GineersNow Engineering News Magazine Issue 4.0

1 

WORLD’S FIRST ENGINEERING NEWS 

FOR YOUNG BADASS ENGINEERS 

JUNE 2016 ISSUE NO. 004 

MAN ON 

A MISSION 

ELON MUSK: 

THE REAL IRON MAN OF 

RENEWABLE ENERGY 

CEBC 

EESI 

EKOenergy 

Euro Solar 

First Solar 

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS 

GWEC 

ISES 

MESIA 

microSolar 

REN21 

Renewables 100 

SVEBIO 

Women’s Engineering Society 

World Bioenergy Association 

WWEA 

ISSUE NO.004 RENEWABLE ENERGY

2 ISSUE NO.004 RENEWABLE ENERGY

3 

John Vauden 

Senior Editor 

Asia-Pacific 

Hina Sapra 

Senior Editor 

South Asia 

Therese Matheren 

Senior Editor 

North America 

GINEERSNOW TEAM 

Ems Bagatsing 

Sales & Marketing Director 

Ems@LincolnMartin.com 

Robert Bagatsing 

Editor-In-Chief 

editor@GineersNow.com 

Engr. Alice Hernandez 

Senior Editor-At-Large 

Charity Bagatsing 

Senior Editor 

North America 

Engr. Dion Greg Reyes 

Junior Editor 

Creative & Layout 

Engr. Cielo Panda 

Junior Editor 

Raymond Gerard del Valle 

Junior Editor 

Abhishek Tarafder 

Matrix Media 

Information Technology 

Jaycee Urriquia 

Video Editor 

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4 ISSUE NO.004 RENEWABLE ENERGY 

Editor's 

Note 

We are on a mission. Time is running 

out and the earth is in danger. 

Who do we call to save the day? Of 

course, the everyday heroes we love 

to call “the engineers”! With climate 

change and pol-lution posing as 

dangerous threats to our existence, 

it is our role as engineers to make 

a change! 

Coal and fossil fuels power our 

homes and our offices. However, 

both resources play a crucial role 

in contributing to global warming. 

But recent innovations and developments 

from engineers have changed 

the game in the energy sector. What 

was once impossible for most of us 

is now becoming a part of society’s 

reality. I’m talking about sustainable 

clean energy, which includes solar, 

wind, rain, waves and geothermal 

heat. This recent advantageous development 

is good for us since it not 

only provides us a cheaper alternative 

to non-renewable energy, it also 

helps us save the planet from imminent 

destruction. 

In the fourth issue of GineersNow, 

we offer you a variety of stories and 

interviews that focus on renewable 

energy. We want every engineer 

who comes across this special issue 

to feel inspired and take action in 

making a difference in our society. 

We’ve conducted interviews from 

different organizations all over the 

world, with each organization leaving 

a message on how you can be 

part of the “clean energy” movement. 

Find out what engineers are 

doing to support renewable energy 

in Europe, Asia and North America. 

All the featured stories will leave 

you hopeful for a future where renewable 

energy can power all of our 

homes, industries and offices. 

Through engineering, each company 

should aspire for a positive environmental 

impact. Every de-cision 

to produce, to develop and to innovate 

must be based on how we can 

improve humanity without sacrificing 

nature. Let us urge governments 

and industries to aim for a circular 

economy. Every country must adjust 

to a way of life that involves no 

waste at all. We are inviting young 

engi-neers to join this growing 

movement. If you don’t have a clue 

how to start, be inspired by the various 

orgs featured in this month’s 

issue. Who knows, you might be a 

part of them one day. 

The GineersNow team believes that 

each engineer can create, develop 

and innovate things that support renewable 

energy. Let’s show the rest 

of the world that a world powered 

only by sustainable clean energy is 

affordable and definitely possible. 

It’s within our reach. We are on a 

mission to save the planet. Join us. 

Let’s be part of the “clean energy” 

movement. Change is coming. 

Engr. Alice Hernandez 

Senior Editor-at-Large

5 

CONTENTS 

PAGE 

TITLE 

PAGE 

TITLE 

08 

2016 NEW ENERGY 

PIONEERS 

86 

ISES: STRIVING FOR 

TRANSFORMATION TO A 

100% RENEWABLE ENERGY 

FUTURE 

10 

NATIONS LEADING THE SHIFT 

TO RENEWABLE ENERGY 

90 

GOING SOLAR: 

MIDDLE EAST NATIONS’ 


TRANSITION WITH MESIA 

26 

IN SEARCH OF AN 

ENERGY MIRACLE 

94 

MICROSOLAR: BRINGING 

RENEWABLE ENERGY TO 

DEVELOPING COUNTRIES 

40 

RENEWABLE ENERGY TO 

BOOST GLOBAL GDP UP TO 

$1.3 TRILLION 

100 

REN21: DRIVING THE 

ENERGY TRANSITION WITH 

RENEWABLES 

46 

COVER STORY 

ELON MUSK: 

THE REAL IRON MAN OF 


104 

RENEWABLES 100: 

HELPING THE WORLD TO 

TRANSITION TO 100% 


58 

CLEAN ENERGY 

BUSINESS COUNCIL: 

TOWARDS A 

GREENER WORLD 

110 

SWEDISH BIOENERGY 

ASSOCIATION: SAVING 

HUMANITY THROUGH 

SUSTAINABLE BIOENERGY 

64 

EESI: PROMOTING 

CLEAN POWER 

THROUGH EDUCATION 

114 

WBA: MOVING FORWARD IN 

PROMOTING SUSTAINABLE 

BIOMASS FOR ENERGY 

68 

EKOENERGY: 

REVOLUTIONIZING 

SUSTAINABLE 


120 

WWEA: AIMING TO ACHIEVE 


SUPPLY 

72 

EUROSOLAR’S QUEST 

FOR “ENERGIEWENDE” 

136 

TOP 10 WIND ENERGY 

COMPANIES 

76 

FIRST SOLAR: 

OFFERING PV ENERGY 

SOLUTIONS EVERYWHERE 

147 

CAN ONE TOWER REPLACE A 

POWER PLANT? 

ENGINEERS SAY YES! 

80 

CHANGING RENEWABLE 

ENERGY PERSPECTIVES 

WITH THE GLOBAL 

WIND ENERGY COUNCIL 

150 

JUNE 23 IS 

NATIONAL WOMEN IN 

ENGINEERING DAY 



ENGINEERS 

UNITE FOR A 

RENEWABLE 

ENERGY 

REVOLUTION 

IT HAS BEEN A MAJOR FACTOR 

concerning us for quite some years now as it has 

a great impact on our lives, including the way we 

live, and how our future might come to be. We 

need to take imperative steps to prevent such disastrous 

climate change. 

The goal might sound simple, but it actually is a 

big task that needs to be accomplished soon. Climate 

change is not a pollution issue that can be 

improved by simply setting random rules. There 

needs to be a defined set of laws to govern the 

emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) to date. We 

also need transformation in the entire global energy 

system, as there is no benefit attached with 

the release of greenhouse gases. Developed and 

developing nations alike will benefit in numerous 

ways from the transition to an energy-efficient 

and renewable world. 

The renewable energy technologies should be 

used to replace the thermal processes (such as 

fuel combustion or nuclear power), which in turn 

would result in a major reduction in the amount 

of primary energy required. There are numerous 

renewable technologies that are well-suited for 

distributed uses, generating fuel, electricity, and 

generating heat. Thereby, reducing the transmis- 

sion and transportation losses so that less primary 

energy is required to provide the same energy 

services. 

Through major improvements in energy efficiency, 

combined with a rapid scale-up in renewable 

energy that rely primarily on technologies 

that are already commercially available today, 

we could be halfway to an all-renewable world 

within the next two decades. Güssing in Austria, 

Rizhao in China, the Danish island of Samsø, and 

several other communities are already undergoing 

revolution to achieve energy transformation, 

using combinations of various innovations. 

The world can easily undergo the solar energy 

transformation since technologies involving the 

use of solar energy are now available at reasonable 

prices. Yes! These are possible, with the price 

of solar photovoltaic panels declining over 99 

percent over the last four decades, and the wind 

energy generation capacity has grown for more 

than 20 percent over the past decade. 

Thanks to the increasing prices of the fossil fuels 

and rapidly growing safety concerns, the day is 

not too far when the world will be a globally renewable 

energy user!

7 

Photo by Getty Images 

HOW TO MAKE THE WORLD 

SHIFT TO CLEAN ENERGY 

Who wants clean energy for everyone? We all do! 

Who in their right minds wouldn’t want renewable 

energy that’s good for the environment and 

cheaper for our consumption? 

With climate change taking over our lives, governments 

and private companies have invested 

billions of dollars in order to shift from fossil 

fuels into clean renewable sources of energy. 

According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, 

everybody invested a whopping $329 billion last 

year. Unfortunately, that amount is not enough 

for total clean energy consumption. Ceres, a sustainability 

advocacy group, says that the world 

needs $1 trillion in new investments every year! 

Where in the world can we get $1 trillion? Don’t 

forget that’s $1 trillion for new investments. We 

also need money to sustain the amount we pay 

for shifting our energy from non-renewable to 

renewable sources of energy! 

One way to get that money is to have institutions 

like the World Bank to invest on renewable energy. 

While renewable clean energy is supposed to 

be cheap, what makes it expensive is the infrastructure 

spending. Solar panels and wind mills 

are expensive to install but once it’s there, life 

should be a breeze (so to speak). 

That’s where institutions like the World Bank, 

Asian Development Bank and European Bank 

for Reconstruction and Development, play a crucial 

role in our energy shift. According to representatives 

from New Climate Economy: 

“Development banks can take on the risks that 

no other actors are willing to take. ... For every 

$1 [development banks] invest, they can leverage 

up to $20 in private finance… The markets are 

working. The cost of renewables are dropping. 

People are seeing the promise to energy efficiency.” 

If governments and major key players in renewable 

energy start focusing on implementing 

clean energy in our daily lives, it will give us a 

huge relief when we see our bills and we get to 

save the planet, too! 



2016 

NEW ENERGY 

PIONEERS 

Bloomberg 

New Energy 

Finance gives 

new list of 10 

companies 

who have been 

significant in 

forwarding the 

energy sector. 

Being the potential frontrunners 

in revolutionized 

the energy sector, 10 

companies were selected 

by the Bloomberg New 

Energy Finance (BNEF) 

to be part of this year’s 

New Energy Pioneers. 

They were recognized at 

the ninth annual BNEF 

Summit in New York 

City. 

The listed 10 out of the 

many applicants from 

around the world were 

assessed based on their 

potential scale, innovation 

and momentum by 

an independent panel of 

industry experts with the 

help of BNEF’s analysts 

and technology experts. 

“This year, we were impressed 

by the very strong 

set of candidates we received 

for the New Energy 

Pioneers program, 

and the range of activities 

that they cover – includ- 

ing solar, wind, storage, 

transport, bioenergy, energy 

smart technologies 

and machine learning,” 

said Michael Wilshire, the 

selection committee chair 

and head of analysis and 

transformation at BNEF. 

He followed, “We were 

delighted to see the 

breadth of innovation 

that is happening in the 

industry and struck by 

the impact that those organizations 

could have on 

the energy system of the 

future. We are as always 

very grateful to our group 

of external judges on the 

selection committee who 

had the challenging task 

of narrowing the field of 

entries to a final set of 10 

winners.” 

Here are the 2016 New 

Energy Pioneers, as described 

by Renewable Energy 

Focus. 

Newlight Technologies 

(USA) uses 

carbon capture 

technology to convert 

greenhouse gas 

emissions into Air- 

Carbon, a high-performance 

material 

that replaces a wide 

range of oil-based 

plastics by out-competing 

on price and 

performance. 

SolarKiosk (Germany) 

offers modular 

off-grid solar 

powered business 

centers, enabling 

last-mile distribution 

of products and 

services to untapped 

markets in 

remote rural areas 

worldwide.

9 

Sentient Science 

(USA) predicts 

failures in wind 

components before 

they happen, using 

materials science 

and high performance 

computing 

to determine the 

earliest point in 

time when cracks 

initiate and grow 

within rotating metal 

components. 

Mobisol (Germany), 

since 2012, has 

equipped more than 

40,000 rural homes 

and businesses with 

solar home systems 

in Tanzania and 

Rwanda – making 

it one of Africa’s 

largest and fastest 

growing providers 

of off-grid solar systems 

to homes and 

businesses. 

24M (USA) addresses 

the world’s 

need for affordable 

energy storage with 

a new, more cost-effective 

approach 

– semi-solid lithium-ion 

technology. 

Verdezyne (USA) is 

a bio-based chemicals 

company, with 

a synthetic biology 

platform that 

produces a variety 

of chemicals from 

renewable, nonfood 

sources. 

Vigilent (USA) is pioneering 

the use of 

internet-of-things, 

machine learning, 

and predictive 

analytics to deliver 

dynamic cooling 

management in 

mission critical 

environments such 

as data centres. 

FirstFuel (USA) 

offers advanced data 

analytics and insights 

that help improve 

and optimize 

energy consumption 

in buildings. 

Emergya Wind 

Technologies (The 

Netherlands) is revolutionising 

wind 

energy by providing 

localised, distributed 

energy, at below 

grid power pricing, 

to a wide variety of 

customer segments. 

AutoGrid Systems 

(USA) is a leading 

provider of intelligent 

and scalable 

software-as-a-service 

solutions that 

optimize supply and 

demand flexibility 

across a diverse 

portfolio of distributed 

energy resources. 

The listed 10 

out of the many 

applicants from 

around the 

world were 

assessed based 

on their 

potential scale, 

innovation and 

momentum by 

an independent 

panel of 

industry 

experts with the 

help of BNEF’s 

analysts and 

technology 

experts. 



NATIONS 

LEADING 

THE SHIFT TO 

RENEWABLE 

ENERGY 

Among the many countries 

forwarding the use of renewable 

energy, eleven lead the world 

when it comes to wind, solar, and 

geothermal power generation 

and consumption. These eleven 

nations are included in the almost 

200 countries which signed the 

Paris Agreement on December, 

committing their country to decrease 

greenhouse gas emissions. 

Perhaps there may be more innovations 

when it comes to alternative 

energy, but existing devices 

and systems like solar panels and 

wind turbines are sufficient to be 

used – it only takes initiative from 

the countries to use and apply 

them for their own good. The best 

way to do that is to follow the 

leaders: the said eleven nations 

who have already made significant 

shift to renewable energy. 

If there’s anything common 

between these eleven countries 

when it comes to renewable 

energy, it would be investments 

coming in from different sectors. 

Growth comes fast when there is 

enough support from the government, 

no matter which renewable 

energy source the nation uses. 

But one thing is for sure though: 

renewable energy is the future; 

and the time to make the shift to 

renewables and follow the leaders 

is now.

11 

SWEDEN 

There is no stopping Sweden to commit to 

the ambitious goal of going 100% fossil fuel-free, 

because in 2015, they have already 

pushed investments on solar, wind, energy 

storage, smart grids and clean transport; 

and even finding the competition to 

do just the same. 

Photo by Inhabitat 

NICARAGUA 

It was in 2007 that Nicaragua, through 

their then-president, pushed renewable 

energy through investments. In 2012, 

they already achieved the fifth-highest 

percentage worldwide of its GDP in developing 

renewable energy. Until June 2015, 

Nicaragua already produced 54% of their 

electricity through renewables. The goal 

in 2020 is to become 90% dependent on 

renewable energy. 

Photo by Getty 

SCOTLAND 

Wind turbines works best in Scotland, as 

wind power already produced an equivalent 

of 97% of Scotland’s household electricity 

needs in 2015. 

Photo by PV Magazine 



COSTA RICA 

While other countries are yet to maximize 

their renewable energy, Costa Rica already 

has 99% of their electricity in 2015 

coming from renewables alone. Their 

unique geography is to thank for, that they 

have committed the whole country to use 

hydroelectric, geothermal, solar, wind, 

and other low-carbon sources. This small 

country also has an aim to be carbon-neutral 

by 2021. 

Photo by Renew Economy 

GERMANY 

There was a time when Germany had even 

to pay people to use electricity for several 

hours because they have too much energy 

from renewables. But apart from that 

feat, Germany, through their solar power, 

has been able to meet up to 78% of a day’s 

electricity demand. 

Photo by Rex Features

13 

URUGUAY 

It took less than 10 years for Uruguay to 

be 95% dependent with renewable energy. 

Their investments in wind and solar 

is highly remarkable, considering there is 

zero subsidies or increases in consumer 

costs. Their government is also committed 

to it with their supportive regulatory 

environment and strong partnership with 

the private sector. 

Photo by Reuters 

CHINA 

Despite being the world’s largest carbon 

emitter, China was able to commit in installing 

wind energy in 2014, the most in 

the world. In the same year, they also had 

the second highest installed solar PV capacity. 

China is slowly phasing out their 

coal. 

Photo by Business Insider 



MOROCCO 

When Morocco realized that there is so 

much potential in solar energy, they just 

went for it and have gone big – they have 

the largest concentrated solar plant in the 

world which first phase opened this year. 

This is in support with the existing win 

and hydro plants, which will propel them 

to 50% reliance to renewables by 2020. 

Photo by Ecomena 

DENMARK 

Considered to be a global leader in wind 

energy generation, Denmark depended 

42% of its electricity in 2015 – even with 

two wind farms offline. That enabled them 

to hold the world record for the highest 

percent of wind power ever achieved. But 

it doesn’t stop there, as Denmark has a 

2050 vision of being 100% free from fossil 

fuels. 

Photo by Ministry of 

Foreign Affairs Denmark

15 

KENYA 

Kenya has ramped up their geothermal 

energy dependence from 13% of Kenya’s 

total electricity use in 2010, to 51% in 

2015. Kenya also holds a bright future on 

wind energy by putting up Africa’s largest 

wind farm, set to provide 310 MW of 

power which comprises another 20% of 

the country’s installed electricity capacity. 

Photo by PV Magazine 

UNITED 

STATES OF 

AMERICA 

Quite a feat in solar power is that of the 

United States of America: in 2014, a new 

solar energy system is installed every two 

minutes and 30 seconds, which earned 

them the fifth place on the installed solar 

PV capacity worldwide. Not only does the 

US specialize in solar, but also wind: they 

have the second highest installed wind 

energy capacity in the world. But there is 

some imbalance between electricity generation 

and demand, with only 13 percent 

of the country’s electricity in 2014 coming 

from renewables. 

Photo by Recharge News 



PORTABLE 

SOLAR 

MOBILE 

CHARGERS 

Mobile phones low in charge can die instantly. 

And definitely, the worst situations 

could be anywhere that has no power 

source to plug our chargers. To avoid such 

situations, you ensure that your phone is 

completely charged before leaving from 

any premises so that you don’t have to 

spend even a second without them. Even 

then, it is tricky to keep the battery going 

with all those complimentary apps in your 

mobile phone. Your apps are constantly 

working and updating themselves, sucking 

up your data and battery’s life. But 

what would you do when your phone gets 

discharged halfway and you don’t have an 

electric charging point? You feel helpless, 

but not anymore! XD Design has come up 

with a powerful solution. 

Solar-powered phone chargers have been 

launched in the market to make your life 

simple and easy. Small and compact in 

size, these chargers are aesthetically appealing. 

They are simple and easy to keep 

in your purse or glove compartment and 

are also quite convenient with their handy 

suction cup. 

It can be used anywhere either you’re at 

home, on travel, in the car or train. The 

Window solar charger has a 1.400 mAH 

built in battery which can charge your 

smartphone up to 60%. It is very simple to 

use as you can easily stick it to your window 

and start capturing the sun energy. 

Available with a USB output, the charger 

can easily be connected with any phone 

cable. 

The complete charging time takes up to 

13 hours. Charging by this solar powered 

mini USB cable reduces the time-taken to 

approximately 3 hours. A red light indicates 

that it is still charging. Once the battery 

is full, a green light pops up on your 

phone. 

The technology is advancing and so does 

the need to revolutionize our energy resources. 

It’s time that you start choosing 

solar over the conventional forms of energy! 

Photo by XD Design 

MEXICAN 

RESEARCHER 

CREATES 

CEMENT 

THAT EMITS 

LIGHT 

Streetlights are the usual lighting system 

used to light up roads, streets, highways, 

and bicycle lanes. However, there is new 

a way to light them up without using electricity. 

Ph.D José Carlos Rubio from Michoacan’s 

University of San Nicolas Hidalgo, 

UMSNH in Spanish, was able to create 

a light-emitting cement that can last up to 

100 years. 

According to Dr. Rubio, “Nine years ago, 

when I started the project, I realized there 

was nothing similar worldwide, and so I 

started to work on it. The main issue was 

EXTREMELY 

LIGHTWEIGHT 

SOLAR CELLS 

THAT DON’T POP 

A BUBBLE 

As renewables and the Internet of Things 

have become the mainstream, the renewable 

energy revolution is on its way according 

to a new study at Massachusetts 

Institute of Technology. 

It seems like a move to entirely renewable 

energy within 20 years is really possible. 

According to the study of Professor Vladimir 

Bulovic Wang and doctoral student 

Joel Jean published at the Organic Electronics, 

scientist can build light weight yet 

efficient solar cells. It has been said to be 

of a great magnitude thinner and lighter 

as described by Max Shtein of University 

of Michigan. It has tremendous implications 

for maximizing power-to-weight. 

Bulovic told the publication that the key 

to this new concept is making three in 

once process which includes the cell, the 

substrate and the protective coating. The 

substrate should not be cleaned or be removed 

from vacuum during fabrication 

process to minimize dust exposure that 

can degrade over all solar cell performance. 

Materials were also meticulously chosen 

and tested for production process especially 

in the in-line substrate, they also 

that cement is an opaque body that doesn’t 

allow the pass of light to its interior.” 

He said that common cement is a dust 

that dissolves when added to water. After 

which, it will start to become a gel. At the 

same time, some crystal flakes are formed, 

these are the unwanted sub-products in 

hardened cement. Because of this, the 

researcher focuses on modifying the micro-structure 

of the cement to eliminate 

these crystals and make it pure gel, so it 

will be able to absorb solar energy and return 

it to the environment as light. 

considered thin-fil substrate like perovskites, 

quantum dots and other organic 

layers. And to demonstrate the lightweight 

solar cells, they draped a working 

cell on top a soap bubble, without actually 

popping it. Wow! 

This is definitely revolutionary. Imagine 

the convenience and advancement it 

could make to all our gadgets and tools if 

this is mass produced? We’ll see. 

Stay tuned for more renewable tech updates! 

Photo by MIT 

Photo by Phys.org

17 

PURIFYING WATER 

THROUGH LEDS 

Purifying water has traditionally been 

through chemicals. Chemical treatments 

dissolve pathogen cells entirely, but certain 

downsides like toxicity to aquatic 

life and creation of harmful by-products 

have been identified. Other solutions were 

discovered, and new treatment evolved, 

a better option, which is the ultraviolet 

(UV) treatment. 

But UV treatment also has its issues: conventional 

UV lamps usually have 20-200 

milligrams of mercury, in liquid form 

or in an amalgam, and can break during 

transportation, handling, and operation, 

which are then prone to risk of exposure. 

Now, the concept of using LEDs for water 

purification emerged. LEDs are almost 

omnipresent in our devices, and are allowing 

for longer lives, fast on/off times, 

and low power consumption. LEDs have 

been revolutionized to reach what we call 

as UV-C LEDs, which will help in purifying 

our waters. 

UV-C LEDs do not use mercury so the 

risk of exposure is impossible. UV-C 

LEDs also have a start time of a few nanoseconds 

and have no on/off limitations, 

which allows for instantaneous disinfection 

and flexible running times, in comparison 

with conventional laps which 

takes 5-10 minutes to warm up to peak 

disinfection temperatures. Replacement 

intervals are also beneficial with LED 

lamps as they can last to over 10 years. 

The low energy consumption is also another 

plus for UV-C LEDs as it only requires 

low voltage DC. Even a small solar 

panel or battery can perform the disinfection. 

Applications of this water purification 

technology will help remote communities 

to purify water with solar power options. 

The effect of UV-C LEDs reaches those 

who have a problem with clean water. 

This technology is already on the works 

through the BIOWYSE Project, who is 

currently working on a device that will 

use this technology in water disinfection 

in the International Space Station. 

Photo by Hospitality Net 

FUEL CELLS 

CAN NOW BE 

POWERED BY 

WASTEWATER 

According to two Virginia Tech researchers, 

they have found a way to 

maximize the amount of electricity 

that could be generated from wastewater. 

According to two Virginia Tech researchers, 

they have found a way to 

maximize the amount of electricity 

that could be generated from wastewater. 

In an article that was published 

in Scientific Reports, Xueyang Feng 

and Jason He traced bacteria that let 

them to discover that the two specific 

substrates could produce more energy 

than either of them did separately. 

The researchers said that this could 

help in the development of a new 

treatment system called a microbial 

fuel cell. 

Mr. Feng, an assistant professor of 

biological systems engineering said 

“Tracing the bacteria gave us a major 

piece of the puzzle to start generating 

electricity in a sustainable way. This 

is a step toward the growing trend to 

make wastewater treatment centers 

self-sustaining in the energy they use.” 

The researchers found out that when 

lactate and formate—the two substrates—combine, 

the energy output 

is far greater that when they work individually. 

They work in tandem with 

receptors in fuel cells. 

E-WAYS: 

CHARGING 

LANES FOR 

ELECTRIC 

CARS 

If you have an electric car, you probably 

know how much of a hassle it is to stop 

and recharge every hundred miles or so. 

That wouldn’t be so much of a problem 

anymore once e-ways, or charging lanes 

for electric cars, will be implemented 

around the world. 

All you have to do is to move into the recharging 

lane when the electric car runs 

low on power. When you are done, you 

can move back into the regular highway 

lane. That’s how simple this new recharging 

system is. You can achieve those long 

trips with no stops anymore unless you 

are going to take a leak. 

E-ways are already operating in a few of 

the states in the US like California and 

Utah. Pilot applications of E-way projects 

are also used for bus or trams routs in 

South Korea, Germany, Italy, Netherlands 

United States, and England. 

Several European countries see how convenient 

this technology is which have 

been supported through millions of investment 

to advance e-ways. 

Photo by Stuff NZ 



THE BID FOR 

SOLAR POWER 

PROJECTS IS NOW 

AS LOW AS 

2.99 CENTS A 

KILOWATT-HOUR. 

CHEAPEST PRICE BID FOR SOLAR POWER - NOW IN DUBAI 

Would you believe that the bid for solar 

power projects is now as low as 2.99 cents 

a kilowatt-hour? This is happening in the 

United Arab Emirates and is considered to 

be the lowest price so far. The price is even 

lower compared to that of a coal-fired generator. 

In a bid to develop 800 megawatts of solar-power 

projects for Dubai Electricity 

and Water Authority, the 2.99-cents mark 

shows that bidders are willing to take a 

risk in providing the cheapest solar power. 

According to Jenny Chase, head of solar 

analysis of Bloomberg New Energy Finance, 

“Nobody knows how it’s meant to 

work.” 

People question whether there is money 

in this projects considering the bankruptcy 

of SunEdison, Inc, the biggest developer. 

Banks are said to doubt whether these 

projects can become good investments. 

So far, the company offering the lowest 

bid for the Dubai Electricity and Water 

Authority wasn’t named. However, groups 

including Masdar Abu Dhabi Future Energy 

Co., Spain’s Fotowatio Renewable 

Ventures BV and Saudi Arabia’s Abdul Latif 

Jameel were believed to be some of the 

bidders for the project. 

Mexico was the previous record holder for 

the cheapest price for solar power. Now, 

the 2.99-cent price is 15 percent lower 

than the previous record. 

GRID-LINKED 

SOLAR 

GENERATION 

CAPACITY 

IN INDIA 

EXCEEDS 

5,000 MW 

MARK 

As of January 15, the total grid-connected 

solar power generation capacity in India 

has grossed to 5,129.81 MW, as reported 

by the Ministry of New and Renewable 

Energy. 

The following are the leading grid-connected 

capacity according to state: 

Rajasthan – 1,264.35 MW 

Gujarat – 1,024.15 MW 

Madhya Pradesh – 678.58 MW 

Tamil Nadu – 418.94 MW 

Maharashtra – 378.7 MW 

Andhra Pradesg – 357.34 MW 

Telangana – 342.39 MW 

Punjab – 200.32 MW 

Uttar Pradesg – 140 MW 

However, there are states that need to step 

up their capacity: 

West Bengal – 7.21 MW 

Uttarakhand – 5 MW 

Haryana – 12.8 MW 

Indian government aims to have 175,000 

MW of power generation capacity from 

renewable sources, including 100,000 

MW from solar and 60,000 from wind, by 

2022. There is still a long way to go, but 

given the circumstances there is a silver 

lining. 

Under the National Solar Mission, the 

government increased the solar power 

generation capacity addition target by five 

times to 100 GW last year. 

Photo by Economic Times

19 

SOLAR 

ENERGY 

FOR LESS 

In a world full of blossoming technology, 

astonishingly over 1.6 billion people still 

lack access to electricity. A new company, 

Simpa Networks, has come up with a concept 

to address the concern of the Indian 

people. Their market of choice is the 400 

million homes in India with no access or 

limited access to electricity. The technology 

is very simple, a 40-watt solar panel 

linked to a 26aH battery that can power 

2-3 LED lights or charge a mobile phone. 

The innovation comes in the form of how 

this is marketed to the consumer. 

Developing a concept used first by mobile 

phone companies called satchel marketing, 

Simpa Networks charge the consumer 

a small initial fee to acquire and install 

their solar kit. The consumer prepays 

in 5,10 and 50 rupee increments bought 

through their mobile phone. Power is accessed 

by code inputted through keypad 

on the system. The consumer enters the 

code unlocking the system and off they 

go. Wait, there’s more! Over a 2 to 3 year 

period a portion of each prepayment goes 

toward the full cost of the unit. Once this 

is paid the unit unlocks permanently and 

consumer has free electricity until the unit 

lasts (said to be about 10 years). 

This brilliant billing system tackles the 

huge problem of affordability by pulling 

the cost of acquisition and operation of 

energy within the cost band of traditional 

kerosene lighting or diesel power generation. 

Though Simpa is a relatively new 

player, I think many will be following the 

company as the concept could well be 

applied to first world markets too. Possibly 

ending the need for a grid in the first 

place? Think of the huge advances made 

in battery technology and the advances 

made not only in solar but mini wind generation 

tech. Soon enough, you may well 

be dealing with a company like Simpa too. 

Photos by Simpa Networks 



SOLAR ENERGY 

GENERATED 

FROM STREETS 

CO2 CAN NOW 

BE TURNED INTO 

SUSTAINABLE 

CONCRETE 

NEW 

DESALINATION 

TECHNOLOGY 

IN THE WORKS 

IN QATAR 

SolaRoad, a Dutch technology that allows 

solar pannels to be used in roadway 

projects made Caltrans Director Malcolm 

Dougherty interested and has announced 

a plan to coordinate with Netherlands 

Vice President Elisabeth Post. Dougherty 

wanted to develop more sustainable options 

for harnessing the application power 

of solar energy in transportation infrastructure. 

Having implemented already in Krommenie, 

North Holland last November 2014, 

solar cells with a translucent top layer of 

tempered glass are constructed on the 

roads in this SolaRoad project. The concrete 

panels allow for the sunlight hitting 

the streets to be converted into electricity 

for street lights, electric vehicles, traffic 

systems and even in households. 

Both California and The Netherlands 

have exerted efforts to push zero-emission 

transportation and energy development 

in terms of sales. In addition, both parties 

have performed programs that will limit 

the effects of climate change through reduction 

of green house gases and generation 

of renewable energy. 

Photos by Symposiet 

Researchers at the University of California, 

Los Angeles (UCLA) have found 

a new method of making concrete cement—by 

making use of limestone and 

CO2. 

Concrete production accounts for 5% of 

CO2 emissions produced globally. So, the 

research team wanted to take the opportunity 

to make a cement substitute from 

captured carbon from power plants. The 

team’s method uses CO2 given off during 

the calcination process, wherein it is captured 

and combined with calcium hydroxide 

to be able to recreate limestone. 

They were able to construct 5cm cones of 

cement substitute, CO2NCRETE, which 

were shaped using 3D printing. 

According to associate professor in civil 

and environmental engineering at UCLA 

Gaurav Sant, while cement production results 

in CO2, if it is possible to reutilize it 

to make a building material which could 

be a new kind of cement, then it’s an opportunity. 

“The big challenge we foresee with this is 

we’re not just trying to develop a building 

material. We’re trying to develop a process 

solution, an integrated technology which 

goes right from CO2 to a finished product.” 

Sant said. 

Photos by UCLA 

Membrane distillation is an emerging desalination 

technology, and Qatar University 

College of Engineering (QU-CENG) 

is up for the challenge to forward this field. 

The research project led by QU-CENG 

chemical engineering professor Dr. Farid 

Benyahia, with the funding from ConocoPhillips 

pioneered a process called 

membrane distillation desalination. The 

project has discovered that a hydrophobic 

membrane disallows salty water to pass 

through and allows fresh water vapour to 

permeate and condense. Requirements of 

this process are minimal to a low temperature 

feed of salty water, often not exceeding 

80 ºC, and low usage of atmospheric 

pressure. 

The process has been tested in two pilot 

plants at the Ras Bou Fantas power and 

desalination plant and got promising results. 

The tests showed that membrane 

properties need to be improved for longterm 

usage and to combine thermal integration 

with existing chemical processes 

in Qatar. This will exploit low-grade heat 

being dissipated into the environment, 

which in turn, will reduce energy consumption 

for fresh water production, thus 

cheaper water. 

Photos by The World Folio

21 

NEXT ENERGY 

TECHNOLOGIES 

DEVELOP 

“SMART” 

WINDOWS 

POWER YOUR 

SMARTPHONES 

WITH PEE 

Soon, buildings and windows will be helping 

out in energy conservation. 

This is the goal of one Goleta startup— 

the Next Energy Technologies. They aim 

to channel solar power through specially-engineered 

windows as a source of renewable 

energy. 

According to the company’s design so 

far, Next Energy Technologies windows 

can produce 20 percent of a commercial 

building’s power needs on average. 

After winning UC Santa Barbara’s Technology 

Management Program New Venture 

Competition in 2010, they are finally 

moving from research phase to commercial 

production—this is their goal for 

2018. 

According to CEO and cofounder Daniel 

Emmet, “They’re smart buildings. Windows 

are going from being a passive part 

of buildings to active. It’s an exciting time 

for buildings.” 

Most commercial buildings will be able to 

earn back their investment within a year 

of installation, he noted. 

According to Emmet, Next Energy Technologies 

is continuing to raise its series B 

round of funding, they are already halfway 

towards their $7 Million goal thanks 

to the help of local investors and family 

offices. 

Photos by Noozhawk 

The next time you pee in the toilet, you 

may want to remember that your pee 

could power your smartphones. 

Yes, you heard that right. No, you don’t 

necessarily pee on it. 

Researchers have pondered whether pee 

can be used as an energy source. Now, 

there’s a study in the Bristol Robotics Laboratory 

(a collaboration of University of 

Bristol and University of the West of England) 

that proved that they can generate 

power using a urine-powered cell. Think 

of how much your electric bill would 

lessen if you use your pee to charge your 

phones. Awesome, right? 

Ioannis Ieropoulos led his BioEnergy 

team in creating this urine-powered cell 

to convert someone’s pee into electrical 

energy. They even have a term coined for 

it – “urine-tricity.” With an annual production 

of 6.4 trillion liters of urine, these 

researchers want to convert it into useful 

energy by processing it with its microbial 

fuel cells (MFCs). These cells contain live 

microbes where it consumes the urine and 

eventually, frees electrons. These electrons 

are collected by the electrodes in the cell 

and generate electricity by connecting it 

to an external circuit. 

Aside from electricity, urine is also converted 

to clean water after it is processed 

with microbes, protons and oxygen. 

Don’t expect too much from it yet. The 

amount of electricity produced by the cells 

is just in the microwatts level. In order to 

produce more energy (to make it useful), 

the research team ran a total of eight 

MFCs in a certain manner that produced 

around 642 mV, 206 µW and 312 µA. According 

to them, this output is enough to 

“charge a Samsung mobile phone.” 

According to Dr. Ieropoulos, urine is effective 

in creating energy because of the 

amount of organic matter it has. With 

its organic level, electrical conductivity 

and acidity, urine is able to power smartphones. 

However, if more power is needed 

to be produced in this fuel cells, the pee 

must contain higher amounts of protein 

content. Increasing the protein content 

may lead to kidney damage. 

Photos grabbed from YouTube 



PAVING THE 

ROADS OF 

FRANCE WITH 

1,000 KM 

SOLAR PANELS 

In France’s efforts to turn into renewable 

energy, the country allots 1,000 km (621 

miles) of their road to be paved with durable 

photovoltaic panels to supply renewable 

energy to 5 million people, about 8 

percent of the country’s population. 

It is a product of collaborative research 

from Colas, a French road construction 

company, and the National Institute of Solar 

Energy. This will hit the history books 

as the first time that solar panels will be 

installed in public roads, to be applied on 

top of existing roads without having to alter 

such roads. 

The patented panel design is called the 

Wattway, overall 7 mm thick. It is made 

of a thin film of polycrystalline silicon, 

coated in a resin substrate to make them 

stronger. This enables them to grip more 

than other solar road panels and reduces 

risk of accidents. The panels are also 

weatherproof. 

The company estimates that a 20-square 

meter of Wattway panels can power a single 

French home, excluding heating. 

SHOES THAT PRODUCE 

ELECTRICITY CREATED 

BY ENGINEERING 

STUDENTS IN VIETNAM 

I am guilty of complaining everyday about 

traffic jams and unruly motorist. I cannot 

tolerate getting stuck on the road, and 

wasting my time travelling from my office 

to home. I hate staring blankly at the taillights 

of the car before me, wishing my car 

just flew. 

Sitting in front of my computer now, 

counting the hours till it’s time to go 

home, I am again bracing myself for the 

arduous journey home. I am imagining 

my route, thinking about how I can outwit 

the other motorist in the race to an early 

dinner and a longer TV time. Then, I 

stumbled upon a video, which first frame 

was a boy walking towards somewhere, 

which I reckon was home. 

“Like millions of others around the 

world,” opened the video, “in Vietnam 

many children have to walk long distances 

to and from school every day.” ‘Okay’, I 

told myself, thinking that it would actually 

be better for me to walk home, or maybe 

jog, and maybe reach at the same time 

as when I drove. It would be healthier for 

my body, and I would not have to spend 

an additional hour at the gym since my 

workout would have been done. 

“Often where they live there is no power, 

so by the time they get home it’s nearly 

dark,” continued the video. ‘Uh-oh’, I 

told myself, ‘no TV?’ Then, I realized that 

maybe TV should be the least of that boy’s 

worries when he reaches home. What 

about light? What about cooking food? 

What about studying his lessons under a 

decent lamp? What about driving away 

disease carrying insects? 

Engineering students from the Ho Chi 

Minh City University of Technology, with 

the support of socially responsible companies, 

have developed a way to convert the 

kinetic energy spent by the Vietnamese 

students in walking to usable electricity. 

They invented the Green Cross Kinetic 

Energy Shoes that charges integrated 

batteries while the children walk home. 

Upon reaching home, the children can 

pull the batteries out of the shoes and use 

them to power battery-operated lanterns. 

With light, the children can study their 

lessons or help in household chores. The 

family members will be able to at least see 

each other’s faces and spend some quality 

time together over dinner or before going 

to bed. 

My takeaway is that sometimes, we waste 

much of our energy whining about things 

that we can’t change, like the everyday 

traffic. Sure, we all have the right to get 

pissed off about spending hours on the 

road, but shall we not find comfort in the 

thought of reaching a decent home? For 

the Vietnamese children living in rural 

areas, just having light at home is already 

a luxury. And they don’t complain about 

how long their journey is – no minute of 

walking is considered wasted – because 

every step they make brings them closer 

to a bright future. 

Top photo by Colas 

Bottom photo by Science Alert

23 

There are a thousand and one ways to 

describe music. Immersive. Riveting. 

Awe-inspiring. Hell, music could really be 

indescribable at all. Music is what it is to 

its listener, so even if two people are listening 

to the same musical piece, the emotions 

it may excite may be different. 

Did you, know, however, that there is a 

percussion instrument that literally gives 

of “electrifying” music? Aptly called 

SPARK, this instrument can harness electricity 

as it is played, so it can be used to 

power small electric devices, like a plug-in 

light or a mobile phone, at a later time. As 

SPARK is played, a magnet moves backwards 

and forwards through the centre of 

a solenoid, a coil of copper wire. A current 

is induced in the loops of wire and each 

time the magnet slides through, it charges 

up a rechargeable battery. With its current 

generation, 12 minutes of shaking SPARK 

gives an hour worth of electricity. 

Project Leader Sudha Kheterpal, a band 

percussionist featured on records and 

tours of global musical artists the likes of 

the Spice Girls and Dido, said that a prototype 

of SPARK had been tested in various 

communities in Kenya. “In places like 

Kenya, where 75% of the population live 

without access to electricity,” said Kheterpal, 

“having the ability to read at night or 

charge up a mobile phone gives people the 

Photo by Fast Company 

MUSICAL 

INSTRUMENT 

THAT GENERATES 

ELECTRICITY 

chance of a better education and also access 

to services like the revolutionary mobile 

phone banking system, M-PESA.” She 

said that based on the tests, SPARK had 

proven to be useful to the communities, 

and that the villagers had all embraced the 

technology. 

“During the testing phase,” she said, “the 

people who have tried SPARK said that 

it was useful because they had light in 

the evenings, which they used for doing 

homework, household chores and 

for lighting their way home in the dark.” 

Kheterpal said that SPARK would enable 

children and their families to eliminate 

the need for dangerous kerosene light, and 

provide light for women and girls in areas 

where sexual abuse is a huge problem. 

Because it can also charge mobile phones, 

SPARK can also facilitate the connection 

of families living in rural Kenya to medical 

help or banking services. 

“The concept of SPARK is based on the 

heart,” said Kheterpal, “the seat of power 

for the human body, a symbol of strength 

and courage and what connects us all as 

a global community.” SPARK takes cues 

from a flint stone, which she said was a 

symbol of a new beginning; the birth of a 

powerful new source of energy. 

Photo by Inhbitat 



HOME BATTERIES 

SUPPLY ELECTRICITY 

TO THE GRID 

Ambri has made great progress by producing 

grid energy storage that can provide 

long-lasting power. The storage of energy, 

like wind and solar power - with the 

help of the battery technologies that are 

available today, are very expensive. Nevertheless, 

new technologies that are being 

invented today are coming at low prices 

and they are making sure that there is an 

extensive use of renewable energy. 

Ambri’s effort changes the dimension of 

technology and makes it amazingly cool. 

They make use of liquid metals like electrodes. 

It also uses a salt electrode to make 

products that are economic. Ambri manifests 

that the project developers of renewable 

energy are gaining confidence and are 

ready to develop new technologies for the 

storage of energy. 

Ambri is one of the companies that have 

taken a vow of establishing a technical 

breakthrough that would cut down the 

cost of storing energy on grids. There are 

various start-ups that have come up with 

batteries that are low-priced because they 

have built materials that are available in 

huge quantities. 

Another factor that has to be considered 

in truncating the cost of compelling battery 

technologies is the reduction of the 

cost of production. The manufacturing 

process of Ambri is very simple. Ambri 

places the metal plucks as well as the salt 

electrodes in a stainless steel cell. The dimension 

of each cell is four square inches. 

The Chief Technological Officer of the 

company mentions the production process 

can be made automatic. 

The executives of Ambri have mentioned 

that they are aiming to bring down the 

cost of battery below $500 per kilowatt-hour. 

In such a case surplus wind 

energy will be stored in the night and then 

will be sold off during the day or can help 

meet demands of the peak hours. The demand 

for these types of batteries is very 

high in California and New York. 

Photo by Technology Review 

THIS NEW BATTERY 

STORES RENEWABLE 

ENERGY FOR 

LONGER USE 

Sorrel Technology has created the Sorrel 

Heat Battery, a Battery that replicates the 

way the earth’s core stores heat in order to 

store large amounts of energy for almost 

anything from a few days to few months. 

The way energy is stored nowadays is what 

hinders us to adopt to renewable energy. 

Renewable energy sources—primarily 

sun and wind are intermitted sources. 

Nowadays, consumers have to use their 

energy as they are generated, since there 

is no way to store the energy at scale to be 

used later. 

Sorrel Technology believed that their 

new technology solves this problem. The 

battery stored energy in its purest form— 

heat. The device’s metal core is heated up 

to 1750 degrees Celsius, and remains hot 

for many months. This heat can be used to 

create power whenever it is needed. It is a 

clean, safe and very cost-effective according 

to the company. 

By heating up a combination of everyday 

metals surrounded by a state of the art 

ceramic casing, which keeps the metals 

hot, the battery is able to store energy. The 

whole device is covered by a protective 

safety covering. They use innovative soldstate 

heat transfer to release the stored 

heat either to create steam, or heat up gases 

which will turn drive turbines, and be 

able to generate electricity. 

“This is the first time ever it has been possible 

to store large amounts of energy in 

a readily reusable form,” said John Seneschall, 

a spokesperson for Sorrel Technology. 

“We know this makes energy derived 

from solar and wind the energy of the future. 

It’s now a case of no sun, no wind, 

no problem. The Sorrel Heat Battery can 

store energy for months. At the flick of a 

switch it can be producing electricity as 

and when it’s needed, in the most environmentally 

sound way imaginable.” 

The Sorrel heat battery have different sizes: 

small units (for mobile uses); medium-sized 

units for domestic applications; 

and large units to power whole communities.

25 

CLEAN ENERGY FROM 

BACTERIA-POWERED 

SOLAR PANELS 

LET 

LEFTOVERS 

POWER 

YOUR 

HOUSE 

Photo by Science Daily 

Clean energy can now be generated from 

bacteria! For the first time ever, researchers 

connected nine biological solar cells, 

also known as bio-solar cells into a bio-solar 

panel. They then produced electricity 

from the panel and were able to generate 

5.50 microwatts. This amount of energy 

is greater than any existing small-scale 

bio-solar cells. 

This research uses cyanobacteria, a kind of 

bacteria that can easily be found in every 

terrestrial and aquatic habitat on the planet. 

This bacteria can be used as a source of 

clean and sustainable energy. 

The researchers interconnected nine 

identical bio-solar cells in a 3x3 pattern 

to make a scalable as well as stackable 

bio-solar panel. This panel continuously 

generated electricity from photosynthesis 

and respiratory activities of the bacteria in 

12-hour day and night cycles in 60 total 

hours. 

However, a traditional 60-cell solar panel 

on a roof of a residential house can generate 

200 watts of electrical power. The cells 

from this study can only generate around 

0.00003726 watts. So as of now it isn’t that 

efficient yet. But this breakthrough can 

open doors to future research and improvements 

that can lead to success in this 

kind of energy generation. 

One of the single biggest landfills in the 

U.S. is just for food waste. Americans 

throw 40% of their food as leftover and 

that is about $640 per household annually. 

Worse, they don’t care how it affects the 

environment according to a survey from 

American Chemistry Council. 

The government plans to address the issue 

by testing out new ways to convert leftover 

and other organic materials into biogas. 

Food decomposition produces methane, 

a greenhouse gas contributing to global 

warming but can be used as fuel. It can be 

a renewable energy to produce electricity. 

Just this January, Philadelphia mandated 

constructing in-sink disposal to pulverize 

food waste from household drains. 

They will run through the city pipes and 

to a facility that will process the fertilizer 

products into biogas. This will save a few 

landfill truck trips for about $3 million 

trucking costs. 

Philadelphia was said to invest $50 million 

on its anaerobic digesters where biogas is 

produced. Washington D.C. was also said 

to spend $400 million in installing its new 

digester for wastewater treatment facility 

in 2014. 

It is indeed a good source of renewable 

energy as you constantly have a feed stock 

according to Amanda Bilek, government 

affairs and communications director at 

the Great Plains Institute, a green energy 

firm. 



In Search of an 

Energy Miracle 

Bill Gates shares his insights on the 

energy challenges facing the world today, 

and sounds his ideas on what can be 

done to resolve them.

27 

If you are reading this article on your mobile, tablet or 

laptop, then consider yourself lucky. And not only for 

having the opportunity to imbibe the nuggets of wisdom 

enlaced in it, but also, and primarily, for the chance of 

reading it on an electric-powered device. 

For most of us, it shall be easy to take for granted the 

presence of electricity in our lives. Some of us are just 

used to watching TV or listening to the radio, dozing off 

while reading under the light of a bedside lamp, surfing 

the Internet to connect with friends or research for an 

assignment, or plugging mobile phones and seeing them 

fully charged in the morning. For most of us, electricity 

is ubiquitous, unobtrusive, that we forget that it’s even 

there…until it’s gone. 

Imagine for a moment that your computer, mobile or 

tablet shuts off at this point. Perhaps the power went 

out, or your mobile gadgets ran out of juice. What would 

you do? I am guessing scramble (read panic) to find the 

fault and make your device work again. Long-press 

the power button? Check the plug if it’s still engaged? 

Connect your gadget to a charger? For sure. 

Now, your device works again. Am I hearing a sigh of 

relief? Yes. Good for you. Now, go on reading. 

If in that short span of (imaginary) time, you felt helpless 

and unsettled with the thought of not having electricity 

to power your gadget, imagine what 1.3 billion people 

who do not have access to electricity feel? 

Millions of the world’s poorest 

families derive their living from 

farming, and the changes in 

weather patterns spurred by 

climate change affect the growth 

of their crops, hence their income 

and the food on their table.. 

“ 

” 

Some of them have electricity for a few hours a day, some 

have never experienced what it is like to have power. 

Imagine, these people don’t have electricity to cook their 

food, so they burn wood inside their houses; families do 

not have refrigerators, so they eat spoiled food (if they 

are lucky to have food); children do not have light under 

where they can read, so they study beside a candle or 

not study at all; fathers and mothers go home from work 

traversing dark roads or pathways, putting themselves 

in real danger. 

This is what life is for 18% of the world’s population, 

and I am afraid it is not imaginary. 

Providing Them 

Electricity is Important 

Many of the world’s un-connected come from rural areas 

in Africa and Asia. Unfortunately, as emerging regions, 

Africa and Asia are facing other challenges, such as 

insufficient food security, inadequate health services, 

and public infrastructure underdevelopment, aside 

from limited access to electricity. These aforementioned 

items often command the attention of the government 

and key stakeholders, so that access to electricity 

frequently takes a backseat. 

However, the importance of having reliable electricity 

can never be overstated. With electricity, farmers can 

grow more food, hospitals and clinics can operate more 

efficiently, and roads and bridges can be built more 

quickly. Though not absolutely, a reliable electricity 

can help solve many of the challenges confronting the 

world’s emerging economies, and it’s high time access to 

electricity gets its share of the spotlight. 

With Clean Electricity, 

Life Will Get Better 

for the World’s Poor 

One of the staunchest advocates of providing sustainable 

electricity to the poor is Microsoft founder, billionaire 

Bill Gates. Through his 2016 Annual Letter, published 

on www.gatesnotes.com last February, Gates said that if 

one wanted to help the world’s poorest families (as it is 

usually the poor that is adversely affected by the absence 

of reliable electricity), one had to find a way to provide 

them with clean electricity that they could afford. He 

underlined “clean”, so that the electricity provided to the 

poor would not further contribute to climate change. 

And what does climate change have to do with poor 

people, you ask? Much, and its effects are direct. Poor 

people, despite being the least responsible for emitting 

harmful gases that lead to climate change, are often 

the most severely affected by it. Millions of the world’s 

poorest families derive their living from farming, and 

the changes in weather patterns spurred by climate 

change affect the growth of their crops, hence their 

income and the food on their table. Thus, climate 

change, on top of a limited access to electricity, sinks 

them deeper into poverty. 

In order to avoid long-term adverse changes to the 

world’s climate, scientists say that we have to cut 

our GHG emissions by as much as 80% by 2050, and 

completely eliminate them by the end of the century. 

This may be a herculean order, in light of the fact that in 

2015 alone, the world emitted 36 billion tons of carbon 

dioxide to produce energy. How is it even remotely 

possible that we can reduce 36 billion tons (and expected 

to grow year on year) to zero, nil, nada, niente? 

Gates has a simple yet masterful illustration of how the 

world might get its CO 2 

emissions down to zero. 

He explained that CO2 is a product of four factors: 

P (population), S (services used by each person), E 

(energy needed to provide each of those services) and 

C (carbon dioxide, which is produced by E). Gates said 

that in order to reduce CO2 to zero, one of the factors 

should be zero. Simple multiplication, isn’t it? 



He explained that CO 2 

is a 

product of four factors: 

P (population), S (services used 

by each person), E (energy 

needed to provide each of those 

services) and C (carbon dioxide, 

which is produced by E). Gates 

said that in order to reduce CO 2 

to zero, one of the factors should 

be zero. Simple multiplication, 

isn’t it? 

But, reducing one of the factors to zero may be easier 

said than done. P cannot be zero, as it would mean we’d 

all be dead. But seriously, population is expected to 

increase in the coming years, so there will be no way 

that it can be brought down to zero (unless a catastrophe 

happens, and we’d all be wiped out like what happened 

to the dinosaurs). 

In order to avoid long-term 

adverse changes to the world’s 

climate, scientists say that we 

have to cut our GHG emissions 

by as much as 80% by 2050, and 

completely eliminate them by the 

end of the century. 

“ 

” 

S cannot be zero, because it actually has to go up to 

improve the living conditions of the poor. So, S as zero 

is out of the question. 

Efficient use of E has made inroads in recent years, but 

industry experts still predict that energy use will go up 

by 50% in 2050. So, it cannot come to naught. 

And we’re down to C, the amount of carbon emitted 

per unit of energy. Gates said that with the advent of 

environmentally friendly technologies, carbon-free 

energy was already possible. Green technologies are 

truly gaining traction and are becoming cheaper as 

more people embrace them, but there is still wriggle 

room for innovation. 

Green energy sources like solar and wind are 

intermittent, and technologies running on them should 

still be optimized to become a reliable prime source of 

electrical power. Provisions for storing solar or wind 

power will greatly help the cause, but available energy 

storage technologies remain prohibitive. 

Therefore, even as green energy technologies are 

fast developing, Gates called on his readers to feed in 

thousands more of new ideas, “even ones that might 

sound a little crazy”. He called to mind Thomas Edison, 

who “successfully found 10,000 ways that would not 

work”. He said that in order to find thousands of ideas 

that would not work, people have to try thousands of 

ideas, and in his opinion, this was not happening at 

present. 

He also called upon governments to spark new advances, 

much like what they had done for other scientific 

research, like cancer treatment, outer space travel and 

the Internet. 

Gates recognized that energy research and transition 

to new energy sources takes decades, so he urged 

stakeholders to roll up their sleeves now.

29 

Let Us Be the “Miracle” 

There’s no denying the enormous magnitude of the 

energy problem that our world currently faces. But, as 

big as the gap is the opportunity that comes with it. If the 

world successfully finds a viable solution to the energy 

challenges and to the other issues that branch out of 

them, it would change the lives of millions of the world’s 

poorest people. 

To close his letter, Gates sounded his optimism, as 

he said that he remained positive for he had seen 

“miracles” happen before. He said “miracles” did not 

happen by chance; they were products of research and 

development, and the human capacity to innovate. “I’m 

so optimistic about the world’s ability to make a miracle 

happen that I’m willing to make a prediction,” he said. 

“Within the next 15 years—and especially if young 

people get involved—I expect the world will discover a 

clean energy breakthrough that will save our planet and 

power our world.” 

Like Gates, we have all witnessed “miracles” at some 

point in our lives. Who would have thought that we can 

watch people and events through a box with a screen? 

That we can put a computer inside our pockets? That 

we can speak to our loved ones thousands of miles away 

in real time? That people will get cured of previously 

incurable diseases? Without prejudice to religion, I say 

that we humans can make “miracles” happen. There’s no 

better time than now. And if it’s not much to ask, can we 

be the “miracle”? 

“ 

Within the next 15 years—and especially 

if young people get involved—I expect 

the world will discover a clean energy 

breakthrough that will save our planet and 

power our world. 

” 



CAN NUCLEAR 

HELP THE 

INTEGRATION OF 

RENEWABLES? 

Craig Morris, author and editor of Renewables 

International, released data 

analysis to determine if nuclear helps 

in the integration of renewable energy. 

‘“French nuclear exports help Germany, 

the UK, Italy and Spain accelerate 

their renewable uptake,” writes shale 

gas proponent Nick Grealy. What do 

the data show?’ Morris quoted Grealy 

on the website. 

According to his data analysis, French 

nuclear does not facilitate the integration 

of wind and solar in neighboring 

countries, “it clogs up the grid and reduces 

flexibility.” 

In contrast to this, the production of 

solar power from 9am to 3pm in conventional 

power plants in Germany are 

at a modest level—conventional generation 

is usually around 50GW from 

7AM to 40GW at 2PM. Without the 9 

GW of exports, the German conventional 

power would be pushed down to 

30 GW, which is the reason for the big 

exports. 

Also, France prefers to sell electricity 

at low prices at times of low demand 

instead of ramping down their nuclear 

power plants. 

Photo by Extreme Tech

31 

CYCLING YOUR WAY 

INTO A FULL BATTERY 

CHARGE FOR YOUR 

SMARTPHONE 

The Levitation is a futuristic 

bicycle concept designed by 

Dezien that converts the bike’s 

motion into electrical energy for 

charging devices. 

Photos by Dezien 

Think that your bike is the coolest one 

in the block? Think again after you 

have laid your eyes on the Levitation. 

It looks exactly what it is supposed to 

be and that is a futuristic bike concept. 

Designed by Dezien, this bike is 

the pipe dream of a cyclist or a tech 

enthusiast. 

The list of features that Levitation 

possesses is as extensive as it is impressive. 

It features a Wi-Fi hotspot, a 

battery that is charged by the motion 

of the bike, a USB port for charging 

devices and a LED screen for starters. 

Have we missed anything? Oh! It can 

levitate as well. 

Wait. What? Yes. You got that right. 

This bike is capable of levitating which 

is also the reason why it has been 

named Levitation. The name should 

have given it away though. The ability 

to levitate has been made possible 

by the implementation of magnetic 

levitation technologies. This does not 

mean that you will be soaring in the 

skies above us mere mortals though. 

The maglev tech is powered by the kinetic 

energy of the bike. The tech simply 

lifts up the bike so as to decrease 

wind resistance. This allows you to 

move faster. Additionally, it will also 

reduce the shocks from bumps and 

debris on the roads. 

Another cool feature is certainly the 

energy feature. As you cycle, the energy 

of the motion is captured and 

stored in batteries. You can use that 

electrical energy of the batteries to 

power up your devices such as your 

smartphones and any other device 

that supports the USB standard. 

Dezien also claims that the batteries 

will be capable of charging an electric 

car. However, so far, no electric 

car supports the USB standard. That 

would be a cool sight to see nonetheless. 

Imagine charging your car with a 

cycle! That would be interesting! 



ENGINEERING STUDENTS 

CREATE PROTOTYPE FOR 

SOLAR THERMAL 

ADSORPTION REFRIGERATOR 

Engineering students from the University 

of Dayton won three awards at the 

USA Science and Engineering Festival 

in Washington, D.C., for creating a device 

that will soon operate without using 

electricity and provide eco-friendly 

refrigeration in areas that lack electricity. 

They created a prototype of a Solar 

Thermal Adsorption Refrigerator. 

This team was supported by a U.S. 

Environmental Protection Agency 

People, Prosperity and the Planet (P3) 

grant. The team won the American 

Society of Civil Engineering’s Sustainability 

Development Award, the 

Mid-Atlantic Solar Energy Society’s 

Sustainability Energy Award and architecture 

and consulting firm organicARCHITECT’s 

Vituvius. 

According to the group’s advisor and 

assistant professor of mechanical engineering, 

Jun-Ki Choi “The group’s 

prototype model showed one successful 

replacement of a conventional 

fridge with this technology can achieve 

up to 22 tons of lifetime carbon dioxide 

emission reduction. That’s equal 

to emissions from three typical U.S. 

households in a year. Even a small percentage 

of the proposed technology 

being adopted can significantly reduce 

environmental impacts worldwide.” 

Photo by Twitter

33 

UNDERGROUND 

BATTERIES WHICH 

WILL HELP SAVE 

THE ENVIRONMENT 

Photo by Lawrence 

Livermore National 

Laboratory 

Climate change is a big problem 

that the world steadily faces and 

one of the main factors that affect 

this is the enormous amount of 

CO2 in our environment. There 

have been numerous projects 

that hope to lessen the amount of 

CO2 in our system but none had 

an idea like this team of scientists 

who proposed not only a way to 

reduce CO2 but a way to harness 

energy from it as well. 

A group of scientists from the 

Lawrence Livermore National 

Laboratory (LLNL), the University 

of Minnesota, tech firm TerraCOH, 

and Ohio State University 

have come together with a possible 

solution to store CO2 into 

batteries underground for future 

consumption with their paper 

entitled “Earth Battery.” Thomas 

Buscheck, author of the paper and 

leader of the LLNL Geochemical, 

Hydrological and Environmental 

Sciences Group described the 

project as “a cost-effective way to 

store the energy long enough so it 

can be used later.” 



New York Horizon 

Photo by Evolo 

7 

FUTURISTIC 

SKYSCRAPERS 

THAT BATTLE 

GLOBAL 

WARMING 

In the technological world we live in today, global 

warming is known as the number one environmental 

enemy. This is why many researchers and 

engineers have come up with different high tech 

innovations to help improve our world’s environmental 

situation. It started with solar powered 

gadgets, then came electric cars, and now architects 

are bringing their ideas to a larger scale. This 

year, architects from around the world are to design 

skyscrapers that can help the environment at 

the eVolo skyscraper design competition. 

Valley of the Giants 

Photo by Engadget 

Bio-Pyramid 

Photo by Engadget

35 

Global Cooling Skyscraper 

Photo by Paolo Venturella Architecture 

Data Tower 

Photo by Evolo 

Urban Earth Worm 

Photo by Face Pla 

Hydra Tower 

Photo by Inhabitat 



PROS AND 

CONS OF 

GEOTHERMAL 

ENERGY 

Photo by Pixabay 

PROS 

Geothermal energy’s advantages are mainly because it is generated 

cleanly and renewably. Electricity that is generated by geothermal 

plants don’t produce carbon emissions unlike burning coal, gas and 

oil, they produce air pollution. 

A country can reduce costs of importing fuel by using geothermal energy 

since this results in the generation of clean, domestic electricity. 

Therefore, there is no need for importing foreign resources.

37 

CONS 

Geothermal energy has its disadvantages as well. Geothermal energy 

production can release chemical gases like hydrogen sulfide, which 

smells like rotten eggs. This gas turns into SO2 or sulfur dioxide, a 

gas that can contribute to heart and lung issues if inhaled. This is true 

only for open-loop geothermal systems. Closed loop geothermal systems 

don’t release hydrogen sulfide. Open system also releases other 

gases such as ammonia, CO2, methane, and boron. 

However, the amount of hydrogen sulfide released from open system 

geothermal facilities is still far less than those produced by coal 

plants. 

Some geothermal plants also generate mercury, which has to be disposed 

of properly. 



India Builds 

the Largest 

Floating Solar 

Power Plant 

Photo by Headway Solar 

World’s 

First Plant 

to Convert 

Desalination 

Wastewater into 

Freshwater 

Photo by Veolia North America 

World’s 

Largest 

Solar Plant 

at Risk for a 

Shut Down 

Photo by The Atlantic

39 

Indian economy is all set to lead the world 

with the world’s largest floating solar power 

station ready to be installed at Loktak 

Lake, the largest fresh water lake in North 

East India, in Manipur. A 10-Megawatt 

(MW) plant was installed in December 

2014 at a waterbody in Rajarhat New 

Town by the city-based Arka Ignou Community 

College of Renewable Energy. It 

generates about 10 KWP solar power each 

day. The new plant at Loktak Lake in Manipur 

is a 100-kilowatt (KW) facility and 

is already yielding encouraging results. 

The floating solar power plant at Loktak 

Lake in Manipur is all set to become the 

country’s largest and only second floating 

solar panel installation. It is installed 

at the lake near the Sendra tourist resort 

of Loktak Lake and will be implemented 

under the program for off-grid and decentralized 

solar applications of the Ministry 

of New and Renewable Energy. 

Aside from helping the Manipur Renewable 

Energy Development Agency (MAN- 

IREDA) in the finalization of work orders, 

the college will be providing the requisite 

technical assistance such as fixing the 

detail design parameters, drawings and 

specifications for the project. 

With only two other countries, Japan and 

Australia, having floating solar plants, 

these are a rarity across the globe. India is 

now all set to be in the league! 

A certain commercial water plant in Texas 

plans to convert wastewater from the 

desalination process into fresh drinking 

water, extract contaminants and converting 

them into reusable mineral products, 

as well as boost the drinking water supply 

of El Paso. 

Global water and waste giant Veolia and 

Enviro Water Minerals (EWM), a company 

which commercializes technology to 

recover minerals discharged in wastewater 

from desalination plants, have created a 

partnership to make this wastewater project 

possible. 

According to these two companies, this 

new water treatment plant is the first of its 

kind, globally. 

EWM awarded Veolia a 10-year operations 

and maintenance agreement for 

them to manage EWM’s commercial water 

plant in El Paso. 

According to EWM CEO Hubble Hausman 

“Waste brine disposal has long been 

the Achilles’ heel of inland desalination 

facilities. Our El Paso project will demonstrate 

that it is possible to produce multiple 

marketable chemical and mineral 

products from the waste brine while increasing 

the recovery of potable water and 

eliminating waste.” 

The EWM plant is scheduled to begin operations 

in early 2017 

A $2.2 billion solar power project in California, 

the largest in the world, is recently 

on shaky ground for being unable to meet 

its expected power output to deliver to 

Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California 

Edison. This has put Ivanpah power 

plant in a position at risk for a shutdown if 

they don’t redeem themselves in the oneyear 

allowance given to them. 

The Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating 

System generates electricity through its 

170,000 mirrors planted on the ground 

which reflects sunlight to 450-foot high 

towers with boilers that is heated up to 

create steam. Their unconventional system 

was put into hot water by environmentalists 

for burning thousands of birds 

to death; and now much to the delight of 

their critics, the plant is near shut down 

for failing to produce the required power. 

Another issue that this power plant has 

faced is its much more expensive electricity 

compared to the conventional power 

plants that acquire solar energy from photovoltaic 

cells. They have a year to turn 

this all around if Ivanpah doesn’t want to 

be forced to go into dark. 




TO BOOST GLOBAL GDP 

UP TO $1.3 TRILLION 

Dramatically scaling up renewables in the 

global energy mix by 2030 would increase GDP, 

social welfare and employment worldwide. 

Illustration by IRENA 

Achieving a 36 per cent share of 

renewable energy in the global 

energy mix by 2030 would increase 

global gross domestic product 

(GDP) by up to 1.1 per cent, 

roughly USD 1.3 trillion, according 

to new analysis by IRENA. 

Renewable Energy Benefits: Measuring 

the Economics, released 

today at IRENA’s sixth Assembly, 

provides the first global estimate 

of the macroeconomic impacts 

of renewable energy deployment. 

Specifically, it outlines the benefits 

that would be achieved under 

the scenario of doubling the global 

share of renewable energy by 2030 

from 2010 levels. 

“The recent Paris Agreement sent 

a strong signal for countries to 

move from negotiation to action 

and rapidly decarbonise the energy 

sector,” said Adnan Z. Amin, 

IRENA Director-General. “This 

analysis provides compelling evidence 

that achieving the needed 

energy transition would not only 

mitigate climate change, but also 

stimulate the economy, improve 

human welfare and boost employment 

worldwide.” 

Beyond finding that global GDP in 

2030 would increase by up to USD 

1.3 trillion – more than the combined 

economies of Chile, South 

Africa and Switzerland as of today 

– the report also analyses country-specific 

impact. Japan would 

see the largest positive GDP impact 

(2.3 per cent) but Australia, 

Brazil, Germany, Mexico, South 

Africa and South Korea would 

also see growth of more than 1 per 

cent each. 

According to the report, improvements 

in human welfare would go 

well beyond gains in GDP thanks 

to a range of social and environmental 

benefits. The impact of 

renewable energy deployment on 

welfare is estimated to be three to 

four times larger than its impact 

on GDP, with global welfare increasing 

as much as 3.7 per cent. 

Employment in the renewable 

energy sector would also increase 

from 9.2 million global jobs today, 

to more than 24 million by 2030. 

A transition towards greater shares 

of renewables in the global energy 

mix would also cause a shift in 

trade patterns, as it would more

41 

than halve global imports of coal 

and reduce oil and gas imports, 

benefiting large importers like Japan, 

India, Korea and the European 

Union. Fossil fuel exporting 

countries would also benefit from 

a diversified economy. 

“Mitigating climate change 

through the deployment of renewable 

energy and achieving 

other socio-economic targets is 

no longer an either or equation,” 

said Amin. “Thanks to the growing 

business case for renewable 

energy, an investment in one is 

an investment in both. That is the 

definition of a win-win scenario.” 

Renewable Energy Benefits: Measuring 

the Economics, builds on 

previous IRENA analysis on the 

socio-economic benefits of renewable 

energy and on REmap 

2030, a renewable energy roadmap 

to doubling the global share 

of renewable energy by 2030. The 

study provides a first glimpse of 

the full range of benefits offered 

by a renewable energy transition. 

GLOBAL INVESTMENTS 

ON RENEWABLES AND 

CLEAN ENERGY TOTALED 

TO $329 BILLION IN 2015 

According to Bloomberg New 

Energy Finance (BNEF), the total 

investment on clean energy hit 

$329 billion in 2015 accounting 

50 percent of investment from the 

Asia-Pacific Region. 

BNEF Chairman of Advisory 

Board Michael Liebreich said that 

the figures are a stunning riposte 

to all those who expected clean energy 

investment to stall on failing 

oil and gas prices. He even added 

that they highlight the improving 

cost-competitiveness of solar and 

wind power, driven in part by the 

move by many countries to reverse-auction 

new capacity rather 

than providing advantageous tariffs, 

a shift that has put producers 

under continuing price pressure. 

China was said to remain the largest 

clean energy investor amounting 

to $111 billion with solar energy 

as its largest funding. China is 

likely to propel towards less pollution 

actions and less coal powered 

energy sources as a part of its 13th 

five year plan (2016-2020) to be 

implemented in March 2016. It’s 

National Carbon Emission Trading 

Program, the world’s largest 

carbon emission control project, 

will cover 10,000 companies emitting 

3-4 billion tons of CO2. 

Also, Solar and Wind tariffs for 

new plants were reduced starting 

on January 1, 2016, according to 

BNEF. 

Iran was also noted to develop 

high-growth in the renewables as 

it has already a feed-in tariff programme 

and line-up of projects on 

solar, wind and non-hyrdo renewables. 

The European Investment Bank 

also allowed lending all over €100 

billion for climate action for the 

next five years. 

China National Building Materials 

recently signed a €1.6 billion 

agreement with Hong Kong-based 

Welink Global in the United Kingdom 

for solar power projects and 

energy saving housing in the United 

Kingdom. 

Meanwhile in South Korea, LG 

Electronics plans to invest $435 

million in building solar manufacturing 

plants. 

Yingli Green Energy was also said 

to build its first overseas factory in 

Thailand aside from its clean projects 

in China. 

With continuous growth of 

awareness in environmental conservation 

and sustainability, it is 

expected that these investments 

would yield positive results in addressing 

global issues on pollution 

and energy sources. 

From a well invested 2015, may 

2016 be a better year for all nations. 

The European Bank for Reconstruction 

and Development and 

the Clean Technology Fund 

formed a programme to lend $125 

million in developing geothermal 

in Turkey. The plan consists 

of constructing five geothermal 

power plants. 

In Japan, the Development Bank 

of Japan and Japan Wind Development 

implemented the creation 

of the country’s first wind power 

funding at $423 million. 



China’s Wind Power 

Capacity to Significantly 

Increase by 2030 

With China’s growing demand 

for energy, the country’s government 

must provide alternative and 

cleaner sources of energy. Having 

one of the largest populations in 

the world, people have been supportive 

of its programs to generate 

more of its wind power resources. 

According to GlobalData, a research 

and consulting firm, China 

produces the highest wind power - 

providing a third of the total wind 

energy capacity in the world. 

“China’s quick adoption of wind 

power can be attributed to a wider 

global trend driven by depleting 

fossil fuel reserves, the declining 

cost of wind power generation 

and a growing sensitivity towards 

environmental issues.” says Aswani 

Srivatsaya, power analyst for 

GlobalData. 

By 2030, the wind power capacity 

of China will triple from 149 GW 

to 495 GW. That would certainly 

help power millions of households 

and establishments without compromising 

the environment again! 

China’s government has provided 

supportive policies including Law 

on Renewable Energy, Wind Power 

Technology Special Planning 

and the Notice on Integrating and 

Accommodating Wind Power. 

Srivatsaya added, “Recent government 

efforts have helped to 

expand and upgrade the grid and 

China now plans to address concerns 

that may potentially impede 

the initial stage of wind power development.” 

Photo by Efergy 

Jordan Mosques 

Adopts Renewable 

Energy 

Solar panels will be installed in about 2000 

mosques in Jordan and are expected to be fully 

powered by renewable energy in just two years. 

After Minister of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs Hayel 

Daoud signed a JD4 million agreement with the 

Jordan Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency 

Fund (JREEEF), fundings for the renewable 

energy project in the mosques will change from 

the 20% allocated budget to 50% (the remaining 

half to be collected from charities and philanthropists). 

Although there are about 6300 mosques in Jordan, 

only some 2000 are in need of the project 

since their electricity bills are too high and adding 

solar panels could significantly reduce their energy 

consumption by 90%. The solar panels are said 

to have a generating power of 4megawatts. 

Photo by WPID

43 

Australia Needs to 

Accelerate Renewables 

to Meet 2020 Target 

The 

needed 

power this 

year is 

equivalent 

to about 

20 large 

windfarms. 

Photo by 

ZME Science 

If Australia still wants to meet 

the 2020 target of 33,000 gigawatt 

hours, they need to accelerate on 

its efforts in forwarding renewable 

able. This is according to the Renewable 

Energy Target 2015 administrative 

report. 

The report indicated that in 2015, 

only about 409 megawatts of renewable 

energy was committed, 

which requires this year to produce 

3,000 megawatts to stay on 

track with the 2020 target – a more 

than sevenfold increase from last 

year. The needed power this year is 

equivalent to about 20 large windfarms. 

The figures that were committed 

mean to projects that are considered 

virtually certain to be built, 

and have been backed by financing 

and power purchase agreements 

to proceed. 

The 2016 commitments, according 

to the chair of the Clean Energy 

Regulator Chloe Munro, reach 

to about 400 megawatts only, far 

from the 3,000 megawatts necessary 

power for 2016. 

There a silver lining though: the 

same report indicates that 9,000 

megawatts of large-scale renewable 

projects have been approved 

for development, but still uncertain 

whether such projects will be 

financed. 

“A regrouping is taking place and 

we will see innovations in the way 

that investments are made in the 

future,” Munro said. “We said it 

was adequate under the circumstances 

and I think the requirement 

to pick up the pace was quite 

important and we are looking forward 

to seeing that.” 

Andrew Bray, the national coordinator 

for the Australian Wind Alliance, 

reiterates the need of retailers 

to commit in buying energy for 

new renewable projects. He thinks 

that energy retailers should already 

commit before getting fined. 

He also shares his insight about 

the government making clear the 

benefits of the 2020 vision, which 

markets are unable to hold a grasp 

on. 



UAE HOLDS A 

$1 MILLION 

CHALLENGE 

TO END 

WATER 

SCARCITY 

Water scarcity is a serious crisis, especially 

for desert countries like UAE. 

That’s why the UAE Water Aid Foundation 

(Suqia) had announced the 

start of registrations for the Mohammed 

bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global 

Water Award. 

This aims to bring about sustainable 

ideas that would help against water 

scarcity. 

There are three main categories to the 

competition: The Innovative Projects 

Award worth USD 500,000.00, The 

Innovative Research and Development 

Award consisting of National 

and International Institutions worth 

USD 200,000.00 each, and the Inno- 

vative Youth Award amounting to 

USD 100,000.00 

“This award supports the efforts of 

Dubai and the UAE to help alleviate 

the suffering of the needy around the 

world.” Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, 

Chairman of the foundation. 

“The foundation is working to provide 

water to the disadvantaged and 

distressed.” He added. 

This might be a good way to further 

the studies directed towards water 

shortage around the world and it 

might be the source of a new and renewable 

system. 

Photo by Microgrid Projects

45 

UAE TO BUILD 

MAN-MADE 

MOUNTAIN 

TO IMPROVE 

RAINFALL 

Photo by Drew Custer 

The inherent problem of rainfall in the 

UAE has led them to the revolutionary 

idea of developing a man-made mountain 

to create more rainfall. 

US-based University Corporation for Atmospheric 

Research (UCAR) manages 

the National Center for Atmospheric Research 

(NCAR) which is now in ‘detailed 

modelling study,’ according to NCAR 

scientist and lead researcher Roelof Bruintjes. 

Bruintjes told Arabian Business, “What 

we are looking at is basically evaluating 

the effects on weather through the type 

of mountain, how high it should be and 

how the slopes should be. We will have a 

report of the first phase this summer as an 

initial step.” 

UCAR, in a collab with National Center 

of Meteorology & Seismology (NCMS), 

was given a funding of $400,000 in February 

last year to evaluate the effects of 

building a mountain on the weather. 

The said mountain will help in forcing the 

air to rise which will create clouds that can 

be seeded. Cloud seeding has been the 

solution of UAE through NCMS’s meteorological 

department, however it just isn’t 

enough. The department revealed that 

$558,000 was spent on their cloud seeding 

activity last year. 

“If [the project] is too expensive for [the 

government], logically the project won’t 

go through, but this gives them an idea of 

what kind of alternatives there are for the 

long-term future,” Bruintjes said. “If it goes 

through, the second phase would be to go 

to an engineering company and decide 

whether it is possible or not.” 



MAN ON A MISSION 

ELON MUSK: THE REAL IRON MAN 

OF RENEWABLE ENERGY 

Hailed as “a Renaissance man this era that needs them” 

by Iron Man himself, Robert Downey Jr., 

Elon Musk lived out the comic-book 

engineering prodigy behind Iron Man. 

Photo by WIRED

47 

“WE'RE RUNNING THE MOST 

dangerous experiment in history right 

now, which is to see how much carbon 

dioxide the atmosphere can handle before 

there is an environmental catastrophe,” 

says one of the world’s famous tech 

entrepreneur, 

Just like that, Elon Musk had us at his 

concern for the environment. 

If you don’t know who this engineer is, 

then you must have been living under a 

rock. Any engineer dedicated to his/her 

field knows that Elon Musk has made a 

reputation in business and engineering. 

Hailed as “a Renaissance man this era 

that needs them” by Iron Man himself, 

Robert Downey Jr., Elon Musk is the 

closest person we can compare to the 

famous Marvel character. If you think 

about it, Musk lived out the comic-book 

engineering prodigy behind Iron Man. 

Some really do consider him as the real 

life Iron Man. Well, that could be possible. 

Born in South Africa, this Canadian-American 

inventor graduated with a 

physics and business degree in the University 

of Pennsylvania, went to Stanford 

for a PhD in physics but dropped 

out to hustle with the tech business. 

He is known as the “It boy of the Silicon 

Valley”, a risk taker, and many more 

amazing calls. To back these up, he is 

called as such because of achieving unbelievable 

heights. He is a rare genius 

with futuristic ambitions. He pioneered 

the following companies and projects 

aligned with his aspirations in the areas 

of internet, energy, and outer space. 

Musk is currently the CEO and CTO of 

SpaceX, a company that focuses on designing, 

manufacturing and launching 

advanced rockets and spacecraft. He 

is also the CEO and product architect 

of Tesla Motors, providing the world 

premium electric vehicles. As if being 

CEO of two big companies isn’t enough, 

he’s also the co-chairman of OpenAI, 

a non-profit artificial intelligence research 

company. 

He has made it his mission to change 

the world and save humanity. How exactly 

will he be able to do these things? 

He plans to lead us in the transition to 

sustainable clean energy. Being labeled as 

the 68th wealthiest man in the US (with 

$12.3 billion in his pocket), he is set to 

make this happen. This is one of his motivations 

on why he started SolarCity, 

which is focused on providing the growing 

solar energy demands of the United 

States. How very noble for someone who 

has all the money in the world. 

ON HIS ACHIEVEMENTS 

For all of his innovations and groundbreaking 

projects, Musk has received numerous 

recognitions. 

Some of which are as follows: In 2010, 

he was listed as one of Time Magazine’s 

100 people who most affected the world. 

On the same year he was awarded by the 

Fédération Aéronautique Internationale 

with the highest award in air and space, 

the FAI Gold Space Medal, for designing 

the first privately developed rocket 

to reach orbit. Musk was also named by 

Esquire magazine as one of the 75 most 

influential people of the 21st century. 

Forbes listed him as one of “America’s 20 

Most Powerful CEOs 40 and under”. 

He is recognized as a Living Legend 

in Aviation in 2010 by the Kitty Hawk 

Foundation for creating the Falcon 9 

rocket and Dragon spacecraft—the successor 

to the Space Shuttle. In 2010, he 

was the Automotive Executive of the 

Year (worldwide) for showing technology 

leadership and innovation via Tesla 

Motors. In 2012, he was awarded with 

the Royal aeronautical’s Society’s highest 

award, a Gold Medal. 

WHY HE’S DIFFERENT 

FROM OTHER INNOVATORS 

Because of his great contributions, Musk 

is regarded as the most relevant personality 

among space nuts, business freaks, 

clean tech lovers, electric car enthusiasts, 

and coding nerds, among others. 

But there’s more to Elon Musk than his 

wide variety of innovation fields that he 

is admired for – he appears at the front 

of the pack of innovation masterminds 

because of who he is as a person. 

It doesn’t take so much of psychology 

and personality assessment to realize 

the main reason why he is well-loved 

by people. Musk shows us he is a human 

being just like us – unlike others 

who feel superior in a crowd, Elon Musk 

speaking in front of an audience feels 

like he is just talking with a friend, even 

when he is already delivering a speech 

full of tech jargons. The way he answers 

questions is so real, that his level of engagement 

is unparalleled. 

The moment he is thrown with a question, 

he speaks with dignity not only 

with his mouth but also with his inquisitive 

and searching eyes. Elon may be 

interrupting himself at times but only to 

make his piece a more understandable 

context to the audience. Ultimately, his 

greatest asset is to make big dreams be a 

believable reality to his audience. 

In their company, Solar City, Musk 

along with his cousins Peter and Lyndon 

Rive aim to power homes using solar 

energy. They plan to make clean energy 

available to homeowners, businesses, 

schools, non-profits and government 

organizations at costs that are lower 

than if they were to use energy generated 

by non-renewable energy sources. 

Solar City has completed installations in 

27 states with more than 90 operation 

centers. The company makes switching 

to clean energy easier by analyzing their 

customer’s energy usage and identifying 

the different opportunities for improvements. 

According to their website they 

are the only company “that offers integrated 

sales, financing, design, installation, 

monitoring and efficiency services 

from a single source, without requiring 

the services of multiple third-parties.” 

Another reason why we admire Musk 

is his crazy ideas that could ultimately 

become true in the near future. A fun 

fact you might have missed about Elon 

Musk: He wants to make human life on 

Mars to be possible. As he phrases it, he 

is “making life multiplanetary.” 



“It’s not as though we can keep burning coal in 

our power plants. Coal is a finite resource, too. 

We must find alternatives, and it’s a better idea 

to find alternatives sooner then wait until we 

run out of coal...” 

ON CARBON PRICING 

AND ENERGY 

EDUCATION 

At the World Energy Innovation Forum 

held at the Tesla Headquarters last 

May 4th, Musk challenged the masses 

to be educated in order to spark a “sort 

of revolt” to end the “unrelenting and 

enormous” promises set by the fossil 

fuel industry. 

Musk also announced his support for 

carbon pricing as a means to lessen the 

amount of subsidies that the creation 

and use of fossil fuels present. Though 

subsidies are provided to electric vehicles, 

it still does not equal the subsidies 

that the gasoline powered vehicles get. 

Musk proclaimed that this “weakens 

the economic forcing function to transition 

to sustainable transport and energy.” 

As Musk showed his stand on the 

effects of climate change in the country, 

other people present in the forum have 

different takes on this “new direction” 

of the electricity magnate. 

Photo by Electrek 

In one of his speeches, he expresses his 

take on coal and and carbon pricing: 

“It’s not as though we can keep burning 

coal in our power plants. Coal is a 

finite resource, too. We must find alternatives, 

and it's a better idea to find 

alternatives sooner then wait until we 

run out of coal, and in the meantime, 

put God knows how many trillions of 

tons of CO2 that used to be buried underground 

into the atmosphere.” 

“The reality is gas prices should be 

much more expensive then they are because 

we're not incorporating the true 

damage to the environment and the 

hidden costs of mining oil and transporting 

it to the U.S. Whenever you 

have an unpriced externality, you have 

a bit of a market failure, to the degree 

that eternality remains unpriced.” 

HOW HE INSPIRES 

ENGINEERS AND 

INNOVATORS 

More than a guy having a public speaking 

command is a guy who cares a lot 

about humanity. His dedication and 

commitment towards helping society 

proves so, through Tesla Motors which 

produces environmentally friendly 

electric cars; through SpaceX which 

will provide sooner or later an unprecedented 

transportation system that 

will benefit generations; and through 

SolarCity which gives clean, abundant, 

and socioeconomically decentralized 

source of electricity generation. 

All these and more are enough reasons 

to admire our real-life Iron Man. With 

the magazine covers he is in, the media 

companies parading his name, his 

special television appearances, his fans 

are deeply reminded of how great Elon 

Musk is. There is no shame to be called 

an Elon fan boy or a fan girl, because 

Elon Musk’s accomplishments and 

himself are indeed worth celebrating.

49 

Subsidies in 

Wrong Places 

Affect 

Renewable 

Energy 

IS GREEN CREDIT 

STILL VALUABLE? 

Renewable energy has been increasing 

incredibly. Wind power 

and solar power share of the total 

U.S power generation has increased 

from 0.5% in 2005 to 5% 

in 2015. This growth shows both 

the innovation that has been lowering 

the costs and different subsidies 

which include accelerated depreciation, 

tax credits and grants, 

loan guarantees, and state renewable 

power mandates. 

Renewable energy’s value is usually 

lower because investments do 

not always target the highest quality 

resource—solar power goes to 

where subsidies are, not where the 

sun shines. 

Innovation has brought lower 

costs for wind, solar and their 

competitors. This has lowered the 

cost of U.S natural gas, wherein 

the price of natural gas delivered 

to the power sector in 2015 

is equal to one-third of the price 

than it was in 2008. 

As the cost of power production 

has fallen, it is the same for the 

demand for electricity. Electricity 

consumption in the U.S. has fallen 

by 1 percent because of subsidies 

and standards targeting energy efficiency. 

In other parts of the U.S., 

the costs of wind and solar may be 

competitive with new coal or natural 

gas facilities, but new renewable 

investment competes with 

existing, lower-cost power plants. 

These findings result in utilities 

relying more on the use of natural 

gas than renewables. This is 

due to the fact that natural gas is 

still more efficient in following the 

changes in energy demand. 

Going green is the latest trend. Every big corporate is 

claiming to have gone 100 percent green these days. 

But some say that it is just a feel-good scam. 

When we say 100 percent green, we imply 

that the company is getting all of its power 

from wind, solar, geothermal, or biofuels 

plants. Companies might be claiming to 

do so for the environment, but their actual 

purpose is also attaining a Renewable 

Energy Certificate (REC). 

The RECs certifies that a company is obtaining 

all its power supply from renewable 

sources of energy. According to a 

study shared by the National Renewable 

Energy Lab of the U.S. Department of 

Energy, around 13,000 customers bought 

10.5 billion certificates in 2007. Nobody 

knows exactly what these cost, but the 

lab’s best estimates a range from $100 million 

to $500 million. 

The practice of purchasing the certificates 

has also been supported by the Federal 

agencies. Annual awards are handed over 

by the EPA to the companies who purchase 

green power through REC suppliers. 

This, in turn, encourages competition 

between universities and other organizations 

vying to be the greenest among them 

all. 

If this is not enough, then we also have the 

World Resources Institute and the World 

Wildlife Fund that published a guide 

book, the Renewable Energy Buyers’ Principles, 

on helping companies formulate 

strategies to go 100 percent clean. The 

simplest avenue available is to purchase 

renewable-energy certificates (RECs), or 

credits, that enable companies to claim 

100 percent renewable sources without 

getting their power directly from solar 

panels or wind turbines. 

The government has not issued any defined 

set of rules to verify that the companies 

are actually using the renewable 

energy sources. While some countries 

claim that they have laws that mandate 

third-party audits, many do not. Getting 

there still involves a complicated set of 

decisions, compromises, tough conversations 

with utilities, and financial maneuvering. 

What drives this trend of going 

green are the reducing prices for renewable 

energy certificates, strict government 

policies, public and shareholder pressure, 

and a growing body of evidence that is 

provided by opting for renewables over 

fossil fuels. Hundreds of companies like 

Intel, Cisco and IBM had already purchased 

RECs but continued to buy power 

from conventional utilities generating 

electricity for fossil fuel. It has now just 

become a big business for green credit. 

However, the I-REC Standard issued a 

stand about issuing certificates and generators 

stating that they provide energy 

attribute tracking systems that are easily 

implemented to consumers in all regions 

as for compliance. They believe that consumers 

are given a choice to where they 

consume electricity and get resources 

within their region. They added that attributes 

and uses of renewable electricity 

purchased is also disclosed by end-users. 



GERMANY 

HAD TO PAY 

PEOPLE TO 

USE POWER 

DUE TO 

RENEWABLE 

ENERGY 

SURPLUS 

If there’s one country that is way ahead of 

us when it comes to renewable energy, it 

would be Germany. Why? Because they 

are already paying people to use electricity! 

The overwhelming heat and powerful 

winds enabled this in Germany to happen. 

The country’s solar, wind, hydro and 

biomass plants provided 55 GW of the 

consumed 63 GW, which is about 87 per 

cent. 

The power prices getting below zero for 

several hours on May 8, Sunday, indicated 

that the commercial customers were being 

paid to consume electricity. 

Christoph Podewils of Agora Energiewende, 

a think tank and policy laboratory 

in Germany funded by the European 

Climate Foundation and the Stiftung 

Mercator, said, “We have a greater share of 

renewable energy every year. The power 

system adapted to this quite nicely. This 

day shows again that a system with large 

amounts of renewable energy works fine.” 

This feat in renewable energy by Germany 

is good news especially that they plan 

to hit 100% renewable energy by 2050 – 

but ultimately a bad news for the gas power, 

nuclear and coal plants, as they have to 

be shut down. 

SOLAR MICROGRID 

REDUCES CARBON 

EMISSIONS BY 50% 

Stone Edge Farm Estate Vineyards first 

installed their solar microgrid and other 

renewable technologies some time ago, 

and their aim was to cut carbon emission 

by 50 percent. 

The vineyard was able to reach this goal 

within a year. Now, they are aiming to attain 

below-zero carbon emissions by using 

renewable energy and storage. 

They are located on a 16-acre organic 

winery and farm from Sonoma, California. 

The microgrid includes batteries 

from Aquion Energy and power conversion 

technologies from Ideal Power. 

According to Matt Maroon, the vice president 

and product management for Aquion, 

the project is one of a number of microgrids 

that now uses Aquion Energy’s 

batteries. This particular on includes 14 

Aquion M-Line Battery Modules which 

are 25 kWh each, and provides about 350 

kEh of energy storage capacity in total. 

These will be connected to a 32-kW solar 

array. 

Photo by Clean Technica

51 

SOLAR ENERGY FOR 

FREE HOT SHOWERS 

NOW A THING 

Instead of letting excess solar power from your panels go 

back to the national grid, you can now use it to heat the 

water in your house instead of spending money on electric or 

gas-powered heaters. 

Yup, it’s that time of the month again 

when you have to whip out your wallet 

and pay your bills. I’m willing to 

bet that one of the biggest leeches in 

your finances is your electricity bill; 

it’s just so hard to cut down! 

We’ve all heard of solar technology, 

where energy from the sun is harvested 

using solar panels on your roof or 

yard and turned into usable electricity. 

The main drawback of this, however, 

is that when the sun’s up and your 

house is basically overflowing with 

power, you’re out in the world doing 

adult stuff! And when you come 

home at night, unless you have a decent 

(and expensive) energy storage 

system, you’ll be back to using regular 

ol’ technology. 

Well, worry no more because new 

technologies are available to help 

you out. Power Diverter, for example, 

promises to store all the energy it can 

from your solar panel array. And what 

it can’t save, it will divert to your water 

tank instead of routing it back to 

the national grid. Not only will this 

heat your water for those long, hot 

showers spent pondering life’s biggest 

questions, Power Diverter can use the 

hot water to create thermal energy for 

more electricity! 

It’s basically having two batteries – 

one an actual battery, and the other 

your water tank – but you get free hot 

water on the side! 

Photo by Home Advisor Homesource 



EUROPE AND US CELEBRATE 

SOLAR MILESTONES IN 2016 

Campaigns to celebrate milestones 

in solar power systems installations 

were launched by solar 

industry associations in the United 

States and Europe. 

In Europe, SolarPower Europe, 

which was formerly known as the 

European Photovoltaic Industry 

Association, said that according 

to the HIS Inc. data, Europe was 

able to complete the installation of 

100 GW of solar PV. The association 

plans to celebrate the event in 

September. 

“In the current post-feed-in tariff 

climate, we must make sure we 

have the right electricity market 

design and the right long-term investment 

signals for solar to flourish. 

We hope that the European 

Commission’s forthcoming market 

design reform and Renewable 

Energy Directive will pave the way 

for the 200 GW benchmark.” Said 

James Watson, CEO of SolarPower 

Europe. 

US President Barack Obama 

joined in on the Solar Energy 

Industries Association in their 

#MillionSolarStrong campaign, 

tweeting that the U.S. has recently 

achieved one million solar installations, 

which is enough to power 

5.5 million homes. 

SEIA launched the #MillionSolar- 

Strong campaign to celebrate this 

milestone. The association said 

that the campaign got support 

from more than 70 organizations 

signing an official declaration in 

favor of solar. 

“By signing this declaration, we are 

joining the #MillionSolarStrong, 

and counting, who support the 

local jobs, economic activity, and 

stronger, healthier communities 

that solar energy is generating for 

all Americans.” The declaration 

stated. 

Photo by Clean Technica

53 

Photo by Extreme Tech 

#EUsolar100GW 

Europe completed the 

installation of 100 GW 

of solar PV. 

#MillionSolarStrong 

The United States hit one 

million solar installations, 

enough to power 5.5 

million homes. 



WILL THE GROWING 

SOLAR POWER OF USA 

REACH ITS LOW-INCOME 

COMMUNITIES? 

America, being one of the frontrunners in 

green technology, has gone to its millionth 

solar installation now collectively up to 27 

gigawatts of capacity spreading to the 50 

states. It comprises 1 per cent of U.S. electricity, 

but can grow even more. 

The increasing solar energy efforts of 

United States may reach to a million more 

but until then, will the solar power be felt 

among disadvantaged communities? 

Giving solar power to low-income communities 

will mean lower utility bills and 

well-paid career opportunities that will 

not require advanced training. When 

there are solar farms, jobs will be generated 

and will help in the welfare of the people. 

The alarming statistics of 22 million 

owner-occupied households in the US 

have incomes at or below 80 per cent of 

their area median income. 

But it will not come easy to them as significant 

barriers prevent them to flourish, 

despite the solar costs dropping 17 percent. 

There will be upfront costs, housing 

status, and the economic vulnerability of 

lower-income families. 

Africa already has the solar power initiative 

in small communities. Source: Policy 

Innovations 

There is some hope, though, considering 

that the US government in all levels already 

think about solar as a cost-effective 

means to provide energy, through developing 

policies like the Low Income Solar 

Act pushed by the Congress. Such policy 

will provide grants and loans for solar 

project in low-income communities. 

It will not be far that the disadvantaged 

communities will be reached by solar 

power. With the kind of growth US has 

with solar renewable energy, it be likely 

that even before the next millionth, people 

from low-income communities will 

already benefit from solar power. 

Photo by UPI

55 

RENEWABLES 

OVERTAKING 

FOSSIL FUELS 

IN UNITED 

STATES 

MEXICO’S PRICE OF 

RENEWABLES IS 

THE BEST MODEL 

FOR THE UNITED STATES 

Undeniably, America is one of the global 

leaders when comes to renewable energy, 

but its true price – free from subsidies and 

mandates – is yet to be known. Former 

Energy Secretary Steven Chu, who now 

teaches at Stanford University, suggested 

to look at Mexico for some comparison. 

Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE), 

which is Mexico’s state utility, has been 

removed last March from the state-owned 

monopoly which ran for 80 years. CFE 

was then left open for private companies 

to bid to supply for solar, wind, hydro, cogeneration, 

combined-cycle gas, and geothermal 

energy. 

He said that the cost per kilowatt-hour is 

only 4¢ to 4.5¢, bare from the mandates, 

in both solar and wind. This is because it 

has no production tax credit, no investment 

tax credit, and no renewable portfolio 

standard: in short, it’s just money with 

a little profit. The International Energy 

Agency or the U.S. Energy Information 

Administration predicted that solar may 

cost a minimum of 8.9¢ per kilowatt-hour 

in 2020. This is still cheaper than the adjusted 

average price GTM Research in 

Mexico released, which is 5¢ per kilowatt-hour 

in 2016 from 4¢ to 4.5¢. 

He said that the cost per kilowatt-hour is 

only 4¢ to 4.5¢, bare from the mandates, 

in both solar and wind. This is because it 

has no production tax credit, no investment 

tax credit, and no renewable portfolio 

standard: in short, it’s just money with 

a little profit. The International Energy 

Agency or the U.S. Energy Information 

Administration predicted that solar may 

cost a minimum of 8.9¢ per kilowatt-hour 

in 2020. This is still cheaper than the adjusted 

average price GTM Research in 

Mexico released, which is 5¢ per kilowatt-hour 

in 2016 from 4¢ to 4.5¢. 

“Clean energy is actually getting much 

cheaper than even I, as a perennial technical 

optimist, thought it was going to be,” 

Chu said. But it’s just in Mexico. If only 

America will realize the weight of imposing 

tax credits on their renewable energy, 

just like what Mexico already realized, 

renewable energy could bloom best in 

the nation where energy crises may soon 

arise. 

Photo by The Energy Collective 

According to reports, 

renewable energy 

has been the greatest 

source of new power 

to the electricity in 

the United States 

last year. 

According to reports, renewable energy 

has been the greatest source of new power 

to the electricity in the United States Last 

Year. Reports showed that developers installed 

16GW or 68% of clean energy in 

2015! 

In 2015, gas-powered power plants were 

accounted for 25% of the capacity added 

to the grids and a large number of coal 

plants were shut down. 11GW went offline 

by October and 3GW of the capacity 

was expected to close in November and 

December. 

According to the report: “The already 

rapid de-carbonization of the US power 

sector accelerated with record numbers of 

coal plant closures and solar photovoltaic 

system commissionings, while natural gas 

production and consumption hit an alltime 

high. Concurrently, the US continued 

to enjoy greater benefits from energy 

efficiency efforts as economic growth outpaced 

the growth in electricity consumption.” 

This year, the Energy Information Administration 

estimates the renewable generation 

will grow 9% in the US. 



MIT CHEMICAL 

ENGINEERING 

TEAM CREATES 

BIOPROCESS 

TO CONVERT 

WASTE GASES 

TO BIOFUELS

57 

The effects of carbon emissions to our environment 

has been—and is still one of 

the most difficult to combat. Many have 

tried different methods to combat carbon 

emissions and one of the best ways to do 

this is to transform these harmful emissions 

into something useful. 

Gregory Stephanopoulos, the Willard 

Henry Dow Professor in Chemical Engineering 

at MIT; postdoc Amit Kumar 

PhD ’10, from the Department of Chemical 

Engineering; and their team have 

released a research paper in the Proceedings 

of the National Academy of Sciences. 

Their study is about utilizing bacteria to 

turn waste gases into biofuels. 

To be able to convert wasted gases which 

contain carbon dioxide into biofuels, the 

process involves using bacteria to convert 

the waste gases into acetic acid, or vinegar, 

which is then converted into oil by an engineered 

yeast. 

Being able to utilize waste as a new resource 

is certainly a ground-breaking discovery 

in the fuel production industry. 

Q: Tell us a little bit about your research 

and why it’s significant. 

A: We developed a novel bioprocess for 

converting waste gases containing carbon 

dioxide and a reducing gas such as 

hydrogen or carbon monoxide into biofuels. 

Our process uses bacteria to convert 

waste gases into acetic acid — vinegar — 

which is subsequently converted to oil by 

an engineered yeast. It is a very interesting 

story of pairing distinct microbes to take 

advantage of their unique metabolisms in 

creating a gas-to-liquids process. 

In the United Sates, biodiesel — a primary 

alternative to petroleum-diesel — is the 

second-most abundant biologically derived 

transportation fuel. This bio-based 

diesel is currently produced from vegetable 

or seed oil (lipids) obtained from 

crops including canola, palm, or soybean, 

which are costly and limited in available 

supply. Similarly sugar-based biofuels are 

not favored due to high feedstock costs. 

Our bioprocess paves the way for use of 

potentially cheaper gaseous feedstocks, 

which can be obtained from gasification 

of methane or municipal solid waste, but 

can also be derived from the exhaust gases 

of steel manufacturing. As anyone can 

imagine, availability of these sources is 

huge. 

An important feature of our method is 

that it utilizes waste as a “resource” allowing 

a very low or even negative cost for 

the feedstock. In a broader sense, implementation 

of these concepts for fuel production 

may extend to a number of commercially 

important biological platforms 

depending on the potential sources of 

synthesis gas or its conversion products, 

namely, volatile fatty acids. 

Q: What changes did you need to make in 

your process to scale up from your pilot 

plant outside Shanghai to the much larger 

“semi-commercial” demonstration plant 

that’s set to begin construction? 

A: Scaling up involves many challenges. 

In a small bioreactor, microorganisms and 

media are easy to control and well distrib- 

uted in the system. However, spatial variations 

arise in a larger system requiring 

sophisticated models and lots of calculations 

to generate a design that works well. 

Another challenge is the logistics and parameters 

involved in running a bioreactor 

of several thousand liters, or even bigger, 

without mixing issues. 

An additional issue is the robustness of 

operation. In the lab, graduate students 

can adjust the operational parameters at 

will, as frequently as needed, to provide 

optimal fermentation conditions for days. 

In a pilot plant, there is limited capacity 

to make these adjustments and the continuous 

system must be kept stable for 

months. This imposes higher requirement 

for the robustness of the microbes and the 

overall process. 

Successful operation of a pilot plant for 

months indicates that the whole gas-toliquid 

fuel process is technologically feasible 

under semi-industrial conditions. But 

that is only the first step in the developmental 

process. Cost-effectiveness is another 

important requirement. Assessment 

of the economic feasibility of the process 

is the major goal of operating a pilot plant, 

and/or semi-commercial demonstration 

plant. The fixed assets required for pilot 

construction determine capital costs of 

a future commercial plant. Additionally, 

runs at pilot scale better define energy 

requirements, product quality, and other 

factors like substrate pre-treatment, heating, 

and cooling, and product recovery 

required by a production plant. 

Q: What will be some areas of future research 

for your group? 

A: We want to enhance our understanding 

of the basic physiology of the organisms 

involved in the process and develop 

better biological toolkits for their genetic 

modulation to allow production of various 

products by metabolic engineering. 

Additionally, we would like to better understand 

gasification and other potential 

supply routes of the gaseous feedstocks in 

order to maximize the cost effectiveness of 

the process. 

Photos by MIT 



CLEAN ENERGY 

BUSINESS COUNCIL: 

TOWARDS A 

GREENER WORLD 

COMPOSED OF ORGANIZATIONS from 

private and public sectors, the Clean Energy Business 

Council (CEBC) is focused in the promotion of a greener 

world by advocating renewables, energy efficiency, 

smart grid, energy storage and clean energy technology 

and solutions. It is the stage of stakeholders to convene 

with ideas, technologies and projects and also the platform 

for dialogue between member sectors to develop 

policies that will forward the use of clean energy across 

the MENA region. 

THE PERSONS BEHIND 

Sharath Coorg is the Director of Acquisitions & Project 

Finance at ACWA Power, a leading project developer 

and one of CEBC’s Founding members. Sharath was 

born in India and specializes in emerging markets covering 

both conventional and renewable energy projects. 

His job includes traveling to many countries, working 

on power and water desalination projects in Saudi Arabia, 

UAE, Czech Republic, Germany, Mozambique, and 

Vietnam. 

Sarah Fitzgerald is GM at the Clean Energy Business 

Council. With a background in communications, she 

got involved in the not-for-profit sector doing fundraising 

for various charities. A New Zealander, she moved 

to Dubai with her husband and her young daughter five 

years ago beginning her career in renewable energy with 

the Middle East Solar Industry Association, before joining 

the Clean Energy Business Council in 2014. 

Sharath Coorg 

Director, Acquisitions and 

Project Finance at ACWA Power 

Sarah Fitzgerald 

General Manager, CEBC

59 

THE CLEAN ENERGY BUSINESS COUNCIL 

GineersNow: Are you an educational institution, social 

enterprise, non-profit or private company? 

CEBC: Clean Energy Business Council (CEBC) is a 

non-profit organization dedicated to promoting clean 

energy including renewables, energy efficiency, smart 

grid, energy storage and clean energy technology and 

solutions for the environmental sector. Established in 

2008 by a group of leading institutions, companies and 

individuals who recognized the potential for a clean 

energy revolution in the MENA region, CEBC creates 

a forum for stakeholders to come together to exchange 

ideas, share information and facilitate projects. CEBC 

provides a platform to further dialogue between the 

public and private sectors to develop much needed 

policy and regulation to help drive the implementation 

of clean energy across the MENA region. 

GN: How big is your company? 

CEBC: CEBC is a membership organization comprising 

almost 100 members from private and public sectors 

which include Masdar, Dubai Supreme Council 

of Energy, Dubai Carbon Centre of Excellence, Etihad 

ESCO, Oman Regulatory Authority, Schneider Electric, 

First Solar, Enel Green Power, Adenium Energy, 

Enerwhere, Ashurst, Itron, and Latham & Watkins, 

among others. CEBC is governed by a Board of Directors, 

under the helm of His Excellency Dr. Nasser 

Saidi, former Chief Economist for Dubai International 

Finance Centre (DIFC) and former Minister of Trade 

& Economy and Industry of the Lebanese Government. 

With offices based in Masdar City, CEBC’s mandate 

covers the Middle East and North Africa region and 

employs a staff of three, in addition to a voluntary Advisory 

Committee who provide guidance on technical 

matters and policy and regulatory recommendations. 

GN: Describe your mission, vision and values. 

CEBC: CEBC’s mission is to establish a leading forum 

for companies and government entities focused 

on the development and deployment of clean energy 

in the MENA region and to promote the clean energy 

industry beginning to flourish in the region, informing 

the wider community of the benefits of the sector. 

We support and assist governments, industries and 

communities in the region to meet low-carbon targets 

and sustainability goals; and through collaboration 

with government agencies and other stakeholders, we 

aim to drive policy development and regulation and 

financing of this rapidly developing and exciting sector. 

By developing strategic alliances with research 

institutions, international associations, media and intergovernmental 

organizations, we work together to 

drive the delivery of clean energy solutions for MENA 

and coordinate and disseminate data and information 

to ensure relevant benchmarking and transparency in 

the sectors’ development. 

GN: Where is this company headed? What’s your future 

expansion plans? Describe briefly your strategic goals. 

CEBC: CEBC is incredibly excited about the future of clean 

energy in the MENA region as we see a major shift towards 

the adoption of renewables and clean tech solutions along 

with the necessary regulatory frameworks. This transition 

to a low-carbon economy presents significant opportunities 

with potential benefits such as growth in economy, 

creation of jobs, new innovations and technical developments, 

productivity growth and entrepreneurship, and the 

development of clean and renewable energy financing such 

as Green Bonds and Sukuk will help attract new investors. 

CEBC has been working with the government sector to 

implement a Green Sukuk, and with the UAE’s open and 

developed international financial sector, we see potential 

for the UAE to become the global hub for renewable and 

clean energy financing. 

ADVOCATING CLEAN ENERGY 

GN: What is clean energy as defined by your company? 

CEBC: A common definition of Clean Energy is any generation 

that has a lower environmental footprint than conventional 

(fossil-fuel based) electricity generation technology, 

although some fossil fuels (natural gas) and fossil fuel 

technologies (super critical coal) are considered in some 

jurisdictions to be sources of Clean Energy. The CEBC’s 

definition of Clean Energy includes all renewables technology 

plus carbon capture and storage and energy efficiency. 

In relation to energy efficiency, we represent technologies 

that can help improve supply side efficiency and support 

demand side measures to improve the efficient use of electricity, 

such as smart grids and distributed generation. 

Applications of clean energy technologies are determined, 

to a large degree, by the availability of naturally occurring 

energy resources and how cost effective they are to harness. 

Obvious technologies relevant to the region include Solar, 

Wind, CCS, and Energy Efficiency. Technologies with more 

restricted applications include bio-energy and geothermal. 

GN: Why bother? What’s the importance of pursuing 

clean energy? 

CEBC: Renewable energy technologies are clean sources 

of energy that have a much lower environmental impact 

than conventional energy technologies and offer significant 

health benefits. Increasing the supply of renewable energy 

allows us to replace carbon-intensive energy sources and 

significantly reduce global warming emissions. With the 

cost of renewable energy decreasing, it is now an affordable 

and competitively-priced alternative to conventional 

electricity. 

Wind and solar technologies are less prone to large-scale 

failure because they are distributed and modular. Distributed 

systems are spread out over a large geographical area, 

so a severe weather event in one location will not cut off 

power to an entire region. Modular systems are composed 

of numerous individual wind turbines or solar arrays. Even 

if some of the equipment in the system are damaged, the 

rest can typically continue to operate. 

In addition, renewable energy will not run out, ever, while other 

sources of energy are finite and will someday be depleted. 



THE MACRO LEVEL OF CLEAN ENERGY 

GN: Where are we today? What is the current situation 

of renewables? 

CEBC: While the MENA region has traditionally lagged 

behind much of the developed world in terms of uptake 

of renewable energy largely due to its abundant supply 

of oil and attractive subsides policies, the landscape has 

shifted. We have seen another global first for the UAE 

with Dubai Electricity & Water Authority receiving 

a world record-low bid of 2.99 cents/kWh for the 800 

MW third phase of its 5 GW Mohammed bin Rashid 

Al-Maktoum solar project. This comes hot on the heels 

of the announcement of the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 

which aims to provide 7% of Dubai’s energy from 

clean energy sources by 2020, increasing this target to 

25% by 2030 and 75% by 2050. Plans also include the 

establishment of a Dh100 billion Green Fund. 

The Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority also 

announced a tender for a 350MW Solar PV project to 

be built 120 kilometers east of the capital. The facility 

would produce enough electricity to power more than 

50,000 homes. 

Egypt, Jordan and Morocco have also made good progress 

in their solar bids. Morocco plans to derive more 

than half of its energy from renewable sources by 2030 

with the North African country raising its renewable energy 

target from 42% by 2020 to 52% by 2030. That 42 

per cent will consist of 2 gigawatts each of solar, wind 

and hydropower. Saudi Arabia’s new transformation 

plan includes 9.5 GW (9,500 megawatts) of renewable 

energy by 2030 and Qatar recently announced plans for 

a 1GW solar installation. 

GN: Where should we be 10 years from now? Are we 

on the right track? Are we delayed? Are we progressing? 

CEBC: Even as oil price plummeted from its peak in 

mid-2014, investment in clean energy has seen a surge. 

Global investment in clean energy increased from USD 

316 billion in 2014 to USD 329 billion in 2015, which is 

the highest ever beating the earlier record set in 2011. 

This has been achieved in a scenario where the cost of 

installing clean energy, especially solar PV, has drastically 

fallen implying much higher capacity installation 

for the same investment. As mentioned above, we are 

seeing record low tariffs in solar PV of 3 cents per kWh 

which is cheaper than any form of conventional power 

– and record low tariffs have been achieved in wind 

as well. All these trends point to increasing deployment 

of clean energy in developing markets which are highly 

price-sensitive. Global wind installations are forecast to 

double from current level of 500 GW, and solar capacity 

is forecast to increase four times from the level of 275 

GW over the next ten years. MENA region will contribute 

a significant chunk of this capacity addition as every 

country in the region is planning to deploy large capacities 

of solar (both photovoltaic and concentrated solar) 

and wind in the coming years. 

THE MICRO LEVEL OF CLEAN ENERGY 

GN: What are the initiatives / projects that you are 

doing (or have done) that will drive low or zero emission? 

What are the future innovations that your organization 

is pursuing? 

CEBC: Employment and human resources will play a 

key role in the successful deployment of clean energy, 

and it is our view that the industry needs access to a 

wider pool of talented individuals. In response to this, 

we launched CEBC’s Women in Clean Energy (WICE) 

program in 2015 to help address this gap and provide 

practical steps to encourage more women into jobs in 

the renewable and clean energy sectors. To date, WICE 

has established committees in the UAE, Egypt, Jordan, 

Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia. 

CEBC also runs an environmental awareness campaign 

in schools across the UAE to educate children and the 

wider community about energy efficiency and the role 

clean tech can play in creating a sustainable energy 

future. Key objectives of the program are to empower 

future leaders, inspire children to consider new technologies 

as well as stimulate kids to think about what sustainability 

means to their lives and encourage them to 

adopt long-term measures to protect the environment. 

We now have 30 schools registered in the program with 

a combined student population of 60,000 children. 

We also launched a Green Sukuk Working Group to 

promote the issuance of Sukuk for renewable energy 

projects. Set up by the Gulf Bond and Sukuk Association, 

the Clean Energy Business Council, and the Climate 

Bonds Initiative the group aims to channel market 

expertise to develop best practices and promote the issuance 

of sukuk for the financing of climate change investments 

projects, such as renewable energy projects. 

This initiative is the first of its kind taken to finance renewable 

energy projects in the MENA region. 

In September 2015, the Sustainable Development Goals 

(SDGs) was launched at the UN General Assembly 

defining the start of a new era of global development 

partnerships. SDG 7 provides for Sustainable Energy to 

ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and 

modern energy for all. This holds special importance 

in the MENA region, with aspirations across the region 

to scale up the share of renewable energy and energy 

efficiency in the region’s energy mix. To help countries 

achieve this objective, the UNDP, Regional Center for 

Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (RCREEE) 

and CEBC have launched a new Arab Sustainable Energy 

Initiative comprising three pillars – Capacity Development, 

Sustainable Energy Finance, and Decentralized 

Energy Solutions.

ISSUE NO.004 RENEWABLE ENERGY 

61


THE CHALLENGES & THEIR SOLUTIONS 

GN: What are the stumbling blocks or bottlenecks in 

the renewable industry? 

CEBC: One of the challenges for clean energy is to 

compete with conventional energy sources that enjoy 

several explicit and hidden subsidies from the governments. 

Governments need to ensure a level playing field 

by taking into consideration the environmental cost of 

continued dependence on fossil fuels. Secondly, as the 

interest rate cycle reverses cost of capital will rise for 

new projects, this will imply tariffs in the case of capital 

intensive clean energy deployment will be higher. Also, 

low oil price will pose a challenge for deployment of 

clean energy by being a cheaper alternative where the 

two are pitted against one another. 

Technologically, the challenge of clean energy, especially 

wind and solar, has been its intermittent nature. As a 

result, these sources cannot replace conventional power 

as base-load source. The promise of cheap energy storage 

offers a solution, but the cost of battery storage has 

to come down significantly to be at par with conventional 

base load sources. 

GN: What do you think the government, private companies 

and NGO of each country should do to get rid 

of this? 

CEBC: As mentioned above, governments must take 

into account negative externalities of their dependence 

on fossil fuel when making decisions on energy policy. 

In many places, governments have structured carbon 

tax and incentives for clean energy. But more can be 

done to reduce dependence on fossil fuels for energy 

needs. Germany, for example, has unveiled a program 

to encourage people to shift to electric vehicles. Battery 

operated vehicles combined with rooftop solar PV installations 

at household level can be a game changer in 

many countries in the coming years. There is also an important 

aspect of educating people in the Government 

as well as consumers about energy choices and its impact 

on environment where the NGOs such as CEBC 

will continue to play an important role. 

GN: How do we provide cheap energy in poverty 

stricken areas? How do we ensure access to clean energy? 

CEBC: Free markets are doing a good job of bringing 

down the cost of clean energy. Off-grid solar PV installations 

are an attractive solution for remote regions that 

are not connected by electric grid. In poverty stricken 

areas, the key challenge is access to capital. Micro-finance 

organizations can bridge the gap by providing 

loans or lease options to consumers who cannot afford 

to invest in a solar PV installation on their own. Further 

off-grid battery solutions which ensure uninterrupted 

power supply need to improve in terms of efficiency and 

cost to make it economically viable for poor parts of the 

world. 

ADVICE TO THE YOUNG ENGINEERS 

GN: Please give advice and words of wisdom about renewables 

to our young global audience. What would 

you like to tell to the millennials? Any inspiring words 

that you can share? 

CEBC: The world is at the cusp of significant changes in 

relation to how we produce and consume energy. This 

will impact all aspects of our lives, the homes we live in, 

the way we travel from one place to another and how 

companies organize their operations. Companies that 

do not change as the energy markets evolve will be left 

behind, and smaller newer companies will take their 

place. This would apply to countries as well; the earlier 

they adopt clean energy as a strategic imperative, the 

stronger the clean energy eco-system will be and greater 

the job opportunities for its citizens. For young people 

who are still in college or have recently graduated, these 

changes offer opportunities to build a career that will 

not only be financially rewarding but also help contribute 

in making our planet a better place for all.


63


EESI 

PROMOTING CLEAN POWER 

THROUGH EDUCATION 

Laura Small, 

Policy Associate 

at EESI. 

Renewable energy is becoming a hot topic in the news 

today. Whether it’s on television or on the internet, you 

might have heard of numerous countries jumping in on 

the cause. But what is “renewable” energy? What can it 

do for us? 

The idea of green energy may already be familiar to you 

, but a huge number of the people around us are still 

in the dark when it comes to clean power. This lack of 

information and education is what led to the founding 

of EESI. 

GineersNow had an exclusive interview with Laura 

Small, Policy Associate at EESI. 

GineersNow: Introduce yourself. How many years have 

you been working in your industry? 

Laura Small: My name is Laura Small, and I run the energy 

and climate policy program at the Environmental 

and Energy Study Institute (EESI). I’m originally from 

Palo Alto, California, home to Stanford University and 

part of Silicon Valley. Growing up in the Bay Area, I had 

access to fantastic backpacking, rafting and climbing 

areas, and my outdoor experiences cultivated a lifelong 

love and respect for the environment in me. I’ve been 

honored to work on energy and climate policy at EESI 

for the last three years. 

EESI OVERVIEW 

GN: Are you an educational institution, social enterprise, 

non-profit or private company? Describe your 

company (structure, brief history, board or advisers) 

Laura: EESI is a nonprofit working to create an environmentally 

sustainable future. While we have a broad, national 

audience, we focus on providing Congress and the 

policymaker community with unbiased information on 

energy and environmental issues. EESI does not lobby, 

and is not partisan – instead we try to educate. 

EESI was founded over 30 years ago by a bipartisan Congressional 

Caucus, which saw a need for an independent 

organization to educate Congress on key energy and 

environmental issues. Currently, we have a staff of 11, 

including a team of seven policy staffers. Our offices are 

located in Washington, DC. 

EESI on CLEAN ENERGY 

GN: What is clean energy as defined by your organization? 

Laura: EESI defines clean energy as solar, wind, hydropower 

and other water power generation technologies, 

hydrogen fuel cells, biofuels and biomass, geothermal, 

as well as energy efficiency. 

Clean energy is important because our wellbeing depends 

on it. Burning fossil fuels releases carbon and 

methane in the atmosphere, which traps more heat, 

causing climate change. Climate change is already having 

devastating impacts throughout the world by increasing 

extreme weather (particularly droughts, forest fires, and 

powerful storms), and causing sea level rise and ocean 

acidification. Developing countries are most at risk from 

the adverse impacts of climate change, although we are 

seeing many impacts in the United States already. 

Fossil fuels also emit ozone (which forms smog), mercury, 

benzene, and other air toxics. These pollutants contribute 

to asthma, lung cancer, and other negative health 

impacts. Clean energy, meanwhile, releases minimal or 

zero emissions. 

Clean energy is locally produced, creating domestic jobs 

that can’t be outsourced as well as improving our national 

energy security. Moreover, bioenergy (renewable energy 

derived from organic wastes, purpose-grown crops, 

and algae) can replace fossil fuels to produce electricity, 

liquid fuels, heat and chemicals such as plastics. 

Finally, clean energy—with the exception of bioenergy—does 

not require the purchase of fuel or feedstock, 

protecting us from fuel price hikes. For example, during 

the 2014 “polar vortex” cold snap in the Northeast United 

States, natural gas and propane prices skyrocketed, 

while renewable prices remained constant.

65 

THE MACRO LEVEL 

OF CLEAN ENERGY 


of renewables (locally or globally)? 

Laura: In 2015, 13 percent of U.S. electricity generation 

came from renewable energy (hydropower, wind, 

biomass, solar, and geothermal generation). The greatest 

amount of renewable energy generation came from 

hydropower, which generates almost half of all renewable 

energy in the United States, followed by wind, then 

wood biomass, then solar power. Globally, renewable 

energy represented 22 percent of power generation in 

2013, and that is expected to rise to 26 percent by 2020. 



Laura: EESI doesn’t advocate for specific renewable 

energy targets, but we think the world should move to 

100 percent clean energy as soon as possible. President 

Obama has set a goal to generate 80 percent of U.S. electricity 

from clean energy resources by 2035. More than 

190 nations, including the United States, have signed 

the Paris climate agreement and committed to reducing 

their carbon emissions. This will require large investments 

in clean energy. 

We are on the right track, but there is still much to do! 

The fossil fuel industry is resisting moves to clean, renewable 

power, which is slowing the transition in the 

United States. Until now, progress had been slow because 

renewable energy was more expensive than fossil 

fuel energy. But that is changing fast, and renewables are 

now competitive in many parts of the world. This will 

accelerate the switch to renewable energy. 

THE MICRO LEVEL 


GN: What are the initiatives / projects that you are doing 

(or have done) that will drive low or zero emission? 

(If you are a manufacturer, what sort of efficiencies… 

if you’re an organization, what advocacies… if you’re a 

service, what projects are those… if you’re a government 

entity, what policies and enforcements) 

Laura: EESI works to support clean energy by increasing 

people’s understanding of its benefits. With a particular 

eye to helping policymakers better understand how 

clean energy can help the United States, EESI holds a 

number of events on Capitol Hill that discuss clean energy, 

the jobs being created, and how states and cities are 

taking action to move clean energy forward. Our events 

are open to the public, livecast online, and posted on 

YouTube afterwards. 

EESI also releases papers, articles, and weekly newsletters 

that show the potential of clean energy technologies 

and policies, as well as the need to mitigate climate 

change. Our free weekly newsletter, Climate Change 

News, is especially popular. We have subscribers in all 

50 states and more than 50 countries. 

GN: What are the future innovations that you or your 

company are pursuing? 

Laura: Coming up on July 12, EESI will help put on the 

19th Annual Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency 

Expo and Policy Forum on Capitol Hill, which showcases 

clean energy businesses to Congress and facilitates a 

conversation about policies to support renewable energy 

and energy efficiency. 

GN: What impact have you delivered (social, economic 

and environmental)? Do you have metrics or statistics of 

your accomplishments? 

Laura: Measuring the impact of our advocacy work is 

challenging! National policy is the result of many different 

factors, often over long periods of time. Fortunately, 

we know we are making a difference because we 

receive lots of great feedback (you can see some of it on 

our GreatNonprofits page) and because we’ve surveyed 

our subscribers. EESI was instrumental in making sure 

America’s farm policy includes incentives for renewable 

energy. We also played a key role in pushing for the federal 

government to provide interest-free loans to rural 

households seeking to make their homes more energy 

efficient. To maximize our impact, we work with Congressional 

offices, government agencies, businesses, 

trade associations, and other nonprofits. Together, we 

are accelerating America’s transition to clean, renewable 

energy. 



THE CHALLENGES & 

THEIR SOLUTIONS 

GN: What are the stumbling blocks or bottlenecks in the 

renewable industry? 

Laura: Renewable energy faces a number of challenges. 

One historic barrier for renewable energy is that many 

renewable technologies are relatively new, and have 

needed help to reach the market at competitive prices. 

There has been considerable progress on this front, with 

renewable energy costs diving in recent years. Another 

problem is that the playing field isn’t level. Fossil fuels 

have benefited from large government subsidies for 

about a century, and continue to receive considerable 

public support. Different type of renewables, meanwhile, 

receive vastly different subsidies and tax breaks, 

if any. This creates price distortions, and gives an unfair 

competitive edge to some technologies over others. 

Renewable energy also has benefits over conventional 

fossil fuels that are not properly valued by the market. 

Renewables emit less pollution, for instance, but since 

avoiding pollution does not have a monetary value, renewable 

energy does not get a competitive advantage for 

it. That is why governments should support clean energy, 

making it easier for people to make the socially-responsible 

choice. 



of this? 

Laura: Governments, private companies and nongovernmental 

organizations can all work together to get 

more renewable energy onto the grid and to make efficiency 

improvements in every economic sector. If governments 

put consistent policies in place, investors will 

have more confidence to make long-term investments 

in renewable energy. Policy support, good information 

about renewable energy options, and more purchasing 

of renewable energy by the business community will 

help scale up the manufacturing of renewable energy 

technology. This is critical to achieving the economies 

of scale that are needed to drive costs down. 

Smaller clean energy projects like rooftop and community 

solar, geothermal heating/cooling, and improved 

energy efficiency can be boons for communities, including 

low-income areas, provided low-cost financing is 

available. However, these are generally piecemeal solutions, 

which help some families but cannot reach everyone. 

We also need policy support for the installation of 

large-scale clean energy projects to ensure prices are as 

low as possible, and that everyone – no matter their income 

– can benefit from low-cost clean energy. 



to our young global audience. What would you 

like to tell to the millennials? Any inspiring words that 

you can share? 

Laura: Clean energy is a rapidly growing sector, with 

plenty of great opportunities. Working in clean energy 

will let you help mitigate climate change, lessen air pollution, 

improve public health, and improve our energy 

security. It’s a no brainer! 

Engineers like you will play a key role in making renewables 

ever cheaper and more reliable. And we’re 

also counting on you for the next major breakthroughs! 

There are so many exciting innovations in the works: 

cheaper energy storage, wave power, photovoltaic coatings, 

turbine-less wind power… 

Clean energy is a really exciting field where you can do 

great while doing good.


67


EKOenergy thrives on the enthusiasm of many. 

Katsiaryna and many other volunteers help spread 

the EKOenergy ecolabel to all corners of the world. 

EKOenergy 

REVOLUTIONIZING SUSTAINABLE 


EKOenergy believes that using renewable energy everywhere 

is possible. Though it might take years to convince 

governments of this idea, this non-profit organization 

is going the extra mile to raise awareness on using 

renewable energy. 

EKOenergy wants change in the energy sector. As an 

international network of organizations dedicated to the 

environment and renewable energy, it has continually 

encouraged people in different parts of the world to use 

sustainable energy instead of coal and fossil fuels. Mobilizing 

thousands of citizens across the globe to protect 

nature. 

Launched back in 2013, this organization is growing 

fast, with its members increasing and certifying around 

1 TWh of green electricity. There’s definitely no sign of 

resting for EKOenergy. In this exclusive interview, get 

the chance to know more about the people behind it and 

their plans to achieve their goals in providing sustainable 

energy. They even have an advice for all the young 

engineers out there.

69 

GN: Introduce Yourself. 

INTRODUCTION 

I’m Katsiaryna Viadziorchyk, a 22-year old international 

relations graduate. I’m from Minsk, Belarus. I like 

Mumford and Sons, historical movies and traveling. As 

a student, I organized several international youth events 

and I like to see things moving forward. 

GN: How many years have you been working in your 

industry? 

9 months ago, I joined EKOenergy as a volunteer of the 

European Erasmus+ program. This is my ‘sabbatical 

year’ in which I want to do something useful for society 

and for the environment whilst getting a lot of new interesting 

experiences and contacts. 

At EKOenergy, I focus mainly on stakeholders in Russia 

and Russian speaking countries. Our aim is to make 

Russian consumers enthusiastic about renewable energy. 

This is my first experience in the energy sector. 

Katsiaryna 

Viadziorchyk. 

THE COMPANY 

GN: Describe your company. 

EKOenergy is a not-for-profit organization that promotes 

renewable energy. Our most visible tool is our 

EKOenergy label for sustainable renewable electricity, 

which we launched in 2013. We started in Europe but 

are now also preparing for launch in other continents. 

Our members, over 40 environmental NGOs from over 

30 countries, decide about the global strategy and the 

budget. The daily management is in the hands of the 

Secretariat, which is based in Helsinki. 

GN: How big is EKOenergy? 

After only 3 years of activities, we now certify 1 TWh 

of green electricity and we have about 50 licensed sellers 

in 15 countries. Both our volumes and network are 

growing fast. 


We promote sustainable renewable energy and encourage 

consumers to ‘vote with their wallets’. Our ecolabel 

helps consumers navigate the electricity market. 

GN: Where is this company headed? 

Our size doubles each year and we want to continue at 

the same speed in the coming years. Our dream is to develop 

activities in all countries, with thousands of sellers 

and millions of proud EKOenergy consumers. 

GN: What is clean energy? 

CLEAN ENERGY AND 

ITS IMPORTANCE 

All energy we promote comes from renewable sources: 

hydropower, wind, solar, biomass. What some people 

don’t realize is that the production of renewables can 

have an impact on the environment; hydropower can 

devastate river ecosystems and the production of biomass 

can result in deforestation. At EKOenergy, we take 

these aspects into account as well: we set strict sustainability 

criteria. 

GN: What’s the importance of pursuing clean energy? 

We all know that the fight against climate change is a 

race against the clock. Amidst a lot of scary news, there 

is at least one reason for hope: technically it is possible 

to replace all fossil fuels with renewable energy. Also 

financially it is possible, renewables have a reputation 

for being expensive when this is not the case. In many 

areas, renewable energy is already cheaper than fossil 

fuels, and the prices continue to fall. 

Where politicians and traditional companies don’t act 

(or don’t act fast enough), consumers can take an important 

role. Think of the RE100 (www.there100.org), 

a group of large multinationals, all striving for 100% 

renewable energy. Such actions aren’t only sound economic 

choices, they also accelerate the necessary, global 

growth of renewable energy. 



Smaller consumers can have an impact too. Particularly 

if they all pull in the same direction. Here too, EKOenergy 

has a role to play. We already united 100,000 household 

consumers, all asking for sustainable renewable 

electricity. 

GN: What is the current situation of renewables? 

We are at the eve of a breakthrough. Prices for renewable 

energy are falling rapidly. Everyday, more people 

are realizing that we just cannot keep on burning fossil 

fuels. 

This is very clear on the electricity markets. More and 

more consumers produce their own electricity and/or 

are looking for ways to buy 100% renewable electricity. 

Until recently separate purchase of renewable electricity 

was mainly limited to liberalized energy markets. But as 

more and more international companies want to switch 

to 100% renewable systems, similar systems of green 

electricity contracts find their way to other continents 

as well. 

Right now I’m studying opportunities how to get these 

dynamics to Russia. We want to help Russian companies 

switch to 100% renewable. 

THE FUTURE OF CLEAN ENERGY 

GN: Where should we be 10 years from now? 

We will definitely get a 100% renewable energy world 

around the middle of this century. However, more and 

more scientists are convinced that this is not fast enough 

to avoid catastrophic climate change. Therefore, we need 

to speed up the energy transition: the effects of switching 

are exponential, so the sooner we start the better. Sea 

levels of 2100 probably depend more on our decisions 

today than on the inventions of 2050. 



Our main initiative is the EKOenergy-label for renewable 

electricity. This label helps consumers find the best 

electricity products and increase the positive impact of 

their purchase. Consumers can influence in many ways, 

but to be really efficient, it is important that we all pull 

in the same direction. EKOenergy sets sustainability criteria 

for power plants, e.g. with regard to fish migration 

in the case of hydropower. Also, each time EKOenergy is 

sold, the seller contributes minimum €0,10 per MWh to 

our Climate fund. We use this money to finance climate 

projects that would otherwise not have happened. Last 

year we financed solar panels on schools in Tanzania, 

Cameroon and Indonesia. 

EKOENERGY’S FUTURE 

AND ITS CHALLENGES 

GN: What are the future innovations that your company 

is pursuing? 

We want to bring our EKOenergy label to new markets. 

We made small steps forward in several Asian countries 

and also in Latin-America we have concrete plans. Recently 

we started looking for contacts in the Arab world 

and in Africa. By the way, we welcome all help! 

My own task is to map opportunities in Russia. We are 

in contact with several key stakeholders and discussing 

how to enable Russian consumers to play a role in the 

energy transition. 

Apart from that, we are now also working on the first 

international ecolabel for renewable gas and district 

heating. 

GN: What impact have you delivered? 

The best measures of impact are the projects we finance 

via our Climate Fund mentioned earlier. Apart from 

that, we also manage an Environmental Fund, whose 

money is used to finance river restoration projects. Last 

year we financed 4 of these river restoration projects. 

We can of course also measure the number of EKOenergy 

consumers, and that number is growing fast. 

But much more is happening. Via our positive communication 

we convinced more people that a world without 

fossil fuels is possible. It is not possible to specify how 

big our role is compared to the many other initiatives. 

We also think this is not that relevant. The energy transition 

is taking place thanks to millions of initiatives all 

over the world, and we are proud to contribute to that 

evolution.

71 

GN: What are the stumbling blocks or bottlenecks in 

the renewable industry? 

The main bottleneck is probably the prejudgments. A 

100% renewable world is technically and economically 

possible but many of us are still doubting. After 100 

years with coal and fossils, many seem to have difficulties 

to believe that it is possible to go on without. But 

as evidence accumulates, even the last doubters will be 

convinced. 

Apart from this, the lobbying networks of the oil and 

nuclear sectors are hindering the development of the renewable 

electricity. Just think of the many reports proving 

that oil and nuclear get much more state support 

than the renewable energy industry. 

GN: What do you think should the government, private 

companies and NGOs of each country do to get rid of 

these? 

We have to repeat and amplify the positive stories. Renewable 

energy is ‘contagious’. Very few people install 

solar because they have read on Bloomberg that renewable 

is cheaper. They do it because their neighbor tells 

them how much money he saved after installing solar 

panels. 

We of course also actively encourage small and large 

consumers alike to either invest in own renewable energy 

installations or buy 100% renewable energy. A combination 

of both is of course also possible. 

As more and more people invest in the production, electricity 

storage will also become increasingly popular. 

And as this is a technology too, the costs will decrease 

as the number of users increase. 

Apart from that, we think that emissions of CO2 should 

be taxed, reflecting the real costs they are causing. 

GN: How do we provide cheap energy in poverty-stricken 

areas? 

Renewable electricity is the cheapest way to produce energy. 

Therefore it is definitely the best solution to energy 

poverty. In some poor areas, solar is already spreading 

fast. And this trend will continue and get even stronger. 

GN: How do we ensure access to clean energy? 

Clean energy is much more accessible than nuclear and 

fossil fuel energy. It just seems to take some time for 

people to understand this. Think of what happened to 

mobile phones. These have spread in no time and without 

a clear plan to all corners of the world. The same is 

now happening with solar energy. 

THE ROLE OF YOUNG ENGINEERS IN 

THE CLEAN ENERGY REVOLUTION 

GN: What is your advice to all the young engineers 

about there? 

Renewables are spreading very fast. But still not fast 

enough to be sure to avoid catastrophic climate change. 

What happens in the coming 5 years is crucial for the 

future of our planet. Therefore each act promoting renewable 

energy is making a difference. Try to avoid 

spending money and time on fossils. Instead, focus on 

renewable energy. Buy renewable energy whenever 

you get the chance to do so, invest in renewable energy, 

study renewable energy, find traineeships and student 

jobs in the renewable energy industry. If you see opportunities 

for launching EKOenergy in your country, 

please let us know! 

Learn more about EKOenergy by going to their 

YouTube channel, or by simply clicking 

their featured videos above. 



EUROSOLAR’S 

QUEST FOR 

“ENERGIEWENDE” 

Since 1988, EUROSOLAR has made it its mission to 

make renewables the main source of energy in Europe. 

The people behind this non-profit organization are dedicated 

in making a sociocultural and political movement 

in influencing political parties, institutions and 

other groups to switch to renewable energy. 

It has been around for 28 year and it has expanded its 

office in Germany to the rest of its European neighbors 

- Denmark, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Bulgaria, Russia, 

Spain, Austria, Ukraine, Hungary, Turkey and Czech 

Republic. With almost 3000 members, EUROSOLAR 

is promoting the use of solar energy through different 

fields such as the economy, science, politics and culture. 

With an exclusive interview with EUROSOLAR, get to 

know the company and its goal to make all European 

countries convert to fast, decentralized and affordable 

100% renewable energy. 

THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE COMPANY 

My name is Tobias and since January 2016 I am the 

Managing Director of EUROSOLAR. I was born and 

raised in Würzburg in Bavaria, Germany. For my studies 

in Sociology I moved to Bremen and worked for 

an environment and energy company on the side till I 

moved to Leipzig to work as a key account manager in 

the PV-sector. I developed a strong interest in renewable 

energy and became a member of the The European Association 

for Renewable Energy EUROSOLAR. When 

I read about the open position of a project manager, I 

applied. Two years in, the executive committee asked me 

to take up the open position of the Managing Director. 

EUROSOLAR was founded in 1988 as a non-profit association. 

Our head office is in Bonn but next to almost 

3000 members in Germany, EUROSOLAR has sections 

in Bulgaria, Denmark, France, Italy, Luxembourg, 

Austria, Russia, Spain, Czech Republic, Turkey, Ukraine 

and Hungary. The elected board consists of President Peter 

Droege and eight vice presidents from six countries. 

We advocate a quick replacement of nuclear and fossil 

energy in the sectors power, thermal energy and transport. 

True to the slogan “100% Renewables: fast, decentralized, 

affordable” we connect expertise from politics, 

economy, sciences and society to expedite the process.

73 

EUROSOLAR’S MISSION 

EUROSOLAR’s definition of clean energy is a worldwide 

energy supply with neither nuclear nor fossil energy 

sources. In our understanding the successful “Energiewende” 

can only be reached once all thermal energy 

sources and fuels are replaced with renewable energy, 

too. 

Pursuing clean energy has multiple goals that are all interconnected. 

The conversation of nature and the slowdown 

of climate change can only be reached by turning 

our back on extraditing coal and fossil fuels and by diminishing 

the use of nuclear power. 

Decentralized renewable energy sources guarantee the 

independence from large power companies and oil-rich 

states which have repeatedly been involved in political 

conflicts and war. Stabilizing the energy provision locally, 

supporting cooperation amongst regions across state 

boundaries, this energy transition does not only bring 

clean energy but also enhances cooperation and mutual 

assistance amongst people and states and is the precondition 

for healthier, economically sound and democratic 

societies. 

In addition, we deal with a steady rise of inhabitants in 

this world. We need a secure provision of energy for all 

and even the expected power demand will never overstrain 

the power of the sun and the wind. 



THE FUTURE OF CLEAN ENERGY 

Germany has the potential to go fully renewable within 

the next one or two decades. We have the technology 

to go “all in”. Only a few weeks back, Germany reached 

an almost 100% power supply with RE on a sunny and 

windy weekend. Portugal even managed to supply the 

country with 100% RE for four consecutive days. Many 

countries and regions are ready to take the leap, but politics 

are holding back although there is certainly no time 

to loose. 

Political restrictions keep preventing a quicker transition 

to renewable energy. The big coal companies are 

very powerful in political processes. They do not want 

to lose their share of the cake and are currently working 

towards limiting the number of involved actors in 

the energy transition. In Germany, the success of the 

Energiewende is built on the large amount of small and 

mid-sized organizations and companies and millions of 

citizens who already started their private transition. If 

those players are marginalized due to new legislations, 

few large players will be able to dictate their interest in 

the future. 

Further, the goal to reduce C0², now manifested in the 

Paris Agreements, motivates some to bring nuclear energy 

back on the table. EUROSOLAR is strictly against 

a revival of nuclear energy. Implementing renewable energy 

is the cleanest, most sustainable and most peaceful 

power!

75 

RAISING AWARENESS 

ABOUT CLEAN ENERGY 

Since its foundation, EUROSOLAR has engaged in several 

projects to spread awareness about the energy transition 

and its advantages. Several conference series shed 

light on several important aspects regarding the energy 

transition. The International Renewable Energy Storage 

Conference (IRES) is organized annually. Researchers 

from all around the world present their newest findings 

on storage solutions for renewable energy and connect 

with companies and organizations to discuss market 

entry strategies. Other conferences focus on the role of 

public utilities in the Energiewende, practical aspects of 

the transition or political debates centered on framework 

conditions and legal parameters. 

In addition to informing people, EUROSOLAR awards 

the German and the European Solar Prize annually to 

honor those who put great effort into promoting renewable 

energy. The prize ceremonies are accompanied by 

keynote speeches by leading scientists and politicians. 

In various campaigns, EUROSOLAR has addressed politicians 

to reflect on their energy policies. Most recently 

the campaign, “Don’t stop the energy transition”, informed 

about the political agenda to outmaneuver previous 

advantageous legislation. The campaign was fully 

financed with the help of EUROSOLAR-members and 

published in nationwide newspapers. 

With conferences, award ceremonies and campaigns, 

EUROSOLAR offers a wide array of methods for raising 

awareness and keeping the public informed. As EURO- 

SOLAR works completely independent of politicians, 

companies and lobby groups, the work remains a 100% 

true to the associations’ mission and vision. 

THE POLITICS OF 

AFFORDABLE CLEAN ENERGY 

In political science we speak of a phenomenon called 

“path dependency”. It analyses how policies (and people) 

are not very open towards change and therefore tend to 

stick to whatever is already there. The change from conventional 

to renewable energy is a revolution that many 

are afraid to tackle. Currently, the biggest challenge is 

overcoming political restrictions. Instead of increasing 

renewable power plants, the German parliament wants 

to limit onshore power plants by introducing tenders. 

This would push small participants out of the game and 

end the decentralized energy transition. 

EUROSOLAR wants to contribute to a global change 

by making a local impact. We inform people about local 

policies and national political change and create an 

awareness of counterproductive political decisions. Being 

fully independent, we can make claims that others 

are not allowed to voice. That said, governments around 

the world should support renewable energy and take 

more effort to tax Co²-emissions and decrease pollution 

overall. Private companies need to think about the 

future. Instead of only striving for economic growth, 

they also need to think about a sustainable future for 

the planet. NGOs need to be more fearless and less dependent 

on funding from governments and companies. 

The political process needs to be stimulated locally and 

pushed further to have an impact on the global level. 

ADVICE TO YOUNG ENGINEERS 

It is absolutely necessary that people all around the 

world fight for the full replacement of conventional energy 

with renewables. People with different (academic) 

backgrounds need to work together to make this change 

happen. Engineers need to learn from political science 

students and geographers must understand how technical 

problems can be solved using the natural sciences. 

Only when working together and constantly learning 

from each other, we can make an impact and contribute 

to one of the largest social and economic changes of our 

century. 



FIRST 

SOLAR: 

Offering 

PV Energy 

Solutions 

Everywhere 

The people behind First Solar believe 

that affordable solar energy must be 

available to everyone in all parts of the 

world. Offering different energy solutions, 

this company has installed over 10 GW 

around the globe. It aims to provide 

“reliable and affordable solar electricity” 

while minimizing the risks. 

First Solar was able to develop and operate 

some of the world’s largest grid-connected 

PV power plants and offers its services to 

different solar value chains. Using a welldeveloped 

PV energy services, it delivers 

“more reliable, dependable and costeffective 

solutions for our customers”. 

In this exclusive interview with First Solar, 

get the chance to find out more about this 

global leader in PV energy solutions. 

Find out what they plan to achieve in the 

near future and what they want young 

engineers to take part of. 

GETTING TO KNOW 

My name is Raed Bkayrat and I am the 

Vice President for Business Development 

at First Solar. 

I have over 15 years of experience and 

joined First Solar from the King Abdullah 

University of Science and Technology 

(KAUST), where I was responsible for 

creating the institution’s successful 

Industry Collaboration Program (KICP). 

During my time at KAUST, I also created 

a demonstration and testing program for 

solar and other clean energy technologies. 

Prior to this, I was part of the core team 

behind Direct Drive Systems, a US-based 

start-up that was acquired by an oil and 

gas major, and previously spent eight years 

in various roles at Siemens AG. 

I hold a Ph.D. and a Master of Science 

(MS) in Electrical Engineering from the 

Arizona State University and a Bachelor 

of Science from the University of Jordan. 

I have been a dedicated techie since I was a 

kid to the point that I had no intention to 

study anything else but engineering when 

I started college. I enjoy spending active 

time with my kids and educating them on 

the value and need for clean energy in our 

day and age. I think I am doing well in 

making them Pro Green!

77 

FIRST SOLAR 

GN: Are you an educational institution, 

social enterprise, non-profit or private 

company? 

With more than 13 gigawatts (GW) 

installed worldwide, we believe that clean 

affordable solar electricity is an essential 

part of the worldwide energy mix. Our 

proven energy solutions have diversified 

the energy portfolio and reduced the risk 

of fuel-price volatility, while delivering an 

LCOE that is cost competitive with fossil 

fuels. 

First Solar has developed, financed, 

engineered, constructed and currently 

operates many of the world’s largest gridconnected 

PV power plants in existence. 

By integrating technologies, services and 

expertise across the entire solar value 

chain, First Solar delivers bankable PV 

energy solutions that enable a world 

powered by reliable and affordable solar 

electricity. 


First Solar currently has just over 

6,000 associates worldwide. We have 

commercial offices in all the major solar 

growth markets around the world. We 

operate manufacturing facilities in the 

United States and Malaysia. 

GN: Describe your mission, vision and 

values. 

Our mission is to create enduring value 

by enabling a world powered by clean, 

affordable solar electricity. This is reflected 

in the level of innovation that we’ve been 

able to deliver and also in our commitment 

to sustainable business practices. 

PURSUING CLEAN ENERGY 

GN: What is clean energy? 

First Solar’s photovoltaic (PV) module 

technology harness our most abundant 

energy resource, sunlight, to generate 

clean, affordable solar electricity. 

Additionally, we are able to offer the 

smallest carbon footprint of all solar 

technologies; the fastest energy payback 

time (less than 1 year); the lowest 

water use (on a lifecycle basis); 89–98% 

reduction of greenhouse gas emissions 

and other pollutants by displacing 

conventional generation; and access to 

operational, industry-leading module 

recycling services. 

With a commitment to sustainable 

product life-cycle management and 

corporate responsibility, First Solar 

is creating enduring value every 

day – environmentally, socially and 

economically. 

GN: What’s the importance of pursuing 

clean energy? 

Today, we are in the midst of an energy 

transition as the world looks to renewables 

to generate affordable electricity. The 

days of high cost, low efficiency solar 

technologies are over. We now see that 

solar energy is able to stand shoulder-toshoulder 

with conventional generation 

sources and that investments in solar are 

being driven by market factors. 



THE SITUATION OF 

CLEAN ENERGY TODAY 

GN: Where are we today? What is the 

current situation of renewables? 

According to a recent report from the 

International Renewable Energy Agency 

(IRENA), we ended 2015 with 1,985 

gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy. 

TO put that into context, that’s roughly 

the equivalent of 1,985 nuclear power 

plants. Of all of the various renewable 

energy technologies available to us, solar 

is one of the fastest growing, with 47GW 

of additional capacity installed last year 

alone. 

GN: Where should we be 10 years from 

now? 

By all current indications it’s clear that 

the energy transition is well underway. 

Although driven by different factors – 

environmental, social and economic – 

adoption of renewable energy is growing 

at an unprecedented scale. 

FIRST SOLAR’S 

INITIATIVES IN 

MAKING CHANGES 

GN: What are the initiatives / projects 

that you are doing (or have done) that will 

drive low or zero emission? 

We remain focused on fulfilling our 

mission while delivering on the “triple 

bottom line” of people, planet and profit. 

We accomplish this by incorporating 

sustainable business practices throughout 

our organization to grow responsibly and 

remain financially stable. We are increasing 

our technology and manufacturing 

efficiencies to produce solar PV modules 

and projects with higher energy yields and 

lower environmental impacts. At the same 

time, we are driving down the cost of solar 

energy to provide an attractive alternative 

to fossil fuels in markets around the world. 

In January 2015, we celebrated a significant 

milestone – becoming the first thin film 

PV company to have 10GW of modules 

installed worldwide. This installed 

capacity produces enough clean electricity 

annually to power 5 million households, 

save over 18 billion liters of water, displace 

7 million metric tons of CO2 per year 

and reduce other air pollutants by 89-98 

percent, based on worldwide averages. 

We aren’t stopping there. Our corporate 

strategy over the next few years focuses 

on providing even more utility-scale PV 

generation to geographic markets with 

immediate electricity needs. Moving 

quickly into these markets to provide 

power at low cost requires us to reduce 

waste in our operations and responsibly 

use our own resources – including 

capital, time and talent – to sustain our 

growth. Because we are here for the long 

term, sustainability also means forming 

deep partnerships built on trust in the 

communities where we do business. That 

trust is also influenced by our stewardship 

of the environment. 

We strive to minimize impacts during 

the construction and operation of our 

projects. Our global, cost compelling PV 

module recycling program ensures that 

clean energy solutions don’t pose a waste 

burden for future generations. With the 

smallest carbon footprint, lowest life cycle 

water use and fastest energy payback 

time in the industry, First Solar produces 

the leading eco-efficient PV technology. 

Our modules generate more energy at 

a competitive cost and with the lowest 

environmental impact per kilowatt-hour. 

In addition to addressing energy security, 

climate change and water scarcity, First 

Solar energy solutions are sustainably 

delivering competitive, accessible and 

reliable solar electricity globally.

79 

ADVICE TO THE 

YOUNG ENGINEERS 

The only hope for our blue planet, which 

is now suffocating under high greenhouse 

gas emissions and rising temperature, is 

in the young generation taking the helm 

and adopting clean energy and energy 

conservation not as a job, a business or 

just a career, but simply as a choice and a 

way of life. Engineers have a pivotal role 

to play in developing the technologies 

and solutions needed to help create a 

sustainable living for all. 



CHANGING RENEWABLE ENERGY 

PERSPECTIVES WITH THE 

GLOBAL WIND ENERGY COUNCIL 

WITH ITS MISSION TO ESTABLISH wind 

power supply in different countries, the Global Wind 

Energy Council (GWEC) is working with different international 

policy makers and companies to open new 

markets for wind energy. GWEC and its members represent 

1500 companies and organizations coming from 

80 countries and has worked with local partners to organize 

exhibitions all over the world. 

There’s no doubt that GWEC has played a crucial role 

in encouraging different organizations in switching to 

wind power. Now, wind power has attracted investments 

worth $100 billion and currently employs over 1 million 

people. 

In this exclusive interview with GWEC, learn more about 

its mission to promote wind energy across the globe, their 

latest achievements and the company’s goals and future 

plans. Find out the status of wind energy and the challenges 

it faces as countries shift from non-renewable energy 

to clean energy such as using wind power. 

INTRODUCTION 

My name is Steve Sawyer, I was born in Boston, grew 

up in rural New Hampshire, escaped and studied Philosophy 

at Haverford College, then joined Greenpeace 

in 1978. I met my (now) wife at Greenpeace in 1982 

and we have been living in Amsterdam since 1989. We 

have two grown up children (23 and 28 years), one doing 

mechanical engineering and the other focusing on 

the environment/development interface. 

At Greenpeace I mainly worked on climate, energy and 

nuclear weapons issues for most of the period from 

1978-2006, and have been at GWEC since early 2007. 

WHAT IS THEGLOBAL WIND 

ENERGY COUNCIL AND 

ITS GOALS? 

The Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) is the global 

trade association representing the wind industry. The 

members of GWEC represent over 1,500 companies, organizations 

and institutions in more than 80 countries, 

including manufacturers, developers, component suppliers, 

research institutes, national wind and renewables 

associations, electricity providers, finance, insurance 

companies and law firms. 

GWEC works at the highest international political level 

to create a better policy environment for wind power. 

Our mission is to ensure that wind power establishes 

itself as the answer to today’s energy challenges, providing 

substantial environmental and economic benefits. 

GWEC works with national and international policy 

makers and industry associations to help open new markets 

for wind power. GWEC has a proven track record of 

success in helping to build the wind power industry in 

emerging markets around the world, including Argentina, 

Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa. For 

more information: www.gwec.net. 

Steve Sawyer 

GWEC Secretary General 

©Buenos Aires Herald

81 

We have a small but dynamic eight-person team. 

GWEC’s headquarters are located at the Wind Power 

House in Brussels, Belgium and we have staff in India/ 

US and an office in Beijing, China. We organize wind 

power exhibition & conferences together with our local 

partners across the globe including Brazil, China, India, 

Mexico and South Africa. 

WHAT IS THE IMPORTANCE OF 

USING CLEAN ENERGY? 

Clean energy is a non-polluting source of energy that 

displaces greenhouse gas emissions. Clean energy 

doesn’t emit pollutants and has a minimal water usage 

footprint. By 2020, GWEC projections suggest that wind 

power alone would save 1.2 billion tons of CO2 every 

year. Wind power does not emit any other air pollutants 

and within three to six months of operation, a wind 

turbine has offset all emissions from its construction, to 

run with virtually zero emissions for the remainder of 

its twenty-thirty year lifetime. While conventional fossil 

fuel and nuclear power plants, which make up 78% 

of global electricity production, use water for cooling 

and condensing the steam that drives the turbines, wind 

power generation requires practically no water. 

More than 150 nations gathered in New York on 22 

April, on Earth Day, to formally sign the landmark 

climate change deal which was agreed in Paris last December, 

an all too rare triumph for multilateralism in a 

world that desperately needed one. 

While there are many positive signs, Mother Nature is 

sending signals of another sort: weird weather, droughts, 

floods, unprecedented Arctic sea-ice retreat, record high 

winter temperatures and Greenland’s annual glacier 

melt season has start two months early. CO2 levels are 

rising at an alarming rate, and we are now in uncharted 

territory in terms of atmospheric concentrations of 

greenhouse gases, at least since Homo sapiens has been 

around. 

The global power sector is the largest single source of 

emissions, accounting for more than 40% of all carbon 

dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels, and about 

25% of our total greenhouse gas emissions. If global 

emissions are to peak and decline in this decade, as the 

science shows is necessary in order to meet climate protection 

goals, one focus has to be the power sector. Wind 

power’s scalability and its speed of deployment makes it 

an ideal technology to bring about the early emissions 

reductions which are required if we are to keep the window 

open for keeping global mean temperature rise to 

2⁰ C or less above pre-industrial levels. 

Global emissions need to peak and begin to decline before 

2020, and a dramatic increase in renewable energy 

deployment is urgently required to help make this happen. 

In the short term the three key options available 

for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions include a rapid 

deployment of renewable energy, primarily wind power; 

escalation of efforts towards promoting energy efficiency 

and conservation; and fuel switching from coal to gas. 

By 2020, GWEC projections suggest that wind power 

alone would save 7.9 billion tons of CO2. On average, 

each kWh of wind power generated avoids 600 grams 

of CO2 by displacing the need for the generation of the 

same unit of electricity from conventional energy sources 

(coal, oil or gas). 

Wind energy installations totaled 432.9 GW globally by 

the end of 2015, and the industry is set to grow by another 

+60 GW in 2016. 

Horns Rev II ©Saylor 



WHAT IS THE FUTURE 

OF CLEAN ENERGY? 

The global wind industry had another record-breaking 

year in 2015. After installations broke through the 50 

GW for the first time in a single year in 2014, we reached 

yet another milestone in 2015 as annual installations 

topped 63 GW, a 22% increase on the 2014 annual market; 

and not only did renewables surpass all other power 

sector investments, for the first time capital investments 

in renewables surpassed all capital investments in fossil 

fuels for the first time. By the end of last year, there 

were about 433 GW of wind power spinning around the 

globe, a 17% increase over the previous year; and wind 

power supplied more new power generation than any 

other technology, according to the IEA. 

Looking ahead, GWEC sees wind power installations 

will nearly double in the next five years…we’re moving 

rapidly towards a power system dominated by wind and 

solar, although we still have a lot more work to do on 

transport and heating. 

Wind power has become the least cost option when adding 

new capacity to the grid in an increasing number of 

markets, and prices continue to fall. Given the urgency 

to cut down CO2 emissions and continued reliance on 

imported fossil fuels, wind power’s pivotal role in the 

world’s future energy supply is assured. 

©GWEC

83 

Finland 

©Vastavalo, 

Raimo Rosholm 

WHAT HAS YOUR COMPANY 

ACHIEVED SO FAR? 

In addition to our international advocacy with the Climate 

Convention, IRENA, the IEA and other international 

institutions, we focus on opening new markets. 

Two top programmatic priorities at the moment are: 1) 

the FOWIND project, in collaboration with Indian and 

international partners and the Government of India, 

supported by the EU, developing a roadmap for offshore 

wind development in India; and 2) taking advantage of 

the changed political circumstances in Argentina to help 

drive wind power development in that country, which 

has some of the best wind resources in the world. 

In terms of the impact, we have been instrumental in 

establishing wind power markets in China, Brazil, South 

Africa and Mexico, as well as helping to establish wind 

power as a mainstream energy source in the national 

and international energy policy debate. The wind power 

industry now employs more than 1 million people 

worldwide, and in 2015 attracted about $100 billion in 

investment. Both of those numbers are expected to continue 

to grow at a substantial rate in the coming decade. 



©GWEC 

WHAT WERE THE CHALLENGES 

DID THE ‘WIND ENERGY 

REVOLUTION’ FACE? 

The main stumbling block to the ‘energy revolution’ is 

the entrenched belief system of utility executives and 

engineers who just don’t believe that we can run our 

economy on renewable energy, because their understanding 

of the technology is 10, 20 or more years old. 

They should look at examples like Denmark where wind 

supplied more than 40% of all power in 2015, or Portugal, 

where renewables supplied 100% of all power needs 

for four days in May of 2016. There are many others. 

What citizens and NGOs can do is to continually pressure 

their elected officials and demand clean energy at 

national, regional and local levels. They need to educate 

themselves about the energy system to become effective 

advocates, and engage in the policy and regulatory debates 

at all levels. 

In terms of supplying energy to the (mostly rural) poor 

in the developing world, what is needed is an effective 

national programme which is really supported by the 

government, and they will discover that renewables are 

most often the cheapest and most effective way to do so. 

There are many successful examples of this, the biggest 

one being China. 

My experience is that when government officials are attending 

international conferences, supplying energy to 

the poor is a priority; but when they’re at home it falls 

off the radar. International institutions should insist on 

effective market policies and structures to deal with the 

problem as a condition of cooperation.

85 

WHAT IS YOUR ADVICE TO 

YOUNG ENGINEERS? 

We don’t need technological miracles to achieve our 

climate, energy and access goals(although they would 

certainly help!). We have proven that we have the affordable, 

reliable, competitive technology to reach our 

goals. Now we need political miracles in energy markets 

around the world. That may be a bit tougher, but you, 

as engineers, have to be insistent that it is possible, necessary, 

and economically desirable. You can be part of 

the revolution whose only victims will be large energy 

corporations who refuse to change; and the winners will 

be everyone else, our children and theirs. 

GWEC’s wind power mission 

to Argentina ©GWEC 



ISES: Striving for Transformation 

to a 100% Renewable Energy Future 

THE INTERNATIONAL SOLAR 

Energy Society (ISES) is a non-profit, 

UN accredited membership organization. 

Founded in 1954, the Society has a long 

history of being a trusted global advisor 

on renewable energy and this remains its 

core value. The Society has thousands of 

members and reaches over 50,000 people 

around the world through its contacts, 

Sections and partners. 

ISES works to achieve 100% renewable 

energy for all, used efficiently and wisely, 

by providing the global renewable energy 

community with a collective, scientifically 

credible voice and up-to-date information 

gathered and synthesized by its talented 

members. The ISES headquarters is 

located in Freiburg, Germany. 

ABOUT ISES 

ISES is a leader in the transformation to 

a 100% renewable energy future through 

its events, webinars, publications and 

collaboration with global partners. 

The ISES Solar World Congresses, held 

biennially since the 1950’s, as well as 

regional events such as the EuroSun, 

embody the spirit of international 

renewable energy networking and 

exchange of ideas advanced by the Society. 

Its objective is to maintain communication 

between the research community, 

industrial and political players. 

ISES sees itself in this context as a focal 

point, providing a network within which 

different groups can exchange knowledge 

and obtain technical and scientific 

expertise. ISES Board Members are 

welcome speakers at renewable energy 

events all around the world. 

Dave Renné, 

ISES President. 

Jennifer McIntosh, 

ISES Executive 

Secretary.

87 

Our flagship publication, Solar Energy, 

is the official journal of ISES, devoted 

exclusively to the science and technology 

of solar energy applications. This 

publication is thriving, with an increase 

from 12 to 18 issues a year in 2016 and an 

impressive 1.1 million downloads in 2014. 

Since 2014, ISES has been holding free 

monthly webinars. The webinars focus 

on key renewable energy topics, drawing 

a large global audience each month. 

The Society also publishes monthly 

newsletters, and its members are active 

contributors to renewable energy 

campaigns on social media. 

THE MACRO LEVEL OF 

CLEAN ENERGY 

The dream of the ISES founders of a global 

solar energy industry is becoming a reality. 

According to the REN 21 Renewables 2016 

Global Status Report, 2015 was a record 

year for renewable energy. Global new 

investment in renewable power and fuels 

reached nearly USD 286 billion; the world 

now adds more renewable energy power 

capacity than it adds from all fossil fuels 

combined; and an estimated 8.1 million 

people worldwide are working directly or 

indirectly in the renewable energy sectors. 

The total installed capacity of solar PV 

reached 227 GW and solar power accounts 

for over 56% of total new investment in 

renewable power and fuels. The growing 

markets are the result of breakthroughs 

in research and development, which have 

led to major achievements in improving 

solar energy technologies, and thus drive 

down costs. Enabling policies, including 

the increasing number of communities 

and cities around the world committed 

to achieving 100% renewable energy, 

are important factors driving growth in 

renewables. 

Yet, the ISES goals to promote the 

development and application of solar 

energy technologies globally are more 

relevant than ever. The challenges 

Farrington Daniels, Henry Sargent and 

other solar energy pioneers recognized 60 

years ago are more urgent today and are 

expounded further by the growing risk of 

climate change. ISES is looking forward 

to lead the energy transformation to a 

100% renewable energy world during this 

century. 

Photo by Solarsiedlung GmbH 





An important strategic activity of the 

Society is engaging in key partnerships 

with like-minded organizations from 

around the world. Together with our 

members and Sections, these partners 

form a strong global alliance for advancing 

renewable energy. ISES provides key 

timely information on renewable 

energy technology and innovation 

breakthroughs, policy mechanisms 

and changes, investment strategies and 

deployment opportunities. The Society 

works closely with global partners such 

as the International Renewable Energy 

Alliance (REN Alliance), the Global 

100% Renewable Energy Campaign, the 

International Renewable Energy Agency 

(IRENA), the United Nations’ Practitioner 

Network and SE4ALL initiative, the 

International Energy Agency’s Solar 

Heating and Cooling Programme, the 

Global Solar Council and many more. 

As a UN accredited NGO, ISES 

participates in the UN Climate Change 

Conferences, including the COP21 in 

Paris last November. ISES held a sideevent 

with the REN Alliance partners 

representing wind, hydropower, 

geothermal and bioenergy to demonstrate 

how these technologies can work together 

to achieve a 100% renewable energy 

solution to climate change. The event 

provided case studies of communities, 

cities, countries and regions, where 

various high-penetration combinations 

of renewable energy technologies are 

working together. Technical solutions for 

100% renewable energy systems are in 

place today, along with the will to invest, 

and regional resource availability. 

Dr. David Renné, President of the 

International Solar Energy Society (ISES), 

said: “The solar energy resource potential 

is vast. Working with other renewable 

energy technologies, the solar resource 

provides an important component of 

100% renewable energy systems. There 

is plenty of financial capital and public 

engagement available to support the 

renewable energy transformation, and the 

COP21 agreement in Paris provides the 

political will by national governments to 

create an effective policy and regulatory 

environment to drive us towards a 100% 

renewable energy future.” 



From President’s Column in the ISES 

April 2016 Newsletter by ISES President 

Dr. David Renné: 

Mobilizing the financial capital to 

achieve the 100% renewable energy 

transformation is perhaps among the most 

important constraints to be addressed 

both by national governments providing 

public finance and by the private capital 

markets themselves. The public and 

private sectors need to work together to 

stimulate private capital flows required 

to finance the energy transformation. 

Programs such as the Green Climate Fund, 

a pool of public capital made available 

through recent climate agreements, if 

used properly, can stimulate flow of 

private capital by helping create enabling 

environments for renewable energy 

business growth, especially with small 

and medium enterprises. As Bloomberg 

New Energy Finance representatives 

pointed out during the IRENA General 

Assembly in Abu Dhabi this January, 

current investment in renewable energy 

must double by the year 2020 just to keep 

up with the climate mitigation goals that 

were established at the COP21 in Paris 

in December 2015. Paradoxically, the

89 

ADVICE TO THE 


The International Solar Energy Society 

encourages young people to continuously 

search for ways to achieve a better future 

for all people of the world. Modern and 

efficient technological solutions exist to 

provide a 100% renewable energy future, 

but more research and development are 

still needed for continuous innovation. 

ISES supports the development of a 

workforce that will drive innovation 

and implement measures for the 100% 

renewable energy goal. Opportunities for 

young engineers are growing constantly, 

and the future green energy economy 

will result in exciting, high-paying and 

satisfying careers for our future engineers. 

Young engineers can be at the forefront of 

the renewable energy transformation by 

choosing career paths in solar and other 

renewable energy technologies. 

actual investment levels at present are 

being challenged by the lowering cost of 

renewable technologies, the strength of 

the U.S. dollar combined with a weakened 

European economy, and lower oil and 

natural gas prices. 

The majority of the costs of the energy 

transformation will be covered by private 

capital. Governments, however, play a 

key role in supporting the high-risk R&D 

still required to further reduce costs and 

improve reliability of renewable energy 

systems, and to act on the policy signals 

that came out of the recent Paris climate 

accord. This accord includes commitments 

by signatory countries to reduce carbon 

emissions to specified targets, known as 

INDCs (Intended Nationally Determined 

Contributions). Based on current 

projections, if all INDCs were adopted 

as specified, global temperature warming 

would be limited to 2.7° to 3.0°C above 

pre-industrial levels (currently global 

warming is approximately 1 °C above 

preindustrial levels). 

An energy transformation to a lowcarbon 

economy is now underway, and 

the Paris accord is a signal for national 

governments to create policies to 

accelerate this transformation, but much 

work and many challenges still stand in 

the way of a realization towards a 100% 

renewable energy future. The political 

will is not always there, and governments 

do not always sustain the kind of critical 

R&D necessary to move innovation 

technology into the marketplace. The 

fossil fuel interests are mobilizing their 

base to thwart or at least delay the 

transformation, arguing (falsely) that the 

transformation is creating global financial 

chaos and disruption. 

ISES is playing a key role to ensure that 

the renewable energy transformation is 

not derailed by fossil fuel interests, or by 

reluctance of national governments to 

create favorable policies. This role is to 

continue to advocate for, and report on, 

ongoing and growing support in critical 

R&D to advance clean energy technologies 

from the laboratory to the marketplace, 

and to communicate the viability of a 

100% renewable energy future broadly in 

ways that stimulate favorable policies and 

attract low-cost private capital. 



Imtiaz Mahtab, President. Opening 

speech for an event in partnership with 

DNVGL. (May 2016) 

GOING SOLAR: 

MIDDLE EAST NATIONS’ 


TRANSITION WITH MESIA 

Countries in the Middle East have been 

known to leave some of the largest carbon 

footprints in the world. Middle East 

Solar Industry Association, a non-profit 

organization, plans to change the way 

these countries produce energy through 

the use of solar power. With an aim to 

encourage governments and industries 

to have a transition from oil to solar 

energy, MESIA became the largest solar 

associations in MENA and continues to 

keep on growing. 

In this exclusive interview with Imtiaz 

Mahtab, MESIA’s President, we were able 

to learn more about the company, its views 

on renewable energy, and the challenges 

the company faced as it became one of 

the most respected solar associations in 

MENA. 

Members getting together on Dubai rooftop. (December 2014)

91 


Imtiaz Mahtab, A US Citizen, lived and 

worked at eight different countries and 

in four major continents (America, Asia, 

Europe, Middle- East Africa) around the 

world. Imtiaz is the President of Middle 

East Solar Industry Association. He is 

currently SkyPower Global’s Managing 

Director for the Middle East, and Africa 

(MEA) region as well as Strategic Advisor 

to its board. Prior to this role, Imtiaz 

Mahtab has been the Regional Managing 

Director at Air Liquide. 

Imtiaz has over 21 years of leadership 

experiences in the management of 

businesses in Renewable Energy, 

Environment and High Technology 

sectors. He serves on the advisory board 

of various Renewable Energy and High 

Technology startups in the MENA region. 

Imtiaz is a graduate of Harvard Business 

School in General Management, has a 

bachelor degree in Chemical Engineering 

from University of Texas, Austin in USA 

and has an MBA from Rutgers University 

-NJ in USA. 

ABOUT MESIA 

MESIA, a non-profit organization, was 

founded in 2009 by few solar enthusiasts in 

UAE together with the support of handful 

of companies to promote solar energy in 

the Middle East; a region where most of 

the economic activities are tied to oil and 

gas, and where countries have one of the 

largest carbon footprint in the world. 

Over the years, through the dedication 

and perseverance of its board members 

and employees, MESIA became the largest 

and most respected solar association in 

MENA with a strong membership base of 

over 150 solar related companies. 

MESIA’s vision is to enable solar energy 

deployment in MENA, and be the trusted 

partner to both public and private entities 

to that endeavor. Through its various 

regional initiatives (influencing policies, 

finance and technology deployment) 

MESIA aims to encourage the growth of 

solar industry so that solar energy can 

represent a larger portion of energy mix 

in the region. Its mission is to expand 

the use of solar energy, to strengthen the 

regional solar industry, and to facilitate 

business opportunities for its members. 

By 2030, MESIA aims that 30% of energy 

will be generated from renewable energy 

sources in the region (from less than 

1% today) reducing carbon footprint 

drastically while creating jobs for many. 

Shams Dubai Task Force with MESIA members to accompany Dubai government 

implementing the Solar Rooftop program. (September 2015) 

Event in partnership with Dupont and Jinkosolar. (April 2016) 



Solar Energy Trade Mission in Egypt/Cairo. (April 2015) 

Recognition ceremony: Vahid Fotuhi, MESIA Founder 

being awarded by with Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, 

Managing Director & CEO of Dubai Water & Electricity 

Authority (DEWA). (May 2015) 

INTRODUCTION 

Clean or renewable energy means 

generating energy from unlimited 

resources such as wind, solar, water, 

geothermal that produce little or no 

pollutions as opposed to burning limited 

natural or fossil fuel resources (i.e. coal, 

oil, gas) or through nuclear power. 

Burning natural resources has three 

adverse effects: first, it emits gases that 

pollutes air causing severe life threatening 

diseases. It also causes global warming 

that destabilizes the weather affecting 

lives and properties (i.e. very hot summer, 

very cold winter, flooding). Lastly, if 

we burn the precious natural resources, 

it cannot be used to make everyday 

products such as plastics, clothes, phones, 

cars and many others. If we consume 

this energy at current rate, not only will 

temperature of the world rise to 3.6 o C 

by 2040 but we will also run out of our 

natural energy resources by 2050. We 

need to find another similar planet to live 

on! It is wildly agreed that if temperature 

rises over 2 o C, catastrophic events will 

start to happen for which we already see 

some evidences globally. 

Today, the energy is consumed 

disproportionately around the world. 

There are 1.3 billion people on our planet 

without access to electricity, and majority 

of them reside in Africa and South Asia. 

Deployment of traditional fossil fuel or 

nuclear based electricity plants to light 

these areas will both be very expensive 

and time consuming; we need to install 

both large electricity plants centrally, and 

transmission lines across to transport the 

electricity to access hard to reach places. 

However, renewable energy solution 

such as solar photovoltaic panels can be 

installed at the place where electricity is 

consumed requiring much less money 

and time; similar to getting access to a 

mobile phone vs a land line. 


CLEAN ENERGY 

Clean energy over the last decade had 

made significant progress driven both 

by technological innovation (i.e. solar 

photovoltaic), as well as smart decisions 

by the policy makers to encourage users 

through various schemes. Solar photovoltaic 

installation has grown 100 times over last 

ten years globally, and the cost of installation 

has fallen by 700%, making it now one of the 

most cost effective electricity generation 

systems in the world! 

And it’s not only the rich and developed 

countries installing the clean energy but also 

the poor countries driven both by simplicity 

in installation (small scale, decentralized), 

and cost competitiveness. In addition, 

significant innovations are happening in 

the storage/ battery technology as most of 

the clean energy are intermittent in nature 

(i.e. solar only shines mostly during day 

time, wind blows as it pleases), and would 

require storage in the future once we install 

a significant portion of energy with clean 

energy sources. As electrical cars become 

more available and affordable (with the likes 

of Tesla and others), the storage or battery 

technology will progress even further. 

In Dec 2015, 195 countries agreed in 

Paris, France (COP21) to keep the 

global temperature rise below 2 o C. Each 

individual country also proposed its 

target, and when combined, will reduce 

the temperature rise below 2.7 o C; still 

above 2 o C but well below 3.6 o C if we do 

nothing. Policy makers are becoming 

more confident than ever before to tackle 

global warming because of advancement 

in technology, and cost competitiveness of 

such technology. Countries such as China 

and India, accounting for one third of world 

population, are following through their very 

ambitious renewable energy objectives. 

THE MICRO LEVEL OF 

CLEAN ENERGY 

At MESIA, we work with both businesses 

and policy makers to ensure that deployment 

of solar energy is part of the national 

agenda, that right technology would be 

developed and deployed, and that there are 

investors both locally and globally available 

to fund these initiatives. For example, 

MESIA had organized trade missions in 

Egypt and Pakistan – where we worked 

alongside governments and businesses to 

initiate the dialogues as well as made policy 

recommendations to deploy renewable 

energy in these countries. These programs 

attracted over hundreds of companies 

enabling them to be integrated with the local 

projects, and formed partnership locally. 

Some of these companies also planned to 

set up local manufacturing plants to create 

knowledge base locally. When renewable 

energy projects are implemented in these 

two countries, they would have 15% - 

20% of energy coming from renewable 

resources while creating hundreds of 

thousands of jobs locally. Similarly, we work 

closely with stakeholders (Policy makers, 

Businesses and R&D centers) in UAE to 

ensure that a national goal of 100% clean 

energy dependence becomes a reality. Our 

ambition is to have MENA generate 30% of 

their energy through clean source by 2030.

93 

Last MESIA Solar Awards Ceremony: we are doing it every year. (December 2015) 

At the other extreme, the oil or natural gas 

resources rich regions, such as the Middle 

East, must not give away free or low price oilor 

natural gas-based energy or electricity to 

its people as the people won’t be responsible 

on how much they consume, and that they 

will always see renewable energy as an 

expensive form of energy. Governments of 

these countries should gradually adjust their 

pricing of energy to the actual cost to create 

a level playing field for renewable energy to 

prosper. 

Solar Energy Trade Mission in Pakistan/Islamabad. (October 2015) 

In addition, we work with local universities 

to place their students in clean energy 

related companies so that todays’ young 

generation can be the future clean energy 

leaders! Every year, our organization 

rewards 10 solar pioneers, young leaders 

below 40 years of age who progress the solar 

energy regionally, with recognition and 

mentorship. We plan to extend this widely 

in the region to ensure pipeline of local 

talents. 

We brought in both proven (solar heating) 

and emerging technologies (storage/ 

batteries) in the region to ensure fast 

adoption and implementation by engaging 

consumers and businesses. We publish 

cutting edge research reports focused on 

both market development and technology 

deployment providing valuable insights to 

students, businesses, and policy makers to 

act on. 

Through various partnership we set up 

with global organizations such as IRENA, 

World Wildlife Fund, Global Solar Council, 

IFC – we have now the collective strength 

to support the development of solar energy 

in MENA. 



Today the biggest challenge in renewable 

energy deployment is access to ‘affordable’ 

money, and deploy it where it requires. 

Besides addressing the environmental 

concern, we need to provide electricity to 

1.3 billion people in the world, and one of 

the fastest and effective way to provide this 

electricity is to deploy solar technology. 

However, these countries, where the 

unfortunate 1.3 billion people reside, are 

seen as high risk countries to do business 

with. As such cost of borrowing money 

to implement initiatives in such countries, 

such Sub Saharan Africa, South Asia, is 

very high and at times nonexistent. Some 

companies do find clever ways to reach the 

people directly by installing the solar panel 

at their roof, and charging them a monthly 

fee that is cheaper than what they would 

have spent on burning kerosene. However, 

the funds available to these companies and 

entrepreneurs are very small compare to 

the overall potentials. The rich nations and 

development banks, together with other 

financial institutions, must find a way to 

provide money with low interest rate to 

enable businesses in these countries. 

ADVICE TO THE 


The millennials can simply focus on two 

areas: consumption, and education & 

entrepreneurship. 

First, make lifestyle choices to reduce 

consumption of energy. The millennials are 

great adopters of shared and responsible 

economy. Instead of owning a car – 

share, drive electric vehicles, take public 

transportation, buy recycled products, 

recycle, plant trees and so on. Study shows that 

we can easily reduce the energy consumption 

by 25% by adopting just few lifestyle choices 

– enough to have a large impact on reducing 

the global warming. 

Second, millennials are also the best adopter 

of technology. Clean energy is essentially a 

technology sector that is growing the fastest, 

has the highest potential of growth, and can 

challenge the established fossil fuel burning 

businesses. It is very similar to internet 

or mobile technology where established 

companies were overtaken by newcomers 

(Think of Apple vs AT&T, Tesla vs GM). The 

clean energy sector already created 8 million 

jobs last year. Millennials should definitely 

focus on developing this sector further 

through education and entrepreneurship. I 

have no doubt among the millennials today, 

we will find the Bill Gates or Elon Musk of 

renewable energy tomorrow! 



MICROSOLAR: 

BRINGING RENEWABLE 

ENERGY TO DEVELOPING 

COUNTRIES 

An inspirational interview with 

Green Energy for a Billion Poor Author, 

Nancy Wimmer 

RENEWABLE ENERGY IS NOW 

becoming more prominent thanks to the 

ever-growing need of clean power. Numerous 

countries have shown interest by 

ridding themselves of fossil fuel usage to 

create a better environment for our future 

generations. 

microSOLAR, a renewable energy research 

company, not only promotes the 

use of renewables but they also specialize 

in microfinance in developing countries. 

They also do researches for innovation 

for rural electrification, as stated in their 

website. 

GineersNow conducted an exclusive interview 

Nancy Wimmer, the managing 

director of microSOLAR

95 

ABOUT NANCY WIMMER 

GineersNow: Introduce yourself. How 

many years have you been working in 

your industry? 

Nancy Wimmer: I am an American, grew 

up and studied in the United States and 

came to Europe to study at the Universities 

of Hamburg and Munich; I hold a 

Masters in Philosophy from the Munich 

School of Philosophy. My professional 

work began with teaching at the University 

of the Military and serving German 

industry as a systems analyst. 

I now live with my family near Munich 

where I run the renewable energy research 

company, microSOLAR. Based on 

my 20 years of experience in developing 

countries, I recently authored the book, 

Green Energy for a Billion Poor describing 

the amazing growth of the solar market 

in rural Bangladesh. 

ABOUT MICROSOLAR 



company? Describe your company, how 

big it is and where is this company headed? 

Nancy Wimmer: MicroSOLAR is a private 

company which works closely with 

a network of renewable energy entrepreneurs 

and experts in Europe, Asia and 

Africa. This is essential. You can’t advise 

social investors – nor can you research 

and promote innovative business models 

for rural business from your desk. Rural 

business is still little understood and not 

simply ‘out there’ because millions of villagers 

in developing countries are in need 

of electricity. This I learned from my work 

with microfinance and rural businesses 

in Egypt, El Salvador, India, Honduras, 

Nepal and Peru. Green Energy for a Billion 

Poor is the outcome of my 15 years 

of travelling the villages with young engineers 

in Bangladesh. 

CLEAN ENERGY 

ACCORDING TO 

MICROSOLAR 

GN: What is clean energy as defined by 

your company? 

Nancy: Clean energy is energy from renewable 

energy sources. MicroSOLAR 

experience is with solar, wind, geothermal 

water in European communities and 

solar home systems in developing countries. 

My extensive experience in India 

and Bangladesh convinced me that solar 

home systems are presently the superior 

sources of electricity for off-grid villages. 

But only if they are affordable, good quality 

and regularly serviced, which brings us 

back to the importance of understanding 

rural business. Some 5 million solar home 

systems have been installed in Bangladesh 

alone, making a least developed country 

the largest off-grid solar market in the 

world. 

GN: Why bother? What’s the importance 

of pursuing clean energy? 

Nancy: Why bother? Clean energy is energy 

that doesn’t pollute the atmosphere. 

Respiratory diseases caused by inhaling 

smoke and kerosene fumes are rampant 

in developing countries. Children can’t 

study at night because the light from kerosene 

lamps is poor and the fumes toxic. 

Their parents can’t work after dusk, small 

businesses like saw mills shut down and 

poor people can’t earn. Moreover, kerosene 

is more expensive in rural areas and 

dangerous to transport. Bangladesh has 

no oil reserves. Kerosene is imported, solar 

energy is ‘made in Bangladesh’. When 

the solar lamp is switched on for the first 

time in a village household, people marvel 

at clean, white light without smoke. 



THE MACRO LEVEL OF CLEAN ENERGY 


of renewables (locally or globally)? 

Nancy: The ambitious goals of Germany – the green 

leader of Europe - have not yet been met. Progress is 

hampered primarily by legacy systems – atomic and coal 

power plants - and local government energy policy. But 

energy supply is undergoing fundamental change and 

there is hope that solar energy will be the prime source 

of electricity, eventually. 

Most Asian countries have ambitious plans for clean 

energy – for economic reasons. But advancement in 

new energy technologies involving new organizational 

solutions is difficult to achieve. Progress is hampered 

by deficiencies in administration, infrastructure and by 

corruption. Still, spectacular breakthroughs have been 

achieved locally, notably in Bangladesh. 

The Bangladesh Government has set a target to have 

3,168 MW of renewable energy capacity installed by 

2021 – its 50th anniversary of independence. The share 

of renewables is to hit 5% by the end of 2015 and then 

double in just six years. Solar power will account for the 

largest part and should reach 1,740 MW by 2021. As 

of 2015, Bangladesh sourced 176 MW from renewables, 

including 150 MW from solar home systems, 614 kW 

from solar mini-grids and 1, 6 MW from solar irrigation 

systems. Wind power stood at only 2 MW, while biogas 

and biomass were 5 MW, accordingly.

97 

THE MICRO LEVEL OF CLEAN ENERGY 



Nancy: We are promoting the solar home system approach, 

which is technically stable but an organizational 

challenge in rural communities. At present we are doing 

in depth research on how the world’s largest off-grid solar 

market with over 200 suppliers and rural companies 

developed with the help of a government-owned financial 

intermediary. The solar market in Bangladesh is still 

unequaled in the developing world and the subject of 

my next book. 


company pursuing? 

Nancy: In future we are primarily looking into minigrids, 

solar irrigation, biogas and smart phone based 

services, which will again require very different business 

models. We will study, for example, why none of these 

renewable energy technologies have to date successfully 

reached scale and focus on Bangladesh’s recent initiatives 

to promote them. 

GN: What impact have you delivered? Do you have metrics 

or statistics of your accomplishments? 

Nancy: MicroSOLAR’s impact can be measured by the 

universities, social investors, personal contacts in developing 

countries and the many entrepreneurs in Asia and 

Africa who seek its advice. Some of their comments are 

on the Green Energy for a Billion Poor amazon website. 



THE CHALLENGES & THEIR SOLUTIONS 



Nancy: The questions is why 70 % of the rural population 

in developing countries still has no access to electricity 

in the 21st century - 300 million villagers in India 

alone. 

When Grameen Shakti – sister company to the Grameen 

Bank – pioneered solar services in 1996, half of Bangladesh’s 

population lived below the poverty line and the 

top half in rural areas was anything but affluent. But 

statistics told Shakti little about who these people really 

were. On the contrary, it had to find this out by sending 

its engineers to live and work in the villages. Moreover 

as a business, Shakti had to figure out how to serve rural 

customers’ energy needs and still break-even and scale. 

Solar business in the hinterland was uncharted territory. 

And it still is. 

There are too few rural energy entrepreneurs serving villagers 

in developing countries. They are either unwilling 

to take on the hardships or lack the know-how and 

financing. This was the main motivation for describing 

Grameen Shakti’s innovative business model in Green 

Energy for a Billion Poor: to teach; to show rural energy 

business is possible. This wouldn’t have been possible, 

however, without the firsthand experiences with the 

engineers – whose stories make the intangibles of rural 

business comprehensible. 

But Grameen Shakti is only one company. Far more difficult 

is the creation of a solar market with local producers, 

suppliers and rural service companies. Bangladesh 

achieved this through government policy support and 

reliable funding for solar companies and NGOs. Such 

support is lacking in developing countries which is the 

motivation for describing the process in my next book: 

to teach, to show it’s possible to create a solar market in a 

developing country. It’s a rocky road. But the only way 

to ‘provide cheap energy in poverty stricken areas’ is to 

create local renewable energy markets to serve the rural 

population.

99 

This man is Ismail 

Sekitoleko, a social 

development student 

and the treasurer 

of Energy Made in 

Uganda, the 

community-based 

organization that 

manages the 

Nsamizi technology 

center. 



to our young global audience. What would 

you like to tell to the millennials? Any inspiring words 

that you can share? 

Nancy: If you are interested in clean energy for developing 

countries, go there. Study the best business models 

you can find. You will learn that clean energy in developing 

countries may be light years away from your 

country. You will learn that rural business is vastly different 

from what you know. And you will learn that it is 

the many poor who need clean energy most. 

A young Shakti engineer put it this way: “No, I don’t 

think branch managers should have to stay on this island 

for more than a year. But I seriously believe they 

can learn for a lifetime while they are here.” 



REN21: 

Driving the 

Energy Transition 

with Renewables 

The Renewable Energy Policy Network 

of the 21st Century (REN21) is a global 

renewable energy policy network which 

connects different key actors for the 

fast transition to renewable energy. 

REN21 was launched in June 2004. They 

bring together government and nongovernment 

organizations, research and 

academic institutions, and international 

organizations to work together and learn 

from each other to be able to promote and 

advance renewable energy. 

GineersNow conducted an exclusive 

interview with Ms. Christine Lins, the 

Executive Secretary of REN21. 


GN: Introduce yourself. 

Christine Lins: I was appointed as 

Executive Secretary of REN21, the 

Renewable Energy Policy Network of the 

21st Century, in July 2011. Between 2001 

and 2011, I served as Secretary General of 

the European Renewable Energy Council. 

Previously, I worked in a regional energy 

agency in Austria promoting energy 

efficiency and renewable energy sources. 

GN: How many years have you been 

working in your industry? 

Christine: I hold a Master’s degree in 

international economics and applied 

languages and have more than 20 years 

of working experience in the field of 

renewable energy.

101 

ABOUT REN21 

Christine: REN21 is a multi-stakeholder 

network that works to drive the energy 

transition with renewables. REN21 has its 

headquarters at UNEP, the United Nations 

Environment Programme in Paris/France. 



company? Describe your company. 

Christine: REN21 is a global public-private 

multi-stakeholder network on renewable 

energy regrouping international 

organizations, governments, industry 

associations, science and academia as well 

as NGOs working in the field of renewable 

energy. We are a registered NGO. 


Christine: The secretariat is composed of 

eight people: six permanent staff and two 

interns who are with us on a six month 

basis. We work with an international 

network of 700 energy experts. 


values. 

Christine: We work with those whose 

promote renewable energy. We do not 

discriminate by technology and we work 

across all sectors. 


What’s your future expansion plans? 

Describe briefly your strategic goals 

Christine: Our mission is to drive the 

energy transition with renewables – the 

faster the better! 

STAND ON CLEAN ENERGY 

GN: What is clean energy (as defined by 

your organization/company)? 

Christine: Any energy that uses renewable 

energy resources (wind, sun, water, 

biomass, geothermal). It does not include 

nuclear. 



Christine: If we are to have a planet on 

which we can live, we need to change how 

we consume energy. The combustion 

of fossil fuels results in short-term 

pollutants which directly affect our health 

and the generation of GHGs (Green 

House Gases). If we are to limit warming 

to under 2 degrees, then fossil fuels need 

to stay in the ground. Renewables provide 

a viable option to fossil fuels. Countries 

are already powering themselves with 

renewables (Portugal recently had four 

consecutive days of 100% renewable 

electricity and Denmark does so 

frequently). 


CLEAN ENERGY 



Christine: 2015 was a record year 

for renewable energy installations. 

Renewable power generating capacity saw 

its largest increase ever, with an estimated 

147 gigawatts (GW) added. Modern 

renewable heat capacity also continued to 

rise, and renewables use expanded in the 

transport sector. Distributed renewable 

energy is advancing rapidly to close the 

gap between the energy haves- and havenots. 

Investment in renewables in 2015 

reaching USD 286 billion worldwide in 

renewable power and fuels; if investment 

in large hydropower (>50 MW) and in 

heating and cooling is taken into account, 

the total is far higher. For the first time 

ever, investment in developing countries 

surpassed that of industrialized countries. 


now? Are we on the right track? Are we 

delayed? Are we progressing? 

Christine: The UN Secretary-General’s 

initiative Sustainable Energy for All 

launched a call for global action to 

achieve universal access to modern 

energy services, double the global rate 

of improvement in energy efficiency and 

double the share of renewable energy in 

the global energy mix by 2030. To reach 

this objective we need to rapidly increase 

the uptake of renewables as well as 

implement energy efficiency throughout 

all energy systems. By the end of 2014, 

renewable energy provided an estimated 

19.2% of global final energy consumption. 

We therefore have our work cut out for us! 




CLEAN ENERGY 




Christine: REN21 provides high-quality 

information to assist decision-makers 

make the best decisions possible. We 

facilitate the collection of comprehensive 

and timely information on renewable 

energy. This information reflects diverse 

viewpoints from both private and public 

sector actors, serving to dispel myths 

about renewable energy and to catalyze 

policy change. 

GN: What are the future innovations that 

you or your company pursuing? 

Christine: In addition to tracking the 

current status of renewables globally, we 

are developing regional status reports to 

better track the growing development 

within key regions. REN21 is also 

developing a new Global Futures Report 

to illustrate the credible possibilities for a 

100% renewable energy future. 

GN: What impact have you delivered 

(social, economic and environmental)? 

Do you have metrics or statistics of your 

accomplishments? 

Christine: When REN21 first started its 

Renewable Global Status Report series, 

it was 30 pages. Today the report stands 

at over 180 pages, reflecting the growth 

of renewables and the need to diversify 

what and how the status of renewables 

is tracked. The Renewable Global Status 

Report is now the world’s most frequently 

referenced report on the global renewable 

energy market, industry and policy 

landscape. 



GN: What are the stumbling blocks or 

bottlenecks in the renewable industry? 

Christine: Long-term stable policy 

frameworks are key for the uptake of 

renewables. Investors are reluctant to 

invest in markets that are not underpinned 

by long-term policy action. 

GN: What do you think the government, 

private companies and NGO of each 

country should do to get rid of this? 

Christine: Citizens, business, investors all 

need to demand that long-term planning 

and policy action be put in place. 

GN: How do we provide cheap energy in 

poverty stricken areas? 

Christine: Distributed renewables provide 

clean, affordable energy services. The 

market opportunity for off-grid solutions 

is growing rapidly.

103 

Approximately 28 million households 

worldwide were using clean cook stoves 

by the end of 2015. Roughly 44 million 

off-grid pico-solar products had been sold 

globally by mid-2015, representing an 

annual market of USD 300 million. About 

70 countries worldwide either had some 

off-grid solar PV capacity installed or had 

programmes in place to support off-grid 

solar PV applications by the end of 2015. 

In addition, several thousand renewablesbased 

mini-grids were in operation. 

Innovative business models include use 

of mobile payment systems and scratch 

cards, the “Powerhive” business model, 

pay-as-you-go micro-payment schemes 

and integrated service providers with 

products that range from simple solar 

lamps with radios and mobile phones, to 

aspirational items like televisions. 

GN: How do we ensure access to clean 

energy? 

Christine: By supporting innovative 

business and financing models through 

policy support. 

ADVICE TO THE 


GN: Please give advice and words of 

wisdom about renewables to our young 

global audience. What would you like 

to tell to the millennials? Any inspiring 

words that you can share? 

Christine: Everyone has a role to play 

in making this planet a better place to 

live. As engineers you have a special 

responsibility as you will be the forefront 

of system design. Therefore whatever 

specialty you choose make sure to think 

systemically; think about how to provide 

clean, efficient energy services in a way 

that meets a population’s needs in a 

sustainable manner. If we don’t get it right 

in the 30 years we may not have another 

chance. 

There are currently over 8 million people 

employed in the renewable energy 

sector, tendency growing, so watch out 

for interesting job opportunities in the 

energy sector of the future! But one word 

of caution: working for renewables is 

contagious – once you start in this sector 

you won’t want to leave it! 



RENEWABLES 100: 

HELPING THE WORLD 

TO TRANSITION TO 


Renewables 100 Policy 

Institute Founding 

Director Diane Moss. 

For centuries, we have been relying on 

non-renewable energy sources, and this 

has been causing multiple environmental 

problems. The best way to solve this 

problem is to shift from using environment-polluting 

energy sources to using 

clean and renewable energy sources. 

Energy is a very important aspect in our 

technological world today, and it is a fact 

that non-renewable energy sources won’t 

last forever. The Renewables 100 Policy 

Institute, a non-profit organization, has a 

mission “to study and accelerate the global 

transition to 100% renewable energy in 

ways that are most sustainable and economical 

for the most people.” 


with Diane Moss, the founding 

director of Renewables 100 Policy Institute. 

GineersNow: How many years have you 

been working in your industry (energy, 

engineering, NGO)? 

Diane Moss: The Renewables 100 Policy 

Institute team has combined experience 

of more than 50 years in the clean energy 

field. Our background covers a broad 

range of expertise, including grassroots 

advocacy, power grid governing, utility 

management, renewable energy and other 

clean technology industry development, 

policymaking, media and communications. 

Our international core team grew 

up and has lived all over the world, including 

California and the East Coast of 

the US, Germany, France, Bulgaria, Switzerland 

and Italy in Europe, and Nigeria, 

Ghana and Tanzania in Africa. 

RENEWABLES 100 




Diane: Renewables 100 Policy Institute is 

a 501 (c)3 non-profit educational organization 

founded in 2007 with a mission to 

study and accelerate the global transition 

to 100% renewable energy in ways that are 

most sustainable and economical for most 

people. Our Board of Advisors includes 

several long-time leaders in the clean energy 

field, such as utility veteran S. David 

Freeman, former Congressman and lifelong 

environmental champion Richard 

Oettinger, and Dr. Harry Lehmann who 

is a General Director at the German Federal 

Environment Agency and one of the 

founding thought leaders of the 100% 

renewable energy movement. Our intellectual 

founding father was German Parliamentarian 

Hermann Scheer, principal 

architect of Germany’s renewable energy 

laws at the turn of this century, which led 

to Germany becoming a world leader in 

this field. 


Diane: We are a lean organization, with 

a core team of three and many partners 

with whom we work on our various projects 

and who provide technical support. 


What’s your future expansion plans? Describe 

briefly your strategic goals. 

Diane: Since our first days, our organization 

has asserted that transitioning to 

100% renewable energy is not a question 

of “if ” it will happen, but of how, when 

and who will lead and profit. In our first 

years, a good deal of effort had to go into 

raising the debate beyond that question 

of “if,” in order to overcome pervasive resistance, 

even among environmental progressive 

non-profits. In the past year or 

two, however, the idea that 100% renewable 

energy is the direction in which the 

world needs to head – indeed is heading 

– is becoming more widely accepted. We 

are finding happily that thanks in part to 

our efforts, we are no longer such a rare 

voice in advocating for 100% renewable 

energy. And there are ever more examples 

of it actually happening, which is the 

best way of all to dispel myths and break 

through fears. 

So looking ahead, while there is certainly 

still work to do on convincing people of 

the urgency and viability of 100% renewable 

energy as the necessary way forward, 

our organization will increasingly prioritize 

focusing in a more detailed way on the 

bigger, more complex questions of how 

we get there most intelligently, what milestones 

are best to pursue in what order, 

cultivating leadership, and how to create 

the most broadly and justly distributed 

opportunities to profit. These questions 

are all interconnected, and the answers 

need to be worked out region by region, 

community by community depending on 

their values, resources, politics, etc. Our 

job is to facilitate and accelerate that process, 

as well as to help identify and advocate 

for best practices.

105 

Pathways to 100% Renewable Energy Conference, 

April 2013 in San Francisco, USA 

Panel 2 – Overcoming Technical Barriers to 100% Renewable Energy 

in the Power Sector. From R-L: Keynote Speaker: Stephen Berberich, 

President/CEO of CAISO; David Olsen, Managing Director of the 

Western Grid Group andmember of the Board of Governors of CAISO; 

Dr. Harry Lehmann, German Federal Environment Agency (UBA) 

Climate & Energy Director; Angelina Galiteva, Founding Board Chair 

of the Renewables 100 Policy Institute; David Renne, President of the 

International Solar Energy Society (ISES)-Frank Lacey, Vice President 

of Comverge; Peter Asmus, Principal Research Analyst, Navigant; Dr. 

Alexa Lutzenberger, Prof. at Univ. of Leuphana; Janice Lin, Exec. Dir. 

of the California Energy Storage Alliance (CESA); Dr. Mark Jacobson, 

Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Director, Atmosphere/Energy 

Program, Stanford University. 

From L-R: Edwin M. Lee, Mayor of San Francisco; Diane Moss, Renewables 100 Policy Institute; 

Melanie Nutter, Director of the City and County of San Francisco Department of the Environment; Bob 

Dixson, Mayor of Greensburg, Kansas; Danielle Murray, Renewable Energy Program Mgr, for the City of San 

Francisco Dept, of Environment. 

Talking about 100% Renewable Energy is Keynote Speaker, 

Edwin M. Lee, Mayor of San Francisco. 

Groundbreaking Climate and Energy Collaboration - Under2 MOU. Governor, State of California, U.S. Jerry 

Brown; Renewables 100 Policy Institute Founding Board Chair Angelina Galiteva, and Founding Director 

Diane Moss; Prof. Dr. Eicke Weber Director Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE), Germany; 

and Dr. Harry Lehmann, German Federal Environment Agency (UBA) Climate & Energy Director. 



Groundbreaking Climate and Energy Collaboration - Under2 

MOU. Renewables 100 Policy Institute, Founding Director Diane 

Moss; and Prof. Dr. Eicke Weber Director Fraunhofer Institute 

for Solar Energy Systems (ISE) (Zayed Future Energy Prize 2014 

awarded the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE). 

From L-R: Renewables 100 Policy Institute Founding Director 

Diane Moss; Advisory Board Member Prof. Richard Ottinger; 

and Renewables 100 Policy Institute Founding Board Chair 

Angelina Galiteva. 

RENEWABLES 100’S 

“CLEAN ENERGY” 


your organization? 

Diane: Clean energy is efficiently produced 

using renewable sources and does 

not increase greenhouse gas or other 

harmful emissions over its lifecycle. Renewable 

energy sources include sun, 

wind, some hydro, bioenergy from organic 

waste, tides, waves, and geothermal 

energy. Renewable energy systems cover 

all energy sectors, including electricity, 

heating and cooling, transportation, and 

cooking. Clean energy systems include 

many technologies that support renewable 

energy, such as building efficiency 

technologies, grid integration technologies, 

storage, electric vehicles, and fuel 

cells. Clean energy demands a system 

wide transition and change of approach. 



Diane: Fundamentally, non-renewable energy 

sources will by definition diminish. 

In the meantime, continued dependence 

on them is causing multiple global crises. 

Renewable energy sources, while they 

may vary from place to place, are virtually 

limitless, scalable and modular. Properly 

implemented, they avoid problems of the 

conventional energy system like fresh water 

depletion and contamination, greenhouse 

gas and local air pollution, radioactive 

waste, and geopolitical tensions that 

result from depending on commodities 

from other countries who may not share 

one’s values. 

Renewables are also more economical 

in the long run, and increasingly in the 

short run. As costs for renewable energy 

technologies drop, communities, regions, 

businesses and individuals are more and 

more looking to adopt renewable energy 

as a shelter from volatile fuel prices and 

imported fuel costs. Clean energy is also 

a source of new jobs and whole new industries. 

That’s good news for engineers, 

as well as the many other skilled workers 

who have roles to play in this development. 

Last year, the growth in the solar 

workforce outpaced the US economy by 

a factor of 12. In Germany, clean energy 

accounts for nearly 400,000 jobs. Globally, 

more than 7.7 million people were 

employed by renewable energy industries 

at the end of 2014, according to the International 

Renewable Energy Agency (IRE- 

NA), an 18% rise from the year before. 


CLEAN ENERGY 

GN: Where are we today? What is the current 

situation of renewables? 

Diane: Renewable energy uptake is rapidly 

growing. Increasingly national and subnational 

governments, as well as businesses, 

are setting and reaching high targets of up 

to 100% and beyond. The Renewables 100 

Policy Institute’s project Go 100% Renewable 

Energy (www.go100percent.org) has 

so far mapped 8 Countries, 55 Cities, 61 

Regions/States, 9 Utilities, 21 NonProfit/ 

Educational/Public Institutions, totaling 

more than 54.9 million people who have 

transitioned or are officially committed to 

transitioning within the next few decades 

to 100% renewable energy in at least one 

sector. And we will be mapping dozens 

more in the weeks ahead. In the US, solar 

and wind accounted for nearly all the 

new electricity generation that came online 

this year. This type of growth mirrors 

what’s occurring throughout the world, 

where most new generation came from 

renewables last year. 

Zero emissions transportation and renewable 

heating and cooling are also on 

the rise. Electric vehicles worldwide have 

surged past the one million mark, sales in 

China are exceeding expectations, and according 

to the Inside EVs report, US sales 

have broken records for the last 6 months 

in a row. The share of renewables in Europe’s 

heating and cooling sector rose 

from 10.2% in 2004 to 17.7% in 2014. 

That said, most of the world’s energy still 

derives from non-renewable sources, so 

there is much work to be done and room 

for expansion in the energy transition. 


now? Are we on the right track? Are we 

delayed? Are we progressing? 

Diane: In the next decade, having a 

100% renewable energy target of no later 

mid-century and a workable implementation 

plan, as well as meaningful steps 

already achieved, should be the norm for 

all levels of government and corporations. 

These plans need to reach beyond electricity 

and encompass all energy sectors. 

This process is already underway. Several 

major urban cities are seeking to reach 

at least 100% renewable electricity within 

this time frame, like San Francisco and 

San Jose in California, and some countries 

are as well, such as Scotland. Many smaller 

cities and regions, as well as islands, 

already have achieved or surpassed 100% 

renewable energy targets in the electricity 

and heat sectors, and this trend can be expected 

to grow. 

In a basic sense, we are, of course, delayed 

because there are numerous global threats 

occurring that almost no one wants to see 

happening and are a result of not acting 

sooner to transition our conventional energy 

system to a safer, more secure one 

based on renewable energy. 

But we are also on track in the sense that 

adoption of renewable energy is rapidly 

increasing, and few now question 

whether renewables are here to stay and 

whether they are the way of the future. As 

confidence grows, stakeholders across the 

board, from prosumers to grid operators 

to utilities to businesses are increasingly 

seeing clean energy technologies less as 

challenges and more as opportunities. 

Continuing to transform energy systems 

at the scale and pace needed, however, 

will require policies, regulations, finance 

structures and markets that open the opportunities 

to a broad spectrum of participants, 

while also keeping up with rapidly 

changing technological advances and 

consumer demands.

107 


CLEAN ENERGY 

GN: What are the advocacies that you are doing 

(or have done) that will drive low or zero 

emission? 

Diane: Our organization’s efforts are entirely 

centered around our mission to study and 

advance the global transition to clean, renewable 

energy. We do this in a number of ways. 

For instance, we educate leaders around the 

world, bring together multiple stakeholders 

from different regions to exchange knowledge 

and best practices. An example of this is 

the tours we organized over the last two years 

to Europe and California, which brought 

top level grid operators, policymakers, and 

civil society leaders together for first-time 

discussions, knowledge exchange, and cooperation 

building. Reports and video galleries 

for these are available on our website (www. 

renewables100.org). 

My fellow founder of Renewables 100 Policy 

Institute, Angelina Galiteva, also traveled 

twice in recent months on behalf of the State 

Department to Argentina and Brazil in recent 

to meet with energy leaders there and 

provide education on renewable energy advancement. 

We also have worked closely with the Office 

of the Governor of California on state, national, 

and international initiatives, such as 

promoting multi-state electric vehicle policy 

development, efficiency financing, and the 

Under 2 MOU, which is an international 

agreement that we initiated that commits 

subnational governments to reducing greenhouse 

gases 80-95% below 1990 levels or to 

under 2 tonnes per capita by 2050. These are 

just a few of the leadership education efforts 

we’ve undertaken in the last couple years. 

We additionally engage media to get the facts 

out to a broad audience. I think we were the 

first to get the concept of 100% renewable 

energy into some of the major media publications 

in the US. 

We also created the Go 100% Renewable 

Energy project on www.go100percent.org, 

which is our grassroots campaign platform 

that seeks to maintain a comprehensive database 

of actual 100% renewable energy proj- 

ects, studies, and other learning tools that 

showcase how 100% renewable energy is not 

a fantasy for someday, but a reality for today. 

There’s more because there is so much to do, 

but that gives you an idea of some of our advocacy 

efforts. 

GN: What impact have you delivered? Do 

you have metrics or statistics of your accomplishments? 

Diane: When the organization was founded 

in 2007, the concept of 100% renewable energy 

was too bleeding edge for most outside of 

a few places in Europe. We tried to get other 

organizations to take on the mission instead 

of starting a non-profit ourselves, but there 

was too much political fear, and no one was 

ready. Our organization was created to fill 

this big vacuum and to raise the debate. Over 

our first nine years, the Renewables 100 Policy 

Institute has helped catalyze a multi-sector 

conversation about 100% renewable energy 

targets and solutions and bring it to the 

cutting edge. Our work has also inspired a 

number of cities and regions to adopt 100% 

renewable energy goals. 

Among specific milestones have been our 

Pathways to 100% Renewable Energy conference, 

which was the first international forum 

in the Americas to focus on 100% renewable 

energy and brought together people from 4 

continents and more than 10 countries. This 

forum was the springboard for several cities, 

including San Diego, to make commitments 

to 100% renewable energy targets. Other 

non-profits and educational institutions in 

various countries also initiated 100% renewable 

campaigns. And numerous government, 

labor, and grid operation leaders began a 

first-time public discussion of 100% renewable 

energy targets. 

An outcome of our 2014 California-Germany 

Learning and Collaboration tour was 

the Under 2 MOU, which was signed first 

by the State of Cali- fornia and the State of 

Baden-Wuerttemberg, followed by more 

than 120 signatories. 

We were also honored to inspire and be a part 

of UNESCO’s official declaration and call to 

action for expanding 100% renewable energy 

as the way forward for the world, as well 

as to integrate the call for 100% renewable 

energy into the platform at global climate 

conferences and among several international 

coalitions. 

As mentioned, our Go 100% Renewable 

Energy project additionally created the first 

global campaign for 100% renewable energy, 

along with the first and most comprehensive 

interactive map of 100% renewable 

energy case studies from around the world. 

The project website go100percent.org and its 

social media counterpart are visited by tens 

of thousands of visitors a month from every 

continent in the world and have been emulated 

by several allies. 

Readers are welcome to read more about 

what we’ve been up to on our website: www. 

renewables100.org. 

Renewables 100 Policy Institute Founding 

Director Diane Moss interviewed by 

Al Jazeera at our Event “PV60”. 

Energy Regions in Transition – 

EU-California Tour 2015. 

Roundtable Discussion hosted 

by Stanford University. 







Diane: One of the biggest is establishing 

policies and regulations that work well. 

First, they ideally must have the transparency, 

longevity, and certainty to ensure the 

required sustained investment. Second, 

they ought to be flexible and responsive 

enough to allow for innovation and quickly 

evolving consumer demand. Third, they 

need to ensure that opportunities for engagement 

are expanded to include a broad 

range of stakeholders, from corporations 

to prosumers to communities. Adding to 

the challenge, these policy and regulatory 

mechanisms need to do two things at 

the same time: focus on transforming the 

energy system and make sure the energy 

system is reliable and efficient. 




Diane: There is no silver bullet, one size 

fits all formula. However, there are some 

best practices that frontrunners have been 

demonstrating. Here are some examples. 

1. Set a target of 100% renewable energy 

with milestones along the way and a practical 

plan for implementation. Having the 

big picture in view as much as possible 

helps prevent inefficiencies of piecemeal 

planning. This target setting and planning 

ideally integrates all energy sectors, since 

the energy system of the future will be increasingly 

cross-sectorial. 

2. Improve public trust and engagement 

by achieving at least one milestone quickly, 

transparently tracking progress, including 

multiple stakeholders from the 

community in the planning process, and 

making sure policies allow as many people 

as possible – including prosumers - the 

opportunity to get involved in and profit 

from the transition. Many communities 

report that getting women involved is also 

key to success, as they most often make 

household decisions and influence others 

in the community. The same goes for 

educating and engaging youth, not only 

because they need to equipped to manage 

the future, but also because they inspire 

adults to do the right thing. 

3. Learn from other frontrunners. We’re 

all smarter when we learn from each other’s 

challenges and solutions. 

4. Cut the red tape for adopting renewable 

energy and complimentary technologies, 

such as excessive costs or application procedures 

for renewable energy installation. 

5. Lead by example. Any entity is bound to 

be more effective at getting the public on 

its side if they walk the talk. 

6. Emphasize direct and local or regional 

procurement of renewable energy wherever 

possible, in order to encourage environmental 

and local economic benefits 

like jobs. 

7. Aim for a fair and level playing field that 

includes rather than excludes different 

types and sizes of clean energy technologies 

in the marketplace. 

8. Open the way for regional collaboration 

on grid operations and markets. 

9. Avoid the inefficiencies of siloed planning 

by integrating clean energy policymaking 

with other relevant planning, including 

greenhouse gas reduction plans, 

waste reduction plans, water resource 

protection plans, and food plans. 

10. Include externalities and lifecycle costs 

and benefits into economic decision making. 

These are just some best practices observed 

so far. Keep in mind that the playbook 

is being written as we speak, so stay 

tuned. 

GN: How do we provide cheap energy in 

poverty stricken areas? 

Diane: Many of the world’s poor live in rural 

areas where there is little to no energy 

infrastructure. Electricity grids can take 

decades at the soonest to reach these areas. 

Clean energy solutions have been allowing 

millions of people in these regions 

to have power for the first time because 

they can be installed by local people independently 

of the big energy companies. 

For example, solar panels can be hooked 

up to an efficient LED light and a small 

battery anywhere that the sun shines and 

are often cheaper than traditional forms of 

energy like kerosene. Villagers from these 

areas don’t have to wait for the government 

or utilities to bring them this energy, 

as the technologies are relatively simple 

to install themselves. And once they have 

the skills, entrepreneurial individuals can 

perform the installations for neighbors or 

train others to be installers, which is an 

added income opportunity. 

Inexpensive, flexible financing, for example 

in the form of micro-loans, is also critical 

to help people overcome the upfront 

capital costs for energy technologies. It’s 

been reported that putting the financing 

in the hands of women helps to ensure 

that the money is managed responsibly. 

Clean energy should be as ubiquitous 

as cell phones, which have now reached 

nearly every pocket of the world, no matter 

what the income level. Maybe not 

everyone has the latest iPhone, but they 

have the means to communicate. This 

happened very quickly. There is no good 

reason that the same kind of access should 

not be so for energy technology. 

GN: How do we ensure access to clean 

energy? 

Diane: This is mainly up to policymakers 

and, in democracies, the people who vote 

for them, to create policies and regulatory 

frameworks that support access to clean 

energy for all. It is also up to financing entities 

to make low cost financing available. 

And it is up to all of us collectively to decide 

that having access to energy, and particularly 

clean, renewable energy, is a right 

for everyone and that resources must be 

made available to make this happen. Literally, 

we must bring power to the people. 

Renewables 100 Policy Institute Founding Board Chair 

Angelina Galiteva was invited by US State Department 

to Meet With Energy Leaders in Brazil.

109 

ADVICE TO THE 


GN: Please give advice and words of wisdom 

about renewables to our young global 

audience. What would you like to tell to 

the millennials? Any inspiring words that 


Diane: We are in the middle of one of the 

greatest industrial transformations of our 

time. This brings with it vast opportunities 

for many skilled people, including engineers, 

to get involved in one of the most 

creative and meaningful endeavors humanity 

has ever had to undertake. 

I’ll pass on the advice often given by successful 

leaders in frontrunner cities and 

regions about the key to success: There are 

two ways of thinking about going 100% 

renewable. One is to think of all the reasons 

to fear it and how to slow down the 

process. The other is to commit, start and 

figure it out as you go, accepting that there 

will be mistakes, learning from them, improving 

and continuing to just go for it for 

the betterment of your community and 

future generations. Be the second kind of 

thinker. It’s not only the right thing to do, 

it is also a lot more fun. 



All photos are taken from the 

Nordic Baltic Bioenergy Conference, 

a business connection between East and 

West which was held in Vilnius, Lithuania 

from April 19-21, 2016. 

Photos by Marius Linauskas/Makophoto 

Swedish Bioenergy Association: 

Saving Humanity Through 

Sustainable Bioenergy 

THE COMPANY 

The Swedish Bioenergy Association 

SVEBIO is a non-profit member 

association for companies and persons 

with the interest to develop the use of 

sustainable bioenergy. I am also Chairman 

of AEBIOM, the European Biomass 

Association with a similar purpose. 

SVEBIO has 12 employees with a turnover 

of USD$2.4 Million. The company’s 

mission is to increase the use of bioenergy 

in an economically and environmentally 

optimal way. 

Our ambition is focused more on the 

share of bioenergy in the Swedish society. 

Our aim is to have more than 50 percent 

of bioenergy in the total energy use. We 

are currently Sweden’s largest energy 

source (around 35 percent bioenergy of 

the country’s total use) and we surpassed 

fossil oil in 2009, which was the largest 

energy source before 2009. 

PURSUING CLEAN ENERGY 

THROUGH SUSTAINABLE 

BIOENERGY 

Clean Energy is renewable energy that 

we can use forever without damaging 

nature, causing worse health conditions 

or threatening survival of species, etc. 

Clean energy should enhance a healthier 

world and the survival of species. The 

recirculation of nutrients and minerals is 

an important part of the natural life. 

In my view, we as humans, have a given 

responsibility to leave the world a better 

place than when we came here. 

THE FUTURE OF 

CLEAN ENERGY 

Globally, according to IRENA, we have 19 

percent renewable energy and about 67 

percent of that is bioenergy. We have the 

technology and the economy to get 100 

percent renewable. 

We are taking steps forward but not at 

all with sufficient speed. We would need 

global Carbon Dioxide Pricing as soon 

as possible to back out the use of fossils 

to cope with the climate change. All 

technology is there but it is more about 

political will and knowledge about how 

to create the steering instruments to make 

people and companies move in the right 

direction. It is not costly or expensive and 

it has to be done. The alternative is more 

expensive and damaging. Ten years from 

now, I hope we have a global Carbon tax 

of at least 30 USD per Carbon Dioxide 

ton. Biofuels like ethanol and biodiesel 

from agriculture are more accepted since 

those are the cheapest and best options to 

replace fossil gasoline and diesel.

111 

SVEBIO’S INNOVATIONS 

AND PROJECTS 

Most important project of the company is 

the introduction of general incentives such 

as CO2 ta., We have to make the polluters 

pay since this is the most efficient way 

to stop climate change. In many regions, 

Combined Heat and Power should be 

introduced. It is a very cost-and-energyefficient 

system approach that decreases cost 

for energy use. Also, energy efficiency work 

is important and very much needed in most 

regions. We already have the technology to 

replace all fossils, replacing fossil jet fuels by 

renewable in aviation, in off grid solutions 

for power production, in replacing natural 

gas in industry, green houses, breweries, etc. 

When I say we have all needed technology 

to make the switch, it doesn’t mean that 

there is no room for further research and 

improvement. I believe biofuels for cars will 

cost less than a dollar per liter including 

VAT and we will use maybe only a liter 

to run 30 km. Biofuels will be very cost 

competitive to electric cars and batteries. 

Also, we see higher share of electricity in 

CHP-production which will lower the cost 

for electricity from biomass. 

In Sweden we have replaced 6000 cubic 

meter of fossil imported oil every week in 

20 years from 1990 to 2010. This has made 

a fantastic impact on Swedish trade balance 

and also made possibilities in rural areas 

and forestry, where fuel production takes 

place. We recommend every country that 

import fossil energy to introduce CO2-taxes 

urgently to better our domestic resources 

and save the climate. 





The problem is mainly the mind set 

believing that it is not possible. But it is 

also the subsidies that distort markets 

and push investments that are not 

optimal or needed. It is important that 

it is the customer’s demand that initiates 

investment and not the subsidies and 

support schemes that put market demand 

out of the equation like in some European 

energy markets. 

NGOs are actually sometimes part of the 

problem, demanding support schemes 

that are not optimal and also blaming 

biofuels for causing problems. If you 

consider the global statistics, the yield 

per hectare has increased faster than 

the growth of the global population. We 

continuously free more land for energy 

production and still less people starve. 

The fact that people starve has other 

reasons than that we cannot produce food 

enough. In Europe, NGO’s try to forbid 

biofuels from agriculture and they say the 

land is needed for food production and 

thus, biofuels cause deforestation in the 

Amazon but at the same time they approve 

the 6 percent Ecological Focus Areas that 

is used to decrease the surplus production 

of food in Europe. The legislation of ILUC 

is illogical and stupid and should be taken 

away as soon as possible. 

We should start to buy renewable 

bioenergy from poor rural areas to 

inject capital and investments, then food 

production can also increase in these 

areas when capital is increasing. This 

creates a better economic development 

and combat poverty. 

Again, the Carbon tax is important to push 

development and use of renewables. If 

people are poor and cannot afford higher 

energy prices, a part of the governmental 

income of the carbon tax can be used to 

support poor people. Income streams 

will stop flowing to fossil companies and 

start to flow out in regional areas and 

into forestry and agriculture into many 

different hands and companies.

113 

ADVICE TO THE 


We have the potential of a much better 

world ahead; controlled combustion is not 

dangerous but a condition for life. There 

is actually no life on the globe without 

cellular respiration which is combustion 

at low temperature. With modern 

technology we get rid of problematic 

emissions and health issues. You can 

make a difference helping poor people out 

of poverty when developing agriculture 

and forestry in rural areas to produce 

food and bioenergy. At the same time, 

we can develop better life conditions for 

rare species when using natural resources 

without consuming them. 

VIDEOS FROM SVEBIO 



WBA: 

MOVING FORWARD 

IN PROMOTING SUSTAINABLE 

BIOMASS FOR ENERGY 

Karin Haara, Executive Director WBA 

(Photo by Oskar Omne/Dagens Industri) 

CLIMATE CHANGE IS ONE of the greatest problems 

of our world today. The best solution to this problem 

is to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy, and 

according to World Bioenergy Association (WBA), biomass 

will be playing a major role in satisfying the human 

energy needs. 

The WBA is a global organization which was founded in 

May 2008, wherein they have been promoting the use of 

bioenergy globally in an “efficient, sustainable, economic 

and environmentally friendly way,” as stated in their 

factsheet. Their members include national and regional 

bioenergy organizations, institutions, companies and 

individuals. 

GineersNow conducted an exclusive interview with 

Karin Haara, the executive director of the World Bioenergy 

Association. 


GN: Introduce yourself. How many years have you been 


Karin Haara: I am the executive director of the World 

Bioenergy Association and it all started in 2008. Building 

up a new global organisation is a major challenge, 

but I really believe that bioenergy is going to be one of 

the most important players globally in the field of renewable 

energy. 

I was born in northern parts of Sweden and studied at 

the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. There, I 

acquired my Masters Degree in Chemical Engineering. 

After attending different initiatives concerning renewable 

energy I decided to devote my professional work 

life to something that would be of importance to future 

generations, something that would be in balance with 

nature. The answer is bioenergy. 

In 1983, I started as an energy consultant and later on 

in 1988 as a project manager for the Swedish Bioenergy 

Association. During this time, I was involved in different 

bioenergy projects such as promoting education, statistics 

and information, national and international conferences 

and lately also international bioenergy business 

projects. Bioenergy is a widespread area and throughout 

my work I have been able to gain a better understanding 

of how different bioenergy systems work and also how 

to promote development. 

Bioenergy is a versatile energy source with a multitude 

of technologies, conversion pathways and end uses. It 

is a continuous challenge to keep abreast of all the developments 

in this sector. Every day, there is something 

new to learn in this sector and that’s what is so exciting 

and inspiring.

115 

WORLD BIOENERGY 

ASSOCIATION 

GN: Are you an educational institution, social enterprise, 

non-profit or private company? Describe your 

company. 

Karin: World Bioenergy Association (WBA) is an umbrella 

organization for bioenergy associations, companies 

and individuals supporting the sustainable development 

of bioenergy globally. It started 2008 in Jönköping 

(Sweden) by leaders of a group of national and regional 

associations. 

We are a non profit and a non governmental organization. 

WBA has 19 board members comprising one 

President and four Vice Presidents. The board sets the 

agenda for the organization. The agenda is executed by 

the Secretariat which sits in Stockholm, Sweden, led by 

the Executive Director. 


Karin: In terms of manpower, WBA has 2 employees 

who work fulltime executing the activities of the organization. 

They are assisted by the President, the Vice Presidents 

and the Board. Apart from the Board, WBA has a 

project advisor, assistants and event managers who work 

voluntarily for some of the projects. The organization is 

truly global as our 190 members come from more than 

50 countries and with various backgrounds. 


Karin: WBA aims to promote the sustainable use of bioenergy 

for mitigating climate change impacts of fossil 

fuels. We support various actors – associations, companies, 

institutions, individuals – working in the field of 

bioenergy. We see a future where bioenergy along with 

other renewables become the dominant energy source. 

A sustainable energy solution for the future generations 

is possible only if we show how bioenergy with other 

renewables can meet the energy demands of the local, 

national and regional energy needs. We actively work 

with knowledge transfer, technology transfer and capacity 

building as key aspects of promoting a sustainable 

future. 

GN: Where is this company headed? What’s your future 

expansion plans? Describe briefly your strategic goals 

(10 years to 20 years plan) 

Karin: The association is based in Stockholm, Sweden 

but our aim is to have a bioenergy association in every 

country in the world. The idea is to be the clearing house 

for everything that fits in bioenergy. These national associations 

become platforms for Bioenergy entrepreneurs, 

and their job is to educate leaders as well as to 

build networks in the different regions where bioenergy 

is available and/or used. We would like to see the 

companies and institutions involved in the whole supply 

chain offering jobs and building local businesses as 

well as global businesses. WBA is able to be serve as the 

hub to transfer both knowledge and technology in both 

directions on global level and serve with inspiration to 

even local needs. 

Illustration of different ecological systems 

for biomass origins: short rotation forestry, 

corn and sugarcane and managed forestry 

(Photo by SLU) 

The biogas plant in the municipality of 

Linköping, Sweden. Sweden is a world 

leader in upgrading and use of biomethane 

for transport. Biogas covers today 1% 

of the total road traffic in Sweden 

(Photo by Svensk Biogas) 

World largest combined heat and power 

plant based on biomass owned by Fortum 

and Stockholm City started operation in 

2016 in the middle of Stockholm, Sweden 

(Photo by Hans Ekestang) 



WBA Steering Committee meeting 

in Nairobi. (Photo by WBA) 

WBA visit to Biogas plant in Nairobi. 

(Photo by WBA.) 

WBA at cookstoves lab in KIRDI, Nairobi. 

(Photo by WBA) 

WBA’S STAND ON 

CLEAN ENERGY 

GN: What is clean energy as defined by your organization/company? 

Karin: Clean energy should be renewable! Clean energy 

is tied with the definition of the sustainable development 

as envisaged in the Brundtland commission 

report. First and foremost, clean energy should meet the 

current energy needs without compromising the needs 

of our future generations. Hence, no fossil fuels. 

Clean energy should also be affordable and transparent. 

Technologies like Nuclear energy which are not only expensive, 

but also carry significant cost burdens due to 

disasters have to be avoided. 

Clean energy should be reliable. Millions of people in 

Africa and Asia suffer from unreliable and inefficient 

energy supply which significantly affects development. 

GN: Why bother? What’s the importance of pursuing 

clean energy? 

Karin: Energy is everything. We use electricity, heating, 

transport fuels to run our planet. Everything we do is 

tied with the use of energy. It is of utmost importance as 

to where we get the energy and how we use it. We have 

been using energy unsustainably with little or no care 

for the safety of the planet for generations. Only recently 

have we realized the drastic negative impacts of climate 

change. Climate change impacts everyone – from island 

nations in the pacific to mega cities in Asia to quaint 

Scandinavian countries up north. What we do on this 

planet now affects everyone. It is not an issue between 

neighbors or cities or even countries. It affects the whole 

planet and in that context energy is central. 

Replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy sources is 

the only way forward! 

In the word of Carl Sagan, one of the greatest astronomers 

ever: “The Earth is the only world known so far 

to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near 

future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. 

Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is 

where we make our stand.” 

In other words, there is no Planet B!

117 

In a sustainable managed forest, 

trees of different age grow 

side by side, to left or in some 

cases even trees of even ages as 

shown to the right. 

(Left photo by ppcnet.org; right photo 

by Per Petersson, Sveaskog) 

REN Alliance at COP21 in Paris holding a side-event on how renewables are working 

together for 100% renewable energy systems. (Photo Bharadwaj Kummamuru) 

THE MACRO LEVEL 



of renewables? 

Karin: Renewables currently provide 18 – 19% of the 

global energy. The rest of it is supplied by fossil fuels – 

coal, oil and gas. Among the renewables, bioenergy is 

the largest renewable energy source – currently at 14%. 

Most of it is in the form of traditional biomass – woodfuel, 

charcoal etc but modern bioenergy (liquid biofuels, 

pellets, efficiently used solid biomass, etc.) stands today 

for 4-5%. The rest of the contribution comes from hydro, 

wind, solar, geothermal, and other renewables. 

The share of renewables varies drastically among nations 

and regions. European nations have a high share 

of renewables in their energy mix. In Americas, countries 

like Brazil have increased renewables in the transport 

sector. African nations are largely dependent on 

biomass for heating. Countries like India and China are 

also investing heavily in solar and wind technologies for 

their growing energy needs. 



Karin: We are not doing enough. Although the renewables 

have gained the spotlight – post COP21 in Paris, 

still more than 80% of all energy is supplied by fossil fuels. 

We have to wean off from coal, oil and gas at the earliest 

(possibly within this century, or even by 2050), if we 

are to have any chance of limiting the global warming 

levels to within 2 degrees – the standard metric agreed 

upon by climate scientists. 

Having said that, the momentum is shifting. Major fossil 

companies are exploring options to invest in renewable 

technologies. Banks and institutions are thinking twice 

before financing coal projects. Solar prices are dropping 

at a faster rate than expected. 

We are on the right track, but we have got to pick up the 

pace now! 





Karin: Knowledge transfer: We actively publish factsheets 

and papers on the role of various bioenergy technologies 

in a natural science based idea. These factsheets 

are published in collaboration with experts in universities, 

companies and associations. They provide an unbiased 

view and clear the air on various misconceptions 

associated with bioenergy. These factsheets are used by 

professors in their teaching, companies in understanding 

the market and associations lobbying in favor of renewables 

in their countries. 

Statistics: One of our key activities is on improving the 

statistics on bioenergy. As the saying goes ‘one can’t 

manage what one can’t measure’. Data is key for sustainable 

development. A standardized approach to gathering 

bioenergy data will be an invaluable tool for investors, 

organizations including regional and global policy 

makers. The availability of consistent data will also lead 

to awareness among countries on the true potential of 

biomass and the sustainable use of locally available biomass 

resources can reduce energy poverty in developing 

countries. 

Bioenergy Action Plans: Developing bioenergy action 

plans for regions will contribute to a growing role of bioenergy 

in the energy system. The development of such 

action plans would create a strong economic benefit for 

the society in terms of jobs, savings in energy expenditures 

and increased regional economic growth. The 

development will also reduce greenhouse gas emissions 

and dependency on imported energy. 

Bioenergy Directory: WBA Bioenergy Equipment Directory 

is a database for companies working in the value 

chain of biomass to energy. Companies can offer their 

equipment to attract new buyers. Clients can request 

information or compare various products and services 

on the website. Such a directory facilitates technology 

transfer within the energy sector along with assisting 

companies and clients in accessing relevant information. 

Sustainability criteria for Biomass to energy: WBA 

would like to implement our sustainable biomass verification 

scheme. The role of verification processes is to 

participate in creation of a global market for bioenergy 

and biofuels. The goal of the following verification 

scheme for biomass is to secure the sustainability criteria 

for biomass, the supply of biomass in a sustainable 

way with clearly defined and consistent quality for specific 

purposes. 

Pellets. 

Photo by iStock_©tchara 



Global final energy 

consumption. 

(Photo by WBA) 


company pursuing? 

Karin: Innovation is a difficult word with no borders and 

if you expand it a bit then it should cover what the shift 

in thinking means when faced with facts and integrating 

bioenergy in the circular driven society. This will open 

for collaborations with other groups to reach the 100% 

renewable energy driven society. 

Our continued focus is on integrating the renewable energy 

industry. Our collaboration with the International 

Renewable Energy Alliance (a partnership of International 

Solar Energy Society, International Geothermal 

Alliance, World Bioenergy Association, International 

Hydropower Association and World Wind Energy Association) 

aims to use our wide expertise in renewable 

energy to inform policy makers on the right decisions. 

Each city, region and nation have to be informed about 

their true and sustainable potential of their renewable 

energy resources. We will continue preparing reports 

on cities using bioenergy and regional bioenergy action 

plans so that everyone becomes self sufficient in a sustainable 

way. 

Our continued focus on improving statistics is crucial 

in meeting the recently announced Sustainable Development 

Goals by the United Nations. To satisfy the indicators 

and goals, measurement of key energy data is 

crucial and we strive for the same. 

GN: What impact have you delivered (social, economic 

and environmental)? Do you have metrics or statistics of 

your accomplishments? 

Karin: Our efforts have put bioenergy on the global map. 

Our continued presence at the UN climate conferences 

have built up a reputation as the leading global bioenergy 

organization. 

Our statistics report is downloaded close to 2000 times 

by financial institutions, banks, governments, research 

institutes and universities etc. The feedback we receive 

is largely positive on the global impact we are ensuring 

with updated and relevant bioenergy data. 

More than 30 companies have already joined our bioenergy 

equipment directory so far. This is leading to 

an improved transfer of technology from regions with 

manufacturing capabilities to regions with high potential 

of utilizing their own resources. 





Karin: The Fossil based energy system has built up 

structures that support the fossils. The renewables need 

other systems. Even if biomass can fit in the fossil structures 

we need to have a price on what we do not want so 

a carbon pricing would be needed as well as taking off 

the support schemes that hold up fossil systems. To get 

the price right it should follow the Polluters Pay principle 

(PPP) so that the one who is polluting pays the cost 

of the climate change. It is more of a question of policy 

and investment rather than technology. Another topic 

for bioenergy is the ignorance of politicians about the 

benefits and role of bioenergy. 



of this? 

Karin: Firstly, the governments have to initiate a carbon 

pricing. Fossil fuels have to pay for the pollution that 

they cause. Those countries which already have such a 

pricing should increase it further to deter the use of fossil 

fuels. 

Traditional family-farming corn straw 

baling in Region of Becej, Serbia. 

(Photo by Herman Wieser)

119 

Corn straw bailing in the Region 

of Sombor in Serbia. 

(Photo by Herman Wieser) 

The general public has to be educated on the climate 

change issues. Such a debate should not be restricted to 

the scientific community, but the whole society has to 

be aware of our current energy situation and how it will 

affect them in the near future. Moreover, they should be 

educated with natural science based facts. 

Fossil fuel companies have to explore alternative sustainable 

energy solutions. The era of big oil, coal and gas 

is over and they have to realize that. Banks should stop 

financing fossil fuel power plants and invest heavily in 

renewables as that is the future. 

GN: How do we provide cheap energy in poverty stricken 

areas? 

Karin: Bioenergy and other renewables are the best options 

for providing energy to rural and off grid areas in 

low income countries. Biomass along with solar and 

wind are easily available. Off-grid decentralized solutions 

should be developed as well as central solutions for 

easier and cleaner access to energy. 

Financial institutions should focus on providing low 

interest options for developing renewable energy technologies. 

ADVICE TO THE 



to our young global audience. What would you 

like to tell to the millennials? Any inspiring words that 


Karin: Integrate your professional knowledge on renewable 

energy with visions about a desirable and sustainable 

society for future (your) generations. 

Company Husk power systems is creating change in rural India by providing 

electricity through bioenergy. In Bihar, more than 70 percent of the population 

has no electricity but now 200 000 have been provided with electricity. 

(Photo by Acumen) 



A Kenyan delegation visiting a wind farm 

construction site in Germany. 

WWEA: Aiming To Achieve 

100% Renewable Energy Supply 

THE WORLD WIND ENERGY 

Association (WWEA) is an international 

non-profit association which specializes 

in the promotion of the worldwide 

deployment of wind energy technology. 

They have more than 600 members in 

around 100 counties and are cooperating 

with different renewable energy organizations 

in order to work for a full shift from 

polluting and hazardous waste-causing 

energies to renewable energies. 


with Stefan Gsänger, the Secretary 

General for WWEA. 

Stefan Gsänger giving a speech at the 

WWEC2012 in the former German 

parliament in Bonn. 

PERSONAL BACKGROUND 

GineersNow: Introduce yourself. 

Stefan Gsänger: When I grew up in the 

1980s, the world was confronted with 

many severe environmental crises, which 

seemed to put on risk the future of mankind: 

air pollution and acid rain, climate 

change, water pollution, the nuclear disaster 

in Chernobyl etc – and no solution 

seemed to be available. During that time, 

I came across the German MP Hermann 

Scheer and his NGO Eurosolar who promoted 

strongly an economy based on 

renewable energy. I noticed immediately 

that many of his ideas and proposals 

would contribute substantially to solve 

our problems and, even more, they would 

create completely new prospects for all of 

us.

121 

GN: How many years have you been 


Stefan: I started working for renewable 

energy in the late 1990s for Eurosolar as a 

researcher and moved in 2001 to the German 

Wind Energy Association where I 

started building up the WWEA which was 

founded in that same year. In 2003, I was 

appointed by the board as WWEA Secretary 

General and since that time I have 

managed the association – a great work 

which has allowed me to travel around 

the world many times and to work closely 

with people from all different countries 

and cultures. 

THE COMPANY 




Stefan: WWEA is a non-profit organization 

and the global umbrella organization 

for the world wind community with 

the aim of promoting wind energy and 

other renewable energy sources on the 

global level, ultimately to achieve a 100% 

renewable energy supply worldwide. We 

currently have members in more than 100 

countries, and our elected board members 

are representing all continents. The current 

president is Peter Rae, former Senator 

from Australia, while his predecessors 

came from Denmark, India and China. 


Stefan: WWEA has more than 600 direct 

members, and through its member associations 

indirectly far more than 50,000 

members. This includes national and 

regional wind energy associations, the 

whole range of companies, other organizations, 

and individuals. 


values. 

Stefan: WWEA works for an energy system 

completely driven by renewable energy. 

In order to achieve global 100 % 

renewable energy supply, WWEA is supporting 

especially decentralized and community 

based approaches, as we believe 

that social support and a broad involvement 

of citizens is an essential precondition 

for the global shift towards renewable 

energy. Without that, it will be very difficult 

to mobilize the needed resources for 

this huge task. In addition, a more decentralized 

energy supply will also lead to a 

fairer and more democratic world. 

To achieve our goals, we connect the different 

actors of the wind community, we 

provide information about wind power, 

and we work with governments and international 

organizations – WWEA has 

special consultative status at the United 

Nations. 


What’s your future expansion plans? Describe 

briefly your strategic goals. 

Stefan: The WWEA Head Office is located 

in Bonn, next to the UN Campus – in 

sight of the UNFCCC Climate Secretariat 

and not far from the IRENA Innovation 

and Technology Center. We have currently 

researchers also in other countries, 

including currently in Pakistan and in 

Russia. 

WWEA is a very broad and global network 

of the wind and renewable energy 

community around the world. We do 

believe in the strength of such networks 

of local and national units, and hence we 

have also launched two other important 

umbrella networks: The International Renewable 

Energy Alliance brings together 

the global renewable energy technology 

associations, and the Global100%RE 

campaign is a multi-stakeholder network 

from industry, civil society, academia, local 

governments and beyond who share 

the vision and goal of a 100% renewable 

energy future. 

At the Community Power Conference in 

Tokyo with Samse Energy Director, Soren 

Hermansen. 

RENEWABLE ENERGY, 

NOT CLEAN ENERGY 


your organization/company? 

Stefan: We do not use the term “clean” 

energy because it is not clear enough. We 

prefer to talk about “renewable” energy 

as it describes very precisely the main 

requirement our energy sources have to 

fulfill in order to meet mankind’s energy 

demand in a sustainable way. In this sense, 

renewable energy includes geothermal 

energy, hydropower, bioenergy, marine 

energy, solar energy and wind power. 



Stefan: Renewable energies are by definition 

inexhaustible, and this also implies 

that in principle they do not cause major 

environmental and hence social or 

economic problems. Based on renewable 

energy, all human beings have equal opportunities 

to access modern energy and 

to develop and to satisfy their needs without 

endangering the lives of others. This is 

really a unique opportunity for mankind, 

the first time since industrialization has 

started. There is a chance that all humans 

can achieve a similar standard of life. 



The Secretary General for WWEA 

speaking at the WWEC2015. 


CLEAN ENERGY 



Stefan: The global shift towards renewable 

energy started more than 

30 years ago, in the United States and 

in Europe, particularly in Denmark. 

In the second phase, other countries 

such as Germany, India or Spain have 

joined the movement. At the beginning 

of the new century, new emerging 

economies such as China have become 

the largest players. This has led 

to great technological improvements 

so that renewables are today competitive 

even without looking at external 

cost such as climate change. 

Of course today’s level of renewable 

energy market penetration is still 

not sufficient, but according to latest 

figures, renewables in 2015 for 

the first time have become the largest 

investment in the power sector. 

And Paris has officially launched the 

global paradigm shift: From now on, 

renewables are the new normal, and 

any other investment needs to be justified. 

Anyway, we have still a long 

way to go, and it is now up to the renewables 

community to demonstrate 

further how to apply renewable technologies. 

An important element of the global 

success of renewable energy is that it 

is completely changing the structure 

of the energy industry, away from a 

few large corporations, be it in the oil, 

gas, coal, nuclear sector, towards millions 

of investors. People like you and 

me who install their own solar rooftop, 

community based cooperatives, 

small and medium sized companies 

and also larger companies. 

GN: Where should we be 10 years 

from now? Are we on the right track? 

Are we delayed? Are we progressing? 

Stefan: I have no doubt that the future 

belongs to renewable energy. However, it 

depends on all of us how fast the transition 

will happen. Climate change experts 

are telling us that we really need to accelerate 

our efforts in order to keep the 1.5 or 

even the 2 degree target. With our Global 

100%RE campaign we had a long discussion 

which year we should aim at for the 

100% renewable energy target– and the 

conclusion was that we should rather insist 

on the principle that any new investment 

has to be made in renewable energy. 

Amazingly, the Paris agreement strongly 

supports this principle. If we follow this 

principle, we will reach the 100% at the 

end of the natural investments cycles, this 

means in about 20-30 years. 

People all over the world prefer renewable 

energy but we have also to understand 

that there are still many hurdles to overcome, 

in particular there is still strong resistance 

from the fossil sector who wants 

to earn as long as possible and as much as 

possible from dirty fossil fuels.

123 






Stefan: One very important initiative is 

certainly the Global 100%RE campaign 

which we launched three years ago together 

with partners from other NGOs, 

industry associations, and academia. 

The second pillar is our work on community 

power which aims at promoting 

bottom-up solutions and intends to encourage 

citizens and local communities 

to become active drivers of the necessary 

transition to renewable energy. 

GN: What are the future innovations that 

you or your company are pursuing? 

Stefan: The next big technical, but also 

social, political and economic innovation 

has to be the holistic integration of renewable 

energy into our economies and 

societies. This implies that the way we organize 

our economies today needs to be 

adjusted to the decentralized character of 

renewable energy. On the technical side, 

we will need innovation e.g. in terms of 

energy storage and demand side flexibility, 

in order to manage the volatile character 

of the abundant sources wind and sun. 

On the social and economic side, we need 

new business models which allow the 

participation of more and more people in 

order to benefit directly from the productive 

use of the renewable energy sources 

in their environment. And politically, we 

need the right policies in place which enable 

such innovations. 

GN: What impact have you delivered (social, 

economic and environmental)? Do 

you have metrics or statistics of your accomplishments? 

Stefan: A simple answer is: Look at 

the share of wind power in the year 

when WWEA was founded: In 2001, 

we had a global installed wind capacity 

of 24 GW, this year we will reach 

more than 20 times this number, soon 

we will be close to 500 GW. Another 

major indicator: I do believe that 

through this practical success and 

also thanks to our political work, the 

Paris agreement became possible. 

Of course I could also refer you to 

individual countries where we have 

been active: When we started working 

with our Chinese colleagues in 

2003, China had an installed wind capacity 

of around 500 MW. In the following 

year, we held our World Wind 

Energy Conference in Beijing, which 

resulted in the first Chinese renewable 

energy law. Today, China’s wind 

capacity is around 150 GW, 300 times 

what it was in 2003! 

Launch of a wind power conference 

in Coimbatore, India. 







Stefan: Technology is certainly not a major 

bottleneck any more. It is obvious that 

renewable technology will develop further 

in the coming decades and centuries 

– like automobiles today are certainly not 

the same they used to be 50 or 100 years 

ago, and they will again change with the 

deployment of electric cars. The main 

barrier is still a mental barrier: We need 

a fundamental change in the way we think 

of energy supply. To give you an example: 

The technical concept of baseload is not 

at all needed in order to provide enough 

energy whenever there is demand. What 

we need is flexibility, which is rather in 

contrast to baseload. But still many people 

are stuck in the old way of thinking 

and cannot imagine that power supply is 

possible without baseload. We need also 

to make clear that close-to-zero-marginal-cost 

technologies such as wind or solar 

cannot simply compete on a spot market 

for electricity as the price would tend to 

zero. We need to find other regulatory 

tools which ensure economic efficiency as 

well, against what most economists have 

been proposing during the last decades. 




Stefan: The best approach is certainly to 

point at practical solutions. On the local 

and regional level, we can already find 

hundreds, thousands of models from 

which the rest of the world can learn how 

to organize the global energy transition. 

Building networks amongst these practitioners 

will certainly be of great help to 

close the gap between the overall Paris 

goal and the perceived barriers. 

GN: How do we provide cheap energy 

in poverty stricken areas? 

Stefan: There is without doubt only 

one basic approach: The “poor” need 

to be enabled to harvest the renewable 

energy potentials in their environment. 

There is enough renewable 

energy around which can be harvested, 

but the “poor” often only suffer 

the capability of capitalizing on their 

skills and capacities so that they cannot 

get access e.g. to loans. A focus on 

energy productivity and confidence 

in people’s general creativity and productivity, 

together with spreading the 

right business models, can certainly 

bring the needed breakthrough. Bangladesh’s 

Grameen Shakti has provided 

a very encouraging and powerful 

example, with its microcredit program 

for solar home systems. 

GN: How do we ensure access to 

clean energy? 

Stefan: At first, we must exclusively 

focus on renewable energy sources 

as they are available in abundance 

everywhere. Secondly, we need to enable 

people to use their skills to harvest 

these energies. There is this nice 

example of the young guy somewhere 

in Africa who just had a book about 

wind energy and very basic pieces of 

a bike etc. – and he managed to build 

his own wind generator. If we focus 

on the productivity of the use of energy, 

we can make sure that people can 

use the energy to create more value, 

re-invest, and eventually escape from 

poverty.

125 

ADVICE TO THE 


GN: Please give advice and words of wisdom 

about renewables to our young global 

audience. What would you like to tell to 

the millennials? Any inspiring words that 


Stefan: The Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi 

said: “There is enough for everybody’s 

need, but not for everybody’s greed.” This 

is a very important and true statement, especially 

when we look at the energy side 

of it: There is an abundance of renewable 

energy resources on our planet! Let us 

harvest them jointly and create wealth for 

all people, without putting on risk the future 

of mankind. We have the choice, we 

have the responsibility, and we have now 

the opportunity to create a better and fairer 

world! 



NEW 

BATTERY 

HARNESSES 

RENEWABLE 

ENERGY 

This new ‘green’ battery 

is capable of fundamentally 

transforming the way 

electricity is being stored 

in the grid, making the use 

of renewable energy more 

dependable that it was 

before. 

Photo by Harvard SEAS 

The world is going green at a very fast pace. 

Almost everyone is talking about renewable 

sources of energy and how that could 

be harnessed for various power needs. Very 

recently, researchers from Harvard University 

have invented a rechargeable battery or 

green battery that can store energy from 

rooftop solar panels and quench household 

electricity needs. This new technology 

could revolutionize renewable energy storage 

everywhere around the globe. 

This new ‘green’ battery is capable of fundamentally 

transforming the way electricity 

is being stored in the grid, making the use 

of renewable energy more dependable that 

it was before. This invention by Harvard 

engineers makes use solar and wind power 

which are two of the most abundant sources 

of renewable energy known today. 

The battery is a ‘flow’ battery which doesn’t 

contain any trace of metal and depends on 

the electrochemistry of ‘quinones’, a naturally 

occurring carbon-based molecule 

which acts like the molecules that store 

energy in our flora and fauna. This in turn 

makes the battery more organic than the 

batteries we know today. 

One of the reasons why this project was 

started is the fact that sources of renewable 

energy such as wind and sunlight are 

not constantly available in relation to their 

high demand. This urged the team to create 

a cost-effective way of storing the energy 

gathered from these sources, which would 

also help in making renewable energy readily 

available for future use. 

The team that conceived this organic flow 

battery is led by Michael J. Aziz, Gene and 

Tracy Sykes Professor of Materials and Energy 

Technologies at the Harvard School 

of Engineering and Applied Sciences. He 

created and developed the battery with the 

help of Roy G. Gordon, 

It was not just designed, but also built and 

tested in Michael J. Aziz’s laboratory. Professor 

Michael is associated with the Harvard 

School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. 

The other scientists who worked for the 

development of the battery include Roy G. 

Gordon, Thomas Dudley Cabot Professor 

of Chemistry and Professor of Materials 

Science, and Alan Aspuru-Guzik, Professor 

of Chemistry and Chemical Biology. 

Unlike our conventional batteries, the flow 

batteries are designed to store energy in 

chemical fluids which are stored in separate 

tanks. This way, the amount of energy 

stored is proportional to the size of the 

tanks which makes the flow battery able to 

store larger amounts of energy at a cheaper 

cost.

127 

NEW DEVICE THAT MAKES 

COMPOSTING EASIER 

It’s good for crops, it’s 

good for water and, in 

the end, it’s good for people 

and the planet. Why 

would anyone not turn 

food waste into compost? 

Rice University engineering students asked 

that question at the start of the school year 

and have spent the months since refining 

their answer. 

The team known as (com)post-haste invented 

a device that sits under one’s sink 

and takes macerated food waste produced 

by a standard garbage disposal and sends 

it in one direction while liquid waste (including 

water) goes in another. Effectively, 

it simplifies the process of recycling garbage 

into a useful product while helping to protect 

water supplies. 

The students make up one of more than 80 

capstone design teams at Rice. Most senior 

engineering students are required to complete 

a project to graduate and are presented 

with a host of possibilities when they begin 

their classes in August. 

For all the members of (com)post-haste, 

developing the device they call The Bio- 

Blend was a natural. 

“I think for all of us this was the top choice,” 

said Kavana Gowda, who like all of her 

teammates is a senior mechanical engineering 

student. Other members are Christina 

Petlowany, Andrew Miller, Edgar Silva, 

Mitch Torczon and Ryan Yeh. 

The students have spent much of the last 

eight months working in the basement of 

Rice’s Oshman Engineering Design Kitchen, 

where they have installed an actual research 

kitchen – or at least the sink part. 

The project is a partnership with NASA, 

which has an interest in such devices for 

outposts on the moon, Mars and beyond, 

and Chalmers University of Technology in 

Sweden, which pitched Rice on the project 

and intends to install The BioBlend at its 

Living Lab, where it will be tested alongside 

other emerging household technologies. 

Rice lecturer Matthew Elliott is the team’s 

faculty adviser. 

“I think one of the major barriers to being 

eco-friendly in a variety of ways in the 

United States is people aren’t willing to put 

in any effort,” said Torczon of the device. 

“This doesn’t require users to change their 

behaviors. They can continue putting food 

down the garbage disposal, and once every 

couple of days take it out, just like taking 

out their trash.” 

The difference is The BioBlend produces 

a moist, finely chopped form of waste that 

takes less time to turn to compost than regular 

garbage. Alternately, it can be used to 

generate biogas. 

“One of the things our sponsors want to see 

is if they can make the device large enough 

to put in the basement of an apartment 

complex or a grocery store or restaurant, 

places with a ton of food waste,” Torczon 

said. “They could create a lot of biogas they 

could then turn around and sell or, if they’re 

in a restaurant, use themselves.” 

“I think a family of four, using a biogas generator 

with their waste, would be able to 

make enough for them to cook with,” Gowda 

added. 

A weight sensor tracks how full the bin is, 

a cutoff switch automatically trips before it 

overflows and a carbon filter helps quash 

odors and keep flies away from the compost. 

The team has not ruled out giving The 

BioBlend Wi-Fi powers to alert users to its 

status via the Internet, Torczon said. They 

could just make it beep when full, but the 

students are wary that annoyed users would 

simply disconnect it rather than keep with 

the program. 

Photo by Rice 

University 



WORLD’S FIRST 

EMISSIONS-FREE, 

LOW-COST 

FOSSIL FUEL POWER 

TECHNOLOGY 

NET Power breaks ground on 

demonstration plant for world’s first 

emissions-free, low-cost fossil fuel 

power technology. 

Illustration by NET Power

129 

NET Power, LLC, today announced that 

it has broken ground on a first-of-a-kind 

power plant that will validate a new natural 

gas power system that produces 

low-cost electricity with zero atmospheric 

emissions, including carbon dioxide. 

NET Power is a collaboration between 

Exelon Generation, CB&I, and 8 Rivers 

Capital. The 50-megawatt demonstration 

plant is being built in La Porte, Texas. 

The plant will demonstrate NET Power’s 

Allam Cycle technology, which uses carbon 

dioxide as a working fluid to drive a 

combustion turbine, eliminates all atmospheric 

emissions without requiring expensive, 

efficiency-reducing carbon capture 

equipment, and ultimately produces 

pipeline-quality CO2 that can be sequestered 

or used in various industrial processes, 

including enhanced oil recovery. 

“NET Power is the first technology that 

allows policy and economics to work together, 

instead of against each other, to ensure 

the world meets our climate targets,” 

said NET Power’s CEO, Bill Brown. “Today 

marks a significant step for our worldclass 

team, including Exelon, CB&I, 8 

Rivers and Toshiba, towards delivering a 

technology that will be the cornerstone 

of a modern global energy infrastructure 

that is clean, affordable and flexible. 

Executives from each of the companies 

gathered on the site to mark the start of 

construction of the demonstration plant. 

The $140 million program - which not 

only includes demonstration plant design 

and construction, but also ongoing 

technology advancement, a full testing 

and operations program, and commercial 

product development - is funded by 

a combination of cash and in-kind contributions 

from Exelon and CB&I. Toshiba 

has developed and is now manufacturing 

a new supercritical CO2 turbine and combustor 

for the project. CB&I is performing 

the engineering, procurement, and construction 

of the plant. Exelon is providing 

operations, maintenance, and development 

services. 8 Rivers invented and continues 

to advance the technology behind 

the project. 

NET Power uses a novel process – an 

oxy-fuel, supercritical CO2 power cycle 

– to produce electricity efficiently while 

inherently eliminating all air emissions. 

The system burns natural gas with oxygen, 

as opposed to air, and uses high-pressure 

carbon dioxide, as opposed to inefficient 

steam like most power plants, to drive a 

turbine. NET Power produces only electricity, 

liquid water and pipeline-ready 

CO2, all while operating as efficiently as 

the best natural gas power plants available 

today. Additionally, for a small reduction 

in efficiency, the technology can operate 

without water, actually becoming a net 

water producer. For the first time, cleaner 

energy does not mean more expensive 

energy, and, as a result, our global climate 

goals are within reach. 

NET Power’s 50MWth plant will be a fully 

operational unit that will generate power 

to the grid while demonstrating all key 

aspects of the Allam Cycle. Commissioning 

is expected to begin in late 2016 and 

be completed in 2017. The plant will also 

provide the validation to begin constructing 

the first 295MWe, commercial-scale 

NET Power plants. NET Power is already 

engaged with customers across several industries 

on the design and development of 

these projects. 



WIND POWER 

BLOWS AWAY 

THE NEED 

FOR ENERGY 

PLANTS 

In an average working man’s life, what do you think 

are his most common monthly concerns? Pocket money? 

Yes. Rent? Yes, that too. But one of the most unstable-priced 

needs he has to worry about is the electricity 

bills! 

Yes, electricity bills. Every country in the world has this 

kind of dilemma. But, it seems like technology is taking 

a new turn to try and help keep our wallets from being 

empty. 

Wind power is slowly blowing away the need for energy 

plants using fossil fuels. 

New reports are showing that the onshore windfarms 

have become the cheapest method for producing electricity 

in the United Kingdom. The price drop is rather 

significant as electricity produced by windfarms is now 

£20 cheaper than producing the same amount of electricity 

from fossil fuels. This is certainly a great breakthrough 

for renewable sources of energy. Moreover, it is 

not limited to the United Kingdom only. This scenario 

is also being reflected elsewhere in the world such as 

Germany, as the cost of solar and wind technologies are 

rapidly decreasing while the costs of fossil fuels are increasing 

at the same time. 

In fact, wind power has become the source of the cheapest 

electricity in the United Kingdom as well as Germany. 

This is the first of such achievement by rich countries. 

According to analysts, this scenario has been brought 

about by the rise of popularity of renewable sources of 

energy. Moreover, there have been technological advances 

which have improved power storage and efficiency. 

This has caused fossil fuels become a more expensive 

source of energy. 

This resulted in the creation of a cycle that has caused 

the rise in the cost of power generated from gas and coal. 

That in turn has caused more attention to be given to 

renewable energies and their production has increased. 

The fact is that the cost of generating electricity from any 

renewable source of energy such as wind or solar is, at 

its essence, completely free. Of course, there are certainly 

costs of upkeep and staff to take into consideration. 

Nonetheless, the power company does not have to pay 

anything to get the actual source of energy as they are 

free natural forces. On the other hand, power companies 

have to buy the gas or coal in order to run the power 

plants when using fossil fuels. Therefore, power companies 

will always choose the free source at any given time 

leading to increase of renewable power plants such as 

windfarms. 

Of course people would prefer cheaper source of energy. 

Is this goodbye for power plants using fossil fuels then? 

Does this mean our electricity bilsl won’t be too high in 

the future? Let’s hope so. 

Photo by Carbon Brief

131 

WORLD’S 

BIGGEST 

WIND 

TURBINES 

Two new wind turbines have just been inaugurated 

in Denmark, in Måde near Esbjerg, to call them the 

biggest in the world, standing at 200 meters high 

with a wingspan of 164 meters and an 8MW production 

capacity. It is enough to power 18,000 Danish 

households. 

According to reports, if 300 of these huge turbines 

will be built, it will be enough to produce electricity 

for all the households in Denmark. European Energy, 

its main investor, takes the two new turbines a 

huge step in forwarding wind energy. 

“At European Energy this is an important step forward 

and adds to our exciting journey within wind 

development and increased focus on nearshore and 

offshore project opportunities. With this cooperation 

we take an important leap forward and we now 

become an important part of the testing process for 

the world’s most powerful wind turbines and the 

next generation of the 3MW platform.” says Knud 

Erik Andersen, CEO of European Energy A/S. 

The new wind turbines are a collaboration project of 

European Energy, MHI Vestas and BMC Energi. 

Photo by Windfair 



WINDLICHT: 

TAKING WIND POWER 

TO A MORE ARTISTIC LEVEL 

A team of designers and engineers, led by Daan 

Roosgaarde, wanted to let the world visualize the 

beauty of green energy through their latest experimental 

installation—the Windlicht (windlight). 

Photo by Platoon.org

133 

A team of designers and engineers, led 

by Daan Roosgaarde, wanted to let the 

world visualize the beauty of green energy 

through their latest experimental installation—the 

Windlicht (windlight). Their 

artwork comprises of a sequence of bright 

green lights that connects one windmill 

to the next, filling the sky with beautiful 

light movements. Special software and 

tracking technology are used to detect 

the windmill blades, which rotates at 280 

kilometers per hour (174 mph) and illuminates 

the gaps between the neighboring 

windmills. 

Windlicht is supported by Dutch landline 

and mobile telecommunications company 

KPN. This year, the company has been 

exclusively using green energy generated 

in the Netherlands since 2011. ‘the update 

that the artwork gives to the landscape, 

represents important values such as sustainability 

and connectedness,’ describes 

KPN CEO eelco blok. ‘because these two 

values are of great significance for KPN, 

we are committed to this artwork. with 

‘windlicht’ we support the idea of roosegaarde 

that green energy is something to 

be proud of.’ 



Top 5 Largest 

Solar Parks 

In The World 

Solar power has given humanity hope in 

saving mother nature without sacrificing 

our electrical needs. A free source of energy, 

we are provided with power from solar 

parks as soon as the sun shines on the solar 

panels. Energy is easily stored during 

gloomy days as well. It plays a crucial role 

in our society as we stop global warming. 

It has plenty of advantageous - mainly its 

affordability. Aside from that, we are assured 

that it will always be there, ready to 

provide us with sufficient energy to power 

our homes and our offices. Unlike coal 

and fossil fuel energy, solar power is renewable. 

The sun won’t stop shining anytime 

soon. Through solar power, govern- 

ment and private companies can provide 

more jobs to people compared to natural 

gas and coal industries. These certainly 

are important details to remember when 

we encourage our own local governments 

to support the use of solar power. 

Accumulating energy from solar parks 

can result to cheaper and accessible power 

to everyone, especially to the poor countries. 

Comparing which countries have 

the largest solar parks in the world, China 

and the US come out at the top of the list. 

The list below shows which solar parks 

have made it to the top 5 largest solar 

parks in the world. 

Longyangxia Dam 

Solar Park 

Photo by Solar Power Today 

The Longyangxia Dam Solar Park is the 

largest photovoltaic power station in the 

world. With a capacity of 850 MW, it is 

made up of two phases: Phase I with a 

capacity of 320 MW and Phase II with a 

capacity of 530 MW.

135 

Topaz Solar Farm 

Photo by Wikimedia 

This $2.5 billion project has a capacity 

of 550 MW. Located in San Luis 

Obispo County, California, it has 9 

million cadmium tellurium photovoltaic 

modules provided by First Solar. 

It began construction last 2011 and 

ended in November 2014. 

Desert Sunlight 

Solar Farm 

Photo by Alternative Energies 

Located six miles north of Desert 

Center in California, this solar park 

produces 550 MW. With the help of 

US manufacturer First Solar, Desert 

Sunlight Solar Farm uses 8.8 million 

cadmium telluride modules. 

Solar Star 

Photo by Computer World 

It is found near Rosamond, California. 

Using 1.7 million solar panels, it has a capacity 

of 579 MW. The solar panels were 

provided by SunPower. 

Huanghe 

Hydropower 

Golmud Solar 

Park 

Photo by PV Buzz 

Producing 200 megawatt, this solar 

park is located in Golmud, Qinghai 

Province in China. It was constructed 

back in 2009 and won the China 

Quality Power Project Award three 

years later. This solar park has an estimated 

317 GWh production every 

year. 



TOP10 

WIND ENERGY 

COMPANIES 

Photo by Gemenergy 

Wind is not only a clean renewable energy 

source, it is also free and readily available. 

Nowadays, many windfarms around 

the world are harnessing the power of the 

wind to convert it to electricity. Wind turbines 

are the main component in harnessing 

wind power and turn it into energy. 

Photo by Foractiva 

Windpower Monthly consolidated figures 

for Make Consulting, BTM Navigant 

and Windpower intelligence to be able to 

come up in this list of ten leading wind 

turbine manufacturers. Here are the Top 

10 leading Wind Energy Companies 

When all ten companies are combines, 

they have around 270GW installed wind 

power which is around three-quarters of 

the global total! The companies’ turbines 

range from 20+ year-old kilowatt machines 

to brand new megawatt designs. 

Here are the Top 10 Wind Energy Companies 

Siemens 

Siemens is rated as the world’s leading 

turbine supplier. Its 10.8% share of the 

market equates to 5.63GW in turbine installations. 

General Electric 

GE offers a full suite of turbines which are 

created for different wind environments. 

GE’s turbines feature rated capacities 

from 1.7MW to 3.4MW for onshore, and 

6MW for offshore. They hold 10.2% of 

market shares. 

Vestas 

Vestas has 53,743 turbines installed in 73 

countries which has a total joint capacity 

of 66GW. They hold 10.1% of market 

shares. 

Photo by Siemens 

Photo by me-boletin 

Photo by Scandasia 

Photo by Think Progess 

Goldwind 

Goldwind has come out to be China’s 

leading turbine manufacturer. They are 

now ranked fourth in the world. They 

hold 9.2% of market shares. 

Enercon 

By the end of 2014, Enercon had installed 

a total of 16, 867MW in Germany and 

20,284MW in export markets. They hold 

7.8% of market shares. 

United Power 

United Power is part of China Guodian, 

one of China’s five largest power producers, 

and owener of Longyuan, one of the 

world’s biggest developers. They hold 5% 

of market shares.

137 

Gamesa 

Gamesa has over 30GW installed worldwide, 

and they are aiming to become the 

largest manufacturer in India and Mexico. 

They hold 4.2% of market shares. 

Photo by Nrel 

Photo by EVWind 

Ming Yang 

Ming Yang is a newcomer in the top ten 

status, unlike other Chinese manufacturing 

companies, they don’t benefit from being 

state owned. They hold 4% of market 

shares. 

Senvion 

The German turbine manufacturer, formerly 

known as Repower, was one of the 

first companies to go into the offshore sector. 

They employ around 3,500 people in 

14 countries and have a little over 12 GW 

in operation worldwide. 

Nordex 

Nordex is a German wind turbine manufacturing 

company located in Rostock, 

Germany. Currently they manufacture two 

platforms of wind turbines, rated at 2.4 and 

3.3 MW. They hold 3.4% of market shares. 

Photo by Windpwer Monthly 

Photo by Recharge News 



TOP 5 LARGEST 

WIND FARMS 

IN THE WORLD 

Wind energy is one of the renewable energies 

that holds great potential in supplying 

electricity across the world. Unlike other 

sources of electricity which needs fuel 

in processing plants, wind energy generates 

electricity through wind—which 

is free. Wind can be considered a “fuel” 

that doesn’t require to be transported or 

mined. 

Here is a list of the top 5 largest onshore 

wind farms which are currently operational. 

Gansu Wind Farm Project 

The Gansu Wind Farm Project, which is 

also called the Jiuquan Wind Power Base, 

is found in the western Gansu province in 

China. It is composed of a group of large 

wind farms and is currently under construction. 

It has a capacity of 6,000 MW 

and has a goal of 20,000 MW by the year 

2020. 

Photo by The Guardian 

Alta Wind Energy Center 

The Alta Wind Energy Center (AWEC), 

or also known as Mojave Wind Farm, is a 

wind farm which is located in Tehachapi 

Pass of the Tehachapi Mountains, in Kern 

County, California. As of the year 2013, 

it is the largest wind farm in the United 

States and has a combined installed capacity 

of 1,547 MW. 

Photo by Almrsal

139 

Muppandal Wind Farm 

The Muppandal Wind far, has been selected 

as the showcase for India’s $2 billion 

clean energy program, which gives 

foreign companies tax breaks for building 

fields of wind turbines in the area. The 

village of Muppandal attracts many wind 

energy producing companies, which has 

created thousands of new jobs which help 

raise the income of the villagers. The wind 

energy generation capacity for this wind 

farm is around 1500 MW. 

Photo by Elperiodicodelaenergia 

The Jaisalmer Wind Park 

The Jaisalmer Wind Park is located in 

Jaisalmer district, Rajasthan, India and is 

the largest operational onshore wind farm 

in their country. The wind park’s capacity 

is 1,064 MW, which makes it one of the 

world’s largest operational onshore windfarms. 

Photo by Elperiodicodelaenergia 

The Shepherds 

Flat Wind Farm 

The Shepherds Flat Wind Farm is located 

in the state of Oregon. It has an installed 

capacity of 845 MW. The wind farm was 

built by Caithness Energy using General 

Electric (GE) 2.5 MW wind turbines, and 

it supplies electricity to Southern California 

Edison. 

Photo by Examiner 



What 

makes 

a green 

home? 

WORLD’S 

GREENEST 

ECO RESORT 

PLANNED 

What is a green home? 

A green home is one that has been built, 

or remodelled to meet higher standards 

than that of conventional construction, 

to be able to achieve a healthier, more 

resource efficient and more cost-effective 

homes which in turn benefits the people 

who live in them. 

There are independent, third party verifications 

to document when a house has 

met certain standards. The verification 

will serve as a basis for certification of 

green homes, and will provide information 

for consumers like helping them with 

comparison shopping and decision-making. 

The National Green Building Standard 

(NGBS) is the first residential green 

building standard that undergone the full 

process and received approval from the 

American National Standards Institute. 

They were developed by the National Association 

of Home Builders. 

There are other organization that offer 

green building certification, many 

of which are regional or statewide, like 

the Build Green New Mexico Standards, 

largely adapted from the U.S. Home 

Builders Association Standards. 

Plans to create the world’s greenest eco resort 

in Liwa, the southern region of UAE, 

have just been revealed. The Oasis Eco Resort, 

with promising sustainable features, 

was designed by Baharash Architecture 

and commissioned by the Eco Resort 

Group. 

The 8,400 square foot development resort 

will be fully solar energy-dependent 

which will be acquired from the 1,570,000 

square feet of solar panels surrounding the 

area. It will also feature a spring, out of the 

existing groundwater, which is important 

to Bedouins for trade and transportation 

routes. Such water will be utilized for the 

resort’s crop irrigation, fish farming, and 

recreational activities, on top of providing 

habitat for local fauna. The spring will 

be the center of the entire resort, with a 

low-lying, angular PV-topped building 

comprised of 84 suits of various sizes. 

Moreover, there will be a zero-emissions 

zone that will have its own waste treatment 

center and a business and research 

facility. 

The Oasis Eco Resort, when completed, 

will be the greenest of its kind in the 

world. Other than that, according to Baharash 

Bagherian, it will preserve the 

region’s heritage and provide greater interaction 

with native people. It will also 

provide job opportunities for local which 

will create a more diversified economy. 

The compound is expected to be completed 

by 2020. 

Photos by Baharash Architecture

141 

The 8,400 

square foot 

development 

resort will be 

fully solar 

energy 

dependent 

which will be 

acquired from 

the 1,570,000 

square feet of 

solar panels 

surrounding 

the area. 


‘Future of Mobility Concept’ 

Unveiled by Nissan Europe 

and Foster + Partners 

142 ISSUE NO.004 RENEWABLE ENERGY

143 

Nissan has revealed an exciting 

glimpse into the future – with the first 

look at its fully connected vision of 

the future of mobility in association 

with renowned architects, Foster + 

Partners. 

The landmark partnership, between 

the manufacturers of the world’s 

best-selling 100 percent electric vehicle 

and the leading design studio, 

concluded that the fuel station of the 

future could actually be the car itself. 

Illustrated in a stunning two minute 

video, featuring the best-selling Nissan 

LEAF and futuristic IDS Concept, 

Nissan’s visionary concept explores 

how our way of living might change 

as technology develops. 

The collaboration, which concludes a 

12-month partnership, offers a snapshot 

of what’s to come from Nissan’s 

vision for Intelligent Mobility; a world 

in which cars interact with their environment 

as populations adopt zero 

emission, Piloted Drive technologies. 

The design study is being previewed 

at this year’s 86th International Motor 

Show in Geneva. 

Paul Willcox, Chairman, Nissan Europe, 

said: “Technology holds many 

of the answers for the challenges we 

face in our cities today. However, the 

true power comes when those technologies 

are integrated with each other 

and the world around us. 

“We’ve been at the forefront of zero 

emission technology since 2010, but 

our vision does not stop there – we 

believe that the future of transportation 

is reliant on both infrastructure 

and the environment. We’re looking 

for real, workable solutions that go 

beyond the product.” 

Incorporating a range of pioneering 

Nissan technologies, the vision hints 

at how vehicle-to-grid, battery storage, 

wireless charging, autonomous 

drive technology and over-the-air 

connectivity could combine to revolutionise 

how energy is used and distributed 

across Europe’s major cities. 

David Nelson, Co-Head of Design, 

Foster + Partners, added: “Integrating 

zero emission technologies into the 

built environment is vital in creating 

smarter, more sustainable cities. That 

commitment must extend far beyond 

the car – it must sit at the heart of everything 

we do.” 

The need for a sustainable and innovative 

refuelling network is becoming 

vital as the market shifts toward alternative 

sources like electric power. 

Today, more than half (54%) of the 

world’s population lives in cities and 

by 2050, seven out of every 10 people 

will live in urban areas[i], so it is imperative 

that the infrastructure exists 

to support this growth. 

Nissan is currently trialing an innovative 

vehicle-to-grid system in Europe 

which, when coupled with advances 

in its second-life batteries, will allow 

drivers to operate as individual ‘energy 

hubs’ able to store, use or return 

clean energy to the grid. 

It is predicted that by 2050, almost all 

global energy needs can be met with 

renewable energy sources. 

Nissan is the leader in zero emission 

technology, and pioneered the 

commercial electric vehicle market 

in 2010. The Nissan LEAF – the first 

mass-market, pure EV launched globally 

– continues to be the best-selling 

EV in history. 

Photos by Nissan 



Photo by Lucid Energy 

Photo by OPB 

Photo by Version Daily 

LIFT-BASED 

TURBINES: 

A NEW SOURCE OF 

HYDROELECTRIC 

POWER 

Photo by Hydro World 

Engineers have devised a new way to produce 

hydroelectric power. Now, the water 

pipes that bring water to your home could 

produce electricity too! Did you hear 

about LucidPipes lift-based turbine? This 

is the turbine that produces electricity as 

the turbine spins. 

The set-up has been designed by engineers 

to maximize power production 

and to limit the onset of cavitation. As 

the velocity of the turbines increases, the 

power production also increases. This 

power-producing set-up has a lift-based 

design and the system generates power 

across a large range of velocities. 

The LucidPipe Power System is the power-producing 

system that harnesses the 

untapped energy of moving water and 

produces clean, low-cost energy. It is the 

kickass system that can work on a wide 

range of volumes, velocities, and flow 

conditions. 

You must be wondering how much energy 

this system could produce. This depends 

on the pressure and the flow rate inside 

the transmission pipe. Say for example, 

in a pipeline with 60-inch diameter, with 

a flow velocity of seven feet per second, 

a LucidPipe can produce up to 100kW 

of power! It will extract 11.5ft of head 

from the system. Now, if you could add 

multiple turbines to this set-up, the LucidPipe 

could produce thousands of watts 

of energy. And the best part is, this power 

generation process is without any sort of 

environmental impact. 

You can try taking a 40 feet section of a 

water pipe and install up to four Lucid- 

Pipe units at a distance of 3-4 turbine diameters 

apart. Contextually, you need to 

know that a mile of pipeline of 42 inch diameter 

is capable of producing more than 

3 megawatts of energy. 

Finding other ways to get hydroelectric 

power has to be influenced by great demands 

of electricity. Thanks to LucidPipe, 

we think that we have found another one.

145 

THE DOWNSIDE OF 

HYDROELECTRIC 

POWER 

Clean energy might make us pay a heavy 

price. How? 

Researchers of Harvard University have 

found out the reason behind the high concentration 

of methylmercury and potent 

neurotoxin in the Arctic region: it is the 

production of hydroelectric power that is 

being used to eliminate global warming. 

The research paper published in the PNAS 

had started off as a review of the environment 

effect assessment of the Muskrat 

Falls Hydroelectric dam of Labrador in 

Canada. In the year 2017, the dam will 

flood an extensive region upstream from 

the estuarine fjord called the Lave Melville. 

But reports predicted no danger and 

that is when the Government consulted 

Elsie Sunderland. 

So, is clean energy really benefitting us? 

No, not when you think of it this way. The 

people living on the Coast of Lake Melville 

will be affected because they depend 

on it being their only source of food. 

The research team of Sunderland found 

large quantities of methylmercury in the 

water of Lake Melville. The methylmercury 

coming from the river and from the 

sediments at the bottom part of the lake 

could not justify the level of the same in 

the water. The team discovered that the 

level increased just below the surface of 

the water. 

What could be the reason for this? They 

found out that it was because of the eating 

habit of planktons. When salt and fresh 

water meet, the salinity increases along 

with the density of water. All organic 

matter sinks down to the bottom and gets 

collected forming a debris and turns into 

a feeding area for marine plankton. The 

bacteria of this area cause a complicated 

chemical process turning mercury into 

methylmercury. 

Now there are is actually a risk in producing 

clean energy especially on this matter. 

Will the government still continue pushing 

through this? 

Photo by Energy Digital 



What Does 

the Year 2050 

Have in Store 

for Engineers? 

Do you ever wonder what the world 

will look like by the year 2050? Is 

the technology too advanced for 

us? Will it make the world a better 

place? Or will the world look just 

like those dystopian films we see in 

the big screen? Will there be more 

robots than people? 

Technology is advancing at a rapid pace 

and affecting all industries and sectors in 

one way or the other. It is likely that technology 

will have brought to reality things 

by 2050 that only exist in fiction now. It 

will also have certainly made a major impact 

in the sectors of energy production 

and engineering. In fact, researches have 

already uncovered certain remarkable 

possibilities will come into being by 2050. 

For example, engineers at the Stanford 

University have already developed a plan 

that can transform the United States into 

a nation that uses only renewable sources 

of energy by the year 2050. The plan details 

the actions that need to be taken by 

each of the 50 states of the country in order 

to achieve the transformation. There 

are aggressive changes required in the 

energy consumption patterns and also the 

infrastructure. Nonetheless, the plan is 

feasible from an economic and technical 

standpoint. 

Is it the end of the coal industry then? 

Clean energy for all? What will the green 

activists complain about then? 

Similar plans are afoot in London, UK. A 

plan has been proposed which can bring 

about major changes in the infrastructure 

so as to make the city sustainable for over 

11 million people, the projected population 

of London in 2050. One of the major 

concerns has been water shortage, others 

being energy, waste, transport and resource 

management. 

Some of the largest engineering groups in 

the world have stated that we already have 

technologies which are capable of reducing 

the greenhouse gases in the planet by 

as much as 85% by the year 2050. Another 

prediction being made for the year 2050 is 

that the world will have a total population 

of 9.5 billion. In order to feed such a large 

population, researchers are suggesting the 

use of genetic engineering and high performance 

computing to increase the photosynthetic 

efficiency of the plants. This 

method can boost food production and 

crop yields. 

With all these plans for cleaner energy 

and sustainability, do you think engineers 

and scientists can make them happen by 

the year 2050? Only time can tell.

147 

Can One Tower Replace 

A Power Plant? 

Engineers Say Yes! 

Photo by Solar Wind Energy Tower 

The world has seen numerous 

valuable developments in the 

recent years. The focus of both 

researchers and engineers has 

shifted to making the best use 

of solar energy. One of the finest 

examples of the company which 

is making the best utilization of 

Tthe freely available resource is 

Solar Wind Energy Tower, Inc. 

The company is working on the 

development of a large Solar 

Wind Downdraft Tower, a structure 

capable of producing abundant, 

inexpensive electricity in 

Arizona, Mexico, and Chile. 

The tower is the first hybrid solar-wind 

renewable energy technology 

in the market. Comprising 

of a tall hollow cylinder with 

a water injection system near 

the top, the patented structure 

has wind tunnels containing 

turbines near the bottom. 

The functioning of the tower is 

simple. The water is delivered 

to the injection system at the 

top of the tower by a series of 

pumps where a fine mist is 

cast across the entire opening. 

The water then evaporates 

and is absorbed by 

hot dry air which has been 

heated by the solar rays of 

the sun. As a result, the 

air becomes cooler, denser 

and heavier than the 

outside warmer air, and 

falls through the cylinder 

at a speed up to in 

some excess of 50 mph. 

This air is then diverted 

into wind tunnels 

surrounding the base 

of the tower where 

turbines inside power generators 

to produce electricity. 

The exterior of the tower is constructed 

with vertical “wind 

vanes” at places where atmospheric 

conditions are conducive. 

These “wind vanes” capture 

the prevailing wind and channel 

it to produce supplemental electrical 

power. This dual renewable 

energy resource greatly enhances 

its clean energy-producing capability 

and productivity. 

What’s interesting about the Solar 

Wind Energy’s Tower is that 

it does not have any operational 

limitations in terms of time 

and can be operated around 

the clock, 24 hours per day, and 

seven days per week. However, 

there’s an operational limitations 

with solar collectors 

that work only when the sun 

shines, and with wind turbines 

that work only when the wind 

blows. 

The most remarkable feature is 

that these towers can be operated 

virtually with no carbon 

footprint, fuel consumption, 

or waste production. It 

generates clean, cost effective 

and efficient electrical 

power without damaging 

effects. 

We hope that the company 

soon meets its core objective 

and focus on becoming 

a leading enabler of 

clean, efficient renewable 

energy at reasonable 

cost. 



THROWBACK 

CHANEL 

FEATURED 

RENEWABLE 

ENERGY IN 

ITS FASHION 

SHOW 

Photo by PSFK 

Photo from Blogspot 

Remember the time when Karl Lagerfeld 

famously put wind turbines and faux solar 

panels in his 2013 Chanel runway spring 

summer fashion show in Paris Fashion 

Week? The legendary fashion icon mixed 

fashion and renewable energy on the catwalk 

and showed that even fashion powerhouses 

like Chanel (probably) cares 

about the environment. 

The head designer and creative director 

of Chanel has always been ambitious with 

his fashion shows – something people in 

the creative world always look forward 

to. The past few years featured ambitious 

exhibits and 2013 was about renewable 

energy. 

With 80 looks to showcase, 68 models 

showed off the season’s designs in between 

13 massive wind turbines on blue faux 

solar panels. Some of the looks featured 

futuristic designs that mimicked these renewable 

energy icons: a look with a discshaped 

hat and a transparent brim that 

resembles the wind turbines and a blue 

dress with a glittering blue embroidery 

that resembles the solar panels. 

In this season, classic Chanel looks such as 

chains, braids and Chanel buttons weren’t 

present but an overwhelming occurrence 

of pearls can be noted on the dresses. 

Pearls, pearls everywhere. 

In an industry that is driven by innovation, 

boldness and progress, Chanel just 

showcased how delivering a message using 

visuals such as iconic green energy 

materials can make an impact in other industries 

and make one’s show memorable. 

However, it may just have been a stunt and 

Lagerfeld may not have a deeper meaning 

as to why he chose renewable energy 

as the season’s theme. In an interview he 

gave to explain the inspiration behind the 

theme, he said: 

“I started to sketch in St. Tropez over the 

summer and it was so hot I wanted some 

fresh air.” 

Nonetheless, renewable energy got the 

buzz it needed. Though Lagerfeld is controversial 

in his support in using furs, he 

did the renewable energy sector a favor by 

reminding the fashion industry, known 

for its materialistic ways, that renewable 

energy is in.

149 

Photo by Mic 

NEW APPLE HQ 

TO RUN ON 

SOLAR ENERGY 

& BIOGAS 

FUEL CELLS 

In their Environmental Responsibility Report, 

Apple revealed that their new headquarters 

will be solar-powered and will 

run on biogas fuel cells. The solar power 

will be coming from the rooftop solar 

panels, some of which will be at the top 

of tis two on-campus parking structures. 

The biogas fuel cells, on the hand will turn 

hydrogen and oxygen into electricity. 

The solar power has a capacity of up to 16 

megawatts while the biogas fuel cells are 

expected to be 4 megawatts of energy. 

According to the company representative, 

both sources of energy should be able 

to generate about 75% of the energy it 

needs during peak day time hours to run 

its campus. The remaining power will be 

produced by a California solar farm called 

First Solar, as part of their $848 million 

deal for 130 MW in 2015. 

For the new Apple headquarters to run 

entirely on alternative energy, Apple produced 

their own “microgrid” whenever 

local power grids fail to deliver to them. 

This effort is part of Apple’s commitment 

in running all of its operations on renewable 

energy and in helping solve the problem 

of climate change. 

Photos by Apple 



MARK YOUR CALENDARS! 

June 23 

National Women 

in Engineering Day 

An Article by Women's Engineering Society 

through Dawn Bonfield, CEng, FIMMM, FICE, FWES. 

Inspiring Women as Engineers, 

Scientists and Technical Leaders 

About Dawn Bonfield, CEng, FIMMM, FICE, FWES 

DAWN BONFIELD IS CHIEF EXECU- 

TIVE of the Women's Engineering Society. She is a 

materials engineer, graduating from Bath University 

with a Degree in Materials Science. She has worked 

in the atomic energy, automotive and aerospace sectors 

for AERE Harwell, Peugeot SA in Paris, British 

Aerospace in Bristol, and MBDA in Stevenage. She 

has also worked for the Institute of Materials, Minerals 

and Mining and joined WES in 2011, becoming 

President in 2014. She became Chief Executive 

in 2015 - the first CEO that the Women's Engineering 

Society has employed in its history. 

Dawn is a chartered engineer, a Fellow of WES, a 

Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and 

Mining, and a Fellow of the Institution of Civil 

Engineers. She is also a member of the Worshipful 

Company of Engineers. 

She is passionate about supporting women in engineering, 

and is founder of National Women in 

Engineering Day, and the WES outreach activities 

'Magnificent Women' and the 'Sparxx' project. Her 

Presidential theme was 'women returners' and she is 

working on a number of initiatives to support women 

to return to work after career breaks. 

Dawn has recently written a report for the Institution 

of Civil Engineers called Disruptive Diversity 

which has set out how this large institution can 

increase its diversity and inclusion to make a step 

change in attracting and retaining a diverse range of 

members. 

In addition to her work with WES Dawn is Patron 

of Alton Convent School, a member of the Institute 

of Materials Minerals and Mining Women in Materials 

committee, a steering group member of the 100 

Years of Women in Transport Campaign, a member 

of the Royal Academy of Engineering Diversity 

Concordat, an Advisory group member for the Science 

Museum's Engineer Your Future careers exhibition 

in 2014, a judge for a number of competitions 

in engineering including the Talent2030 National 

Engineering Competition for Girls and the WISE / 

Evoke bursaries for girls in engineering. 

Dawn has recently been awarded the SEMTA Diversity 

in Engineering Award 2016. 

Information taken from 

http://www.wes.org.uk/dawnbonfield

151 

About NWED and WES 

THIS YEAR IS THE THIRD YEAR of the 

National Women in Engineering Day, which takes 

place on 23 June annually, and continually grows 

in influence and reaches ever greater international 

audiences. The event was established in 2014 to celebrate 

the 95th anniversary of the Women’s Engineering 

Society (WES), a society which was formed 

in the UK at the end of the First World War by 

women who were willing but legally unable to continue 

in the technical and engineering careers that 

they had been introduced to during the war. Now, 

97 years since the inception of WES, the UK still 

has a significant problem in attracting women to 

the engineering sector, with the lowest percentage 

of women in the engineering workforce in Europe 

at only 8%. 

The day itself is a celebration of the roles of women 

in engineering, and is based on the International 

Women’s Day model of individual ownership 

around a common goal. Established with the aim of 

focusing attention on the careers available for women 

in engineering, and celebrating the achievements 

made by our women engineers, this day is also a 

means for companies to look at their own efforts 

to encourage inclusivity in the workplace to ensure 

that we meet the skills shortages that we currently 

face. The consequence of this philosophy is that 

everybody feels they have a role to play, and that 

the onus is on the individual to get involved and 

do something positive on the day – however big or 

small. This was actually the hardest part of the establishment 

of the day – we had lots of offers of support, 

but we didn’t want support – we needed ownership. 

We wanted people to let us know what they 

were doing, but as a small organisation we were not 

realistically able to help with anybody else’s event – 

all we could do was encourage and send resources. 

The result has been a day which has been truly diverse 

in its response. In 2015, we saw as many as 400 

individual events taking place across the UK, linked 

by the campaign hashtag #NWED. We saw the day 

trending on twitter for 10 hours in the UK and for 

5 hours worldwide, and we recorded over 90 million 

twitter impressions. The day was mentioned in 

English, Welsh and Scottish parliaments and events 

were supported by numerous high profile celebrities, 

politicians and members of the Royal Family. 

The type of thing we have seen on the day included 

conferences, open days, visits and trips, quizzes, 

videos, competitions, blogs, and social media support. 

We were amazed by the range of things that 

were thought of to celebrate the day and the level of 

support it received. The day generated an enormous 

amount of press attention too, with hundreds of reports 

appearing on the day nationally and a growing 

international presence. Last year, we saw events that 

take place in India, South Africa, USA, Ireland and 

Canada. 

This year, the date of National Women in Engineering 

Day will coincide with the UK’s EU Referendum. 

Not ideal! After a few debates about a 

date change we decided to go ahead regardless. The 

theme this year is Raising Profiles and one of the 

things that WES is also coordinating is the inaugural 

list of 50 Top Women in Engineering. This will 

be a great way of raising the profiles of our amazing 

women engineers, and also showing what great role 

models we have out there. We are looking forward 

to seeing the range of activities that take place again 

in celebration of this day, and we are gearing up for 

a whole week of celebrations – both national and international 

- to coincide with our centenary in 2019. 

We would like to encourage you all to get involved 

in some way if you can. And if it is too late for this 

year, then put the date in your diary for next year. 

For further information please see the NWED website 

www.nwed.org.uk and get involved using the 

hashtag #NWED2016. Please let us know what you 

are planning! 



ENGINEERS CREATE 

MOBILE HOUSES: 

PROJECT 

CASAS EM 

MOVIMENTO 

BRINGS NEW 

CONCEPT OF 

HOUSING TO 

A GLOBAL 

SCALE 

Project Casas em Movimento Brings 

You the New Concept of Housing to a 

Global Scale! 

Imagine your house moving to wherever 

direction you want without you 

doing much at all. This mobile house 

can make that happen! 

The University of Oporto has created 

an awesome project— creating a 

moving house, which is also capable 

of generating energy from sunlight. 

This house can also be enlarged according 

to the needs of the family. 

The architectural world saw the introduction 

of a new concept that primarily 

concentrated on the creation 

of houses that are adjustable. As the 

family members increase, the house 

will also increase in size. These type 

of homes came into existence with the 

help of artistic groups like the Japanese 

Metabolists and British coordination. 

They are groups that can be 

found in an architectural magazine, 

known as Archigram. However, most 

of the mobile house designs created 

never crossed the boundary of the 

page. The only exception is the cool 

Nakagin Capsule Tower situated in 

Tokyo. All of these happened in the 

twentieth century. 

As soon as the 21st century arrived, 

new ideas began taking form. Thus, 

the project has been turned into a 

reality with the help of transferable 

units and advanced technology. The 

project of Casas em Movimento is 

known to have developed in Portugal, 

at the University of Oporto. This project 

is based on the east-west rotation 

of the sun for the production of energy, 

adjustment of the lightning in the 

room and the consumption of heat. 

The house creates energy through 

several photovoltaic solar panels. 

Thermal cork and numerous complex 

structures of timber are added along 

with this, to ensure greater amount of 

stability. 

The houses that are created are known 

to be self-sufficient and help in the 

sustenance of energy. As stated above 

they make use of solar energy and 

transform into two types of energy, 

thermal energy and electric energy. 

This makes the house rotation follow 

the course of the sun. 

The primary attraction of this house 

is that it produces twice the energy 

that it consumes. Excess of electricity 

that has been produced can be used 

for charging electric vehicles or can 

be sold off to the main grid. 

Wouldn’t it be exciting to live in a 

house that moves? With people trying 

to revolutionize the green movement, 

this project is one way to inspire people 

to use renewable energy more.


153


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