Cool Rationalities and Hot Air: A Rhetorical Approach to Understanding Debates on Renewable Energy.

A key obstacle to the wide-scale development of renewable energy is that public acceptability of wind energy cannot be taken for granted when wind energy moves from abstract support to local implementation. Drawing on a case study of opposition to the siting of a proposed off-shore wind farm in Northern Ireland, we offer a rhetorical analysis of a series of representative documents drawn from government, media, pro- and anti-wind energy sources, which identifies and interprets a number of discourses of objection and support. The analysis indicates that the key issue in terms of the transition to a renewable energy economy has little to do with the technology itself. Understanding the different nuances of pro- and anti-wind energy discourses highlights the importance of thinking about new ways of looking at these conflicts. These include adopting a “conflict resolution” approach and “upstreaming” public involvement in the decision-making process and also the counter-productive strategy of assuming that objection is based on ignorance (which can be solved by information) or NIMBY thinking (which can be solved by moral arguments about overcoming “free riders”).

The effect of feedstock cost on biofuel cost as exemplified by biomethane production from grass silage.

Abstract: The potential variance in feedstock costs can have signifi cant implications for the cost of a biofuel and the fi nancial viability of a biofuel facility. This paper employs the Grange Feed Costing Model to assess the cost of on-farm biomethane production using grass silages produced under a range of management scenarios. These costs were compared with the cost of wheat grain and sugarbeet roots for ethanol production at an industrial scale. Of the three feedstocks examined, grass silage represents the cheapest feedstock per GJ of biofuel produced. At a production cost of €27/tonne (t) feedstock (or €150/t volatile solids (VS)), the feedstock production cost of grass silage per gigajoule (GJ) of biofuel (€12.27) is lower than that of sugarbeet (€16.82) and wheat grain (€18.61). Grass biomethane is also the cheapest biofuel when grass silage is costed at the bottom quartile purchase price of silage of €19/t (€93/t VS). However, when considering the production costs (full-costing) of the three feedstocks, the total cost of grass biomethane (€32.37/GJ of biofuel; intensive 2-cut system) from a small on-farm facility ranks between that of sugarbeet (€29.62) and wheat grain ethanol (€34.31) produced in large industrial facilities. The feedstock costs for the above three biofuels represent 0.38, 0.57, and 0.54 of the total biofuel cost. The importance of feedstock cost on biofuel cost is further highlighted by the 0.43 increase in the cost of biomethane when grass silage is priced at the top quartile (€46/t or €232/t VS) compared to the bottom quartile purchase price.

Electrical energy storage and Smart Grid technologies to integrate the next generation of Renewable Power Systems

The growth of renewable power sources, distributed generation and the potential for alternative fuelled modes of transport such as electric vehicles has led to concerns over the ability of existing grid systems to facilitate such diverse portfolio mixes in already congested power systems. Internationally the growth in renewable energy sources is driven by government policy targets associated with the uncertainties of fossil fuel supplies, environmental issues and a move towards energy independence. Power grids were traditionally designed as vertically integrated centrally managed entities with fully dispatchable generating plant. Renewable power sources, distributed generation and alternative fuelled vehicles will place these power systems under additional stresses and strains due to their different operational characteristics. Energy storage and smart grid technologies are widely proposed as the tools to integrate these future diverse portfolio mixes within the more conventional power systems. The choice in these technologies is determined not only by their location on the grid system, but by the diversification in the power portfolio mix, the electricity market and the operational demands. This paper presents a high level technical and economic overview of the role and relevance of electrical energy storage and smart grid technologies in the next generation of renewable power systems.

Organometallic hydrogen transfer and dehydrogenation catalysts for the conversion of bio-renewable alcohols

Organometallic hydrogen transfer and dehydrogenation provide straightforward atom efficient routes from alcohols to a variety of chemical products. The potential of these reactions to enable the conversion of biomass to value added chemicals is discussed, with reference to the products that can be prepared from aliphatic alcohols in good isolated yield.

Amination and dehydration of 1,3-propanediol by hydrogen transfer: reactions of a bio-renewable platform chemical

1,3-propanediol was subjected to a range of amination conditions. The N-heterocyclic carbene piano stool complex [Cp*IrCl2(bmim)] was found to be a good catalyst for amination and dehydration in toluene or ionic liquid; product compositions could be tuned by altering the ratio of diol to amine.