Standardization of power sources

Summary: Since the Industrial Revolution and the rise of modern sources of power, standards have become necessary to facilitate the distribution and use of these power sources. Today’s globalized economy requires international standards.

From the beginning of humanity and for thousands of years, the energy needs of humankind were covered exclusively by renewable energy resources, such as solar, wind, water, and muscle power. In the 18th century, the discovery of coal provided humanity with a new storable and transportable energy source.

Thomas Newcomen and then James Watt’s improved coal-fired steam engines were able to make use of this new energy source, and the Industrial Revolution had officially begun. The development of internal combustion engines followed during the 19th century, using a more energy-intense fuel, oil. Fossil fuels, primarily coal, were also used to provide the thermal power that generated electricity (although biofuels such as wood were also sometimes used) as electrification of first urban and later rural areas developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Thus fossil fuels, primarily coal and oil, came to dominate the energy sources used by human society as it progressed through the industrial age. These technologies, too, required standardization to facilitate distribution.

Coal and oil have two main disadvantages compared to renewable energy sources: First, their consumption emits chemicals into the atmosphere, changing its composition, and second, fossil fuels are renewed so slowly, compared to the rate at which they are consumed, that from a human perspective they are nonrenewable and consequently finite. The oil crises of 1973 and 1979–80 highlighted developed nations’ entrenched dependence on fossil fuels and the associated risks of that dependence. In recent years, therefore, efforts have been made to advance renewable energy technologies and reintroduce them into the global energy mix. While the scale of energy demand is much greater compared to when renewables dominated the energy mix long before the Industrial Revolution, with new technologies and computer tools the development of renewable sources has become more sophisticated, environmentally friendly, and efficient. The development and implementation of these energy technologies will also require standards that can guarantee their environmental and social viability, as well as their compatibility with existing technologies. For example, the main substitute for oil in the transportation sector, biofuels, at the moment faces several difficulties in following international standards, and national standardization organizations have produced their own specifications for their countries. As time goes on, the establishment of standards for biofuels and other renewable energy sources will likely be carried out by existing standards organizations, as it is now for fossil fuels and electricity generation.

Electric Power Standards

The widespread adoption of electric power required standards for voltage, frequency, and receptacles. Thomas Alva Edison’s electric lighting system distributed direct current (DC) at approximately 110 volts, which he later improved by adopting a three-wire system with 220 volts phase-to-phase and 110 volts to the neutral or ground wire. This three-wire arrangement also worked well with alternating current (AC), which would become the standard for residential electric service in the United States. Although AC is still the standard, DC remained in use in pockets of electric distribution systems well into the 20th century.

Alternating current (AC) came into use late in the 19th century and used frequencies ranging from 16? hertz (cycles per second) and 133? hertz. The city of Coventry, England, in 1895 had a unique 87-hertz single-phase distribution system that was in use until 1906. The German company Allgemeine Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft (AEG) adopted 50 hertz in 1891, reportedly after observing flicker in lamps operating at 40 hertz. In the United States, the first large hydroelectric generators installed at Niagara Falls operated at 25 hertz, and several 40-hertz systems were installed in the United States and Europe. As with direct current (DC), many of these systems survived well into the 20th century, and 25 hertz is still used on many railway systems in the northeastern United States.

In 1899, the Berlin electricity utility company Berliner Elektrizitäts-Werke (BEW) decided to greatly increase its distribution capacity by switching to 220-volt nominal distribution, taking advantage of the higher-voltage capability of metal filament lamps. The company was able to offset the cost of converting the customers’ equipment by the resulting savings in the cost of distribution conductors. This became the model for electrical distribution in Germany and the rest of Europe and the 220-volt system became common. This was later increased to 230 volts, which, along with 50 hertz, is now the standard in the European Union (EU). North America is largely at 120 volts at 60 hertz, and Japan is one of the few countries that uses both 50 and 60 hertz in different areas.

Although voltages and frequencies have been standardized to a large degree, international travelers often have to deal with different receptacles as they travel between countries that otherwise share the same voltage and frequency. Unlike the United States and Canada, which share the same standardized electric outlets, other countries use a wide range of receptacles for various applications, requiring a traveler to carry appropriate adapter plugs (and in some cases voltage and frequency converters).

International Standards Organizations

Currently there are two international standards organizations for energy, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). ISO was established in 1947 and has developed multidiscipline and cross-sector standards (more than 17,500 international standards so far). IEC was established in 1906 and prepares and publishes international standards for all electrical, electronic, and related technologies. Both of these organizations are based in Geneva, Switzerland.

The standardization process has always followed market trends. During the increase of the use of the fossil fuels coal and oil, almost all the energy standards were reasonably related to the conventional energy technologies, despite the fact that the renewable energy technologies were also known.

The opening of the first nuclear power plant resulted in the establishment of the relevant technical commissions for the setting of standards for nuclear technology. Nowadays, the era of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies is once again vital, and there have been an increased number of organizations and associations that address many of their standards.

ISO coordinates national standards for more than 160 nations and addresses standards for everything from agriculture to packaging, including many having to do with energy. From its establishment in 1947, ISO started the standardization of energy generation with the establishment of technical committees (TCs), groups of experts from different nations who are authorities in their fields. For example, TC 27 is responsible for establishing standards for solid mineral fuels; TC 28, for petroleum products and lubricants; and TC 67, for materials, equipment, and offshore structures for petroleum, petrochemical, and natural gas industries. In the same year, ISO started setting standards for the energy transportation and demand sector with TC 8, on ships and marine technology; TC 11, on boilers and pressure vessels; TC 20, on aircraft and space vehicles; TC 22, on road vehicles; and two years later, in 1949, TC 70, on internal combustion engines. In the following years, several other ISO technical committees were established to deal with energy issues, including TC 100, on chains and chain sprockets for power transmission and conveyors (1960), and TC 109, on oil and gas burners (1963).

In June 27, 1954, the nuclear power plant in Obninsk in the Soviet Union became the world’s first nuclear power plant to generate electricity for a power grid; two years later, ISO started setting standards for nuclear energy, nuclear technologies, and radiological protection with its TC 85. In 1988, ISO established TC 192 to develop the first standards for gas turbines and TC 193 to established standards for natural gas; 12 years later, a TC (252) started working on natural gas fueling stations for vehicles, but as of 2010 it had not yet set standards.

During these years, IEC was developing electrotechnical standards for energy generation, such as for rotating machinery, hydraulic turbines, and nuclear instrumentation. Moreover, IEC established TCs for the standardization of energy transportation and demand, such as electric traction equipment; electrical installations of ships and offshore units; electric cables, lamps, and related equipment; primary cells and batteries; electrical household appliances; electrical road vehicles and industrial trucks; and superconductivity.

Renewable Energy Standards

While the need for the development of renewable energy technologies and energy-efficient materials was evident after the energy crises of the 1970s, the global market and policy makers have proceeded slowly. ISO, following the needs of the markets, established a TC on solar energy in 1980 and a TC on hydrogen technology in 1990 (TCs 180 and 197, respectively). In the next three years, technical energy systems, intelligent transport systems, and environmental management were three more domains in which ISO saw needs for standardization and, respectively, established TCs 203, 204, and 207.

Beginning in 2007, as oil prices were on the rise and the threat of a collapse of supply increased, many national and international initiatives promoted the improvement of energy efficiency (conservation) as a short-term plan and the use of the renewable energy technologies as a medium-term alternative. ISO, aware of this trend, has established TCs on solid biofuels (238), energy management (242), sustainable criteria for bioenergy (248), biogas (255), and energy savings (257), as well as a joint project committee with IEC on energy efficiency and renewable energy sources (JTC2 in 2009). Although these TCs have yet to publish standards, the strong interest in these areas is evidenced by the number of participating countries and bodes well for the future.

IEC has also followed the environmentally friendly trends of the market, setting standards for renewable energy technologies such as photovoltaics, wind turbines, marine energy (wave, tidal, and other water-current converters), and solar thermal electric plants. Moreover, IEC established TCs for the development of standards for energy transportation, audio/video energy efficiency, smart-grid applications, and fuel cell technologies and for environmental issues such as environmental conditions, classification and methods of testing, and environmental standardization for electrical and electronic products and systems.

Conclusion

Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)—an international forum for facilitating economic growth, cooperation, trade, and investment in the Asia-Pacific region that includes Australia, Canada, the People’s Republic of China, Japan, Mexico, the Russian Federation, the United States, and 14 more countries—is working on the establishment of guidelines for the development of biodiesel standards. These countries are major players in the production of biofuels, and the forthcoming guidelines are expected to set the foundation that will facilitate the establishment of international biofuels standards. At the same time, in April 2007 the United States, Brazil, and the EU released the Biofuels Standards Roadmap with an agreement for harmonization of their standards. As the price of oil increases, the market will push an increase in the production of biofuels, and in turn the establishment of strict international standards for biofuels will become increasingly feasible.

Bibliography

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Bryden, Alan, ed. Energy Efficiency and Renewable Sources: How International Standards Help. Geneva, Switzerland: International Organization for Standardization, 2007. http://www.iso.org/iso/iso‗focus‗wec‗special.pdf.

European Committee for Standardization. “Energy and Utilities.” http://www.cen.eu/cen/Sectors/Sectors/UtilitiesAndEnergy/Pages/default.aspx.

International Electrotechnical Commission. “List of IEC Technical Committees and Subcommittees.” http://www.iec.ch/dyn/www/f?p=103:6:0::::FSP‗LANG‗ID:25.

International Organization for Standardization. “List of ISO Technical Committees.” http://www.iso.org/iso/standards‗development/technical‗committees/list‗of‗iso‗technical‗committees.htm.

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