05.02.10 ‘Totally green’ electricity – from human waste
People who experiment with human excrement probably shouldn’t boast about their newfound hobby, nor should they dedicate a whole press release to its intricacies, but that is exactly what Thames Water did earlier this week, and with pride.
The firm, which is one of the largest utility companies in the UK, generates around 14% of its energy needs from burning dried blocks of human waste, otherwise known as ‘poo cakes.’ Poo power has knocked an estimated £15m from Thames Water’s electricity bill in the last year alone.
Dr Keith Colquhoun, strategy manager at Thames Water, was on hand to explain – “There's no polite way of saying this, but human poo isn’t simply waste, it's a great source of energy. The solids in sewage have a high calorific content that we use to generate electricity.”
Thames Water has two sewage plants equipped with waste burners, both located in East London. A further twenty plants burn the methane produced by the sewerage process, creating heat that can then be used to generate power. Officials claim that the system is sustainable, and ‘totally green.’
In 1997, the water company was sending thirty barges of human waste every hour to be dumped in the North Sea, where the fish would eat it all up. Today, Thames Water produces just four trucks of ash a day, which is often sold to contractors as a building material.
Of course, the usefulness of poo power varies according to the time of the year: in the summer, when the days are warmer and people are eating fewer large meals, poo cakes produce less energy.
Poo power. It’s an inventive, if unpleasant, solution to the world’s energy woes.
29.01.10 E.ON to axe 800 jobs
800 jobs are to go at E.ON, one of the biggest energy companies in the UK. The jobs are to go at a call centre in Rayleigh in Essex which is set to be closed completely.
The German owners of E.ON, which currently serves 5.5 million UK customers, said that the decision had “not being taken lightly”, but that the closure was necessary in order to improve efficiency across the whole group.
The plan now is to create new ‘centres of excellence’, and the energy giant confirmed that the restructuring could actually lead to lots of new jobs being created in other areas of the country. It has confirmed that it will be allowing some of the call centre staff to relocate, whilst some will be offered voluntary redundancy instead.
In addition to the call centre closure, the company also announced that a further 200 staff are to be affected by an overhaul of the IT operations. 75 jobs will be affected in the IT support sector, with a further 125 going in the Energy Services Business.
E.ON currently employs 16,000 workers across Britain, but as an international company it employs a total of 90,000 staff worldwide.
The managing director of the retail arm of E.ON, Graham Bartlett, said that the company understood the effect of the decision on the employees, but added that “the fact of the matter is that our retail business has only just returned to profit after years of loss-making”
The trade union Unison, however, wants government intervention following the decision. The general secretary, Dave Prentis, said that it will come as “a bitter blow and a terrible shock to call centre workers at E.ON.”
22.01.10 Could Northern Europe be connected by an electricity ‘supergrid’?
In the near future, citizens in the UK could share electricity from renewable sources with other Northern European countries via a ‘supergrid’, which ministers hope could reduce carbon emissions and fossil fuel dependency.
On December 7th, 2009, nine countries including the UK signed a political declaration on the North Seas Countries Offshore Grid Initiative. The agreement, also approved by ministers from Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Sweden came as part of an Energy Council meeting in Brussels.
The aim of the Initiative is to link up the countries’ electricity supply through a ‘supergrid’ spanning the North and Irish seas. It is hoped that sharing energy supply in this way will help overcome some of the challenges of increasing Europe’s dependence on renewable energy supply. The declaration also cites increased security of supply and the competitiveness of Europe’s energy market as potential benefits.
According to the government, the UK is already the world leader in offshore wind capacity and has the potential to supply more than a quarter of its electricity needs from offshore wind farms. Lord Hunt, the Energy and Climate Change Minister, has stated that offshore wind could provide the UK with up to 70,000 new jobs and £8 billion in annual revenues. Much of any foreseen development will come in the North Sea.
But one of the primary barriers to further increases in low-carbon energy from wind has been what to do when the wind is not blowing, since energy is difficult and costly to store. Through a ‘supergrid’, countries with a surplus of electricity could instantly supply those with a shortfall. This would increase reliability and efficiency.
But how likely is it that the ambitious plans for a ‘supergrid’ will come to fruition?
News of the initiative came as talks for a global deal on cutting carbon emissions were beginning in Copenhagen. The resulting Copenhagen Agreement does not legally bind countries to emissions reductions or an increase in energy supply from renewables.
However, the primary driver of the Initiative is the EU’s own so-called 20-20-20 target, an ambition to supply 20% of its energy from renewable sources by 2020. The declaration states that wind energy is likely to be ‘crucial’ in meeting those targets, and the ‘supergrid’ potentially key to large-scale wind energy use.
The declaration does not include a timeline for construction. Rather, it commits the signatories ‘To convene a High Level meeting of the relevant stakeholders of the Region during the second half of 2010 in order to agree on a strategic working plan by means of a Memorandum of Understanding of the North Seas Offshore Grid Initiative’.
15.01.10 Six companies shortlisted for wind farms connections
Ofgem has released a shortlist of six companies who are bidding to operate the power lines for a total of nine offshore wind farms in the UK. The contract will be worth over £1 billion.
The power lines will connect up to 2GW of electricity to the grid, all of which will come from renewable power. This is enough to provide power to 2 million homes across the country.
It was Ofgem E-Serve that made the decision on the shortlist, which relates to the first phase of a £15 billion programme. By 2020, the links could transfer as much as 33GW in power, a huge increase that would go a long way to reaching the government’s green energy targets.
The companies that have been shortlisted for the connections include Dong Energy Sales and Distribution, National Grid Offshore, Capital Partners and Green Energy Transmission, along with new entrants to the market, Balfour Beatty Capital and Macquarie Capital Group.
One of the bigger transmission companies, Scottish & Southern, did not manage to make the list. This led a spokesman for the company to say that they were both “surprised and disappointed”, but that it “is clearly going to be very competitive”.
The chief executive of Ofgem, Alistair Buchanan, said “offshore wind will play a key role in delivering a better environment for consumers”, and that the strong competition “demonstrated the value of attracting new entrants”. He also said that “up to £200 billion” may have to be invested if the country is to “meet its climate change targets”.
The winners of the contract will be announced in May 2010.
08.01.10 Underground pumps would help meet renewable heat targets
By 2020 thousands of homes and offices could be using ground source heat pumps (GSHP), which produce renewable energy by pumping liquid underground to be heated. A report by the Environment Agency proposes that the technology is capable of generating 30% of the UK’s renewable heat requirements.
Currently, the UK has just 8,000 pumps installed, but they are becoming increasingly popular. In just a year the number of GSHP in the UK has doubled.
The Environment Agency asserts that by 2020 the pumps could be installed in 320,000 buildings. Ideally up to 40% of corporate buildings and one in ten homes could be using them.
Given its scope, the project would be costly. The pumps are also expensive to install. It has therefore been suggested that financial backing from the Government comes under the Renewable Heat Incentive in 2012. The scheme offers support to those who use renewable heat that they have generated themselves. Theoretically, homeowners and businesses could be paid for using the pumps.
A representative of the Environment Agency said: "The initial capital costs are more than for a normal boiler, but the GSHP would be cheaper to run."
The technology produces hot water for taps, baths and showers. It also warms water for radiators and underfloor heating systems. Electricity is needed to power the pump, but the process produces three to four times more energy than it uses.
If a homeowner replaces an oil-fired heating system with a GSHP, The Energy Saving Trust maintains that they could make an annual saving of 540kg of CO2 and £160. Also, because the pumps run on electricity, oil, gas and solid fuels are no longer needed to produce heat.
