La traversa ferroviaria che produce energia: tra sostenibilità ambientale ed economia circolare

Scritto da Matteo Giobbe

Il trasporto su rotaia si sa, è attualmente uno dei più efficienti e sostenibili dal punto di vista ambientale. Ma è attraverso il sistema introdotto dall’ingegno italiano di Giovanni Maria De Lisi, CEO Greenrail , che la ferrovia diventa veramente green.

Attraverso la produzione di traverse ferroviarie, dotate di un inner core in calcestruzzo ricoperto da materiali plastici riciclati e gomma, l’impresa italiana è in grado di contribuire allo smaltimento di circa 35 tonnellate di pneumatici fuori uso e 35 tonnellate di plastica per ogni chilometro di ferrovia. Considerando che solo in Italia si contano circa 20000 km di rete ferroviaria, De Lisi ci fornisce un buon esempio di quella circular economy di cui sentiamo sempre più spesso parlare. Il sistema consente inoltre un abbattimento di circa il 50% sui costi di manutenzione delle linee, grazie all’uso di elementi plastici che aumentano la longevità della traversa fino a 50 anni (contro i 30/40 delle normali in calcestruzzo).

Per non parlare della riduzione dell’impatto acustico e delle vibrazioni provocate dal passaggio dei treni, fenomeni che generano non poco malcontento nelle zone limitrofe a sistemi su rotaia. Fin qui niente di nuovo: traverse prodotte con materiali riciclati, che richiedono una minore manutenzione. Niente che nel 2012, anno in cui l’imprenditore fondò Greenrail , non fosse già stato sviluppato: Stati Uniti, Cina ed India avevano infatti già iniziato a produrre traverse in plastica e gomma riciclata. La difficoltà stava nell’offrire al mercato qualcosa che fosse in grado di sostituire lo standard: il calcestruzzo.

Nacque così l’idea di introdurre all’interno delle traverse un sistema in grado di produrre energia. Greenrail Piezo , uno dei progetti dell’impresa, sfrutta un sistema integrato di materiali cristallini che, sottoposti a pressione, durante il passaggio del treno sono in grado di trasformare la forza meccanica in energia. L’azienda sviluppa inoltre un sistema d’integrazione di moduli fotovoltaici sulle traverse, in grado di trasformare le reti ferroviarie in veri e propri “campi fotovoltaici, con un’elevata produttività di energia sostenibile”. I dati forniti dall’azienda assicurano per ogni chilometro di linea (considerando un passaggio medio di 15 treni l’ora) una produzione di energia che oscilla tra i 120-150 Kwh, capacità energetica in grado di alimentare 40 abitazioni o le stesse stazioni metropolitane, per intenderci.

Il 2016 si profila come un anno importante per l’impresa italiana: superati i test di omologazione sulle normative internazionali il prodotto potrà iniziare infatti ad essere distribuito a livello mondiale. Un giro d’affari dell’ordine di miliardi di euro, tutto prodotto made in Italy .

Brevettata in 140 Paesi: la tecnologia Greenrail sembra pronta ad innovare il sistema dei trasporti…

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A Brighter South Africa

Written by Eleonora Rizzo

I must admit that living for three months in South Africa has opened my eyes to many issues that - as a European citizen – I never had the chance to experience on a daily basis.

Imagine for example that you just came home from work, it’s six in the evening and the only thing that you’re dreaming of is to take a pleasant hot shower, put the heater on and cook something nice and warm for dinner. Unfortunately, as soon as you slide your key into the door and look for the light switch with your hand, you realize that… there’s no electricity! Most probably, you’re now thinking something like: “Shame, I should have checked the load shedding reports this morning. I am such an idiot. Let’s order some pizza.” It took me quite a while to get used to a situation in which having a continuous stream of electricity for days is more like a miracle than normality.

But here’s what South African people have been experiencing since 2008, when the country began to suffer from widespread rolling blackouts. Due to a lack of planning by the state-owned utility provider – ESKOM - major maintenance issues and lack of generation capacity of the out-dated power stations have arisen in recent years. Since the current electricity demand outstrips supply, a temporary solution of scheduled power outages has been implemented to prevent the collapse of the entire national electricity grid. This is what the so-called “load shedding” consists of.

For most South Africans checking the load shedding forecast in the morning has become a daily habit, in the same way as most people around the world browse the weather forecast of the week while sipping some black coffee. And I must say all those “load shedding” apps and the “load shedding-friendly” recipes published in magazines and on blogs saved my life during these last winter months I spent in Cape Town.

Over the last years, a great number of honourable professors, scientists, political leaders and experts have been arguing around the solutions to solve the current energy crisis. While the debate over the possible privatisation of the state-owned company Eskom is still open, an increasing number of sustainable energy projects are making their way in the South African panorama .

The inauguration of a 7.8 billion rand ($ 640m) concentrated solar panel (CPS) plant in March 2015 is but the tip of an iceberg, which boasts Africa already hosting 6 of the biggest CPS plants in the world.

Privatisation seems to be playing an ever-growing key role in the struggle, with the Department of Energy setting a significant share of the new electricity capacity to Independent Power Producers (IPPs).

SA’s REIPPPP is the fastest growing renewable energy programme in the world and has already seen significant investment flowing into the country. Private sector investment in renewable energy generation is expected to reach R193bn ($ 14m) following the recent announcement of another 13 preferred bidders for wind and solar photovoltaic (PV) projects by Energy Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson.

The programme’s success has led to one investor labelling it "the most successful public-private partnership in Africa in the last 20 years". It is among the top ten privately funded renewable energy programmes in the world.

However valuable, the impact of renewables counts for a minor part, while fossil fuels still represent the major source of power in the country (almost 50%); but this figure can be reduced to 23% according to McKinsey .

Not only is energy poverty affecting SA’s economic credibility on a global scale, but it is also seriously challenging the survival of small enterprises and business as well as the overall well-being of households.

We hope that South Africa’s leaders will persevere with their commitment to renewable sources of energy as a way to overcome the recent energy challenges, and that their example will be followed by many other countries.

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Norway and its way out of oil

Written by Chiara Crognoletti

Being in Oslo for a semester, today I couldn’t avoid maintaining the Bocconi tradition of joining the Career Days and checking the program of the equivalent Norwegian Karrieredagen. The event that grabbed my attention was a speech by Thina Saltvedt, Chief Analyst Macro/Oil at Nordea Bank, titled “The Post-Oil Era in Norway”. I could not miss the chance to know a bit more of a place that after a month looks still quite unfamiliar to me, and maybe understand the energy dynamics of this extremely wealthy (and expensive) country.

Needless to say, falling oil prices are badly hitting Norway, which is now the biggest oil producer in Western Europe and the world’s third-largest exporter of natural gas . Stavanger, the epicenter of the Norwegian oil industry, is experiencing job losses and falling house prices. Although Norway has one of the lowest unemployment rate (4.1%), the oil industry has cut 30,000 jobs during the last year and the future doesn’t look rosy. Oil-dependent cities are putting pressure on the government, which, in turn, declares that a crisis like this was needed to rebalance Norwegian economy away from oil.

The reason for the current oil prices lies on the fact that the OPEC cartel, practically governed by Saudi Arabia, is no more willing to give away income to other countries. While declaring that their mission is to “ensure the stabilization of oil markets in order to secure an efficient, economic and regular supply of petroleum to consumers, a steady income to producers and a fair return on capital for those investing in the petroleum industry”, what these countries are actually doing is to provide an excess supply of oil to the market, thus pushing oil price down and squeezing out competitors.

In the US, thanks to the technological progress and the little time required to make a profit after investing in oil (only 2 months), shale oil producers can still be profitable at a price of 55-60 dollars per barrel. In Norway, though, producers have higher costs and it takes longer (around 10 years) to see the revenues from an investment into the oil sector. Therefore, with falling prices, investments are reduced and this can lead to a drop in the Norwegian market share in the future.

What Thina pointed out, though, is that in the future people will basically need food and energy: but will oil be really necessary in Norway? Although people from Stavanger may disagree, the answer is no. 55% of oil is currently used in the transportation sector, which is going through major changes: Norway is the second largest market for Tesla and in 2014 Tesla’s Model S became the best-selling car in the country ever for a one-month period. Behind the success of a luxury electric vehicle whose cost base is around $100,000 in Norway, there are both the Norwegian environmentally friendly culture and the government subsidies, funded by the Norwegian oil fund. This fund, worth $850 billion, is the biggest sovereign wealth fund in the world, it has been funded with oil revenues and it will certainly play a role, should the economy continue to slow down (the government can use 4% of this fund annually). But the world is also going towards increased car sharing, growing UBER and similar companies, driverless cars and planes fueled by solar energy.

Moreover, it must be noted that Norway is among the greenest countries on Earth. It gets virtually all of its electricity from hydropower; it plans to cut its greenhouse emissions by 30% by 2020; and it has more electric vehicles per capita than any country in the world .

It seems this is the direction Norway has decided to take, even if it will take time to complete the technological transfer and to switch an oil economy to a green one. Certainly, the good intention is there; and to the question from the public “Which countries would you suggest for engineers?”, Thina has no doubt in saying that they should stay in Norway and contribute to the green revolution the country has in mind.

Tesla Exibition in BI Norwegian Business School , Oslo.

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How energy grows on trees

written by Fei Fei

If you still think wind turbines are a blot on the landscape whose persistent noises ruin the quietness of a faraway countryside, you should reconsider your idea.

What if I tell you that actually silent turbines can grow on trees, which can be installed in your neighborhood? It is not fiction but the results of 3 years of studies conducted by a French team of engineers.  Taking inspiration from nature, the innovative team came up with the Wind Tree, which is a 30 feet tall steel tree with branches and artificial leaves that can generate power on light breeze. Tiny blades are located in the leaf units and respond to wind as slow as 2 m/s, making the Wind Tree productive across more than 280 days in a year.

“The idea came to me in a square where I saw the leaves tremble when there was not a breath of air.”  Said Jérôme Michaud-Larivière the founder of the Parisian start-up which will market the Wind Tree in 2015.

The French producer hopes his brainchild can be wisely integrated within the urban electric system and goes to supply low voltage needs such as street LED lamps or, combined with other means like photovoltaic, to feed energy efficiency building.

The Wind Tree is just one of many examples ( here is another one, and it's the one in this second picture) where, through innovation and technology, we are tackling the issue of environmental sustainable development, which hopeful is arising more and more awareness.

2nd image: www.inhabitat.com

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Why Smart Grid?

Written by Fei Fei

August 14, 2003, North America.  During a high power demand day a minor grid line in Ohio overheated; the operators’ unawareness of this line failure turned the relatively insignificant local blackout into a widespread power outage.  At that time, it was the second large blackout in the world, which affected the Northeastern and Midwestern United Sates and the Canadian province of Ontario.

This type of costly disruptions  remind us of  how our electric power infrastructure, the grid that since the late XIX century has been transmitting electricity , is rapidly running up against its limitations and why a new and more flexible system  of transmission is required.  Grid operators have limited control and information about how energy is flowing through the system making more difficult and costly to redistribute the power.  What we need and what we can actually implement is a set of technologies, applications and devices that change the traditional electric grid from a centralized producer-controlled network to a more decentralized and consumer interactive one.  New technologies that sample the voltage many times per second, provide snapshot of the power system, which enable operators and software to constantly monitor the distribution process. We are talking of a set of software, computers, sensors that not only can detect in real time any malfunction and disturbances in the system and provide a quick automatic response, but also manage the peak and low demand according to a more intelligent energy-saving scheme. We are talking about SMART GRID indeed. The benefits of Smart Grid go beyond the distribution process as follows:

• More efficient transmission of electricity and reduction of peak demand

• Quicker restoration of electricity after power outage

• Reduced management costs for utilities, and eventually lower power costs for consumers.

Easing the storage of electricity is a key point. Think of the renewable energy, the solar or wind power for instance; they are free, environment-friendly, potentially unlimited resources and yet account, not considering hydropower, for around 6% in the electricity production, which consume up to 40% of American sources. The main reason for this is the variability of these sources. Although they can yield high voltage, they are not constant, the spread due to weather condition and day-night turnover for instance makes them difficult to be fully exploited.  Smart Grid can help to smooth out the volatility and better allocate the flow of energy from the renewable sources plants by storing excess energy. In addition, utilities are more encouraged to involve consumers through strengthening net metering programs, which are programs that allow the flow back of energy in the grid as credit for the consumer who produces electricity on his own (just think at rooftop solar system).

Therefore, other relevant benefits are:

• Increased integration of renewable energy systems

• Better integration of customer-owner power generation systems, including renewable energy systems

• Eventually reduced carbon footprint.

In conclusion, Smart Grid is a facility that can really have an impact on energy issues and our life; so I warmly invite you to join us at the conference we are organizing to address this topic. In the meanwhile have a look at this web site and enjoy the videos for additional details!

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Alternative energy: the way forward

written by Chiara Crognoletti

We already know the benefits of existing renewable sources of energy. However, most of them still need improving: sun is not always available during the day or in particular regions, hydroelectric power plants may destroy the surrounding areas, wind turbines are quite huge and noisy.
What are the alternatives, then? This video suggests some solutions and analyses their pros and cons. Most of them need more research and are not in place yet, but they provide some possibilities to encourage efforts, in order to satisfy the growing energy demand with less pollution and in a more sustainable way for the world and us all.

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Hank Green: a a different and insightful view on solar energy

written by Carlotta Werth

If you think about it, you’ll realize that almost all the power we use originally comes from the sun.

Solar power is in fact more efficient than the other sources of energy.

Consequently, you would think it is less expensive. It turns out it is not.

Hank Green provides a different and insightful view on solar energy.

The American biochemist analyzes the pros and cons of solar power, underlying the complications we are still facing in conveniently exploiting this amazing natural resource.

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Solar panels' recycle emergence

written by Costanza Gabbrielli

There's a paradox in the growing global appetite for greener energy. As sales of solar panels and wind turbines increase, so too does the scale of an often-overlooked problem now being stored for future generations. What happens to all the "green" infrastructure when it reaches the end of its life?
When early-generation green technology is replaced, much of it now finds its way into landfill or incinerators. This is not only a blow to waste-reduction efforts, adding hundreds of thousands of tons of rubbish to the global tally every year, but also is also a colossal missed opportunity. Solar panels comprise metals and glass, which, if they were separated and captured, could be reused in the manufacture of other products.
Effective, efficient recycling systems are needed if alternative technologies are to be truly green, and they need to be established quickly.
It is possible, through innovative technologies still being developed, to recycle more than 90 percent of a solar panel. But, given the volatility in the value of the resulting raw materials, this is a high-risk sector to develop, and research and development is lacking. Basic recycling schemes do exist, but often focus on two valuable components -- the glass and aluminum frame, for instance -- and discard the rest, including silver, silicon and tin, because it is not yet cost-effective to recycle them.
I am passionate about the need to make total recycling of green technology a reality, and I am confident that the recycling of green technology will, one day, be a profitable industry in itself. There will come a time when recycling is so widespread and efficient that recycling companies will have to pay consumers or organizations for most of the materials they take for recycling, sell the materials they extract and make a profit.
A healthy economy requires constant production and consumption. But with a scarcity of natural resources, and to achieve a sustainable future, we must strive for a circular economy in which products that have reached the end of their life are no longer seen as waste, but as a valuable resource.
What the sector needs now, though, is a kick-start. The growth of the green energy industry has been highly subsidized, now a catalyst for development of the recycling of green-energy technology is needed, not in the form of government subsidies, but through regulation, creating the conditions in which research can be done, efficiencies made and a profitable industry created.
It is a fundamental step which I truly hope will be made as soon as possible.

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A Malawi proof of the supreme power of wind

Talking about energies in this period, I want to recommend you this interesting and surpising story I recently found. It's the story of a joung 14 year old boy born in Malawi that discovered a way to use the wind power to enhance his life and the life of his village. We are quite aware how important renewable energies are and the positive impact they can have on our environment, but this guy tells us something more: this is not only an other way of producing energy, this is a resource that, in the most disadvantaged places in the world, can change and save lifes forever.

This guy demonstrated that it's possible to build a windmill only using materials found in a scrap yard. So my question is: why do not promote internationally their creation and maybe appoint one of the main international institutions to spread the knowlegde of (little) windmills creation during their works on the field in the poorest parts of the world?

Maria Carolina de Vera

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What is probably the most convenient form of energy?

When people start talking about energies the first words coming to my mind are power production and pollution.

The system through which unrenewable and renewable energies are extracted, sold, transported and so on, is very complex, therefore to understand which resources are more convenient, you need to take into account several factors.

But even more important, “it depends on the point of view”. Yes, I know, such statement can be applied to every situation, but what I mean is that the convenience depends on what is the criteria you choose in the analysis process.

But since I am a resident of the world, my biggest concern goes to the environment protection: next generations deserve to have the same natural resources we have now, in fact ecosystems are a heritage for every generation and that’s why they need to be protected. Therefore, my criteria is pollution.

Nowadays, in a society built on an energy-dependent scheme, fossil fuels seem to be essential if no change is made on how the world deals with its need for energy. Without focusing in the chemical composition of each of them, I know that natural gas is considered the less aggressive one, but why not switching, for exemple, to solar energy?

Natural gas needs to be shipped via pipelines from wells and causes pollution through the emission of greenhouse gases such as water vapor, carbon dioxide and nitrous oxides, whether solar energy is infinite and comes for free.

More in detail, to generate useful power, a group of solar cells connected together – called solar panels – transforms solar radiation directly to electricity through photovoltaic effect. Moreover, as an individual, I may have an economic incentive by the government according to where I live. For example, if you are American (as you can read in Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiencies ) the federal renewable energy tax credit takes 30% off the cost of solar, and state and local programs can remove even more.

In conclusion, the energy issue is still an important problem.

It is up to us being more environmental responsible, investing in structures, studies and implementing policies that allow us – as a society - to grow in a green way.

What it takes is governments’ will to invest and promote the use of renewable resources. For Italy there is a positive prospective, in fact, as reported by the WWF, we can arrive to produce 100% of the needed energy with renewable resources before the 2050.

Jona Shehu

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Sustainable fossil fuels: just an oxymoron or simply the future?

Latest international predictions agree upon an increase by 50% in energy consumption and by 100% in electricity demand around the world over the next 20 years. This is due mainly to the economic growth of emerging countries, in particular India and China with their 2,4 billion inhabitants.

In this context, it is necessary to take every opportunity that markets and technological progress are offering, that means developing renewable sources, as well as rationalizing fossil fuels and rising their efficiency.

During the transition to clean sources of energy, it is inevitable that growing demand will be covered by fossil fuels. Renewable sources, efficiency and energy saving will play an important role, but in this phase a higher production in a sustainable way will be possible mainly thanks to CO2 capture and storage (CCS) technologies.

Since coal, oil and gas will be widely used to satisfy new demand, carbon emissions will rise with a considerable impact on our atmosphere and environment; an unbearable scenario that needs to be avoided through three main actions:

1. Increase in renewable and alternative sources

2. Efficiency and energy saving

3. Development of new technologies to reduce carbon emissions.

The third point is crucial to limit the impact of fossil fuels on the environment, since it is clear that we will not be able to fully replace the traditional sources in few years.

This is particularly true for coal, which is the main fossil fuel used for the production of electricity and it is the most carbon-intense.

The role of Carbon Capture & Storage

Making fossil fuels sustainable is not just an abstract idea: thanks to new technologies, already available or achievable through R&D, we can both improve energy efficiency and capture and store CO2 emissions. The necessity of developing CCS technologies is now recognized by all industrialized countries, in particular by EU and IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change).

EU is adopting directives that impose the introduction of these technologies starting from 2020 but it is also promoting 12 demonstrative structures to be ready for 2015. At an international level, many initiatives are encouraging cooperation among different countries, although in Italy a national plan is not in place yet.

However, a few months ago, Enel launched the first pilot plant in Italy for CO2 capture: it is a prototype realized at the thermoelectric power plant Federico II in Cerano, near Brindisi, which will reduce drastically emissions from fossil fuels and allow the production of sustainable energy.

Another demonstrative plant has to be realized in Porto Tolle (Rovigo), in order to adopt CCS technology on an industrial scale and build carbon pipelines to move CO2 to storage sites, situated in the subsoil or under sea bottoms.

7 actions in 7 years

In order to meet the objective set for 2020, the Technology Roadmap Carbon Capture and Storage report (2013 Edition) suggests that 7 actions are necessary:

• Financial support to demonstrate and spread CCS technologies

• Subsoil exploration to find storage sites

• National laws and rules to subsidize new power plants

• Pilot technologies for industrial implementation

• Information about CCS to the public

• Reduction of electricity costs for CCS plants

• Efficient transport infrastructures for CO2

At the moment, there are 74 Large Scale Integrated Projects (LSIP) around the world, with a total capture capacity of 35,4 tons of CO2, and other 59 are being built. If the trend goes on, it will be possible to achieve the target set by EU and produce energy by still using traditional sources, while respecting the environment.

Chiara Crognoletti

autore immagine: Enel Sharing

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