Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
How robots could help bridge the elder-care gap
 Despite innovations that make it easier for seniors to keep living on their own rather than moving into special facilities, most elderly people eventually need a hand with chores and other everyday activities.

Friends and relatives often can’t do all the work. Growing evidence indicates it’s neither sustainable nor healthy for seniors or their loved ones. Yet demand for professional caregivers already far outstrips supply, and experts say this workforce shortage will only get worse.

So how will our society bridge this elder-care gap? In a word, robots.

Just as automation has begun to do jobs previously seen as uniquely suited for humans, like retrieving goods from warehouses, robots will assist your elderly relatives. As a robotics researcher, I believe artificial intelligence has the potential not only to care for our elders but to do so in a way that increases their independence and reduces their social isolation.

Personal robots

In the 2004 movie “I, Robot,” the robot-hating protagonist Del Spooner (played by Will Smith) is shocked to discover a robot in his grandmother’s house, baking a pie. You may have similar mental images: When many people imagine robots in the home, they envision mechanized domestic workers doing tasks in human-like ways.

In reality, many of the robots that will provide support for older adults who “age in place” – staying at home when they might otherwise be forced to relocate to assisted living or nursing homes – won’t look like people.

Instead, they will be specialized systems, akin to the Roomba, iRobot’s robotic vacuum cleaner and the first commercially successful consumer robot. Small, specific devices are not only easier to design and deploy, they allow for incremental adoption as requirements evolve over time.

Seniors, like everyone else, need different things. Many need help with the mechanics of eating, bathing, dressing and standing up – tasks known as “activities of daily living.” Along with daily help with cooking and managing their medications, they can benefit from a robotic hand with more intermittent things such as doing the laundry and getting to the doctor’s office.

Interactive Robotics and Language Lab, University of Maryland, Baltimore County , CC BY-SA

That may sound far-fetched, but in addition to vacuuming robots can already mop our floors and mow our lawns. Experimental robots help lift people into and out of chairs and beds, follow recipes, fold towels and dispense pills. Soon, autonomous (self-driving) cars will ferry people to appointments and gatherings.

The kinds of robots already available include models that drive, provide pet-like social companionship and greet customers. Some of these technologies are already in limited trials in nursing homes, and seniors of course can already rely on their own Roombas.

Meanwhile, robot companions may soon help relieve loneliness and nudge forgetful elders to eat on a regular schedule.

Scientists and other inventors are building robots that will do these jobs and many others.

Round-the-clock care

While some tasks remain out of reach of today’s robots, such as inserting IVs or trimming toenails, mechanical caregivers can offer clear advantages over their human counterparts.

The most obvious one is their capacity to work around the clock. Machines, unlike people, are available 24/7. When used in the home, they can support aging in place.

Another plus: Relying on technology to meet day-to-day needs like mopping the floor can improve the quality of time elders spend with family and friends. Delegating mundane chores to robots also leaves more time for seniors to socialize with the people who care about them, and not just for them.

And since using devices isn’t the same as asking someone for help, relying on caregiving robots may lead seniors to perceive less lost autonomy than when they depend on human helpers.

Interacting with robots

This brave new world of robot caregivers won’t take shape unless we make them user-friendly and intuitive, and that means interaction styles matter. In my lab, we work on how robots can interact with people by talking with them. Fortunately, recent research by the Pew Research Center shows that older adults are embracing technology more and more, just like everyone else.

Now that we are beginning to see robots that can competently perform some tasks, researchers like Jenay Beer, an assistant professor of computer science and engineering at the University of South Carolina, are trying to figure out which activities seniors need the most help with and what kinds of robots they might be most willing to use in the near term.

To that end, researchers are asking questions like:

Do robots need to understand and convey emotion to be accepted?

How can robots provide social support?

Is it best when machines simulate eye contact with us?

Does it help if they can converse?

But the fact is we don’t need all the answers before robots begin to help elders age in place.

Looking ahead

After all, there’s no time to lose.

The Census Bureau estimated that 15 percent of Americans – nearly one in six of us – were aged 65 or older in 2016, up from 12 percent in 2000. Demographers anticipate that by 2060 almost one in four will be in that age group. That means there will be some 48 million more elderly people in the U.S. than there are now.

I believe robots will perform many elder-care tasks within a decade. Some activities will still require human caregivers, and there are people for whom robotic assistance will never be the answer. But you can bet that robots will help seniors age in place, even if they won’t look like butlers or pastry chefs.

Output: Despite innovations that make it easier for seniors to keep living on their own rather than moving into special facilities, most elderly people eventually need a hand with chores and other everyday activities.


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Kenya introduces world’s strictest plastic bag legislation

Kenyans producing, selling or even using plastic bags will risk imprisonment of up to four years or fines of $40,000 (£31,000) from Monday, as the world’s toughest law aimed at reducing plastic pollution came into effect.

The east African nation joins more than 40 other countries that have banned, partly banned or taxed single use plastic bags, including China, France, Rwanda, and Italy.

Many bags drift into the ocean, strangling turtles, suffocating seabirds and filling the stomachs of dolphins and whales with waste until they die of starvation.

“If we continue like this, by 2050, we will have more plastic in the ocean than fish,” said Habib El-Habr, an expert on marine litter working with the UN environment programme in Kenya.

Plastic bags, which El-Habr says take between 500 to 1,000 years to break down, also enter the human food chain through fish and other animals. In Nairobi’s slaughterhouses, some cows destined for human consumption had 20 bags removed from their stomachs.

“This is something we didn’t get 10 years ago but now it’s almost on a daily basis,” said county vet Mbuthi Kinyanjui as he watched men in bloodied white uniforms scoop sodden plastic bags from the stomachs of cow carcasses.

Kenya’s law allows police to go after anyone even carrying a plastic bag. But Judy Wakhungu, Kenya’s environment minister, said enforcement would initially be directed at manufacturers and suppliers.

It took Kenya three attempts over 10 years to finally pass the ban, and not everyone is a fan.

Samuel Matonda, spokesman for the Kenya Association of Manufacturers, said it would cost 60,000 jobs and force 176 manufacturers to close. Kenya is a major exporter of plastic bags to the region.

“The knock-on effects will be very severe,” Matonda said. “It will even affect the women who sell vegetables in the market – how will their customers carry their shopping home?”

Big Kenyan supermarket chains like France’s Carrefour and Nakumatt have already started offering customers cloth bags as alternatives.

Output: Kenya has introduced the world’s toughest law against plastic pollution by imposing potential fines of $40,000 or prison sentences of up to four years on those producing, selling or using plastic bags. Over 40 countries, including China, France, Italy and Rwanda have banned, partially banned or taxed single use plastic bags. Many such bags enter the oceans, threatening marine life and entering the human food chain. It has taken over a decade, and three attempts, for Kenya's law to be introduced. Major supermarket chains including Carrefour and Nakumatt have already introduced cloth bags as alternatives.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Smart meters help Texas grid withstand Hurricane Harvey
 Hurricane Harvey’s path of destruction has left hundreds of thousands of Texans without power, and the state’s utilities are facing days, or even weeks, before the floodwaters recede and they can begin to repair the damage.

As of Monday afternoon, about 290,000 customers were without power in the southeastern parts of Texas, as the hurricane that ripped into the coast on Saturday lingered on as a rain-dumping tropical storm for its third day. The outage numbers are bit lower than the 300,000-plus without power as of Sunday afternoon, but just barely, according to Department of Energy storm updates.

The DOE’s assessment from the Texas utilities in the storm’s path was simple, but grim. “Impacted utilities have issued statements that they are expecting power outages to last several days. Restoration efforts cannot begin until weather conditions are safe. High rainfall total and flooding could extend restoration times in many affected areas.”

In the south Gulf Coast, utility AEP is predicting that it could take until midnight on Wednesday to bring power back to 95 percent of its Corpus Christi and Sinton area customers. The rest of its territory isn’t expected to come back on-line until Saturday, and it isn’t even venturing a guess for the coastal cities of Rockport, Port Aransas, Fulton, Woodsboro, Port Lavaca, Lamar and Bayside, where the storm’s damage was most severe. The utility has 2,000 of its personnel working, and they have been joined by 3,000 more from outside the area.

In Houston, where storm surge and rainfall have flooded major thoroughfares, utility CenterPoint Energy was able to reduce the number of customers without power to about 112,000 as of Monday afternoon. But its outage alert system also included this urgent update: “CenterPoint crews unable to reach many parts of the city due to flooding. Restoration estimates unavailable until travel improves.”

CenterPoint has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in a smart meter network that was keeping it up to date on which customers were without power, according to its Twitter feed, which implored customers that there was “no need to call us about power outages. Smart meters tell us.” But those meters can’t help the utility restore power to flooded city blocks and building basements.

It has also invested in a fault location, isolation and service restoration (FLISR) system, using a combination of automated and operator-controlled switches on its distribution circuits to reroute power to more customers more quickly after an outage. But the kind of flooding that Houston is experiencing is a disaster of a far greater magnitude than the kind of short-term outages that FLISR is best suited to handle.

Even once crews can access once-flooded substations, they’ll need to wait for equipment to dry out and inspect it for damage before re-energizing it, DOE noted -- a checklist also required of any flooded home or building that wants to turn the power back on.

“There are likely many transmission substations and distribution substations that are located at low elevations and could be susceptible to floodwaters,” said Ben Kellison, GTM Research chief of grid research. “My guess would be that this is a major issue, as the equipment in these stations typically is located at ground level.”

Indeed, DOE reported Monday that Entergy Texas wasn’t able to access some of its electrical facilities due to debris and flooding, which was expected to slow restoration for the 7,600 or so customers without power in cities including Beaumont, Dayton, Winnie, Navasota and Cleveland.

CenterPoint also has a fairly large share of underground distribution circuits, nearly 24,000 miles compared to 28,700 miles of aboveground, pole-mounted circuits, Kellison added. While underground circuits are more resilient against hurricane winds, they’re very susceptible to flooding -- and while a handful of key circuits may be equipped with waterproof or weather-resistant gear, most aren’t.

While the flooded parts of Texas struggled with a long-range plan to restore power to customers, the state’s transmission and generation system was holding up well as of Monday. State grid operator ERCOT reported that it continued to see widespread transmission outages near the southern Texas cities of Corpus Christi and Victoria. But it was reporting a stable and ample supply of generation to cover its statewide needs, with a margin of 4,639 megawatts as of mid-afternoon Monday.

That’s a relief, considering that nearly 68,000 megawatts of generation capacity was within Harvey’s path, according to this S&P Global Market Intelligence analysis.

Harvey has also forced the closure of about a quarter of the Gulf of Mexico’s offshore oil and natural-gas platforms and much of the state’s south coast refinery fleet.

The threat of extreme weather is becoming an increasingly important calculation for energy markets. Join us for the U.S. Power & Renewables 2017 conference in Austin, Texas this November to meet with top regulators, utility executives and technology leaders dealing with the aftermath of Harvey, and applying its lessons to the nation as a whole. The two-day conference will include the solar expertise of GTM Research, the wind energy analysis of MAKE, and the broader energy and utilities expertise of Wood Mackenzie.

Output: In the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, utility service CenterPoint Energy was able to reduce the number of customers without power in Houston by about 112,000 because of investment in its smart meter network, which allowed it to keep up-to-date on which customers were without power. According to its Twitter feed, CenterPoint notified customers that there was “no need to call us about power outages. Smart meters tell us.”


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US states change rules to hamper solar projects
 A 40-year-old federal energy law has been making a lot of news in recent months.

In June, Montana’s Billings Gazette published a story titled, “Hot Mic Records Troubling Conversation About Solar Regulations.” The solar regulation at issue was the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978, or PURPA, which has been an issue of contention at the Montana Public Service Commission for well over a year.

PURPA was designed to be a driver of conservation and renewable energy in response to the energy crisis of the early 1970s. The law requires utilities to purchase energy produced at what are known as Qualifying Facilities (QFs) if they match a utility’s avoided cost. "Avoided cost" is defined as the cost equal to or below what utilities have to pay for energy produced by a traditional power plant.

In Montana, and in several other states across the nation, PURPA has become a major driver for the development of solar projects. It's a new phenomenon, made possible only by the dramatic decrease in solar prices in recent years. Now, the success that large-scale solar has seen as a result of PURPA is starting to cause a stir.

Montana maneuvering

As we detailed in this story, Montana’s largest investor-owned utility, NorthWestern Energy, filed an application with the public service commission in May 2016, asking it to revise its QF avoided-cost rates, which at the time were $66 per megawatt-hour. The utility feared that the generous PURPA QF rates would prompt a rush of solar projects, an argument supported by the Montana Consumer Counsel, which believed the state’s ratepayers would have to foot the bill for an avalanche of expensive solar PPAs.

Which brings us back to the hot mic. After more than a year of deliberation, the rates and terms for solar QFs in Montana were scaled back from 25 years of guaranteed pricing to just five, and prices were slashed from $66 per megawatt-hour to about $47 per megawatt-hour, which the solar industry says make it impossible for projects to pencil out economically.

The reality that these terms would kill solar development in Montana was acknowledged by Bob Lake, one of the Montana Public Service commissioners, during a conversation he didn’t know was being recorded. In a discussion with a staffer about the impact of the QF pricing being slashed Lake said, “And at this low price, I can’t imagine anyone getting into it.”

Because PURPA’s main purpose is to promote renewable energy and conservation, this acknowledgment that the state’s PURPA terms do just the opposite sounded like a violation of the law.

“I don’t know if that was their intent, to shut out solar, but it was the result of the policy, and the hot mic reveals that they knew the consequences of what they were doing and didn’t care,” said Ed Smeloff, a managing director at Vote Solar, an advocacy group that, along with Earthjustice and the Montana Environmental Information Center, has been an active participant in the commission’s PURPA deliberations. “We put in the testimony to say that PURPA requires states to encourage the development of QFs consistent with avoided cost, and short contracts are not financeable.”

Vote Solar has since joined others in asking the commission to reconsider its decision and has argued that the regulators have violated PURPA, botched the calculation of avoided cost and gone against the Administrative Procedure Act of Montana by not allowing interested parties to weigh in on their decision. Though solar developers and advocacy groups have been at odds with NorthWestern over the PURPA rules, the two may be joining forces to protest the commission’s decision, which also slashed the contract length for the utility’s own projects to just five years of guaranteed rates.

In early August, a utility executive was blistering in his critique of the commission’s decision. “The Montana Public Service Commission, or at least a majority of the commissioners, have lost their regulatory minds,” David Hoffman, NorthWestern’s government affairs director, told Montana legislators. “They’re destroying existing law and they’re out of control.”

Like the solar developers, the utility argues that short contracts make it impossible to build new projects, which NorthWestern and others say are necessary to meet peak demand in Montana. Without sufficient capacity, the utility has to purchase peaking generation on the spot market. Though prices are currently affordable, there’s no guarantee they won’t spike in the future.

Hoffman made it clear that the utility could appeal to the state legislature to curb the power of the commission. There’s also the possibility that solar developers could pursue legal action or request further action from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which elected not to intervene earlier this year. But Smeloff believes NorthWestern’s involvement in urging the commission to reconsider its order will carry more weight with regulators.

“If it was just us, they might ignore it and say, 'Go to court,'” he said. “With NorthWestern weighing in, they will have to take it seriously.”

A national debate

The debate over PURPA rules in Montana may have the most drama and intrigue, but it is not the only PURPA discussion taking place, nor the most consequential.

“The loss of Montana as a PURPA market doesn’t greatly impact our national forecast,” said Colin Smith, a GTM Research solar analyst. “But if we are looking at the best ways to change PURPA to benefit a state and the renewable energy economy, Montana is a case study in how not to do it. This is how you get into a lot of trouble and hurt yourself in the long run.”

Of far more consequence to the size of the overall U.S. solar market are changes to PURPA in others states, such as North Carolina. North Carolina’s position as the state with the second-largest installed solar capacity in the nation is largely the result of PURPA-driven projects. Over the past year, Duke Energy has pushed state legislators to change how PURPA functions, in particular allowing the utility to procure a set amount of PURPA projects using competitive bidding that was open to the utility itself.

After a lot of controversy and debate, the North Carolina legislature passed, and Gov. Roy Cooper signed, a compromise bill that made several changes to how the energy law is enacted. Most notably, its allows competitive bidding, lowers the state’s avoided cost and ensures that accepted projects receive 20-year power-purchase agreements. The law, which also included a controversial 18-month wind development moratorium, set a solar deployment target of 6,800 megawatts by 2020. In a statement, Cooper commended the solar compromise and lambasted the wind moratorium, the impact of which he attempted to lessen with an executive order that ordered the state’s Department of Environmental Quality to continue recruiting and facilitating wind projects during the moratorium.

According to Smith, the changes to PURPA in North Carolina are similar to what has also happened in Georgia. “It does seem that North Carolina is modeling what Georgia Power is doing, to say that projects must still meet FERC guidelines for QFs, but it will be a competitive bidding process and they’ll only procure a certain volume of solar each year,” he said. “I think what they want to do is have more control over the process. In the past, utilities were reactionary in terms of how they were facing this flood of PURPA projects, and now they seem more strategic in how they are pursuing PURPA projects coming on-line or being developed.”

This approach to PURPA is not what solar developers want -- and many would argue that it flat-out violates the law. But it doesn't signal the death of PURPA projects -- as in the Montana case, or in Idaho, which also changed PURPA contracts in ways that make it virtually impossible to develop solar projects.

“There’s a good argument to be made that North Carolina and Georgia are the PURPA cases nobody is talking about,” said GTM’s Smith. “They have leveraged PURPA regulations for their development and developers have been happy because it has spurred a lot of development. It’s a system that seems to make both the offtaker and the developer happy, but it’s not exactly what PURPA was designed to do in the first place.”

A collaborative approach to PURPA

Later this month, Michigan’s public service commission will hold a final hearing that is expected to cement the state’s approach to PURPA. Though the details won’t be released until after the hearing, for solar stakeholders, the contrast with Montana could not be more stark.

“It’s the exact opposite,” said Smeloff, who has been active in both Montana and Michigan. “They are doing everything right. The proceeding was initiated by commission staff who saw the opportunity for solar development, because there is not a lot of it now.”

The commission process involved some back-and-forth between solar advocates and Michigan’s large utilities, Consumers Energy and DTE, about how to establish the avoided-cost rate, but the goal of using PURPA to spur more development was widely shared. Smeloff expects the ultimate result will provide independent solar developers of projects 2 megawatts and smaller the certainty they need to invest.

“We believe the contracting will give QFs five-, 10-, 15- or 20-year contracts and will establish a standard offer," said Smeloff. "Once developers meet certain conditions, the contracts have to be executed in 15 days. This provides a clear pathway to make projects financeable.”

Yet all of this state-level activity around PURPA may end up being eclipsed by another set of regulations entirely. If Suniva and SolarWorld are successful in their trade case, prices for solar might go up enough that the avoided cost will be unobtainable.

“In that scenario, the cost of systems go up a lot, and I don’t think there are any territories where you will get utility solar at rates below avoided cost,” said GTM’s Smith. “Utilities might continue to procure solar, but not at the avoided-cost rates being set right now.”

Output: Changes to regulations in a number of US states are having a negative effect on the viability of solar projects. The federal Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA) was introduced in 1978 to incentivise renewable energy by requiring utilities to purchase energy from providers whose rates are equal to or lower than traditional power plants, the so-called avoided cost. This has driven increases in solar projects as the cost of production has reduced in recent years. However, some US states are revising the relevant qualifying rates, so that many solar projects no longer stack up economically.


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Iberdrola shifts focus as electrification intensifies
 Electricity utility Iberdrola is directing 42% of new investments into networks, hoping to reap the benefits of an economy-wide electrification process currently underway in Europe and across the world, a senior company executive has told EURACTIV.

Gonzalo Saenz de Miera, Iberdrola’s Director of Climate Change, has one strong conviction: the electrification of the economy will revolutionise the way people consume energy – especially in the building and transport sectors which are still massively reliant on oil and gas.

And this represents a huge opportunity for Iberdrola, a leading European electricity company, ranked among the top five utility companies worldwide.

“With the electrification of the economy, we’re going to be players in the whole energy sector, not just the 25% of the energy market covered by electricity right now,” Saenz de Miera told EURACTIV during a recent visit to Brussels.

Anticipating this transformation, the Spanish electricity giant is currently investing some $200 million annually into smart grids and renewable energy solutions, including recharging hubs for electric vehicles.

“Our strategy is to develop distribution networks, which are very important from the point of view of renewables integration. In this process of electrification of the economy, you need to integrate smarter grids to take in distributed generation coming from consumers,” Saenz de Miera explained.

And digitalisation is going to be central in that process.

“Iberdrola is becoming a digital company,” he declared, adding: “For all our activities, digitalisation is key – for distribution, retail, demand management, etc.”

European power grid operators gear up for digital transformation The next wave of digital innovation – and disruption – in the electricity sector will rely on artificial intelligence and Blockchain technology, according to the new boss of the European power grid operators association, ENTSO-E, who is drafting an IT roadmap for publication later this year.

Saenz de Miera is far from being a visionary iconoclast. His views reflect a growing consensus among industry players and policymakers that the electrification of the economy – together with digitalisation – is now unstoppable.

Estonia, the current holder of the EU’s rotating presidency, believes innovative ICT tools will shape the future energy system, in particular for power grid operators. It plans to drive the point home at a conference in Tallin in early September – ‘Where digital meets energy’ – where policymakers will discuss issues like data management, ownership, and privacy.

Estonia ties electricity talks with digital policy at EU helm Tallin will pay “particular attention” to the European Commission’s proposal for a new electricity market design, a discussion Estonia sees as part of the wider digital brief as it takes the rotating Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

Cheap power – “an incentive to electrify everything”

The good news is that Europe is in a good position to become a world leader in the transition to an electrified economy. It has industry leaders in solar, wind and automotive, and has more experience than any other region in the world when it comes to managing variable flows of intermittent renewable power using digital technology.

“So let’s take advantage of this. Because if we don’t, others will. This is a global trend and a massive business opportunity for Europe and European firms,” Saenz de Miera said.

There are obstacles, however. In Europe, transport still almost entirely relies on oil-based fuels benefitting from favourable tax regimes. “Diesel and gasoline don’t pay for CO2 and other pollutants, which are causing air pollution in cities. And at the same time, electricity consumers are paying for costs which are not related to the costs of electricity supply. It is important that the polluter pays principle applies there,” he argues. “If you have these kinds of barriers, you will slow the process of electrification.”

New electrification alliance seeks top billing in EU’s decarbonisation efforts Industry groups representing sectors as varied as wind and solar power, fuel cell batteries, copper and heat pumps, have clubbed together to launch the Electrification Alliance, with the hope that electricity will be recognised as the main energy carrier in Europe’s decarbonisation drive.

But the Spaniard believes transport’s conversion to electricity is well on its way and will eventually happen because electric cars need less energy to produce the same thrust. In fact, he believes electric vehicles will be fully competitive “within five to six years”.

“Soon, oil will disappear from the energy mix and gas will be the only fossil fuel remaining in the transition – for transport, for buildings and some industries,” he predicted. “And we now have the technologies to have 80% of transport running on electricity”.

The big challenge for the power sector now is that electricity is becoming cheaper and cheaper, driven by falling costs of renewables. Solar photovoltaic now cost about €60 to produce per megawatt hour and prices are expected to fall further by 2050, to €40 or €30, he pointed out.

“So there will be an incentive to electrify everything,” Saenz de Miera said.

In fact, renewable electricity is becoming so cheap at certain times of the day – in sunny regions, mainly – that it poses challenges to prices and grid stability, leading to what Californians have dubbed the “duck curve”. Cheap electricity also depresses revenues – and therefore investments – in a global power sector in need of $16.4 trillion worth of fresh money in 2014-2035, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).

New business models

But Saenz de Miera says cheap electricity won’t be a problem for the industry, which will eventually reinvent itself. “And the business model of companies like Iberdrola will have to be adapted accordingly to provide services, not just electricity.”

With the electrification of the economy, power companies can also expect to verge into new business areas, and grow their potential to offer new services to clients.

“This will create challenges of course, but there is no way back. We will have to develop new business models but we are already very active thinking about this,” Saenz de Miera said, referring to research on the utility of the future by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

These new business models will rely greatly on digital tools providing consumers with real-time information about energy prices and consumption.

“I’m sure there will be apps or programmes that will do demand management for you. That’s why it’s so important to have real-time tariffs because it will give you the signal for when to charge your car battery, for instance, when the price is low.”

Smarter grids are also required to take in increasing distributed generation coming from consumers with rooftop solar panels, he pointed out. “And digitalisation is going to be key so we are investing a lot in networks”.

EU champions ‘people power’ but devil lies in the detail The European Commission’s Winter Package of energy proposals, unveiled yesterday (30 November), is set to boost household and local power generation, but obstacles remain.

Read more with EURACTIV

Output: Spanish electricity giant Iberdrola is investing approximately $200m each year in renewable energy solutions and smart grids, as it positions itself to become one of the industry's big players, said Gonzalo Saenz de Miera, the company’s Director of Climate Change. Digital technology, including artificial intelligence and blockchain, are set to be among the new wave of innovations, while lower prices will provide an incentive to electrify everything, according to the company. "Our strategy is to develop distribution networks, which are very important from the point of view of renewables integration”, said de Miera.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
China's EV strategy led to 'low-quality vehicles'
 China’s electric vehicle industry seems to be well on the road to global dominance. Dig a little deeper and the figures are less impressive than they first appear

Output: China's electric vehicle (EV) market has been distorted by generous government subsidies that have enabled local manufacturers to churn out thousands of low-quality EVs, while little or no investment was made in the charging infrastructure, according to according to Asian affairs commentator Tom Holland. To redress the balance, Beijing is reducing subsidies from CNY55,000 ($8,322) to CNY44,000, while next year will see the introduction of stricter manufacturing quotas, offering credits to companies who exceed their quotas. However, critics argue local manufacturers will simply sell their credits to fossil fuel-based carmakers.


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Utilities back new Australian decentralised energy exchange
 Melbourne-based tech start-up GreenSync has officially launched its potentially game-changing trading platform for distributed energy resources – a technology the Australian Energy Market Operator says will be key to grid stability as another summer approaches and as old coal power continues to exit the NEM and more and more variable renewable energy generation is added.

First revealed in its pilot phase in February this year, the platform – called deX, or Decentralised Energy Exchange – is an open exchange where energy capacity can be transacted between businesses, households, communities and utilities, and which promises to transform Australia’s energy industry.

The official unveiling, at an event held in Melbourne on Thursday night, had the enthusiastic backing of AEMO – AEMO chief Audrey Zibelman delivered a keynote address – as well as some of the nation’s biggest energy market players, including major network operators, gen-tailers, and retailers.

Speaking at the event, GreenSync CEO Dr Phil Blythe revealed the deX’s 37 industry partners and stakeholders – including AGL Energy, EnergyAustralia, United Energy, SA PowerNetworks, ActewAGL and the newly added Energy Queensland.

Other key partners include global tech giants like Tesla, Siemens and ABB, as well as local smart energy innovators Geli and WattWatchers.

The GreenSync model is particularly promising precisely because of this broad range of support and collaboration the company has gathered over the past six months, including a partnership with Energy Networks Australia that is working on the development of national connection standards.

DeX also has the backing of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, with grant funding announced in February after the platform’s initial development through ARENA’s integration innovation program, A-Lab.

This network gives GreenSync a major footing in the potentially huge national – and international – demand response market, which AEMO’s Ziebelman has said will be vital in the transformation of grids from centralised hub-and-spoke models, to nimble, renewables-based networks where a wide variety distributed energy resources are shared, stored and traded.

As Blythe explains, deX can be applied to the distributed renewable energy market at a very small level – such as one suburban street, as the company is currently trialling with UnitedEnergy on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula.

Or, it can be applied at a much larger scale, such as to encompass the rooftop solar of a whole state, something the company is working to do in its most recently announced deal with Energy Queensland. It has another major state/territory-wide collaboration in the works, that it expects to announce in coming months.

But ultimately, says Blythe, the idea is that all of the distributed resources across the country would be enrolled in markets like this.

That amounts to a potentially huge amount of generation capacity – much of it currently “invisible” to the energy market operator – that could be used to help balance the grid. According to the Clean Energy Regulator’s latest data, Australia has installed a total of 6GW (6,000MW) of small-scale renewable energy generators to date – 5.9GW of it rooftop solar.

In the large-scale renewables market, meanwhile, there is massive 20GW of capacity currently sitting in the development pipeline.

“This is the first time that industry has come together in this way,” said Blythe. “This is an opportunity born from our current energy crisis, deX provides a framework to increase customer value, improve system reliability and manage the transition to a renewable energy future.

“I think the industry and the community have been waiting for this and it shows in the level of interest in just six months. We’ve taken all the feedback and we’re unveiling a model that works for everyone,” he said.

“We’re painting a vision for how we see deX playing an instrumental role allowing a framework for every industry partner and participant to be able to contract distributed resources similar to

the way our wholesale markets work today.

“Eventually it should encompass all distributed resources.”

Output: Melbourne start-up GreenSync has unveiled its decentralised energy exchange (DeX), which could transform Australia’s energy industry. DeX offers an open exchange in which energy capacity can be shared, stored and sold between businesses, households, communities and utilities. It is scalable from a local area – with a trial taking place on a single street in Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula – to the rooftop solar of an entire state. The technology is key to a stable grid in the era of renewable energy from diversified sources. Australia has around 20 GW of renewable capacity in the pipeline, according to the Clean Energy Regulator. Partners in the exchange include local utilities and multinationals.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

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Inorganic semiconductors produce chemicals from CO2
 In California, photosynthesis provides energy for the vast majority of life on Earth. But chlorophyll, the green pigment that plants use to harvest sunlight, is relatively inefficient. To enable humans to capture more of the sun’s energy than natural photosynthesis can, scientists have taught bacteria to cover themselves in tiny, highly efficient solar panels to produce useful compounds.

Researchers the University of California, Berkeley are focusing on harnessing inorganic semiconductors that can capture sunlight to organisms such as bacteria that can then use the energy to produce useful chemicals from carbon dioxide and water. They work with a naturally occurring, nonphotosynthetic bacterium, Moorella thermoacetica, which, as part of its normal respiration, produces acetic acid from carbon dioxide (CO 2 ). Acetic acid is a versatile chemical that can be readily upgraded to a number of fuels, polymers, pharmaceuticals and commodity chemicals through complementary, genetically engineered bacteria.

Output: Scientists from the University of California, Berkeley, have used inorganic semiconductors to help non-photosynthetic bacteria synthesise chemicals from carbon dioxide. Photosynthesis in plants provides energy for most of life on earth, but key component chlorophyll is relatively inefficient. Researchers have now taught naturally-occurring bacterium Moorella thermoacetica to work with the semiconductors to more efficiently produce acetic acid. The acetic acid can then be upgraded for use in polymers, pharmaceuticals and some fuels, through genetically-engineered bacteria.


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Russian oil fracking method could improve production six-fold
 Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin smiles, with his face smeared with crude oil, during a visit to a Lukoil oil platform in the Caspian Sea near Astrakhan. Reuters/RIA Novosti

Russian scientists and local oil field services companies claim to have created a technology for thermochemical gas fracturing that could be an alternative to hydraulic fracturing and could increase oil production by between 1.7 and 6 times, Russia’s news agency RIA Novosti reports, citing the University of Tyumen’s press service.

In hydraulic fracturing, rocks are fractured with high-pressure injection of fluids, while the new breakthrough technology, as claimed by Russian scientists and media, is creating chemical reactions in the strata that contain oil.

The chemicals react and emit heat and gas, which makes extraction easier and lifts well productivity, according to the scientists and researchers.

The other upside in the technology, the Russians claim, is that the main component in the chemical reactions is ammonium nitrate, which is often used as fertilizer.

According to Professor Konstantin Fedorov, Director of the Institute of Physics and Technology at the University of Tyumen and the scientific consultant on the project, the improved well productivity effect lasts between 300 and 1,000 days. Production increases by between 1.7 times and 6 times compared to the initial output level, although the scientists have seen tests with production increases of 10 to 20 times.

The success rate is close to 100 percent, Fedorov claims, as reported by Russian media.

According to the University of Tyumen, the project—partially supported by government funding—had the goal to create an innovative and, more importantly, Russian method of oil and gas production.

The project partners plan to begin the first tests at operational wells of one of Rosneft’s subsidiaries in September, according to the University of Tyumen.

Plans are that the new technology could also be tested at oil fields of other major Russian companies, including Tatneft, Bashneft, and Gazprom Neft, Sputnik International reports.

Output: Russian scientists claim to have invented an alternative fracking technique that increases oil production by 1.7 to 6 times, with productivity lasting between 300 and 1,000 days, according to a report by national news service RIA Novosti. The method uses thermo-chemical gas fracturing, which initiates chemical reactions in oil-rich strata that lead to gas and heat emissions for easier extraction, said Professor Konstantin Fedorov, director of the Institute of Physics and Technology at the University of Tyumen, and the scientific consultant on the project. The first official testing of the technique will begin this month at a subsidiary of state-owned oil firm Rosneft.


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Liquid-metal membrane tech could accelerate fuel-cell vehicles
 From left, Pei-Shan Yen '16 (PhD),Ravindra Datta, professor of chemical engineering, and Nicholas Deveau '17 (PhD) at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI developed novel sandwiched liquid-metal membranes that could help lower the cost of hydrogen for fuel-cell-powered vehicles. Credit: Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI)

While cars powered by hydrogen fuel cells offer clear advantages over the electric vehicles that are growing in popularity (including their longer range, their lower overall environmental impact, and the fact that they can be refueled in minutes, versus hours of charging time), they have yet to take off with consumers. One reason is the high cost and complexity of producing, distributing, and storing the pure hydrogen needed to power them, which has hindered the roll-out of hydrogen refueling stations.

Engineers have long recognized the power—and limitless availability—of hydrogen, the most abundant element in the universe. Hydrogen occurs naturally in the environment, but it is almost always chemically bound to other elements—to oxygen in water (H2O), for example, or to carbon in methane (CH4). To obtain pure hydrogen, it must be separated from one of these molecules. Virtually all of the hydrogen produced in the United States is obtained from hydrocarbon fuels, primarily natural gas, through steam reforming, a multi-step process in which the hydrocarbons react with high-temperature steam in the presence of a catalyst to produce carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and molecular hydrogen (H2).

The hydrogen can then be separated from the other gases through a cumbersome, multi-step chemical process, but the cost and complexity of hydrogen production can be reduced by using a membrane to do the separation. Most of the hydrogen separation membranes currently being developed use the precious metal palladium, which has unusually high hydrogen solubility and permeance (which means that hydrogen easily dissolves in and travels through the metal, while other gases are excluded). But palladium is expensive (it currently sells for about $900 per ounce) and fragile.

For these reasons, chemical engineers have long searched for alternatives to palladium for use in hydrogen separation membranes, but so far, no suitable candidates have emerged. A pioneering study led by Ravindra Datta, professor of chemical engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), may have identified the long-elusive palladium alternative: liquid metals.

A host of metals and alloys are liquid at the standard operating temperatures found in steam reforming systems (around 500 degrees C), and most of these are far less expensive than palladium. In addition, a membrane made with a film of liquid metal should not be prone to the defects and cracks that can render a palladium membrane unusable.

The WPI study, published in the Journal of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, is the first to demonstrate that in addition to these advantages, liquid-metal membranes also appear to be significantly more effective than palladium at separating pure hydrogen from other gases, suggesting that they may provide a practical and effective solution to the challenge of supplying affordable hydrogen for fuel-cell vehicles. "The recent shift to electric cars is irreversible," said Datta. The next step after electric vehicles, he and others believe, is hydrogen-fuel vehicles—if the hydrogen supply puzzle is solved.

Like battery-powered electric cars, fuel-cell vehicles have electric motors. The motors are powered by electricity generated inside the fuel cell when hydrogen and oxygen combine in the presence of a catalyst (the only "waste" product is water). While they can pull oxygen from the air, the cars must carry a supply of pure hydrogen.

Many researchers have focused on bringing the cost of that hydrogen down by making better and thinner palladium membranes. Some of the most advanced membranes were produced by retired WPI chemical engineering professor Yi Hua "Ed" Ma, who, with considerable funding from industry and the U.S. Department of Energy, pioneered a process for binding palladium to a porous steel tube, resulting in palladium layers as thin as 5 to 10 microns.

Making the palladium layer thin increases the membrane's flux, or the rate at which pure hydrogen moves through it. "But if a membrane is too thin," Datta said, "it becomes fragile or it develops defects. And the membranes need to be defect-free. If they develop even a hairline crack or a micropore, you have to start over."

Researchers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) tested a prototype sandwiched liquid-metal membrane with this laboratory set-up. The membrane, a thin layer of gallium sandwiched between porous ceramic supports, selectively separated hydrogen from a mixed-gas stream more efficiently than a comparable palladium membrane. Credit: Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI)/Curtis Sayers

Six years ago, Datta and his students began to wonder whether liquid metals might overcome some of palladium's limitations—particularly its cost and fragility—while also, potentially, offering superior hydrogen solubility and permeance. "Besides chemical affinity, permeance depends on how open a metallic crystal structure is," he said. "Liquid metals have more space between atoms than solid metals, so their solubility and diffusability should be higher."

After a literature review revealed no previous research on this topic, Datta successfully applied for a $1 million award from the U.S. Department of Energy to study the feasibility of using liquid metals for hydrogen separation. he and his team, graduate students Pei-Shan Yen and Nicholas Deveau (Yen earned her PhD in 2016; Deveau received his in May), decided to begin their exploration with gallium, a nontoxic metal that is liquid at room temperature.

They conducted fundamental work that revealed that gallium was an excellent candidate, as it demonstrated significantly higher hydrogen permeance than palladium at elevated temperatures. In fact, laboratory studies and theoretical modeling conducted by the team showed that a number of metals that are liquid at higher temperatures may have better hydrogen permeance than palladium.

While liquid gallium showed great promise as a material for hydrogen separation, creating a functioning membrane with the metal proved challenging, Datta said. "It turns out that liquid metals are very reactive," he said. "You cannot place gallium on a porous metal support, as Professor Ma did with palladium, since at higher temperatures it quickly forms intermetallic compounds that kill the permeability." The team discovered that the metal will also react with a number of ceramic materials commonly used as supports in palladium membranes.

Through modelling and experimentation, they compiled a list of materials, including carbon-based materials like graphite and silicon carbide, that do not chemically react with liquid gallium but that are also wettable by the liquid metal, meaning that the metal will spread out to form a thin film on the support material.

Aware that the surface tension of liquid metals was likely to change in response to variations in temperature and the composition of the gases they were exposed to, potentially producing leaks, they decided to insert the metal between two layers of support material to create a sandwiched liquid-metal membrane or SLiMM. A membrane consisting of a thin (two-tenths of a millimeter) layer of liquid gallium between a layer of silicon carbide and a layer of graphite, was constructed in the lab and tested for stability and hydrogen permeance.

The membrane was exposed to a hydrogen atmosphere for two weeks at temperatures ranging from 480 to 550 degrees C. The results showed that the liquid gallium film was up to 35 times more permeable to hydrogen than a comparable layer of palladium and that diffusion of hydrogen through the sandwiched membrane was considerably higher than for a typical palladium membrane. The test also showed that the membranes were selective, allowing just hydrogen to pass through.

"These tests confirmed our hypotheses that liquid metals may be suitable candidate for hydrogen separation membranes," Datta said, "suggesting that these materials could be the long-sought substitute for palladium. There are a host of questions that still need to be answered, including whether the small membranes we constructed in the laboratory can be scaled up and whether the membranes will be resistant to substances present in reformed gases (including carbon monoxide and sulfur) that are known to poison palladium membranes.

"But by demonstrating the feasibility of sandwiched liquid-metal membranes, we have opened the door to a highly promising new area of hydrogen energy research," Datta added, "for there are many other metals and alloys, beyond gallium, that are liquid at 500 degrees C. It is a vast open field, in terms of what materials you might use. Also, it poses a host of interesting scientific questions."

More information: Pei-Shan Yen et al, Sandwiched liquid metal membrane (SLiMM) for hydrogen purification, AIChE Journal (2017). DOI: 10.1002/aic.15658

Output: Vehicles powered by hydrogen fuel cells could be more economical by using liquid-metal membrane technology, according to researchers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, who have been working on alternatives to existing separation membranes that use the precious metal palladium to separate hydrogen from other gases. The high cost of palladium has led to efforts to produce thinner membranes. However, these can be even more fragile and develop defects. The researchers demonstrated the feasibility of liquid metals using gallium sandwiched between layers of silicon carbide and graphite, paving the way to what they believe is a highly-promising area of hydrogen research.


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Researchers break 35% solar cell efficiency barrier
 A team of researchers from three leading institutes tested a variety of materials based on III-V elements, in stacked, tandem configurations with silicon bottom cells. A dual-junction solar cell, combining an NREL-engineered gallium arsenide (GaAs) top cell and a silicon heterojunction cell developed by CSEM, was measured at 32.8%, while a triple junction cell also incorporating a layer of indium gallium phosphate (GaInP) achieved 35.9% efficiency.

Efficiency of 32.8% represents a new record high for two junction III-V/Si solar cells, breaking the same research group’s previous record of 29.8% set in 2016. “This achievement is significant because it shows, for the first time, that silicon based tandem cells can provide efficiencies competing with more expensive multi-junction cells consisting entirely of III-V materials,” says NREL scientist Adele Tamboli. “It opens the door to develop entirely new multi-junction solar cell materials and architectures.”

Tandem cells are a popular area of research in PV, thanks to their potential to push higher efficiencies without forcing the industry to move away from silicon solar cells, where enormous cost reductions have been achieved in recent years.

While impressive, these cells are far from being financially viable – NREL estimates a cost per watt of $4.85 for the GaInP cell, and $7.15 for the GaAs cell, based on 30% efficiency. The scientists estimate, however, that by adjusting to 35% efficiency and incorporating savings from economies of scale that could be achieved through ramping up production, the cost per watt could quickly be reduced to below $1/W. “Such a precipitous price drop is not unprecedented,” notes NREL. “For instance, the cost of Chinese made PV modules fell from $4.50/W in 2006 to $1/W in 2011.”

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NREL goes on to note that, if costs for a III-V solar cell cannot be brought down to these levels, then cheaper materials will need to be sought. The researchers still stress though, that this breakthrough serves as proof of concept for the use of silicon cells in tandem with other high efficiency materials, and the researchers mention that CSEM is also studying the use of perovskite to optimize solar’s cost/efficiency ratio.

“These records show that combining crystalline silicon and other materials is the way forward if we are to improve solar power’s cost/efficiency ratio,” states Christophe Ballif, Director of CSEM’s PV-center. “It affirms that silicon HJT solar cells, when integrated into the structure that we’ve developed, can generate multi-junction cell conversion efficiencies over 32%.”

Output: Researchers from the Swiss Centre for Electronics and Microtechnology (CSEM), the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) have achieved 35.9% cell efficiency with a multi-junction tandem solar cell. Tandem cells can achieve greater efficiencies without the need to bypass silicon solar cells, which have seen dramatic cost reductions. CSEM is also studying the use of perovskite to improve the performance of solar cells.


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Starwood Energy sells minority stake in Texas wind farms
 GREENWICH, Conn., Aug. 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Starwood Energy Group Global, LLC ("Starwood Energy"), a leading private investment firm focused on energy infrastructure, announced today that it has sold 49% of its interests in the Horse Creek and Electra wind farms to Munich Re Group, advised by its group-internal asset manager MEAG.

Horse Creek and Electra, located in Haskell and Wilbarger Counties, Texas, are identical 230MW wind projects that were constructed by Starwood Energy and began operations in late 2016.

"We are excited to be partnering with an organization with MEAG's reputation and capabilities. We look forward to the continued success of the Horse Creek and Electra projects, as well as the growth of our relationship with the MEAG team," said Himanshu Saxena, Senior Managing Director and Co-Head of Starwood Energy Group.

"The investment makes an attractive and sustainable contribution to the continued geographical diversification and expansion of our US infrastructure portfolio. Around 200,000 US households are provided with renewable electricity from these wind farms. We are now looking forward to working with our new partner Starwood," says MEAG Managing Director Holger Kerzel.

About Starwood Energy Group Global, LLC

Starwood Energy Group is a private investment firm based in Greenwich, CT that specializes in energy infrastructure investments, with a focus on natural gas and renewable power generation, transmission, storage and related projects. Through its Starwood Energy Infrastructure Funds and affiliated investment vehicles, Starwood Energy Group has raised approximately $3 billion of equity capital and has executed transactions totaling more than $6 billion in enterprise value. The Starwood Energy Group team brings extensive development, construction, operations, acquisition and financing expertise to its investments. Starwood Energy Group is an affiliate of Starwood Capital Group Global, L.P. Additional information about Starwood Energy Group as well as Starwood Capital Group can be found at www.starwoodenergygroup.com.

SOURCE Starwood Energy Group Global, LLC

Related Links

http://www.starwoodenergygroup.com

Output: Private equity firm Starwood Energy Group Global has sold a 49% stake in the Horse Creek and Electra wind farms to Munich Re Group, advised by its group-internal asset manager MEAG. Horse Creek and Electra, located in Haskell and Wilbarger Counties, Texas, are identical 230 MW wind projects that were constructed by Starwood Energy and began operations in late 2016.


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Quantum Energy forms joint venture Vitruvian Exploration IV
 HOUSTON, TX--(Marketwired - August 24, 2017) - Quantum Energy Partners, a leading energy private equity firm, is pleased to announce the formation of Vitruvian Exploration IV with industry veterans Richard Lane, John Thaeler and Brian Rickmers. Supported by a $450 million equity commitment from Quantum, Vitruvian IV is actively building a portfolio of high quality, emerging and undeveloped oil and gas assets in North American unconventional resource plays. Vitruvian IV is the third consecutive partnership between Quantum, Lane, Thaeler and Rickmers.

Vitruvian IV will initially be focused on the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas. To-date, the Company has acquired or contracted to acquire ~120,000 net acres of undeveloped and highly contiguous leasehold in one of its target areas. This includes the acquisition of Sanchez Energy's (NYSE: SN) recently announced ~70,000 net acre Javelina asset divestment. The acreage acquired by Vitruvian IV possesses world class resource rock properties, is optimally situated for long-lateral development and has no existing midstream dedications which will provide for an optimal long-term development strategy. Vitruvian IV will commence operations on its Eagle Ford assets during the fourth quarter of 2017.

The Vitruvian IV team is led by Richard Lane as Executive Chairman, John Thaeler as Chief Executive Officer and Brian Rickmers as Chief Financial Officer. Prior to the formation of Vitruvian IV, Lane, Thaeler and Rickmers were the founders and senior leaders of Quantum-backed Vitruvian Exploration II and Vitruvian Exploration III. Vitruvian II acquired, delineated and developed a core position in Oklahoma's SCOOP play which was ultimately sold to Gulfport Energy (NASDAQ: GPOR) in February 2017 for $1.85 billion. Vitruvian III followed a similar strategy on a smaller scale in Oklahoma's STACK play which was sold to an undisclosed buyer in April 2017. Prior to Vitruvian, both Lane and Thaeler were senior executives at Southwestern Energy Company (NYSE: SWN), and Rickmers was Chief Commercial Officer at Newfield Exploration Company (NYSE: NFX).

Lane, Thaeler and Rickmers are supported by a highly experienced and seasoned team who provide a strong operating platform to focus on the immediate execution of the Company's strategy. The team has been working together successfully for nearly a decade and has an outstanding track record of creating value in unconventional resource plays.

"Vitruvian is proud to extend its long-standing partnership with Quantum," remarked Lane. "When we set out to find a financial partner in 2012, we wanted a technically minded, long-term, strategic partner who could help us achieve our goals and maximize value. As evidenced by our past successes with Vitruvian II and Vitruvian III, we found exactly what we were looking for with Quantum."

Dheeraj Verma, President of Quantum, commented, "We are very pleased to partner again with Richard, John, Brian and the entire management team at Vitruvian IV. They are a team of talented and motivated individuals who are exceptional at evaluating and then developing unconventional reservoirs. This team has consistently created significant value for all stakeholders through the application of technology and best operating practices in a safe and responsible manner."

About Vitruvian Exploration IV, LLC

Based in The Woodlands, TX, Vitruvian Exploration IV, LLC is focused on acquiring, developing and operating unconventional oil and gas assets in the United States.

About Quantum Energy Partners

Quantum Energy Partners is a leading provider of private equity capital to the global energy industry, having managed together with its affiliates more than $13.5 billion in equity commitments since inception. For more information on Quantum, please visit www.quantumep.com.

Output: Private-equity firm Quantum Energy Partners has formed a joint venture called Vitruvian Exploration IV with industry veterans Richard Lane, John Thaeler and Brian Rickmers supported by a $450m equity commitment from Quantum. The JV is focused on emerging and undeveloped oil and gas assets in North American unconventional resource plays, starting with the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas. It has acquired or contracted to acquire about 120,000 net acres of undeveloped and highly contiguous leasehold in one of its target areas, including 70,000 net acres from Sanchez Energy.


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Puma Energy to buy 51% of Admore Gas
 (Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/548915/Puma_Energy_Chishti_Group.jpg )

Admore is one of the leading independent Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) in Pakistan with a significant retail network of over 470 sites nationwide. Puma Energy is one of the world's largest independent midstream and downstream oil companies. The acquisition forms part of Puma Energy's global strategy of disciplined investing in fast-growing markets with a high demand for oil products, offering the opportunity to improve local infrastructure, provide supply security and world-class retail propositions to local consumers.

The joint venture will bring Puma Energy branded retail sites, convenience stores and quality product range to the Pakistan market, and undertake a significant investment programme to develop best-in-class supply chain infrastructure in-country to ensure the future needs of our retail business partners and public customers can be met.

Puma Energy's CEO Pierre Eladari said "Puma Energy continues to expand into new markets where its proven business model can deliver value to our customers and shareholders alike. Pakistan is on a firm growth trajectory; growth which will place increasing demands on the downstream oil sector. We, together with our new partner, intend to play an important role in the future development of the industry, working with our new stakeholders in government, business and the public to improve the reliability, standards, service and product offering currently available."

David Holden, the General Manager of the joint venture, said "We have been greatly impressed by Admore's business, its strategic asset base, its customer portfolio and the excellence of its management and employees. We believe we can bring further benefits with our expertise in retail, logistics and our ability to ensure reliable and secure supply of high quality fuels to our customers."

Chishti Group Chairman, Amir Waliuddin Chishti commented: "We believe partnering with Puma Energy will benefit our Admore network, connecting Pakistan to the global market and ensuring security of supply for Pakistan's future growth. We see many opportunities for continued investment in infrastructure and supply to our portfolio of customers."

About Puma Energy

Puma Energy is a global integrated midstream and downstream oil company active in close to 47 countries. Formed in 1997 in Central America, Puma Energy has since expanded its activities worldwide, achieving rapid growth, diversification and product line development. The company directly manages over 8,000 employees. Headquartered in Singapore, it has regional hubs in Johannesburg (South Africa), San Juan (Puerto Rico), Brisbane (Australia) and Tallinn (Estonia).

Puma Energy's core activities in the midstream sector include the supply, storage and transportation of petroleum products. Puma Energy's activities are underpinned by investment in infrastructure which optimises supply chain systems, capturing value as both asset owner and marketer of product. Puma Energy's downstream activities include the distribution, retail sales and wholesale of a wide range of refined products, with additional product offerings in the lubricants, bitumen, LPG and marine bunkering sectors. Puma Energy currently has a global network of over 2,500 retail service stations. Puma Energy also provides a robust platform for independent entrepreneurs to develop their businesses, by providing a viable alternative to traditional market supply sources.

For further information visit: http://www.pumaenergy.com

About Chishti Group

Chishti Group is a renowned Pakistani conglomerate with a diversified business presence across several industry sectors including Healthcare, Education, Financial Services and Oil marketing. The current annual revenue of the Group is above USD 150mn with an employee base of 3,000. In the healthcare and education sectors, the group is successfully running (i) a 300-bed tertiary care hospital providing healthcare facilities, and (ii) the accredited educational institution which is awarding degree programs in MBBS, BDS, Post Graduate and Nursing care. Its full service brokerage business is a leading player in the Equity, Fixed income and Money Market business and is ranked among the top ten in the country. Having transformed and turned around three loss making businesses (due to its strong commitment with the country, excellent human capital and unmatched business execution capability), the group acquired Admore in 2014. Since then, with over 470 retail outlets, Admore has witnessed a significant improvement in terms of supply, storage and corporate governance in a very short period of time.

SOURCE Puma Energy

Output: Puma Energy has announced a joint venture with Chishti Group in Pakistan and will acquire a 51% interest in Admore Gas. Admore is an independent oil marketing company in Pakistan with a retail network of over 470 sites nationwide. Puma Energy is an independent midstream and downstream oil company.


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Input:
Recycled bottle turned into lithium-ion battery
 Waste glass bottles are turned into nanosilicon anodes using a low-cost chemical process. Researchers in California have devised a way to re-use glass bottles to develop a lithium-ion battery that demonstrated better performance than currently used energy sources. (Source: University of California, Riverside)

Researchers in California have devised a way to re-use glass bottles to develop a lithium-ion battery that demonstrated better performance than currently used energy sources as part of an ongoing effort to develop batteries that are more environmentally friendly.

A team at the University of California, Riverside led by Professors Cengiz Ozkan and Mihri Ozkan combined the use of waste glass and a low-cost chemical process to develop nanosilicon anodes for high-performance lithium-ion batteries that could potentially be used for electric and hybrid vehicles, as well as a number of personal electronics, they said.

The research in essence kills two birds with one stone, finding a way to reuse glass that would otherwise become a waste product while also advancing the development of better batteries for next-generation vehicles and devices, said Changling Li, a graduate student in materials science and engineering. Li also is the lead author on a paper the team published in the journal Scientific Reports.

“We started with a waste product that was headed for the landfill and created batteries that stored more energy, charged faster, and were more stable than commercial coin cell batteries,” he said. “Hence, we have very promising candidates for next-generation lithium-ion batteries.”

Cengiz Ozkan is a professor of mechanical engineering at UC Riverside while Mihri Ozkan is a professor of electrical engineering. The two have been pioneering a number of projects to create lithium-ion battery anodes from environmentally friendly materials, with previous efforts developing and testing anodes from portabella mushrooms, sand, and fossil-rich earth, Mihri Ozkan said.

“In the past, we have demonstrated lithium-ion battery anodes fabricated using bio-mass (mushrooms), beach sand, and diatom fossils as nature-abundant precursor materials,” she told Design News in an interview. “Such natural resources can help reduce the cost of lithium-ion batteries, as well as minimize the carbon foot print from graphite-based anodes in lithium-ion batteries.”

Despite current recycling programs, billions of glass bottles still end up in landfills every year, Ozkan said. This inspired the Ozkans and their team to explore whether the silicon dioxide in waste glass bottles could provide high-purity silicon nanoparticles for lithium-ion batteries, Mihri Ozkan said.

It turns out that they could, the team found. The benefit of silicon is that silicon anodes can store up to 10 times more energy than conventional graphite anodes. However, the issue has typically been that they expand and shrink during charge and discharge, making them unstable.

Researchers have had some success in reducing the problem by downsizing silicon to the nanoscale. The Ozkans’ team managed to solve the problem by combining an abundant and relatively pure form of silicon dioxide and a low-cost chemical reaction, which resulted in lithium-ion half-cell batteries with significant energy improvements over current battery anodes, Cengiz Ozkan said.

“Today graphite is used as the main commercial material for fabricating the anode electrodes,” he explained. “We replaced graphite in the anodes with our new nanosilicon material derived from waste glass bottles. In the half-cell configuration, our batteries demonstrate performance about four times higher compared to graphite anode batteries.”

To create the anodes, the team used a three-step process. First, they crushed and grinded the glass—derived from a bottle at a Starbucks—into a fine white powder, then used a magnesiothermic reduction to transform the silicon dioxide into nanostructured silicon. Finally, researchers coated the silicon nanoparticles with carbon to improve their stability and energy-storage properties.

The team plans to continue its work to improve the technology for commercial use, as well as explore other eco-friendly battery chemistries and materials.

“We currently scaled up the battery manufacturing process in our laboratories to pouch scale, which is the format for applications in consumable electronics and electric vehicles,” Mihri Ozkan said.

In the meantime, the university’s Office of Technology Commercialization has filed a patent application for their latest inventions.

Elizabeth Montalbano is a freelance writer who has written about technology and culture for more than 15 years. She currently resides in a village on the southwest coast of Portugal.

Output: University of California researchers have discovered a way to reuse glass bottles to create more environmentally friendly lithium-ion batteries. The team utilised waste glass and a cheap magnesiothermic reduction process to create nanosilicon anodes to produce high-performance batteries that could be used in electric or hybrid vehicles. The process reduces glass bottle waste and increases energy capacity, with silicon anodes being able to store 10 times more energy than graphite anodes. By creating nano-sized silicon anodes, the batteries avoid issues of unstable expansion and shrinkage.


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Input:
New cathode improves capacity of magnesium battery
 Schematic of the structural evolution of titanium disulfide at different stages of intercalation. Interlayers are expanded or distorted as different amounts of pillaring molecules, complex cations and solvents are intercalated into the van der Waals gap of a host material at each stage. Credit: University of Houston, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Magnesium batteries offer promise for safely powering modern life—unlike traditional lithium ion batteries, they are not flammable or subject to exploding—but their ability to store energy has been limited.

Researchers reported Aug. 24 in the journal Nature Communications the discovery of a new design for the battery cathode, drastically increasing the storage capacity and upending conventional wisdom that the magnesium-chloride bond must be broken before inserting magnesium into the host.

"We are combining a nanostructured cathode and a new understanding of the magnesium electrolyte," said Yan Yao, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Houston and lead author on the paper. "That's new."

The work was first conceived by Yao and postdoctoral fellow Hyun Deog Yoo in 2014; the project spanned several years and involved scientists from three universities and three national laboratories, working both experimentally and theoretically.

"Magnesium ion is known to be hard to insert into a host," said Yoo, first author on the paper. "First of all, it is very difficult to break magnesium-chloride bonds. More than that, magnesium ions produced in that way move extremely slowly in the host. That altogether lowers the battery's efficiency."

The new battery stores energy by inserting magnesium monochloride into a host, such as titanium disulfide. By retaining the magnesium-chloride bond, Yao said, the cathode demonstrated much faster diffusion than traditional magnesium versions.

The researchers report the new battery has storage capacity of 400 mAh/g, compared with 100 mAh/g for earlier magnesium batteries. Commercial lithium ion batteries have a cathode capacity of about 200 mAh/g, said Yao, who is also a principal investigator with the Texas Center for Superconductivity at UH.

Voltage of the new battery remains low at about one volt. That compares to three to four volts for lithium batteries.

The high voltage, coupled with their high energy density, has made lithium ion batteries the standard. But lithium is expensive and can develop breaches in its internal structure, a condition known as dendrite growths, which can cause the batteries to catch fire. As an earth-abundant resource, magnesium is cheaper and does not form dendrites. Until now, however, it has been held back by the need for a better cathode—the electrode from which the current flows—and more efficient electrolytes, the medium through which the ionic charge flows between cathode and anode.

This work suggests a solution.

The key, Yoo said, is to expand the titanium disulfide to allow magnesium chloride to be inserted—a four-step process called intercalation—rather than breaking the magnesium-chloride bonds and inserting the magnesium alone. Retaining the magnesium-chloride bond doubled the charge the cathode could store.

The magnesium monochloride molecules are too large to be inserted into the titanium disulfide using conventional methods. Building upon their earlier work, the researchers created an open nanostructure by expanding the gaps in the titanium disulfide by 300 percent, using organic "pillars."

The opening still was small, increased from 0.57 nanometers to 1.8 nanometers, but Yao said that allowed for the magnesium chloride to be inserted.

"Combined theoretical modeling, spectroscopic analysis, and electrochemical study reveal fast diffusion kinetics of magnesium monochloride cations without scission of magnesium chloride bond," the researchers wrote. "... The large capacity accompanies excellent rate and cycling performances even at room temperature, opening up possibilities for a variety of effective intercalation hosts for multivalent-ion batteries."

"We hope this is a general strategy," Yoo said. "Inserting various polyatomic ions in higher voltage hosts, we eventually aim to create higher-energy batteries at a lower price, especially for electric vehicles."

More information: Hyun Deog Yoo et al. Fast kinetics of magnesium monochloride cations in interlayer-expanded titanium disulfide for magnesium rechargeable batteries, Nature Communications (2017). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-00431-9 Journal information: Nature Communications

Output: A new design for the cathodes of magnesium batteries could offer a safer power source with higher storage capacity. The design rejects conventional ideas of breaking the magnesium-chloride bond, instead inserting magnesium monochloride into a host and keeping the bond intact. That increases storage capacity to 400 mAh/g, four times that of its predecessors, but still only provides one volt in comparison to the three to four volts provided by lithium-ion batteries. Unlike traditional lithium-ion batteries, magnesium batteries are not flammable or subject to exploding.


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Stretchy fuel cells turn sweat into energy
 IANS

Researchers have developed stretchable fuel cells that extract energy from sweat and are capable of powering electronics, such as LEDs and Bluetooth radios.

In a paper, published in the journal Energy & Environmental Science, the researchers described how they connected the biofuel cells to a custom-made circuit board and demonstrated that the device was able to power an LED while a person wearing it exercised on a stationary bike.

The biofuel cell that the Engineers from the University of California, San Diego in the US developed can stretch and flex, conforming to the human body.

The research led by Professor Joseph Wang, who directs the Center for Wearable Sensors at the university, used a combination of clever chemistry, advanced materials and electronic interfaces.

The researchers explained that biofuel cells were equipped with an enzyme that oxidises the lactic acid present in human sweat to generate current. This turned the sweat into a source of power.

To make the biofuel cells flexible and stretchable, the engineers decided to use what they call a "bridge and island" structure developed in Professor Sheng Xu's research group.

Essentially, the cell is made up of rows of dots that are each connected by spring-shaped structures.

Half of the dots make up the cell's anode and the other half are the cathode.

The spring-like structures can stretch and bend, making the cell flexible without deforming the anode and cathode.

The basis for the islands and bridges structure was manufactured via lithography and is made of gold.

As a second step, researchers used screen printing to deposit layers of biofuel materials on top of the anode and cathode dots.

The researchers' biggest challenge was increasing the biofuel cell's energy density, meaning the amount of energy it can generate per surface area.

Increasing energy density is key to increasing performance for the biofuel cells. The more energy the cells can generate, the more powerful they can be.

To increase power density, engineers screen printed a 3D carbon nanotube structure on top the anodes and cathodes.

The structure allows engineers to load each anodic dot with more of the enzyme that reacts to lactic acid and silver oxide at the cathode dots. In addition, the tubes allow easier electron transfer, which improves biofuel cell performance, the study said.

Output: Researchers from the University of California have created stretchable fuel cells that can turn sweat from exercise into energy to power electronic devices. The biofuel cells are equipped with enzymes that oxidise lactic acid and generates a current strong enough to power LEDs and Bluetooth radios.


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Stretchy fuel cells turn sweat into energy
 Engineers have developed stretchable biofuel cells that extract energy from human sweat to power a range of wearable devices.

Biofuel cells island and bridge structure

The epidermal biofuel cells, which are claimed to generate 10 times more power per surface area than any existing wearable biofuel cells, are a major breakthrough in the field, which has been struggling to make devices that are stretchable enough and powerful enough.

Engineers from the University of California San Diego were able to achieve this breakthrough thanks to a combination of chemistry, advanced materials and electronic interfaces. This allowed them to build a stretchable electronic foundation by using lithography and by using screen-printing to make 3D carbon nanotube-based cathode and anode arrays.

The biofuel cells are equipped with an enzyme that oxidises the lactic acid present in human sweat to generate current. This turns the sweat into a source of power.

The engineers report their results in Energy & Environmental Science. In the paper, they describe how they connected the biofuel cells to a custom-made circuit board and demonstrated that it was able to power an LED while a person wearing it exercised on a stationary bike.

Prof Joseph Wang, who directs the Center for Wearable Sensors at UC San Diego, led the research, in collaboration with electrical engineering professor and center co-director Patrick Mercier and nanoegnineering professor Sheng Xu, both also at the Jacobs School of Engineering UC San Diego.

To be compatible with wearable devices, the biofuel cell needs to be flexible and stretchable, so engineers decided to use a "bridge and island" structure developed in Xu's research group. Essentially, the cell is made up of rows of dots that are each connected by spring-shaped structures. Half of the dots make up the cell's anode; the other half are the cathode. The spring-like structures can stretch and bend, making the cell flexible without deforming the anode and cathode.

The basis for the islands and bridges structure was manufactured via lithography and is made of gold. The researchers then used screen printing to deposit layers of biofuel materials on top of the anode and cathode dots.

The researchers' biggest challenge was increasing the biofuel cell's energy density.

"We needed to figure out the best combination of materials to use and in what ratio to use them," said Amay Bandodkar, one of the paper's first authors, who was then a Ph.D. student in Wang's research group.

To increase power density, engineers screen printed a 3D carbon nanotube structure on top the anodes and cathodes. The structure allows engineers to load each anodic dot with more of the enzyme that reacts to lactic acid and silver oxide at the cathode dots. In addition, the tubes allow easier electron transfer, which improves biofuel cell performance.

The biofuel cell was connected to a custom-made circuit board manufactured in Mercier's research group. The board is a DC/DC converter that evens out the power generated by the fuel cells, which fluctuates with the amount of sweat produced by a user, and turns it into constant power with a constant voltage.

Researchers equipped four subjects with the biofuel cell-board combination and had them exercise on a stationary bike. The subjects were able to power a blue LED for about four minutes.

Output: Researchers from the University of California have created stretchable fuel cells that can turn sweat from exercise into energy to power electronic devices. The biofuel cells are equipped with enzymes that oxidise lactic acid and generates a current strong enough to power LEDs and Bluetooth radios.


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Motor insurance fraud surges amid identity-theft epidemic
 Identity theft has reached epidemic levels in the UK, with incidents of this type of fraud running at almost 500 a day, according to the latest figures.

During the first six months of this year there were a record 89,000 cases of identity fraud, which typically involves criminals pretending to be an individual in order to steal their money, buy items or take out a loan or car insurance in their name.

The fraud prevention service Cifas, which issued the data, said these crimes were taking place almost exclusively online, and that the vast amount of personal data available on the internet and as a result of data breaches “is only making it easier for the fraudster”.

Simon Dukes, the Cifas chief executive, said: “We have seen identity fraud attempts increase year on year, now reaching epidemic levels, with identities being stolen at a rate of almost 500 a day … Criminals are relentlessly targeting consumers and businesses, and we must all be alert to the threat and do more to protect personal information.”

Identity fraud is one of the fastest-growing types of cybercrime, and experts say criminals are using increasingly sophisticated tactics. Fraudsters have increasingly been hacking into email accounts and then posing as a builder, solicitor or other tradesperson that the consumer has legitimately employed. Some customers have lost considerable sums after being duped into sending money to the bank accounts of criminals.

In many cases, victims do not even realise they have been targeted until a bill arrives for something they did not buy, or they experience problems with their credit rating when applying for a mortgage or loan.

To carry out this kind of crime successfully, fraudsters need access to their victim’s personal information such as name, date of birth, address and bank. Fraudsters get hold of this in a variety of ways, from stealing letters and hacking emails to obtaining data on the “dark web”, and exploiting some people’s willingness to share every detail of their life on social media.

There have been cases of people being targeted after posting a photo of their new debit or credit card on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram – which means their 16-digit number, expiry date, cardholder name, account number and sort code are all on display, giving a fraudster much of what they need to steal that individual’s identity.

The 89,000 identity frauds recorded – which may underestimate the true situation, as some people are too embarrassed to report incidents and may decide to write off any loss – is up 5% on the same period last year.

While more than half of all identity fraud cases involve bank accounts and plastic cards, the latest figures show a sharp rise in incidents involving motor insurance: 2,070 during the latest six months, compared with 20 during the same period in 2016.

The Insurance Fraud Bureau said it believed most of these cases were likely to involve people taking out fake motor policies – typically bought online from illegal “ghost brokers” – in order to avoid having to buy a genuine policy.

Cifas data is included in official crime statistics, and every day it sends about 800 fraud cases to the City of London police for potential investigation.

Its advice to consumers includes:

Set privacy settings across all social media channels, and think twice before sharing details such as full date of birth.

Password protect devices. Keep passwords complex by picking three random words, such as “roverducklemon,” and add or split them with symbols, numbers and capitals.

Install anti-virus software on laptops and any other personal devices and keep it up to date.

Output: A surge in identity thefts, described as an epidemic in the UK, has been marked by a sharp increase in motor insurance fraud. Of 89,000 identity frauds recorded last year, more than 2,000 were car-insurance related, according to fraud prevention service Cifas. The Insurance Fraud Bureau has said that most involved people taking out fake motor policies to avoid having to buy a genuine one.


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Robo-adviser Wealthsimple creates Halal investment portfolio
 Robo-adviser Wealthsimple has launched a new investment portfolio for observant Muslims, a move the company says builds off its success targeting smaller, underserviced groups of investors.

The Toronto-based wealth management firm says its Halal investing portfolio is designed for those adhering to Islamic laws that prohibit investing in certain companies and financial products.

Wealthsimple CEO Michael Katchen hopes the portfolio will resonate with a portion of the public, the same way its socially responsible investment portfolio options launched last year have.

"With socially responsible investing, people thought it was going to be a such a small niche, that it wouldn't be worth our time, but it turned out to be enormously successful," Katchen said.

"We now see a third of our clients in socially responsible portfolios. We realized there was an opportunity to create solutions for groups of people that were underserviced in the financial services industry — and in this case, with Muslims who hold certain religious beliefs and really don't have options when it comes to investments."

Katchen said there are only a handful of Islamic-compliant portfolio options available in Canada, some of which he said have "egregiously expensive" management expense ratio fees upward of more than 2.8 per cent as well as high account size minimums.

Wealthsimple's Halal portfolio will have the same fee structure as its other core offerings, with 0.5 per cent on the first $100,000 invested and no account minimum.

Market size has also figured into its introduction of the portfolio, Katchen said.

With slightly more than one million Canadians identifying themselves as Muslim in the latest census, representing 3.2 per cent of the total population, "it's important to us that we go after opportunities that represent growth," he said.

Wealthsimple designed its Halal portfolio with global index provider MSCI, using a methodology approved by its committee of Shariah scholars.

The all-equity portfolio, which uses the same passive investment strategy as Wealthsimple's other portfolios, is comprised of 50 stocks designed to maximize diversification and closely track the MSCI ACWI Islamic Index.

The stocks included in the portfolio are filtered using two processes. A business activity screen filters companies that are directly active in, or derive over five per cent of their revenue from, a prohibited Muslim activity such as alcohol, tobacco, gambling or pork production. A financial screen filters out companies that derive significant income from interest or have considerable leverage.

Katchen said Wealthsimple will continue to launch new products that introduce solutions for investors who are underserviced or improve upon offerings that are already in the market.

"If you look at our history, we generally try to lead with innovative new products and services a few times a year, so I think you can expect more stuff from us."

Output: Canadian robo-adviser Wealthsimple is offering a new Halal investment portfolio specifically for Muslims. The portfolio will be designed for those following Islamic laws that forbid investment in certain kinds of products and businesses. The company hopes that the new offering will prove as popular as its socially responsible investment portfolios, which it described as "enormously successful".