By Sarah Lozanova, Clean Energy WriterDespite setbacks from the pandemic, renewable energy deployment is increasing. The Inflation Reduction Act extends renewable energy tax credits and helps remove barriers for low-income households to use clean energy. Although supply chain shortages have created hurdles across the energy industry, 2023 has the potential to be a promising year for the transition to clean energy. Let’s examine the forces at play for renewables in 2023. High Fossil Fuel Costs Make Renewable Energy More Cost-EffectiveThe price of oil, natural gas, and coal has been rising, and quite erratic, partly due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. A natural gas shortage has temporarily spiked interest in coal, causing prices to soar last March and then rise and dip repeatedly since. Although some markets are using more coal during natural gas shortages, a return to coal power is counterproductive for mitigating the climate crisis.
By Sarah Lozanova, Renewable Energy WriterSadly, global bird populations are in decline, according to numerous ornithological studies, and there are many culprits. Loss of wildlife habitat, overexploitation, and climate change are some leading causes. Although it is responsible for a relatively low number of bird fatalities, by comparison, wind turbines do play a role. In the United States, scientists estimate that wind turbines are responsible for one million bird fatalities in the United States annually. However, this dwarfs when compared to other causes. Leading causes of bird fatalities in the United States:
By Sarah Lozanova, Renewable Energy WriterAs the world transitions to renewable energy sources to decarbonize the power grid, wind energy is one of the fastest-growing sources of new generation. Wind energy capacity has grown by 14% annually from 2010 to 2020. Now that wind turbines dot many landscapes, many people wonder about the pros and cons of wind power. Wind power is praised for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, boosting energy security, creating jobs, and producing low-cost power, but it also has some drawbacks. Wind turbines are known to kill birds, can produce noise, and wind turbine blades are difficult to recycle. What are the advantages of wind turbines? With such rampant growth in the industry, there are clear advantages to using wind turbines to power the electrical grid. Let’s explore what is making wind energy so popular across much of the globe. By Sarah Lozanova, Renewable Energy WriterSome of the first utility-scale wind farms were installed in the early 2000s. Because the design life of a wind turbine is about 20 years, these turbines are reaching the end of their useful lives. Thus, it is time to either decommission or repower them. When these wind power projects were first installed, end-of-life wasn’t really a top concern, but this topic is getting more attention now. Increasingly, people are thinking more about the decommissioning phase of renewable energy projects, and are wondering if wind power is really as green as it seems. On this point, there is good news. Wind turbines can be recycled, because the two primary materials are metal and cement, which are recyclable. However, wind turbines are getting bigger, so the volume of material inputs is increasing. It’s therefore critical to have adequate recycling infrastructure in place to process wind turbines. What are wind turbines made of? More than 80%t of the mass of wind turbines is made up of recyclable materials such as steel, iron, copper, and aluminum. Although it varies by model, wind turbines are 66%-79% steel, 11%-16% fiberglass, resin, or plastic, 5%-17% iron or cast iron, 1% copper, and 0-2% aluminum by weight, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Most metals are readily recyclable repeatedly and easy to make into new products. By Sarah Lozanova, Renewable Energy WriterWind energy has soared in popularity in the last couple of decades. Today, 8.4% of the total electrical energy produced in the United States comes from wind power. With so many utility-scale wind turbines being installed, it is critical to consider the sustainability of the wind energy industry. That includes what happens to the wind turbines when they are decommissioned. Wind turbines are made mainly of metal and can readily be recycled into high-value goods. However, the wind turbine blades are an exception. As a result, many wind turbine blades end up in landfills or are incinerated because they are costly to recycle. Unfortunately, the scale of this issue will increase dramatically worldwide as wind farms reach the end of their lifespan. Are there opportunities to repurpose wind turbine blades that create greater value to nearby communities? The Re-Wind Network is exploring that very question. It is a collaboration between researchers in the United States, Ireland, and Northern Ireland studying repurposing options for wind turbine blades in a variety of civil engineering projects. By Sarah Lozanova, Renewable Energy Writer The energy mix in the United States has shifted significantly in recent years. Wind and solar energy capacity has skyrocketed and continues on an upward trend. Wind energy generated 7% of the total electricity in the United States in 2019. Since 2008, the use of coal-fired power plants has declined, as the use of renewable energy and natural gas has increased. Wind energy is an excellent way to reduce carbon emissions, but what happens when the wind turbine blades wear out? Is there a looming waste disposal issue? Looming Waste Management Issues The design life of wind turbines is about 20 to 25 years. The longest wind turbine blade to date is 350 feet, almost the length of a football field. Although certain parts of wind turbines can be relatively easily recycled, others are not designed for recyclability. In particular, wind turbine blades present the biggest waste management challenge, but researchers from the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) in partnership with Arkema Inc. are making progress in this area. By Sarah Lozanova, Clean Energy Writer Despite serving a valuable purpose to us all, tech companies have been criticized for years for their exorbitant energy consumption. Data centers are the backbone of the internet and keeping all that information just a click away requires a lot of electricity. A transition to renewable sources is underway, which cloud users can encourage by choosing their online service providers that source clean energy. The ‘Dirty Cloud’ Data centers use up to 3 percent of all U.S. electricity and the information technology sector is responsible for 7 percent of global electricity consumption. The term “dirty cloud” was even coined to refer to the coal and other high-emissions fuel sources that power cloud computing. Global internet traffic has tripled in the last four years and it is anticipated to triple again by 2022, according to the International Energy Association. The IT sector isn’t keeping up with its rapid growth,” says Gary Cook, the senior corporate campaigner on the Climate & Energy for Greenpeace. “More companies are making renewable energy commitments but energy demand growth by the industry is outstripping their renewable energy growth. This is an urgent issue to address the use of fossil fuels given the climate crisis.” Since 2009, Greenpeace has been putting pressure on some of the more polluting tech companies while praising greener ones. When examining the energy footprint of tech companies, some clearly lead the way in the corporate use of renewable energy deployment, energy transparency, advocacy, and energy efficiency innovations. Read More... Greening the Cloud with Renewable Energy |