All these have been undertaken at my own initiative and expense.
2011, August 28 –
September 2, Solar
World Congress, Kassel, Germany.
I
took this excellent opportunity to learn of recent developments in
the harnessing of renewable energy, both in Germany and elsewhere.
The conference and side event programme was extremely well organised
and the papers were of a very high standard. As well as taking
detailed notes, I asked a large number of questions. In addition, I
presented a paper on some of my own research entitled 'Measuring the
Heat Losses and Solar Gains of Buildings Via A Novel Analysis of the
Data'. On the last day of the conference, I joined a 'Technical Tour'
which included visits to SMA, the world's leading producer of
inverters for photovoltaic systems, and to Kirchner, a major producer
of PV systems, both roof-mounted and tracking. We also visited a
field test station of the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy and
Energy Storage Systems and a very large ground-mounted PV
installation. This last has PV arrays totalling 70,000 m2, with a
rated power of 23.5 MWpeak and is run as a profitable business,
benefitting from the German Feed In Tariff.
In the following week, I visited the Fraunhofer IWES in Kassel for a meeting with Dr Michael Sterner and the ZSW (Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research) in Stuttgart for a meeting with Dr Ulrich Zuberbuehler. The meetings proved extremely interesting and lasted about four hours. Both are working on the harnessing of renewable electricity from wind and PV – notably when it is greater than the demand - to produce storable fuels such as methane. This may be distributed and stored in the natural gas grid, for use in gas-fired power plants when renewable electricity is less than the demand and for use in transport vehicles with internal combustion engines. This has been taken up by the Volkswagen Group - Europe's largest car manufacturer - as the 'Audi e-gas project'.
2011, March 31st,
Westminster Energy, Environment and Transport Forum, 'Delivering
the 'Green Deal'', London, U.K.
This
morning meeting was held in Westminster, to encourage attendance by
both Parliamentarians ('Westminster') and Civil Servants from
Government Departments ('Whitehall'). Chaired by M.P.s, the sessions
in this case discussed the proposed 'Green Deal', whereby home owners
would be able to choose measures to reduce their energy use, and pay
for them over a period of years via their energy bills. I believe
that this is fatally flawed because home owners (and often the
installers) lack the expertise to make such choices, that measures
would be very costly if installed in individual dwellings and the
cost of capital would be high for private individuals. Such a
proposal would be contrary to experience on the Continent, where
energy saving measures are often chosen and installed by energy
companies – either community-owned or private – on a collective
basis – e.g. whole streets, districts, and eventually towns. This
ensures that the measures are installed at lower cost and with higher
quality while the cost of capital to such companies is far lower.
Moreover, it enables the installation of large-scale district
heating, which is particularly effective in reducing the energy use
of existing buildings. Having prepared beforehand, I therefore raised
several of these points at the five opportunities for discussion.
2010, September 9th,
Westminster Energy, Environment and Transport Forum, 'Carbon
Capture and Storage', London, U.K.
This
morning meeting was held in Westminster, to encourage attendance by
both Parliamentarians ('Westminster') and Civil Servants from
Government Departments ('Whitehall'). Chaired by M.P.s, the sessions
in this case discussed Carbon Capture and Storage, which has been
suggested for reducing the Carbon Dioxide emissions of power plants
burning coal or gas. Much of the discussion was concerned with the
cost and effectiveness of carbon reduction, and the case for public
funding of demonstration projects. However, as an unproven
technology, there is no hard data, while the discussion failed to
consider the timescale. CCS might only be ready for deployment by
2020, by which time the U.K. would be importing 100% of it's demand
for coal. Yet CCS would increase the coal required by up to 33% just
when increasing world demand and decreasing world production would
result in 'Peak Coal' and hence rising prices. On the other hand,
energy from wind is a proven technology, can be deployed immediately
and requires no imported fuel. I raised several of these points –
and others - at the five opportunities for discussion.
2009, June 6th,
Meeting on Geoengineering, Reading, U.K.
This
was an evening meeting with several presentations. As a result, there
was not much time for discussion, and none for additional
presentations. I had prepared such a presentation 'Geo-engineering
Debate: Transport Fuel, then ‘Roll-back’'.
2008. I attended no conferences this year because I was particularly busy researching and writing studies. These included my 'Comments on the Heat Call for Evidence', my study 'Criteria and Heat Measures for Carbon Saving', my 'Response on Domestic Heating' and my study 'The CAST Proposal - Compatible Affordable Sustainable Transportation'.
2007, July 3-8.
European Sustainable Energy Forum,
Lucerne, Switzerland.
In 2003 I had
co-authored a paper on hydrogen with Dr Ulf Bossel, the organiser of
the European Fuel Cell Forum. This conference series alternated
between Low Temperature Fuel Cells (principally PEM) and High
Temperature Fuel Cells (principally SOFC), and I attended one of each
in 2003 and 2004 (see below). Following the logic of our hydrogen
paper, Dr Bossel decided to replace the conference on Low Temperature
Fuel Cells with one on Sustainable Energy. I was appointed to the
Scientific Committee and invited to give a presentation with the
title 'Energy Criteria for Sustainable
Energy Solutions'. More details about the Forum are on the web
site.
In addition to the presentations on the first day, there
were a number of really excellent technical visits on the following
three days. Photographs
2007, February 28 -
March 2. World Sustainable Energy Days
Conference and Exhibition, Wels, Austria.
I
had heard several presentations by Christiane Egger, Deputy Manager,
Oberoesterreichischer Energiesparverband (Upper Austrian Renewable
Energy Agency), the organisers of these events. The conference was
superbly organised and very well attended, and the exhibition was
large and comprehensive and also very well attended - including by
the general public.
2006, July 7-8.
Association for Environment Conscious
Building Conference, Taunton, UK.
As a
result of attending the Passive House Conference earlier this year, I
joined the AECB and attended this annual conference. I joined a short
tour of the Genesis Centre (the Conference venue), which has been
designed to demonstrate several different sustainable construction
techniques. The conference proper consisted of plenary sessions and
several parallel workshops, of which I attended three.
2006, June 27-29.
EuroSun 2006, Glasgow, UK.
Photographs
I
attended the plenaries and the sessions on solar thermal, and asked
many questions. I gave an oral presentation based on my energy study
'Energy Solutions for 60% Carbon
Reduction'. I also had many interesting discussions during the
breaks.
After the Conference, I took the technical tour on wind, visiting Proven Energy, manufacturers of small wind turbines, and a wind farm site developed by Airtricity, where we had a presentation and discussion.
2006, May 30-June 1.
World Bioenergy 2006,
Jonkoping, Sweden. Photographs
This
was of world significance, attended by the Prime
Minister of Sweden, Mr Goran Persson. He welcomed a large delegation
from China, which was lead by Mr Liu, the President of the State Grid
Corporation, the largest electric power utility in the world.
Attendance was about 1200, some three times that of 2004, probably
because the Swedish Government had meanwhile announced their
intention that Sweden would be off (i.e. break it's dependence on)
oil (and other fossil fuels) by 2020.
2006, May 19-21. 10th
Passive House Conference 2006,
Hanover, Germany. Photographs
I
arrived early with a friend and we visited the Energy Advice Centre
in Hanover.
There were two days of presentations, with up to four parallel sessions – three in German, and one in English. I attended the plenaries, and – since it was my first time - the English sessions. There was also an excellent exhibition of Passive House Components. On the following day, there were several technical tours, and I took that on new and existing buildings.
2006, April 10-11.
Discussion
Meeting on 'Energy... for the Future', Royal Society,
London.
This consisted of a series of
presentations on energy supply, including one on carbon
sequestration, and just one on energy saving.
2005, September 15.
Biomass Day, Resource 05, BRE,
Watford, UK.
This included a number of
presentations, with one from Sir Ben Gill, leader of the Biomass Task
Force. There was also an exhibition of wider scope, covering all the
themes of Resource05.
2005, May 22-25. Risoe
International Energy Conference, Roskilde, Denmark.
This
covered both technology and policy, and consisted of plenaries, and
then presentations in parallel sessions.
On the following day, I visited three departments of the Danish Technical University, for discussions on biofuel processing and on appliance standby power.
2005, January 26-29.
Central
European Biomass Conference, Graz, Austria.
I
arrived early, and - through a friend - was able to visit KWB, a
major manufacturer of biomass boilers, and then the TU Graz, where I
had a discussion on energy technology and policy. The excellent
conference reported developments in biomass fuels and boilers in
Austria, and was accompanied by an equally excellent exhibition.
2004, November 22-25.
European
Wind Energy Conference, Wembley, UK.
I
visited the Exhibition and then purchased the Proceedings, many of
which I have read.
2004, June 28-July 2.
European Fuel Cell Forum 2004,
Lucerne, Switzerland.
This year had an
emphasis on Solid Oxide Fuel Cells. Again I followed the Fuel Cell
World stream, which addressed products, markets, and policy.
2004, June 20-23.
EuroSun
2004, Freiburg, Germany.
I attended
most of the plenary sessions, which included presentations by
acknowledged experts, and were excellent in scope and depth. I
followed the papers on solar heating, biomass, and energy policy.
These reported excellent work, mainly carried out in German
universities and Institutes. In addition, I reviewed the poster
presentations, which were of high quality, and visited the
exhibition.
2004, June 2-4. World
Bioenergy 2004, Jonkoping, Sweden.
I
joined study tours before and after the Conference, visiting a number
of sites showing the growing of biomass, conversion to chips,
pellets, and ethanol, and use in heat-only boilers and Combined Heat
and Power plants. The three days of the Conference comprised
presentations in the morning, and local visits in the afternoon.
There was also an excellent exhibition of equipment for harvesting,
conversion and use of biomass fuels.
2003, June 30-July 4.
European Fuel Forum 2003, Lucerne,
Switzerland.
This year had an emphasis on
Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells. I benefited from the one-day tutorial
on fuel cells, and then followed the Fuel Cell World stream, which
addressed products, markets and policy.
2003, June 14-19.
International Solar Energy Society Conference, Gothenburg,
Sweden.
Before the Conference, I took part
in a visit to Goteborg Energi
– the multi-utility owned by the municipality.
The Conference included many excellent presentations in parallel sessions, notably on solar thermal, PV, and biomass.
After the Conference, I took part in visits to nearby solar installations. I also noted that E85 (85% bioethanol, 15% gasoline) biofuel was on sale in Gothenberg.
2002, March. Short
Course on Vehicle Aerodynamics – Thermomanagement, Stuttgart,
Germany.
This was held at FKFS
Stuttgart. I also co-authored the introductory paper. The
presentations described the state of design and testing of power
train and brake cooling, and cabin climate control.
2001, September.
Bewag
Fuel Cell Innovation exhibition, Berlin, Germany.
This
featured a Ballard Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell of 250 kWe and
230 kWth, connected to the Bewag electric power and district heating
networks. In addition, there were exhibits from several other
organizations involved in fuel cell R & D and manufacture.
2000, June. EuroSun 2000, Copenhagen,
Denmark.
Before the Conference, I took
part in an organised visit to the Marstal
Solar District Heating plant, which is the largest in the world.
It has about 9000 m2 of solar collectors, with an output of up to 7
MW, connected to an existing district heating scheme serving some
1250 dwellings.
In the Conference, I followed the papers on solar heating, including district heating and interseasonal storage. These reported on several recent substantial schemes, notably in Germany and Denmark. I also joined in visits to the Danish Technological Institute and the Danish Technical University, both of whom are doing world-class R & D in solar heating and photovoltaics.
2000, March. Short Course on Vehicle Aerodynamics
– Advanced Experimental Techniques, Stuttgart, Germany.
This
was held at the FKFS, Stuttgart. The presentations described the
state of the art of vehicle aerodynamics, wind tunnels, and
aerodynamic software. I also toured the world-class facilities of the
FKFS, including the low-noise full-scale vehicle wind tunnel.
1996, September. EuroSun
1996, Freiberg, Germany.
I met a number of
acquaintances in the International Solar Energy Society. Amongst the
presentations and papers, I was particularly pleased to hear of the
progress with large scale demonstration central solar heating plants,
with interseasonal storage - notably in Germany. Large scale
demonstrations of photovoltaic electricity generation were also
reported. Both represented significant advances since the solar
conferences I had attended some 17 to 20 years previously. Following
the Conference, I took the opportunity to tour the Fraunhofer
Institute for Solar Energy in Freiburg.
1979, June. North
America.
This trip started with the
week-long International Congress of the International Solar Energy
Society in Atlanta, Georgia. I then went to Washington, D.C.,
visiting the InterTechnology Solar Corporation, the National Bureau
of Standards - on solar water heater testing, the Department of
Housing and Urban Development - on the residential solar
demonstration program, and the Department of Energy - on passive
solar heating, biomass, photovoltaics and the solar technology
transfer program and - in conservation - lighting, total energy, heat
pumps and alternative automotive engines. In Ottawa I visited the
Department of Energy, Mines and Resources - on energy conservation
and solar heating from a policy viewpoint, followed by a day and a
half at the National Research Council - discussing these same topics
from an R and D programme viewpoint. Returning to the U.S.A., I
visited the Thermo-Electron Corporation in Waltham, Massachusetts
regarding solar energy in buildings and energy conservation in road
transport. The following week I attended the two-day Workshop on
Energy Storage for Automobile Propulsion in Alexandria, Virginia. As
well as battery-electric systems, mechanical storage and
transmissions and chemical and thermal stores with heat engines were
considered. Finally I attended the 6th Ocean Thermal Energy
Conversion Conference in Washington, D.C. Where once this topic had
been covered within the International Solar Energy Society meeting,
this conference was almost as big as that of I.S.E.S. itself.
1978, August. U.S.A.
I
first attended the Annual Meeting of the American Section of the
International Solar Energy Society in Denver, Colorado. Then I
visited the Solar Energy Research Institute in Golden and Colorado
State University in Fort Collins, both major centres of research in
solar energy utilization. I then visited Sandia, Albequerque to see
their work on solar thermal power - including the 5 MWt "power
tower" test facility - and to NASA, Huntsville, Alabama to see
their work on the solar heating and cooling of buildings - including
a large solar simulator, which is used for testing solar collectors
indoors. After a short visit to Ford, Dearborn I travelled to
Washington, D.C. to visit the Department of Energy to discuss aspects
of the R and D programmes and to the National Bureau of Standards to
discuss the testing of solar components and systems. Finally I paid a
short visit to the Thermo-Electron Corporation in Waltham,
Massachusetts to talk about appliance efficiency.
1978, May. Sweden.
I
visited Granges Aluminium, Finspong to see their new solar collector
and then Ostgotabyggen, Linkoping and Sunroc Energy, Sigtuna - who
are both carrying out R and D in solar heating systems with
interseasonal storage. I then attended the VVS 78 Show in Stockholm,
where a wide range of conservation and solar hardware - much of it
new - was being exhibited. I also visited the Department of Building
Technology at the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm and
Svenska Flaktfabriken, Stockholm - both of whom are carrying out R
and D in energy conservation and solar heating. Finally, I visited
the housing estate at Taby where many of these ideas are being
tested.
1977, June. North
America.
I attended the Annual Meeting of
the American Section of the International Solar Energy Society in
Orlando, Florida, followed by visits to the Georgia Institute of
Technology, Atlanta; Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh; Ford
Motor Company, Dearborn, Michigan; the National Bureau of Standards,
Gaithersburg; the Energy Research and Development Administration,
Washington D.C.; the NASA Lewis Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio and
the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The Orlando conference
updated me on the vigorous North American activity on solar energy
and most of the visits added considerably more detail.
1977, April. France.
I
visited the "Journees Solaires" three-day conference and
exhibition on solar energy in Nice. This gave an excellent impression
of the well-organized national effort in this field. Several major
companies and national research laboratories are involved and the R
and D programme receives significant government funding.
1977, April. U.K.
I
attended the International Solar Energy Society - U.K. Section
one-day conference on "The Testing of Solar Collectors and
Systems". Afterwards I visited the Solar Energy Group at the
Building Research Establishment, Garston; the Solar Energy Unit at
University College, Cardiff and the National Centre for Alternative
Technology, Machynlleth. I was accompanied by friends from the
Swedish Council for Building Research, who had given papers at the
conference. The first two visits enabled us to see the hardware
mentioned in several papers presented at the conference and to have
much more detailed discussions. The N.C.A.T. has several houses
incorporating major energy conservation and solar heating measures.
1977, February. Germany.
I
visited the Deubau Construction Exhibition in Essen including
especially the A.S.E. Exhibition and one-day conference on Solar
Energy. I then visited the Philips Research Laboratory in Aachen.
These visits gave an excellent impression of the well-organized
national effort in this field. Most notably, the A.S.E. includes some
16 major companies and the solar energy R and D programme receives
significant funding from the Federal Government. The Philips
Laboratory includes an Experimental House which serves as a test bed
for a wide range of ideas for conserving energy and harnessing solar
energy.
1976, Summer. North America.
I
visited the week-long Joint Conference of the Canadian and American
Sections of the International Solar Energy Society in Winnipeg,
Canada and afterwards the Honeywell Energy Resources Center,
Minneapolis; the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis; the University
of Wisconsin, Madison; the Energy Research and Development
Administration, Washington D.C.; the National Bureau of Standards,
Gaithersburg and the Smithsonian Radiation Biology Laboratory,
Rockville, Maryland. The papers presented at the conference covered
the same wide area as at Los Angeles the previous year but revealed
the very substantial advances that had been made on every front. At
Honeywell I saw some of their work on both flat plate and
concentrating collectors and their solar simulator, which was used
for testing solar collectors indoors. At the University of Minnesota,
I visited Professor E.M. Sparrow and discussed convective heat
transfer with special reference to my analysis of the Splitter Fin -
which he approved. At the University of Wisconsin I spoke briefly
with Professor J.A. Duffie and Professor W.A. Beckman and at greater
length with several of their graduate students - who were studying
the solar heating and cooling of buildings. At E.R.D.A. I spoke with
Mr C.J. Swet - Program Manager of the Thermal Energy Storage Branch -
and with Dr F.W. Morse - Chief of the Division of Solar Energy -
notably about international R and D programs. I also visited the
E.R.D.A. Solar Energy Exhibition on the Mall. At the University of
Maryland I spoke to Professor Redfield Allen and Dr Dave Annan - both
of the Solar Energy Projects Office - about solar air conditioning
and again about international R and D programs (which they manage for
E.R.D.A.). At the National Bureau of Standards I visited Dr James
Hill of the Thermal Engineering Division and saw many of their
building thermal - and particularly solar - test facilities and
discussed their work. At the Smithsonian Radiation Biology Laboratory
I discussed solar spectral measurements with Dr W. Klein and Mr B.
Goldberg and solar collector testing with Mr J. Sager.
1975, Summer. U.S.A.
I
visited the International Congress of the International Solar Energy
Society (I.S.E.S.), Los Angeles and afterwards Stanford University,
California; Colorado State University, Fort Collins and Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, Cambridge. The week-long congress and
exposition reported the rapidly-advancing state of the art in all the
applications of solar energy. At Stanford I discussed compact heat
exchangers in general and the Splitter Fin in particular with Dean
W.M. Kays and Professor A.L. London. I inspected the two completed
highly-instrumented solar houses in Fort Collins and discussed
Thermic Panels with Mr Shawn Buckley and also math-modelling of
internal combustion (Otto cycle) engines at M.I.T.
1975, February. Australia.
I
visited Smiths, Sydney; Ford, Geelong; Nippon Denso, Melbourne;
C.S.I.R.O., Melbourne and the University of Queensland, Brisbane. As
well as seeing two heater manufacturing plants - one shrinking, one
growing - and Ford Australia Product Engineering, I spent four days
at C.S.I.R.O., where they have been working on harnessing solar
energy for heating water and heating and cooling buildings for some
20 years. Much of the time was with Mr R.V. (Bob) Dunkle, Chief
Radiation Scientist. In Brisbane I talked with Mr S.V. (Steve)
Szokolay, who lead the team which designed the solar heating system
of the house in Milton Keynes, U.K. (I had visited the house twice).
1974, August. Germany.
I
made a two-day visit to Volkswagen, Wolfsburg for wide-ranging
discussions on vehicle heating, ventilating and engine cooling and
aerodynamic testing and a tour of the Golf/Rabbit production plant.
1973, Autumn. U.S.A.
I
spent three weeks at the Ford Dearborn Engineering Center, including
one week at the E.P.A. Symposium on Advanced Automotive Power Plants.
I also made one-day visits to see Mr Gino Sovran at General Motors
Research, Warren and to the Chrysler Proving Ground, Chelsea to
discuss automotive wind tunnels and their use. I spent one week in
Cambridge, Massachusetts, including visits to Scientific Energy
Systems, Watertown and Thermo-Electron Corporation, Waltham - both
builders of Rankine (steam) engined cars reported on at the E.P.A.
Symposium.
1972, Autumn. Japan.
I
visited Mitsubishi, Kyoto; Honda, Suzaka; the Tokyo Motor Show; the
Japan Automobile Research Institute; Nippon Denso, Kariya and Toyota.
I was extremely impressed by the dedication and hard work - often
aided by impressive new facilities.
1971, Autumn.
Europe.
I visited Volvo, Gothenburg; AGA,
Lidingo; Granges Essem, Vasteras and Finspong in Sweden and
Volkswagen, Wolfsburg in Germany. Most notably, I learnt of the Volvo
Automotive Wind Tunnel and discussed the design with representatives
of D.S.M.A - the design consultants. I also visited the Volkswagen
Automotive Wind Tunnel.