Resource World Magazine

D E C E M B E R / J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 7 www.resourceworld.com 67 grEEN TECHNOlOgiES The flexibility of the technology allows for a large global market potential. This project provides for developing and demonstrating a 500 kilowatt (kW) tidal energy power plant to prove out a new, cost-effective technology for in-flow energy harvesting. It will also provide a showcase to launch a national and interna- tional product sales and service model for this technology, and to develop a microgrid management system with advanced energy storage for remote and distributed generation. At an estimated project cost of $5,600 K, the project could provide job and eco- nomic gains from the expanding industry, and the company anticipates potential cumulative greenhouse gas reduction of 1,632 kilotonnes (kte) per year by 2020. WET Energy Inc., the operating company of Water Wall Turbine Inc. is continuing with its next projects of ocean energy combined with wind and solar supported by energy storage and its own microgrid system. convertinG waste to enerGY in wales Lockheed Martin [LMT-NYSE] has signed a teaming agreement with CoGen Limited to develop energy from waste projects in the United Kingdom, starting with a new plant in Cardiff, Wales. The new facility in Cardiff will convert waste into up to 15 MW of energy – enough to power about 15,000 homes and businesses in the local area. To generate energy, the plant will process approximately 150,000 tonnes of waste per year, using an advanced gasification technology, which will sig- nificantly reduce the need for landfill use. Construction is expected to begin in 2018, with operations starting in 2020. Under the agreement, CoGen will serve as the owner and developer of the waste energy project, while Lockheed Martin will lead the engineering, procurement, manufacturing, and plant construction. The facility will use Reformer® technology from Concord Blue – a Lockheed Martin strategic partner. "This project will make a substantial contribution to Cardiff and will further showcase how bioenergy tech- nologies can help reduce waste, decrease pollution and generate clean, renewable energy," commented Frank Armijo, Vice President of Lockheed Martin Energy. In addition to the Wales project, Lockheed Martin and CoGen will jointly pursue other similar projects, and smaller-scale opportunities to develop energy-from-waste projects for commer- cial and industrial businesses throughout the UK. "We're looking forward to other projects where we can help businesses, manufacturers and UK municipal and regional governments address their criti- cal waste and energy challenges," said Armijo. Ian Brooking, CEO of CoGen Limited, added, "Cardiff will be the first of a pipeline of projects that over the coming decade will see local, smaller-scale genera- tion play a bigger part in delivering the UK's energy requirements." researchers convert carBon dioxide into ethanol The US Department of Energy's (DOE) researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Tennessee have developed an electrochemical process that uses tiny spikes of carbon and copper to turn carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, into ethanol. "We discovered somewhat by accident that this material worked," said Adam Rondinone, lead author of the team's study. "We were trying to study the first step of a proposed reaction when we realized that the catalyst was doing the entire reaction on its own." The catalyst's novelty lies in its nanoscale structure, consisting of copper nanoparticles embedded in carbon spikes. This nano-texturing approach avoids using expensive or rare metals, such as platinum, that limit the economic viability of many catalysts. "By using common materials, but arranging them with nanotechnology, we figured out how to limit the side reac- tions and end up with the one thing that we want," Rondinone said. Given the technique's reliance on low- cost materials and an ability to operate at room temperature in water, the research- ers believe the approach could be scaled up for industrially relevant applications. For instance, the process could be used to store excess electricity generated from vari- able power sources such as wind and solar. The work was supported by DOE's Office of Science and used resources at the ORNL's Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences. n Built by Water Wall turbine, the fast-moving tide provides the energy to generate electricity for the Dent Island Lodge located in the Desolation Sound area of coastal British Columbia. photo courtesy Water Wall turbine, Inc.

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