Current Project Opportunities

• Expand the Renewable Energy Maps and National Grid Maps on the GENI website. Upload any that we don't have or update what we do have.
  
  
• Is 100% renewable energy possible by 2020?
  Al Gore has called for 100% renewables within 10 years. Is this possible? Following the format of Zero Carbon Australia Stationary Energy Plan, define how your country of choice could achieve Zero Carbon emissions by 2020. Look at the country's potential renewable resources; what materials would be required, at what cost and what % of the GDP; where could the technology come from; what mix of renewables would be optimum? What would be the savings in carbon emissions and the cost of generation by current means. Who would be the winners and who the losers?
  
  
• Survey of Off Shore Wind Farm Projects and their connecting Grid Systems
  Off Shore Wind Farms are underway or planned for the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. Such Farms will require underwater cabling to deliver electricity to the mainland. "If Europe is able to develop a super-grid, it will be a vital ingredient in the fight against climate change because it will allow large-scale integration of renewable electricity production," Justin Wilkes, policy director of the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA), told Deutsche Welle...."Such a super-grid would ultimately connect the offshore wind farms in northern Europe with the solar panels in southern Europe, allowing countries with a surplus of energy to pass it along to countries with higher demand." This intern project is to provide an overview of the Wind Farm Projects and define and breakdown the technical and financial requirements for such projects: How much cabling is necessary; what type of cabling; at what cost for cabling and other required parts. What voltage levels would be generated?
  
  
• Where are the gaps in global cross-border interconnections? Who are the decision makers in those gap-countries? Focus on marketing GENI Initiative information to countries in the gaps.
  
  
• MedRing: Building an interconnected system across North Africa
  The MedRing project is central to the energy exchange plans between Europe and the southern Mediterranean countries. The project will link the power grids from Spain to Morocco, and travel through the North African and Arabian countries up to Turkey. From Turkey, the ring will then link back into the European grid via Greece or Bulgaria. The MedRing is composed of four separate electricity blocks - Union for the Co-ordination of Transmission of Electricity (UCTE), South West Mediterranean Block (SWMB), South East Mediterranean Block (SEMB) and Turkey. The UCTE interconnects 26 European countries. The SWMB comprises Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, whichhave been interconnected and are operated in synchronous mode for a long time. In addition, the SWMB is synchronously connected to the UCTE system via two Morocco-Spain interconnectors.
  The project is to create an interactive map of the current status of this overall project, with the ability to drill down for information on each block of countries. Who are the major player? Who is financing this project and at what cost? What are the major challenges and hurdles to overcome? What is the intended outcome in terms of electricity production and CO2 savings?
  
  
• Make the Business case for cross border trade of electricity
  Most renewable energy conversations focus on meeting ones domestic needs, taping indigenous resources. This allows for job creation, keeping energy $$s within one's own country and not exporting $$ in the purchase of fuel from outside. However, normally, some countries don't have sufficient energy 24/7 to meet both base and peak load, while others have renewables that provide energy beyond their own needs. The solution is energy trade across borders between neighbors, which also takes advantage of the east-west difference in solar and wind generation throughout the 24 hour cycle. The project is to build the case, siting examples and cases-in-point, for this cross-border trade.
  
  
• Accelerating renewable energy investment to meet the growth in global energy needs
  Over the last year, the clean energy sector has seen a bump in growth from $170 to $240 Billion in investment, which is a significant step forward. The OECD and IEA have said that energy investment needs to go to between $7 and $15 Trillion in the next 15 years to meet global economic growth needs. The project is to make the case for renewables to get a major share of those investment dollars. What if renewables get 20-, 40-, 60-, 80-, or 100%? What impact would that have on reducing CO², creating jobs, decreasing medical costs, etc.? How does it stay cost competitive; what policy support is required: fossil fuel energy tax, cap-and-trade, etc? http://theenergycollective.com/breakthroughinstitut/39304/iea-new-report-says-46-trillion-more-clean-tech-2050
  http://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Renewable-Energy/IEA-Says-Renewable-Investment-Must-Reach-$5.7-Trillion-by-2035.html
  
  
• Volunteers with GIS skills to build onto the layers of Global Resources/Global Issues Visualization Comparisons: http://www.geni.org/globalenergy/multimedia/index.shtml
  We'll need to find open data sources for all the same nations in the list on the above link.
  
  
• Beta testers for new Drupal site (WRSC - www.wrsc.org) to review the work we did in September, put it into the new format and apply rank priroity and make sure all tags are added. Then we can begin to add new material in-house - or from any WRSC partner/resource.
  
  
• What are the "Best Practices" for renewable energy in Sub-Saharan Africa?
  
  
• Create an interactive "Climate Commitment Graphic" based on targets set by countries at Copenhagen.
  
  
• Complete "Global Energy Trends" on the GENI website in the Library. (Requires Dreamweaver experience or willingness to learn)
  
  
• World's largest machine - the electric grid - is old and outdated. Outline the issues involved in streamlining our transmission regulatory system. It would fall under our Transmission Policies section. Click here to view the article.
  
  
• How do we open the flood gates of support for the GENI Initiative?
  1. Send articles through 400 global media, Energy Biz, and PR Newswire (costs $$)
  2. Peter to write articles: "Stop Smoking: 155 New Coal Power Plants Scheduled, The Definition of Insanity"
     
     
  
• We need a global price for carbon. What does it take to change the economic model of the carbon industry? Research the pros & cons of various strategies: carbon tax, cap & trade, carbon credit, carbon auction. Who are the decision makers in setting this price on carbon?
  
  
• Study the Carbon Market Mechanisms.
  
  
• Swap debt-for-renewables development in developing countries: Find the top 5 or 6 CO² emitting countries; list the countries which are indebted to them and the indebtedness amount. Get contact information for whoever is responsible for managing those debts in the 'lender country' and debtor country. Contact WWF for the legal and operational framework for this transaction based on their debt-for-nature exchange in Madagascar. Suggest this debt-for-renewables development exchange to the UN and the individual lender countries.
  
  
• Thirty-five countries currently provide 50% or more of their energy from renewables. Several countries and states, including Portugal, Spain, Germany, Denmark, California, Pennsylvania, and Texas, are becoming leaders in the use of renewables. Using data gathered by a previous intern, create an interactive graphic to summarize who they are, what they are using, what standards and types of incentives they have set, and also what industries have emerged and what the impact has been on the economy - jobs, tax revenues, etc.



• Find contact information for the top 100 Foreign Policy Thinkers (we have the list); create a mailing on the GENI Initiative.



• Add contacts in the National Directory of Sustainable Energy Organizations to our in-house database for future mailings.



• Research topic: Greening the Church.

If you see a project you like or have an idea of your own, contact GENI or call us at +1-619-595-0139.

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