The World Commission on Dams (WCD) was formed in 1998 by a joint initiative of the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and the World Bank (WB) after a historic meeting of leading dam proponents and opponents in Switzerland, with proceedings reported by Dorcey and others. The WCD was asked to discover the truth about the hydropower energy facts, hydropower energy pros and cons, cost, effect, and benefit of large dams and it functioned independently for 2 years at a cost of $10 million. The money was well spent, and at the end of that period the WCD produced a comprehensive report and numerous support documents, and then dissolved itself. The report and support documents remain on the Internet available to all, and they have changed forever the debate about dams. (more…)
The water levels of most of the world’s rivers fluctuate with seasonal rains, melting snows, or droughts, and in the arid zones ...
Hydropower, also known as hydroelectric power, is the use of water to produce power. Harnessing water to perform work has been ...
The winners in hydropower and other large dam projects are those who gain electricity, domestic water supplies, sanitation, dro ...
Up to around 1980, hydropower research and development (R&D) efforts focused mainly on improving turbine efficiency, reducing c ...
Some of alternative fuel sources are by no means new. For centuries people have harnessed the power of running water for a vari ...
The energy that people use every day comes from many different sources. The resources are divided into two main groups: renewable energy and nonrenewable energy. Renewable energy sources are those that can be used again and again. Renewable energy resources have unlimited supply. (more…)
In Europe, modern renewable energy sources technologies were explored thoroughly for the first time after the oil embargo/ price cr ...
During the US Presidential Election 2008 Campaign, the renewable portfolio standard was one of the main agendas for Presidentia ...
The broad range of home solar energy systems are mostly known as Photovoltaic Systems (PV) or Thin Film Solar Technology. The s ...
The hydrogen can come from various sources including fossil fuels, wind, solar, biomass, nuclear, solar thermo-chemical reactio ...
Renewable energy sources cannot run out and causes so little damage to the environment that its use does not need to be restric ...
Agricultural and forestry residues provide the largest proportion of biomass used for the production of biomas bioenergy. Some estimates suggest that globally available biomass role in the form of recoverable residues represents about 40 Ejyr -1, enough to meet 10% of the total present energy use of 406 Ejyr -1 . However, realizing this potential is limited by factors such as ease and cost of recovery and environmental concerns relating to sustainable land use practices. (more…)
Estimation of the future technical potential of biomass as an energy source is dependent on assumptions with respect to land av ...
The quantification of the actual reduction in green house gases sourcess emissions resulting from the substitution of fossil fu ...
Bioenergy produced from biomass is sometimes called a carbon-neutral energy source, because the same quantity of carbon released wh ...
To date, most discussion and research relating to the various of biomass role in mitigating CO2 emissions has been focused around i ...
Another large source of renewable carbon supplies is waste biomass. It consists of a wide range of materials and includes munic ...
Researchers at the Institute of Chemical Technology have developed a new catalyst that allows to obtain, from bioethanol, hydrogen for direct use in fuel cells.
According to the researchers note the ITQ, the new catalyst is a new step towards the sustainable production of hydrogen with “interesting applications”, for example, buses, trains or trams based fuel cells.
It is an active catalyst at low temperatures, high selectivity to hydrogen production water and low carbon monoxide and methane. These three features can improve both energy and economic efficiency of hydrogen production process. “Hydrogen is currently produced by steam reforming of natural gas that operates at 900 º C, compared to 350 º C to working our catalyst, leading to a major energy savings,” said Antonio Chica, a researcher at the ITQ.
Likewise, the catalyst developed by the ITQ produced “very little” carbon monoxide, which means “breakthrough”, mainly to ensure optimal performance of the fuel cell because the CO is causing the malfunction of the batteries.
Also get “significant benefit” to the process of producing high purity hydrogen because it would involve the partial or total removal of one of the most expensive in the process units (units that use catalysts that are fairly expensive and aimed at the removal of CO by water displacement reactions and preferential oxidation). Similarly, the final stage of purification is simplified both in terms of energy and technology, which would mean “a considerable cost savings,” he said.
“The catalyst that we have developed could have interesting applications in industrial production of hydrogen. It has proven its efficiency in the laboratory, through the study of plant-level scale pilot will have to confirm the good results obtained so far, “said Girl.
The issues of hydrogen storage run through the hydrogen production, hydrogen transport, supply and demand for end use of hydrog ...
The hydrogen can come from various sources including fossil fuels, wind, solar, biomass, nuclear, solar thermo-chemical reactio ...
With ethanol’s future uncertain, many commentators see the transportation debate evolving into a war between two other technologies ...
Hydrogen has many applications when it comes to fuel. It can be used both in internal combustion engines and hydrogen fuel cells. ...
Fuel cells are typically classified according to type of electrolyte. While many varieties of fuel cells have been demonstrated ...
The demand for alternative fuels to substitute current fossil fuels is increasing more that ever. This is because the less availability of fossil fuel and the negative side effects to environment are the main issue that needs to be handled. Renewable energy such as wind, solar, tidal, hydro, geothermal or thermal are gaining more popular. The biomass energy industry in the production of respiration and dead organic matter can be used as industrial production or as fuel. (more…)
Most alternative fuel vehicles on the road today were originally designed for gasoline, but converted for use with an alternative f ...
Gasoline is used mainly by cars, motorcycles, and light trucks; diesel is used mainly by heavier trucks, buses, and trains. Togethe ...
The increase in the prices of major fuels, like gasoline and diesel fuel products is a major global problems recently. Those pr ...
There are different types of vehicle propulsion systems and the transportation fuels that have been studied for their potential ...
At present, in the United States and worldwide, motor vehicles are fueled almost exclusively by petroleum based gasoline (or re ...
The gradual change in the energy consumption pattern of the United States from 1860 to 1990. In the mid-1800s, biomass, principally woody biomass, supplied over 90% of U.S. energy and fuel needs, after which energy biomass consumption began to decrease as fossil fuels became the preferred energy resources. For many years, a safe illuminant had been sought as a less expensive substitute for whale oils. (more…)
The relationship of gross national product per capita to energy consumption per capita for most countries of the world correlat ...
The most widespread and practical process for capture solar radiation as organic fuels is the growth of virgin biomass. Extreme ...
The hydrogen can come from various sources including fossil fuels, wind, solar, biomass, nuclear, solar thermo-chemical reactio ...
Power consumption from electricity is an essential element of the U.S. economy since the beginning of the century. Coal power plant ...
Natural gas and oil are common source energy used to give electricity. How efficient is coal if we compare to these other source of ...
The hydrogen can come from various sources including fossil fuels, wind, solar, biomass, nuclear, solar thermo-chemical reactions, and solar photolysis. (more…)
Researchers at the Institute of Chemical Technology have developed a new catalyst that allows to obtain, from bioethanol, hydrogen ...
Hydrogen has many applications when it comes to fuel. It can be used both in internal combustion engines and hydrogen fuel cells. ...
The issues of hydrogen storage run through the hydrogen production, hydrogen transport, supply and demand for end use of hydrog ...
Most production systems try to become first full-scale production begins as small toys and devices of concept. The Horizon hydr ...
With ethanol’s future uncertain, many commentators see the transportation debate evolving into a war between two other technologies ...