Concept Data Support Department of the Ministry of Industry and Trade has prepared this statistical report as a comprehensive national statistics on renewable energy sources. The second part of the report focuses on energetic use of biomass.
One of the most important boundary conditions occuring in the thermal building simulations is the thermal power penetrated into building elements as a result of the solar radiation. Intensities of the solar radiation are usually measured by weather-stations on the horizontal plane, and thus not directly applicable for the computations. Paper provides the methodology for recomputation of the total solar radiation measured by the pyranometer on the horizontal surface to the intensities of arbitrarily oriented wall and provides simulation results for the nineteen days.
In October 2013 in Orange County Great Park in city of Irvine, California, took place the sixth edition of the prestigious international competition of universities U.S. Solar Decathlon 2013. This round took part also Team Czech Republic from the Czech Technical University in Prague, which finished at overall third place. The article describes in detail building services used in the AIR House.
Concept Data Support Department of the Ministry of Industry and Trade has prepared this statistical report as a comprehensive national statistics on renewable energy sources. First part of the report focuses on the position of RES in the energy balance of the Czech Republic and describes in detail the development of the category of biogas and liquid biofuels.
According to an official decision the fusion energy is not a renewable energy source. This ad hoc decision ignores the basic physical reality and the condition to some extent reminds the inquisition, because some people impose their opinion as superior to the logic and nature itself. This article points out a possible cause of negative attitudes towards nuclear fusion, and to all nuclear sources without knowledge of the facts.
The object of article is to provide basic information about approaches to testing of stoves burning solid fuels in Europe and some other countries. Generally, stoves in Europe are tested according standard EN 13240. However, there’re other standards on national basis, for example Norwegian standards NS3058 and NS3059. If we look away from European border we can found standards which describe methods of stove testing – Australian/New Zealand standards and EPA standards in U.S.A. The article provides information about measuring sets, characterization of used fuels, testing categories for burning periods, measured parameters, emission limits and others things which are in these standards.
Biomass Action Plan envisages the available space in 3 variants with respect to the degree of self-sufficiency in food C.R. Area of fast-growing tree species growing steadily, in terms of total energy production is negligible involvement. By registering, according to the law of ash can be removed from the category of waste, and consequently can be applied as fertilizer.
The object of article is to provide basic information about approaches to testing of stoves burning solid fuels in Europe and some other countries. Generally, stoves in Europe are tested according standard EN 13240. However, there’re other standards on national basis, for example Norwegian standards NS3058 and NS3059. If we look away from European border we can found standards which describe methods of stove testing – Australian/New Zealand standards and EPA standards in U.S.A. The article provides information about measuring sets, characterization of used fuels, testing categories for burning periods, measured parameters, emission limits and others things which are in these standards.
Plans of the coalition in energy sector:
This article describes a photovoltaic generator used for water heating and compares it with the well known solar thermal system. Photovoltaic modules can be connected to the load both directly or via a regulator that tracks the maximal power point of the modules. Measurements and simulations in meteorological conditions of Czech Republic were done to set the energy loss for a system without the regulator. It was found that without the regulator the system can deliver maximally 77 % of energy. To achieve high efficiency of the system, maximal power point tracking has to be used.
The market for wood pellets has grown, which is understandable due to the following market growth with boilers and biomass stoves. On the contrary, the market for agro pellets gradually declining. Pellets from agricultural production are completely different type of fuel than wood pellets. These industrial fuel which is in most cases not suitable for domestic heating.
Thin-walled composites made of fine-grained cement-sand matrix reinforced by alkali-resistant glass fibres are currently used for the range of applications in the building industry, especially as architectural elements and cladding panels. Their advantage is mainly low weight as well as resistance to mechanical and weather impacts. These preconditions led to an innovative solution of cladding elements for accumulation and consecutive utilization of solar energy. Solar energy is transformed into heat energy by the means of an integrated pipe system and the heat achieved is deposited by the means of a heat water reservoir. Element surface can be set with photovoltaic cells. This material is possible to use as a roof panel as well. On the contrary to standard robust photovoltaic panels a difficult superstructure is not necessary and roof structure assembling is much easier. A wide range of simulation trials in interior as well as real tests in exterior was carried out with cooperation of a renowned company from the photovoltaic branch.
The article is a commentary on Czech TV report about the feasibility of reducing CO2 in the atmosphere. To eliminate carbon dioxide from the atmosphere has been proposed a number of methods, many of which are currently at the stage of mere concept. Namely, this includes the artificial trees mentioned in the report. Even if such methods work, there still remains the question of what to do with the captured CO2. Storage in geological formations is uncertain and material recovery faces high energy demands. In some cases there is a misunderstanding resulting from the confusion of CO2 and other emissions. Namely on the facade, which allegedly eliminate CO2 from the air, but in fact it eliminates nitrogen oxides. The only reliable way to reduce CO2 emissions permanently is to reduce energy consumption.
Solar radiation can be utilised in two basic ways. You can either gain heat from solar thermal collectors or electricity in photovoltaic panels. So far, heating of water by photovoltaics was too expensive to compete with conventional solar thermal collectors.
Weight , durability , and currently even the price of solar thermal collectors is comparable with commercially available photovoltaic modules.
Annual energy yield per unit area is approximately twice in the solar thermal collectors compared to the highest quality photovoltaic modules with cells made of monocrystalline silicon, due to the higher efficiency.
In the summer the photovoltaic modules are better when the working fluid is heated to temperatures above 100 °C. In the winter the breaking point is about 40 °C. The advantage of photovoltaics is the absence of heat transfer fluid and easier transfer of energy produced to the point of use. Electricity can also be used more versatile than heat.
If the investment cost of a complete solution of heating water by electricity from photovoltaic panels, either directly or using a heat pump, is lower than the investment cost of the solar thermal system, the PV water heating can be considered as effective utilization of electricity from photovoltaic plants. Such a solution could then be included as an alternative to any grant support for solar water heating.
The joint program to promote the replacement of boilers is spreading to various regions of the Czech Republic. The aim is to reduce subsidies to air pollution from small combustion plants using solid fuels. Refers to the local heating of the heat output of 50 kW. The subsidy is provided to the various types of boilers and applies only to the replacement of existing manually filled with solid fuel boilers with new efficient low-emission sources.
It is much more efficient to produce mechanical work by electrical engine "fuelled" by photovoltaic modules than produce the same amount of mechanical work by internal combustion engines running on fossil fuel or first-generation biofuel. The first choice could be much cheaper and produce order of magnitude more energy from agricultural land than biofuels. Therefore photovoltaics could hypothetically contribute significantly to the fulfillment of national and European target for the share of renewable energy sources (RES) in transportation.
The Chamber of Deputies approved the stopping of subsidies (feed-in-tariff) for renewable energy sources beginning January 1 2014. Support for combined heat and power generation from fossil fuels and support combustion of waste based on the same legislation remained unchanged.
By the opinion of the Chamber of RES the provisions of the law requiring a proof of beneficiaries structure is insufficient "especially because it does not apply to owners up to 10% of the shares and efficiency is only proposed from 1 July 2014, which gives a disproportionately large space to conceal the ownership structure."