onshore Archives - Zureli

Search for any green Service

Find green products from around the world in one place

Window cleaning

Singapore Safety Glass

Onshore wind: Truss and Johnson join group of rebel Tories calling for ban to be lifted

Posted on November 29, 2022 by dishanth

An amendment to the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill was first tabled earlier this week by Simon Clarke, the Conservative MP for Middlesborough South and East Cleveland, in a bid to end the de facto ban on new onshore wind. It has gained the backing of more than 20 Conservative MPs, with Clarke confirming the support of Johnson and Truss earlier today (25 November).

Clarke’s amendment would oblige the UK Government to alter planning rules for onshore wind farms within six months of the bill passing into law. These changes would permit onshore wind in communities where there is a high level of support. It has been extremely challenging to develop new onshore wind farms in the UK since 2014, due to a tightening of planning restrictions under then-Prime Minister David Cameron.

The Government did add onshore wind back into the Contracts for Difference (CfD) auction rounds’ eligibility criteria in 2020 under Johnson but planning restrictions were kept in place. Hence, it is very significant that Johnson is backing Clarke’s amendment.

Truss has repeatedly stated that she would support more onshore wind development despite her opposition to solar farms, particularly on agricultural land.

Clarke has stated that his amendment would result in a “pro-growth, pro-green policy at a time when we need both”. The UK Government is notably undertaking a review of its pathway to net-zero at present, in recognition of the fact that its current Net-Zero Strategy is unlawful and given Truss’s wish for a “pro-business, pro-growth, economically efficient” approach. Chris Skidmore MP is heading up this review.

Also of note is the fact that the UK published a new Energy Security Strategy this spring, headlined by a pledge for 95% of Britain’s electricity generation mix to be from low-carbon sources by 2030, rising to 100% by 2035. There was precious little support for onshore wind or solar, despite major capacity target increases for offshore wind, nuclear and hydrogen, plus a swathe of measures designed to boost North Sea oil and gas production.

Clarke has stated: “Whether or not to proceed with onshore wind [development] is a decision that should be made by local communities, rather than top-down from Westminster. It is the cheapest form of energy generation bar none. It will boost our energy security, help us on the path to net-zero and ease the cost-of-living squeeze just when we need it most.”

The Conservative Environment Network is supporting Clarke’s work here. Its Parliamentary Caucus now includes more than 100 Tory MPs.

The Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill was introduced in May and is currently in the report stage and third reading stage. The next meeting on the Bill will take place on Monday (28 November).

Another amendment that has caused drama this month was brought forward by former Environment Secretary Theresa Villiers. She, and around 50 other Tory MPs, want the Bill to include measures that would scrap mandatory housebuilding targets for local authorities in favour of an advisory-only measure.

Source edie

Onshore algae farms could feed the world sustainably

Posted on October 10, 2022October 17, 2022 by dishanth

How do we increase food production by more than 50%, on a limited amount of arable land, to feed a projected 10 billion people by 2050?

The solution could come in the form of nutritious and protein-dense microalgae (single-celled), grown in onshore, seawater-fed aquaculture systems.

A paper, “Transforming the Future of Marine Aquaculture: A Circular Economy Approach,” published in the September issue of Oceanography, describes how growing algae onshore could close a projected gap in society’s future nutritional demands while also improving environmental sustainability.

“We have an opportunity to grow food that is highly nutritious, fast-growing, and we can do it in environments where we’re not competing for other uses,” said Charles Greene, professor emeritus of earth and atmospheric sciences and the paper’s senior author. “And because we’re growing it in relatively enclosed and controlled facilities, we don’t have the same kind of environmental impacts.”

Even as the Earth’s population grows in the coming decades, climate change, limited arable land, lack of freshwater and environmental degradation will all constrain the amount of food that can be grown, according to the paper.

Microalgae cultivation facility along the Kona Coast of Hawaii’s Big Island.

“We just can’t meet our goals with the way we currently produce food and our dependence on terrestrial agriculture,” Greene said.

With wild fish stocks already heavily exploited, and with constraints on marine finfish, shellfish, and seaweed aquaculture in the coastal ocean, Greene and colleagues argue for growing algae in onshore aquaculture facilities. GIS-based models, developed by former Cornell graduate student, Celina Scott-Buechler ’18, M.S. ’21, predict yields based on annual sunlight, topography, and other environmental and logistical factors. The model results reveal that the best locations for onshore algae farming facilities lie along the coasts of the Global South, including desert environments.

“Algae can actually become the breadbasket for the Global South,” Greene said. “In that narrow strip of land, we can produce more than all the protein that the world will need.”

Along with high protein content, the researchers noted that algae provide nutrients lacking in vegetarian diets, such as essential amino acids and minerals found in meat and omega-3 fatty acids often sourced in fish and seafood.

Algae, which grow 10 times faster than traditional crops, can be produced in a manner that is more efficient than agriculture in its use of nutrients. For example, when farmers add nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers to grow terrestrial crops, about half runs off fields and pollutes waterways. With algae grown in enclosed facilities, excess nutrients can be captured and reused.

Similarly, carbon dioxide must be added to aquaculture ponds to grow algae. Researchers and companies have been experimenting with adding algae to construction materials and cement, where the carbon gets sequestered and removed from the atmosphere. “If we use algae in these long-lived structural materials, then we have the potential to be carbon negative, and part of the solution to climate change,” Greene said.

One challenge is that sourcing CO2 is currently expensive and energy inefficient, but engineers are experimenting with concentrated solar technologies that use mirrors to focus and concentrate sunlight to heat a working fluid, which in turn can be used in direct air capture technologies that capture carbon dioxide from the air.

Also, while algae farming solves many food-related and environmental problems on paper, it can only be successful if people adopt it in diets and for other uses. Adding nutritious algae as a major ingredient or supplement in plant-based meats, which currently rely on less nutritious pea and soy, is one possibility.

Co-author Xingen Lei, professor of animal science at Cornell, and other colleagues have found that when algae is added to chicken feed, hens lay eggs with triple the amount of omega-3 fatty acids as normal eggs.

A follow-up perspectives piece that highlights and expands on the points of this paper, will appear in the October issue of PLoS Biology. Scott-Buechler, currently a doctoral student at Stanford, is a coauthor on both works.

The study was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, among others.

Source Cornell Chronicle

Onshore renewables could boost UK economy by £29bn

Posted on July 20, 2020July 20, 2020 by dishanth

Investor Thrive Renewables claims removal of local planning barriers could unlock multi-billion pound potential of onshore wind, solar, and hydropower sectors.

Easing planning barriers for onshore renewable energy projects could unlock 45,000 new jobs and pump almost £29bn into the UK economy over the next 15 years, as well as saving money on consumer energy bills, according to a new analysis by Thrive Renewables.

The clean energy investment firm – which manages £93m of renewable energy assets – claims that, based on Committee on Climate Change estimates for achieving net zero emissions by 2050, the UK will need to build 5.5GW of onshore renewable energy capacity every year between now and 2035.

That, it said, would require £4.75bn annual investment – including £2.75bn in onshore wind projects alone – amounting to a £66.5bn investment opportunity over the next 15 years. Unlocking that potential could deliver 45,000 new jobs, provide a £28.9bn economic boost, and save billpayers up to £1.5bn a year by 2035, according to the firm, which operates 15 renewables projects across the UK.

Echoing arguments from across the renewables industry, the report highlighted how onshore renewables were now both quicker to build and cheaper than nuclear projects and gas-fired power generation capacity, with onshore wind now considered to the lowest cost form of new electricity generation available.

Meanwhile, the same two years spent laying only the foundations for Hinkley Point C saw enough renewable power generation capacity installed in the UK to match the total planned generation of the flagship Somerset nuclear power project, the report said.

The analysis also stressed how giving existing onshore solar, wind, and other such projects a new lease of life by upgrading them with the latest, most efficient technologies offered yet another cost-effective means of delivering zero carbon energy.

“Renewables are the obvious choice for the government to take in driving our economic recovery, helping to ‘Build Back Better’ and deliver a net-zero carbon emission society,” said Matthew Clayton, managing director of Thrive Renewables. “We don’t need to reinvent the wheel or – in this case – the wind turbine and solar panel. UK renewables have enormous potential that can be unlocked, fast. We already have what we need: abundant natural resources, proven technology, lowest ever costs and the right skills.”

However, Clayton warned that in order to maximise the opportunities on offer a clear, long-term and investible clean energy policy platform was required in the UK, and that planning barriers to new renewables projects needed to be torn down.

Firstly he said more policy certainty was needed over price stability in Contracts for Difference auctions, distribution network connection planning, and cost structures, as long-term investment decisions remains challenging for developers.

Moreover, Clayton said new onshore wind projects continued to face automatic blocks from many local planning authorities, as too often councils have failed to update their local plans – in some cases for decades – to reflect their myriad climate emergency declarations.

“By providing policy certainty and creating a more positive environment for onshore renewables, the government can unleash huge private sector investment, create thousands of jobs and deliver a greener, cleaner UK for us all,” he said.

There have long been calls for the UK’s national planning policy to be amended to remove barriers to new onshore wind projects, although earlier this year the government did unveil plans to allow onshore renewables projects to compete for in upcoming CfD auction rounds, providing a major new potential route to market for new projects.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has also touted plans to reduce red tape in order to “build, build, build” as part of his strategy to stimulate the economy in the wake of the recession sparked by the coronavirus crisis.

However, it remains unclear whether the PM’s proposed planning changes could be used to accelerate rollout of renewables and clean technologies, given long-standing opposition to such projects from a vocal minority of the public.

Mewanwhile, some green groups have raised concerns that moves to dilute planning rules could lead to less democratic oversight of local planning decisions and green building standards being compromised.

By Michael Holder

Source: Business Green