The Alaska Renewable-source Ammonia Fuel Pilot Plant: Firming Storage and Renewables Export
Alaska’s 720,000 people live in over 200 “energy islands” with no electricity grid connection to each other nor to North America. Smaller communities have no road connection to each other, the rest of Alaska, or the continent. Most energy is imported: diesel for electricity generation and heat; gasoline for transportation. All Alaskans might obtain an annually-firm supply of most of their energy, for all purposes, by converting Alaska’s diverse, stranded, renewable energy (RE) resources to liquid anhydrous ammonia (NH3) fuel, transporting and storing it at low cost in common steel propane tanks, recovering the RE via stationary combined-heat-and-power (CHP) plants, in internal combustion engine (ICE) and combustion turbine (CT) gensets, and via fuel cells, and as transportation fuel. Alaskans could achieve a significant degree of community energy independence, and perhaps export their abundant, stranded renewables as “green” liquid NH3 fuel. Solid state ammonia synthesis (SSAS) appears promising.
Wood-Pellet Bonds Show US Biomass Market Expanding Worldwide
A Louisiana lumber town has become the crossroads for an unusual buyer and seller in the U.S. municipal market: private-equity firm KKR & Co. and the world’s biggest manufacturer of wood pellets.
Researchers Work to Clone Strong, High-quality Forest Trees
University of Georgia researchers are working to produce faster-growing sweetgum trees by growing embryogenic sweetgum cultures in bioreactors, computer-operated systems used for growing cells under controlled conditions.
Renewable Year-end Focus: Thailand
As the renewable energy market shifts and evolves each year, industry experts need to know where the next hot region will be in order to keep up with the changing tides.
RenewableEnergyWorld.com’s Most Popular Stories of 2013
As editors we delight in learning which of the stories that we wrote or commissioned were most popular with our readers. That’s why at the end of each calendar year, we pull reports that tell us which stories we posted got the most shares, the most views, the most comments, etc. We also look at which videos were watched the most. Often, we post articles that we know will be a big hit: like explanations of controversial solar legislation. But other times you surprise us, readers, by taking great interest in articles that we felt were solid but not necessarily ground-breaking.
Renewable Year-end Focus: Poland
As the renewable energy market shifts and evolves each year, industry experts need to know where the next hot region will be in order to keep up with the changing tides.
Renewable Energy’s Hottest Conversations of 2013
Here at RenewableEnergyWorld.com, we pride ourselves on our active community of readers who click, share, and comment on the articles that we post every day. While we don’t always agree with their take on the pieces we post, we always value constructive feedback and the high quality discussion that sometimes ensues.
Bio-energy Forest Plantations for the Southeastern United States
Bio-energy forest plantations will supplement woody biomass from other sources such as logging residues. In the southern U.S., projections are for an increase of up to 25 million “new” tons of woody biomass demand for bioenergy. To supply this woody biomass demand will require purpose grown plantations of various species including pine, eucalypts, sweetgum, hybrid poplar and cottonwood, amongst others. Forest plantation yields can be 8-15 green tons/acre/year on rotations of 5-12 years. Utilization of this renewable and sustainable biomass resource will be as feedstock “designed” for a large number of bio-energy applications.
Latin America Report: Solar's Auction Debut in Brazil
After being shut out of previous renewable energy auctions, and delaying its own auction by two weeks, the state government of Pernambuco held the nation's first solar energy auction on December 27, registering 122.82 MW of energy, six times the country's current entire solar energy output (20 MW). The auction involved 34 bidders proposing roughly 1 GW of capacity; at the end it was narrowed to six companies from Brazil, Italy, Germany, China and Spain. Average price of power finished trading at 228.63 Brazilian reais/MWh (just under U.S. $97), about 9 percent lower than the starting price of R 250.
Top US Clean Energy and Climate Breakthroughs in 2013
The United States broke one record after another for extreme weather in 2013. From deadly floods in Colorado to prolonged drought across the Southwest, Americans saw what unchecked climate change can do to our communities. But we also witnessed another kind of powerful force: real and positive climate action.