Transcript Skaidrė 1

Renewable energy in
Lithuania
The word “energy” derives” from
Greek language and means
“action”.
One type of energy can become
the other type of energy, although
the energy itself never comes from
nowhere and never disappears to
nowhere.
The most important source of
energy is sun.
Almost every type of energy derives from
it, except nuclear energy.
Oil, gas and coal – the types of natural
fuel – are the result of the process which
endured for million years.
Lithuania almost does not have energy sources
dig out from the ground so we have to import.
In the process of burning oil, coal and gas the air is
polluted.
Instead Lithuania has quite huge recourses of
renewable energies such as sun, wind, biomass,
geothermal energy. We have contemporary
science, technologies, industrial potential for
developing renewable energetics.
Vastly used organic fuel will be
enough for mostly few hundred
years.
Alternative energy – it is the kind of
energy which is renewed by nature
itself.
SUN ENERGY
The sun was very important source
of energy for humanity in all times.
• One of the first known attempts to
accumulate Sun energy was made by
philosopher Socrates 2400 year ago. He
had built the house of such a shape and in
a such place that the house had maximum
of sun illumination in springs and autumns.
• Such way of “catching” sun energy is
called passive.
• Through the year the surface of the earth in
Lithuania receives 1000 kWh/m2 of sun energy.
• More than 80 percent of this energy reaches us
during the period of 6 months (from April to
September).
• Practically, in nowadays the energy of sun can
be used for thermal purposes in setting the sun
collectors for warming up the water, in setting
sun collectors for drying the agricultural products
and in installing room heating using sun energy
systems.
The average family uses approximately 2000 kWh of energy.
This this approximate amount of energy per square meter
reflected by the Sun per year. So theoretically the house could
supply itself enough with the Sun energy.
Although not everything is so simple...
• The Sun usually shines on summers when
houses need little additional heating. And in
winters when there is lack of heat, the Sun
shines only for a few hours per day.
• The heat is needed all year round. Firstly, we
need hot water for washing the dishes, for the
showers and bathrooms – we can get it when we
construct the sun collector.
• In today’s conditions there is no encouragement
and support to use sun collectors for heating the
water, that is why it is not worth it (or it is very
expensive).
There are only few systems of
heating the water using sun
collectors installed in Lithuania.
Their general area is about 100 m2
• The factory “Plumbing accessories”
produces sun collectors on the basis of
stamped steel radiotators. The average
price of such collector is about 300 Lt/m2,
energetic effectiveness – about 250-290
kWh/m2 per season. It buys off in about 12 years time.
Recently there were wrap sun
collectors created and started to
use for drying the agricultural
products
• Their energetic seasonal efficiency – up tp 200
Wh/m2
• They buy off in 1-2 years time
• General area of collectors for drying agricultural
products is about 180 m2
• Such collectors can be used by small farmers
(Varėnos region, Panaros village)
The sun collector as a matter of fact
is simply a black box made of glass
with tubes for water circulation.
• Usually sun collector is put on the roof of
the house, best side is South
• A part of the water heated by the sun flows
into the tank and later it circulates in spiral
details, giving the heat to the water around
it.
• The engine pumps the water back on the
roof where after heating by the sun it flows
back to the tank. This way the permanent
circulations takes place.
• 4-6 person family needs about 10 m2 of
sun collector;
• It would produce warm water in april –
september, this means for a half a year;
• In winter the sun shine is too weak, that is
why the collector is turned off.
Preliminary findings show that using the passive sun
energy systems of heating the buildings and in the case
of convenient location and orientation of the building,
there is possible reduction of heating cost up to 20
percent.
WIND ENERGY
Wind has it’s huge amounts of
unused potential energy
• The humanity used wind power to mill the
grain and pump the water for hundreds of
years. Few wind mills of the old
construction remained.
• Today electricity is produced by wind
turbines which similarly to old wind mills
have wings
• The diameter of modern wind turbine can
reach up to 100 meters.
The wings of some of the wind turbines remind of plane
propeler, others look like giant mixer. But they have one
thing in common – the movement of the wing is
transmitted to the axis, connected to the generator of
electricity.
Horizontal axis
Vertical ašis
The manufacturing of big wind generators is still very
expensive. But small wind turbines can be installed in
gardens and houses in the remote areas in order the wires
could be possible to connect to the main electricity lines.
• Wind power plant (even big ones) make very little
amount of energy comparing to water power plants,
nuclear power plants and plants which burn fuel
(coal, gas and oil). The power plant of average size
could be replaced by few hundreds of wind power
plants.
• The huge amount of wind power plants with high
towers should be built on the hills or windy places.
This would ruin the landscape and disturb the work
of radio and TV transmitters.
• That is why the suggestion is to build wind power
plants in the open sees far away from the coast.
So for now it is quite difficult for wind power plants to
compete with other sources of energy such as power
plants, which burn organic or nuclear fuel.
Bioenergy is the energy which comes from the trees, straws or canes. The
sun energy is necessary for all the plants. When sun shines the oxygen
and carbohydrates are produced with the help of the dioxide
found in the water and air. This process is called photosynthesis
– it produces more energy than humanity consumes.
• Till the beginning of the XX century the wood
and coal were the most important sources of
energy in the whole world. The houses were
heated with the wood. Considering the needs of
the rapidly growing industry, in the XIX century
the coal was begun to dig.
• The old fashioned manner of burning the fire in
open space in order to get heat is not efficient,
because a great part of the energy burning wood
produces is given away for heating the
surrounding air. That is why the heating boiler
was created – it used the heat much more
effectively.
• Bioenergy can be obtained from all of the tree.
The energy hides not only in the trunk, but also
in the roots, branches and even very small
branches. The chips can be made of it – they
are very easy to burn.
• There are researches conducted to test crushed
wood (wood powder) – it is sprayed to the boiler
in the same way as liquid fuel.
• If all the wooden trash was used as a fuel, it
would be possible to save much liquid fuel.
Using of biomass for producing
energy in Lithuania
The notion biomass is very wide. It is:
• The wood, it’s trash after preparing and
recycling;
• The agricultural products and it’s trash (grains,
straw, etc.)
• The trash of animal breeding (the muck of
animals and birds)
• The organic trash from food manufacturing;
• The organic materials found in the dump of drain
pipes;
• The organic remainings of municipal economy
trash.
Energetic plants
• The attention to this kind of plants grew stronger
during recent years in Lithuania.
• The energetic plants were started to grow.
Different kinds of fast growing plants were tried.
Mostly suitable are different kinds of willows and
wickers.
• The trees are planted very densely. As the trees
grow they are cut once every two years with the
help of the machines and chopped. This way the
biofuel is made.
• The energy received from 1 ha equals energy of
5-6 m3 liquid fuel.
Different plants accumulate sun energy
differently:
When talking about the energy produced by
agricultural trash it is necessary to metnion
straws.
• The straw for bigger boilers was began to use
in 1996 in Lithuania – it happened in Pasvalio
region, Narteikių agricultural school
(according to the PHARE program). The
boiler burining the straws with the power of 1
MW was installed and was started to use.
• Later there were 4 smaller 470 kW boilers
installed in Pasvalio region Grūžių, Vaškų and
Latvėnų towns.
There was economic benefit of installing those boilers,
because much more expensive heater fuel was replaced by
much cheaper fuel of the straws.
Biological gases
• The resources of organic materials, used for obtaining
biological gases, are constantly accumulating and renewing
in the agricultural production. These are animal muck and
the organic trash of recycled food. But effective it’s
reproccessing is possible only in huge objects of production.
• Today there are 3 biogas power plants working in
Lithuania with general power of 2,1 MW:
• 1,5 MW power plant, recycling the production trash of
“Sema” spirit factory in Panevėžys;
• 0,3 MW power plant recycling the trash of city cleaning
devices in Utena;
• 0,3 MW power plant recycling pigs’ muck in “Vyčios”
agricultural company in Kaunas region.
The usage of earth
(geothermal) energy
• Earth energy – one of the kinds of
renewable energies. It is used in Vilnius
and Klaipėda in private sector from water
horizons, occuring not too deep (up to 100
m).
Obtaining resources of earth energy is connected to hot
rocks, hot underground water, low temperature
underground and soil water, soil.
The usage of earth energy can be various:
• To meet the needs of centralized and individual
consumers;
• To transform earth energy into heat or electricity;
• To use complexively the recourses of hydrosphere
in the area of health promotion, recreation and
medical treatment;
• In agriculture – gardening, fish breeding, recycling
of plants, drying of the hay and grain, etc.
• In the industry – for example, drying fishes, wood,
fruits, vegetables, etc.
• For melting the snow on the roads, airport landing
tracks, etc.
Geothermal energy can be obtained in the
West of Lithuania from hot dry rocks of
100-145oC of temperature
The usage of the geothermal energy
• In Vydmantų gardening farm (1989) there were 2
mining holes drilled into the water horizon, water of
74oC obtained.
• Vilkaviškio balneological geothermal project - The
adjustment of earth energy not only for heating
purposes, but also for medical treatment and
strengthening health
• Baisogalos geothermal project – covering the need
for heat and experimental implementation
(reprocessing of the flax, drying wood and grains,
scalding the milk, breeding the fish, etc.)
• The renewable energy today is seen as
the remedy for all the problems –
climate change, pollution, lack of
energy, energy dependence from
mineral oil.
• But the main financial investments are
still oriented towards traditional gain of
energy – thermal power plants and
nuclear power plants.
What reasons cause this?
Complex of reasons
• Subjective – natural
resistance of producers of
traditional energy
(unwillingness to loose so
far so good business – it
is the business of oil, gas,
coal, atomic industry and
organizations dividing
central energy through
division networks)
• Objective – all the structure
of energetics is based on
centralized supply, the engines
are adjusted for petrol and
diesel, thermal boilers burn
excavation fuel. It is horrible
and inert worldwide monster in
terms of technical and financial
amounts.
The weaknesses and problems
of renewable energy
• The attempts to adjust renewable energetics to
contemporary infrastructure, refusing
decentralization (a possibility to choose the
provider of energy)
• Large amount of money is given for
maintenance of centralized energetic system;
• The requirement for the renewable energetic is it
to be cheaper at once (the billions given to the
infrastructure of traditional infrastructure are not
considered)
If all the planned investments were
directed towards renewable energetics
Lithuania would be sufficient with the
energy and we would have secondary
benefits, that is new workplaces, the
science and researches would recover.
We only have to expect wise
decisions from our politics and
clerks.
Thank you for your attention