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Caribbeans's JournalGE Produces Longest Eco-Friendly Wind Turbine Blade at 62m Capable of 100% Recycling and Reusing
GE Produces Longest Eco-Friendly Wind Turbine Blade at 62m Capable of 100% Recycling and Reusing
published: 2022-04-15
The recycling of wind turbine blades has been troubling wind turbine suppliers and countries for a long time, where the composite materials contained within the blades make it even more difficult in achieving recycling and reusing. Fortunately, GE has now managed to develop the longest thermoplastic wind turbine blades in the world that are capable of full recycling.
Wind power generation is an important segment of energy transformation, though the enormous level of green electricity and environmental benefits are also accompanied by environmental issues from incorrect disposal methods. With the inclusion of glass-reinforced polymer composites (GRP) in wind turbines in particular, and the differentiation in designs between various suppliers, wind turbine blades are usually incinerated or dumped at landfills under consideration of cost and convenience.
As pointed out by the previous study of the University of Cambridge, there will be 43 million tons of wind turbine waste around the world by 2050. The Zero Waste Blade Research has thus been born and was initiated in September 2020, with members comprising of CNRS, Arkema, LM Wind Power (subsidiary of GE), CANOE, and Engie, who are currently studying on the production of wind turbine blades through materials that are even more sustainable.
LM Wind Power also managed to produce the prototype of the longest wind turbine blade at 62m recently through Arkema’s thermoplastic resin “Elium”, which not only facilitates 100% recycling through chemical treatment, where depolymerized materials are transformed into the original form of resin that can be reused, but is also on par with the lightweight and durable thermosetting resin in terms of performance...
https://www.energytrend.com/news/20220415-27409.html
GE Official press release:
ZEBRA project achieves key milestone with production of the first prototype of its recyclable wind turbine blade
The 62m blade was made using Arkema’s Elium® resin, which is a thermoplastic resin well known for its recyclable properties together with the new high performance Glass Fabrics from Owens Corning...
https://www.ge.com/news/press-releases/zebra-project-achieves-key-milestone-with-production-of-first-prototype-of-recyclable-wind-turbine-blade
So before, turbine blades were difficult/impossible to recycle, and those that are against wind turbines used this to try to make the point that wind energy was not fit for the long term.
But - it's 2022- and now they can be recycled. So those opposed to wind turbines now must find a new talking point. (hint- dead birds won't work, check the Audubon society)
It's called progress, something that used to happen all the time in the US, before war became the obsession.
DOE's Jigar Shah explains why DOE is backing a huge green hydrogen hub
The DOE’s Loan Programs Office has conditionally approved a $504 million loan guarantee for what’s expected to be one of biggest green hydrogen projects in the U.S.
In this episode of Catalyst, host Shayle Kann talks to Jigar Shah, director of the Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office, about the ACES project. Shah explains what made ACES an attractive applicant to the Loan Programs Office, the government agency behind the conditional loan guarantee. They discuss why the salt-dome storage is essential to making the project work, and other uses for hydrogen beyond power production, like as a feedstock for ammonia production and other heavy industries. They also break down the difficulties in transporting hydrogen and the need to locate hydrogen production near consumption.
https://www.canarymedia.com/podcasts/catalyst-with-shayle-kann/hydrogen-meet-the-salt-dome
DOE Hydrogen Shot -- 1 for 1 in One Decade - $1 per 1 Kg H2 by 2030
$1 / Kg = a full tank for ~$6.00 - with zero emissions. This is the biggest energy revolution in at least 100 years.
U.S. Earmarks $504 Million to Back World's Largest Hydrogen Hub
The Advanced Clean Energy Storage project is expected to be the world’s largest industrial green hydrogen production and storage facility. Source: Business Wire
Naureen S Malik | Bloomberg April 26, 2022
The U.S. is backing a project to create the world’s largest hydrogen production and storage facility in Utah in a push to bring the clean-burning fuel into the mainstream.
The Energy Department issued a conditional commitment for up to $504.4 million in debt financing for a hydrogen hub planned for Delta, Utah that is designed to convert renewable energy into hydrogen, according to a statement Tuesday. Developers of the Advanced Clean Energy Storage Project, which is expected to start operating in 2025, include Mitsubishi Power Americas Inc. and Magnum Development LLC.
The commitment is the Biden Administration’s latest example of “prioritizing investments in clean energy technologies that will enable deployment if more renewables, modernize our grid, and ultimately, reduce our reliance on volatile energy sources,” Jigar Shah, a solar pioneer who now heads the Energy Department’s loan programs office, said in an emailed statement.
The project is expected to feature 220 megawatts of electrolyzers -- machines that split hydrogen from water -- powered by wind and solar energy and storage caverns that will initially be able to hold 9 million barrels of hydrogen, Michael Ducker, Mitsubishi Power’s head of hydrogen infrastructure, said in a phone interview. That will add to the global storage capacity of 11 million to 13 million barrels, he said... https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-26/u-s-earmarks-504-million-to-back-world-s-largest-hydrogen-hub
Finally the US is in the H2 game - better late than never.
Over 30 nations have published "National Hydrogen Strategies"
https://research.csiro.au/hyresource/policy/international/
It's not about just cars, it's about anything powered by petrol/oil - drones, trains, airplanes, trucks, boats and yes cars - especially when an infrastructure starts to take shape.
Here's a DIY Solar-Hydrogen Weed Whacker
9 U.S. cities now produce more solar power than the entire U.S. did 10 years ago
American rooftop solar power is growing at a stunning rate, a new study finds, with solar capacity increasing 19% in 2021.
The United States now has 121.4 gigawatts of solar photovoltaic capacity, enough to power 23 million homes, up from just 0.34 gigawatts in 2008, according to the Department of Energy.
Cities located in the Southwest and on the West Coast are, by and large, way ahead of their northern and eastern counterparts at getting solar panels on rooftops, according to a new study from Environment America Research & Policy Center, a think tank, and Frontier Group, a research organization affiliated with the Public Interest Network.
“The amount of solar power installed in just nine U.S. cities exceeds the amount installed in the entire United States 10 years ago,” the report, titled “Shining Cities 2022,” found. In fact, 15 of the 56 cities included in the study increased their solar capacity tenfold since 2014...
https://news.yahoo.com/9-us-cities-now-produce-more-solar-power-than-the-entire-us-did-10-years-ago-211221655.html
Few imagined this in 1982 - which was 40 YEARS ago
Next step is to use the solar when it's not needed by the grid
Chinese Electric Vehicles Are On Fire
Dong Yi Chen | April 18, 2022
The Chinese media reported only 86 electric vehicle fire accidents in the past two years, averaging one accident per week. However, in the first quarter of this year, 640 electric vehicles caught on fire, a year-on-year increase of 32%, which is equivalent to an average of 7 electric cars caught on fire per day, according to the latest data released by the Chinese Fire and Rescue Department of the Ministry of Emergency Management on April 3 this year.
Whether it is the international giant Tesla, the domestic giant BYD, or traditional vehicle manufacturers such as GAC and BAIC, none of them escaped the burning fate...
The latest BYD fire occurred in October 2021 when a BYD Han was seen emitting a lot of white smoke on the side of the road on the Shenzhen Shuiguan Expressway. The last Tesla fire also occurred in October 2021 when a Model S spontaneously burned while parked, and the vehicle was burned to an empty shell...
...Among the 86 reported fire accidents, the four main types of fire accidents were: fire while charging, fire while driving, fire while parked, and fire after a collision. Among those four types of fire accidents, excluding 7 accidents with unknown causes, 31 occurred while parked, 22 occurred during charging (including fires at charging piles), 20 occurred during driving, and 6 occurred after a collision with other objects. 38.5% of fire accidents occurred in a static state, and 27.5% of fire accidents occurred in a charging state, according to the Beijing Institute of Technology...
https://carnewschina.com/2022/04/18/chinese-electric-vehicles-are-on-fire/
...That time Actress Mary McCormack's Husbands Tesla caught on fire driving down Santa Monica Blvd.
PBS NewsHour: Could hydrogen be the clean fuel of the future? 4/20/22
As leaders around the world search for cleaner energy solutions to fight climate change, a question has emerged: Could hydrogen be the clean fuel of the future? Planes, trains, cars and buses need lighter and longer-lasting power than batteries can provide, some scientists say. Science correspondent Miles O’Brien explores the possibilities of hydrogen-powered engines and whether they can deliver.
Air Date 4/20/22
The biggest energy revolution in at least 100 years is unfolding right now.
Especially in China, Korea and Japan.
Panasonic combines fuel cells, batteries, PV to power factory in Japan with 100% Renewable Energy
Japan’s Panasonic claims its new pilot solar-plus-hydrogen facility marks the first attempt to create a factory powered by 100% renewables, via the full-scale use of hydrogen.
PV Magazine.com April 19, 2022
Japanese electronics manufacturer Panasonic has commissioned a pilot hydrogen plant combining photovoltaics with storage and fuel cells at its fuel cell factory in Kusatsu, Shiga Prefecture, in central Japan.
The system has a power output of 1.07 MW, with 570 kW are provided by the solar array and 495 kW by Panasonic's own fuel cell systems. It also relies on lithium-ion batteries with a combined storage capacity of 1.1 MWh. The Kusatsu site has a peak demand of around 680 kW and an annual power demand of around 2.7 GWh.
The pilot facility occupies a surface of around 6,000 square meters. It is purportedly the world's first attempt to create a factory powered by 100% renewables through the full-scale use of hydrogen...
https://www.pv-magazine.com/2022/04/19/panasonic-combines-fuel-cells-batteries-pv-to-power-factory-in-japan/
A Society that Creates More Energy than It Uses
"Hydrogen" is drawing attention as a next generation energy source. It produces clean, sustainable energy. By chemically reacting with oxygen, hydrogen creates electricity and the only byproduct from this process is water. Panasonic has been researching hydrogen energy technologies for over 20 years, and it is now developing highly efficient, low cost pure hydrogen fuel cell generators...
https://news.panasonic.com/global/stories/2020/84116.html
Panasonic Ene-Farm - over 200,000 sold and saving energy in Japan and now available in Europe
Happy Easter Bunny
Or, Happy Easter, Bunny Wailer
Some say he's late, others say he was just in time.
One of the Original Wailers with Bob and Peter Tosh
A relevant song- Armageddon
"Dread flash him locks and the Wicked Heart Drop" lol
We Love You and We Miss You Bunny Wailer
After plotting battery-electric future, truck maker Scania hedges bets with new hydrogen vehicles
The Volkswagen-owned company last year issued statement dismissive of H2's future role in long-distance transport, but says it is now building 'an initial 20 fuel-cell trucks'
11 April 2022 Leigh Collins
Having announced last year that it would focus on battery-electric trucks, because hydrogen would be too inefficient and expensive for long-distance transport, Swedish truck maker Scania has now unveiled plans to build new fuel-cell trucks.
In January 2021, Scania released a statement entitled: “Scania’s commitment to battery electric vehicles”, in which it said that the use of hydrogen for heavy-duty vehicles “will be limited since three times as much renewable electricity is needed to power a hydrogen truck compared to a battery electric truck”, before adding that repair and maintenance costs would be higher due to the more complex systems involved.
But on Friday, the Swedish company — which is owned by Germany’s Volkswagen — announced it would develop “an initial 20 fuel-cell electric trucks” with US-based fuel-cell and electrolyser manufacturer Cummins as part of the Air Liquide-led HyTrucks project, which aims to put 1,000 hydrogen trucks on the roads in Belgium, the Netherlands and western Germany by 2025, along with the required refuelling infrastructure.
“In some operations and geographies where battery electric vehicles are not optimal, we see that fuel cell electric vehicle will be used. We keep a close dialogue with our customers on what is best both for their total operating economy and our planet.” > https://www.rechargenews.com/energy-transition/after-plotting-battery-electric-future-truck-maker-scania-hedges-bets-with-new-hydrogen-vehicles/2-1-1200800?
https://www.rechargenews.com/transition/blow-to-clean-hydrogen-sector-as-major-truck-maker-rules-out-h2-for-long-distance-transport/2-1-951345
Hyundai hydrogen-fueled trucks making inroads in Europe
South Korean automaker gets jump on rivals' fuel cell-powered big rigs
Nikkei Asia
Jens Kastner, Contributing writer April 5, 2022
Gebrueder Weiss has been operating its Xcient since January 2021 in Switzerland, the country Hyundai chose as its launchpad into Europe. In the coming months, Hyundai will expand into neighboring Germany and Austria, along with Denmark, where partners H2 Energy, based in Zurich, Singapore's Trafigura and Phillips 66 of the U.S. are investing 300 million euros ($331 million) to create a corridor of 260 hydrogen fueling stations. H2 Energy played a key role in the development of the Xcient.
Meanwhile, the fuel cell trucks of rivals, such as Daimler and MAN, are still in the prototype stage. Hyundai, by contrast, already has 47 Xcients carrying loads for 25 customers in Switzerland.
"In its first year of service, our hydrogen truck made 70,000 km without any issues, despite Switzerland's mountainous terrain constituting a real challenge for the reliability of trucks," Juergen Bauer, a member of Gebrueder Weiss' board, told Nikkei Asia.
"Unlike battery-powered electric trucks, our Hyundai's range is virtually unaffected by the driver's use of heating or air conditioning. And once a sufficiently large network of hydrogen refueling stations is realized along European highways, the hydrogen truck will be able to run practically unlimited distances, thanks to short refueling times," Bauer said. continued...
https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Transportation/Hyundai-hydrogen-fueled-trucks-making-inroads-in-Europe
PW Link: https://archive.ph/qvRKJ
Daimler Hydrogen Truck Prototype
Hyundai wants to use Hydrogen in other ways too- like aircraft
Hyundai will develop new hydrogen eSTOL aircraft that can travel 620 miles
https://interestingengineering.com/hyundai-hydrogen-estol-supernal
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