Pearl bicycle

“Critical moment” as new analysis shows $180bn global market potential

The Carbon Trust is today launching a UK bid for a breakthrough in fuel cell technology, which could open up a global fuel cell market worth over $180 billion by 2050, according to new analysis. 

The “Polymer Fuel Cells Challenge” aims to accelerate the commercialisation of breakthrough UK technology that could see the mainstream cost effective (mass) production of fuel cell powered cars and buses, as well as providing electricity and heat in homes and business. These kinds of mass market applications could be saving the UK up to 7 million tonnes of CO2 a year in 2050, equivalent to taking two million of today’s cars off the road.

Launching the initiative, Dr Robert Trezona, Head of Research and Development at the Carbon Trust, said: “Fuel cells have been ten years away from a real breakthrough for the past 20 years. This is a critical moment for UK fuel cell technology as emerging markets combine with technology cost breakthroughs to create a golden opportunity to launch world-beating products onto a massive global market.  Our initiative aims to drive forward the commercialisation of the UK’s unique fuel cell expertise which will play a crucial role in the UK’s Clean Tech Revolution both cutting carbon and creating jobs and economic value.”

The initiative aims to deliver the critical reduction in fuel cell system costs that must be achieved to make mass market deployment a reality. New Carbon Trust analysis shows that if substantial cuts can be achieved, the global market could be worth over $26bn in 2020 and over $180bn in 2050. The UK share of this market could be $1bn in 2020 rising to $19bn in 2050.

David Hart, Head of Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Research, Centre for Energy Policy and Technology, Imperial College, said: “For many years fuel cell and hydrogen technologies have been expected to become a cornerstone of a low-carbon, more efficient energy system, but the cost, durability and performance of current fuel cell systems remain unattractive in most applications. The Polymer Fuel Cells Challenge is an exciting opportunity to address these issues with a fresh perspective and co-ordinated approach to make polymer fuel cells an everyday commercial reality.”

Celia Greaves, Fuel Cells UK, said: “We warmly welcome the Carbon Trust’s new Polymer Fuel Cells Challenge. The UK is home to a number of world class fuel cell companies and research centres, and substantive IP has already been created in this area. Initiatives such as this from the Carbon Trust are vital to strengthening the UK’s position and ensuring that the UK is innovative and remains competitive in this growing global industry.”

Current fuel cell system costs are still too high by a factor of at least ten for widespread uses. These costs could be brought down in the future through volume production, but projections show that even then, with today’s technology, costs would remain too high by 30-40% for most markets. The Polymer Fuel Cells Challenge will aim to support those breakthroughs that will allow high-volume costs to come down by 35%, making fuel cell systems attractive for mass markets.

Fuel cells efficiently convert the chemical energy contained in a fuel directly into electricity - they produce electricity like a battery but are fuelled like an engine or a boiler. Fuel cells are already marketed around the world, with sales growing at over 60% a year - they are used to power forklift trucks, mobile phone masts or provide power in camper vans. However, they currently remain too expensive to be more widespread.

By 2030, polymer fuel cells worldwide could be saving every year more CO2 than the UK will emit.

The £8 million Polymer Fuel Cell Challenge will be split into two phases.  A call for proposals opening today (http://www.carbontrust.co.uk/fuelcells) will lead to the selection of up to three novel ideas, offering up to £1m per project to further develop and prove them. If one of these demonstrates its potential for lower-cost fuel cell systems, the Carbon Trust will then co-invest up to £5m in the technology to develop it commercially.

From:http://www.carbontrust.co.uk/News/presscentre/091009_Polymer_fuelcell_challenge.htm

East Midlands EXPO 2009 - Greening the Economy

The sessions will take place during the afternoon of the East Midlands EXPO and will be introduced and managed by a facilitator, who will provide feedback and provoke discussion to the audience throughout the afternoon.

Each talk will take place at a table seating around 10-12 delegates, with 4 sessions throughout the afternoon. If a presenter is only taking part in one session then anyone who wants to hear from that presenter will have to make that their priority.

For more information about the ‘15 Minutes of Fame’ sessions please visit the 15 Minutes of Fame webpage. This page includes information on how to reserve your place for the sessions.

UK may fall short of renewables target

Previously unpublished reports from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) have revealed that Britain is failing to green its economy.

By 2020 the UK will be sourcing a mere 5% of its energy from renewables, far short of the 15% target we signed up to with the European Commission.

The news will come as a huge embarrassment to the Prime Minister who signed up to the legally-binding target; if Britain fails to meet it, the government will face substantial fines from Brussels.

The Shadow Energy Minister, Greg Clarke said the figures revealed the “fundamental failure” of Labour’s climate-change policies. “This amounts to an admission that the government is going to fail not just marginally but abjectly. For the past 10 years we have lacked a credible and comprehensive energy policy. Labour’s piecemeal approach is clearly not working.”

Britain is one of the worst performers in Europe in terms of renewable energy sourcing only 2% of its needs from non-fossil-fuel sources such as wind and landfill gas.

The Prime Minister has called for a “green revolution” and in the budget Alistair Darling put the sector at the centre of his plans to revamp the economy.

He introduced subsidies for biomass and wind generation but fears persist in industry that many projects are uneconomic. Supporting this view, is DECC’s own forecast, based on present policies and subsidies.

The department is said to announce proposals to bridge the gap. A spokeswoman from DECC argued “We are not relying on existing policies. We consulted last summer on measures to take us to our binding 15% renewable-energy target and will be publishing our strategy this summer. This will set out how we intend to meet our share of the 2020 target.” 

Taken from: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6395500.ece

Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research receives £4.5m boost

The Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research has received a £4.5m of new investment to further groundbreaking and independent research.

The funding which, is a combination of UK Research Council and University of East Anglia (UEA) investment, will ensure the long-term continued development of the Tyndall Centre - an influential partnership of seven leading universities researching sustainable responses to the changing climate.

The increasingly urgent dimension of climate change demands interdisciplinary and systems-orientated research. With this new investment the Tyndall Centre and its UEA headquarters are now further equipped to respond to these challenges.

“In a very short time the Tyndall Centre has developed an outstanding international reputation and the UEA is working together with the Tyndall partnership to ensure that its intellectual contribution continues to analyse what is needed for humankind to respond to climate change”, said Professor Trevor Davies, Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research at UEA.

UEA’s ongoing support will aid the further internationalisation of the Tyndall Centre’s distinctive research and partnerships through new developments across science, the social and economic sciences and engineering.

The funding from the Research Councils is for a re-orientated research programme in three cross-cutting themes critical to responding to climate change: transitions to a low carbon society; food, water and human security; and resilience for vulnerable people and places. This new research programme maps to the recently launched Living with Environmental Change partnership of the Research Councils and Government and public bodies.

“The UK and EU cannot tackle the issue of climate change alone”, said Professor Robert Watson, Tyndall’s Director of Strategy and Chief Scientist, at the UK’s Department for Environmental and Rural Affairs. Engaging the wider international community, particularly the emerging industrial nations of China, India and Latin America, is central to tackling climate change mitigation and adaption. The Tyndall Centre and UEA are uniquely placed to contribute to this international agenda though its cutting-edge interdisciplinary research.”  

From: http://www.uea.ac.uk

Windier weather brings welcome boost to offshore wind-farms

The news is that it is getting windier down south. This unexpected quirk of climate change has given a welcome boost to offshore wind-farm developers.

Experts have said that as a result the waters off the coast of East Anglia and Essex could be home to many more wind farms.

Research from Atmos Consulting, has found that wind speeds in these areas have been rising so much that wind farms could generate 50% more electricity than imagined a decade ago.

10 GW of offshore projects - enough to power 10m homes - being planned for the southern part of the North Sea could benefit.

Research based on information taken from NASA satellite images found that the average annual wind speed in the southern part of the North Sea has increased from about 7.5 metres per second in 1990 to 8.5 metres in 2008. In comparison, wind speeds in the northern part of the North Sea just off the coast of Scotland, have remained the same during the period.

The good news is that if these trends continue, in a decade the south could be windier all year round than the north and therefore double the power generated by wind farms off the coast of East Anglia and Essex.

New software has been developed by Atmos Consulting to process 22 years of satellite images from space agency NASA. These images measure the size of small, capillary waves on the ocean surface, which indicate the strength of the wind.

In the past developers have relied on wind-speed levels taken on oil and gas installations or have used meteorological masts planted offshore. The Met Office has only limited satellite data to track offshore wind spends in the North Sea but work is underway to produce a comprehensive set of data of the last 30 years. It has been revealed that this would take two years to develop.

Head of offshore renewables at the British Wind Energy Association, Duncan Ayling, said “There have been wind-speed measurements on oil and gas installations that give some localised historic data, but a lot of the rest of it is extrapolation. If this technology provides an accurate measurement, it would be very exciting. More wind equals more money for projects. It would enable wind-farm developers to more accurately forecast revenues and have more certainty about the expected return on their investment.”

From: http://www.guardian.co.uk

Norfolk in fast lane of electric dream

Norfolk has been urged to seize the moment and put Norwich in the fast lane of the government’s £250m vision of getting more drivers into electric cars.

Ministers unveiled radical plans to make electric cars a reality with drivers accessing grants of up to £5000 to buy one from 2011.

Electric cars can range from £10,000 for a two-seater My Car to up to £70,000 for a top-range Tesla Roadster but ministers want to do more to bring them into the price range of the average motorist because of the impact on carbon emissions.

The government is also seeking bids from places interested in becoming “electric cities” to showcase and promote the technology and pay for the installation of charging points - with a strong belief locally that Norwich could be the perfect location.

Around 200 electric cars would also be available in city centres for the public to test drive.

Norfolk engineering firm Lotus, which has helped developed the Tesla Roadster technology, urged transport chiefs to get behind a city bid, claiming one in five motorists in and around Norwich could be driving electric within a decade.

Simon Wood, its technical director, said both city and region were perfectly placed to take advantage of the scheme and government grants to get motorists to buy electric were “exactly the right answer”.

He said it would bring business benefits to the wider region and boost the use of “ultra low carbon” cars which could also include those powered by biofuels.

“I think it would be fantastic for the city,” he said. “It just seems so obvious. As a regional centre it has got well defined boundaries and a good park-and-ride network.

“There are lots of people who live in or just outside of Norwich who commute daily. That’s really where the electric car wins, and £5,000 off one of the lower price cars is probably enough to make people have a look at it.

“If the city and county councils were really positive they could say no-one could come into the city centre unless they had an electric car - otherwise they could leave their car at the park and ride.”

Currently electric car owners can get free parking permits in Norwich, while Chapelfield Shopping Centre car park is the only one locally where drivers can charge up.

The plans would also allow areas access to £20m to improve infrastructure such as charging stations and other types of infrastructure.

Brian Morrey, Norwich city council’s executive member for sustainable development, said: “It sounds like a good idea if they are willing to put the money in.”

But he said with council funding tight it would be down to the government to find most of the cash, adding: “I would like to know more of the details because I don’t want it to become another one of these things that’s going to cost us an arm and a leg.”

Marcus Armes, of the Carbon Reduction Initiative (Cred), said he was planning to talk to bosses at UEA, which is developing a renewable power plant capable of supplying electricity to the cars, to see if they would support the idea.

“I don’t think it’s a panacea, but electric cars have really got a part to play - 60pc of journeys are under 25 miles, and there is a lot of commuting going on in Norwich, so it would be a sensible idea for the city,” he said.

Adrian Gunson, cabinet portfolio-holder for planning and transportation at County Hall, said he would be happy for Norwich to look at the electric city idea but feared vehicles would not be viable in rural areas. And he was against banning traditional cars from the city centre.

“Anything that reduces pollution in the city is a good idea and well worth looking at, but for rural areas there are questions about whether the technology has reached the point to encourage people to go to the extra trouble of having one,” he said.

But Rupert Read, Green Party transport spokesman at City Hall said the investment would only work if supported by a “massive shift” towards renewable energy.

The AA welcomed the initiative and said while cities like London and Manchester could be in pole position for the electric city roles, Norwich could also be well placed because it had a car club, where electric cars could be used.

Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon, who took a spin in an electric car with Lord Mandelson, said cutting road transport CO2 emissions was a “key element” to tackling climate change.

“The scale of incentives we’re announcing will mean an electric car is a real option for motorists as well as helping to make the UK a world leader in low carbon transport,” he said.

 From: http://www.edp24.co.uk

Atmospheric ‘Sunshade’ Could Reduce Solar Power Generation

The concept of delaying global warming by adding particles into the upper atmosphere to cool the climate could unintentionally reduce peak electricity generated by large solar power plants by as much as one-fifth, according to a new NOAA study. The findings appear in this week’s issue of Environmental Science and Technology.

“Injecting particles into the stratosphere could have unintended consequences for one alternative energy source expected to play a role in the transition away from fossil fuels,” said author Daniel Murphy, a scientist at NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory in Boulder, Colo.

The Earth is heating up as fossil-fuel burning produces carbon dioxide, the primary heat-trapping gas responsible for man-made climate change. To counteract the effect, some geoengineering proposals are designed to slow global warming by shading the Earth from sunlight.

Among the ideas being explored is injecting small particles into the upper atmosphere to produce a climate cooling similar to that of large volcanic eruptions, such as Mt. Pinatubo’s in 1991. Airborne sulfur hovering in the stratosphere cooled the Earth for about two years following that eruption.

Murphy found that particles in the stratosphere reduce the amount and change the nature of the sunlight that strikes the Earth. Though a fraction of the incoming sunlight bounces back to space (the cooling effect), a much larger amount becomes “diffuse” or scattered light.

On average, for every watt of sunlight the particles reflect away from the Earth, another three watts of direct sunlight are converted to diffuse sunlight. Large power-generating solar plants that concentrate sunlight for maximum efficiency depend solely on direct sunlight and cannot use diffuse light.

Murphy verified his calculations using long-term NOAA observations of direct and diffuse sunlight before and after the 1991 eruption.

After the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo, peak power output of Solar Electric Generating Stations in California, the largest collective of solar power plants in the world, fell by up to 20 percent, even though the stratospheric particles from the eruption reduced total sunlight that year by less than 3 percent.

“The sensitivity of concentrating solar systems to stratospheric particles may seem surprising,” said Murphy. “But because these systems use only direct sunlight, increasing stratospheric particles has a disproportionately large effect on them.”

Nine Solar Electric Generating Stations operate in California and more are running or are under construction elsewhere in the world. In sunny locations such systems, which use curved mirrors or other concentrating devices, generate electricity at a lower cost than conventional photovoltaic, or solar, cells.

Flat photovoltaic and hot water panels, commonly seen on household roofs, use both diffuse and direct sunlight. Their energy output would decline much less than that from concentrating systems.

Even low-tech measures to balance a home’s energy, such as south-facing windows for winter heat and overhangs for summer shade, would be less effective if direct sunlight is reduced.

NOAA understands and predicts changes in the Earth’s environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and conserves and manages our coastal and marine resources.

Relevant Web Sites

• Murphy D. M. (2009), Effect of Stratospheric Aerosols on Direct Sunlight and Implications for Concentrating Solar Power, Environmental Science and Technology, doi:10.1021/es802206b. 
• Article Source, http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/news/2009/aerosol_implications_for_solar_power.html

Cambridgeshire Renewable Energy Online Survey Launched

Renewables East and Cambridgeshire Horizons has launched an online consultation inviting people who live and work in Cambridgeshire to comment on the use of renewable energy in the new communities planned for the area.

73,300 new homes are due to be built in Cambridgeshire between 2001 and 2021, and renewable energy technologies - small and large scale - are due to play an important part in making the county more sustainable and low carbon.

The online consultation, developed by Consense, enables visitors to read about the sustainability targets for the region, learn about a variety of renewable and low carbon technologies and complete a consultation questionnaire giving their opinion on the future role of renewables.

It also features an Interactive Energy Plan, demonstrating how various renewable technologies - including wind power, biomass CCHP and solar PV - could be deployed in a hypothetical community. An Interactive House shows how various low carbon design features, such as passive solar and air tightness; plus a range of renewable technologies can be used for individual households.

www.cambridgeshireenergysurvey.co.uk