Solar to Hydrogen Key to the Future

Steep oil prices have fuelled rising interest in alternative sources of energy. Investors willing to accept high risks may consider following the founder of one of Britain's biggest firms of independent financial advisers into a tiny energy company. Peter Hargreaves explains why he has put some of his own fortune at stake.

The world found a very convenient source of energy in fossil fuels and has been too lazy to look seriously elsewhere. Anyone today who envisages a world without transport, heat and electricity needs to know just one fact.

According to BP Solar: "If all the sunlight hitting the earth's surface in one hour was harnessed and converted into electrical power, it would be enough to fulfil mankind's energy needs for a complete year."

The problem with vegetation is that it takes millions of years to convert agricultural material into the fossil fuels on which we have become reliant. It is amazing that intelligent people believe we can fulfil our energy requirement by growing agricultural products today and using them as a source of power - biofuels are a complete non-starter.

Indeed, if you planted every piece of agricultural land in the entire world it wouldn't start to provide for our energy requirements. Biofuels are also certainly not the answer to reducing carbon emissions - they produce the same amount of hydrocarbon as fossil fuels.

However, if we could take that energy from the sun either directly or from the rainfall it produces or the winds it creates and convert it directly into a usable source, the world's energy future would be secure...read more

Victorville City Hall to Get PV Roof

Solar Integrated Technologies, who provide building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) roofing systems, says it has been contracted by Rogers-Quinn (RQ) Construction to provide a solar roofing solution for the new City Hall building in Victorville, California. Solar Integrated will be installing a 100 kW turn-key BIPV roofing solution that produces clean and secure power while protecting the building’s interior and improving the overall efficiency of the facility.

Located at the edge of the Mojave Desert, the City of Victorville is ideally situated to take advantage of plentiful sunlight. “Using solar was an important decision for us,” commented Mayor Mike Rothschild of the City of Victorville. “Our Council is committed to showing leadership in encouraging the use of renewable energy. Solar Integrated’s unique solution to provide a combined roofing and solar product was very appealing to us and enabled us to make the decision to move forward.”

Solar Integrated is working with project partners Tremco and RQ Construction, using a Tremco TPA single ply roofing membrane, and extensive tapered insulation to improve the thermal performance of the building. This is Solar Integrated’s second project with Tremco, a global premium provider of environmentally friendly energy efficient roofing systems...read more

Energy Star Home Uses Half the Energy

RED LODGE -- It's a no-brainer. That's what Pat Dopler has to say about the energy-efficient home he built in Red Lodge recently.

"I've always been baffled why people don't build sensibly," he said. "Given the state of the world, if we want to live comfortably on this planet, we need to start thinking about how we live here."

The 1,800-square-foot home is expected to use half, or less, of the energy of a traditional home of similar size. And it only cost about 7 percent more to build.

Dopler had been wanting to build an energy-efficient home ever since the early 1980s, when he started his business Dopler Solar Construction. But it wasn't until recent tax breaks became available, combined with escalating energy costs, that he decided to pull out the stops. His goal -- to build a home that would use as little energy as possible...read more

$30 Oil Key to Solar's Future

According to Cambridge UK analysts CarbonFree, environmentally friendly energy products and technologies, even those based on photovoltaic solar cells, will need to produce energy that is competitively priced in a market where oil costs as little as $30 per barrel. At this price, renewable energy produced on either a large or small scale will gain traction and may eventually displace fossil fuels as a primary energy source.

Cambridge, UK (PRWEB) May 30, 2006 -- Recent turmoil in the commodity markets illustrates just how vulnerable the renewable energy sector is to any easing of oil prices. According to Cambridge UK analysts CarbonFree, environmentally friendly energy products and technologies, even those based on photovoltaic solar cells, will need to produce energy that is competitively priced in a market where oil costs as little as $30 per barrel. At this price, renewable energy produced on either a large or small scale will gain traction and may eventually displace fossil fuels as a primary energy source.

During the last two years the market for renewable energy technology has been driven by two key factors: concerns that the burning of fossil fuels contributes to global warming, and rising domestic fuel bills. Fears over spiralling energy costs have caused a degree of investment overshoot. Based on long term projections of rapidly rising energy prices householders approaching retirement saw a time when they could no longer afford to heat their homes. For them especially purchasing a small-scale renewable energy system seemed an ideal long-term investment.

As oil prices ease, the incentive to invest in renewable energy technology is reduced. The overshoot that inflated the market for renewable energy is replaced by a second overshoot based on anticipated energy price reductions. Eventually this negative sentiment will impact on the renewable energy sector.

Heavily exposed in the current investment climate are hedge funds that are using the renewable energy sector to offset risks in markets depressed by rising oil prices. While industry in general may benefit from a lower oil price this may not compensate for a heavily funded renewable energy sector that comes to a dead stop – as the dot com sector did in 2002. Even more vulnerable are investors who have taken long-term positions in the polysilicon market in the expectation that both semiconductor and photovoltaic solar manufacturers will compete for the same limited supplies.

Currently most photovoltaic solar systems are only economic if heavily supported by grants paid to householders, building developers and power generators. CarbonFree predict a shift in the market when innovations such as thin film and nanotechnology based photovoltaics replace the current generation of devices. Longer-term it sees technology that uses the sun’s energy to split water into oxygen and hydrogen having a significant impact on the energy market.

CarbonFree notes that the small-scale wind technology sector is coming tantalisingly close to reaching critical mass – in part due to the significant media coverage the technology is receiving. Again, the price of the technology is a critical factor for the householder as presently the payback period for equipment exceeds the time a typical householder resides in a particular property. However, some retail outlets have identified a potentially large market for wind power based microgeneration and are attempting to source low-cost roof top turbines to sell in their stores. This should both drive down unit prices and increase the credibility of wind technology in the domestic energy supply market.

CarbonFree have produced reports that examine both large-scale and small-scale renewable energy generation markets and see both becoming realistic propositions if the technology can produce energy at the right price. The reports see both sectors remaining resilient if energy derived from renewable sources remains competitive in an energy market where oil is available for $30 per barrel. The reports describe technologies and scenarios that would make this possible. At $30 per barrel of oil equivalent, given that renewable energy is cleaner for the consumer and has less environmental impact than burning fossil fuels, CarbonFree predicts that renewables would eventually displace most other incumbent energy sources.

Both reports “Farming Renewable Energy” and “Householders As Energy Providers” are available as part of CarbonFree’s report subscription service. http://www.carbonfree.co.uk

About CarbonFree

CarbonFree carries out research and analysis in a wide range of alternative energy related fields and disseminates results in its highly focussed CarbonFree reports.

http://www.carbonfree.co.uk

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