The time has come for The Cleantech Show to take a Sabbatical. Or more accurately I am heading off for an extended trip around the world starting with the sights of South and Central America for the next 6 months.
During this time I may be bringing a few interviews from places around the world, and if you are part of a cleantech venture we may even have the opportunity to meet face to face. Cameron Reilly and myself also may organise some guest podcasters to do some special shows as well.
I would like to thank all of The Cleantech Show audience who have tuned in over the last year. Its great to hear your comments and feedback on the show. Its been a pleasure producing it.
If you would like to be notified when new episodes are released I would recommend that you sign up to the feedblaster email notification at Subscribe to TPN :: The Cleantech Show by Email. This will let you know when new episodes are realeased. I can be contacted at:
The Cleantech Show #35 (MP3 - 13MB - 36min) Interview with Nick Rowley, Director of Kinesis and Former advisor to PM Tony Blair
For two week in december last year more than 10,000 participants were brought together by the UNFCCC for the UN Climate Change Conference in Bali, including representatives of over 180 countries together with observers from intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations and the media. The conference culminated in the adoption of the Bali roadmap, which charts the course for a new negotiating process to be concluded by 2009 that will ultimately lead to a post-2012 international agreement on climate change.
On this weeks show we are very lucky to have Nick Rowley Director of Kinesis and former Senior Policy Advisor to Prime Minister Tony Blair, to provide insight into the process, politics and objectives of creating a global climate treaty. Nick was closely involved in the Bali Conferene , and has been involved significantly in the policy field.
On the show we discuss an insiders perspective on bali. The interests, the positions. Expectations and Outcomes. What can we expect over next two years and how to achieving business and political engagement. Then what does this all mean for cleantech industries and companies.
Nick’s business Kinesis is an Australian based consultancy working with business and government on sustainability and climate change. Whist working for Prime Minister Blair he was part of a small team who advised the PM on climate change prior to the G8 Summit at Gleneagles in July 2005 working closely with the likes of Sir Nicholas Stern and the Prime Ministers Chief Scientific Advisor, Sir David King
If you are interested in the global treaty, as nick says on the show there is no shortage of reports and key figures out there to listen to but you can find out more at the UNFCCC website and theres some good summaries on wikipedia
The Cleantech Show #34 (MP3 - 13MB - 35min) Interview with Martin Lowson, Deputy Chairman, ULTra/Advanced Transportation Systems Ltd
Personal Rapid Transport(or Transit) PRT was conceived a numerous decades ago as a way of transporting people in cities quickly and effectively without the need of drivers or a large footprint.
The concept essential involves computer controlled driverless vehicles that move on a single lane track, removing the need for complex intersections, that then travel at steady speed by merging and demerging as required to reach their destination. If your still not sure what I mean, check out the following video
To discuss PRTs and one of the first PRT systems to be installed, my guest today is Martin Lowson, Deputy Chairman of UK based Advanced Transportation Systems Ltd and founder of the ULTra system, .
The ULTra system has been in development for the last 12 years and unlike other PRTs ATS Ltd have focused on integrating many existing technologies to reduce the complexity that has plagued previous PRT systems. You can read more about this history on wikipedia.
On the show we discuss the new installation of the ULTra system at Heathrow Airport, how the technology works and the best niches for its implementation. By having vehicles which are much lighter, travel at a steady yet constant speed ULTra is very energy efficient. The small footprint of the tracks required in the system also that it can fit in existing airports and cities where traditional systems are not feasible.
PRTs have been a significant interest of mine over the last 15 years so its great to see one finding a level of commercial acceptance. I hope you enjoy the show as much as I did.
BioButanol and other alcohols are looking like becoming increasingly of interest because of their fuel qualities. Especially their water immiscibility which means that unlike ethanol it is suitable for pipe distribution.
In a push to find better biofuels to reduce gasoline consumption and lower greenhouse-gas emissions, scientists have genetically engineered E. coli that is highly efficient in producing butanol, a promising new type of biofuel. The new technology could speed up the development of butanol biofuels into a cost-effective alternative to ethanol.
While ethanol is the main biofuel on the market today, energy firms are increasingly looking to alternatives such as butanol. “It has many attractive properties,” says Jim McMillan, manager of biorefining process R&D at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s National Bioenergy Center, in Golden, CO. Because butanol packs more energy per gallon than ethanol does, cars running on butanol get better mileage. And, unlike ethanol, it doesn’t mix with water, so it can be shipped in existing petroleum pipelines without causing problems.
Very interesting potential for this technology. 70% cheaper than current batteries, with 50% more power and 4 times longer life cycle. I’m interested to see what its weight comparison is in regards to putting in vehicles - perhaps this comparison is by weight?
The odometer of a low emission hybrid electric test vehicle today reached 100,000 miles as the car circled a track in the UK using the power of an advanced CSIRO battery system.
The UltraBattery combines a supercapacitor and a lead acid battery in a single unit, creating a hybrid car battery that lasts longer, costs less and is more powerful than current technologies used in hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs).
“Previous tests show the UltraBattery has a life cycle that is at least four times longer and produces 50 per cent more power than conventional battery systems. It’s also about 70 per cent cheaper than the batteries currently used in HEVs,” he said.
Interesting to see if this light as air car finds enough of a niche. In the story it states that markets currently slated for launch are India then likely Spain and Australia.
A French-designed car that’s propelled by compressed air and claims speeds of more than 60 miles per hour is expected to go into commercial production as early as this summer, although skeptics of the technology aren’t holding their breath.
But the dream lives on. Motor Development International (MDI), based near Nice, France, has developed several prototypes of its Compressed Air Technology (CAT) car since its first engine was created 14 years ago. Now company founder Guy Negre, an aeronautics engineer who developed a high-performance racing engine for Formula 1 in the late 1980s, is counting on India’s largest carmaker, Tata Motors, to bring his highly anticipated Air Car to market later this year.
There’s some more good news about cellulosic ethanol, a fuel derived from grasses and other nonfood sources. It’s long been estimated that the amount of energy in such fuels will be much more than the energy required to make them–which is not the case with corn-grain-based ethanol. Now experimental results are in, and the ratio of energy produced to energy used is even better than expected. The renewable energy produced was 540 percent more than the nonrenewable energy used to make it. Previous studies estimated that the number would be more like 340 percent. The improvement comes, basically, from farmers using less energy than researchers thought they would to grow switchgrass, one of the proposed cellulosic sources.
One day, many new full-sized homes may resemble the Power House. The USD 149.95 miniature model from science-kit distributor Thames & Kosmos comes with a working green house, solar panels, a wind mill and a desalinization system. The kit’s aim: teach children what it’s like to live off the grid, and get them (and their parents) to “consider a life without fossil fuel.” To make the experience more realistic, the user manual incorporates a storyline about high-tech pioneers inhabiting a small island who must make use of limited resources to survive. The 70 experiments and 20 building projects that form part of the kit mimic the tasks the kit’s fictional pioneers must perform.
The Cleantech Show #33 (MP3 - 14MB - 38min) Interview with Jim Clishem, CEO, Active Power
More and more energy efficiency is gaining focus as a means of reducing carbon emissions, energy consumption and cost. In data centres for instance the power demands in an individual server rack have gone from approximately 1kw to 7kw in the last 10 years. This has a two fold effect. Namely increased electricity directly used by computer hardware, and that used by cooling systems to keep the resulting increased heat dissipation in check.
The other driver for better energy efficiency and energy management is to help cope with availability, reliability and quality of power provision. For instance in China or even parts of the US there are increasing instances of brown and blackouts. Solutions purely aimed at the supply end of the market are only half of the only answer.
The UPS (uniterrupted power supply) forms part of this mix, particularly in locations like Data Centres or high quality manufacturing and fabrication facilities.
On this weeks episode of The Cleantech Show we are going to explore the energy management and UPS industry with Jim Clishem, CEO of Active Power (NASDAQ: ACPW) and in particular their Flywheel based UPS and the company’s CoolAir system, which provides both backup power and cooling. Both of these technologies provide a more energy efficient solution than traditional battery based UPS systems.
Active Power’s CleanSource Flywheel energy storage systems is able to achieve storage and release efficiencies of around 98% when compared with battery based systems operating in the 88% range. Losses of Two percent versus 12 percent equates to average savings of 84% protecting the same critical loads.
One of the interesting things that I learn’t during the interview is that now uninterrupted cooling systems are becoming more and more important in Data Centers. The reason being is that although most UPS systems backup the power provision to server farms, they don’t provide it to the air conditioning systems. Only a few minutes in these conditions and hardware can begin to fry.
Active Power also have their CoolAir DC system for this purpose. Essentially it stores energy in the form of compressed air and heat. During a utility outage, the compressed air is routed through a Thermal Storage Unit (TSU) to acquire heat energy. The heated air spins a simple turbine/alternator to produce electric power.
For those that might be interested a new forum has been created to look at Australia’s future investment into transport fuels. They are still seeking expressions of interest for parties who want to be involved.
CSIRO’s newly formed Future Fuels Forum (FFF) is bringing together community, industry and government to plan for the future of transport fuels in Australia.
The Future Fuels Forum is designed to provide useful input to decision makers in industry and government on strategic policy and future investment, which will be articulated through the release of a comprehensive report in June 2008.
Future Fuels Forum partners include the Australian Automobile Association, Australian Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas, Biofuels Association of Australia, Caltex, Engineers Australia, Future Climate Australia, National Roads and Motorists Association, National Transport Commission, Public Interest Advocacy Centre, Queensland Rail, Rocky Point Distillery, Sasol Chevron, the South Australian Government, the Victorian Government and Woolworths.
The Future Fuels Forum is still accepting expressions of interest from organisations wishing to join the initiative.
Exploring the latest developments in clean technology that are set to revolutionise the way we harness energy, manage resources, manufacture and transport, and live sustainably with environment. The Cleantech Podcast is a regular show of interviews with leaders involved in Cleantech research, entrepreneurship and investment.
