Archive for July, 2008

Here at Greencon we have weekly strategy meetings. One of the topics is ‘forward planning’. One year, two year, five year. One of the advantages of running a solar business in South Africa simply is the fact that we can see trends developing overseas. Because we rely on so many of our mechanical product from foreign producers, we can easily see what will be available to our market within a year or two.

I say available, because due to the small size of our market we often have to adapt to foreign trends and are not really manipulators of market trends. I have attached two articles below that deal with the future of the automotive industry for staff and interested parties to read.

The reason that I want to get my solar sales team informed is that they often come up against resistance from customers when they see the price per watt of solar panels and the whole set up around going Solar PV. Here are the facts, auto manufacturers are going electric, Eskom is getting more expensive and fossil fuels are going to cost the earth (excuse the pun).

I tell my Greencon staff that they don’t have to convert the customer’s house in one go but begin the process. Imagine a future where your power (household) and fuel (for you electric car) are provided ‘free’ from your solar panel array at your house or office. Below I have attached some articles dealing firstly with huge company and industry investment in the future of electric cars and then with the how the utility companies are adapting to sell people power for there new types of automobiles.

“A massive collaborative effort, pushed by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), will draw on GM and 34 of America’s top utilities to help integrate plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the electrical grid.

“The EPRI-GM-utility effort is the result of many years of work by EPRI and its members to advance plug-in hybrids and related infrastructure technology to a point of feasible implementation and eventual commercialization,” said Arshad Mansoor, EPRI’s vice president of Power Delivery and Utilization. “Seamless integration of PHEVs into the electric grid will require close collaboration between the automobile and electric sectors.”

The news of the sweeping, multi-industry project was announced in San Jose at the Plug-in 2008 Conference, a three-day event during which vehicle producers, battery innovators and other alternative energy experts explored the future of electric mobility. Mitsubishi’s battery-powered iMiEV microcar, scheduled for production in 2010, was one of the centrepieces of the convention, demonstrating the viability of affordable electric vehicles.”

I tell the staff at Greencon to encourage potential client’s about the possibility of becoming their own utility. Using there own Solar Panels to charge there own cars of the future.  

 ‘San Jose, California served as the debut location of the electric car charging stations by start-up company, Coulomb Technologies. ChargePoint Network’s Smartlet Charging Stations are 110v outlets which can easily be integrated onto poles and streetlights. Coulomb is planning to demonstrate the outlet on a Saturn Vue plug-in hybrid during the Plug-In 2008 conference. The company’s aim is to produce outlets for use on a national scale, aiming for a total of two stations per car. Each Smartlet Charging Station would cost between $1,000 and $2,000 for now.

Other technologies of the Coulomb ChargePoint Network include the Smartlet Communications Network, a meshed network which communicates with the Network Operating System for authentication and access among other things, and the ChargePoint Network Operating System which is in charge of managing the Smartlet Charging Stations through the use of Smartlet Communications Network.”

The future is electric. Just make sure that it is your own, and you control the cost.

Research towards off grid living

Greencon has a constant eye on the studies taking place at the worlds leading research institutions. There is strong social and financial motivation at these institutions to create methods of becoming less dependent on non-renewable energy. One of the most interesting studies is in the adaptation of existing materials, to accommodate solar collection properties.

In a solar panel, the largest single ‘elemnet’ is silicon. This is the material used to hold, seal and bind the various materials used in the creation of electricity from light. But it is also all around us, it happens to be the second most abundant material on earth. There are various different grades of silicon, and the quality used in a solar panel is of the highest refinement (hence the cost) but some cleaver scientists are developing mechanisms to use the type of silicone we are most familiar with  (glass windows) as a base material to support solar collecting dye’s.

I joke with the staff at Greencon that our solar panel team might be a glass fitting team in the future. Lets hope they can refine it and make it more cost effective. Read an article I found on the subject.

“Your windows could collect solar energy, says study

Have windows? Then you could collect solar energy, says a new study published in the journal Science. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a light-absorbing dye that, when painted on a window, transfers energy via the glass into solar cells at the window’s edges (through a process we don’t pretend to understand). If the dye-coated glass is placed atop a solar panel, wavelengths of light that sneak through the glass can be converted into electricity by the panel. “We saw approximately 30 percent higher performance in the combined system compared to a stand-alone solar cell,” says coauthor Marc Baldo. “We think that ultimately this approach will allow us to nearly double the performance of existing solar cells for minimal added cost.” The MIT folk say their “solar concentrator” is inexpensive, easy to manufacture, and could be marketed within three years.”

So our solar panel staff at Greencon have three years to practice how to install glass panes, get you putty knives out!.

PV = Inefficient Power Generation

Not what you would expect from a company that sells PV. But the simple truth is that most PV sold in the world only converts between 14 – 18% of the Solar rays landing on the surface area of the panel into usable electrical charge. There are even more losses along the way to the battery bank or through the inverter. We at Greencon are fortunate to sell the worlds best PV, that has an efficiency in the lower 20% region.

So a lot of the worlds finest brains are working on mechanisms to enhance the quantity of electrical charge created. One of the methods is to create more enhanced light striking the panel, therefore increasing the amount of solar conversion. It really sounds good in theory, but my only reservation is that PV typically looses it efficiency when it heats up. So while I’m not trying to put the consultants at Greencon in the same bracket at the brains at MIT, it does seem counter-intuitive.

Here is an article on some of the research:

Solar concentrators

by Tim McGee, Helena, MT, USA on 07.10.08
“Imagine if every window in a skyscraper was a solar concentrator.

At the coal face for want of a better term, is what our sales staff seem to find them selves on a daily basis. There seems to be staunch resistance to change. The obvious reason, is the fact that there is a liquidity squeeze at the moment. People just can’t seem to swallow the idea of spending R15 – R20k on a system that just heats their water.

Greencon sales reps have to go through the process of explaining why a short term investment results in a long term saving not only for the family budget, but for the environment.

Sales of Greencon Solar Water Heating Systems have been steady, but not comparable to when there were severe power cuts and the energy crisis was effecting the broader public. The fact of the matter is that Eskom is not out of the hole it has dug for itself (with the help of their partners the government). There has been only a 4% average power saving, and with the continuous expansion and demand placed on it from RDP and Industry growth, they can not maintain without repeating the load shedding activities of earlier this year.

Fossil fuel increases and a need for international pricing parity has meant that increases are a reality no matter want the public want of what trade unions think is fair. Add to this that we through the use of Eskom power are the most polluting power generating nation (per capita) then there should be strong motivation to mitigate our environmental impact.

Greencon Solar Water Heaters not only guarantee to save you green notes in your wallet but also save your impact on our ever less green planet.

One of the greatest fears we have at Greencon is wheather or not the advice or difference we think we are making, will actually be seen as detrimental in the future. I’m sure the poineers of  coal generated electricity and automobile transport never saw the possiblity of the damage they would one day cause.

While I don’t advocate mitigation as a first prize, we at Greencon would rather see replacement technologies come ‘on-line’ as apposed to the continued use of fossile fuels, that can only continue to become ever more finite and therefore expensive and sort after.

One has to be realistic an realise that there use is neccessary in the short to medium term while other more sustainable forms of energy generation become viable. 

I found this interesting article about a sequestration method that not only reduces emissions but also could have a use.

“A small start-up based in Santa Barbara, California is testing an alternative to carbon sequestration that, in a sense (perhaps more poetic than scientific), turns the second law of thermodynamics — entropy — on its head by taking waste CO² and tailings from mining operations and turning the mix into materials of a “higher order” for use in a variety of industrial, agricultural, and environmental applications.”

Don’t worry, we at Greencon also became very sceptical when we read of ‘start-ups’ challenging established rules of thermodynamics, but it does make for interesting idea’s if you continue to read further:

“Carbon Sciences, founded by CEO Derek McLeish, has developed a relatively simple technology that puts the brew under pressure and temperature to create PCC (precipitated calcium carbonate). Traditionally, calcium carbonate is produced through an energy-intensive process using expensive materials such as limestone; the “GreenCarbon” technology takes this normally exhaustive process and simplifies it, thus producing a useful, benign material while transforming carbon emissions instead of simply sequestering it — a method of carbon mitigation that McLeish considers high-risk at best. 

From paper to plastic, wallboard to fertilizer, PCC is a common component of many everyday products, materials, and industrial processes. According to McLeish there is a $12 billion demand for PCC.

One of McLeish’s first major target markets for the GreenCarbon technology is the paper industry.

Creating a Greener Sheet of Paper

The industrial use of PCC is projected to grow to 10 million tons by 2010. 70% of that PCC will be used in the paper industry for use as a filler and brightener.

With the GreenCarbon process, CO² emissions from a paper mill can be transformed into PCC for immediate use in paper production offering the producer the potential for both cost savings and carbon neutrality.

But why stop at simple “neutrality”?

From Carbon Neutral to Carbon Negative

Carbon neutral operations don’t release any additional CO² into the atmosphere, nor do they reduce CO² levels either. When applying GreenCarbon technology to a carbon neutral process, say an ethanol plant, that process actually reduces the amount of CO², thus is making it carbon negative.

Not only is GreenCarbon a method for removal and transformation (as opposed to storage) of CO², McLeish contends that his GreenCarbon technology can produce PCC at a lower cost than traditional processes and also points out that as carbon credit markets come online, users will automatically realize additional cost reductions when the CO² consumed in GreenCarbon is sold as carbon credits. Win-win.”

Well we at Greencon, think that its a cool idea, lets hope it doesn’t break too many basic rules and can actually be done.

At Greencon headoffice we are contacted on a daily basis for advice regarding energy savings and efficiency tools and methods.

Here are some quirky facts about the benefits of a green based future:

1. Just your daily shower consumes more energy that all other household appliances combined. The simple act of changing the type of water head you fit can reduce your hot water consumption by over 40%.

2. Nearly half of your heat lost in winter is through bad insulation. Either through your roof or your floor.

3. Lighting contributes to about 20% of your electricity expenses. Change your globes and save a fortune over time.

4. The total energy saved from recycling one glass bottle can power a computer for 25 minutes (don’t ask me how they work that out)

5. One recycled plastic bottle would save enough energy to power a 60watt light bulb for 3 hours.

And the list continues…It goes to show that we can have an impact even in our small home environment. All that is required is the will.

Greencon

I like to think of myself as an environmentally conscious person, but the truth of the matter is that a lot of the technologies that are becoming popular in the markets today are as a reflection of growing costs, and peoples attempts to mitigate those expenses.

Solar water heating technology has been around for decades, and you think that in a region of the planet with such high radiation intensity, solar energy would be old news for us. Well the truth of the matter is that environmentalists and solar campaigners had to compete with government funded institutions such as Eskom. These organisations made environmental activism more an act of altruism than of economic sense, only because they were selling the dirtiest power at unrealistic prices.

But the truth will always catch up with you, when a large proportion of your turbines are run on diesel you can’t keep getting away with selling power for nothing. When the country regained access to world markets you begin to purchase raw materials at international commodity rates (coal etc.)

Cheap fossil fuels are a thing of the past (thanks to George Bush and others – that is the only time i will say thanks to him). I have attached an article from the International Herald Tribune, showing how the cost of raw materials has steered big business to look at better alternatives, not because they really care about the environment (my opinion) but because it is starting to make financial sense.

We at Greencon are concerned about the environment but we also realise that if it can’t make financial sense to the customer then its far more difficult to convince the client it’s the right thing to do.

Fuel prices force airlines into action

By Elisabeth Rosenthal

Published: July 8, 2008

The airline industry is traditionally seen as a bad actor in the global emissions debate. Air travel is by far the fastest-growing source of global greenhouse gas emissions, still rising by about 5 percent a year.

Want to reduce your personal carbon footprint? A round-trip flight for a family of four from London to Los Angeles generates more carbon emissions than commuting by car for a year. It is, indeed, a worrisome and hard-to-resolve trajectory.

But it’s summertime, people are flying, so here’s a bit of light at the end of this tunnel: A recent report by the international economic research group Innovest describes how the airline industry is now “leading efforts to develop sustainable biofuels,” and it points to some level of success.

“The prospects for this type of fuel are very long term, but in the midterm (next generation of airliners) biofuel and regular or synthetic fuel blends are likely, with potential for a dramatic reduction in emissions,” the report said.

Given the price of oil, the industry’s interest in finding alternatives to fossil fuels, of course, makes sense – the goal not being just greener aircraft but also the industry’s survival. With oil prices doubling in the past year, fuel now accounts for 30 percent to 50 percent of airlines’ costs.

If governments insist that airline ticket prices reflect the “cost” of airplane emissions into the atmosphere – as the EU plans – fares could skyrocket to a point where they were unaffordable. If the full costs of carbon emissions are factored into the equation, the price of a three-hour flight could rise by $756, the Innovest report said. With that, few airlines would manage to stay in business.

Necessity, then, is the mother of invention.

“If there ever was an incentive to create alternative fuels, $140-a-barrel oil is it,” said Paul Charles, communications director of Virgin Atlantic, though he added that the “environmental issue is still the primary incentive.”

Charles predicted that given the fast pace of current research, “it is likely that within five years you’ll have commercial jets flying on algae – it will be as quick and dramatic as the shift to digital TV.”

A number of airlines and aircraft makers are furiously exploring alternative fuels. Virgin led the pack, flying a jumbo jet from London to Amsterdam this year with one of its four tanks using biofuel, in this case made of a blend of coconut oil and nuts. Other airlines have followed.

This month, Rob Fyfe, the chief executive of Air New Zealand, committed to running its fleet on 10 percent biofuels by 2013. He further vowed to use only biofuels made from nonfood plants, focusing on importing fuel from jatropha plantations in Africa and India. Jatropha is a plant that grows in semiarid regions, and its oil can be converted into jet fuel.

Biofuels “present particularly exciting opportunities when placed against a backdrop of jet fuel prices that have recently been as high as $174 a barrel,” Fyfe said.

Japan Airlines says it will run a flight partly on biofuel by next spring.

Sébastien Remy, who is in charge of Airbus’s alternative fuel program, predicts that 25 percent of jet fuel will be derived from nonpetroleum sources by 2025. In the past few years, research has shown that jet engines today can run on properly refined biofuels, so no mechanical modifications are essential.

Industry experts are pinning their hope on oil from algae, because it is cheap and easily convertible into a fuel that can be used in a plane. Companies like Boeing and Chevron, as well as the U.S. military, are working on the technology.

A couple of years ago most airlines were combating climate change with public relations. And public relations is certainly still a problem. This past week, the British Advertising Standards Agency criticized EasyJet for claiming that its flights generated 22 percent less emissions than traditional airlines.

But sky-high fuel prices are moving polluters to genuine action. Fuel prices are the best friend the environment has these days. Are the airlines’ efforts science fiction?

Electric cars and planes powered by algae fuel are technically possible if the research, money and will are there. So now with oil prices high and carbon taxes on the horizon, the industry should be able to find alternatives that will insure its survival, and spare the environment as well.

Often the sales staff at Greencon are quizzed by customers as to the real term investment potential of using the sun to heat your water. If it does not make financial sense then very few people are environmentally conscious enough to take the pinch purely for their bunny hugging tendencies.

I came across this very conservative article in a weekly newspaper publication (M&G).

This is an abbreviated document taken from Maya Fisher-French’s article in the Mail and Guardian May 16^th 2008.

“Maya writes in the business section of the newspaper, and this was an interesting take on the benefits of solar water heating system from a purely investment point of view.

She goes on to state, the average household electricity bill is about R500 pm. Studies have shown that up to 60% of electricity used to heat water can be saved by using a solar geyser. Therefore you could look at an average R150 per month saving by installing a solar geyser (Average cost R15 000.00)

This relates to a 12% tax free annual return on investment, at current electricity prices, just insulate your geyser and this could push that average up to 14%. It is truly one of those investments that will guarantee to keep up with inflation.

Furthermore, as Eskom’sprices increase (which they have to), it is not inconceivable that the average house will be paying in the region of R1000 per month on electricity within two to three years. That relates to a whopping 24% return on investment you have received from the solar geyser.”

My view is that we can play with numbers, and stats are important, but let’s look at the facts. Electricity is no where nearly as expensive in South Africa as it is internationally. This will and has to change. This means that the cost will go up. The sooner you put in a solar geyser the sooner you’re on the right side of inflation, the quicker you receive the return on investment.

Greencon.

The example below shows water being heated by the sun via the evacuated tubes product.  In this example we are fitting the system to an existing geyser placed in the client’s roof. . This is called retro-fitting and it is quick and effective, and aesthetically pleasing.

1. Picture of the client’s standard 200litre geyser in the roof.. 

2. Picture showing the Greencon team positioning the Solar Collector. The positioning is vital as one needs to maximize exposure to the sun..

 3. Positioning the evacuated tubes  relative to the geyser is also important as one would want to:

• Mitigate extra costs to the client by minimizing piping
• Reduce heat loss between geyser and solar collector
• Less stress on Solar Pump

4. Our Systems are totally solar driven. This means that the pumps that drive the water from the geyser to the collector are driven by PV panels; the client is not reliant on electricity and Eskom.

5. The picture below shows the product installed. Not only is it neat, pleasing to the eye solution, but it is an added asset to your house and bank balance, not to mention the massive saving that you make towards reducing carbon emissions (+/- 1 ton per 100 liters of water heated/per annum).

Please send us your details and we will contact you to arrange a site meeting. Click Here

Keep it Green

Greencon

Hi All,

This is the first posting by us here at Greencon. The intention with this form of communication is to build an easy platform for us as a company to communicate in an almost diary like fashion, what we are about, where we are making a difference and what lies on the horizon. Our agenda is to show the interesting projects we are involved in as well as keep you posted about what’s happening in the realm of  environmental science, development, technology and political agendas that effect the future of the world we all live in.

We welcome engagement and commentary from all who give of their time to read about our evolution.

Your Partner in Saving the Planet

Greencon.

www.greencon.co.za