Japan extracts 'frozen gas' from seabed

First country to successfully produce methane hydrate gas offshore

Japan has become the first nation to successfully extract ‘frozen gas’ from deposits from under the sea.

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry announced the news with images showing what they claim is gas flaming from a pipe at the project, which is located 50 miles off the coast of central Japan. This breakthrough of harvesting methane hydrate, a form of methane gas which is frozen below the seabed, could be a massive step towards commercial production of the gas for the country, which imports most of its energy due to its own scarce resources.

Commercialising the production of 'frozen gas' could help solve Japan's energy problems

(Image source - The Guardian)

The process of extracting the gas, which uses a technology developed to reduce pressure in the underground layers holding the methane hydrate 4,363 feet below the sea surface, is expensive compared to other forms of gas production. However, this hasn’t put off Ryo Minami, director of the oil and gas division at Japan’s Agency for Natural Resources, who believes they will find of way of lowering the cost of collecting ‘frozen gas’, telling the Financial Times, ‘Ten years ago, everybody knew there was shale gas in the ground, but to extract it was too costly. Yet now it's commercialised’.

The future of solar power?

Improved 3D printing can ‘revolutionise’ industry

Following the news that a company has been given £2m funding to develop ‘solar glass’, technology that allows buildings to produce their own low-carbon electricity through their windows, the future of the solar industry looks even brighter thanks to the potential of 3D printing.

Printing 3D solar cells has an advantage over the standard method of PV models because they are less complex to create, weight less and do not need direct overhead sunlight to absorb the UV energy. Studies have also shown that 3D cells can be 20% more efficient than standard flat solar panels, according to researchers at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

With 3D printing, solar panels like this would just be one way of using solar cells

(Image source - Wired.co.uk)

Another benefit of 3D solar cells is cost. It has been estimated that production of 3D cells would be 50% cheaper than traditional panels because it would eliminate inefficiencies associated with wasting materials. Also, as 3D printing can take place anywhere, shipping costs will be reduced considerably. 

On top of this, 3D printing of solar cell is not limited to one form. Solar cells can be added to things ranging from glass, paper and even fabric, meaning that solar cells creating by 3D printing can be used in more advanced ways compared to traditional methods of creating solar panels.

With the potential of 3D printing starting to gain momentum within technology circles, it seems that solar power, something that has stuttered somewhat in recent years, could finally have a way of becoming a major player in the renewable energy industry.

'Solar glass' lets buildings generate own power

New invention adds solar cells to glass panels that can produce low-carbon electricity

An energy company has been given a £2m funding boost after developing a form of glass that can absorb solar energy.

A University  of Oxford spin-off, Oxford Photovoltaics, believe the funding will help them take the remarkable product to the commercial market. The ‘solar glass’ works by adding a very thin layer of transparent, solid-state solar cells to glass, which can then turn up to 12% of solar energy into low-carbon electricity. This means that a new building can use this glass for all of their windows and run a large portion of the building’s electricity needs from it. 

The 'solar glass' can be dyed with numerous colours, giving building designs countless design options

(Image source - The Guardian)

This is why Kevin Arthur, the company’s founder and CEO, believes the product can be a commercial success. ‘What we say here is rather than attach photovoltaics to the building, why not make the building the photovoltaics? If you decide to build a building out of glass, then you've already decided to pay for the glass. If you add this, you're adding a very small extra cost, no more than 10%’.

Glass panels for buildings usually cost about £600 to £1000 per square metre, and adding the solar glass would only cost about £60 to £100 extra. This would only be a small additional cost, as the glass would then generate electricity for the new building. The company is mostly targeting customers creating new buildings throughout 2013, but can also retrofit existing buildings with their technology.

Want a good savings investment? Then go green!

Renewable energy investments can offer better returns than banks

In a climate of economic uncertainty across Europe, most people are trying to find the best ways to use their money and are looking for the right places to invest. With stock market returns erratic and inconsistent and savings accounts paying out below-inflation interest rates, there is another way to make money from investments. And it’s green.

Abundance Generation, the FSA-regulated platform for renewable energy investment, are offering people the chance to invest in energy projects that can make returns of up to 8%, whilst supporting local renewable energy schemes at the same time. The first project by Abundance – a community wind turbine in the Forest of Dean – was switched on last week after reaching its minimum funding level recently and is now generating electricity for the community, and generating returns for investors, who include locals as well as others from across the UK. Investors will receive twice-yearly payments from the project, which are their share of the profits made from generating and selling energy created by the turbine.

The turbine at Forest of Dean being constructed

(Source - This is Gloucestershire) 

Bruce Davis, co-founder and joint managing director of Abundance, argues that investing in energy projects is a much better idea than investing money in banks, who have lost a lot of public trust following the banking scandals of recent years, and is available to people of all economic backgrounds. “We are all about democratising finance” said Davis. “Why should the great returns and pleasure of investing in real, worthwhile and ethical assets like renewable energy projects only be available to the very wealthy?” 

People can invest in projects with Abundance for as little as £5 with the average investment being for 20 to 25 years. The risks from investing in Abundance projects are very low, meaning that investing in renewable energy isn't just for rich businessmen; you can do it too. And, unlike a bank, you can actually see what your investment is doing for the renewable energy industry and the local community.

Have you seen this see-through soil?

Scientists develop transparent soil that lets you watch roots as they grow

The process of how plant roots grow has been revealed in a clearer light thanks to the development of transparent soil.

Researchers from the University of Abertay Dundee and the James Hutton Institute have spent the last two years working on a see-through soil substitute made from Nafion - a synthetic material usually seen in power-generating fuel cells - that allows them to actually watch the roots of a plant as they grow. The compound acts just like regular soil and is the biggest development in the study of the rhizosphere, the world of roots, in recent history, with Lionel Dupuy, a theoretical biologist at the James Hutton Institute, saying ‘This is exciting because there are so many things to discover in soil and we don’t know yet what they are’.

See-through soil lets you watch the roots as they grow and develop

(Source - Daily Mail)

The artificial soil shares key characteristics of actual soil, such as water retention, capability of sustaining plant growth and the ability to hold nutrients. The soil isn’t transparent naturally, and only becomes see-through when treated with a special water-based solution. 

Scientists are confident that the soil can help them get a better understanding of how plants and microbes access nutrients that are present in soil, which can then help them develop and breed crops that have more efficient root systems, meaning less of a reliance on fertilizers. 

The city of the future

Iskandar Malaysia will be totally green and model for all south-east Asian cities 

An eco-friendly, ultra-modern city the size of Luxembourg, housing 3 million people and powered completely by green energy – that is the vision of Iskandar Malaysia. 

A map of the proposed eco-city of Iskandar Malaysia

(Source - The Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/nov/02/iskandar-malaysia-green-megacity?intcmp=122 )

Across the strait of Johor, opposite Singapore, is the site for this ‘smart metropolis’ that developers hope will be template for all new cities across all of Malaysia and south-east Asia. This new city will be home to over 3 million people by 2025 and will be powered by renewable energy, will have publically provided transport and will recycle all of its waste. The city will also have green spaces to encourage social integration and improve resident’s mental well-being. Skyscrapers will share the skyline with low-rise buildings and self-contained ‘neighbourhoods’. 

This vision, described by Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak as a ‘smart city template’, came about as a solution to the predicted city population growth in the region. In 2007, the world’s urban population overtook the rural population for the first time, and by 2050 the planet’s population will increase from 7bn to around 9bn, with the majority of people in south-east Asia living in major cities.

Eco-city projects have been planned in the past, in countries ranging from China to the US, and have collapsed, but with over $30bn promised to the development of the city (a third of which has come from outside the country), Iskandar Malaysia is hoping to truly become the city of the future.

South West Marine Energy Park announces ambitions

UK's first marine energy park moving forward with business plan

The business plan for a new energy group has been announced. The South West Marine Energy Park, which was unveiled by Climate Change minister Greg Barker in January as the UK’s first marine energy park, has revealed its first plans for the project, which intends to bring the different strands of marine renewables activity in the region together all under one banner.

The main points of the plan include having at least 50 megawatts of wave and tidal projects installed in the near future, creating more commercial-scale wind and wave projects faster by developing a ‘technology pathway’, growing the marine energy supply chain and attracting investment in the South West region to develop infrastructure and ports.

Last week Peter Kydd, director of strategic consulting at Parson Brinckerhoff, was elected by the board as the park’s first chairman and is confident that the park can bring together people and projects that can help the marine energy industry thrive in the region. There have been some concerns that, due to the virtual nature of the park (as it doesn’t have a fixed base of operations), it may struggle to gain the necessary funding to achieve all of its goals. However, following a recent £15,000 allocation from the Plymouth City Council, there is now a revenue pot of funding from private and public sector partners of £100,000, which will allow the business plan to go ahead. 

For the full story please follow this link to This is Cornwall's website.

Is 'liquid air' the future?

New method could finally answer question of how to store energy

The term ‘cryogenic-power’ may seem better placed in sci-fi films than in the real world, but the Institute of Mechanical Engineers believe they have made this idea a reality with their development of ‘liquid air’ technology.

IMechE have proposed the idea of using the excess energy generated by wind turbines at night (‘wrong-time’ energy) can be used to chill air to a liquid state. Then, when energy demands are higher, the ‘liquid air’ can be reheated until it becomes a vapour, which can then be used to drive turbines to generate electricity.

Not only would this solve the problems of energy storage and ‘wrong-time’ energy, but it could also help with the problems of industrial heat waste that is currently being released into the atmosphere, as these ‘cryo-generators’ could be built near power plants where they could reuse this left-over heat to warm the stored ‘liquid air’.

Engineers at IMechE believe that this method can be an efficiency level of up to 70% and can compete with hydrogen and batteries (that have an efficiency level of around 80%) to store excess energy generated by renewable energy forms.

For the full story, follow this link to the BBC’s website.