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Humans have been searching for ways to desalinate seawater to provide drinking water for centuries. Especially in arid areas of the world, governments and private companies have explored many technologies to convert saltwater into fresh water, using the abundant ocean to provide safe drinking water to areas facing acute freshwater shortages. However, this has been prohibitively expensive and impractical in the past. But now a Norwegian firm thinks it has created a new way to turn water using the power of waves.

The main reason companies shy away from desalination operations is high energy costs. It requires about ten times more energy than any other water source and also produces significant amounts of carbon emissions. Therefore, large-scale desalination projects require their own power plants to operate.

Desalination operations traditionally relied on boiling seawater to get rid of the salt. However, in recent decades more countries have been using reverse osmosis techniques, relying on high pressure to force salt water through a membrane and trap it. This process requires less energy, although it is still far from low energy, with only 4 kWh needed to produce one cubic meter of drinking water. In addition to high energy usage, desalination operations have significant installation costs that require expensive infrastructure and maintenance to run. For this reason, water conservation and reuse is more popular in areas where other water sources are available.

However, desalination has long been a popular technique in the Middle East, much of which is very arid and has difficult access to fresh water. Saudi Arabia introduced two special distillation condensers in the city of Jeddah in the early 1900s as the demand for potable water increased. Later, an independent government agency, the Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC), was established in 1974 to oversee desalination projects. And in the UAE, desalination operations provide about 42 percent of the country’s drinking water needs.

Currently, many desalination operations run on fossil fuels, which means they generate high levels of greenhouse gas emissions. As populations grow and desalination plants are built in the Middle East, there are concerns about their impact on climate change. However, plants can be powered by renewable energy sources such as solar energy, making them cleaner. But everything is not so simple. Laurent Lambert, Associate Professor of Water-Energy-Climate Public Policy at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, explains, “The first fundamental problem with plants is that most desalination infrastructure is not solar-ready. Second, solar panels need to be cleaned often, so you need water. Cleaning these panels will increase the existing water tension.

Now a Norwegian firm thinks it has the right way to ensure greener desalination operations. Ocean Oasis has built a wave-powered prototype device that it hopes will provide a blueprint for floating desalination operations. The ten-meter-high, seven-meter-diameter plant was installed in Las Palmas, Canary Islands, to test its productivity. Ocean Oasis believes its technology will enable “the production of fresh water from ocean waters by using wave energy to desalinize and pump drinking water to coastal users.”

Innovation Norway, Grieg Maritime Group, Gran Canaria Economic Promotion Society and other organizations provided financing for the project. The firm hopes the project will provide a more affordable way to desalinate the area, which has abundant saltwater resources. Low rainfall, high soil permeability, and overexploitation of aquifers means the region is facing water scarcity, seeking alternative ways to supply fresh water. The new technique will reduce dependence on fossil fuels to power desalination operations.

After the test, Ocean Oasis plans to build a second, expanded structure with the required capacity to produce water for consumption. Since wave and tidal energy projects are relatively few compared to other renewable energy sources, there are high hopes for the project’s use of wave power. Governments are beginning to increase funding for research and development of ocean energy projects, but this remains largely untapped.

The Canary Islands are not the only area looking to develop innovative desalination techniques, the US Department of Energy (DoE) has launched a competition with a $3.3 million prize for the most innovative wave-powered desalination proposals. In the Waves to Water Award, participants were asked to design, build and test devices that use wave energy to produce drinking water from salt water. Oneka Technologies has been awarded a $500,000 grand prize for its Oneka Snowflake device after a successful trial in North Carolina.

After years of trying to develop cost-effective desalination operations, the best large-scale projects we have to date remain extremely low-carbon. With the support of state governments, new innovative projects are now being seen that have the potential to convert brackish water into clean drinking water without damaging the environment. However, these projects remain at an early stage and will require significantly more funding to be implemented on a large scale.

By Felicity Bradstock for Oilprice.com

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It’s not just cars that will go through the energy transition in the coming years. Electric vehicle charging stations are a growing focus of construction efforts related to climate change and carbon reduction.

Under a law approved in France last month, parking lots with 80 or more spaces must be covered with solar panels within the next five years. For the largest parking lots, those with more than 400 spaces, at least half of the parking lot surface is covered by solar energy for three years.

Similar renewable energy design ideas are expected to gain more market share in the US, if not necessarily through federal mandate.

“You’re going to see a lot of the same things you’re seeing in France and other countries, but it probably won’t play out the same way in terms of federal action versus provincial action,” said Vice President Bill Abolt, president and head of the energy business for infrastructure consulting firm AECOM.

As local and state governments mandate renewable energy deployments and the federal government takes an incentive-based approach to promoting climate technology through measures like the Inflation Reduction Act, large corporations are making their solar commitments.

Target, Home Depot, Walmart and renewable energy

Target updated its fleet this spring, equipping one of its California stores with solar panels. Home Depot is pushing for all of its stores to use only renewable energy by 2030, while Walmart hopes to achieve that by 2040. These efforts won’t just be through on-site renewable energy generation—buying renewable energy at the utility scale. projects are among the strategic options to achieve these goals – but investing in solar energy for store locations will be more widespread.

“You have a lot of significant companies that have taken steps and made commitments with local governments and agencies on renewable energy and things like that. So there’s no question that this level of investment has accelerated the development of technology, the introduction of more cost-effective solar,” Abolt said. .

According to the Solar Energy Industry Association, solar installation costs have fallen by more than 60% in the past decade.

“There’s no doubt that the cost curve for solar is getting better and better all the time and will continue to do so. Private business has done a lot, and we see more private investment coming as a result,” Abolt said. .

Global commercial real estate firm CBRE has partnered with renewable energy company Altus Power to work with clients including many Fortune 500 companies on solar projects.

“Decarbonisation and energy efficiency and energy sustainability are the key themes for these corporations right now,” said Lars Norell, co-founder and CEO of Altus Power. “The No. 1 answer is clean energy in the building,” he said.

Now it’s possible to consider renewable energy projects for businesses of all sizes, Norell said.

“Something that Walmart, IKEA or Amazon is doing, small family businesses are coming to us and saying, ‘Should we be doing the same thing?’ Can our roof store solar energy?” In almost all of these cases, the answer is absolutely yes,” he said.

Public expectations and board pressure are key factors why large corporations move faster than smaller companies when it comes to renewable energy. “In many cases, small companies don’t have a large audience waiting for them to act, but many of them act out of self-interest or because they want to save money,” Norell said.

Solar energy and commercial real estate

Solar cars and rooftop solar are the main solar designs being adopted in the world of commercial real estate.

“We see that there is almost no debate around the wisdom of putting solar in the parking lot,” Norell said. “We believe that rooftop solar and parking lot solar will make it easier for most communities to not only adopt, but adopt clean energy.”

An increasing number of solar projects have been built on commercial parking lots in recent years, and state governments have created specific incentives for solar vehicles, including the 2018 Solar Massachusetts Renewable Target and the Maryland Energy Administration’s Solar Cap Grant Program, which provides funding. Encouraging the use of solar powered car parks and parking garages, along with EV chargers. It provided up to $250,000 for each solar car project, creating incentives for commercial enterprises to invest in the projects.

“With rising energy prices and more government support, like in France for example, we think there will be more car parks in parking lots,” Norell said.

Commercial retail centers and logistics buildings are prime targets for solar energy. Commercial retail centers, such as grocery stores, consume higher levels of energy and often have large parking lots. Logistics buildings such as warehouses have large rooftops that are optimal locations for applying solar energy.

Altus Power predicts that within the next decade, most buildings will have a solar energy system.

With the growing production and consumption of electric vehicles — the International Energy Agency says electric vehicle sales in the U.S. will double in market share to 4.5% in 2021 to 630,000 EVs — commercial solar-powered businesses are turning to EV chargers in parking lots. more useful for consumers in need. .

The same will be true for warehouses and distribution centers.

“Once you’re able to have fleets of electric vans and trucks, all the trucks come to those logistics buildings and it’s a great place to put fleet chargers, taking advantage of the opportunity to charge when the truck is full. It also has an electric battery,” he said. Norell. “We can charge it with clean electricity because we generate solar power on the roof and it goes into the truck.”

WINDSOR, NS – After nearly halving their energy costs after moving to a new location, the congregation of Windsor Baptist Church focused on what more could be done to reduce their impact on the environment.

It is now about to become a net zero object.

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The Rev. Rob Heffernan, lead pastor of Windsor Baptist Church, said he paid upwards of $25,000 a year in heating bills when he was housed in an 1898 building on King Street. In November 2019, the church held its last service in historic downtown Windsor, decommissioned the building, and moved to a more modern church, 219 Payzant Dr.

The move has cut bills by about half, he said.

“We believe that God cares for the earth and we should be stewards of it,” Heffernan said.

He said the congregation saw the effects of the climate crisis and wanted to do their part to make a difference. Church officials began looking at incorporating more green energy into the church. The concept of using solar energy came up and they started looking at it as a possibility.

“They were cautiously optimistic; (they) wanted more information,” Heffernan said of the community’s overall response, noting that members have been very open-minded to all the proposed changes over the years.

“We have some in the congregation who have recently purchased or are about to install panels on their homes,” said Heffernan, who noted that he is also considering solar panels for his Garlands Crossing home.

After doing some research, the assembly found Thermo Dynamics Ltd., headquartered in Halifax. decided to cooperate with The company has been producing solar energy products since its inception in 1981. President Peter Allen lives in Hants County.

“One of the guys in our church lives like that … and it happened to him and one thing led to another,” Heffernan said of a chance encounter with Allen.

The meeting wanted to ensure they were investing in a product and company that would be sustainable.

Heffernan said a lawyer drafted a contract with Thermo Dynamics and they are now proceeding with the installation of 98 solar panels.

“After we moved in, we always talked about becoming a net zero facility,” Heffernan said. Now they are on the verge of achieving this goal.

“The way it works is that you kind of de-energize the system during the winter months because there’s less sun, and you power the system up in the summer, so you’re running all year round. net zero for us,” he explained.

Nova Scotia Power is handling project approvals, Heffernan said.

Heffernan said the solar panels would cost about $107,000 to install, but they have a lease-like arrangement with the owner.

“We don’t have to preempt anything,” Heffernan said.

“He will host them and essentially, we pay him a monthly fee. Then he will get all the benefits from Nova Scotia Power until the $107,000 is paid,” he said.

Heffernan said they hope the project will pay off in about 10 years.

“If we pay it off early, there’s no interest or penalty.”

Heffernan said the public understands that the start-up costs for solar projects are high and that many people cannot afford the initial investment. But he said in the long run, the improvements will pay dividends for anyone who can go green.

“We’re just trying to be a good example.”

But Windsor Baptist Church isn’t the only one starting energy-efficient upgrades.

Robert E. Rushton noted that Port Williams United Baptist Church (PWUBC) is also in the midst of going solar.

“A generous donation from a donor has enabled PWUBC to begin installing a Photo Voltaic system on the roof of the church hall to harvest energy from the sun,” he said.

“By early 2023, the church hopes to remove both the oil tanks and furnace, install a new 200-amp outlet, two electric furnaces, and more than 30 solar panels.”

The second phase of the project will include the installation of more solar panels and a charging station for electric vehicles.

Rushton said the congregation is “excited to do our part to protect the environment.”

Carole Morris-Underhill is managing editor of the Valley Journal-Advertiser. He can be contacted via email [email protected] and followed @CMUnderhill on Twitter.