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Wave energy in LA

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Ocean waves form as wind blows over the surface of open water.  Globally, waves contain tremendous amounts of energy.  Theoretically, the energy generating potential of waves off the coasts of the U.S. would meet more than 60% of the country’s electricity needs.  There are a variety of methods and technologies for tapping into this energy source, but none have reached the point of commercial adoption to date.  There are many problems that remain to be solved.

Eco Wave Power, a wave energy company, announced that it has received the necessary permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to operate the first onshore wave energy installation in the United States.  The installation will be at the Port of Los Angeles at the facilities of AltaSea, a public-private ocean institute that conducts research on food and energy supply, climate change, and ocean exploration.

The system will utilize eight of Eco Wave Power’s energy floaters that will be installed on the piles of an existing concrete wharf structure on Municipal Pier One.  The system will also include an energy conversion unit enclosed in two shipping containers and connected to the floaters.  The installation is expected to be completed by the end of the first quarter of this year.

Floaters draw energy from waves by using their rising and falling motion to generate electricity. The bobbing motion of the floaters compresses and decompresses hydraulic pistons.  These transmit hydraulic fluid into land-based accumulators that build up pressure.  The pressure rotates a hydraulic motor, which then operates a generator, producing electricity.

The project is a collaboration on the development of wave energy in the Port of Los Angeles between Eco Wave Power and Shell Marine Renewable Program.

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Eco Wave Power secures final USACE permit for its first U.S. wave energy project

Photo courtesy of Eco Wave Power.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Making hydrogen using bioengineering

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Hydrogen has great potential for helping society to reach net-zero emissions.  The problem is that the most economical and established production methods for hydrogen depend heavily on fossil fuels and result in roughly a dozen kilograms of carbon dioxide emissions for every kilogram of hydrogen produced.

The carbon-free way to produce hydrogen is by splitting water into its component elements.  This process generally requires the use of catalysts and lots of energy.

Researchers at the University of Oxford are developing a synthetic biology approach to the production of so-called green hydrogen.  The idea is to replace expensive, exotic metal-based catalysts with a highly-efficient, stable, and cost-effective catalyst based on genetically-engineered bacteria.

There are specific microorganisms that can naturally induce the chemical reaction that reduces protons to hydrogen by the use of hydrogenase enzymes.  While these reactions do occur naturally, they are limited to low hydrogen yields.

The Oxford researchers genetically engineered the bacterium Shewanella oneidensis by inserting a light activated electron pump called Gloeobacter rhodopsin as well as adding nanoparticles of graphene oxide and ferric sulfate.  All of this tinkering with the bacterium resulted in a ten-fold increase in hydrogen yield.

The researchers believe that their system, based entirely on biological methods rather than traditional chemical approaches, could be scaled up to produce ‘artificial leaves’ that, when exposed to sunlight, would immediately begin producing hydrogen.  The Oxford work was published last summer in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

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A green fuels breakthrough: bio-engineering bacteria to become ‘hydrogen nanoreactors’

Photo, posted July 27, 2016, courtesy of Blondinrikard Froberg via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

A new way to help purify water

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Engineers at the University of Michigan and Rice University have developed a new technology for removing boron from seawater, an important step in turning seawater into safe drinking water.

Boron is a natural component of seawater that remains a toxic contaminant in drinking water after conventional filters remove salts from seawater.  The boron levels in seawater are about twice as high as the World Health Organization’s most lenient limits for safe drinking water and 5 to 12 times higher than what many agricultural plants can tolerate.

Boron passes through the reverse osmosis membranes used in desalination plants in the form of boric acid.  To remove it, the desalination plants normally add a base to the treated water that causes the boric acid to become negatively charged.  An additional membrane then removes the charged boron, and an acid is then added to neutralize the water.  All of this is expensive and complicated.

The new technology uses electrodes that remove boron by trapping it inside pores studded with oxygen-containing structures that bind with boron but let other ions pass through.  Capturing boron with electrodes enables treatment plants to avoid the need for a second stage of reverse osmosis.

Global desalination capacity reached 95 million cubic meters a day in 2019.  The new membranes could save nearly $7 billion a year.  Such savings could make seawater a more accessible source of drinking water for a thirsty world.  Freshwater supplies are expected to meet only 40% of the world’s demand by 2030.

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New water purification technology helps turn seawater into drinking water without tons of chemicals

Photo, posted August 21, 2018, courtesy of Alachua County via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Reliability of renewable energy

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Naysayers about renewable energy often claim that it is unreliable.  It is true that the sun sets every night and sometimes the wind doesn’t blow.  But with the growing use of battery banks to store excess power generated by renewables, the lack of reliability of renewable energy is turning out to be a myth.

A new study published in the journal Renewable Energy looked at the deployment of renewable energy in California last year.  From late winter to early summer, renewable sources supplied 100% of the state’s electricity demands for up to 10 hours on 98 out of 116 days.  There were no blackouts during that time thanks in part to the presence of battery backup power.  During peak generation periods, the renewables provided as much as 162% of the grid’s needs. 

The main finding of the study is that the electricity grid can be kept stable even as it adds more and more renewables.  Beyond that, every major renewable energy source – geothermal, hydroelectric, wind, and especially solar – is on average lower in cost than fossil fuels.

Despite the low cost of renewable energy, Californians pay the second highest rates for electricity in the country.  Part of the reason is that electrical equipment from utilities has set off wildfires, notably the 2018 Camp Fire that devastated the town of Paradise and killed 85 people.  California’s utilities are now passing the costs that come from lawsuits and from burying transmission lines to their customers.  Overhead power lines are especially prone to falling in high winds and igniting fires.

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California just debunked a big myth about renewable energy

Photo, posted December 16, 2024, courtesy of EDF Renewables / Bureau of Land Management California via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Vertical-axis wind turbines

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Nearly all wind turbines in use today are horizonal axis wind turbines.  They are a familiar sight with their three giant rotor blades spinning about an axis high above the ground attached to a nacelle containing the gearbox and generator. 

A vertical-axis wind turbine has its rotor shaft transverse to the wind; that is, the shaft rises up from the ground and the gearbox and generator are located close to the ground.

This type of wind turbine does not need to be pointed into the wind, which eliminates the need for wind-sensing and orienting mechanisms.  It is also considerably quieter in operation than horizontal axis wind turbines.  Vertical-axis wind turbines have enjoyed minimal success to date because of a variety of problems including reliability issues and complications related to how they respond to changing wind conditions.

A next-generation vertical wind turbine is going on trial in Australia as part of a research collaboration between Flinders University in South Australia and the start-up company VAWT-X Energy.  The 6KW prototype will be installed at a field site in Australia’s Fleurieu Peninsula.

According to the developers, the new turbine design will be as efficient, or even more efficient, as existing horizontal turbines and will be able to thrive across diverse environments including being part of urban infrastructure where their relative quiet is a real advantage.   Such turbines would be more accessible for applications like off-grid power and sustainable energy solutions for small businesses and farms.  The developers claim the technology can also be scaled up for large-scale windfarms.

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Progress with new-look wind turbine

Photo courtesy of VAWT-X Energy.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Electricity demand from data centers

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Data centers are dedicated facilities containing computers and their related hardware equipment such as servers, data storage drives, and network equipment; they are the physical facilities that store digital data.  Data centers are one of the most energy-intensive building types, consuming 10 to 50 times more energy per floor space than a typical commercial office building.  With the explosive growth of artificial intelligence technology, data center energy use is expanding rapidly.

A new report by the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory outlines the energy use of data centers from 2014 to 2028.  The report estimates that data center load growth has tripled over the past decade and is likely to double or triple again by 2028.

Data centers consumed about 4.4% of total U.S. electricity in 2023 and are projected to consume between 6.7% and 12% of total U.S. electricity by 2028. Most of the increased power demand of data centers is due to the growth in AI servers.  Artificial intelligence requires increasingly powerful chips and intense, power-hungry cooling systems.

There have been revolutionary changes in artificial intelligence technology in just the past couple of years and its role in society has dramatically expanded.  With that expansion has come a dramatic change in the energy usage by the data industry and innovative solutions are needed to allow data centers to meet their growing demand for energy.

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Berkeley Lab Report Evaluates Increase in Electricity Demand from Data Centers

Photo, posted August 31, 2024, courtesy of Aileen Devlin / Jefferson Lab via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Empire Wind moves forward

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Empire Wind 1, the first offshore wind project that will connect to the New York City grid, has received the financing needed to move forward.  Equinor, the Norwegian state-owned multinational energy company developing the project, closed on a more than $3 billion financing package.

The wind farm will span 80,000 acres in an area 15-30 miles southeast of Long Island.  When completed, it will have a capacity of 810 megawatts.  Equinor has executed a Purchase and Sale Agreement with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority to purchase power from Empire Wind 1 for 25 years at a strike price of $155/MWh. The operations and maintenance hub for Empire Wind 1 will be at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal.  Commercial operation is expected by 2027.

The previously-planned Empire Wind 2 project was terminated a year ago because of inflation, interest rates, and supply chain disruptions.  More broadly, the U.S. offshore wind industry has been struggling for the past year. 

With the return of President Donald Trump to the White House, there is much greater uncertainty facing the industry.  As a result of the election, Attentive Energy, a planned 3-gigawatt wind project off the coasts of New York and New Jersey has been put on pause.  Trump’s public disdain for offshore wind energy is likely to create a major slowdown in the growth of the offshore wind pipeline.  On the other hand, the new administration is less likely to have much influence on projects already in progress including 4 gigawatts under active construction and more than 50 gigawatts in other stages of development.

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Empire Wind 1 secures $3B+ financing package, enters ‘full execution mode’

Photo, posted May 2, 2022, courtesy of California Energy Commission via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

A green battery from industrial waste

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Flow batteries are rechargeable batteries in which liquid electrolytes flow through one or more chemical cells from one or more tanks.  The electrolytes are redox pairs, that is, chemical compounds that can reversibly undergo reduction and oxidation reactions.  The most common redox electrolytes include elements like vanadium, chromium, iron, zinc, and bromine.  Flow batteries can provide large amounts of both electrical power and stored energy based on the size of the electrolyte tanks.  As a result, they can be scaled up far more readily than other battery technologies. 

Flow batteries are safe, stable, long-lasting, and their electrolytes can easily be refilled.  They have significant potential for use in utility-scale storage for renewable energy systems.

Researchers at Northwestern University have developed a redox flow battery based on an organic industrial-scale waste product.  The material – triphenylphosphine oxide or TPPO – is produced in the thousands of tons each year.  It is byproduct of producing a variety of substances including some vitamins, pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, and other bulk chemicals.  For the most part, TPPO is of little use and must be carefully discarded.

The current market for redox flow batteries is very small but is expected to grow over time as the need for utility-scale energy storage continues to expand.  A battery technology based on a waste material that is already produced in high volume and that must otherwise be disposed of with caution would have significant advantages.

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Green battery discovery turns trash into treasure

Photo, posted January 12, 2015, courtesy of California Energy Commission via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Drying rivers and hydropower

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A decade ago, Ecuador began a major transition to using hydroelectric power.  Like in many other South American countries, the presence of abundant rivers could supply large amounts of energy and drive economic expansion and lead to a new era of prosperity.

This ambitious plan has run into the impacts of climate change.  An extraordinary drought has engulfed much of South America, drying rivers and reservoirs, and has put Ecuador’s power grid on the brink of collapse. 

Since September, daily energy cuts in Ecuador have lasted as long as 14 hours.  An industry group says that the nation is losing $12 million in productivity and sales for every hour the power is out.  Just a few years ago, Ecuador was making great strides in reducing poverty.  Now, as the energy crisis has increased its grip on the country, much of what was achieved is being lost.

Ecuador’s situation is not unique.  In recent years, abnormally dry weather in multiple places has resulted in extreme low water levels in rivers, reducing hydropower resources in Norway, Canada, Turkey, and even rainforest-rich Costa Rica.

Overall, more than one billion people live in countries where more than half of their energy comes from hydroelectric plants.  With a warming climate and increasing incidence of extreme weather events like drought, it is likely that hydropower will become a less reliable energy source.  More than a quarter of all hydroelectric dams are in places with a medium to high risk of water scarcity by 2050. 

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The Rivers Run Dry and the Lights Go Out: A Warming Nation’s Doom Loop

Photo, posted January 15, 2020, courtesy of Pedro Szekely via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

The human footprint on Earth

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The Earth is a pretty big place, and it is easy to think that humans and their activities occupy very little of it.  But the impact of human activities on our planet continues to grow.  Recent satellite images from NASA’s Earth Observatory show the staggering extent of the human footprint on Earth.

Agriculture is a major part of it.  Farms and pastures take up almost half of the world’s habitable land – land not covered by ice or desert.  Greenhouses have recently proliferated tremendously and now cover 3.2 million acres, an area the size of Connecticut, and they even have effects on local climates.

More than half of the world’s population now lives in cities, which are expanding rapidly.  Enormous cities in Asia are changing the landscape in places like Thailand and Indonesia.  Apart from taking up lots of land, many of the world’s cities are immersed in clouds of air pollution that they generate.

Greenhouse gas emissions continue to grow, and temperatures continue to rise.  The effects of this on the planet are increasingly evident.  Seas are rising, ice is melting, glaciers shrink away, and wildfires continue to burn.  The massive wildfires in and around Los Angeles have made major changes in the local landscape.  Rising seas have flooded coastal wetlands and elsewhere, rivers and lakes have shrunk.

There are also human impacts visible from space that represent positive signs.  Large solar arrays supply the cheapest form of energy in most parts of the world and the number and size of solar installations are at a record high.   These solar installations provide some hope that global warming can be slowed.

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The Growing Human Footprint on Earth, as Seen from Space

Photo, posted July 28, 2012, courtesy of Beth Scupham via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

The year in energy

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Last year saw some major trends in the global energy sector. Perhaps the most dramatic was the shift to renewable power, which continued to outpace the projections of both financial analysts and industry experts.  2024 saw new highs in renewable installation, largely due to China, which accounted for more than half of all the solar power installed globally.  Huge solar installations also came online in California and Nevada during the year.  On the other hand, the amount of coal burning for the year also exceeded expert predictions, also largely due to China.

A second trend was increasing sales of electric vehicles, which reached a new high, although short of expectations.  A major driving force in EV sales is the dropping price of lithium-ion batteries, which fell by 20% in 2024.  Again, China was a major factor with roughly half of all its domestic vehicle sales being electric.

Coal’s decline is being slowed by the rising demand for electricity.  The increased use of electric heating and cooling along with the increasing use of EVs are major factors.  But the proliferation of energy-hungry data centers incorporating artificial intelligence capabilities is driving up the demand for power even more. 

Perhaps the clearest indication of the future for global energy comes from investors, who put about $2 trillion into clean energy last year.  That is twice as much as invested in oil, coal, and natural gas.

The history of energy has seen the Age of Coal and the Age of Oil.  By all indications, we are now heading into the Age of Electricity.

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The Year in Energy in Four Charts

Photo, posted November 23, 2024, courtesy of Mussi Katz via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

A big year for battery storage

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A decade ago, the ability of utilities to store large amounts of electricity in batteries was basically nonexistent.  In the past several years, growth in battery storage systems has exploded.  As of the end of November, the US had about 24 gigawatt-hours of storage capacity in place.  This is 71% more than just a year ago.  Nearly half of the battery storage in the US is located in California.  Texas, Arizona, and Nevada are also leaders in deploying battery storage.

Battery storage allows solar and wind generating plants to keep operating when there is reduced demand for their output and have the electricity that they produce be available later when demand rises.  Storing this excess electricity essentially extends the hours of the day when clean energy can be used.

Equally important, the existence of battery storage reduces the need for peaker plants, the fossil-fueled power plants that only turn on at times of peak demand, such as during hot afternoons.

There are 1,000 peaker plants in the US and they are generally heavily polluting, inefficient, and expensive to operate.  Some 63 million people live within a three-mile radius of one of them and are exposed to harmful pollutants like nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide.  Peaker plants also release more greenhouse gases than other power plants do for every unit of electricity they generate.

Many battery storage facilities are co-located with, or otherwise support, solar energy plants.  The amount of solar energy in the US is growing rapidly and surpassed the 100-gigawatt mark in 2024.  As solar power continues to expand, so will battery energy storage.

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Battery projects soared again in 2024

Photo, posted August 3, 2024, courtesy of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Energy storage with iron-air batteries

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The Cambridge Energy Storage Project in Cambridge, Minnesota will be the first commercial deployment of iron-air battery technology.  Developed by startup company Form Energy, the battery system will provide 1.5 MW and 150 MWh of multi-day energy storage.

Iron-air batteries are based on the principle of reversible rusting.  When discharging, the battery releases energy by breathing in oxygen from the air and converting iron metal to rust.  When charging, the battery takes up electrical current that converts rust back into iron and breathes out oxygen.

An individual iron-air battery module is about the size of a washer/dryer set and contains about 50 individual cells filled with a water-based, non-flammable electrolyte.  For a utility-scale system like that being built in Cambridge, modules are grouped together in enclosures and hundreds of enclosures grouped together in megawatt-scale power blocks.  A one-megawatt low-density system would take up about half an acre of land.  High-density systems would be capable of producing more than 3 MW per acre. 

The technology has lower costs compared to lithium-ion battery technology but may be best suited as complementary with it since lithium-ion is primarily used for short-duration energy storage while air-iron can store energy for several days.

The system is expected to be operational by late 2025.  Great River Energy, the operator of the system, plans to conduct a multi-year study to evaluate the system’s performance and potential for broader development. 

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Minnesota co-op breaks ground on multi-day energy storage project

Photo courtesy of Form Energy.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Tourism and greenhouse gas emissions

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Tourism is a major contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for about 9% of the global total.  Over the past 15 years, its emissions have grown more than twice as fast as those of the rest of the global economy.

Unless the tourism industry finds ways to slow down its growing emissions, those emissions will continue to increase by 3 to 4% each year, meaning that they will double every 20 years.  The major drivers behind tourism’s growing emissions have been slow improvements in tourism-related technologies coupled with the rapid growth in demand.

Transportation is tourism’s main source of greenhouse gas emissions.  Planes and cars generate the most carbon dioxide but there are contributions from tour buses, boat rides, ferries, and trains as well.  The increasing demand for international travel has been the largest contributor to the growth of tourism-related emissions.  But just as people’s homes generate emissions from energy use, so do hotels and other lodging used on vacations.

The United States, China, and India are responsible for 60% of the total increase in tourism’s carbon footprint.  Generally speaking, it is the world’s wealthiest nations that have the most tourists exploring the world.

Researchers from Australia’s University of Queensland recommended several measures to slow the growth of tourism’s carbon emissions.  These include reducing long-haul flights, imposing carbon dioxide taxes, setting carbon budgets, and the use of alternative transportation fuels.  At the local level, tourism businesses making use of renewable energy sources and electric vehicles would help.

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Tourism leads the pack in growing carbon emissions

Photo, posted September 14, 2014, courtesy of Gary Campbell-Hall via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Battery life in electric cars

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Most of us have lots of experience with the batteries in phones, computers, and other gadgets.  Batteries don’t last forever, and we sometimes have to replace them.  It’s a fact of life.   These days, it’s becoming more common to drive electric cars and the fundamental principle is the same.  However, the battery pack in an EV is the most expensive part of the car, so its reliability and lifespan is a greater concern.

EV batteries generally have generous warranties.  In the US, EV batteries are required by federal law to be covered for at least 8 years or 100,000 miles, whichever comes first.  So, the financial exposure from the battery pack is reasonably limited.  Even so, EV owners would like to know that their car’s battery pack is likely to last a long time.

Battery life is generally determined by laboratory tests involving repeated charge-discharge cycles over a relatively short period of time, as opposed to those cycles being spaced out over years.

A new study by Stanford University looked at battery performance under conditions much more like what would be experienced in the real world.  Cars experience frequent acceleration, braking that charges the batteries a bit, lots of stops, periods of rest, and so forth.  Nothing like just charging and discharging repeatedly.

The study found that today’s EV batteries may last up to 40% longer than expected.  Real-world stop-and-go driving benefits batteries more than standard test conditions.

The cost of EV batteries continues to get lower all the time and it is likely to be quite a long time before one is likely to need a new battery assuming one even keeps the car long enough.

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Existing EV batteries may last up to 40% longer than expected

Photo, posted August 27, 2021, courtesy of Ron Frazier via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Thermal batteries for heavy industry

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Heavy industries like cement, steel, chemicals, and paper require large amounts of heat and, for the most part, that heat comes from burning fossil fuels.  Other sectors of the economy have been making progress in reducing carbon emissions, but heavy industry has not found easy answers for supplying the heat it needs for manufacturing.

Researchers at MIT have developed a way to supply heat that only uses electricity, which in principle can come from carbon-free sources.  The idea is to use thermal batteries.  These are basically an electrically conductive equivalent of ceramic firebricks, which have been used to store heat for centuries in fireplaces and ovens.

A spinout company called Electrified Thermal Solutions has demonstrated that its firebricks can store heat efficiently for hours and release it by heating air or gas up to 3,272 degrees Fahrenheit. 

The firebrick arrays are contained in insulated, off-the-shelf metal boxes.  The standard system can collect and release about 5 megawatts of energy and store about 25 megawatt-hours.  The thermal battery can run hotter and last longer than any other electric heating solution on the market.

Using this technology can be a way to take advantage of the low cost of electricity in off-peak hours.  In the so-called wind belt in the middle of the U.S., electricity prices can even be negative at times.  Using the firebrick technology – called the Joule Hive Thermal Battery – it can be possible to provide industrial heating capability at very competitive prices, and that doesn’t even factor in the positive climate impact.

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Decarbonizing heavy industry with thermal batteries

Photo, posted April 19, 2019, courtesy of Hans M. via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

A solar peaker plant

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Peaker plants are power plants that the grid makes use of during times of particularly high electricity demand.  The power they supply is typically high in cost and usually high in greenhouse gas emissions.  When operating the electricity grid, power sources are generally called upon in order of marginal cost.  Only when demand is very high do grid operators make use of the highest-cost assets that tend to be fossil-fueled power plants that can start and ramp up quickly. 

For years, there has been the idea that solar-powered peaker plants could eventually replace the polluting fossil-fueled ones.  Recently, the renewable energy developer, owner, and operator Arevon Energy began commercial operations of the Vikings Solar-plus-Storage Project in Imperial County, California.  It is the first utility-scale solar peaker plant in the United States.

The plant utilizes a 157-megawatt solar array combined with 150 MW and 600 MWh of battery energy storage.  It can shift low-cost daytime solar energy to higher-cost peak demand periods.  The result is a lowered cost of electricity for nearly one million customers of San Diego Community Power.

The project contradicts the often-held notion that renewable energy is inherently unreliable.  It can provide carbon-free electricity at specific times of critical need.  Typical hybrid solar + storage plants provide electricity during daylight hours and store only excess generation in their battery systems.  The Vikings project is specifically designed to shift the entirety of its generation from solar hours to the peak demand period.

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Arevon fires up the first solar + storage peaker plant in the U.S.

Photo, posted October 15, 2024, courtesy of Jay Inslee via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Neighborhood geothermal energy

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Residential geothermal energy makes use of the constant, year-round temperature of the earth below the surface to efficiently provide both heating and cooling for a home.  In the summer, the cool earth beneath a house sits at about 55 degrees and can be tapped into with a heat pump to provide cooling.  In the winter, that 55-degree underground expanse provides a much warmer source of air to heat instead of the often freezing-cold air outside.  Geothermal systems are appealing because they use far less energy than other sources of heating and cooling.

Using geothermal energy to heat and cool buildings is nothing new.  But after years of planning and months of drilling into the ground, the first neighborhood-scale geothermal heating and cooling project has come online in Framingham, Massachusetts.

The project ties together 31 residential and five commercial buildings that share the underground infrastructure needed to heat and cool them.  This sort of shared geothermal system has previously been used on college campuses and similar places, but never before across a neighborhood in the United States.

The $14 million project, built by Eversource, broke ground in June 2023, and comprises 90 boreholes or wells drilled 600-700 feet underground. Approximately 135 customers are connected to the system, including low- and moderate-income customers, apartment buildings, a gas station, and a kitchen cabinet showroom.

A total of 13 states, including Massachusetts and New York, are considering pilot projects or advancing legislation that would allow gas utilities to develop networked geothermal heating and cooling.

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First-in-the-Nation Geothermal Heating and Cooling System Comes to Massachusetts

Photo, posted September 30, 2019, courtesy of Stephen D. Strowes via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Faster electric vehicle charging

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One concern that people have in replacing gas-powered vehicles with electric vehicles is the time it takes to charge them.  Charging an EV at home from an ordinary 110V electrical outlet is a slow process; installing a 220V outlet speeds things up considerably but it still can take all night to fully charge a car.  The driving range of electric cars has increased over the years so that now there are many cars that can go 300 miles or more on a charge. For most people, so-called range anxiety is mostly gone.  But on long road trips, charging time can be a real issue.

There are increasing numbers of high-speed chargers along or adjacent to major highways that can provide 200 miles of driving range in less than half an hour.  But people want more charge, and they want it faster.

There are multiple efforts in improving EV batteries and charger technology aimed at transforming a visit to a public charger to an experience comparable to filling up at a gasoline station.

Researchers at the University of Waterloo have designed a new kind of lithium-ion battery that will be able to go from zero battery power to 80% in just 15 minutes. This technology would certainly enhance the capabilities of today’s electric cars.  However, it is quite possible that other technologies that surpass this performance will emerge in the near future.  There is talk across the industry of cars that can charge up in 5 or 10 minutes.   There is also the prospect of many cars that can drive 500 miles on a charge.  These features would address the needs or desires of all but a very small number of drivers.

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From zero to 80 per cent in just 15 minutes

Photo, posted May 7, 2022, courtesy of Sharon Hahn Darlin via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Giant batteries in the Earth

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The wind and the sun are inexhaustible sources of energy, and we are tapping into them to produce electricity at a growing rate around the world.  But neither of them is always available when we need them.  When the sun isn’t shining and the wind isn’t blowing, they don’t work.

An opposite problem also exists.  When our energy needs are low, but it is sunny or windy, solar and wind power are all dressed up with nowhere to go.  Energy storage is the answer to both of these problems.   When there is excess generation, store the energy for later use.  When there is need for energy and not enough is being generated, tap into the energy that is stored.

Giant banks of lithium-ion batteries are the rapidly growing form of energy storage, and they are increasingly providing resilience in the electric grid.  But battery storage is short-term energy storage.  Even the largest battery banks can only provide a few hours of electricity. 

So, there is a real need for “long-duration energy storage” – systems that provide at least 10 hours of backup power and sometimes much more – for the grid to be fully reliable.

Pumped hydro storage, which uses water from elevated reservoirs to drive turbines, has been around for a long time.  Historically, this is the largest form of energy storage in the world.  Other methods include pumping compressed air into underground caverns or lifting massive blocks into elevated positions.  All of these techniques use excess electricity to place things like water, air, or cement into a position where they can be used to drive electrical generators.

The grid of tomorrow will store energy in giant battery banks, but also in the ground, in reservoirs, and in large structures.

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How giant ‘batteries’ in the Earth could slash your electricity bills

Photo, posted March 21, 2024, courtesy of Sandra Uecker/USFWS via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

WAMC Northeast Public Radio

WAMC/Northeast Public Radio is a regional public radio network serving parts of seven northeastern states (more...)