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From wave power to smart buildings, this is the future of sustainable energy
发布时间：2018-08-20 21:41 作者：admin 次数：次
Move over, fossil fuels – a smarter energy revolution is well underway
Smart buildings can harvest sunlight and be their own power stationRAY ORANGES
History could mark 2017 as the year fossil fuels were finally consigned to the waste pile. The UK experienced its first coal-free day in April; it was announced new petrol and diesel cars will be banned from 2040; and wind power is now proving cheaper than nuclear. This has inspired the scientists, policy makers and investors gathered at WIRED Energy in October.
Roisin Quinn, head of energy strategy and policy at the National Grid, hailed the growth of renewables but warned that "renewable energy doesn't provide a constant supply of electricity - you need to manage that variability."
The biggest problem? Replacing so-called peakers – the natural-gas power stations that can quickly generate power at moments of high demand.
Nina Bhatia, managing director of Hive operators Centrica Connected Home, said point-of-delivery was the next battleground. Hive customers have difficulty with "clicky-clicky buttons and menus" she explained, with most setting up their homes for comfort and security rather than energy saving. Helping them save time and money is the solution. Read on for more perspectives.
Life on the grid edge
Imagine being paid for not consuming energy, Lawrence Orsini, founder of LO3 Energy, suggested during the opening session. "Getting paid for turning things off at the right times is just as easy as paying for electricity being generated at the right time," he said.
LO3 builds local grids to help people with solar panels on their roofs supply neighbours with power. The challenge, he argued, was that power being generated at the grid edge - solar panels, smart appliances and other close-to-home sources - requires a different grid architecture. "Grid operators need to be paid in different ways," he concluded. "We don't need large, predictable projects in the future - we need flexibility."
Joanna Hubbard, the chief operating officer at Electron, suggested the blockchain could help provide that flexibility. Her team is creating a trading platform intended to allow producers, consumers and startups to collaborate on generating and purchasing energy.
"All parties can pay less and deal more efficiently, ultimately lowering bills and carbon emissions," she said.
The rise of smarter buildings
Can you run a building on just sunlight and a hole in the ground? Ron Bakker, founding partner at PLP Architecture, told the room that it's possible. He designed "the world's smartest building" - The Edge, Deloitte's Amsterdam headquarters in the city's Zuidas business district. The building's southern wall is covered in solar panels, while the northern wall is a 15-storey, plant-filled atrium.
"It's 70 per cent light [powered] by sunlight and we use an aquifer 130 metres down as a battery. Overall we're producing, rather than consuming, energy," he explained.
Deloitte employees use a smartphone app to check in and out, control temperature and lighting and receive advice from the building's system on the best place to work at certain times. "Communication and energy have always gone together," Bakker told the room.
"Sunlight is available and free for everyone," said Marjan van Aubel. The Dutch inventor and co-founder of the Caventou design studio is rethinking energy consumption for The Edge. She devised dye-sensitised solar cells equipped with USB ports to allow people to charge their tablets and phones.
"The more surface you have, the more energy you can harvest," she explained. "The next step is to build a whole house where all the objects and surfaces are harvesting energy."
Connected threats
As energy plants, smarthomes and the grid become more connected, they become more exposed to hackers, Kevin Jones, head of cyber security architecture, innovation and scouting at aerospace company Airbus, warned the conference.
Jones calls the internet of things the "internet of trouble". "If we don't design these systems with security then we are heading for a major problem," he explained, citing attacks against the Ukraine's power grid in 2015 and 2016, and widely available industrial control systems malware such as Industroyer.
The UK hasn't seen a sustained cyberattack against national infrastructure yet, Jones said - but it's only a matter of time. "Security is a team sport," he insisted. "It's not the realm of the IT department when it comes to critical national infrastructure."
Hydrogen's promise
Tesla's electric cars may have attracted headlines around the world, but do they have a long-term future? Hugo Spowers, company architect at Riversimple Engineering, thinks not. "It's inconceivable to imagine replacing our thousands of filling stations and millions of cars with batteries," he told the conference.
Spowers suggested it would be simpler to install hydrogen petrol stations than manually charge electric cars. "Refuelling a hydrogen car is similar to refuelling a petrol car," he explained.
His Powys-based company is gearing up for beta trials of its hydrogen-powered Rasa car in 2018. A pool of 80 to 100 drivers will share 20 Rasas to see if Spowers' smartphone model works. Scaled cars will be contracted out to customers who will pay a fixed price contract to cover insurance and fuel costs. "We're probably the only car company that hopes never to sell a car," he announced.
Harvest the sea to power the world
"Wave energy doesn't shut down at night or if there's cloud cover or pollution blocking the Sun," Inna Braverman, co-founder of Eco Wave Power, explained to a packed session.
Most wave-energy hardware is situated four or five kilometres offshore - making it expensive and vulnerable, Braverman explained. Her solution? A system of buoys attached to generators on breakwaters, jetties and disused ports - which makes them safer, more accessible and cheaper to service.
History could mark 2017 as the year fossil fuels were finally consigned to the waste pile. The UK experienced its first coal-free day in April; it was announced new petrol and diesel cars will be banned from 2040; and wind power is now proving cheaper than nuclear. This has inspired the scientists, policy makers and investors gathered at WIRED Energy in October.
Roisin Quinn, head of energy strategy and policy at the National Grid, hailed the growth of renewables but warned that "renewable energy doesn't provide a constant supply of electricity - you need to manage that variability."
The biggest problem? Replacing so-called peakers – the natural-gas power stations that can quickly generate power at moments of high demand.
Nina Bhatia, managing director of Hive operators Centrica Connected Home, said point-of-delivery was the next battleground. Hive customers have difficulty with "clicky-clicky buttons and menus" she explained, with most setting up their homes for comfort and security rather than energy saving. Helping them save time and money is the solution. Read on for more perspectives.
Life on the grid edge
Imagine being paid for not consuming energy, Lawrence Orsini, founder of LO3 Energy, suggested during the opening session. "Getting paid for turning things off at the right times is just as easy as paying for electricity being generated at the right time," he said.
LO3 builds local grids to help people with solar panels on their roofs supply neighbours with power. The challenge, he argued, was that power being generated at the grid edge - solar panels, smart appliances and other close-to-home sources - requires a different grid architecture. "Grid operators need to be paid in different ways," he concluded. "We don't need large, predictable projects in the future - we need flexibility."
Joanna Hubbard, the chief operating officer at Electron, suggested the blockchain could help provide that flexibility. Her team is creating a trading platform intended to allow producers, consumers and startups to collaborate on generating and purchasing energy.
"All parties can pay less and deal more efficiently, ultimately lowering bills and carbon emissions," she said.
The rise of smarter buildings
Can you run a building on just sunlight and a hole in the ground? Ron Bakker, founding partner at PLP Architecture, told the room that it's possible. He designed "the world's smartest building" - The Edge, Deloitte's Amsterdam headquarters in the city's Zuidas business district. The building's southern wall is covered in solar panels, while the northern wall is a 15-storey, plant-filled atrium.
"It's 70 per cent light [powered] by sunlight and we use an aquifer 130 metres down as a battery. Overall we're producing, rather than consuming, energy," he explained.
Deloitte employees use a smartphone app to check in and out, control temperature and lighting and receive advice from the building's system on the best place to work at certain times. "Communication and energy have always gone together," Bakker told the room.
"Sunlight is available and free for everyone," said Marjan van Aubel. The Dutch inventor and co-founder of the Caventou design studio is rethinking energy consumption for The Edge. She devised dye-sensitised solar cells equipped with USB ports to allow people to charge their tablets and phones.
"The more surface you have, the more energy you can harvest," she explained. "The next step is to build a whole house where all the objects and surfaces are harvesting energy."
Connected threats
As energy plants, smarthomes and the grid become more connected, they become more exposed to hackers, Kevin Jones, head of cyber security architecture, innovation and scouting at aerospace company Airbus, warned the conference.
Jones calls the internet of things the "internet of trouble". "If we don't design these systems with security then we are heading for a major problem," he explained, citing attacks against the Ukraine's power grid in 2015 and 2016, and widely available industrial control systems malware such as Industroyer.
The UK hasn't seen a sustained cyberattack against national infrastructure yet, Jones said - but it's only a matter of time. "Security is a team sport," he insisted. "It's not the realm of the IT department when it comes to critical national infrastructure."
Hydrogen's promise
Tesla's electric cars may have attracted headlines around the world, but do they have a long-term future? Hugo Spowers, company architect at Riversimple Engineering, thinks not. "It's inconceivable to imagine replacing our thousands of filling stations and millions of cars with batteries," he told the conference.
Spowers suggested it would be simpler to install hydrogen petrol stations than manually charge electric cars. "Refuelling a hydrogen car is similar to refuelling a petrol car," he explained.
His Powys-based company is gearing up for beta trials of its hydrogen-powered Rasa car in 2018. A pool of 80 to 100 drivers will share 20 Rasas to see if Spowers' smartphone model works. Scaled cars will be contracted out to customers who will pay a fixed price contract to cover insurance and fuel costs. "We're probably the only car company that hopes never to sell a car," he announced.
Harvest the sea to power the world
"Wave energy doesn't shut down at night or if there's cloud cover or pollution blocking the Sun," Inna Braverman, co-founder of Eco Wave Power, explained to a packed session.
Most wave-energy hardware is situated four or five kilometres offshore - making it expensive and vulnerable, Braverman explained. Her solution? A system of buoys attached to generators on breakwaters, jetties and disused ports - which makes them safer, more accessible and cheaper to service.
