Stop the global warming now!
Renewables are here!

Even if alternatives to oil are available, human kind still takes chances.

Our evolved specie consumes immense amounts of energy every day. For centuries, that energy has been obtained by burning wood, and more recently, by burning fossil combustibles such as coal, natural gas and oil; this to use the produced heat as calefaction or to transform it into movement and electric energy.

Today we know that the resultant gases from this combustion have been the main cause of global warming. We also know that nowadays oil and gas have their days counted.

A research from the International Agency of Energy showed that not renewable combustible resources provide approximately an 80% of all the energy we use. In the other hand, investigations from the World Coal Institute demonstrate that the reserves of oil that we know of today will exhaust by 2050; while the natural gas reservoirs will only last until 2070. The approachable and affordable reserves of coal will have a maximum length of 200 years.

In theory we still have some decades to change our way of obtaining energy, but global warming, polar thaws and weather changes are clear symptoms of our plants saturation, signs that tell us that it would be tremendously irresponsible to wait for longer to take action. Even though we knew of this risks since the 50´s and had available the technology needed to solve the problem since the 80´s, the intervention of particular interests has postponed the big scale change; making the situation worse every day that goes by. We are taking too long, and this is only helping this immense economic and strategic interests involved in the production of energy to have more time to readjust and take over this business. For commercial matters, we are losing time and risking everything. To burn today means to play a Russian roulette that points threatening over our plants life, risking almost everything we have known and enjoyed until today.

How can we stop this?
The most important thing to do is to stop now the emission of green house effect gases. In order to achieve this, the only option we have is to leave behind our ancestral habit of burning things; it doesn´t matter if it is wood, oil, coal or gas, to mention the ones that started the problem.

Definitely this is not just a little to ask. Burning things and controlling fire have been the key to our development, expansion and evolution. How can we stop doing what allowed us to survive the worst winters, cook our food or forge the first metals? How can we leave behind the axel of our transportation, industry, calefaction and electricity; which are key to our well being?

It may seem impossible to achieve but the truth is that nowadays we can have all of the above without the need of burning anything else.

What does burning means?

Today the main objective of our combustible burning is not to produce heat, but to produce movement. What we do is to use the heat released by the combustion to heat liquids or gases and contain them to reach high pressures. By containing the expansion we obtain abundant potential energy, what is actually what we need to produce movement.

This accumulated energy, and not heat itself, is what gives life to the machines we use to transport or to produce electricity.

This means that in order to leave behind fossil combustibles and still have abundant energy available, human kind simply needs to use other available sources caloric energy, or better yet, direct sources of movement or accumulated energy that already exist in nature. For a long time we didn´t know which sources to use or how to extract energy from them but the same technological evolution that allowed us to control fire gave us the solutions to continue our development even when there is nothing left to burn.

Renewables.
Renewable energies are those that can be produced continuously and from an inexhaustible source. They are obtained by seizing the energy that comes from the wind, sun, water movement and the earths inner heat; or by extracting the energy contained in vegetable matter but without the need of carbonizing it.
Besides been produced from inexhaustible sources according to human scale, they have the advantage of emitting a lot less pollutants tan fossil combustibles.
Another great advantage is that they can be produced in the same place in which they are used, with local resources and less environmental damage. This is a big difference from coal and oil; their extraction impacts tremendously our environment, and also they have to be transported for thousands of kilometers and put through several procedures before been delivered to the consumer; causing a second environmental impact even before generating energy.

The list of cleaner and renewable sources of energy is long and offers options to different needs and possibilities.
Renewable is here, and is the best option to fight against weather changes.

Biomass
Solar energy stored in plants

It has been the most important source of energy for humanity since our beginnings, not just because most of the food that sustains our life is biomass, but also because through the centuries, biomass in the form of wood kindling, supplied all the cooking and heating needs in homes and provided energy for different Artisan craft and industrial activities.


In the form of pastures and feed, biomass has always nourished cattle, which was the only “extra motor” on which industry, land transportation and agriculture depended on during a large part of our history.  Biomass (biological mass) is any animal or vegetable organic material of recent origin.  In all organic material, alive or dead, there exists an abundance of stored chemical energy and today there are new ways to take advantage of them. 

This bioenergy has been produced by plants by the means of photosynthesis.
In this process, plants use solar light to transform inorganic material (water, CO2 and minerals) into organic molecules that will be used for their growth and development.  These molecules are passed on to animals upon eating vegetables and to the carnivorous animals by feeding on herbivores animals.   During photosynthesis each carbon atom stores kilocalories from solar radiation and it’s this retained energy that will be utilized later.

At the present time, biomass maintains its essential nutritional role and that of being a source of countless raw materials.  However, in recent centuries, charcoal, petroleum and gas, has replaced it as the main source of heating. Nevertheless, in the last decade the global energy picture has changed significantly.  Global warming and the high cost of fossil fuel has led to the development of more effective systems that take advantage of the energy from biomass which  are more efficient, dependable and cleaner, resulting in this source of renewable energy once again, being considered by industries, as a total or partial alternative, for its energy production.
The new interest in biomass comes not so much from what we eat or how we utilize it today, but on the contrary, from the million of tons of biomass that we discard annually, which still contains large amounts of stored energy that can be recovered. 

The use of biomass as a source of renewable energy has as a goal to produce energy that is low in pollution and at the same time contributes to the recycling and diminishing of large amounts of discarded organic residues, the byproducts of our activities.

There is energy not only in the wood of the forests, but also in the residues of agricultural and forestry processes and in much of the industrial garbage. There's also energy in the feces of cattle, in the seeds of plants, on the leaves we rake from the garden and it’s plentiful even in much of what we deposit in our own trash.  Half of the weight that goes to the sanitary landfills is made up of organic material. 
Considering all human activity, one could estimate that about 2.5 tons of organic residues is produced per person each year, with an energetic power of almost 9,000 kilowatt hours per year, equivalent to some 800 liters of gasoline per person in the planet.

The energy from biomass can be extracted directly in the form of combustion from wood kindle, vegetable peel or blocks of fuel, or indirectly by converting it into a new fuel, liquid or gas., (Bioethanol from sugars, biodiesel from oils and biogas from the decomposition of animal feces or of the organic material from the sanitary landfills.)


At the present time the most frequently used are:

Blocks of solid fuel.   These are solid blocks based on a diversity of organic residues, dried and compacted, whose utilization can replace mineral carbon or petroleum as a thermal generation source.  These are made from solid byproducts not used in the agricultural or forestry industries or in processes of the agro-food industries.  By burning it at high temperatures, they are considerably less polluting than the fossil fuels.  Their components could be seed shells, carpentry discards, industrial byproducts and leftovers from the trimming of plants or the clearing of land, among others.

Biogas.   Biogas (a mixture of methane gas and CO2) is produced during the decomposition of the biomass in the absence of oxygen.  This is a gas that replaces perfectly the gases of fossil origin, that is, it has the same applications.  At the present time its uses range from small biodigestors that produce gas for residential use, to modern installations on sanitary landfills that take advantage of the gasses from the garbage to generate electricity for neighboring communities or there are also the so called “feces farms” that result from large cattle, pork or milking operations, which manage to produce biogas and electricity from animal excrement.  Biogas can be used to move vehicles that have been modified or even trains such as the recently unveiled train in Sweden, a country that also has a fleet of about 800 buses that run on this same eco-fuel. 

Liquid biofuels.  Bioethanol (alcohol from sugar cane, corn or roots) and biodiesels (from oils and greases) are already existent solutions to help to reduce the use of petroleum in transportation.  In Brazil over 2 million vehicles use only bioethanol from sugar cane and an additional 16 million run on a mixture of this with gasoline, which has demonstrated that biofuels are technically feasible on a large scale. The controversy over them is based on the fact that today, they are being produced mainly from raw materials that are, at the same time, important foods for humans.  It’s risky to earmark our food to produce this energy.
For this reason there is an almost universal consensus today that the biofuels of the future will have to be produced from non-edible materials.  Among the better options we can highlight several species of algae that can be farmed, and which have shown great efficiency in the production of biodiesel, and also some non-edible plants rich in oils such as the Cardos and the Jatropha.  (See box about jatropha).


Jatropha, the future of biodiesel. 

Practically overnight, the unimportant Jatropha (jatropha curcas) has become an environmental and economical celebrity, as it has been determined as a great source to produce biodiesel. It is an indigenous species to Central America, resistant to plagues and droughts, has a high yield rate per hectare and produces seeds that contain more than 40% of oil that is optimum for the production of biodiesel.  Its oil can even be used directly in motors, although its efficiency is much higher when it’s processed into biodiesel.


Advantages of biomass as a source of energy:
*It allows for the elimination of residues while at the same time finding a use for them.
*It’s the only renewable source of carbon, and it can be processed into fuels solids , liquids and gasses.
*It’s a less polluting source of energy than the fossil fuels.
*They do not release sulfuric nor nitrogen pollutants and solid particles emited are very few.
*The source of energy is produced either in close proximity to or in the same location where it will be used.
*It offers excellent opportunities for the development of rural areas.

Disadvantages:
*It’s handling is more complex due to its volume and lower yield per gram.
*Many of these resources have a high humidity content, which may require a prior drying process for certain specific applications.
*It’s renewable only if the resources are handled appropriately.

Renewable energy
in Costa Rica…Why so slow?
By: Jim Ryan
 


At a time when electricity prices are rising quickly and power supplies are becoming less reliable, why is there so little investment in alternative power generation despite Costa Rica’s abundant availability of renewable resources? How can we reconcile this country’s popular image and earnest desire to be ‘green’ with its government’s policies which are uniformly unfriendly towards small-scale renewable energy production? 

Starting at the highest levels of government, there currently exists a near total disconnect between the national ambition to conserve the natural environment, and the outdated laws and regulations currently governing the power industry and renewable energy in particular.

A vivid example of this is the fact that although President Oscar Arias has committed Costa Rica to becoming the first country in the world to achieve carbon neutrality, the state-run monopoly ICE (Costa Rican Institute of Electricity) is planning to increase the proportion of power generated by fossil fuels from 13% to over 38%. Thus, at a time of record high oil prices and when most countries are trying to reduce their dependency upon fossil fuels and limit their greenhouse emissions, Costa Rica is moving in the opposite direction; whilst the president is calling for carbon neutrality by 2021, ICE plans are calling for a 300% increase in oil-fired plant capacity by 2025. Talk about a paradox!

Our growing population, changing lifestyles and national economy all demand ever increasing amounts of power, and the year-on-year increase in our national average peak demand has been an impressive 5 - 6%. However, the increase in the booming province of Guanacaste has been in the order of a staggering 22%.

Over the last seven years, and to meet the country’s expected tripling of electrical demand between 2006 and 2025, ICE has been playing ‘catch-up’ by spending our tax money on oil-fired generation. The advantage of oil-fired generation compared to, a new hydroelectric plant, is that it is faster and easier to install and make operational the oil fired plant. However, the disadvantages are numerous. Escalating oil prices, pollution, greenhouse gases, and the fact that we send our nation’s wealth overseas instead of keeping monetary reserves working at home should prompt us to adopt more enlightened energy policies.

Despite these issues, the government is presently talking seriously about exploring for oil both onshore and offshore with new Chinese partners (who incidentally, don’t exactly have a proven track record when it comes to producing oil in an environmentally responsible manner), revealing that decision-making on Costa Rican national energy policy appears to be based upon near-term economic and political considerations instead of long-term principles of conservation.

We are not the only country to face these challenges, but we may be the only country to face these challenges while possessing such tremendous renewable resources. Our agricultural sectors, especially those growers of biomass such as sugar cane, and farmers of livestock have a tremendous capacity to generate power. For example, a dairy operation produces tons of manure everyday. Instead of becoming an expensive and environmentally difficult by-product to dispose of, manure could easily become the fuel (methane) which continually produces power to serve the farmer’s needs with the excess exported to the electrical grid for other consumer’s. The benefits are multiple: the farmer solves an environmental problem, air and water pollution are reduced, the farmer’s net income rises, their self-generated electrical supply is more reliable and Costa Rica has more renewable electrical power.

And yet while Costa Rica aspires to be a world leader in the movement toward protecting our planet, its government systematically discourages the use of renewable resources by the population. ICE is the only entity that currently enjoys the benefit of tax exoneration on purchases of renewable energy components, and the only one that can legally connect such equipment to the electrical grid. Those few pioneers who have installed small renewable generation systems advise those considering to do the same to keep their plans a secret from ICE in order to avoid bureaucratic obstacles and penalties.

Isn’t it time for a change?
Today private generators operating large wind, hydro and biomass plants contribute approximately 8.1% of the national electricity supply. One very positive effort to increase the contribution of renewable energy in the country’s power portfolio is the launch of a public investigation by ARESEP (the national tariff regulatory agency). Specifically, ARESEP’s expressed objective is to provide economic incentives for renewable generators and to promote greater participation in the production of renewable energy.

In response to the public solicitation from ARESEP, numerous companies in the electric power sector responded, but one was unique. ASI Power, a renewable energy company based in Guanacaste, advocated removing the barriers that discourage homeowners, farmers and businesses from making investments in small-scale and distributed power generation such as small wind turbines, biomass, and solar panels, and adding incentives for this type of investment for those who normally only consume power.

Most importantly, ASI Power requests the development of a streamlined grid connection process and tariffs for ICE and the other power distributors that introduce what is known as ‘net-metering.’

What is net-metering and how does it work?
Net-metering encourages small-scale renewable energy producers to feed excess power back into the local electric grid, and to be credited with contributing that power.
It is a system that has been adopted in a number of countries including Canada, Japan, and most recently, Thailand. It has been adopted in the countries listed above because they truly wish to encourage renewable energy production.

Essentially, anyone who invests in a small renewable energy system would be qualified to apply to connect to the ICE grid with a special billing meter, or net-meter, which can rotate in both directions. The net-meter measures normal electricity purchases (imports), but also reverses direction to record excess electricity production (exports). All exports from small renewable generators provide ICE with power they can instantly use to displace more expensive and often polluting generation, as well as avoid approximately 30% losses incurred just delivering power the long distances from their centralized plants, ergo the term ‘distributed generation’.
 
For example, let’s say a homeowner or small business invests in a wind turbine such as the one pictured. The vertical axis turbine does not disturb neighbors with noise and does not require a separate tower and wires. While the family is away at work, i.e. during the day when ICE typically has their peak electrical demands, only the home’s refrigerator and occasional pump is operating. Therefore, assuming the wind is blowing, power is being exported to ICE for their use to serve other customers. Then, at the end of the day when the family returns to the house to use lights, television and other electrical appliances, the family can consume (import) an equal amount of power credits in the off-peak period. At the end of the month, the electric bill will show the net amount of electricity consumed or exported by the family. If use exceeds generation, payment can be made to ICE, or in the reverse situation, unused credits can be carried over to the following month’s billing period.

All parties benefit from stream-lined interconnect and net-metering policies: ICE receives power without waiting for years to build new plants at the difficult-to-serve boundaries of their network, consumers are motivated to invest in their own renewable generation adding to their long-term comfort and economic security, and the environment is spared the effects of more fossil fuel burning.

These enlightened policies need not undermine ICE’s monopoly. In fact, they are easier to implement with a national monopoly, if that monopoly is flexible enough to be truly responsive to its customer’s needs and will recognize the tremendous potential that new, small-scale distributed generation and advanced metering electronics offer to those willing to invest.

This can truly be a win-win-win situation for ICE, the consumer, the agricultural sector and the environment, and it can happen in a time frame far shorter than any of ICE’s other options for increasing power production, even those from oil-fired plants.


Jim Ryan has worked with regional and national energy markets and regulatory reform in multiple countries. He is the founder of ASI Power & Telemetry, S.A. based in Liberia, Costa Rica. ASI Power, which is a member of ACOPE (Association of Private Power Producers of Costa Rica). ASI Power specializes in sustainable energy and advanced telemetry systems for residential, commercial and industrial clients. Please visit www.asipower.com