Fakher Omezzine

Fakher Omezzine

PhD student, Research and Teaching Assistant at Grenoble Ecole de Management

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Activity

  • Hi Nicolas, may I please invite you to have a look at the following survey which looks at the impact of COVID-19 on the energy sector in France : http://grenoble.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8HXdIEFpYUcCfQ1

  • Are you worried that data regarding your energy consumption behavior could be passed on to contracted third parties without your knowledge? For example, how long do you take to shower? , how often and when? How long do you watch TV? Which appliance do you use the most?

  • You can have a look at "cool" technologies that may help to reduce household energy consumption : https://medium.com/the-gadget-flow/10-gadgets-to-cut-down-your-energy-bills-4611db77230c

  • Perhaps you can look at this report highlighting the status of smart grid deployments in the US, resulting benefits, and the existing challenges
    https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2019/02/f59/Smart%20Grid%20System%20Report%20November%202018_1.pdf

  • And they may also gain from understanding consumers' energy consumption behavior (e.g. which appliances do they use most, and at what time). https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-18407340

  • What about privacy concerns ? Would you agree to sharing your energy consumption behavior with contracted third parties ?

  • I'm curious to know whether you found having a smart meter a plus (e.g. did it really help you to manage your energy consumption/monitor your supply or was it just a "cool gadget")

  • According to experts, around 36% share In European Electricity Mix By 2050. Around 40% globally.

  • In the States the average is around 13 cents (USD). in France it is about €0.115/kWh. For the predictions, is this regarding solar electricity price or something else ?

  • @TristanKing I believe that what he meant is it is easier now. Recycling PV equipment is difficult, or at least was, but it is now easier thanks to advances in technology. But still, despite current advancement, we currently can not recycle huge volumes of PV equipment.

  • For a number of reasons. According to the media, the main reasons are price dumping from China and the new 30% import tariffs from the United States

  • Muscovite is known by its thermal and electrical insulating properties. The Romans actually constructed greenhouses using sheets of Mica (Muscovite). The legend says that they did that because Emperor Tiberius wanted to eat Cucumbers all year. I can not really say whether Muscovite can be used as a substitute in the mentioned example.

  • @ChristopherValencia I am not sure I am aware of any examples. But what about having a look at the world's largest solar furnace ?

    https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/worlds-largest-solar-furnace
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odeillo_solar_furnace

  • @SebastianOettinger I have personally never seen waste considered. For example, look at this https://sunmetrix.com/cost-of-solar-panels/ or this (page 19) https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy12osti/53347.pdf

    According to IRENA, PV panel waste streams need to be sufficiently large for profitable operation. I would personally say that it is a bit early at this stage...

  • "Technically speaking, grid parity is when an alternative form of energy generates power at a levelized cost of electricity that’s equal to or less than the price of buying power from the electric grid". Assume that the alternative form of energy currently generates energy at (€0.40/KWH). As technology matures, this will drop slowly, so first it can reach...

  • Most PV equipment are recyclable although it is very difficult to recycle as the process requires advanced machinery to separate materials. More and more PV recycling plants are opening worldwide. For example in 2018 in Europe, Veolia and PV CYCLE opened the first recycling plant in Europe for end-of-life solar panels.

    To give you an idea about PV waste,...

  • Have a look at this Kenyan startup http://www.m-kopa.com/products/
    or this Danish startup http://www.mpayg.com

  • Adding to @RoseyMitchell comment, you can also have a look at M-payg's website

  • Automakers have a strong financial incentive to build and try to sell more S.U.V.s. Why do we still allow the sale of SUVs? The answer remains with the policy makers. "Fuel economy standards around the world tend to become more lenient as car weight and size increase. That means S.U.V.s typically do not have to meet as strict a fuel-efficiency standard as...

  • What are your thoughts on blockchain technology in the energy sector ?

  • @AntoineCollignon Noe exactly what you requested but it may be helpful : http://energie.hec.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/PE2019.pdf

  • @SebastianOettinger
    LCCA is Life-cycle Cost Analysis

    Most PV equipment are recyclable although it is very difficult to recycle as the process requires advanced machinery to separate materials. More and more PV recycling plants are opening worldwide. For example in 2018 in Europe, Veolia and PV CYCLE opened the first recycling plant in Europe for...

  • @DushyantDesai Unfortunately, we were unable to include wind energy in this version of the course due to lack of external partners/facilitators. Hopefully wind will be part of the program in the future.

  • Hi @AyeshaYahya What is it that you want to know exactly?

    Perhaps you would like to have a look at IEA's latest energy efficiency report:

    https://webstore.iea.org/download/direct/2891

  • @SebastianOettinger The idea behind the solar roof tiles is that these solar tiles will become your roof. Installing solar tiles on existing roof tiles is like having two roofs. While this is probably possible technically, this will just complicate the whole installation process, and aesthetically this is likely to be a bad idea. If you have no plans to change...

  • The rebound effect occurs when some of the savings from energy efficiency are cancelled out by changes in people's behavior. In the article above, the rebound effect happens when the savings from LED bulbs are cancelled out because households may let light bulbs burn longer or increase their luminosity (under the assumptions that since they are energy...

  • Currently, solar tiles cannot be installed on an already existing roof: they are only suitable for new buildings or for those who plan to substitute all the tiles.

  • Some startups are trying to tackle this by offering loan-to-own schemes. For example, M-PAYG provides a pay-as-you-go solar energy systems where clients make small-scale mobile repayments to use the off-grid technology until the full cost of the equipment is recovered and its ownership is transferred to the user. For example, their cheapest solution costs Ksh...

  • "France’s nuclear plants – built for a planned lifespan of 40 years – are ageing. The average plant is more than 30 years old, and 15 of France's 58 reactors are over 35". The decision to go from 75% to 50% was made to stay in line with the Energy Transition for Green Growth bill.

    On a side note, France is currently building 6 new huge reactors, and it...

  • @OlufolahanEmmanuel-Tella
    1) The unit is Million Tonnes of Oil Equivalent (Mtoe).

    2) There are many models that you can use
    https://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/publications/PDF/CMS-18_web.pdf

    But usually such information is available from the IEA...

  • @OlufolahanEmmanuel-Tella I am no expert on Nuclear energy, but I know that the most important "raw material" is Uranium (Common nuclear reactors use an enriched uranium and plutonium as fuel). They are also likely to use radiation shielding, coolants, and some structural materials.

    When it comes to Uranium, "France uses approximately 10,500 tonnes of...

  • France has 58 nuclear power reactors in operation (as per 2019), making nuclear power "the largest source of electricity in France, with a generation of 379.1 TWh, or 71.6% of the country's total electricity production; the highest percentage in the world" (IAEA, 2019)

  • @AhmadHuseynli As @gillesMunier pointed out, Joachim was discussing the global energy use while the numbers from IEA are for electricity generation

  • @FannyG.
    Thanks for bringing this up. I will use one example since there is no one resource/article that looks at all "non-green components" that are used in these facilities. According to an article by the BBC published in 2019, SF₆ (Sulphur hexafluoride) gas is used to insulate electrical installations like wind turbines, and it is described as...

  • There has been an impressive decline in Co2 emissions following Covid-19's spread, especially in China, Europe and the US. have a look at China's emissions in January and then in late February :
    https://youtu.be/6DWBhp-oKOI

    The same applies to...

  • Many argue that nuclear, wind and solar have a hidden carbon footprint, mostly due to their manufacturing, construction, and installation (e.g. Large amounts of electricity are used by factories that produce solar panels. Such electricity is often sourced from coal-fired power). Yet according to recent research “The indirect greenhouse gas emissions induced by...

  • Indeed, currently the economic incentive is low and hence policies are required to drive the change. The market will only auto-regulate if the correct conditions are established.

  • What are the conditions that need to be established in order to allow the market to auto-regulate ?

  • Fakher Omezzine made a comment

    Hello everyone, we are happy to have you among us. There are four "mentors" available to answer your questions (two per week). Please bear in mind that If you want unlimited access and the possibility to obtain an official certificate after the completion of the course, you will need to upgrade your course.

    The goal for the user is to have a broad...

  • I couldn't find any numbers regarding how much waste is needed to produce enough gas to heat 1 litre of water, but here are few numbers:

    1 metric tonne bone dry wood fuel = 18 GJ = 5 MWh = 500 litres oil = 500 m3 natural gas
    1 tonne air-dry wood fuel = 3 MWh = 11 GJ
    1 cubic metre of wood chip = about 1.0 MWh = 3.6 GJ

  • @GrahamGarfieldGallop The lowest carbon footprint available from most of today’s biogas is around 50 kilograms of CO2 per megawatt-hour (MWh) of power produced. There are current works to reduce these number to 13 kg per MWh.

    You can have a look at this article:
    https://www.eniday.com/en/technology_en/reducing-carbon-footprint-biogas/

  • I found some useful info using this source "http://www.biru.or.id/en/index.php/news/2017/03/19/279/converting-biogas-into-electricity.html" :

    "There are several methods available to convert biogas into electricity.

    Biogas may be immediately used to heat the water and produce pressurised steam. These high pressure steam will then be used to power the...

  • To learn more about biogas for vehicles, you might want to have a look at http://www.irena.org/DocumentDownloads/Publications/IRENA_Biogas_for_Road_Vehicles_2017.pdf

  • Indeed, "Biomass burning power plants emit 150% the CO2 of coal, and 300 – 400% the CO2 of natural gas, per unit energy produced". It is said that plants capture a nearly equivalent amount of CO2 through photosynthesis while they are growing, yet, I am also reluctant to this.

    You might be interested in this article:...

  • @MargaretJohnson I am mainly talking about "prosumers" - energy producers and consumers at the same time. Here is a source that can be useful:

    https://www.eco-business.com/opinion/meet-the-energy-prosumer/

  • @MargaretJohnson Distributed Energy Resources

  • @MichelvanOsch Currently, discarding all other characteristics of blockchain, I wouldn't refer to the technology as an energy efficient solution. Existing blockchain designs can consume up to 215 kWh per transaction (i.e., the equivalent of letting an incandescent light bulb of 25W burn for a full year). The reason behind this is the huge computational power...

  • What about government incentives to install a solar electric system in your country ? To what extent do you think they are influencing people's decision to adopt such systems ?

  • @MikeHosken Of course these pay-backs are country-specific as well. Some nations have subsidies that can shorten pay-back times significantly.

  • @MargaretJohnson Yes people have control over their consumption, but in most cases, they do not have control over where this energy comes from. In other words, energy consumers are totally dependent on a small number of (in some countries, only one) energy providers. Whether we are buying or selling energy, everything goes through the energy providers. What if...

  • @MatthieuViteau Several data "mines" use renewable energy sources to fuel the energy hungry machines used in mining. New businesses are emerging just to tackle the excessive energy consumption that is associated with blockchain (e.g. Hydropower, 4new). Of course, one would argue that this is still a waste of energy as the renewable energy used in mining could...

  • @MikeHosken For Appliances, it is difficult to estimate a pay-back time as it depends on the appliance and its energy consumption. I managed to find this table for you. I hope it helps, yet, I would not take these numbers for granted.

    http://www.3m.com/intl/IE/3MFutureWise/maths-8-greens-family-hm-energy-payback-time-p2.htm

  • @LucaCorradi It is important to differentiate between bitcoin and blockchain. Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency, blockchain is a distributed ledger that keeps secure records of transactions and assets (including, but not limited to, bitcoin). @MatthieuViteau Blockchain itself requires huge amounts of electricity to validate and secure transactions - mining. I am not...

  • @JoyMutimba In fact, solar is now more affordable than kerosene, and definitely safer. Have a look at this article https://www.ft.com/content/f53a289e-7158-11e3-8f92-00144feabdc0

  • @MatthieuViteau It is not only essential to define and enforce policies, but those policies must be based on a real long term shared collective vision of the situation. These "conditions" are country-specific, but they can include subsidy programs, education, taxes, etc. From a personal point of view, I believe that politics are best accompanied by carrot and...

  • Here is a reader-friendly article on blockchain in the French energy sector.

    https://theconversation.com/the-future-of-blockchain-according-to-experts-in-the-energy-sector-111780

  • Indeed, currently the economic incentive is low and hence policies are required to drive the change. The market will only auto-regulate if the correct conditions are established.

  • Do you believe that one way to motivate consumers to be more energy efficient is to give them more control over the energy they consume/produce ?

    Do you believe that the lack of trust between energy consumers and energy providers/governments in some countries is a barrier to energy efficiency behavior?

  • Fakher Omezzine made a comment

    .

  • Fakher Omezzine made a comment

    Hello everyone, we are happy to have you among us. There are four "mentors" available to answer your questions. Please bear in mind that If you want unlimited access and the possibility to obtain an official certificate after the completion of the course, you will need to upgrade your course.

    The goal for the user is to have a broad understanding of the...

  • According to you, what are the Pros/Cons of smart meters ? What do you think needs to be changed in order to improve the adoption of smart meters ?

  • We kindly invite you to take part of our ENERGY MARKET BAROMETER, an initiative that aims to track the key trends and challenges of the energy market, on a regular basis, in collaboration with the 'ZEW', the Center for European Economic. More info here : Research.http://grenoble.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_a4CpmykVgg9Vfh3

  • We apologise for that. We are working on fixing the issue

  • Thanks for sharing this with us

  • @IainMorrison To produce 1 kg of hydrogen, nine times the amount of water is necessary, i.e. nine litres.
    Source: https://cleanenergypartnership.de/en/faq/hydrogen-production-and-storage

  • @RoLuahPuia as Nikolas stated, the most popular source is natural gas. Yet, recently a company called HyperSolar developed a prototype that uses solar energy to produce hydrogen from polluted water. more info here http://hypersolar.com/

  • @JohnMills Thanks for the feedback. We will make sure to improve our sound quality in the future

  • We kindly invite you to take part of our ENERGY MARKET BAROMETER, an initiative that aims to track the key trends and challenges of the energy market, on a regular basis, in collaboration with the 'ZEW', the Center for European Economic. More info here : Research.http://grenoble.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_a4CpmykVgg9Vfh3

  • We kindly invite you to take part of our ENERGY MARKET BAROMETER, an initiative that aims to track the key trends and challenges of the energy market, on a regular basis, in collaboration with the 'ZEW', the Center for European Economic. More info here : Research.http://grenoble.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_a4CpmykVgg9Vfh3

  • Liquid hydrogen has a temperature of around -240.15 Celsius (-400.27 Fahrenheit). Because of its flammability, liquid hydrogen should be kept away from heat, but there is no need (to my knowledge) of keeping it refrigerated.

  • You might be as well interested in this article https://www.energy.gov/eere/fuelcells/hydrogen-storage-challenges

  • Absolutely, Hydrogen is an energy carrier that can deliver or store a tremendous amount of energy

  • Thanks for sharing this with us

  • Welcome to week 5 of our NEW ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES course.

    Shall you have any questions please drop us a line

  • We're glad you find the course interesting !

  • @LaurentNicolas the main "impurities" are Sulfur, Organosilicon, and a number of Volatile Organic Compounds. You might be interested in this source: https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2014/03/f12/june2012_biogas_workshop_ahmed.pdf

  • To learn more about biogas for vehicles, you might want to have a look at http://www.irena.org/DocumentDownloads/Publications/IRENA_Biogas_for_Road_Vehicles_2017.pdf

  • We kindly invite you to become on of the experts in our next GEM Energy Market Barometer. More info here http://grenoble.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_a4CpmykVgg9Vfh3

  • @JohnWarren We apologize for that. It seems that the article has been archived by the website recently, which is why you are getting the 404 error. Please note that we regularly check all links before launching the MOOC, yet, very rarely, some links get deactivated during the course.

  • Biogas is generally added to the natural gas grid. I am not sure wether we will need to upgrade the grid at some point, but I would be more concerned with safety regulations

  • Thanks for the insights !

  • It all depends on waste quality, digester design and proper operation of the system

  • Thanks for sharing this with us !

  • Thanks for sharing this with us @JohnWarren

  • We kindly invite you to become on of the experts in our next GEM Energy Market Barometer. More info here http://grenoble.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_a4CpmykVgg9Vfh3

  • @IainMorrison Thanks for sharing this with us

  • @Jean-LouisEveque Thanks for sharing the link with us. Luckily, mining is no longer only done for bitcoins. Basically any blockchain transaction needs mining. Whether it is for a bitcoin transaction, digital carbon offset, energy rewarding ... etc. Some ventures recognized the opportunity and started this "Green mining" as you have mentioned.

  • We kindly invite you to become on of the experts in our next GEM Energy Market Barometer. More info here http://grenoble.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_a4CpmykVgg9Vfh3

  • For those who were interested in blockchain and "mining" , you might want to have a look at this new venture https://www.hydrominer.org/hydromining/

  • The main Dams in France are
    Grand'Maison Dam (Capacity: 1,800 MW)
    Revin Pumped Storage Power Plant (Capacity: 800 MW)
    La Bâthie Power Station (Capacity: 546 MW)

  • @JacopoGiola What about the Gileppe ?

  • Hydropower is definitely carbon-free and, in most cases, continuously available. Yet, hydropower can do more harm than good (considering the adverse impacts caused by the flooding of large tracts of land), but its effect can be minimized and managed.