The Global Energy Association presented its first annual report “Ten breakthrough ideas in energy for the next 10 years”– written by academics from countries throughout the world. The report is a reflection of the principal branches of research directed at the campaign against global climate change.

This includes development of energy efficiency and energy conservation as well as renewable energy technology.

World-wide climate change is now a reality and its pace poses a threat by virtue of irreversible consequences for ecosystems. According to the gloomiest of forecasts by environmentalists, within 50 years up to 3.5 billion people could find themselves living in areas unsuitable for supporting life, if humanity does not reduce CO2 emissions. The overall land area of planet Earth on which the annual average temperature exceeds 29 degrees Celsius (the temperature prevailing in the Sahara desert) could increase from 0.8 % to 19 % of the total land area.

“From the standpoint of economic efficiency, the ideas presented in the report are not a wide departure from traditional energy. The need for hydrocarbons, for oil, for the gas chemistry industry will not disappear,” said the President of the Global Energy Association, Sergey Brilev.

“But these are ideas for the future to reduce CO2 emissions and create an aligned, balanced energy system and integrated energy companies.”

Brilev said the ideas set down in the report could radically change the structure of world energy consumption.

Technology based on these ideas calls for a growth in energy efficiency and energy conservation, a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and for the development of renewable energy.

Among authors contributing to the report are prominent academics from Russia, Britain, Italy and Iran.

The report deals with a wide range of topics and areas of interest, including:
Carbon capture and storage – technology allowing CO2 emissions to be separated from industrial and energy sources and kept in long-term isolation from the atmosphere.

Smart grids – technology of digital transformation allowing for the use of big data about energy production and use and for increasing efficiency and reliability of production and distribution of power,

Hydrogen energy – technology involving the use of hydrogen as fuel to produce electricity, for transport (including technology for industrial storage and long-distance travel)

Small modular reactors – the development of nuclear power, making it easier to introduce and use small and medium-sized capacity reactors (up to 300 MW), including in replacement of power stations using organic fuel.

Power to gas, P2G – technology allowing for the use of surplus electricity for producing methane or liquefied gas. Power to gas is a promising technology for seasonal energy storage. The gas produced can easily be transformed back into electrical energy with the help of ordinary gas turbines.

Compact, effective supercapacitors – development of devices capable of storing electricity on an industrial scale.

Waste to energy, W2E – technology enabling production of electrical and thermal energy as a result of processing solid waste after completion of initial sorting. W2E solves several problems at once – it reduces the volume of solid waste processing at special sites and also reduces the amount of energy produced by environmentally damaging coal.

Biofuel – technology resulting in production and use of new generation environmentally clean biofuel from plant or animal sources, from the normal activity of organisms or organic industrial waste.

Artificial photosynthesis – chemical technology replicating the natural process of photosynthesis. Research in this vein includes projects to manufacture devices to produce solar biofuel, photoelectrochemistry and its use in fuel cells, production of bio hydrogen from sunlight.

Based on globalenergyprize.org