Belgium builds emission-free Antarctic station

[bananas]

http://abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/09/09/2027810.htm

Belgium builds emission-free Antarctic station

By Stephanie Kennedy

Posted September 9, 2007 10:31:00
Updated September 9, 2007 10:58:00


Green power: The Princess Elisabeth Antarctic Station on display in Brussels. (AFP: Benoit Doppagne)
Audio: Green polar station a world first (Correspondents Report)

The world's first polar station run entirely on renewable energy has been unveiled - in Brussels.

Belgium says it wanted to construct a zero emissions station in the Antarctic to respond to the climate change challenge. All the station's energy will be provided by wind, solar thermal and solar passive energy.

The Princess Elisabeth Station has been pre-built in Brussels, where it has been on show before it gets shipped down to the Antarctic.

The station's project manager, Johan Berte, says it has been thoroughly tested.

<snip>

[NNadir]

1. Oh good...

Not surprisingly there are no specifications and no discussions of cost.

A few years ago, by international treaty, the nuclear station in Antarctica was dismantled in service to international stupidity.

Here is the result:



NOT ONE, NOT ONE, NOT ONE anti-nuke will even bother to look at how many tons of oil are burned hauling around the showpiece "renewable" station. NOT ONE. NOT ONE. NOT ONE will look to see if the thing actually performs.

Next year the big deal wind to hydrogen plant at Utsira in Norway will be defunded. It powered 10 houses <em>at a loss</em>.

It is NOT being scaled up. There are no plans to power 15 houses in Norway on wind produced hydrogen.

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2005/11/hydro_to_extend.html

The anti-nuke "renewables will save us" crowd couldn't care less to report on that, why should we expect any different on the big, giant, tremendous, outstanding, fantastic, bestolicious Belgian Antarctica station.

[FREEWILL56]

2. Interesting that their heat source isn't mentioned.

Unless the Earth rotates its axis by 90 degrees I know they aren't getting enough solar or wind power to heat the place and there isn't any alternative down there, but to use nonrenewable sources like propane or oil for heat. The little bit of renewable energy they have will go for electrical items like lights, radios, etc..

edit to add:

Correction as they claim solar thermal and I know there won't be enough to keep them warm. What bs.

[Dead_Parrot]

3. Here you go:

From http://www.leonardo-energy.org/drupal/node/712:

The energy concept

Heat side:

* Solar thermal water melting and heating
* 30 sq.m high performance flat plate collectors
* Electrical backup

Electricity side

* Wind turbines
* Photovoltaic panels
* Lead-acid battery storage
* Fuelled generator back-up

According to the pdf specs this is a 30kW job.

So, it'll run entirely on renewable energy, right up until they start the generator.

Maybe they'll be running it on rendered penguin fat or something? :shrug:

[FREEWILL56]

4. 30 square meters of thermal panels won't accomplish much

in that environment and that's when I'm talking summer there. In winter there is perpetual night so somebody is pulling the wool over somebody's eyes. The pvs will also not produce power in the winter there, but they will at least have the wind power and their own hot air for whatever they're worth.

[Dead_Parrot]

5. I'm surprised they're needed, to be honest

Remember you get ~120W from every human, plus the electronics, and I doubt they're scrimping on the insulation. They're probably just for some hot water in summer.

[FREEWILL56]

8. You are correct that those items give heat,

but so very little as the waste wattage from electronics and each body will yield about 3.14btu per watt. Though I didn't see references to insulation values I'm sure there is quite a bit, but enough insulation to keep low levels of produced btus from escaping in that brutal environment would be nearly impossible to maintain comfortable temperatures inside. Let's say they achieved it, now there's a different problem because we human beings need to breath so this new air will be needing to be heated. The real clue is that they exist with 30 sq meters of panels for heat in their summer time (perpetual daylight at this time) so this much heat needs to be produced in the winter and the electronics and their bodies will not provide that much heat.
All of the clues are there and one needs to be skeptical with some claims when some puts forth something like this. I'm sure that efforts are good to make, but claims you have to watch out for barring the obvious energy wasted and pollution made in getting them to and from that remote area. Going even further would be the effects of the manufacturing of all the products used in this project that use energy, produce greenhouse gasses, and produce particulate pollutions that eventually reach that part of the world. I believe they originally were concentrating on what was produced by them while there as that would be a more immediate and concentrated impact.

[bananas]

7. mostly wind

[razzleberry]

6. this story is rubbish

nobody knows how much
ship and airplane fuel
is used to support these ice huggers

[AlecBGreen]

9. thats a good question

how much will it use in transport vs. how much will it save by not burning fossil fuels once complete? basically the question is, pay now or pay later?

In the antarctic winter, the sun shines 24 hours a day but at a much lower intensity due to the low angle of incidence. Are solar panels feasible in this environment? Can they not only power the station but save up enough to get them through the 24 hours of darkness in the winter? OTOH, the wind can get pretty fierce down there. Either way they better bring some tough equipment...

[FREEWILL56]

10. Yes it is feasable down there.

The little quark is that it may need to be tracked as the sun will make a full 360 degrees near the horizon. No fixed mounting will work well in this case unless you have that many panels to aim in a large circle. Also note that cold pvs work better than hot ones dispelling the notion that these only work in hot areas of the earth where the sun is usually the strongest. It is the light that makes the power and not the heat. The snow also tends to reflect that light towards the pvs so some small amplification goes on here with direct and indirect light reaching the pvs.

[XemaSab]

11. Wind power? What about the penguins?!??!!!111!!?!?!?!?!?!

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