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Beth Daley writes about the “hard look” that proposed biomass facilities - and biomass technology itself - are getting from area environmentalists and regulators. Add that to the “hard look” many regulators, environmental groups and local NIMBY opponents are giving wind (especially commercial-scale) and transmission lines (needed to interconnect any new renewable capacity) and you are left with: business as usual. Now that is a goal Americans, our politicians and business interests can all get behind - just look at health care reform.

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• » See also: Learn about the ROI of solar energy
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What is a smart grid?  According to the US Department of Energy:

Grid 2030 vision (PDF 1.1 MB) calls for the construction of a 21st century electric system that connects everyone to abundant, affordable, clean, efficient, and reliable electric power anytime, anywhere. We can achieve this through a smart grid, which would integrate advanced functions into the nation’s electric grid to enhance reliability, efficiency, and security, and would also contribute to the climate change strategic goal of reducing carbon emissions. These advancements will be achieved by modernizing the electric grid with information-age technologies, such as microprocessors, communications, advanced computing, and information technologies.

President Obama has funded smart grid technologies in the Economic Stimulus Package, and there is no doubt that a large amount of power is wasted with our current grid system; however, would it be better to invest in renewable energy now?  Off-Grid explains:

The greedy and slothful companies are in fact motivated by billions of economic stimulus dollars being handed out. The stimulus money could be used more effectively installing renewable power and microgrids in local communities. Harvesting extra efficiency from the national grid could postpone the next power plant, but so could introducing widespread household-level renewables.  Installing micro-grids everywhere  would cut down on the losses made in transmission.

The current national grid system is inefficient. Large amounts of power is lost in transmission and generating stations.  Off-Grid reports:

Transmission and distribution lines are imperfect conductors, with over 10% of power lost as heat. If these so-called line losses were reduced by a tenth on the distribution system alone, the power saved would equal all the wind generation installed in the U.S. in 2006, according to the industry’s Electric Power Research Institute, or EPRI. That’s 2,454 megawatts, or approximately the equivalent of three typical coal-fired power plants.

Why haven’t the utility companies already implemented smart grid technologies using their own profits?  The answer is because they are motivated by money, and there has been no incentive to do so until Obama’s stimulus package came along. The European Union faces another problem from its aging grid system.  According to a report from Europe’s leading science academies, the EU will not be able to distribute the renewable energy (20% of all energy) they have committed to build by 2020.  In fact, problems with the EU grid could appear as soon as 2011.  A solution is to create off-grid and micro-grid supplies for small communities rather than overhaul the entire grid system.  Off-Grid explains:

Scandinavian countries potentially have excess capacity in hydroelectric plants that could, ideally, be sold to places such as Germany. If agreements can be made with north African countries, solar power collected in the Sahara desert could be transported up into southern Europe. “In order to do that, you need to design the transmission system so it can cope with the large power flows through existing countries’ networks [but] Italy’s transmission system is not designed for that, nor is Spain’s.”

Distributing energy efficiently is important no matter the source, but we need to invest in alternative energy now.  Creating micro grids that use renewable energy seems like the logical first step while the larger grid infrastructure system is improved.

Image:  US Department of Energy

The Xingu River — home to some 600 species of fish — is one of the largest tributaries running through the Amazon. But not if the Brazilian state power company has their way.

What would be the world’s third largest dam, called the Belo Monte, would flood over 200 square miles of tropical rainforest; about the size of Tucson, AZ. It would also flood the homes of 19,000 people.

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The study by the Forum for Renewable Energy Development in Scotland showed that there were still 657 megawatts of fiscally safe, small scale hydroelectricity schemes available to them. This figure equates to about half the amount of installed hydro generation currently running in Scotland, and could power about 600,000 homes, a quarter of the nation’s homes.

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Through a combination of federal grants and private donations, a coalition of seven conservation groups called the Penobscot River Restoration Trust have gathered enough money to purchase and demolish two dams and install a fish bypass on another. By doing so, they hope to replenish the thinning Atlantic salmon, river herring, and many other migratory fish populations.

While the move is unprecedented, it is not without some flaws.

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Okay. Let me get this one out of the way: gas hasn’t been all bad. In fact, gas has allowed us to accomplish some pretty amazing things. To be clear, when I say “gas,” I’m using the term as an easy way to loosely refer to all liquid fuel products made from buried and fossilized hydrocarbon deposits.

Ooooh… I can hear the flamers’ keys clicking away furiously already. But, before you type that horribly thought out gunslinging response, hear me out.

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Luckily, under Brazil’s Constitution Indians must be heard if government changes will affect their land, which gives them veto power over the Belo Monte. Of course, who needs veto power when you have a machete?

Indigenous natives from many tribes attacked an engineer during a protest in Altamira last May, leaving him shirtless and with a bloody gash in his shoulder. After the bloody executive was led away, the protesters danced in celebration, waving their machetes.

“It was a shocking and regrettable act,” said Glenn Switkes, the Brazil-based representative of International Rivers, a California-based nonprofit group. “But it defines what’s at stake and shows that the determination and resistance by indigenous people is likely to be strong.”

The World Wildlife Fund-Brazil says that government officials could meet the growing needs of country by upgrading current systems. In one study they reported that Brazil loses 16-percent of the power it generates, compared with an international rate of about 6-percent. Rapid development of wind, solar and biomass facilities could also reduce the need for building dams.

Belo Monte would be built in the heart of Para, a state that’s home to an explosive mix of poor settlers, cattle ranchers, loggers and scammers who fake land titles. And of course business and political leaders in Altamira support Belo Monte because of the development it will bring.

“With the dam, we’d have more income to improve infrastructure,” said Altamira’s mayor, Odileida Sampaio.

The dam would cost $10 billion and wouldn’t open until 2014 at the earliest. Jose Antonio Muniz, the president of gigantic state power company Eletrobras, said he expected to win approval to let construction bids in October and begin work on Belo Monte next year.

“It’s the best site in the world for a dam,” he said during an hourlong interview. “It will produce a lot of energy and have a minimal impact on people and the environment.”

Eletrobras submitted its environmental impact statement on Feb. 27 to Brazil’s environmental agency. It has yet to be made public.

Muniz said the government would minimize the environmental impact and the impact on its indigenous people. He also promised to compensate those affected, even those without land titles.

I don’t know about you, but my money’s on the guys with the machetes!

Source: PhysOrg.org

Image credit: fishbone1 via Flickr, under a Creative Commons license.

They are planning to build five hydroelectric dams and a high tension line that will be the largest in the world. It will cross Chile from south to north and thus divide it in two.

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And what’s more - small holder farmers in east Africa who worked hard to put a more environmentally friendly cup of tea in front of you not only reaped a bumper harvest from their labor, they also got to sell excess electricity generated to local grid operators.

The green funding mechanism, Global Environment Facility or GEF and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) are collaborating to implement small-scale hydropower projects and cogeneration power projects in several East African states in two initiatives.

The projects are meant to reduce the tea industry’s energy costs, enhance global competitiveness of the region’s tea industry. It hopes to increase the share of global tea revenues, flowing to the region’s tea farming community as well as provide opportunities for extending clean electricity to rural communities.

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We are fortunate to have a wonderful creek that provides us with power via a turgo wheel (1100 watts), as well as two solar panels (170 watts) for backup. This is ample power for a family of four using CFLs, energy-saving appliances, etc. However, there are times when our power is down: large winter storms that fill the creek with leaves, and push the intake out of the water; creek levels drop in the summer and the dam needs rebuilding, etc. These are the times when my children experience down times from electricity, which is a good thing, depending upon how you spin it.

Several times a year, we are without power due to the aforementioned reasons. During these times, my children actually enjoy the close family time we spend. Sometimes we play a game by candlelight, read a book, snuggle close and tell stories, etc. It is amazing how power outages bring a family closer, and we always have a back-up generator and solar panels for recharging the batteries to keep the refrigerator running.

One thing that is nice about having your own power system is that when it is down, it is within your own power to go and fix. You don’t have to wait for the power company to rescue you. Young children often imitate the behavior of their adult models, and living off the grid provides opportunities for such modeling. When my daughter was two, she would get on her little wooden scooter and tell me she was going to fix the hydro! It was too cute! We have yet to involve our children in the maintenance of our system, as they are too little and the creek is usually big and dangerous when it needs fixing.

Living off the grid does limit some aspects of your power usage which children need to learn. You cannot turn on several big loads at the same time, especially when power supply has dropped, such as when a few leaves are covering the intake. For a two-year-old, it can be hard to understand why she can’t watch her favorite program on TV or listen to her favorite cd, but I also feel like these are good lessons in conservation. My children do not leave rooms without turning off lights, as they have always lived where this can be a necessity.

My six-year-old is just beginning to understand how our power system is better for the Earth, as she questions why there are so many power lines in towns. She has asked me where other people get their power, and she holds the same affinity for our creek that we do. By living off the grid, we are offering our children a unique opportunity to grow up leaving a smaller carbon footprint on our climate.

Luckily, under Brazil’s Constitution Indians must be heard if government changes will affect their land, which gives them veto power over the Belo Monte. Of course, who needs veto power when you have a machete?

Indigenous natives from many tribes attacked an engineer during a protest in Altamira last May, leaving him shirtless and with a bloody gash in his shoulder. After the bloody executive was led away, the protesters danced in celebration, waving their machetes.

“It was a shocking and regrettable act,” said Glenn Switkes, the Brazil-based representative of International Rivers, a California-based nonprofit group. “But it defines what’s at stake and shows that the determination and resistance by indigenous people is likely to be strong.”

The World Wildlife Fund-Brazil says that government officials could meet the growing needs of country by upgrading current systems. In one study they reported that Brazil loses 16-percent of the power it generates, compared with an international rate of about 6-percent. Rapid development of wind, solar and biomass facilities could also reduce the need for building dams.

Belo Monte would be built in the heart of Para, a state that’s home to an explosive mix of poor settlers, cattle ranchers, loggers and scammers who fake land titles. And of course business and political leaders in Altamira support Belo Monte because of the development it will bring.

“With the dam, we’d have more income to improve infrastructure,” said Altamira’s mayor, Odileida Sampaio.

The dam would cost $10 billion and wouldn’t open until 2014 at the earliest. Jose Antonio Muniz, the president of gigantic state power company Eletrobras, said he expected to win approval to let construction bids in October and begin work on Belo Monte next year.

“It’s the best site in the world for a dam,” he said during an hourlong interview. “It will produce a lot of energy and have a minimal impact on people and the environment.”

Eletrobras submitted its environmental impact statement on Feb. 27 to Brazil’s environmental agency. It has yet to be made public.

Muniz said the government would minimize the environmental impact and the impact on its indigenous people. He also promised to compensate those affected, even those without land titles.

I don’t know about you, but my money’s on the guys with the machetes!

Source: PhysOrg.org

Image credit: fishbone1 via Flickr, under a Creative Commons license.