‘Railway Solar’ May Be a Sweet Spot for Green Transportation

With climate considerations becoming more important in infrastructure development, train travel and other alternatives to petroleum-powered cars have a renewed relevance.

Trains are far more efficient and less polluting than most cars. In research for my new company focused on providing solar power to electric trains, I’ve been pleasantly surprised at learning how efficient this transportation mode can really be.

Electric trains are 50 percent to 75 percent less polluting than single-passenger cars and trucks and use comparably less energy per passenger-mile, according to a 2009 detailed analysis by Chester and Horvath.

The emissions profile depends a lot, of course, on the grid mix of electricity. Some grids, like in California, the Pacific Northwest and New England, are fairly clean already due to a mix of hydropower, wind, solar, geothermal, nuclear and natural gas.

And over time, these grids are becoming cleaner. California, for example, now has a 50 percent mandate for renewable electricity by 2030. Regular cars are also becoming cleaner due to market forces and increasing fuel-efficiency requirements (CAFE) at the federal level, so the ratios may change a bit with time.

FIGURE 1: Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Various Transportation Modes

Source: Chester and Horvath, 2009
I’ve written previously about the problem posed by China and other developing nations wanting to join the Western model of widespread individual car ownership. Car ownership per capita in China, for example, is one-eighth what it is in the U.S. and far less than that in India.

Even if all of the billions of new cars in the world in the coming decades are electric vehicles and are relatively low-polluting, there will still be many issues relating to resource constraints and congestion, as well as higher-than-necessary emissions from what is inherently a less-efficient transportation mode than mass transit.

One readily available alternative to the private vehicle ownership model is to make public transportation so good that people will choose to take a train rather than drive, or to forgo private car ownership even if they could afford one or more of their own cars. This model is becoming a reality with the rapid growth of electric-train systems around the world, particularly in Asia.

For example, Chinese electric train systems have more than doubled in size over the last decade and are now at almost 70,000 miles of track, by far the biggest in the world. India is in second place, with about 40,000 miles of track and growing.

Electric trains are a type of electric vehicle (EV). This may seem to be an obvious point, but the discussion of EVs here at GTM and elsewhere rarely includes electric trains under this rubric. I’ve been guilty of this omission myself despite my longstanding love of trains, electric or otherwise. As EVs, electric trains can be more or less polluting based on the grid mix from which they draw power, as with EVs more generally.

My recent article rebutting a working paper on the environmental impacts of EVs highlighted the fact that the location of EVs matters a lot. If the EV at issue is powered entirely with local renewable energy, the whole system is almost emissions-free: the true sweet spot for global transportation.

For a personal EV, solar on home rooftops can power most families’ car travel needs. The equivalent for electric trains is what I call “railway solar”: putting solar on train station rooftops, parking lots and on solar canopies over or adjacent to the train tracks themselves.

Electric trains are so efficient that a single 300-watt solar panel (about 4x6 feet) can provide up to 7,000 miles of an individual’s commuting miles per year, or 5 to 20 miles per day. The national average, based on National Transportation Database data on the efficiency of the various U.S. electric train systems, is about 4,000 miles per year for each 300-watt solar panel. One mile of train tracks can support 1 megawatts to 3 megawatts of solar panels, which can provide 2 million and 6 million passenger-miles of train travel. Yes, million.

The passenger-miles provided by solar or other renewables is practically emissions-free, even if we include the energy costs required to manufacture and ship the panels.

FIGURE 2: Miles of Daily Train Travel per 300-Watt Solar Panel

Source: NTD data and NREL insolation data

These numbers highlight just how efficient electric trains can be. The equivalent miles from one 300-watt solar panel for a regular electric car -- my tiny Fiat 500e, for example -- would be just 1,600 miles per year, or about 40 percent of the national average for U.S. electric trains. So electric trains are about 2.5 times more efficient than most personal EVs, which are in turn about 2.5 to 3 times more efficient than a highly efficient internal-combustion engine.

Here's another way of looking at it: my Fiat could carry the equivalent of about one 300-watt panel on its upper surface, which would provide just 4.5 miles per day of driving, or 1,643 miles per year. That same panel would provide on average 4,000 passenger-miles per year. There is enough space in the existing rail infrastructure -- on train stations and near train tracks -- for enough solar panels to provide all of the electric train’s power demand.

These numbers translate to the ability to supply a majority or even all of U.S. electric train systems from solar power. For example, Chicago’s Metra Electric line (one of the busiest metro systems in the country) is 31 miles in length. If just 18 of those 31 miles were covered in solar at 1 megawatt per mile, these panels, taking into account the solar radiation in the Chicago area, could supply 100 percent of that line’s electric needs each year.

Other renewables

Wind power is another obvious option for powering electric trains with on-site renewables -- where there are strong wind resources. Distributed wind has not taken off in the U.S. anywhere near to the degree that distributed solar has, but it could be a viable option in many circumstances, particularly where there are state rebates to offset the cost of wind turbines. Wind power in desirable locations is still cheaper than power from solar panels, and can also complement solar power by producing power at night.

Biomass power is also somewhat modular, but highly dependent on feedstock. Dairy gas in California’s Central Valley, for example, could supply a significant amount of the electricity demand for the planned high-speed rail project.

Challenges facing electric trains

Nothing is perfect, and electric trains do have some downsides. We’ve seen many of these downsides highlighted in the debate over the California High-Speed Rail project, which is now under construction after years of delays.

High-speed trains are almost always electric because of the power and efficiency that electric trains offer. A notable exception to this rule can be found with the proposed coastal portion of the California HSR. Due to aesthetic concerns over the catenary lines of electric high-speed trains, the current plan is to make this portion, eventually going through my hometown of Santa Barbara, traditional diesel rather than electric.

Train tracks can require a lot of land, and there are certainly areas where people are hostile to giving up land for new trains, even with fair market compensation. This is partly why the costs of California’s high-speed train have ballooned from initial estimates: the cost of acquiring land for new trains, and the legal battles that follow, can be prohibitive. This is not a problem, however, when we’re dealing with existing train systems, since those battles have been fought and resolved. Efforts to solarize train systems should focus on existing rail rather than new rail systems.

Trains can be noisy, particularly high-speed trains, because they are traveling at such high speeds (upward of 200 miles an hour in many cases). One cool feature of solar canopies over train tracks, however, is that they can include noise-reduction features by enclosing one or both sides of the train with transparent glass. Even better, a number of companies are now working on very thin solar films that coat glass and can actually produce power while still allowing all visible light to go through. In such a case, noise-reduction glass could increase solar power production further, but with additional cost.

Speaking of cost, railway solar canopies will require increased costs in terms of additional support structure and engineering that is specific to the electric-train market. Solar carports are pretty comparable, but they are not as tall and don’t need to be as robust as railway solar canopies. We can expect, however, that the larger scales made possible with railway solar canopies (1 megawatts to 3 megawatts per mile of track) could cut back much of the increased cost of structural support and engineering due to economies of scale.

Is the future going to include significant amounts of solarized electric trains? Given current trends for solar panel prices and the dramatic growth of electric trains around the world, it does seem likely, purely from an economic point of view. When we add in the environmental and other benefits from solarizing electric trains, it becomes even more likely.

My last column looked at the potential for the hyperloop concept championed by Elon Musk and others inspired by his vision. I concluded that the concept has tremendous promise but that the cost of actual projects is a challenging factor. We’ll have to wait and see how real-world costs pan out as actual hyperloop projects start to get built.

Railway solar has very wide applicability even if hyperloops catch on. This is the case because hyperloops are by their nature appropriate for longer distance travel rather than commuter or light rail lines, which are the sweet spot for solar trains. Long-distance high-speed rail can and should be solarized, but if hyperloops end up displacing planned and/or actual high-speed trains, then solarized hyperloops ensure that renewables still power our transportation future.

My preferred future looks something like this: a network of solar-powered hyperloops connecting cities around the world; solar-powered commuter and light rail in each of those cities; and self-driving electric cars, ferrying people to and from train stations and hyperloop stops.

And, of course, those electric cars will also be powered primarily from solar and other renewables, either on peoples’ homes or from the ultra-clean power grid of the future.

Source by: https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/railway-solar-may-be-a-sweet-spot-for-green-transportation

HERE’S HOW MANY SOLAR PANELS WE’D NEED TO PROVIDE POWER FOR THE ENTIRE PLANET

Solar energy currently is an untapped resource, only providing 0.39 percent of the energy in the US. This figure is expected to increase exponentially in the coming years with some visionaries like Elon Musk predicting solar will become the dominant energy source by 2031. So what would the earth look like if it were powered by solar panels? Land Art Generator Initiative used some fancy calculations to find out.

The folks at Land Generator used 678 quadrillion BTUs, the predicted global energy consumption in 2030, as the basis for their calculations. They converted this figure to 198,721,800,000,000 kilowatt-hours and then divided it by 400 kilowatt-hours of solar energy production per square meter of land to calculate the square footage of solar panels necessary to supply the earth with power. This 400 kilowatt-hours value was calculated based on the assumption of 20 percent solar panel efficiency, 70 percent sunshine days each year, and the measurement that 1,000 watts of solar energy hits each square meter of land on the Earth.

According to Land Art’s calculations, we would need 496,805 square kilometers or 191,817 square miles of solar panels to provide renewable power for the entire Earth. This solar panel requirement is roughly equivalent to the land mass of Spain. When looking at it globally, it is a small amount of land for a lot of energy.

Of course, this is an estimate that could change. This calculation is based current technology that is 20 percent efficient at harvesting the energy from sunlight and further assumes solar energy would be sole energy provider. If this efficiency were improved or other renewable energies were used to supply power, the amount of land mass required would shrink even further. We also wouldn’t have to take over an entire country — these panels could be spread out on the rooftops of houses and buildings around the world.

According to the US Department of Energy, the sun bombards the earth with 430 quintillion joules of energy each hour of the day. This single hour of sunlight would supply the earth with all the energy it needs for an entire year. With such an abundant energy source and so little land mass required for harvesting it, it would be shocking if we didn’t fully utilize this resource in the upcoming decades.

source by:http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/solar-panel-spain-energy/

New York State Pledges to Start Talks on a North American Carbon Market

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has made several strong commitments to act on climate, but it’s unclear how New York will follow through.

by Julia Pyper 
October 09, 2015








As another round of global climate negotiations approach, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has positioned his state to be a national and global role model for aggressive climate action.

Cuomo announced yesterday that New York state has signed the Under 2 Memorandum of Understanding, a global pledge to prevent the Earth’s average temperature from rising 2 degrees Celsius from the pre-industrial level benchmark by 2100 -- which is widely considered the limit to avoid catastrophic climate change. New York joins 42 other jurisdictions in 19 countries that have made the same commitment.

“As U.N. climate negotiations begin in Paris this December, the powerful collective of signatories to the MOU are demonstrating the urgency of action, and the importance of setting binding targets,” Cuomo said in a speech at Columbia University, appearing alongside former Vice President Al Gore. “World leaders must now follow suit.”

Cuomo announced that New York will also reach out to California, Quebec and Ontario, as well as state partners in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) to explore the possibility of linking carbon markets.

“Hopefully, this will drive a national discussion to every state in the nation,” said Cuomo.

In terms of activity within the state, the governor made a new commitment to bring solar to 150,000 more homes and businesses by 2020. He also pledged to install renewable energy at each of the State University of New York’s 64 campuses by the same year.

These recent announcements build on previous efforts to combat climate change, including targets to reduce state emissions 40 percent by 2030 and 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. The goals were introduced under the previous administration, and reaffirmed in June as part of New York’s 2015 State Energy Plan.

To achieve these reductions, New York launched Reforming the Energy Vision -- a comprehensive energy agenda that includes a fundamental restructuring of the state’s electricity sector.

"The leadership shown by Governor Cuomo and New York state to make bold emissions reductions commitments is vital to solving the climate crisis,” said former Vice President Al Gore.

New York’s efforts have been broadly met with praise, but also some skepticism.

Conor Bambrick, air and energy director at Environmental Advocates of New York, said it’s encouraging to see the governor publicly embracing strong goals, but added that the path to meeting them is far from clear.

“From our point of view, these goals are great, they’re ambitious, but we would also need to see a concrete plan as to how to get there,” he said.

New York’s carbon reduction goals are not written into law as California's are. The Golden State has the same target to reduce emissions 80 percent by 2050. Without a clear directive, the heads of state agencies lack the authority and impetus to achieve these goals, which is not going to be any small task, said Bambrick.

“An 80% by 2050 reduction means within the next three decades, our power systems, heating and cooling of buildings, and transport all have to be electrified by clean renewable energy,” he said. “Without a plan or mandate of future administrations written in the law…we worry that the state may fall short.”

Bambrick added that the expansion of New York’s carbon market is an exciting prospect with a lot of potential.

RGGI members are expected to meet through 2016 to discuss the future of the program beyond its current end date of 2020, and as a possible compliance mechanism for the Clean Power Plan. Joining with California, the Canadian provinces and other states in the Northeast adds a new layer to the initiative that could shift RGGI’s carbon market for power plant emissions to an economy-wide program.

Lori Severino, spokesperson for New York State’s Department of Environmental Conservation, reiterated Cuomo’s view that carbon markets are a powerful tool for reducing pollution. But with conversations just getting underway, she said it’s too soon to know what the structure will look like.

Dave Clegern, spokesperson for the California Air Resources Board, said his state is “committed to working with others to expand the number of jurisdictions that put a price on carbon.” However, he would not speculate further on the market design.

California made its own climate news this week with Gov. Jerry Brown signing into law SB 350, which requires the state to generate half of its electricity from renewable sources and double building energy efficiency by 2030. A third goal to cut gasoline use in half was ultimately eliminated from the bill, but legislators kept requirements for California’s electric utilities to invest in electric-vehicle charging infrastructure and support EV adoption.

“The passage and signing of SB 350 prove once again that California is the nation’s leader in the fight against climate change,” said Pasquale Romano, CEO of the EV station network ChargePoint.

New York, it appears, wants to challenge the Golden State for that title.

source by:http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/new-york-state-pledges-to-start-talks-on-a-north-american-carbon-market