Wind power is one of the fastest-growing sources of sustainable energy. Over the past two decades, the amount of wind energy capacity installed on- and offshore has grown almost 75-fold. From 7.5 gigawatts in 1997 to around 564 gigawatts in 2018, according to data provided by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). “This technology has made major leaps over the past 20 years. Modern wind turbines generate around ten times as much electricity today as those built at the turn of the millennium,” says Christian Mildenberger. He is Managing Director of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia’s Association for Renewable Energy (LEE NRW).

Typical turbines in 1985 had a rated output of 0.05 megawatts and a rotor diameter of 15 metres. Today’s models have turbine capacities of around two megawatts onshore and as much as three to five megawatts in offshore versions. New turbine classes boasting outputs of more than seven megawatts are already planned. They will be ready to deploy in three to five years.

Using wind power correctly

In order to maximise their energy yield, turbines need to be controlled. Such that they can adapt to changing wind conditions. To this end, control systems process a variety of data supplied by all kinds of sensors. For instance, absolute encoders record rotor blades’ angle of attack, while incremental encoders measure rotors’ rotational speed.

In order for the correct settings to be adopted in good time LiDAR can be used to measure the wind’s speed and direction. During this process, LiDAR devices emit laser beams that are reflected by particles blowing in the wind. The turbine therefore “knows” what kind of wind loads will reach it imminently (i.e., in the next few seconds).

More efficient power conversion

The converter is another important element when it comes to increasing a turbine’s efficiency. Nowadays, most wind turbines are operated with a variable rotor speed. As such, the generator supplies electricity with variable frequencies and voltages. The power electronics in the converters control. And regulate the generated electricity such that it can always be fed into the mains with the appropriate grid frequency and quality. Future technologies promise to double the power density in the semiconductor module. Which will enable the converter’s volume to be reduced considerably. In addition, power electronics with a silicon carbide (SiC) base promise major improvements. SiC MOSFETs achieve high switching frequencies, which in turn enables smaller filter components to be used. At the same time, switching losses can be reduced, higher power densities achieved, and overall system efficiency increased.

AI helps to avoid downtime

Electronics also play a crucial part in keeping wind turbines in operation for a long time while remaining economical. Thanks to ever-higher levels of connectivity and digitalisation, it is even possible to monitor operating parameters in real time. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is increasingly being used in the process. All relevant parameters and measured data within an entire wind farm are gathered and processed in order to recreate the current operating and maintenance state of the individual turbines. To perform this task, the AI learns to recognise indicators such as specific vibrations or component temperature increases as symptoms of damage. With this information for example, it is possible to determine whether certain components will soon fail, and to replace them before an entire wind turbine goes offline.

Furthermore, the operational management systems in individual turbines can be coordinated with one another. One benefit of this is enabling turbines arranged in series to be aligned such that they extract as much power from the wind as possible.

Innovative concepts with wind power

A wind turbine design featuring a horizontal axis and rotor blades has become the most widespread worldwide. Yet more “traditional” rotor models could face stiff competition from a number of exciting projects. To name one example, start-up company Vortex Bladeless has developed a concept that manages perfectly well without rotor blades or turbines. The systems essentially consist of a column made to vibrate by the wind. In turn, these vibrations are then converted to electricity by a generator. Vortex Bladeless estimates that the electricity generated by such vertical systems could be 40 per cent cheaper than that gained from conventional wind turbines. However, the power yield from this innovative design is considerably lower than traditional models.

The airborne wind energy systems developed by SkySails Power are based on an altogether different principle. Driven by the wind, automatically controlled power kites rise in figures of eight. As they gain altitude, they unwind a tether from a winch, and the connected generator then produces electricity. As soon as the tether has reached its maximum length, the retraction phase begins. The kite automatically returns to a position where its traction is very low, enabling it to be recovered without much resistance. The generator then acts like a motor to reel the tether in.

This retraction process requires a fraction of the energy generated during the work phase. “The systems operate extremely quietly, are inconspicuous in the landscape, and cast barely any shadows,” says Stephan Wrage, CEO of SkySails Power. As he explains, these advantages can help to increase the acceptance of wind power even further. “This all makes SkySails’ technology a fascinating concept for renewable power generation using wind energy,” Wrage adds.

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Hydrogen is an energy source with enormous potential. The gas has a lot of energy, burns cleanly and can be transported easily. Additionally, it can be stored reliably for a long period of time. It will be able to play a large part in achieving the Paris Agreement by 2050. EU Commissioner for Internal Market, Thierry Breton, said: “Clean hydrogen plays a key role in the race to decarbonise numerous sectors of our economy. As a central element of the European Green Deal, renewable and low-carbon hydrogen will not only contribute to the green energy transition. But also represent significant business opportunities for EU companies.”

Sustainable production

On Earth, hydrogen practically only exists in the form of a chemical compound, for example in water, methane or biomass. In order to be able to use it as an energy source, it first has to be released from these compounds. This is carried out using energy in the form of electricity or high-temperature heat. Research is being carried out globally into producing “green”, i.e. sustainably generated, gas in large-scale industrial quantities in a way that is cost-effective.

The main focus is on two methods here: electrolysis and solar-thermal processes. In electrolysis, water is split into hydrogen and oxygen using electricity. This technology has already been developed to an advanced stage: for example, in Germany an electrolysis output of a total of 30 megawatts has now already been installed and supplied with renewable energy. However, there is currently still room for further development when it comes to the efficiency of electrolysis, as – in simple terms – 100 watts of electricity currently produces around 20 watts of hydrogen. The aim is to increase this efficiency to 75 per cent.

Solar-thermal process

In the solar-thermal process, hydrogen is produced directly using the heat energy from the sun due to a thermochemical redox reaction. During this process, the light from the sun is concentrated into a focal point by a number of mirrors. This results in temperatures of around 1,500 degrees Celsius. In theory, this process has an energetic efficiency level of 30 to 50 per cent – in practice, the yield of solar-thermal hydrogen production is, however, currently only around four per cent according to the German Aerospace Centre. The area that offers the most potential for improvement is reactor materials that enable the required redox processes at lower temperatures.

An additional option for hydrogen production is photoelectrochemical water splitting. In this process, solar modules convert solar energy directly into chemical energy by splitting water into oxygen and hydrogen. The level of efficiency is currently around eight per cent for this process. However, in order to ensure profitable operation, costs need to be optimised further and the efficiency of solar hydrogen production needs to be improved even further. For example, a silicon multi-stack solar cell was developed at the Forschungszentrum Jülich (Jülich research centre) for this purpose; this system is based on thin-film technology. It uses significantly less material than the conventional wafer technology and can therefore be produced more cheaply.

Easy transportation of hydrogen

In principle, however, the systems have to be set up where sustainable energy is cheap in order to be able to produce hydrogen inexpensively at large scale. In a roadmap for Germany, researchers at the Fraunhofer Institutes ISI and ISE assume that there are regions in which electricity generation costs are below three euro cents per kilowatt-hour due to photovoltaic systems and wind turbines and the full load hours (FLH) for these kinds of installations are at least 4,000 FLH per year.

This means that the gas has to be transported. It can be transported directly in liquid form similar to liquid natural gas; it can also be transported as a chemical compound – as ammonia, methanol or LOHC.

LOHC technology now enables it to be transported and stored reliably and efficiently. The gaseous hydrogen is made into a compound with a harmless carrier fluid here. Just a single litre of carrier fluid can carry over 650 litres of the gas. The oily substance is very similar to common fuels when it comes to its handling and physical characteristics. It can also be transported easily and hazard-free using tankers and trains. This is because LOHC is not classified as a hazardous substance. In addition, it can be reused once it is separated, thus enabling a closed-loop system.

The technologies with hydrogen exist

“From our point of view, the technological basis for the entire value-added chain exists,” says Prof. Christopher Hebling, Division Director of Hydrogen Technologies at the Fraunhofer Institute ISE. “Now it is essential that the groundwork is laid such that the scale-up succeeds in further reducing costs and gathering operating experience.”

Green hydrogen will be able to be produced at competitive prices as early as the 2030s. According to the Hydrogen Council, an international initiative from various companies, costs will fall by up to 50 per cent by 2030. “2020 marks the beginning of a new era for energy. As the potential for hydrogen to become part of our energy system becomes a reality, we can expect fewer emissions and improved security and flexibility. This announces the decade of hydrogen,” said Benoît Potier, Chairman and CEO of Air Liquide and Co-chair of the Hydrogen Council.

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Streaming, chatting, posting – it all takes power. Every click causes carbon emissions. “Digitalisation means more data, more computing capacity, more data centres,” says E.ON executive board member Karsten Wildberger. “All data centres consume huge amounts of power. In 2030, up to 13 per cent of the world’s electricity demand will be taken up by data centres.” The technological leap to the 5G mobile communications standard alone will dramatically increase the energy consumption of data centres. That is the conclusion of a study commissioned by E.ON and conducted by RWTH Aachen University. According to the study, 5G might increase the already rapidly rising power demand in German data centres by an additional almost 3.8 terawatt-hours by 2025. That would be enough electricity to supply 2.5 million people. For example all people in the cities of Cologne, Düsseldorf and Dortmund for a year.

Energy consumption per gigabit falling

But there is also positive news from the sector. Although the demand for computing power has increased 10-fold over the past ten years thanks to ongoing digitalisation, the energy consumption per gigabit in data centres is twelve times lower than in 2010. At the same time, carbon emissions from data centres across Europe are falling. They are predicted to fall 30 per cent by 2030. Those are the findings of a recent study by the Borderstep Institute. They were based on the fact that more and more data centres are using power from renewable energy sources. And that the energy efficiency of the data centres has also improved significantly.

Potential for more energy efficiency

It can be gauged by the so-called Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE). In this calculation, the total power consumed by the data centre is set in relation to that of its computers. The theoretical target value is 1. If as much power is required for the data centre infrastructure as for its IT systems, for example, the PUE value is 2. The typical average for data centres is currently 1.67, so there is still significant room for improvement.

Technologies for data centre cooling and air-conditioning offer the greatest potential. The use of waste heat, in particular, can greatly improve energy efficiency. One example is the Micro data centre in the Eurotheum, a 110 metre-tall skyscraper in Frankfurt am Main. With the aid of a water-based direct cooling system, around 70 per cent of the facility’s waste heat is utilised to heat offices and meeting rooms in the building as well as the on-site hotels and restaurants. The waste heat from all the data centres in Frankfurt am Main could even cover a lot by 2030. For example the entire heating requirements of private homes and office buildings in the city.

More efficient chipsets

The data centre servers themselves, which consume around half of the total power, also offer great potential for improved energy efficiency. Chip manufacturers are developing ever more energy-efficient CPUs (central processing units) to that end, and multi-core technology or the use of GPUs (graphics processing units) is making it possible to process higher loads with less power. Most CPUs also have power management features that optimise consumption by dynamically switching between different power states depending on the workload.

Low-consumption power supplies

The power supply unit that converts the incoming alternating current into direct current accounts for about 25 per cent of a server’s power consumption – second only to that of the CPU. Wide-bandgap semiconductors in the power electronics provide significantly improved efficiency in this respect. With the help of gallium nitride (GaN), the weight, size, cost and energy consumption of power supplies can be significantly reduced. High-speed GaN switch technology enables 200 per cent higher power density in next-generation data centres. Which means much less cooling is needed.

Another approach is to convert the data centre power supply from alternating to direct current. That could eliminate most of the conversion steps between the in-feed and the terminal device. Energy efficiency could be increased by more than ten per cent in this way.

Already on the way

Tech giants such as Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple and Microsoft are already streamlining computing processes, switching to renewables and looking for more efficient ways to cool data centres and recycle their waste heat. Apple claims that all its data centres are already running fully on renewable energy. The tech giants are in fact taking the lead in investing the most in solar and wind power. At least, that is what the figures from the International Energy Agency (IEA) reported to Bloomberg show.

Digitalisation reducing carbon emissions

However, when considering the power consumption and carbon footprint of data centres, it is important to remember that digital technologies can save far more greenhouse gas emissions than their operation causes. For example, a study by digital association Bitkom indicates that carbon emissions in Germany will be reduced by as much as 151 megatonnes of CO₂ over the next ten years based on the targeted and accelerated implementation of digital solutions. Digitalisation itself emits only 22 megatonnes. Christian Noll, executive director of the German Corporate Energy Efficiency Initiative, comments: “Digitalisation is helping to make energy use more intelligent, economical and cheaper in many areas. It is essential to utilise that potential. At the same time, we need more and more data centres to further expand these services. So, the efficient operation of data centres will be key to attaining climate goals in the future.”

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Power grids have an essential role to play in achieving carbon-neutrality. In a decentralised, renewable energy system, these grids connect onshore and offshore wind farms. And, producing zero-carbon electricity with private and industrial consumers. Between 2021 and 2030, investment in new transmission grids will run to an estimated EUR 152 billion in EU member states.

Optimising existing grids

In this context, renewing grid infrastructure is not the only factor that will improve its transmission potential. Numerous technologies to boost the performance of existing grids are already available. “Grid optimisation technologies allow us to make more of the grids we already have. They reduce how much we need to spend on new grid infrastructure. They give us more efficient grids which can accommodate more renewables and reduce the amount of wind and solar that we need to curtail,” says Giles Dickson, CEO of industry association WindEurope. He also notes that most grid optimisation technologies are already tried-and-tested and available.

Using real-time-monitoring systems, transmission lines can be pushed closer to their thermal limits in operation. This enables the maximum capacity to be utilised more effectively without compromising safety. One other technology concerns electronic systems that monitor transformers’ operating parameters. Such  as oil temperature, ambient temperature, or load to simplify maintenance and reduce accidents. Beyond mere data acquisition, embedded smart features can be combined with AI at device level to create ageing models or perform hotspot calculations. All with the aim of enabling predictive maintenance. Communication takes place via a secure network or using wireless or mobile communications. New transformer technology improves the grid’s controllability, reduces malfunctions, and opens up connection to direct-current grids.

Long-range energy transmission

DC power grids in particular are becoming more important as the requirement of linking up renewable-energy sources becomes more common. After all, major sources of renewable energy are usually far away from consumers – offshore wind farms being a good example. As it is predominantly equipped with established AC (alternating-current) technology, the existing grid cannot provide the kinds of capacity required to transport these amounts of electricity, however. What’s more, too much energy is lost during transmission over long distances with AC technology.

For this reason, HVDC (high-voltage direct-current) transmission systems are becoming more and more important. Here – at the supply end of the process – the alternating current is initially converted into direct current before transmission. In the receiving station, the current is then converted back to AC for it to be consumed. This technology enables transmission losses to be reduced by 30 to 50 per cent on average. Compared to a three-phase grid.

“HVDC technology is making a major contribution to a carbon-neutral future energy landscape by enabling widespread integration of renewable-energy generation over long distances,” explains Niklas Persson, Managing Director Grid Integration at Hitachi ABB Power Grids. For the NordLink project – the “green cable” for exchanging German wind power with Norwegian hydropower – the company supplied both converter stations, among other things. Without HVDC technology, the losses in energy transmission using the world’s longest power link via undersea cable would simply have been much too high.

Converting electricity more efficiently

Two essential converter technologies are used in converter stations for modern HVDC systems: conventional line-commutated converters (LCCs) and voltage source converters (VSCs). The latter comprise an array of “sub-modules” arranged in series that are made up of IGBT half-bridges with storage capacitors. They facilitate considerably higher grid stability, significantly reduce electrical losses, and minimise the effort involved in filtering. Moreover, the use of power electronics with a silicon carbide (SiC) base promises exceptionally low switching and power losses, not to mention high reliability. According to Mitsubishi Electric, losses in semiconductors can be reduced by up to 50 per cent in this case, meaning that even more valuable “clean” energy from renewable sources will reach consumers.

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Around 30 to 70 billion devices constituted the Internet of Things (IoT) in 2020. And even if estimates vary significantly, one thing is certain: the number of devices will only keep increasing. It also goes without saying that these devices need energy. As early as 2014, the International Energy Agency (IEA) warned that the electricity consumption of all the networked devices around the world was around 616 terawatt hours. This estimate was based on 14 billion networked devices back then. This is roughly equal to what households across Germany use each year in final energy.

Finding sustainable solutions to provide power to IoT devices is therefore a significant step in combating climate change. One option to consider is “energy harvesting”. This is an umbrella term for different technologies that use energy from the environment. For example, they could generate electricity from movement and vibrations, air currents or differences in temperature. When this happens, the output achieved usually ranges between 0.0001 and 500 milliwatts. “Energy harvesting solutions form the basis for supplying electricity to a number of batteryless IoT applications. Which will make our lives easier in the future as part of the digital transformation,” says Dieter Bauernfeind of ElecCon technology with certainty. Together with the Deggendorf Institute of Technology and Lintech, his company is, for example, developing an energy generator with wireless functionality to connect from anywhere and which generates electricity from mechanical movement. The system is to be put to use in logistics.

Generating energy from movement

This is where piezoelectric materials come into play. They generate electricity in response to mechanical stimuli such as vibration or movement. Piezoelectric energy harvesters can now be put to use. One way of doing this is using MEMS technology. So, using the harvesters as tiny components that combine logic elements and micro-mechanical structures in a single chip.

Another technology that produces energy from movement is being used by a group of researchers at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. They use a special intelligent macrofibre material that generates energy when any sort of deformation occurs. The researchers used this to construct an energy harvester that can be attached to the wearer’s knee. It generates 1.6 microwatts of energy when the wearer walks. This is enough energy to power a fitness tracker, for example.

Electricity from LED light

Photovoltaics are another significant energy source. However, many IoT devices are installed inside buildings, where there is no bright sunlight. The light received there usually totals only 30 to 50 lux. By contrast, direct sunlight can reach up to 130,000 lux. Therefore, a team of researchers from Uppsala University has developed special indoor photovoltaic cells. These are based on copper complex electrolytes. Which can convert light from fluorescent lamps and LEDs to electricity with 34 per cent efficiency. “Knowing the spectra of these light sources makes it possible to use special dyes to absorb indoor light,” explains Marina Freitag. She is the Assistant Professor at the Department of Chemistry at Uppsala University.

Radio waves and heat as energy sources

Even radio waves are a type of energy from the environment. One pioneer in harnessing this energy source is Drayson Technologies. The company has now brought the third generation of its Freevolt technology to market; this can produce electricity from NFC, mobile or Wi-Fi networks. When doing so, the solution can reach an “RF-to-DC” efficiency level of up to 80 percent – delivering enough energy to power a modern smart card, for example.

There is a lot of energy in the heat that is emitted by everything from engines and machines to the human body, for example. Depending on the physical characteristics of the thermoelectric material and the quantity of thermal energy available, thermoelectric generators can generate between 20 and 10 microwatts per square centimetre.

As the profile of energy harvesting generators is notably different to that of a battery, special power management interfaces are required. For example, these control calculation processes in the chip, depending on the energy available. Furthermore, they convert current and voltage to a level that can be used to operate the IoT device. Chip manufacturers also now offer special ICs. They are often able to manage the energy from different sources, and make the integration of energy harvesting into an IoT device significantly easier.

Several environmental benefits

Even though the potential energy gained through energy harvesting is not insignificant, there are two even stronger arguments for its use: energy harvesting solutions significantly reduce the maintenance costs for IoT devices, as the batteries have to be replaced much less frequently. The ideal situation would be to get rid of the battery completely, preventing toxic materials from entering the environment. Therefore, there are several arguments in favour of energy harvesting solutions. Correspondingly, market prospects for this technology are optimistic: according to a Market Study Report, the global energy harvesting market will grow by an average of 10.15 per cent year on year from 2020 until 2028, reaching a total volume of around 9.45 billion US dollars.

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Sustainable energy sources are often referred to as being “endless”. But is that really true? Is there really enough renewable energy available worldwide for a sustainable arrangement of material flows in our society without pushing the planet’s limits?

Fuel for the Earth

Essentially, planet Earth is a system that exchanges exclusively energy with its surroundings. The vast majority of the energy brought into the system is solar radiation. Accompanied by negligible amounts of energy from planetary movement and geothermal heat. In the past, these energy flows were always completely used up by the Earth itself. Its many subsystems such as the oceans, atmosphere, forests and reflective frozen surfaces, have effectively been “kept running” by them. Most of these subsystems convert the occurring energy into other renewable energy streams. Such as wind flows and water currents, or into the production of biomass. Exergy, the free energy available from the prevailing energy streams, is derived in the process. Irrespective of the way energy is used, whether in the Earth’s natural system or the man-made technosphere, all energy is ultimately radiated back into space.

Solar farms also have a climate impact

If humans increasingly siphon off renewable energy from these streams for their activities, the amount of energy available to the Earth’s own system will reduce. The planet can offset such imbalances up to a certain point. However, if they are too large, the risk of passing tipping points will increase. The result would be fast and irreversible changes to the Earth’s system: these include the polar ice caps melting, which would in turn accelerate climate change. To avoid going beyond these tipping points, the size of the land area used cannot be more than what the planet can handle. In addition, how this area is used also makes a difference. For instance, solar farms in place of forests disrupt bio-diversity, the evaporation of water and – in the process – the hydrological cycle, the reflection of heat into space, and much more.

The same upper limits apply for harvesting chemical energy – such as for agriculture and forestry, food and fodder, heating material, fuel, and construction materials – as for solar energy. In many areas, generating technical energy is in conflict with food production.

In order to compare and add up the various potentials in renewable energy, the Empa researchers converted them into electrical energy equivalents, expressed in terms of the efficiency levels of currently available power plant technology. Here, it makes a difference if electricity is generated from solar energy, from wood, or from hydropower. These conversion losses considerably diminish the potential yield of certain potentials once more.

The earth needs most energy for itself

The study’s conclusion is surprising: 99.96 per cent of the energy arriving on Earth from space is used to power the planet’s energy system or required for food production, leaving just 0.04 per cent available for technical use. That does not sound like a lot. However, in actual fact, this potential is still around ten times the world’s total energy requirements today.

The result of looking at conversion losses is less surprising. Available energy should preferably be harvested and used with solar cells. After all, almost all renewable energy resources – including wind power, hydropower, and biomass production – are ultimately driven by the sun. Using solar energy directly means fewer conversion steps and, therefore, fewer losses overall.

Even less available sustainable energy

So, will the problem be solved if we simply build countless solar farms? Naturally, it is not that simple. In their study, the team from Empa only looked at the first step – calculating the available energy potential. The amount of energy that is actually available will be smaller: limiting factors include the availability of raw materials, financial capital and manpower, the environmental impact of sourcing raw materials or production, managing waste from and operating the facilities concerned, and the need for additional energy distribution and storage infrastructure.

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More and more governments and organisations have committed to the goal of climate neutrality. They are seeking to significantly expand the use of renewable energy sources and improve energy efficiency. But that alone will not be enough. Because, it will not be possible to achieve the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement in time without negative emission technologies.

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), at least 15 per cent of the necessary emission reductions will have to be realised through carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) technologies. That means an almost 100-fold increase in CCUS capacity by 2050. Dr Carsten Rolle, secretary general of the German Member Committee of the World Energy Council, is also convinced. “The Paris climate goals will not be achievable without integrating negative emissions into climate protection strategies. It is all the more urgent for policy-makers and society at large to discuss and promote further development and application.”

Balancing out unavoidable emissions

Climate neutrality, as enshrined in the Paris Climate Agreement, means achieving a balance between the emission of man-made greenhouse gas emissions on the one hand and the removal of gases by sinks on the other. It is for those sinks that negative emission technologies are needed. Because, despite all the progress made in expanding renewable energy sources and reducing energy consumption, there will still be greenhouse-gas emissions in the future. And they can only be avoided – if at all – at very high cost. This creates the need for negative emissions to be removed from the atmosphere. Added to this is the need to compensate for emissions caused by time lags in climate protection efforts. “The later the goal of completely avoiding all anthropogenic emissions is achieved, the greater the need for negative emission technologies and sinks will be later on,” asserts Carsten Rolle.

Long-term underground storage

Carbon capture has been used for decades to improve the quality of natural gas. Thanks to new technologies, however, CO₂ can now also be stored for long periods of time. Like in Iceland, for example. There, Swiss company Climeworks is building the world’s largest Direct Air Carbon Capture and Storage (DACCS) facility for the fossilisation of atmospheric CO₂. It extracts carbon dioxide from the ambient air and releases CO₂-free air back into the atmosphere. The CO₂ filtered from the air is transported below the Earth’s surface. Where it reacts with the basalt rock through natural processes. And over a period of several years mineralises to form carbonates. This permanently removes the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The facility will run 24/7, filtering 4,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere a year.

Carbon capture and storage offers a potential solution for the raw material industries in particular. And most especially for the cement industry, which currently has no prospect of attaining carbon neutrality. As one example, starting in 2024 a facility at Heidelberg Cement’s Brevik cement works in Norway will capture 400,000 tonnes of CO₂ annually. Which will then be permanently stored. The aim is to reduce the CO₂ emissions of the cement produced at the plant by 50 per cent.

From climate gas to raw material

The permanent storage of carbon dioxide is only one possibility, however. A still more exciting prospect is to imbue the CO₂ “waste product” with value, transforming it into marketable industrial and commercial products. CO₂ is a versatile molecule that can be chemically converted into a wide range of products. Including motor fuels, chemicals, building materials and polymers. The Covestro corporation, for example, has developed a technology by which CO₂ can be used as a raw material for sustainable plastics. “The plastics industry can contribute to combating climate change by switching to greenhouse gas-neutral production. To achieve that, we need to move away from oil and use alternative raw materials such as CO₂,” says Covestro CEO Dr Markus Steilemann.

The process uses chemical catalysts to drive reactions between CO₂ and a conventional feedstock. This produces polymers in a more sustainable and economically viable way. Although the process can only replace the crude oil in part, it does produce plastics whose constituents can be more easily recycled. The CO₂-based material is already used to make soft foam for mattresses, padding in shoes, and in car interiors. Elastic textile fibres are on the verge of attaining market maturity. Research projects have shown that CO₂ can also be used for insulating materials made of rigid foam. Additionally for surfactants, such as in detergents.

In this way, harmful climate gas has been turned into a valuable raw material. And a further, sustainable step has been taken towards climate neutrality.

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Modernising the world’s motors is essential in the fight against climate change. It will reduce the world’s carbon footprint. Imagine adding seven new Amazon rainforests to the world,” says Ryan Morris, Chairman and CEO of electric-motor manufacturer Turntide Technologies. Turntide has developed a variable-speed motor around 25 per cent more efficient than conventional motors. By combining cutting-edge computer and software control with a switched reluctance motor. Customers have boosted the efficiency of their heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning systems by 65 per cent. This was done, by replacing old, fixed-speed motors with Turntide’s variable-speed models.

Electricity savings of ten per cent

Independent research results show that global electricity demand could be reduced by up to ten per cent. And all of this, by switching inefficient motors for optimised, highly efficient systems. “It is impossible to overestimate the contribution that industry and infrastructure making the switch to these extremely energy-efficient motors. And drive systems would make to a more sustainable society,” emphasises Morten Wierod, President of the Motion Business Area at ABB.

All over the world, there are varying legal requirements and regulatory framework conditions. They should increase the energy efficiency of electric motors. In the European Union, for example, there is the Ecodesign Directive (EU 2019/1781) with strict requirements for the energy efficiency of motors and variable-speed systems. The aim of this directive is to save 110 terawatt-hours annually by 2030. Which is roughly the amount of electricity consumed by the Netherlands. So this would avoid emitting 40 million tonnes of CO₂ a year. And also trim annual energy costs for households and industry in the EU by around 20 billion euros by 2030. When it comes to electric motors, the directive differentiates between four efficiency classes. Whose current thresholds range from IE1 (the lowest class) to IE4. As for the motors, various IE classes are defined for inverters, and IES classes for motor-inverter combinations.

Varying speed for higher efficiency

However, the use of high-efficiency components only provides a basis for a drive system that consumes as little energy as possible. The greatest potential can only be leveraged if the design and movement profiles correspond to the actual process requirements. The use of inverters to adapt the power or the infeed of braking energy into the intermediate circuit are further options for optimisation. Variable-speed motors can reduce energy consumption by 30 to 50 per cent by supplying the exact amount of power actually needed.

To name one example, sausage maker Rügenwalder Mühle has replaced the fan motors for its 30 smoking chambers with cutting-edge IE4 packages from ABB. Instead of the old, two-stage, pole-changing asynchronous motors, the fans are now driven by a combination comprising a synchronous reluctance motor and frequency inverter. The motor contains a rotor that does away with magnets or coils, unlike conventional synchronous-motor designs. Power losses due to the rotor, which make up around 40 per cent of an electric motor’s energy losses, are almost entirely avoided for this reason. And enabling total energy savings of almost 50 per cent. For Rügenwalder Mühle, this meant that the investment had already paid for itself after a little over a year.

Saving electricity with power electronics

IE4 designs are also found in many other motor types. Whether three-phase asynchronous motors, motors with permanent magnets, or EC  motors. The motors can all be combined with a frequency inverter, enabling them to function as a variable-speed drive system. Some, such as the EC motor or synchronous reluctance motor, essentially also require an electronic controller for operation. As in many areas of the energy landscape, this means that power electronics play a major part. Especially in the overall system’s energy efficiency. As early as several years ago, market analysts at Navigant recommended that wide-bandgap semiconductors should be used in place of conventional semiconductors for this reason. Especially those wide-bandgap semiconductors with a silicon carbide base.

A motor developed by automotive supplier Marelli in collaboration with the Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration (IZM) for Formula E shows just what this material can do. The extremely compact power stage with a silicon carbide base delivers the same power output as a silicon-based design with a conversion efficiency of up to 99.5 per cent. Furthermore, it reduces the weight and size by half. Additionally, it boasts up to 50 per cent more heat dissipation into the cooling system.

“Compared to other focus areas, industrial energy efficiency has the single greatest potential for fighting the climate emergency,” summarises ABB manager Morten Wierod. “It is essentially the invisible solution for the climate problems our world faces.”

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Buildings account for around 40 per cent of Europe’s total energy consumption. And almost as high a proportion of its CO₂ emissions. There is great potential for reducing the energy-related greenhouse gas emissions created by space and water heating in particular.

Heat pumps for older buildings too

In some European countries, heating by renewable energy sources using heat pumps has become the standard in new-build projects. Heat pumps can now also be used in older buildings. Which usually require higher flow temperatures of up to 70 degrees Celsius. That is thanks to more efficient refrigerants and new compressor technologies. A field test conducted by Fraunhofer ISE showed that in old buildings with air-source heat pumps CO₂ emissions are 19 to 47 per cent lower than with a gas condensing boiler. And even as much as 57 per cent lower when using ground-source heat pumps.

Sun from the roof

The use of heat pumps is also particularly attractive. Some of the power needed to run them can be generated by a photovoltaic plant. “The more solar power is generated on the roof, the more the home-owner will be contributing to climate protection,” emphasises Prof. Dr Volker Quaschning. He is Professor of Renewable Energy Systems at the Berlin University of Applied Sciences HTW. A plant with a peak output of 10 kilowatts. Occupying about 50 to 60 square metres of the building’s roof, can prevent four to five tonnes of CO₂ emissions a year.

Solar power storage systems make energy available around the clock. Their efficiency is improving steadily, as Professor Quaschning has discovered. The HTW has to date investigated 20 storage systems, of which 13 were found to offer high efficiency. The HTW researchers believe the improved efficiency stems in part from the increased use of silicon carbide power semiconductors in the inverters. As a result, the most efficient systems achieve efficiency rates of over 97 per cent across a wide power range.

Hopes are pinned on hydrogen

However, the gas industry and manufacturers of conventional heating systems are sceptical. They do not know whether the transition to renewables in buildings can be implemented using electric heating systems alone. By 2050 there will be a mix of electrically powered heat generators. Together with gas condensing boilers and fuel cells using hydrogen. Great hopes are being pinned on hydrogen produced by carbon-neutral means. If 20 per cent hydrogen were added to natural gas, greenhouse-gas emissions could already be reduced by around seven per cent a year. It would in fact be fundamentally possible right now.

The use of hydrogen for heat generation in buildings is controversial, however. Nils Borg, executive director of the European Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, commented that “hydrogen is not a viable option when it comes to heating buildings. It takes about five times more wind or solar electricity to heat a home with hydrogen. Than it takes to heat the same home with an efficient heat pump.”

HPS Home Power Solution has taken the interaction of different renewable energy systems to its peak. Its “picea” home storage system comprises a battery (25 kilowatt) as a short-term storage system. Alkaline electrolysis (70 to 80 per cent efficiency) for seasonal chemical storage (1,500 kilowatt-hours) in the form of green hydrogen. With a PEM fuel cell (45 to 55 per cent electrical efficiency) power is regenerated from the hydrogen for household use and to run a heat pump. By integrating the waste heat from the fuel cell into the heat cycle, a total utilisation rate of 90 per cent of the electrical energy from the photovoltaic plant is achieved throughout the year.

Sustainable buildings save energy

Digital technology is important to climate-friendly sustainable buildings. A smart home automatically turns down the radiators when a window is opened. Or turns off the lights when the occupants head out to work. Digital solutions are also deployed in large office complexes and other business premises to automatically regulate the heating, ventilation or air conditioning depending on weather conditions or the number of employees in the building. According to the digital association Bitkom, assuming a modest rate of spread of the relevant technologies, smart homes and intelligent, connected buildings can save around 16 megatonnes of CO₂ by 2030 in Germany alone.

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Electromobility has made great technological advances in recent years. According to a new study by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF), electric-powered cars and vans will be cheaper to produce than vehicles with combustion engines in all classes in Europe by 2027 at the latest. The study found that falling battery costs and dedicated production lines for electric vehicles will be key factors in reducing the average selling price. Even without subsidies. That would solve a major acceptance problem in relation to electric vehicles: their high price.

Increasing range of electromobility

The second reason frequently cited for deciding against an electric vehicle is the range. But rapid advances are being made in that respect, too. Tesla’s cars already achieve a range of more than 650 kilometres. While the Air model from Lucid Motors even stretches to over 830 kilometres thanks to its extremely low drag, light weight and more efficient power electronics. Tesla has likewise been using wide-bandgap semiconductors (in this case silicon carbide) in its Model 3’s main inverter since 2018. Because improving its efficiency and saving weight and space for cooling.

Raghu Das, CEO of IDTechEx: “VW Group and many others work on structural batteries and supercapacitors to increase range. Meanwhile, Tesla and Lucid commercialise a first step in that direction.” There is also an emerging trend towards the use of higher voltages between 800 and 1,000 volts in vehicle powertrains. This can increase efficiency and save weight. “We are currently working on the start of production for several premium 800-volt projects,” says Bert Hellwig. He is responsible for electric drive system development at ZF.

Battery charged in ten minutes

Despite all the progress made in electromobility, the key to success, and the cornerstone of change in mobility, is the charging infrastructure. A variety of different systems are used. Most charging stations in use at present are AC systems, featuring a module on-board the vehicle that converts the alternating current into direct current. There, the charging power is 22 and 11 kilowatts respectively.

The remaining charging stations are faster DC systems with a charging power of between 30 and 50 kilowatts, with the rectifier located in the charging station. The first high-power charging stations have also now been put into operation. They charge vehicle batteries with a power output of up to 350 kilowatts. Europe’s most powerful charging station can even achieve 400 kilowatts. Manufacturer Ingeteam is using silicon carbide-based MOSFETs. They enable the battery to be charged to 80 per cent within ten minutes, depending on the vehicle’s charging power. That is comparable to refuelling a conventional car with combustion engine.

Less dependent on charging stations

The integration of photovoltaic cells into vehicle bodies also promises to reduce charging stops. One example is the Sion from Sono Motors: “We have found a way to provide sustainable, cost-free energy across different forms of transport by replacing the traditional painting process with integrated solar technology,” says Jona Christians, co-founder and CEO of Sono Motors. The solar technology from Sono Motors is cheaper, lighter and much more efficient than conventional glass solar cells. The integrated solar cells in the Sion provide up to 245 kilometres of additional range per week in addition to the battery charge.

Electric trucks too

Over 35 per cent of transport emissions are attributable to commercial vehicles, according to the German Federal Environment Agency. In view of this, all truck manufacturers are committed to electrifying their fleets, but are still divided as to whether purely battery-electric or fuel cell vehicles are the right way to go. Volvo Trucks, for example, is planning to use hydrogen fuel cells primarily for heavy-duty long-haul transport. Hyundai is likewise committed to fuel cell technology, and has already launched its first trucks in Europe. The company is looking to introduce a completely new model series over the next few years. Two 200 kilowatt fuel cell systems will provide the 44 tonne truck with a range of 1,000 kilometres per tankful.

VW subsidiary Traton is focussing on battery-electric vehicles. It believes that all-electric trucks will in the vast majority of cases be a cheaper and more environmentally friendly solution than hydrogen, especially for long-haul journeys. As Traton CEO Matthias Gründler asserts: “Hydrogen trucks have a serious disadvantage compared to battery-electric e-trucks: only a quarter of their power output is ultimately transmitted to the drive system; three quarters is lost between the energy source and the road. With e-trucks that ratio is reversed.”

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