Queen’s (University) researchers propose rethinking renewable energy strategy

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://qnc.queensu.ca/story_loader.php?id=4b7424e5e8cc4

Queen’s researchers propose rethinking renewable energy strategy

Thursday February 11, 2010

Researchers at Queen’s University are urging policy makers to examine greenhouse gas (GHG) emission implications and if necessary to slow the rate of replacing fossil fuel sources with windmills, solar panels and other sources of renewable energy.

Their recommendations could help policy makers restructure renewable energy production in a way that will optimize GHG emission reductions.

“The energy industry is expanding so rapidly that GHG emissions from the mining and manufacturing of materials to build alternative energy sources could pass a tipping point in the climate system if we’re not careful,” says Mechanical and Materials Engineering Professor Joshua Pearce, lead researcher on the study.

The benefits of dramatically increasing wind power and other sustainable energy sources must be weighed against the increase in GHG emissions that would result from mining and manufacturing the materials used to build them, Professor Pearce contends. He and and co-researchers, fourth-year mechanical and materials engineering students Colin Law and Renee Kenny, believe this is necessary to maintain a better balanace for GHG emission.

They also propose decreasing production in some of the most polluted areas of the world, including China.

Using the carbon-neutral growth rate – the rate at which industry can expand without increasing GHG emissions – the carbon mitigation potential for a solar electricity plant would be greater if it were commissioned in China and the solar cells were manufactured in Canada. But that is the exact opposite of the current trend, which is manufacturing in China and deploying in Europe or North America.

The researchers’ findings were recently published in the journal Energy Policy.

To arrange an interview or obtain a copy of the study, contact Kristyn Wallace at [phone] ext 79173, [email protected], or Michael Onesi at [phone] ext 77513 [email protected], News and Media Services, Queen’s University.

[thunder rising]

1. Most of this (if you care not to read it) is a crock of $hit. The question not answered is

compared to building coal plants, how do the renewable energy technologies stack up?

We don't mine as much iron as we used to. Mini-mills melt down scrap. Many once huge mills are now just minis.

[OKIsItJustMe]

2. It is possible in our enthusiasm to make irrational decisions

For example, how much ecological benefit was there in the "Cash for Clunkers" program? At first blush, the idea of quickly increasing the MPG of the nation's auto fleet sounds good, but the newer, more efficient vehicles come with their own footprints associated with manufacture. So, a number of ecologists questioned what the actual benefits would be.

In the end, it appeared to have been positive, but a rather cost-inefficient way to get that magnitude of benefit.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=111617646


The paper appears to be here: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2009.11.078

...

Abstract

Alternative energy technologies (AETs) have emerged as a solution to the challenge of simultaneously meeting rising electricity demand while reducing carbon emissions. However, as all AETs are responsible for some greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions during their construction, carbon emission “Ponzi Schemes” are currently possible, wherein an AET industry expands so quickly that the GHG emissions prevented by a given technology are negated to fabricate the next wave of AET deployment. In an era where there are physical constraints to the GHG emissions the climate can sustain in the short term this may be unacceptable. To provide quantitative solutions to this problem, this paper introduces the concept of dynamic carbon life-cycle analyses, which generate carbon-neutral growth rates. These conceptual tools become increasingly important as the world transitions to a low-carbon economy by reducing fossil fuel combustion. In choosing this method of evaluation it was possible to focus uniquely on reducing carbon emissions to the recommended levels by outlining the most carbon-effective approach to climate change mitigation. The results of using dynamic life-cycle analysis provide policy makers with standardized information that will drive the optimization of electricity generation for effective climate change mitigation.

...

[NNadir]

3. Have a recommend for me for even questioning the "all new stuff" paradigm.

Whenever I hear "all new stuff" I always suspect that I am hearing about consumerism, planned obsolescence, stuff like that...

Hold that thought.

[thunder rising]

4. The article is actually from Energy Policy

Energy Policy
Volume 38, Issue 4, April 2010, Pages 1969-1978
Energy Security - Concepts and Indicators with regular papers

The more I read the more I see "oil" in it's footprints.

[LongTomH]

5. I wonder if they considered the possibility...................

..........of using solar or wind energy as a major input in manufacture of new renewable energy systems.

The part about reducing GHG emissions by manufacturing elsewhere than in China, I do endorse. People rarely address the issues about manufacturing in China, which is mainly fueled by coal, and shipping products across the Pacific in huge, oil-fueled container ships (which are basically supertankers with container racks on their decks!).