Development of source technology for the use of wearable devices without recharging

A sponge-type scaffold has been developed through a process involving melting sugar; as it also overcomes performance loss issues, this technology is expected to increase potential for producing high-efficiency flexible thermoelectric devices

NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Research News

 

IMAGE: SCHEMATIC OF A PARTIALLY FILLED TEM view more 

CREDIT: KOREA INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY(KIST)

Despite the continued development and commercialization of various wearable electronic devices, such as smart bands, progress with these devices has been curbed by one major limitation, as they regularly need to be recharged. However, a new technology developed by a South Korean research team has become a hot topic, as it shows significant potential to overcome this limitation for wearable electronic devices.

The Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), or KIST, announced that a research team led by Director Jin-Sang Kim of the Jeonbuk Institute of Advanced Composite Materials has developed a high-efficiency flexible thermoelectric device that is capable of autonomously generating some of the electricity required for its operation from body heat. The device developed by the team features enhanced thermal insulation capabilities, made possible through the fabrication of the flexible silicone compound (PDMS) into a sponge-like configuration, which was then used as a framework for innovatively enhancing the device's performance.

Thermoelectric devices are able to generate electricity by utilizing the difference in temperature between the two ends of the device, and have been used as eco-friendly generators of power from sources such as vehicle engine heat or waste heat from power plants. Conversely, by instead applying electricity to the thermoelectric device, one end of the device can be cooled while the other generates heat, enabling them to also be used in temperature control systems for small refrigerators, vehicle cooling sheets, and semiconductor equipment.

Normal thermoelectric devices commonly have a rigid ceramic substrate supporting the thermoelectric semiconductor, making them difficult to use on curved surfaces, whereas in flexible thermoelectric devices, a polymer material encapsulates the thermoelectric semiconductor, as opposed to a ceramic substrate, allowing the device to be bent easily. When such a device is worn on the body, electricity can be autonomously generated, and it can also potentially be used as a portable air conditioner. As a result, flexible thermoelectric devices have been garnering much attention in the field of wearable electronic devices. However, the polymer materials used to produce the flexible substrate have a high thermal conductivity, and therefore cannot block heat at both ends of the device. Consequently, the flexible devices that have been produced so far have had the fatal shortcoming of not being able to perform at a level comparable to commercial thermoelectric devices with a rigid substrate.

In pursuing a solution to this issue, the research team at KIST fabricated a sponge-configuration polymer material, by first pouring a silicone compound solution onto a sugar cube and allowing the solution to solidify, and then dissolving the sugar cube in water. Consequently, as the sugar cube dissolved, the space which had been occupied by the cube was transformed into a structure consisting of micro air bubbles. The thermal insulation capability of this structure was 50% higher than conventional materials, enabling it to effectively block the transfer of heat. The team at KIST used this substrate as a support frame to develop a flexible thermoelectric device that suffers from no loss of performance. The team's device demonstrated performance that was superior to existing flexible thermoelectric devices by more than 20%, and comparable to existing commercial devices. The research team (including the first co-authors: Dr. Sung-Jin Jung, Dr. Joonchul Shin) was able to successfully use their flexible device to turn on an LED light with body heat.

Director Jin-Sang Kim of the Jeonbuk branch of KIST stated that "the efficiency of our flexible thermoelectric device was raised to a level comparable to that of commercial thermoelectric devices through a simple, inexpensive process that requires pouring a solution on sugar and allowing the solution to solidify." He also commented, "if we used a sufficient number of thermoelectric devices, it should certainly be possible to produce smart bands that operate on body heat alone."

CAPTION

A photographic image of the flexible TEM based on porous PDMS filler

CREDIT

Korea Institute of Science and Technology(KIST)

 

This research project was conducted as part of the National Research Council of Science & Technology's Creative Allied Project, as well as the Creative Materials Discovery Program headed by the National Research Foundation of Korea and supported by the Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT). The findings of this study were published in the March edition of the international journal "Nano Energy."

 

People do not learn from regretting one night stands

Regret doesn't seem to help you avoid making the same mistake again

NORWEGIAN UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Research News

 

A lot of people think regret must be a good thing because it helps you not repeat a mistake, right?

But that turns out not to be the case. Not even when it comes to casual sex, according to new research from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology's (NTNU) Department of Psychology.

"For the most part, people continue with the same sexual behaviour and the same level of regret," says Professor Leif Edward Ottesen Kennair.

So, we repeat what we thought was a mistake, and we regret it just as much the next time around.

Professor Kennair and colleagues professor Mons Bendixen and postdoctoral fellow Trond Viggo Grøntvedt have investigated whether sexual regret is functional, that is, whether it contributes to any change in behaviour.

The participants in the study answered a questionnaire about sexual regret two times, at approximately 4.5 month intervals. This approach makes it possible to study changes over shorter periods of time.

Both women and men might regret what they did the last time an opportunity for casual sex arose. But they often regret completely different choices.

Women tend to regret having had casual sex more than men. Men, on the other hand, regret not taking advantage of a casual sex opportunity markedly more than women.

"We wanted to examine if their level of regret contributed to a change in behaviour the next time around," says Bendixen.

"A lot of emotions are functional, like disgust that protects against infection and fear that protects against danger. An evolutionary approach has helped us understand anxiety by understanding the function of fear: fight-flight-freeze is about avoiding danger and defending ourselves against it," says Kennair.

Many people assume that emotions have a function

Many psychologists assume that regret and other emotions have a function: that they'll influence our behaviour so that we modify it. For example, after experiencing negative emotions, we will change our behaviour to reduce the risk of having those negative feelings later.

"Researchers have found that most people believe this is true for regret. They assume that regret is actually a helpful negative feeling. People assume it guides them not to repeat what they regretted," says Grøntvedt.

If regret works that way, then wouldn't men more often have casual sex the next time the opportunity arose? And, you would think that women's regret would lead them to choose better partners, have less frequent casual sex or try harder to get into steady relationships.

But no, that's not what happens. The findings from the study show that we don't learn from what we perceived as a mistake.

So why is that? Why don't we learn from our mistakes?

Probably because our behaviour depends on our personality, which is something quite different and more complicated than a shorter or more prolonged feeling of regret.

We are mostly just who we are, and when the opportunity arises and horniness take over, or doesn't, we probably react just like the time before.

"We are not that surprised," Kennair says. "If regret helped, would not most sinners eventually become saints? What do you regret the most often? Has it changed your behaviour?" he asks.

Regret is flexible, not constant. Or, as psychologists say, regret is adaptive. It changes according to the conditions.

"We have repeated that regret is adaptive in all our articles on the subject in recent years. And now we have tested it," says Kennair.

No one else has tested regret for sexual behaviour. Perhaps researchers have assumed that they knew enough? Even outstanding people in the field have assumed that regret would help us learn.

"We found little information on this topic. But both most researchers and people in general believe that regret is wise," says Grøntvedt.

Do you really need to spend so much time being regretful?

"Maybe it would be smart instead to think about what we regret in everyday life, and what we actually do so often that we get ample opportunity to regret it," Kennair says.

Have you exercised enough lately? Did you eat too much? Done everything you should? Said something you shouldn't have said? Does it help to regret things sometimes? No? This is a bit like ruminating, which a lot of people with depression assume is a smart thing to do, even if they become more depressed from doing it.

"And yet, there are some folks who think that depressive ruminating and worry are a good idea. But the way we treat depression and generalized anxiety disorders is by helping people to stop ruminating and to stop worrying. Not everything people do, think or feel is an evolutionary adaptation - sometimes it is not appropriate either," Kennair says.

##

 

Anxiety among fathers is higher than recently reported, new study suggests

A new study explores the prevalence rate of anxiety for fathers during the perinatal period

UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO ANSCHUTZ MEDICAL CAMPUS

Research News

 

New research suggests anxiety among men transitioning into parenthood is significantly higher than reported by the global World Health Organization (WHO) regional prevalence rates.

In a new study published in The Journal of Psychosomatic Obstetrics & Gynecology, researchers from the Colorado School of Public Health on the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus studied the prevalence of anxiety among fathers during the perinatal period, which includes pregnancy through the first year of postpartum.

"The transition to parenthood is a major life event that's often accompanied with new challenges related to financial, relationship, and work-life balance concerns. Despite those changes happening for both men and women, not much is known about the prevalence of anxiety among new fathers," said Jenn Leiferman, PhD, professor at the Colorado School of Public Health. "To our knowledge, our study is the first meta-analysis to explore the prevalence rates of anxiety among both fathers and mothers during the perinatal period."

The researchers reviewed eligible studies representing more than 40,000 participants that have published between 1995-2020. The researchers found that the overall estimate of anxiety among men during the perinatal period was nearly 11 percent, with rates being lower during pregnancy (9.9 percent) than during the first year postpartum (11.7 percent).

These rates are considerably higher than the global WHO regional prevalence rates for anxiety among men that range between 2.2 to 3.8 percent, suggesting the transition into parenthood may increase risk for anxiety in men.

In terms of anxiety among mothers, the researchers found an estimated 17.6 percent of women experience it during the perinatal period. This is also substantially higher than global WHO regional preferences for anxiety among women, but in line with estimates for maternal anxiety from other meta-analyses.

"The prevalence of anxiety and depression among men is talked about less as a society, even though research shows men are more likely to commit suicide or abuse alcohol than women. It's important that we create more transparency around men's mental health issues. Our hope is by creating awareness, we can help people get help earlier when needed," said Leiferman.

The researchers suggest that many men suffer anxiety during the transition to parenthood, starting as soon as the first trimester throughout the first year postpartum. Given this, identifying appropriate support for new fathers as well as early identification and treatment efforts for paternal anxiety are needed.

###

About the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus

The University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus is a world-class medical destination at the forefront of transformative science, medicine, education, and patient care. The campus encompasses the University of Colorado health professional schools, more than 60 centers and institutes, and two nationally ranked independent hospitals that treat more than two million adult and pediatric patients each year. Innovative, interconnected and highly collaborative, together we deliver life-changing treatments, patient care, professional training, and conduct world-renowned research. For more information, visit http://www.cuanschutz.edu.

EMS workers 3 times more likely to experience mental health issues

SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY

Research News

 

IMAGE: DATA SOURCE: ESTIMATES ARE THE PUBLISHED STUDY. DATA WERE COLLECTED IN 2019. view more 

CREDIT: SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY LERNER CENTER FOR PUBLIC HEALTH PROMOTION.

Syracuse, N.Y. - Emergency medical service (EMS) workers face triple the risk for significant mental health problems such as depression and posttraumatic stress disorder compared to the general population, according to a recently published study by researchers from Syracuse University.

The study also showed that daily mental health symptoms for EMS workers can be reduced through recovery activities such as exercising, socializing with other people, and finding meaning in the day's challenges.

The study, "Dynamic psychosocial risk and protective factors associated with mental health in Emergency Medical Service (EMS) personnel," was published recently by the Journal of Affective Disorders. The study is also summarized in the Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion research brief "How Do Emergency Medical Service Workers Cope with Daily Stressors?"

The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the significant mental health burden experienced by EMS workers. The researchers surveyed EMS workers at American Medical Response in Syracuse, N.Y., for eight consecutive days in 2019 to better understand their mental health symptoms related to daily occupational stressors. These stressors can take the form of routine work demands, critical incidents involving serious harm or death, and social conflicts.

"Together, these occupational stressors negatively impacted mental health each day that they occurred," said researcher Bryce Hruska. "Each additional work demand or critical event that an EMS worker encountered on a given workday was associated with a 5% increase in their PTSD symptom severity levels that day, while each social conflict was associated with a 12% increase in their depression symptom severity levels."

The research team was led by Hruska, a Lerner Faculty Affiliate and assistant professor of public health at Syracuse University's David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics. Here are the team's key findings:

• EMS workers experience a diverse array of occupational stressors each day.

• These stressors are associated with an elevation in mental health symptoms each day that they occur.

• Recovery activities (like exercising or socializing with other people) and looking for meaning in the day's stressors may protect mental health.

The study found that on workdays, the EMS workers engage in approximately three recovery activities during non-work hours, mostly visiting with friends and family, eating a meal with others, and spending quiet time alone.

"These activities had a beneficial impact on mental health; each additional recovery activity in which a worker engaged was associated with a 5% decrease in their depression symptom severity levels that day," Hruska said. "The social nature of the reported recovery activities is notable, given that healthy relationships can alleviate the negative impact of stress on mental health by assisting with coping efforts and helping to reframe the day's stressors.

"Perhaps demonstrating this latter effect, we also found that EMS workers who looked for lessons to learn from the day's challenges experienced a 3% decrease in their daily depression symptoms," Hruska added.

The researchers identified several actionable strategies that build upon the protective behaviors in which the EMS workers naturally engaged and could make some work events less stressful. Here are some instances noted in the study:

• Developing or refining communications strategies may be helpful for alleviating the stress associated with managing patients' family and friends and interacting with co-workers.

• Recognizing conflicts as an opportunity for learning and growing may be a useful tactic for effectively resolving the situation with fewer negative mental health effects.

• Taking time to recharge after a particularly demanding shift offers an opportunity to let emotions cool. For example, when EMS workers respond to a critical event, scheduled downtime may offer an opportunity for recovery and processing of the day's events.

###

Support for this research was provided by professional development funds from the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics.

Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible f

UK
University study into the impact the pandemic has had on nurses

by Lauren Taylor
15/04/2021

© Supplied by RGU

For over a year, Covid-19 has placed significant pressure on the NHS.

And now a team from an Aberdeen university are going to explore the experiences of nurses working in hospitals during the pandemic.

Nurses make up more than 40% of the NHS workforce and are likely to require support to help avoid burnout, so the Robert Gordon University will look at their support systems.

Led by senior research fellow and medical sociologist Dr Aileen Grant, the team will examine the impact the pandemic has had on their wellbeing.

© ShutterstockNurse putting on PPE

Heroic staff accommodating absences

Dr Grant, from the nursing and midwifery school, said: “Our NHS has battled the pandemic for a prolonged period and under extraordinary circumstances. While its staff continue their heroic efforts to ensure patient care, the pandemic has heightened shortages where nurses not only have to respond expediently to changes in delivery but to accommodate for absences caused by the disease, having to self-isolate, shield, or from stress.

“Nurses working in hospitals have very much been in the frontline of the traumas caused by the pandemic and little is known about the effectiveness of measures taken to help them cope.”

The study will focus on those working the acute sector of NHS Grampian.

Messages of support for medical staff were beamed on to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary buildings earlier this year by Grampian Hospital Arts Trust

Fit for purpose support

Dr Grant hopes the research will ensure that support being provided to nurses is fit for purpose. It will also help to retain experienced registered nurses, new graduates and students helping to avoid staff shortages.

The research team also includes RGU’s Professor Catriona Kennedy, Dr Nicola Torrance, Dr Flora Douglas, Professor Angela Kydd, Dr Neil Johnson and Dr Rosaleen O’Brien.


Nurses participating in the study are required to complete a short questionnaire. They can take part in an online interview if they are interested in sharing more with the research team.

For more 

Public trust in the CDC falls during coronavirus pandemic

Survey highlights challenges for vaccine campaign

RAND CORPORATION

Research News

 

Public trust in the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has fallen during the coronavirus pandemic, with the decline bringing overall population-level trust in the agency to the same lower level of trust long held by Black Americans about the agency, according to a new RAND Corporation study.

Surveys done among a representative group of Americans in May and October of 2020 show about a 10% decline in trust of the CDC over that period.

In contrast, the same research found that public trust in the U.S. Postal Service and the Federal Emergency Management Agency increased significantly over the period, despite those agencies facing their own challenges.

"The Biden administration will have an uphill battle in rehabilitating trust in the CDC at this critical junction in the coronavirus pandemic," said Michael Pollard, lead author of the study and a senior social scientist at RAND, a nonprofit research organization. "A key challenge in the months ahead will be to identify who will be viewed as trusted messengers regarding vaccines and public health policies."

The study found that non-Hispanic white and Hispanic respondents reported significant declines in trust in the CDC, while the changes were not statistically significant for non-Hispanic Black or "other race" respondents.

"There is remarkable consistency and convergence in reported levels of trust in the CDC across these subgroups after the declines," Pollard said. "Lack of trust among Black Americans has been a well-publicized concern regarding the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, and the convergence in lower levels of trust across race/ethnicity highlights a key challenge that the CDC now faces."

Black Americans have historically held a low level of trust in the CDC and other health institutions, widely seen as a legacy of past racism in the nation's health system.

RAND researchers surveyed a representative sample of more than 2,000 Americans in May 2020, asking to rate their trust of the CDC, the USPS and FEMA on a scale of 0 to 10. Most of the participants were surveyed again in October 2020. All participants were part of the RAND American Life Panel, a nationally representative internet panel.

The survey found that trust in the CDC fell from 7.6 in May to 7 in October. Meanwhile, trust in the Postal Service rose from 6.9 in May to 7.7 in October; trust in FEMA rose from 6.4 in May to 6.7 in October.

Drop in trust of the CDC was particularly significant among people who intended to vote for a candidate other than Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election or did not intend to vote at all, suggesting that views of the CDC are now strongly politicized. Similar politicization was not observed for FEMA or the USPS.

"The public trust in federal government agencies has never been as important as during the current COVID-19 pandemic, yet public suspicions of scientific experts and distrust of government institutions are increasing for a variety of reasons," said Lois Davis, co-author of the report and a senior policy researcher at RAND. "Reasons for this include a blurring of the line between opinion and fact, and access to more sources of conflicting information."

Researchers say one strategy that may help the CDC rebuild trust and depoliticize the public's views of the agency is to ensure that the public understands the scientific rationale for policy changes and guidance during the COVID-19 pandemic.

###

The report, "Decline in Trust in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention During the COVID-19 Pandemic," is available at http://www.rand.org.

RAND Health Care promotes healthier societies by improving health care systems in the United States and other countries.

The RAND Social and Economic Well-Being division seeks to actively improve the health, social and economic well-being of populations and communities throughout the world.

Bizarre neck bones helped pterosaurs support their giraffe-size necks and huge heads

"It is unlike anything seen previously in a vertebra of any animal."

An illustration of the giant pterosaur, Alanqa saharica, whose remains were found in Morocco. (Image credit: Davide Bonadonna)

By Laura Geggel - Editor 

During the dinosaur age, azhdarchid pterosaurs — soaring reptiles that could grow as large as airplanes — supported their absurdly long necks and large heads during flight thanks to a never-before-seen internal bone structure in their neck vertebrae, a new study finds.

This unique structure, which looks like the spokes on a bicycle wheel, allowed the largest pterosaurs such as Quetzalcoatlus northropi, which had a wingspan of more than 30 feet (10 meters), to fly with necks that were longer than a giraffe's neck, the researchers found.

"One of our most important findings is the arrangement of cross-struts within the vertebral centrum [the inner wall of the vertebrae]," study co-researcher Dave Martill, a professor of paleobiology of the University of Portsmouth in the United Kingdom, said in a statement. "It is unlike anything seen previously in a vertebra of any animal."

Related: In images: A butterfly-headed winged reptile


The team found that in pterosaurs in the family Azhdarchidae, these rod-like structures connected the interior walls of the largely hollow neck vertebrae. These slender rods had an average diameter of 0.04 inches (1.16 millimeters), and they were "helically arranged along the length of the vertebra," Martill said. "Evolution shaped these creatures into awesome, breathtakingly efficient flyers."

Evolution shaped these creatures into awesome, breathtakingly efficient flyers.Dave Martill, professor of paleobiology

Pterosaurs aren't dinosaurs, but lived alongside them after emerging during the late Triassic period, about 225 million years ago, until they vanished from the fossil record at the end of the Cretaceous period, about 65.5 million years ago.

Until now, researchers suspected that a pterosaur's neck bones had only a simple tube-within-a-tube structure, Martill said. But this proposed structure likely wouldn't have provided the long neck enough support for the pterosaur's head — which could be longer than 5 feet (1.5 m) — especially when it grabbed and carried heavy prey through the air while hunting.

"These animals have ridiculously long necks," study first author Cariad Williams, who majored in paleontology at the University of Portsmouth and is now a doctoral student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, said in the statement. In some pterosaur species, the fifth neck vertebra from the head is as long as the rest of the animal's body.

"We wanted to know a bit about how this incredibly long neck functioned, as it seems to have very little mobility between each vertebra," Williams said.

To investigate, they did X-ray computed tomography (CT) scans of a well-preserved Cretaceous-age pterosaur specimen (Alanqa saharica) discovered in Morocco. The results showed the helically arranged supportive spider web-like lines crisscrossing the insides of the neck vertebrae.

RELATED CONTENT


—Photos: Ancient pterosaur eggs & fossils uncovered in China

—Photos: Baby pterosaurs couldn't fly as hatchlings

—Photos of pterosaurs: Flight in the age of dinosaurs

Load-bearing calculations of the neck vertebra showed that as few as 50 of these spoke-like supports increased the amount of weight the neck could carry, without buckling, by up to 90%, the researchers said. These spokes, together with the tube-within-a-tube structure, show how pterosaurs could have captured and carried heavy prey without injuring their own long necks.

The finding, which shows how "fantastically complex and sophisticated" pterosaur necks were, Martill said, was published online Wednesday (April 14) in the journal iScience.

Originally published on Live Science.

 

Mercedes rolls out luxury electric car in duel with Tesla

Mercedes-Benz has a new luxury car and it's electric powered

ByThe Associated Press

15 April 2021, 11:09

• 2 min read

The Associated Press

In this photo provide by German car maker Mercedes and taken in March 2021 shows an EQS ca...

FRANKFURT, Germany -- Daimler AG on Thursday unveiled a battery-powered counterpart to its top Mercedes-Benz luxury sedan as German carmakers ramp up their challenge to electric upstart Tesla.

The EQS is the first Mercedes-Benz vehicle to be built on a framework designed from the start as an electric car, rather than using components from an internal-combustion vehicle.

Mercedes underscored the car's technological features by equipping it with a sweeping touchscreen panel that stretches across the entire front of the car's interior in place of a conventional dashboard. Tesla and other carmakers are also adding large screens to their interiors.

The EQS is the sibling to the company's S-Class large internal-combustion sedan, the luxury brands flagship model that sells for $110,000 and up. The two cars aim at the same upper end of the market, though the EQS is set apart by being build on the company's electric-vehicle architecture, or EVA. Mercedes isn't saying yet how much the EQS will cost when it reaches customers later this year.

Daimler said the vehicle will get 770 kilometers (478 miles) on a full charge under testing standard used in the European Union. The company is offering a year's free charging through Ionity, a network of highway charging stations built by a group of major automakers.

German carmakers were slower to develop all-electric models until tougher environmental regulations and sales lost to California-based Tesla pushed them to ramp up their efforts. Volkswagen sold 422,000 electric vehicles last year and developed the ID.3, a compact it hopes will win over mass-market buyers, while its Porsche division has come out with the Taycan sports car. BMW launched the iX3 electric SUV.

Another Round Of Power Shortages Grips Texas

By Irina Slav - Apr 14, 2021

Another bout of power supply shortages hit Texas this week amid power plant maintenance season, prompting the Electric Reliability Council of Texas to call on Texans to conserve energy

However, unlike during the February Freeze, this time, the shortage was a lot more temporary, with things returning to normal within a day, the Houston Chronicle reports.

Power supplies tightened on Tuesday afternoon, the daily reports, causing electricity prices on the wholesale market to reach up to $2,000 per megawatt-hour. That was up from about $25 per kWh earlier in the day. By the evening, however, supply had ramped up.

Unfortunately, there is a chance for a repeat of yesterday's power supply situation, at least according to ERCOT's vice president in charge of grid planning and operations.

"These (power plants) are big complicated machines," Woody Rickerson said, as quoted by the Chronicle. "They require maintenance. You can't run them continuously. There may be days like today where (power) margins are tighter than we like," the ERCOT official added. "We could be in the same situation in the next few weeks."

Massive power plant outages were among the worst effects of the February Freeze, which left millions of Texans without light and power, and saddled some with huge bills. The Freeze—and the outages—also led to a slew of lawsuits as utilities and gas distributors pointed fingers at each other as the culprits behind the crisis.

Warren Buffet, meanwhile, offered to build 10 GW in new gas-fired generation capacity to boost Texas' energy security.

"We really want to make sure that this never happens again. So we're really wanting to partner with the state," Chris Brown, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Energy Infrastructure Group, told Bloomberg in an interview last month. "The proposal is simple: state residents should have a reliable source of backup power."

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

 

Big Oil Is Dead Set On Exploiting The Wind Power Boom

By Alex Kimani - Apr 08, 2021, 

Lately, the solar sector has been hogging the renewable energy limelight, and for good reason. Experts such as the International Energy Agency (IEA) have predicted that solar energy will lead to a surge in renewable power supply in the next decade, with IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol tipping solar to become the “new king of the world’s electricity markets”.

But make no mistake about it: Wind energy will play an equally critical role in the shift to clean energy, with the IEA saying that wind and solar will make up a staggering 80% of the electric energy market by the end of the decade.

Wind power is not only the easiest to tap and most efficient renewable fuel for electricity generation. Still, it is also one of the lowest carbon emitters. Offshore wind, in particular, has been enjoying its moment in the sun, with investments quadrupling to $35 billion in the first half of 2020, representing the most growth by any energy sector during the Covid-19 crisis.

Not surprisingly, Big Oil has been one of the investors making a mad dash into offshore wind.

As per a Reuters report, Europe’s top oil firms, including Total SA (NYSE:TOT), BP Inc. (NYSE:BP), and Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE:RDS.A) are looking to quickly ramp up their renewable power portfolios and lower their reliance on oil and gas to satisfy governments and investors are among the leading investors in offshore wind.

Indeed, governments worldwide are expected to offer a record of more than 30 gigawatts (GW) in tenders for offshore wind sites and capacity this year alone. For perspective, that is almost as much as the total existing UK wind capacity of 35 GW.Related: Investors Rush To Oil Stocks Despite ESG Push

But some experts are now warning that Big Oil’s love affair with offshore wind could come with undesirable consequences, especially for the consumer.

High option fees

Deep-pocketed oil majors are increasingly willing--and able--to part with huge sums of money to gain a foothold in the offshore wind market, even though margins there are much smaller than their legacy oil and gas businesses. 

A good case in point is a leasing round held by the Crown Estate earlier this year for seabed options around the coast of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland whereby BP and German utility EnBW paid around 1 billion pounds ($1.38 billion) to secure two offshore sites representing 3 GW.

Interestingly, traditional offshore wind developers, Orsted, Iberdrola, and SSE were all unsuccessful in the leasing round.

But, perhaps, the biggest revelation: Zero option fees were paid at the last previous Crown Estate offshore round that was held more than a decade ago.

High energy costs

Obviously, option fees are a huge cost component that adds to the overall cost of onshore wind development.

In fact, Mark Lewis, Chief Sustainability Strategist at BNP Paribas, has estimated that the Crown Estate option fee could add as much as 35% to project development costs, at today’s building costs.

The worst part: The consumer could end up bearing the brunt of it all.

“Someone is going to have to pay and it’s probably, at least in part, the consumer,” Duncan Clark, Orsted’s UK head, has warned.

The high fees now threaten to erode the massive cost reductions the wind sector has realized over the past decade and helped it to become cost-competitive with fossil fuels.

Related Video: The Conditions Are Ripe for A Second Shale Boom

Ali Lloyd, Senior Principal, Renewables, AFRY Management, has estimated that the option fees could increase the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) of an electricity generation project as a measure of the total lifetime cost of energy, by 4-8%.

Source: AFRY Management 

On a brighter note, Lloyd notes that the developers could end up paying the increased cost since many of the winning bidders are relatively new entrants into the UK offshore wind development sector and might be willing to accept lower returns as they look to gain a foothold into the industry.

In other words, we will probably have to wait a bit before we can accurately tell who is paying these massive costs.

By Alex Kimani for Oilprice.com