Dan Kammen will lead the RAEL lunch this week where we will focus on both materials science and operational innovations in energy storage, both focused on l0ng-term energy storage (a project we are doing with Prof. Sarah Kurtz at UC Merced, Prof. Noah Kittner at U. of North Carolina, and Prof. Patricia Hidalgo-Gonzalez of UC San Diego).
We will also focus on the interactions of storage technology designs and markets, as highlighted in the reading for this session, the report we just issues with Accenture:
You can read the report summary and download it here: click here.
and for references the link is:
https://www.accenture.com/us-en/insights/utilities/energy-storage-net-zero-path
In looking ahead to entirely decarbonizing the electric generation system, there is a debate about the use of nuclear generation. One school of thought argues that nuclear will be essential to successful decarbonization, while the other feels that this can be done entirely using renewable technologies, essentially wind and solar. This research investigates the role and value of using nuclear generation in decarbonizing the electric generation system. Along with generation, however, storage technologies will be needed. This study also compares the value of using batteries (expensive but efficient) to the use of ammonia (quite inefficient, but very cheap per unit of energy). Based on the Capacity Expansion Model, the study develops an analytical function to evaluate the marginal cost of carbon reduction under various scenarios of primary generation (with and without nuclear) and storage technologies (with batteries or with ammonia). The behaviors of the generators and storage determine the different components of this equation. Illustrating these behaviors gives us insight as to the role of nuclear and different types of storage in decarbonizing the system.
Biography:
Alan graduated from Stanford University in 1970 with a Master’s degree in geotechnical engineering. As a civil engineer he worked in heavy construction in Alaska and Vietnam, Peace Corps in Venezuela in dam design, and in the Bay Area in earthquake analysis. He returned to Stanford and completed a PhD in Engineering Economic systems in 1983. He joined Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in 1987, working energy system economics, developing and applying modeling platforms to evaluate policies and technologies for energy generation and storage. He was also active in risk analyses for nuclear materials production and waste disposal. He is currently retired, but continues to work in energy systems economics to better understand strategies for reducing carbon emissions from the energy system.
Please join us for a special joint
Innovation, economics and policy in the energy revolution:Insights from the UK electricity transition and wider implicationsSummary:
This talk will outline both theory and practice of energy transition and decarbonisation, drawing on long experience in the UK which has been a battleground between different approaches to electricity regulation and the implications of decarbonisation – culminating in halving CO2 emissions from the sector from the levels in 1990.
Innovation in both policy and technology has been fundamental to this. Drawing on the book (joint with Profs Jean-Charles Hourcade and Karsten Neuhoff) Planetary Economics: Energy, Climate Change and The Three Domains of Sustainable Development, the talk will explain a broadened theoretical framework and show how this can reshape our view of both the economic and political dimensions of effective policy, including (but not confined to) to the energy transition. The author will also present recent work on some implications of the approach for modelling of climate mitigation and the economic case for policy mixes.
For more on Professor Grubb:, click here.
Professor of Energy and Climate Change
UCL - Institute for Sustainable Resources
Central House | 14 Upper Woburn Place London | WC1H 0NN
www.bartlett.ucl.ac.uk/sustainable
Abstract. The growth of the U. S. and global solar energy industry depends on a strong relationship
between science and engineering innovation, manufacturing, and cycles of policy design and advancement.
The mixture of the academic and industrial engine of innovation that is Silicon Valley, and the strong suite
of environmental policies for which California is a leader work together to both drive the solar energy industry,
and keep Silicon Valley competitive as China, Europe and other area of solar energy strength continue to
build their clean energy sectors.
Keywords: Phovoltaics; innovation; technology transfer; green jobs
http://pvidealab.berkeley.edu/innovation_in_PV_industry.html
In this paper, we collected a comprehensive dataset of the PV industry during 2000-2012, and framed the data in perspectives. By examining the current industry status, we developed a set of policy recommendations for a sustainable global PV industry going forward.
