NIST released a draft report on the SmartGrid interoperability standards yesterday. The roughly 80 initial standards and 14 priority action plans are available for public review and comment for 30 days. Following this comment period the first phase of NIST’s 3 phase approach will be completed with the final release of the NIST Framework and Roadmap for Smart Grid Interoperability Standards, Release 1.0.
25Sep
NIST Fasttracks SmartGrid Standards
Filed in Colorado | Economy | Efficiency | Energy | Politics
12Aug
Power of Influence Reduces use of Power – Electric Power, that is
Filed in Efficiency | Energy | Environment
It appears that people don’t only wish to keep up with their neighbors with bigger homes and wider if flatter TVs. This seems to be true with energy efficiency as well.
From hotels to neighborhoods, the power of influence work by Dr. Robert Cialdini is being put to the test with positive results. Looks like water may be next.
29Jul
Energy Efficiency is Job 1
Filed in Economy | Energy | Environment | Science
McKinsey and Company’s central conclusion from their U.S. Energy Efficiency report says much about the energy efficiency opportunity in the US:
Energy efficiency offers a vast, low-cost energy resource for the U.S. economy – but only if the nation can craft a comprehensive and innovative approach to unlock it. Significant and persistent barriers will need to be addresses at multiple levels to stimulate demand for energy efficiency and manage its delivery across more than 100 million buildings and literally billions of devices. If executed at scale, a holistic approach would yield gross energy savings worth more than $1.2 trillion, well above the $520 billion needed through 2020 for upfront investment in efficiency measures (not including program costs). Such a program is estimated to reduce end-use energy consumption in 2020 by 9.1 quadrillion BTUs, roughly 23 percent of projected demand, potentially abating up to 1.1 gigatons of green house gases annually.
Unlocking Energy Efficiency in the U.S. Economy – McKinsey and Company
14Jun
BP Statistical Review of World Energy
Filed in Economy | Energy | Environment
2008 proved to be a year of extremes for both the economy and energy around the world. Not surprising since fuel prices are so closely tied to world economic growth and in 2008 one of the longest periods of sustained economic growth can crashing to a halt. This sent record oil prices of $140 per barrel plummeting by more than 70%. See the details in BP Statistical Review of World Energy – June 2009.
04May
NREL Receives Wind Power and Infrastructure Funding
Filed in Economy | Energy | Environment | Politics | Technology
Department of Energy Secretary Chu announces $93 million from the Recover Act to support the development of additional wind energy in the United States. The money will support R&D and testing for wind turbine drivetrains, support university and industry consortia focusing on critical wind energy challenges, advanced technology development in the private sector and a National Wind Technology Center in Colorado.
Chu also announced the National Renewable Energy Laboratory will receive $100 million for infrastructure projects. The largest is the development of an energy efficient LEED Platinum certified office, constructed at the same cost as that of a low efficiency commercial office building. The others are to use solar and other green energy sources to reduce the labs carbon use and to upgrade the integrated bio-refinery research facility used to develop commercial scale cellulose to ethanol technologies.
During his visit to the Golden, CO facility Chu stated that $26 billion of the more than $100 billion in the Recover Act for renewable energy projects had already been authorized with the goal of 70% being authorized by early September. He also discussed streamlining the DOE loan approval process with the goal of reducing the time to getting a loan application approved to a few months. It has been known to take years under the current process.
It is great to see some of this huge spending bill is being directed to innovation and more importantly that this is being coordinated with private industry. There continues to be a gap in funding for the commercialization of proven technologies. Until this gap is filled, the great innovation from the labs and universities will be delayed in helping solve our energy issues.
04Apr
DOE Report on Data Center Efficiency Program
Filed in Efficiency | Energy
Claiming typical savings in the 20-40% range with aggressive strategies able to save over 50%, the DOE has put out a report on how data centers can use the tools from the Save Energy Now program.
Not surprisingly, the key to generating these savings is to reduce the amount of energy used to support and cool the servers. Typical practice shows the majority of energy is used for things other than the IT equipment. Best practices enable up to 85% of total energy used to be used directly by IT devices.
30Mar
Metcalfe at Green:Net 09 – Squanderably Abundant Cheap Clean Energy
Filed in Economy | Energy | Environment | Technology
Bob Metcalfe, using the history of the Internet as a guide, provided his list of things to look for and look out for in the changing energy sector.
Metcalfe gave an optimistic view of the environmental challenge suggesting not only are we in a Global Warming Bubble but that cheap, clean energy will be so abundant, it will easily be squandered.
He suggested the best place for research is in the research universities and not in government labs which are “nothing more than local earmarks”. In this model, professors along with their graduate students, will commercialize innovation with the help of entrepreneurs and venture capital.
Metcalfe warned that energy and environment are two overlapping issues and they should be viewed as two things. Otherwise, we may solve energy without solving the environment or vice-versa. Oh, and he offered a new color for clean energy, blue.
23Mar
European Views on Potential for a Global Carbon Agreement at Copenhagen
Filed in Energy | Environment | Politics
McKinsey’s Matt Hirschland interviews three European leaders about a global climate agreement this year.
Economists Nicholas Stern and Michael Grubb, along with European Commissioner Janez Poto?nik, agree that the United Nations Climate Change Conference, to be held in Copenhagen in December 2009, marks a critical juncture for addressing climate concerns. And they all agree the United States must take serious action to back up the serious language currently coming out of Washington, D.C.
27Feb
Algae – Nature’s Wonder-biofuel
Filed in Energy | Environment
It is likely that the energy to power your car came from the Sun hundreds of millions of years ago and was converted by algae into simple sugars that eventually was pumped out of the ground as crude oil. Is it possible to shorten this cycle into a few weeks or even days and power our economy by cultivating algae today? Many people are betting that we will, as more and more investments are made in algal biofuel companies.
Why the interest in algae? The primary reasons is it grows fast, very fast. In fact, with ample sunlight, CO2 and the right nutrients, algae can double it’s mass in a few hours. And under the right conditions, algae can also be coaxed into producing a large percentage of its mass into fuel rich lipids. With no need to reach toward the sky algae spends little to no energy building the complex cellulosic structures found in land plants. This means a higher percentage of the plant can be converted to fuel. Some companies are focusing on genetically altering fast growing strains to directly produce hydrocarbons, in effect, eliminating the refining step.
Today companies are able to produce biofuel from algae for somewhere between $9 and $36 per gallon. Not barrel, per dollar. Huh? Yes, algal biofuel science still has some work to do. Algae grown in ponds get a free source of energy from the sun, but require a lot of water and the associated energy costs of moving it around and filtering the final product. These open ponds also have to be protected from natural strains which do not produce the desired lipids. Closed bioreactors are great at controlling the environment and preventing contamination, but require a lot of energy either via artificial light or in the case of GreenFuel, sugar.
Algae has advantages in addition to its ability to grow quickly. Acre per acre, algae outperforms any other biofuel source around. Compared to 60 gallons of diesel per acre from soybeans or 600 gallons per acre from oil palms, algae can produce 1850 gallons per acre and some experts are claiming 5,000 gallons per acre is feasible.
Algae also consumes a vast amount of CO2 and produces lots of oxygen. Three quarters of the oxygen in our atmosphere is produce by algae. Experimental sites are often located at coal fired utility plants in order to use the vast amounts of CO2 produces by burning coal to feed the algae. While this certainly does not sequester the CO2, it lowers the total emissions by recycling the CO2 and gaining energy from it twice.
There are forms of algae that grow in lots of types of water that we would find difficulty using for ourselves or our food supplies. This allows algae farms to use water that will not impact scarce water sources. These add up to a crop that can be grown on land not used for food, using water that would not be used for human consumption or food crops and suck up a lot of CO2 in the process. We simply have to find ways to do it more cheaply.
27Feb
US Carbon Markets React to Obama’s Budget
Filed in Economy | Energy | Environment
Trading activity picks up for carbon financial instruments (CFIs) after the release of President Obama’s budget. Even though the budget does not include revenue from carbon allowances until 2012, future contracts prior to this date moved higher. Some people believe these instruments can be used as early action credits in a federal cap and trade system.
Between 2012 and 2020, nearly $645 billion could be raised from the sale of emission allowances, the budget outline says.
According to Point Carbon (subscription) estimates, that would assume around 80 per cent of the economy would face caps on their greenhouse gas output starting 2012 at 2005 levels, or roughly 7.2 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.
This means the budget is banking on carbon prices of nearly $13.70 per tonne by 2012.With the cap declining around 2 per cent per year after 2012, Point Carbon estimates the price of carbon in 2020 would go up to $16.5 per allowance.
27Feb
Carbon Cap and Trade Q&A
Filed in Economy | Energy | Environment | Politics
So just what is a cap and trade system and how does it work? MSNBC has a Frequently Asked Questions page that answers this question. While President Obama signaled his desires in his budget, congress is required to pass the legislation and the details. Many experts are suggesting legislation is unlikely this, however “Powerful Democrats such as House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., have said they would work hard to get legislation passed by this summer.”
26Feb
President’s Budget Includes Carbon Cap and Trade Revenue in 2012
Filed in Economy | Energy | Environment | Politics
Earlier this week, the White House stated a climate bill passed in 2010 would be fine as long as it included the critical components President Obama included in his campaign promises. This is consistent with President Obama’s budget which includes revenue for carbon cap and trade allowances of $658 billion in total for the years 2012 through 2019. $150 billion of this will be committed to invest in clean energy along with tax credits.
03Feb
US #1 in Wind Energy Capacity
Filed in Economy | Energy | Environment
2008 was a bumper year for wind energy investment. The US added 8,300 megawatts (MW) of wind energy to lead the world with 25,170 MW. 42% of the country’s new power-producing capacity came from wind. The 50% increase in wind power generation also created 35,000 jobs bringing the total employee bast to 85,000.
Worldwide over 27 gigawatts (GW) of wind capacity was added. China doubled capacity to 12.2 GW and is on tract to double capacity again in 2009 and may reach its goal of 30 (GW) by 2010, ten years ahead of plan. All of Asia added about 8.3 GW with Europe and North America adding 8.9 GW each.
In the US, the financial crisis hit the wind industry and orders for turbines and components has slowed to a trickle. This needs to be reversed quickly if the US is to stay ahead of schedule to reach 300 GW of wind capacity, or 20% of our electricity needs, by 2030.
22Jan
Wind Forecasters Request Lab Help
Filed in Energy | Environment
Three prominent weather forecasting companies took advantage of their podium positions to request laboratory support to help them provide better information to renewable energy projects, namely wind projects. The monthly Sustainable Energy and Atmospheric Sciences seminar series kicked off the new year January 21st at the National Institute of Standards (NIST) in Boulder, CO. Pascal Storck of 3Tier, Bruce Bailey of AWS Truewind, and Mark Ahlstrom of WindLogics spoke about the weather/wind forecasting process in the US and requested help in these areas:
1) Increased number of observation points to improve accuracy.
2) Independent evaluation of low profile observation instruments, such as LIDAR and SODAR, to increase adoption by the industry
3) High quality global and regional forecasts
4) Improved mathematical prediction models
It was the clear consensus that the US Labs are critical to providing the data needed to help wind projects successfully plan and use wind energy AND that the US Labs could do a lot more to help the forecasts being provided to the project operators. Today the European forecasts are often better at predicting weather over the western states than the forecast generated here. To insure the US meets the predicted increase in Wind Capacity from about 20 GW today to more than 300 GW by 2030, better information about the weather is critical.
15Jan
Solar Future at The daVinci Institute
Filed in Energy
Larry Kazmerski, from the National Research Energy Lab (NREL) in Golden, CO was the keynote speaker at this month’s Night with a Futurist put on by The DaVinci Institute. Kazmerski entertained the largest crowd to attend a Night with a Futurist event throughout his lecture while hitting on these 5 key points:
- Solar is real – now
- Investment in Policy and R&D are priorities
- Cutting time from lab to manufacturing is key
- Significant increase in science and technical workforce is needed
- Balancing near and longterm R&D must be maintained
The highlight of the evening was a story from Kazmerski’s early days at NREL. A local newspaper reporter seemed uninterested in his description of the energy conversion properties of some of the PV cells they were testing. When the talk turned to the government officials visiting from Saudi Arabia, Kazmerski convinced the reporter the Saudi’s were investing heavily in solar energy and that they planned to sell the US sand for silicon production at $40 per barrel. This appeared in the the paper the following week and Kazmerski claims he still holds the record for fewest seconds between arrival at NREL and a summons to the director’s office.
13Jan
Google Searches and Boiling Tea Kettles…
Filed in Energy | Environment | Technology
So, how many Google searches produce the equivalent CO2 emissions as boiling a cup of water?
A confusing question unless you been following the stream of posts generated by the Sunday Times of London quoting (or misquoting) Harvard University physicist Alex Wissner-Gross‘ study on the energy used by view webpages. IN the story, the Times reporters stated “Performing two Google searches from a desktop computer can generate about the same amount of carbon dioxide as boiling a kettle for a cup of tea, according to new research.” This seems to equate to about 7 grams of CO2.
Google immediately responded in a blog post stating “we have designed and built the most energy efficient data centers in the world, which means the energy used per Google search is minimal suggesting the number is closer to 0.02 grams per search.” And went on to state the energy used by the PC performing the search is greater than the search itself.
Meanwhile according to Tech News World, Wissner-Gross claims neither he nor the study mentioned Google or had anything to do with Google and certainly not with tea kettles. “They did that. I have no idea where they got those statistics,” Wissner-Gross said.
And in response to these back and forth discussions, more than a few bloggers have decided to weigh in:
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article5489134.ece
http://www.livescience.com/technology/090112-carbon-internet.html
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/01/seven-grams-per-google-search.php
So what do you think? How much water could you boil while searching for the amount of CO2 emitted from a Google Search? or something like that?
05Jan
A brief history of wind power | Wind of change | The Economist
Filed in Energy | Environment
Wind Power installations to triple between 2007 and 2012 accroding to a brief history of wind power as reported in The Economist.
Globally, wind power installations are expected to triple from 94GW at the end of 2007 to nearly 290GW in 2012, according to BTM Consult, a Danish market-research firm. They will then account for 2.7% of world electricity generation, the company predicts, and by 2017 their share could be nearly 6%.
Well behind much of Europe in percentage of electricity generated from the wind, the US has 18% of worldwide wind power production following a year which saw an increase of 45% in wind power capacity.
31Dec
CO2 Eating Cement
Filed in Energy | Environment
British scientists at Novacem have developed a cement from magnesium silicate which absorbs more carbon dioxide while hardening than is emitted during production. The high heat cooking required for conventional or Portland cement production emits about .8 tons of CO2 for every ton of cement. When mixed with water cement absorbs about half of this amount of CO2. The net production of .4 tons of CO2 per ton of cement produces about 5% of the world’s Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. Novacem’s cement emits only .5 tons of CO2 while the curing process absorbs more than twice this amount, 1.1 tons. Many years of testing remain and much will have to change to use this in more than a few applications. Converting even a small portion of the 2 billion tons of cement production from contributing .4 tons of GHGs to removing .6 tons is a good thing. Technology that turns a major CO2 emissions problem into a substantial abatement process are exactly what is needed to help solve Global Warming.
31Dec
Obama Adds More Green to Science Team
Filed in Energy | Environment
President elect Barack Obama added John Holdren, a clean coal and nuclear energy proponent, as his next Assistant to the President for Science and Technology. The head of the Harvard Kennedy School’s Science, Technology, Public Policy Program at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Holdren will expand Obama’s clean energy team with his ideas on using nuclear energy and clean coal technologies to reduce global warming while reducing the nation’s dependence on foreign oil.
27Dec
Cow Patty Power from Idaho
Filed in Energy | Environment | Politics
Idaho State energy czar Paul Kjellander sees BTUs where other see Cow $#!+ and he hopes to get others to see it his way. As head of Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otters Office of Energy Resources, Kjellander is pushing a package of income tax credits, property tax waivers and other incentives in the 2009 Legislature starting Jan. 12 to transform Idahos southern heartland into a methane Mecca.
That odor wafting from 550,000 cows that make up Idaho's growing dairy herd smells like energy independence and economic development to state energy czar Paul Kjellander.
With over half a million cows and ranking 3rd in dairy production, there is definitely a lot of manure. This contributes greatly to agriculture being the third largest producer of methane in the US. Methane by volume has 25 times the greenhouse effect as CO2 on climate and is second to CO2 in greenhouse gas contribution to global climate change.
Minneapolis-based Cargill Inc. soon aims to sell electricity from its $8.5 million, 2.25 megawatt digester and generator facility at the 10,000-cow Bettencourt Dairy in Hansen to Idaho Power Co., the state’s largest utility.
This is the agricultural conglomerate’s first such project, but Cargill has another southern Idaho plant due to open in 2009. It’s also exploring similar endeavors in neighboring Washington, Oregon, New Mexico, California, Texas, New York and Indiana, said Craig Maetzold, Cargill Environmental Finance’s operations manager.
“We believe the credits in renewable energy are only going to increase in value in the future,” Maetzold said.
22Dec
Plug-in Hybrid Retrofit Plan
Filed in Energy | USA politics
Andy Grove has a plan to test the viability of retrofitting US autos into plug-in hybrids fashioned along the lines of GM’s Volt design. He suggest testing this on 1 million cars at a cost of about $10 billion mainly due to the continued high cost for batteries ($10,000 per car). He is also pushing Intel to get back into the battery business, suggesting he sees this idea as more than just idle speculation.
Grove wants to focus on retrofitting a few high volume, low mileage models to test the theory. His goal is to reduce the dependency of our transportation system on petroleum and therefore foreign interests by moving more of our transportation miles to rely on electricity. Arguing that electricity is generated using a variety of fuel sources and a higher carbon productivity rate, this will also reduce GHGs emissions.
His article received a significant amount of feedback encouraging him to prepare a response only a few days after the original was posted. Primary concerns of those writing in were:
Electricity Generation
Electrical Grid Capacity
Small Impact of 1 million Cars
Getting Political Support
and one reader who suggested he stick to his knitting and leave energy to others.
17Dec
EU to cut CO2 emissions 20% by 2020
Filed in Energy | Environment | Politics
The European Parliament has approved a deal to cut greenhouse gas emissions in the 27-member bloc. The package will obligate EU nations to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 20 percent by 2020 from 1990 levels. The package also seeks a 20 percent energy savings and increasing the use of renewable energy sources up to 20 percent of the total. Lawmakers in Strasbourg also agreed measures to cut CO2 emissions from new cars by 18 percent by 2015.
16Dec
Obama’s Green Team
Filed in Energy | Environment | Politics
President-elect Obama has followed up on his campaign climate commitments in selecting his “Green Team” for environment, energy and new coordinating positions. His picks confirm the Obama administration intends for the US to make an about-face on energy and environmental issues. His selections are experienced in alternative energy and cap-and-trade systems. In several cases choosing science and engineering over legal and political experience, Obama is clearly indicating the climate debates in his administration will include significant scientific evidence.
Steven Chu, the director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and a 1997 corecipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics, is Obama’s pick for secretary of energy. Lisa Jackson, a former commissioner of New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection who was trained as a chemical engineer, is nominated for the post as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. And Carol Browner, former EPA chief in the Clinton administration, has been asked to serve as a “high-level coordinator” on energy issues—and perhaps something of a “czar” on climate change.
Department of Energy – Steven Chu
At Berkeley, Chu has strongly advocated research into solar power and advanced biomass, in particular biofuels made from grasses that won’t compete for space with farmland. At a talk this summer in Nevada, Chu said, “In the first eight months of a new research program, we have developed ways to separate out cellulose, and we have already made a yeast [that] makes a gasolinelike fuel. Already within eight months, we are working on diesel and jet replacement fuels. We need to work with making this really scalable so it will outperform the yeast we have to today.” (One potential disagreement with Obama: Chu has criticized corn-based ethanol, which Obama has strongly supported in the Senate and in the campaign.)
Administrator of the EPA – Lisa Jackson
Ms. Jackson had been the head of New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection since 2006, and in October, Gov. Jon S. Corzine announced that she would become his chief of staff starting on December. She presently serves as Vice President of the Executive Board of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a program organized by northeast states to develop a regional cap-and-trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from energy producers. She has a master’s degree in chemical engineering from Princeton and spent 16 years at the federal E.P.A. as a top enforcement officer in Washington and New York. She has led the Obama transition team at E.P.A. and knows the agency inside and out, according to associates.
Coordinator of Energy and Environmental Policy
Browner will work closely with Obama, who pledged his “personal engagement” in these issues, and coordinate the work of the DOE, EPA, as well as the federal, state and local governments. Obamo pointed out that Browner will bring her experience from the EPA of establishing the NOx and SO2 emissions trading programme. On the international stage, she was behind drafting the US’ submission to the Kyoto protocol in 1997, which he said was the “the best framework for carbon policy that has ever been developed.”
Ms. Browner, an acolyte of former Vice President Al Gore, will have forceful support in the new Congress, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Representative Henry A. Waxman of California, who will be the new chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Senator Barbara Boxer of California, who is returning as chairwoman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. Opposing their efforts will be many Republicans and some Democrats, as well as manufacturers, utilities, oil companies and coal producers who will bear the brunt of the costs of any steps to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, the main culprit in global warming.
The nominees have a record of supporting high levels of federal involvement in energy and environmental issues, both in terms of money invested and regulatory oversight. During the early 1990s, Browner earned a reputation for attempting to uphold water and air regulations in the face of opposition from congressional Republicans. Jackson, likewise, at a congressional hearing last May on mercury emissions, told lawmakers, “Implementing the real maximum achievable protections is simply the only moral and ethical choice available if we are to meet our responsibility as public officials.”
15Dec
Analysts cut EU Allowance Price Forecast
Filed in Economy | Energy | Environment | Politics
Citing lower forecasts in 2009 output along with an increase in the number of firms announcing temporary shutdowns, analysts are scaling back their forecasts for carbon emissions and the price for allowances for those emissions. Societe Generale has cut their forecast for EUAs a third to 17 euros a ton. They went on to say prices could rise to 20 euros by 2012, sharply down from estimates earlier this year that prices would reach 37 euros during this timeframe.
Deutsche Bank believes EU emissions in 2009 could be 10% below 2007 levels. This would push emissions below allowances for 2009. The excess allowances for 2009 can be “banked” for use through 2012 and the forecasted emissions for 2009-2012 remain slightly above the EU carbon allowances. As a result of reduced emissions and smaller shortfall, UN-approved Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) which EU industry can import from developing nations to meet compliance, may be able to meet the entire shortfall. Price estimates for EUAs and CERs clearly indicate analysts believe CERs will set the pricing for EUAs for the next few years.
The good news is EU will be able to meet the allowances under phase 2 with a small “carbon price” in this recessionary period. This is also the bad news, as the lower price reduces the investment per ton of CO2 available for carbon abatement projects. The net is by 2012, the European Union will have done less and perhaps much less to lower the Green House Gases (GHG) they produce per unit of energy they consume than anticipated when the allowance allocations were set.
11Dec
Lower Energy Costs vs. Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Filed in Energy | Environment
The 2008-2009 economic recession has had a major impact on energy prices and price estimates for 2009. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates petroleum products consumption in 2008 will fall 5.8% from the 2007 average and another 1% in 2009. Electricity consumption in 2008 is expected to be flat with 2007 and to decline in 2009. With spot fuel prices down from summer 2008 highs, residential electricity rates are predicted to rise 6% in 2008 and 5% in 2009.
The good news is that carbon based energy will be lower as petroleum consumption and electricity demand decrease. And with an increase in wind, nuclear, natural gas and petroleum fueled electricity generation, electricity produced by burning coal should fall 0.2% in 2009. Unfortunately, these changes do little to alter the GreenHouse Gas (GHG) emissions forecast from the “Business as Usual” scenario (See Increasing Carbon Productivity Tenfold).
According to the The Carbon Productivity Challenge published by McKinsey & Company, the world has 50 years to increase carbon productivity from $7,300 GDP per ton of CO2e to $740 GDP per ton of CO2e. Some big steps are needed with a cost for GHG emissions via a cap and trade system at the top of the list.