Materials For Energy

EQ Energy Sector Analysis: Variable States

Corinna Wu
Feature Editor: Paulina Jaramillo

(Article in Energy Quarterly (EQ) in the March 2011 issue of MRS Bulletin)

On August 14, 2003, a downed high-voltage power line in Ohio triggered a massive blackout across eight states in the Northeast and throughout Southeastern Canada. A total of 50 million people lost power for up to two days. The episode cost an estimated $6 billion and is considered to be the worst electrical system failure in the history of the United States.

The cascade of failures—due to both human error and equipment malfunction—made clear the problems of the United States’ aging and balkanized electrical transmission grid. The blackout spurred the U.S. Congress to pass the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which enforces mandatory reliability standards. Investment in the transmission grid had fallen during the 1980s and 1990s, but after the blackout, funding picked up again.

Against this backdrop, power companies and regulating authorities now have another challenge to face: how to integrate variable and intermittent renewable resources such as solar and wind into the mix. Currently, electricity from non-hydro renewable resources accounts for 3.8% of the total electricity produced in the United States, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. In 2009, half of non-hydro renewable electricity came from wind and less than one percent from solar.

Although wind and solar are attractive because they do not produce greenhouse gases, they also pose difficulties because of their inherent variability. If wind and solar must supply a third of the energy generated, the job of meeting changing demand for electricity throughout the day becomes much more difficult. Power plant operators must meet the net load—the difference between user demand and this highly variable renewable output—by scheduling power generation from conventional sources.

An Energy Sector Analysis article published in the Energy Quarterly section in the March 2011 issue of  MRS Bulletin discusses various options to manage net load variability in the electric grid, with a focus on energy storage technologies. For materials scientists, a lot of potential research for grid-level energy storage lies in developing advanced battery technologies. Superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) systems are another option and have been used since the 1970s, mostly to release short bursts of energy to smooth out fluctuations in the power supply.

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Gopal R. Rao
Editor, MRS Bulletin
Materials Research Society (MRS)

 

Learning from Energy Initiatives Conducted in Different Regions of the World

The second issue of Energy Quarterly has been published in the December 2010 MRS Bulletin. This month the editorial by Steve M. Yalisove emphasizes the importance of Regional Initiatives, those “far-reaching experiments in sustainable energy” performed in some region of the world, with lessons to be learned by other regions of the world as they set forth to find their own solutions. Energy Quarterly now has presented two such experiments:

• September 2010: How Sunlight Became a Commodity in Germany and
• December 2010: Maintaining Brazil’s ethanol fuel momentum.

Sometimes, such as in the case of Germany scaling up solar energy, it is a question of political will. Germany might not be thought of as the sun center of the world, yet they are producing more than a third of the world’s photovoltaic power. Incentives for individuals to install solar cells on their homes and sell energy back to the utilities moved this program forward. Scaling up solar in Germany also opened a market for thin-film solar cells produced in the United States.

In other cases, local resources play a significant role, such as Brazil’s use of ethanol from their plentiful sugarcane crops. Now Brazil not only produces a large fraction of their automobile fuel domestically, they export ethanol to other countries. With an established ethanol industry, will catalysts and other materials developments make possible further experiments with cellulosic ethanol or other second-generation fuels?

These and other regional initiatives, such as nuclear power in France, wind in Denmark, and Desertec to transport renewable energy from deserts to population hubs, make up a useful set of experiments to examine economic, public policy, and engineering challenges in the energy arena. Energy Quarterly’s approach is to present the underlying science behind the engineering challenges and identify the materials issues that may offer useful solutions. What other lessons can be learned?

 

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Elizabeth L. Fleischer
Editor, MRS Bulletin
Materials Research Society (MRS)

Introducing Energy Quarterly

By V.S. Arunachalam and Elizabeth L. Fleischer

When MRS Bulletin published its expanded special issue in April 2008, “Harnessing Materials for Energy,” it was not a project done lightly. The impetus for this effort was the desire to describe the veritable options that materials provide in energy technologies.   These options can then be evaluated in the context of other imperatives such as economic viability and environmental concerns, which all interact to determine societal choices for energy. We were surprised and, of course, pleased by the timeliness, impact, and reception this volume received not only within the materials community but also in the larger world of energy professionals.

But these issues are not posed in a stagnant era. Even the framework for addressing energy challenges is evolving as countries set or collaborate on policies to address resource, security, and environmental needs. Since the publication of the special issue on energy, there have been a few reports of increased photovoltaic solar cell efficiency. The National Ignition Facility in the United States—one of the paths for realizing nuclear fusion—is becoming operational. Off-shore wind power is becoming a reality across Europe. And the government of Germany, despite its recent removal of subsidies, is still pursuing a bold initiative for large-scale grid connections of solar photovoltaics.

MRS Bulletin wants to capture stories of all such innovations as they occur, without a long wait for the detailed reports to appear. This is our driver for starting Energy Quarterly (EQ) . Four times a year, bound along with MRS Bulletin, EQ will host articles that are short, current, and eminently readable. Materials for energy will be the focus, but news from other nearby fields that are relevant will be included. The pages of EQ will include analysis across key energy sectors, lessons from major regional initiatives, interviews with energy leaders who are seen as architects of change, and transformational technology and research news.

This first volume provides a sampling of what we are pursuing. However, the space here is limited, and developments are many and varied. We need your input to help us follow the avenues with the greatest promise and to ensure this “journal within a journal” meets its objectives.  In subsequent days, the items in Energy Quarterly will be posted in the blog, and we encourage the community to comment on these articles and other blog items, expand on key points, and direct readers to additional resources.

V.S. Arunachalam
Chair, Energy Quarterly Organizing Committee

Elizabeth L Fleischer
Editor, MRS Bulletin

Portugal Gives Itself a Clean-Energy Makeover

By Gopal R. Rao

(From the New York Times)

The August 9, 2010, issue of the New York Times has an interesting analysis of Portugal's attempt to harness their renewable energy resources to reduce dependence on foreign oil imports. The report articulates how while these efforts by Portugal have been very successful, with 45% of its electricity currently generated by renewable sources, at the same time, it has paid a price for this rapid transition within a period of five years in terms of higher electricity prices as well as significant changes to their power grid.

Excerpt: LISBON — Five years ago, the leaders of this sun-scorched, wind-swept nation made a bet: To reduce Portugal’s dependence on imported fossil fuels, they embarked on an array of ambitious renewable energy projects — primarily harnessing the country’s wind and hydropower, but also its sunlight and ocean waves.

Today, Lisbon’s trendy bars, Porto’s factories and the Algarve’s glamorous resorts are powered substantially by clean energy. Nearly 45 percent of the electricity in Portugal’s grid will come from renewable sources this year, up from 17 percent just five years ago.

Land-based wind power — this year deemed “potentially competitive” with fossil fuels by the International Energy Agency in Paris — has expanded sevenfold in that time. And Portugal expects in 2011 to become the first country to inaugurate a national network of charging stations for electric cars.

.....

While Portugal’s experience shows that rapid progress is achievable, it also highlights the price of such a transition. Portuguese households have long paid about twice what Americans pay for electricity, and prices have risen 15 percent in the last five years, probably partly because of the renewable energy program, the International Energy Agency says.

Although a 2009 report by the agency called Portugal’s renewable energy transition a “remarkable success,” it added, “It is not fully clear that their costs, both financial and economic, as well as their impact on final consumer energy prices, are well understood and appreciated.”

......

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Gopal R. Rao, Ph.D.
Web Science Editor
Materials Research Society (MRS)

Scaling Up Alternative Energy

By Gopal R. Rao

(From Science)

The August 13, 2010, Issue of Science (Vol 329, Issue 5993, Pages 713-876) is a special issue on energy with the title "Scaling Up Alternative Energy".

As stated in the introductory article "Getting Better To Get Bigger" by David Malakoff, Jake Yeston, and Jesse Smith:

"The end of the age of fossil fuels may be in sight, but what comes after is still a bit of a blur. There are numerous alternatives to coal, oil, and natural gas from electricity generated by solar farms to biofuels brewed from plants. Scaling up these alternative sources of energy, however, has proved a challenge. This special issue explores the progress that researchers are making in developing better alternatives, and the technical, political, and economic pitfalls associated with scaling them up."

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Gopal R. Rao, Ph.D.
Web Science Editor
Materials Research Society (MRS)

Welcome

Welcome to the Materials Research Society’s (MRS) “MATERIALS FOR ENERGY” blog. I am your host Russell R. Chianelli, MRS president in 1990 and career researcher in energy materials: batteries, catalysts, hydrogen storage and solar cells.

We all recognize the importance of energy in the coming years for global economic growth and security. We also recognize that energy production in any form has environmental consequences that must be considered. Materials research is key to the development and maintenance of reliable and safe energy sources which are affordable and environmentally acceptable.

It is the purpose of the “MATERIALS FOR ENERGY” blog to discuss the scientific issues surrounding all areas of materials for energy: basic research, scale-up and commercialization, deployment, environmental impact including raw materials acquisition and finally disposal technologies. In order to effectively discuss these issues we have invited a series of experts as co-hosts to assist in guiding the discussions and to present current articles and resources for discussion. We encourage all interested parties in engaging in the discussions and suggest the April 2008 issue of the MRS Bulletin – Harnessing Materials for Energy.

 

 

Welcome and Blog On!!    

 

Bottled Wind Could Be as Constant as Coal

(From Wired Magazine)

Wind power has made incredible inroads into the U.S. energy system thanks to big, efficient machines standing hundreds of feet tall. But the future of wind power may be underground. In the abandoned mines and sandstones of the Midwest, compressed-air storage ventures are trying to convert the intermittent motions of the air into the kind of steady power that could displace coal.

Compressed-air energy storage plants use compressors to store electricity generated when it's not needed. The air, pumped into large underground formations, is like a spring that's been squeezed and when it's needed, it can deliver a large percentage of the energy that it received. The first and only such plant in the United States went online in 1991, and though the technology didn't take off, it did prove that it worked. And now, combining cheap wind energy and compressed-air storage could create a potent new force in the electricity markets.

http://snipr.com/urriy 

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Gopal R. Rao, Ph.D.
Web Science Editor
Materials Research Society(MRS)    

Pickens calls off massive wind farm in Texas

(From the Boston Globe)

Plans for the world’s largest wind farm in the Texas Panhandle have been scrapped, energy baron T. Boone Pickens said yesterday, and he’s looking for a home for 687 giant wind turbines.

Pickens’s company Mesa Power ordered the turbines from General Electric Co. - a $2 billion investment - a little more than a year ago. Pickens said he has leases on about 200,000 acres in Texas that were planned for the project, and he might place some of the turbines there, but he’s also looking for smaller wind projects to participate in. He said he’s looking at potential sites in the Midwest and Canada.

In Texas, the problem lies in getting power from the proposed site in the Panhandle to a distribution system, Pickens said in an interview with the Associated Press in New York. He’d hoped to build his own transmission lines but he said there were technical problems.

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Dr. Gopal Rao
Web Science Editor
Editor, Materials360^®
Editor, Meeting Scene
Materials Research Society (MRS)

Building a Community Dialogue on the Global Energy Landscape and Materials Innovation

It has been more than a month since the preliminary release of the MRS Bulletin issue, Harnessing Materials for Energy. From anecdotal evidence, the issue has been well received, with positive comments, requests for bulk quantities, and healthy single copy sales. It has been and will continue to be distributed far and wide to scientists, policymakers, energy leaders, educators, and students in the U.S., Europe, Asia, Africa, and elsewhere.

But our goal is not to have it “liked.” Our goal is to have it used.

It is time to look beyond the cover, and to build a dialogue in the community. By placing together the full spectrum of energy technologies from source through transformation to use and efficiency (shown in the Preface, illustration of the energy landscape, and Introduction), it is possible to see challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. We can beyond worrying about the future to joining the many researchers, entrepreneurs, and corporations looking for and building robust solutions. What important challenges have emerged? What scientific approaches might speed progress? What can we learn from experiments around the world, such as sugarcane ethanol in Brazil, hydrogen in Iceland, nuclear power in France, coal liquefaction in South Africa, wind energy in Germany, electric cars in Israel, and solar in California? Will immediate implementation trump stronger developments of tomorrow? What is needed for widespread use of cellulosic ethanol, white LEDs for general lighting, nuclear breeder reactors, carbon sequestration, methane hydrates, organic solar cells, or plug-in hybrids? I ask the readers of this blog to give thoughtful input to the unanswered questions and unquestioned answers related to materials and energy. Start with a look at the introductory content in the MRS Bulletin issue, Harnessing Materials for Energy. Where should materials research go next?

Please add your comments here. In future posts, we will examine other articles in the issue. We also welcome suggestions for future blog coverage, which can be e-mailed to materialsforenergy@mrs.org.

Dr. Elizabeth L. Fleischer
Editor, MRS Bulletin
Materials Research Society

MRS Bulletin Special Issue "Harnessing Materials for Energy"

The Materials Research Society and the MRS Bulletin are pleased to announce the availability of the April special issue of the MRS Bulletin "Harnessing Materials for Energy" on the web.

The MRS Bulletin special expanded issue, “Harnessing Materials for Energy,” focuses on the most important materials research challenges that need to be addressed to move toward secure, affordable, and environmentally sustainable energy to meet the world’s accelerating energy needs. The issue follows the full energy chain including production, storage, distribution, use, and efficiency. The articles are designed to present an objective and global view of the energy challenges within each energy sector and the promising transformational materials research directions for meeting these challenges as far into the future as is scientifically feasible to consider (targeting 10-, 25-, and 50-year outlooks).

A related Energy Forum is slated for Monday, March 24, at the 2008 MRS Spring Meeting.

 

Dr. Gopal Rao
Web Science Editor
Materials Research Society (MRS)