Eurostat has just published its finding s on the use of renewable energy across the European Union. The report ‘Statistical Aspects of the Energy Economy in 2009’ finds that the use of renewable energy across the Union has increased 8.3% from the previous year, with notable decreases in the use of coal and gas (9.2% & 10.1%). According to the report, renewable energy now accounts for 18.4% of energy production across Europe – just behind natural gas which provides 19.3%.

The report also looked at ‘Energy Intensity’ – a measure of how much energy is used to make a unit of economic output – finding that this level has fallen for the sixth consecutive year, along with overall energy consumption.

The Eurostat report paints a picture of Europe making great strides towards a renewable future, with a number of individual nations doing particularly well. In support of this, a recent feature in the New York Times explored the measures that Portugal has taken to reduce their dependence on traditional fossil fuels. In a similar political and economic situation to the one currently faced by the UK, Portugal has succeeded in sourcing 45% of their electricity supply from renewable sources – up from 17% just 5 years ago. A remarkable success, and a great example to the rest of Europe.

The developers of an innovative ‘wave power’ device claim that within 5 years, their invention will be generating energy for 50,000 UK homes. The ‘Anaconda’ energy converter is currently in the test stage, but recently announced results have shown that each 200 metre rubber tube could generate enough energy to power 1,000 homes.

The Anaconda (named for its resemblance) is anchored to the ocean floor, moving with the tides. The waves in the water create bulges along the tubing that travel along its length gathering energy. At the end of the tube, the surge of energy drives a turbine and generates electricity. It’s rubber construction makes it cheap, resilient and low-maintenance, and the designers, Checkmate Seaenergy Ltd are confident that not only will it be cheaper than it’s wind-farm equivalent , but it will face less opposition from the public as the ‘shoals’ will be under the surface of the water – effectively out of sight. The company are now looking for further investment to sea-test the devices, with the aim of deploying a shoal along the west coast of the UK by 2014.

With the EU targeting the UK to source 15 per cent of all the country’s energy needs from renewables by 2020 (the majority of which is expected to come from wind power ) the Carbon Trust suggests that the Anaconda ‘has the potential to deliver breakthrough reductions in the cost of wave energy’ and that it could ‘represent the next generation of marine renewable energy’.

There are many things the Danish are famous for but who would have thought that they lead the world in energy independence? In 2006 Danish imports of energy actually fell -8% (minus eight percent!) whilst the rest of Europe rose by more than 2.4%.  So how has this been achieved? The answer lies in decentralised power distribution rather than the more traditional centralised approach. In Denmark, consumers can not only draw power from the grid but feed power into it as well – from solar panels and wind turbines. The key is a term called ’smart-metering’ and may set the model for the future. You see in a generating station only a third of the energy used is converted to electricity which can then be fed into a grid. This change in generation has taken Denmark over 20 years to implement and I wonder just how far behind the UK is? Now in terms of power quality management I have no idea how good or not the system is but I suspect they are pretty hot on this to.

I came across a piece the other day in The Peninsula, Qatar’s leading English Daily, covering the harnessing of solar power. The article is on a French engineer, Olivier Boegner, whose passions are solar power and sailing. Now I had never considered solar power anything but a secondary standby power system. Here we have it as the prime one. With a little research I then came across the MW-Line company in Switzerland who have been making solar powered boats for several years – the one shown runs for less than 1Euro per day which is simply just quite staggering. I think that the downside will off course be speed when compared to traditional fossil fuelled engines. However, with engineers like Olivier pushing the boundaries (and attempting ventures like a planned British Channel crossings), this technology and application will continue to mature.

In terms of power protection I think that we will see a merging of battery and solar power technologies for buildings in the future to create a central storage of electrical energy. From this ‘local pool’ electrical devices will be able to draw their standby power. This has implications not just for Uninterruptibe Power Supplies but any back-up device. It will provide building engineers with a central maintenance point for standby power and provide a host of benefits – the only downside is that there is still no cheaper energy store than a battery, and especially the sealed lead acid maintenance-free type.

I read recently that though solar power installations have been growing at over 35% a year since 1998, the installed global base still only represents 0.1% of total global electricity generation. Whilst the UK has been a  slow developer in terms of installed Photo Voltaic (PV) installations, it is actually a leader in the technology which it exports to sunnier climates. The UK market is now also expected to grow more rapidly to over 3.2MW per annum as a result of the the Department of Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform’s (BERR’s) Low Carbon Buildings Programme and Local (and Regional) Authorities new building requirements for a significant proportion of building energy to come from renewable sources. Riello UPS has repsonded to this emergent side of the power protection market with its Helios Inverter range with more developments to come from its research & development team in the future.

I was reading yesterday about how the UK Government has been ‘blue-skying’ the future of energy – Nuclear or Wind Power? Centralized v distributed supply? It got me thinking about the future of UPS and I decided to do a bit of blue-skying myself:

Examine any technological innovation over the years and what usually happens is that all efforts, once it has been invented, turn to ‘miniaturization’. UPS is no different. The uninterruptible power supplies of the future – even in huge industrial applications – will be tiny in comparison to today’s units. Transformers, inverters, filters, conditioners, fans and all internal elements in a UPS are being continually downsized.

Alongside an increasing upsurge in demand for energy, ‘income-per-squarefoot’ is something business managers are trying desperately to increase, which is why essential equipment like UPS needs to be smaller, take up less space, be more energy efficient and at the same time more sophisticated, faster and better than before.

The challenge for us as UPS manufacturers in blue-skying the future is to develop products that meet these demands whilst at the same time ensuring reliability, quality, innovation, resilience and ease of use. To me, the best definition of progress is development towards an improved or more advanced condition. So, to borrow the phrase from a well-known advert – “more forwards please…………….”

According to this week’s news, it’s doom and gloom for the future of food. We’re running out of wheat, rice, soya – and  curry Chefs!

That last one’s a real problem for me (he says jokingly)! Apparently, changes in the imigration laws in the UK (in particular), are making it difficult for Indian restaurants and Balti houses to source genuine, authentic and experienced cooks! Yikes! 

As far as grains and pulses go, climate change and global warming are being blamed for poor harvests around the world but an even darker threat is lurking just around the corner. Yes, you guessed it – Biofuels!

The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, which became law in December, mandates the use of 36 billion gallons of biofuels by 2022 and almost half of that will come from grain-based (corn and wheat) ethanol. In North American this is great news for the corn-growing states that will now, I fear, intensify production but not for food for fuel, easier to produce, less regulated and (I imagine) more profitable. My worry, which I have touched on before in this blog, is that food production will suffer at the hands of politics and capital gain from Biofuel production where it is being produced to replace fossil-fuel derived products (Petrol and Diesel) for vehicles.

What has this got to do with power protection? Well, firstly, did you know that the processes currently used to produce ethanol are energy intensive and thus add to, not negate, the issue of increasing demand for energy? Secondly, biofuels are being used in fuel cells, which can replace UPS batteries as an alternative back-up source. The technology is available now and whilst the origins of the fuel may be questionable, they offer a number of key advantages: harmless emissions, longer design life, less maintenance, reduced heat output and in many cases cheaper lifetime running costs.

The Power Protection Guide talks about fuel cells and their use in UPS installation.

It looks like plans to build one of Europe’s largest wind farms on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland, are to be turned down.  As one would imagine, local anti-wind farm campaigners are gleeful whilst supporters of the 181 turbine scheme feel embittered.  

I have mixed feelings; on the one hand I am all for harnessing the power of wind to produce energy. We need more energy and we’re not getting enough from fossil fuels. Having visited the Western Isles a couple of years ago, I can tell you, it is one of the windiest places I know!  

However, it is also one of the most beautiful and unspoilt and a big part of me recognises that that is its charm and uniqueness and it should be preserved. Whilst there, I felt like I had entered a very special community that welcomed me with open arms but was not trying to be anything other than what it was nor pander to my whims merely because I was a tourist, like some other holiday destinations. Where else can you go these days where the locals leave everything unlocked because there is no crime? Or you can walk mile upon mile on golden sandy beaches and not see another human being? I can’t help but disagree with Angus Campbell, vice-convener or Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (quoted or BBC News website): “……….Are we to become and environmental museum? Is any development at all to be allowed in the Western Isles?”

There are other parts of Britain, like Yorkshire, Staffordshire, Northumberland and Wales, for example, where ex-open cast mining sites used to be located. Surely they, or similar habitats, can be utilised? I don’t know but what I do know is that it would be a tragedy to do anything that would change the very fabric of the Hebrides – the jewel in the crown of the British Isles.

The argument over bio fuels is raging. It centres on two key points: on the one hand bio fuels are said to be good for the environment because they produce fewer emissions than fossil fuels and so can help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that are said to be driving climate change. On the other hand, some organisations believe that bio fuels will do more harm to the environment in the way they are produced unless strict controls are imposed.  

The Royal Society issued a report this week, which followed a 14 month enquiry at the same time as the European Union announced re-examination of its targets for bio fuels because of fears of their impact on the environment. The fear is that forests will be decimated to make way for land on which to grow bio fuel crops.  

It stands to reason that in poor communities where environmental concerns are much less of a priority than putting food on the table, the urge to clear forest to make way for valuable crops would make sense. But it is often not these communities who live on the land who make the decision; it is the Governments and big businesses around the world who will initiate the competition for agricultural land between bio fuels and the crops needed to feed the expanding world population. However you look at it, it would seem trees are doomed and that’s bad news for everyone. It is a well-known fact that curbing carbon dioxide emissions is far easier by restoring and protecting forests.

On 4^th December in this blog I wrote about the continued wrangling over the USA Energy Bill (‘Battle Continues over USA Energy Bill……….’). It was hoped it would include the first meaningful increase in fuel efficiency standards for vehicles in the US for decades and a boost in production of biofuels. However, I was disappointed to read on Forbes.com that the Bill was blocked by the Senate last Thursday. It seems the politicians, law-makers and energy industry just can’t agree on a final outline and the Bill is being whittled down to such a degree that one wonders if by the time it gets to President Bush’s office for signature it will be worth having at all?  It seems there is strong opposition to a tax package favouring investment in energy efficiency but coming down heavily on the oil industry. To bring the Bill to a vote Democrats were forced to drop a provision that required utilities to obtain at least 15% of their electricity from renewable sources such as wind and solar power. The Bill now goes to a third reading – albeit watered down – hopefully to be passed before the end of 2007.