Climate Change Solutions: Our New Energy Economy

The Rosenfeld Effect on Energy Efficiency: Simple, Effective, and Achievable Now

2010-01-12T09:41:00.011-07:00

Arthur Rosenfeld Turns Off The Lights

California has been a world leader in energy-use and water-use efficiency for at least the past three decades. Despite increasing energy demands via a variety of modern devices in California homes and businesses, the state’s residents today use about the same amount of electricity per capita that they used thirty years ago. In the meantime, the per-capita electric power consumption of the rest of the USA has increased forty percent (40%).

California’s energy efficiency programs are largely attributable to Arthur H. Rosenfeld. A pioneer in understanding communicating energy efficiency, Rosenfeld, a nuclear physicist, was appointed to the California Energy Commission in 2000.

According to the Los Angeles Times, California’s energy efficiency gains “…are so closely linked to Rosenfeld that they’ve been dubbed the Rosenfeld Effect in energy efficiency circles, where the 83-year-old has taken on rock star status.”

Energy Symposium: “The Rosenfeld Effect” held April 28, 2006 at the University of California, Berkeley

Arthur H. Rosenfeld Receives Enrico Fermi Award for Scientific Achievement

"Arthur Rosenfeld shows a lamp in his home developed at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory that has two 55-watt fluorescent bulbs, each producing as much light as a 240-watt incandescent bulb. Rosenfeld is leaving the state's energy panel after two five-year terms."
-- Los Angeles Times, December 18, 2009

Photograph by Peter DaSilva for The Los Angeles Times, December 18, 2009.

Energy Conservation A Superior Alternative To New Power Sources

Rosenfeld recognized in the 1970s that conserving energy was and is cheaper and smarter than continually creating new power sources. To prove this fact, Rosenfeld began collecting energy-use data and providing it to California energy regulators. The result is borne out in California’s current energy efficiency standards that are now among the most effective in the world.

For example, California recently enacted the nation’s first energy efficiency regulations for televisions sold in the state. The rules, approved unanimously by the California Energy Commission, require cutting the amount of electricity used by new television set by one-third starting January 1, 2011. On January 1, 2013, the electricity use of new sets must be cut by fifty percent. According to Rosenfeld, Television-related power use has more than tripled since the sale of flat-panel TV sets began to increase in the early 2000s. Rosenfeld’s data show that “TV-related power usage has more than tripled to ten (10) billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year, accounting for nearly ten (10) percent of residential energy consumption.”

The Los Angeles Times reported on January 11, 2010:

“Rosenfeld was appointed to the Energy Commission by Gov. Gray Davis in 2000 and reappointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2005. In his last key vote as an energy commissioner, he applied that same conservative thinking to energy-guzzling big-screen televisions, which currently account for about one-tenth of residential power consumption in California.”

“New efficiency mandates go into effect Jan. 1, 2011, and become more stringent two years later. They're expected to save Californians $8 billion in energy costs over a decade. Some TV makers weren't happy. Rosenfeld wasn't surprised.”

"The first time we put standards on a product, we tend to get objections that this will be the ruin of civilization as we know it," he mused. "But then people get used to it."

*****

“Climate change experts say more heroes will be needed after last month's disappointing climate talks in Copenhagen, when major nations failed to sign a concrete agreement on carbon reduction. Rosenfeld is seen as an example of how dogged persistence at the local level can turn the impossible into the achievable.” -- Marc Lifsher in The Los Angeles Times, January 11, 2010

The 83-year-old Rosenfeld is leaving his California Energy Commission position the week of January 11, 2010.

Akeena Solar's Andalay AC Solar Panels Now Available at Lowe's Home Improvement Stores

2010-01-06T08:15:00.018-07:00

"Plug-and-Play" AC Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Panel Systems Now On Shelves at Lowe's Energy Centers Throughout California

Akeena Solar of Los Gatos, California in December 2009 announced that its Andalay AC (alternating current) Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Panels are now available at 21 Lowe’s Energy Centers in Lowe’s home-improvement stores throughout California.

According to Clean Edge News, “The Lowe's Energy Centers aim to empower customers to create an energy plan that fits their budget and home-improvement goals. An information kiosk offers a touch-screen display to help customers evaluate their home's solar and wind potential, and the Energy Centers feature products that help them measure their energy use, reduce energy consumption and generate clean energy.”

Akeena Solar claims that its Andalay AC is the first fully “plug-and-play” AC solar power system. A White Paper, Video and Specifications provide evidence on “…how Andalay AC is the only rooftop system to take advantage of mainstream home AC electrical wiring standards, doing away with the need to work with dangerous DC circuits and resulting in faster, safer, more profitable installations with reduced engineering, inventory, supply chain and training requirements.”

The White Paper “…examines how the innovations encompassed in Andalay AC not only revolutionize the way solar installation companies can do business, but also how consumers can benefit from the full promise of rooftop energy generation.”

How Solar Power Works

Solar power systems turn sunlight into electricity. Silicon wafers capture photons from sunlight and turn them into DC power, which is then transformed into 120 volt AC power and connected to your existing electrical system — as well as the local electrical grid. When the sun shines, you can generate more power than you consume (your meter will literally spin backwards). At night you'll draw on utility company power, essentially using the electrical grid as a giant storage battery.

Image and text from Akeena Solar

From the December 10, 2009 Akeena Solar Press Release:

"The PC revolution in the computer industry occurred when new technology made PCs easy to use and affordable," said Barry Cinnamon, CEO of Akeena Solar. "Likewise, with panels becoming plug-and-play appliances, the solar revolution has started. The availability of solar panels in Lowe's stores makes it easy for homeowners to go solar and is a big step toward getting solar on every sunny rooftop."

“Andalay AC panels, developed by Akeena Solar in Silicon Valley, have integrated racking, wiring and grounding -- reducing the overall parts count by 80 percent and protecting against performance-threatening breakdowns that could happen with ordinary DC power systems.”

“Andalay panels also have built-in inverters that produce household AC power, so there is no high-voltage DC wiring. These safety and reliability benefits are achieved without compromising performance. In fact, Andalay AC panels produce 5 to 25 percent more energy output compared with ordinary DC solar panels. Because of the modular design of Andalay AC panels, homeowners could install a few panels now and gradually add on later, unlike DC systems that require a complete redesign when adding panels.”

"Buying panels off the shelf at Lowe's offers solar options to homeowners that they didn't have," continued Cinnamon. "Homeowners now can get a system as small as one panel. With Andalay's safe household AC power design, they are the only real choice for do-it-yourselfers."

“Participating Lowe's stores will stock the accessories required for installation, eliminating the need for do-it-yourselfers and contractors to pre-order components and enabling them to pick up what they need on the way to the installation.”

According to Akeena Solar, whereas direct-current (DC) solar power systems require special installation skills, Andalay’s alternating current (AC) solar system can be installed by electricians, Heating, Ventilating, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) contractors, and experienced do-it-yourselfers without specialized training.

A video by Andalay shows components of the system and how it is installed.

Sopogy, Inc. Inaugurates World's First MicroCSP Solar Thermal power Plant In Hawaii

2009-12-14T08:44:00.011-07:00

Solar Thermal Plant Produces 2 Megawatts (MW) And Energy Storage at Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii

Holaniku at Keahole Point, Hawaii Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) Array

Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii, Kona, HI and Sopogy, Inc. of Honolulu, HI inaugurated the World’s first MicroCSP Solar Thermal Plant December 10, 2009 at the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii.

According to the Sopogy Press Release the 2 Megawatt (MW) solar thermal energy project uses 1,000 Sopogy proprietary MicroCSP solar panels on 3.8 acres in the hot Kona desert.

“Through the use of mirrors and optics and an integrated sun tracker, these panels achieve higher efficiencies than conventional solar panels. The system also uses a unique thermal energy storage buffer that allows energy to be produced during cloudy periods and to shift energy produced from the day to evening periods.”

Holaniku at Keahole Point, Hawaii Solar Thermal Energy Storage

“The project name: ‘Holaniku at Keahole Point’ comes from the Hawaiian term for a location that has everything required for self-sufficiency.”

“MicroCSP is an achievement in rugged, modular and cost effective solar thermal technology.” According to Darren T. Kimura, President and CEO of Sopogy, Inc., “The completion and demonstration of this 2 megawatt solar thermal project is an important first step in bringing the solution to the World.”

“With the initialization of the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative, the state has become a magnet for renewable energy project development. Sopogy and its local solar project development partner Keahole Solar Power have a goal to bring 30 megawatts of MicroCSP power to the state by 2015.”

Sopogy Total Solar Solutions

Contact: Ann Fitzgerald – Marketing and Public Relations Coordinator, Sopogy, Inc.

Email: afitzgerald@sopogy.com Tel: 808.237.2422

Sopogy Mirrored Solar Collectors, Holaniku at Keahole Point, Hawaii

Photo by Baron Sekiya, Hawaii 24/7

California Builds An Electric Vehicle Infrastructure

2009-12-02T09:04:00.012-07:00

Nissan Leaf Five-Seat, Zero-Emission Hatchback made its USA debut on November 13, 2009 at Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles, California. The Leaf will offered in markets in the USA and Europe in 2010, and will be available on the global market in 2012. The Leaf will run on a lithium-ion battery and have a 100-mile range after charging.

California Installs Thousands Of Electric Vehicle Charging Stations

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on December 1, 2009 announced an electric vehicle infrastructure plan for the city. Together with partners, Los Angeles plans to update 400 electrical charging stations an add 100 more. Partners in the plan include Southern California Edison Co., the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Nissan Motor Co., General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and the cities of Burbank, Pasadena, Santa Ana and Santa Monica.

The electric vehicle charging stations are the foundation for an infrastructure being constructed to meet the demands of a large influx of electric vehicles as early as 2010. At least ten automobile manufacturers will be offering electric cars for the USA mass market within the next one to three years.

SolarCity Corp. of Foster City, CA announced on September 22, 2009 that it had finished construction of five solar-powered electric vehicle charging stations along U.S. Highway 101 between Los Angeles and San Francisco, CA. This program is in collaboration with Rabobank which is hosting charging stations at its offices in Salinas, Atascadero, Santa Maria, and Goleta, California. The fifth electric vehicle charging station in the project is on city land in San Luis Obispo, CA.

SolarCity has built about 100 Tesla Motors Inc. electric vehicle charging stations at individual residences, and to date has installed a total of about 2,500 charging stations statewide in California.

Electric Charger Device and Nissan Leaf Electric Vehicle

The Los Angeles Times reported the following on the Nissan Leaf debut in Los Angeles on November 13, 2009:

"Chargers inside customers' home garages will be the primary method of powering up the cars, but Nissan has been planning a network of Leaf charging stations with public and private partners.

So far, Nissan has cut 33 deals around the world, with stations set for San Diego; Sonoma County; Portland, Ore.; Seattle; Tucson; Phoenix; Washington, D.C.; Raleigh, N.C.; and in Tennessee.

On Friday, (November 13, 2009) Nissan announced an agreement to develop a charging infrastructure in Texas with Houston-based Reliant Energy, a subsidiary of electricity giant NRG Energy Inc. The deal could involve Reliant home charging packages offered through Nissan, said NRG Chief Executive David Crane.

The Leaf battery, which can be quick-charged to 80% capacity in 30 minutes at special charging stations or fully charged overnight using a 220-volt socket, will be leased separately at a rate that Nissan Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn said would be less than the cost of gasoline."

The Copenhagen Diagnosis: Updating The World On the Latest Climate Science

2009-11-26T10:03:00.015-07:00

The Copenhagen Diagnosis, a new report that summarizes and highlights climate science during the past three years, was released November 25, 2009.

From the Preface of the Copenhagen Diagnosis report:

"It is over three years since the drafting of text was completed for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report (AR4).

In the meantime, many hundreds of papers have been published on a suite of topics related to human-induced climate change. The purpose of this report is to synthesize the most policy-relevant climate science published since the close-off of material for the last IPCC report.

The rationale is two-fold. Firstly, this report serves as an interim evaluation of the evolving science midway through an IPCC cycle – IPCC AR5 is not due for completion until 2013.

Secondly, and most importantly, the report serves as a handbook of science updates that supplements the IPCC AR4 in time for Copenhagen in December, 2009, and any national or international climate change policy negotiations that follow.

This report covers the range of topics evaluated by Working Group I of the IPCC, namely the Physical Science Basis. This includes:

• an analysis of greenhouse gas emissions and their atmospheric concentrations, as well as the global carbon cycle;

• coverage of the atmosphere, the land-surface, the oceans, and all of the major components of the cryosphere (land-ice, glaciers, ice shelves, sea-ice and permafrost);

• paleoclimate, extreme events, sea level, future projections, abrupt change and tipping points;

• separate boxes devoted to explaining some of the common misconceptions surrounding climate change science.

The report has been purposefully written with a target readership of policy-makers, stakeholders, the media and the broader public. Each section begins with a set of key points that summarises the main findings. The science contained in the report is based on the most credible and significant peer-reviewed literature available at the time of publication. The authors primarily comprise previous IPCC lead authors familiar with the rigor and completeness required for a scientific assessment of this nature."

Earth at Night:
Arctic, Greenland, North America & northern parts of South America

[See image information & credits at the end of this post.]

Executive Summary
Copenhagen Diagnosis Report

"The most significant recent climate change findings are:

Surging greenhouse gas emissions: Global carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels in 2008 were nearly 40% higher than those in 1990. Even if global emission rates are stabilized at present-day levels, just 20 more years of emissions would give a 25% probability that warming exceeds 2°C, even with zero emissions after 2030. Every year of delayed action increases the chances of exceeding 2°C warming.

Recent global temperatures demonstrate human-induced warming: Over the past 25 years temperatures have increased at a rate of 0.19°C per decade, in very good agreement with predictions based on greenhouse gas increases. Even over the past ten years, despite a decrease in solar forcing, the trend continues to be one of warming. Natural, short-term fluctuations are occurring as usual, but there have been no significant changes in the underlying warming trend.

Acceleration of melting of ice-sheets, glaciers and ice-caps: A wide array of satellite and ice measurements now demonstrate beyond doubt that both the Greenland and Antarctic ice-sheets are losing mass at an increasing rate. Melting of glaciers and ice-caps in other parts of the world has also accelerated since 1990.

Rapid Arctic sea-ice decline: Summer-time melting of Arctic sea-ice has accelerated far beyond the expectations of climate models. The area of sea-ice melt during 2007-2009 was about 40% greater than the average prediction from IPCC AR4 climate models.

Current sea-level rise underestimated: Satellites show recent global average sea-level rise (3.4 mm/yr over the past 15 years) to be ~80% above past IPCC predictions. This acceleration in sea-level rise is consistent with a doubling in contribution from melting of glaciers, ice caps, and the Greenland and West-Antarctic ice-sheets.

Sea-level predictions revised: By 2100, global sea-level is likely to rise at least twice as much as projected by Working Group 1 of the IPCC AR4; for unmitigated emissions it may well exceed 1 meter. The upper limit has been estimated as ~ 2 meters sea level rise by 2100. Sea level will continue to rise for centuries after global temperatures have been stabilized, and several meters of sea level rise must be expected over the next few centuries.

Delay in action risks irreversible damage: Several vulnerable elements in the climate system (e.g. continental ice-sheets, Amazon rainforest, West African monsoon and others) could be pushed towards abrupt or irreversible change if warming continues in a business-as-usual way throughout this century. The risk of transgressing critical thresholds (“tipping points”) increases strongly with ongoing climate change. Thus waiting for higher levels of scientific certainty could mean that some tipping points will be crossed before they are recognized.

The turning point must come soon: If global warming is to be limited to a maximum of 2 °C above pre-industrial values, global emissions need to peak between 2015 and 2020 and then decline rapidly. To stabilize climate, a decarbonized global society – with near-zero emissions of CO2 and other long-lived greenhouse gases – needs to be reached well within this century. More specifically, the average annual per-capita emissions will have to shrink to well under 1 metric ton CO2 by 2050. This is 80-95% below the per-capita emissions in developed nations in 2000."

The Copenhagen Diagnosis, 2009: Updating the World on the Latest Climate Science. I. Allison, N.L. Bindoff, R.A. Bindschadler, P.M. Cox, N. de Noblet, M.H. England, J.E. Francis, N. Gruber, A.M. Haywood, D.J. Karoly, G. Kaser, C. Le Quéré, T.M. Lenton, M.E. Mann, B.I. McNeil, A.J. Pitman, S. Rahmstorf, E. Rignot, H.J. Schellnhuber, S.H. Schneider, S.C. Sherwood, R.C.J. Somerville, K. Steffen, E.J. Steig, M. Visbeck, A.J. Weaver. The University of New South Wales Climate Change Research Centre (CCRC), Sydney, Australia, 60pp.

Earth at Night:
Eastern China, Japan, Southeast Asia, Philippines,
Australia, New Zealand & Antarctica

"Earth at Night" images by Defense Meteorological Satellite Program, data collected 1994—1995
Operated by the U.S. Air Force Weather Agency
EARTH FROM SPACE courtesy of the U.S. Geological
Survey, the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, and the
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.
Courtesy Marc Imhoff, Craig Mayhew, Robert Simmon NASA/GSFC; Christopher Elvidge
NOAA/NGDC

ROOFTOP & SMALL-SCALE CONCENTRATING SOLAR POWER NOW COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE

2009-11-01T11:06:00.008-07:00

Sopogy SopoFlare Rooftop Parabolic Mirror Collector

This system for rooftop mounting measures 8 feet long by about 2 feet high with a mirror width of about 2.5 feet.

Sopogy of Honolulu, HI announced on October 27, 2009 that the company is releasing the world’s first commercially available rooftop concentrating solar thermal power system.

Sopogy claims that its SopoFlare MicroCSP parabolic mirror system is priced at 30 percent cheaper than competing rooftop solar technologies.

According to the Sopogy Press Release:

“The system easily retrofits into existing facilities, reducing natural gas consumption (and) giving users an estimated 3-year payback on installation.”

“SopoFlare's compact design at 8 feet long by 2.5 feet wide is perfect for quick and easy installation by local HVAC and Plumbing professionals.”

“This brings concentrating solar power to the commercial and industrial facility in a cost effective, space efficient and contractor friendly solution.”

Sopogy’s products illustrate the range of scalability of concentrating solar thermal power (CSP/CSTP) installations. CSP/CSTP can provide utility-scale solar thermal electric power in excess of hundreds of megawatts as well as residential- and commercial-scale power in the range of a few kilowatts. In addition, CSP/CSTP can be used for air-conditioning, water heating, space heating, and commercial process heating.

Concentrating Solar Thermal Power (CSP/CSTP) has a significantly higher conversion efficiency of sunlight into energy. CSP/CSTP systems currently boast efficiencies ranging from about 20 to 40 percent compared with about 15 percent for most commercially available solar photovoltaic (PV) systems. CSP/CSTP systems also are able to produce excess heat during daylight hours that can be stored for use during cloud cover, darkness, or to supplement peak power demands.

Concentrating Solar Thermal Electric Power Generation Schematic showing Parabolic Trough Mirrors and Thermal Storage Tanks. Parabolic trough mirrors focus solar heat onto a fluid-filled pipe. The heated fluid is carried to storage and/or to a heat exchanger that heats water into steam. The steam runs the turbine that generates electricity.

Andasol 1 Concentrating Solar Thermal Electric Power Plant Parabolic Trough Mirrors & People for Scale

Andasol 1 is one of three similar CSTP plants constructed or planned in the Aldeire and La Calahorra area, Marquesao del Zenete Region, Granada Province, Spain

Andasol Power plants 1, 2, & 3 are each designed using 209,664 mirrors. The solar field peak efficiency is about 70 percent, and the annual average solar field peak efficiency is about 50 percent. Molten salt thermal storage retains enough heat for about 7.5 peak load hours of operation during cloudy or dark conditions, or in response to demand. Each of the three Andasol CSTP plants is rated at about 50 megawatts (MW) of power. The peak efficiency of each CSTP plant is about 28 percent, with an annual average efficiency of about 15 percent. The estimated lifespan of the power plants is at least 40 years.

CLIMATE PROTECTION AGREEMENT MILESTONE

2009-10-04T11:02:00.019-06:00

Mayor Gavin Newsome of San Francisco, California views installation of electric vehicle charging stations at San Francisco City Hall.
Photo courtesy of San Francisco Office of the Mayor, published in the New York Times, February 19, 2009.

1,000 USA Cities Now Support Reducing Greenhouse Gases Emissions

As of Friday, October 2, 2009, one thousand mayors nationwide in the USA have signed the

U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Agreement.

The 1,000 mayors represent approximately 86.3 million USA citizens from the 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

The United States Conference of Mayors
The Voice of America’s Mayors in Washington, D.C.

Seattle, Washington Mayor Greg Nickels launched the initiative on February 16, 2005 as a grassroots effort to reduce greenhouse gases emissions. Nickels recognized that his effort was necessary because at the time our federal government was not seen to be acting forcefully on the threats of excessive greenhouse gases emissions.

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels
Photo courtesy of Office of the Mayor
Published in Environment News Service, September 30, 2009

The U.S. Conference of Mayors for decades “…has formally adopted and actively promoted policy positions on a range of issues affecting energy production and use…” together with impacts on our environment.

Lobbying by our nation’s mayors led to $2.7 billion in block grants authorized in 2009 by the federal government for states, municipalities and native tribes for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects. Continuing authority for such grants – again the result of lobbying by our mayors – is embodied in the federal climate change legislation recently introduced by USA Senators John F. Kerry and Barbara Boxer.

The Kerry-Boxer Bill is cited as
“The American Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act”

The stated intention of the bill is:
“To create clean energy jobs, promote energy independence, reduce global warming pollution, and transition to a clean energy economy.”

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels upholds that energy and economic solutions must come from the top 100 metropolitan areas of the USA. These areas represent seventy-five percent (75%) of our nation’s gross domestic product, and consume the bulk of domestic and imported energy resources.

The United States Conference of Mayors released a report on Friday, October 2, 2009 that lists city-by-city accomplishments in energy efficiency and renewable energy improvements. The 52-page report is entitled:

“The Power of 86 Million Americans: 1,000 Mayors Committed to Climate Action – Selected Profiles of Mayoral Leadership.”

The report highlights specific actions being taken in our nation’s municipalities ranging from “…changing city fleets to alternative fuel vehicles, to retrofitting city-owned buildings with energy efficient technology to collecting methane gas from landfills for electricity use.”

Notable results include:

Seattle, Washington reducing its 1990 carbon footprint by eight percent (8%) in 2005,
Los Angeles, California reaching its Kyoto Protocol greenhouse gases reduction targets in 2008, four years ahead of schedule,
Boson, Massachusetts increasing its solar power capacity by three hundred percent (300%),
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania adopting a plan to retrofit one hundred thousand (100,000) homes with energy-savings features during the next seven years, and
Cleveland, Ohio setting a standard of converting to twenty-five percent (25 %) of its electricity consumption to be provided by renewable energy sources.

The United States Conference of Mayors believes that our mayors are “…on the front lines of impacting human behavior…” on a wide variety of issues, including those of energy and greenhouse gases emissions reduction. In this regard, comments from the group’s September 30, 2009 Press Release are instructive:

“Global warming is real and demands our immediate response. It is in our national interest to act now and exhibit our global leadership."

“We are especially pleased that the Senate has responded to our request that the bill include a provision for the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant. By doing this, these Senate leaders are acknowledging the important role cities play in creating green jobs and achieving energy independence and climate protection. The Conference has worked long and hard to establish this innovative program as a cornerstone of our national climate protection strategy."

“In these hard economic times, we know that many people are without jobs and are struggling. This bill will help jump start new green industries that will create new jobs at a time when they are desperately needed. These green jobs are the future of our economic competitiveness.”

Earth At Night: The Lights Of North America

Source: "Earth from Space: The Human Presence"
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
Data (1994-1995) compiled courtesy of Marc Imhoff, Craig Mayhew, and Robert Simmon, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center and Christopher Elvidge, NOAA/National Geophysical Data Center

Energy Efficiency Potential In The USA

2009-07-31T10:26:00.030-06:00

"Heated Earth"
Earth image from Earthobservatory at NASA, Compiled by iStockphoto/Adam Korzekwa, Science Daily, January 28, 2009.

New McKinsey & Company Report Focuses On Barriers To Achieving Energy Efficiency

A significant tool in the portfolio of climate change solutions is improved energy efficiency across a broad range of applications throughout global society. Although energy efficiency has been widely touted as desirable for at least the past several decades, its full-scale potential remains far from being realized.

In July 2009, McKinsey & Company through its electric power and natural gas division published an important report entitled, “Unlocking Energy Efficiency in the U.S. Economy.”

"The report is the product of a year-long effort by McKinsey & Company in close collaboration with 13 leading U.S.-based companies, government agencies and environmental NGOs."

See both the Preface and pages 143-144 for lists of contributors.

The focus of the collaborators “…has been to identify what has prevented attractive efficiency opportunities from being captured in the past and evaluate potential measures to overcome these barriers. Our goal is to unlock the efficiency potential for more productive uses in the future.”

The report examines in detail the energy saving potential “…for greater efficiency in non-transportation uses of energy…” and reaches this central conclusion:

“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 addressed 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 greenhouse gases annually.”

The report acknowledges that decline in energy demand attributed to energy efficiency is only one tool in reducing carbon-emitting energy production. There will be demand for new clean energy power plants, both to serve regions of growth and to retire “…economically or environmentally obsolete energy infrastructure…” such as nearly all existing coal-fired power plants.

The collaborators reaffirm that energy efficiency represents an emissions-free energy resource. “If captured at full potential, energy efficiency would abate approximately 1.1 gigatons CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent; also, CDE) of greenhouse gas emissions per year in 2020 relative to BAU (Business-As-Usual) projections, and could serve as an important bridge to a future era of advanced low-carbon supply-side energy options."

[For BAU = Business-As-Usual projections, the collaborators used the U.S. Energy Information Administration's Annual Energy Outlook 2008 to focus on the 81 percent of non-transportation energy with end uses that the collaborators were able to attribute.]

The report has a thorough glossary, a detailed explanation of methodology, a 20-page reference list, and sidebars to explain and complement the highly informative graphics.

The graphs throughout are very informative. For example, the graphic on page 11 shows itemized energy efficiency potential -- expressed as cost savings -- for building components and other actions relative to the year 2020.

You can download the 165-page document as a 6.4-megabyte .pdf file:

McKinsey & Company, 2009, Unlocking Energy Efficiency in the U.S. Economy: McKinsey Global Energy and Materials, Electric Power & Natural Gas, July 2009, 165p.

Another way to look at energy efficiency potential is a flow chart recently published by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the U.S. Department of Energy. The diagram shows "Estimated U.S. Energy Use in 2008: ~99.2 Quads."

[One Quad = 1 quadrillion BTUs]

The flow chart shows a grey box in the upper right labeled "Rejected Energy 57.07 (Quads)".

[1 Quad = approximately 293,071,000 megawatt hours.]

"Rejected Energy" means that out of 99.2 Quads produced from all energy sources, about 57.5% (fifty-seven and one-half percent) is wasted. Wasted energy is that energy produced that is not used for the services we demand, labeled as "Energy Services" on the flow chart. Improved energy efficiency would make better use of that wasted energy and/or would reduce total energy demand.

In a typical statement on USA energy waste, Clark Energy Group (2009) says:

“Electricity from the (USA) grid is tremendously inefficient as less than half of the energy utilized to produce grid electricity is used productively. In fact, much of grid electricity’s energy is lost from waste heat during the generation process, transmission losses, converting between AC and DC current, and the like.”

Click on the chart below to enlarge it and make it more readable.

Flow Chart for Estimated U.S. Energy Use in 2008: ~ 99.2 Quads.
Graphic prepared by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and U.S. Department of Energy.

Smart Grid Basics

2009-06-20T10:54:00.020-06:00

The Twilight of the Electric Grid?

Image from "DOE Reports Paints Bleak Picture Of Our Electric Future," by John Timmer, Ars Technica, January 19, 2009. Timmer's Ars Technica article comments on the DOE Electricity Advisory Committee January 9, 2009 report,
"Keeping the Lights On in a New World."

The USA’s electrical transmission infrastructure consists of nine thousand two hundred (9,200) power plants including fossil fuel, nuclear, hydro, solar, geothermal, wind, and biofuel plants, and facilities that combine these power sources. Collectively, these plants have an electrical generating capacity of more than one million megawatts (1,000,000 MW). The power plants are connected to more than three hundred thousand (300,000) miles of transmission lines.

The USA's electrical transmission infrastructure has grown to its current size and complexity over the course of a century. Nonetheless, the USA electricity “grid” is outdated because it relies on obsolescent technology and contains vast inefficiencies that have accumulated during the course of its construction. Further, the “grid” was never designed for a future of lower carbon emissions and the newer technologies of high-speed computers, the Internet, clean energy power plants and distributed generation (DG).

The USA Department of Energy (DOE) is in charge of “…orchestrating the wholesale modernization of our nation’s electrical grid.” The DOE Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability formed a Smart Grid Task Force under the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. The Smart Grid Task Force is to lead the “grid” modernization effort.

DOE recently contracted with Litos Strategic Communication to produce the report, “The Smart Grid: An Introduction.”

According to the DOE, “It is the first book of its kind to explore – in layman’s terms – the nature, challenges, opportunities and necessity of Smart Grid implementation.”

On page 2 of “The Smart Grid: An Introduction,” the authors say:

“Our nation’s electric power infrastructure that has served us so well for so long – also known as “the grid” – is rapidly running up against its limitations. Our lights may be on, but systemically, the risks associated with relying on an often overtaxed grid grow in size, scale and complexity every day. From national challenges like power system security to those global in nature such as climate change, our near-term agenda is formidable. Some might even say history-making.”

The new report treats:
• the history of our existing national electrical grid
• what the Smart Grid is and what it is not
• comparing and contrasting the Smart Grid with existing systems
• what must be done first in creating the Smart Grid
• what the working platform of the Smart Grid looks like
• which Smart Grid efforts now being employed are succeeding
• what is the average person’s stake in the Smart Grid, and
• resources and glossary to help people learn the principles and language applied to the new technology.

The report provides fundamental information and resources for investigating our emerging new-technology electrical generation and transmission infrastructure. It is a guide to thinking about questions emerging in our national debate over our new energy economy:

How much electrical capacity do we now demand?

How much electrical capacity will we demand in the future?

How many new power plants and power lines will we build?

How many obsolescent technology power plants must we replace and how quickly?

Where is it appropriate to construct new power plants, transmission, and other "grid" infrastructure?

“Smart Grid” thinking, in fact, can defer the demand to spend billions of dollars on new electrical power transmission lines. A “Smart Grid” that operates with the flexibility available from modern computing technology provides huge opportunities for employing distributed clean energy power generation (DG). DG systems provide a very rapid installation, “plug-and-play” input to our national grid. DG systems produce electricity from many small energy sources, and electricity is generated very near where it is used.

On May 18, 2009 U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke and U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu issued a Press Release announcing progress on the USA Smart Grid, and "significant steps in Smart Grid development." Secretaries Locke and Chu "...announced the first set of standards that are needed for the interoperability and security of the Smart Grid and $10 million in Recovery Act funds provided by the Energy Department to the Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology to support the development of interoperability standards."

"Secretary Chu also announced that based on feedback from the public and Smart Grid stakeholders, the Department of Energy is increasing the maximum award available under the Recovery Act for Smart Grid programs. The maximum award available under the Smart Grid Investment Grant Program will be increased from $20 million to $200 million and for the Smart Grid Demonstration Projects from $40 million to $100 million. In making awards, DOE will ensure that funding is provided to a diversity of applications, including small projects as well as end-to-end larger projects."

You may offer your opinions on and applications for developing the USA's "Smart Grid" by tracking and responding to posts on the web site of the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Solar Choices And Costs For Homes & Businesses

2009-05-08T08:05:00.029-06:00

Heliodyne Offers Web-Based Courses On Installing Solar Thermal Systems

The New Mexico Coalition for Clean and Affordable Energy (NMCCAE) and the New Mexico Solar Energy Association (NMSEA) offer an 8-page document on solar energy for homes, businesses, and agricultural entities.

The guidebook, "How to Go Solar Using New Mexico's New Solar Energy Incentives," is a basic introduction for getting involved with solar energy.

Although specific to New Mexico in terms of reference information, the guidebook offers sound advice for potential residential, business and agricultural solar customers anywhere.

The guidebook has information on registering one's solar rights, descriptions of types of solar systems, estimated costs of solar systems, and putting together incentives such as solar tax credits.

The guidebook covers solar photovoltaic and active solar thermal heating systems -- the systems that use panels to collect solar energy. NMSEA and many others offer information on passive solar systems that are typically used for heating and cooling. A well designed passive solar home in New Mexico -- and other areas with cold but sunny winters -- saves about 80 (eighty) percent of the off-site energy purchased to heat and cool an average home.

The NMCCAE and NMSEA urge those considering solar systems to move carefully, be patient, and research options according to one's needs and budget. In many cases, low-cost or no-cost energy efficiency improvements will be a more economical solution than solar electric or solar thermal installations.

Look for restrictions such as homeowner covenants, historical district standards, etc. that affect your home or business.

Register and protect your solar rights under the New Mexico Solar Rights Law. You have the right to prevent nearby construction or other activities that will shade your solar system, but only if you register your rights and inform your neighbors.

Understand different types of solar systems and their costs.

Solar Hot Water Systems provide domestic hot water.
Large Solar Hot Water systems provide hot water for air heating.
Direct Solar Hot Air Systems provide air heating.
Grid-Tied Solar Photovoltaic (PV) systems provide solar electricity without batteries.
Off-grid Solar Photovoltaic Systems provide solar electricity using batteries.

Positive Energy 1.5-kilowatt grid-tied solar panel array on a garage rooftop, Santa Fe, New Mexico. Positive Energy provides an instructive Photo Gallery of different types of solar systems and components of these systems.

Look at the incentives available to you. Incentives change frequently in the fast growing solar energy field, so check the links provided in the guidebook for updated information.

The Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency (DSIRE) in May 2009 created DSIRE Solar.

"DSIRE SOLAR is a comprehensive source of information on state, local, utility, and federal incentives and policies that promote the adoption of solar technologies. Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Energy Technology Program, DSIRE SOLAR is a new component of the DSIRE project that provides solar-specific policy information to consumers, policy makers, program administrators, the solar industry and other stakeholders."

For any USA state, one may search DSIRE Solar for incentives for either solar electric, solar thermal, or both technologies.

Locate a reputable installer. The North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners (NABCEP) is training and certifying solar PV installers and will soon be training and certifying solar thermal installers. Beware of installers who suggest solar systems not be inspected. Report problems with installers to the Renewable Energy Industries Association of New Mexico and/or your local chamber of commerce or better business bureau.

The "How to Go Solar" guidebook was originally published in April, 2007. The guidebook is updated from time to time as new incentives and other information become available. See the NMCCAE and NMSEA web sites for current information.

Heliodyne, Inc. Offers Online Training For Installing Solar Thermal Systems

Heliodyne, Inc. Solar Thermal Roof Mounted Flat Plate Collector. Our Sun heats water in conduits inside the panel. Heated water flows into a tank or other storage system inside the building. A pump returns cooler water to the panel. Water flows in and out of the collector panel through the two silver pipes seen in the image.

Heliodyne, Inc. of Richmond, California announced on May 11, 2009 that it now offers web-based courses for trade professionals interested in installing solar thermal systems.

"Training includes topics such as solar hot water fundamentals, sales and quoting, sizing, installation and service and maintenance. The subjects are broken down into short lessons, which the student can study at his or her own pace from the convenience of his or her home or office.  "

"The beginner’s course is intended to educate professionals on solar hot water theory along with proper installation techniques."   

"'Utilizing the internet as a medium to train and educate plumbers, builders, dealers, engineers, architects, planners and other relevant industry professionals is an ideal solution since we can reach so many without the inconvenience and expense of travel,' said Robert Cooley, training manager at Heliodyne."

USA Wind Power Grows To More Than 28,200 Megawatts

2009-04-30T07:57:00.023-06:00

New Mexico Has One 100-Megawatt Wind Facility Due For Completion In 2009

The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) recently issued its first-quarter report on wind energy installations in the USA.

The AWEA 1st Quarter Market Report April 2009 is a 9-page brief listing new wind power projects completed through the end of March 2009, wind power projects under construction as of April 2009, and a glossary of definitions of terms associated with wind projects.

Easily readable tables show state and project names, project capacity in megawatts (MW), number of wind turbines in each project, turbine rating in megawatts (MW), turbine manufacturer, project developer, and power purchaser.

A summary on the report cover says, "The U.S. wind industry installed over 2,800 MW of new wind capacity in the ﬁrst quarter of the year, bringing the total installed capacity to over 28,200 MW overall. Some 3,400 MW more are under construction for completion this year (2009) or next year (2010)."

High Lonesome Wind Ranch, New Mexico

The AWEA report lists one project for New Mexico, the High Lonesome Wind Ranch being built on private land about 55 (fifty-five) miles southeast of Albuquerque. The wind power facility is located on Mesa de los Jumanos about 10 (ten) miles south-southeast of Willard, NM and west of NM State Highway 42 in Torrance County.

The High Lonesome Wind Ranch is expected to begin producing power in 2009. The project will contain 40 (forty) three-bladed wind turbines, each rated at 2.5 megawatts (MW), for a total of 100 (one hundred) megawatts (MW). The project was about 60 percent complete as of March, 2009.

The wind facility power is connected to an electrical substation at Willard, NM by a new 14-mile-long overhead transmission line.

The project is being developed by High Lonesome Wind Ranch LLC, a partnership of Foresight Wind, Karbon Zero, and Edison Mission Group. Primary contractors are Wind Energy Constructors, Inc. and the wind turbine manufacturer Clipper Windpower. Construction began in early July 2008 with a peak employment of 300 workers and 50 support staff.

APS Renewable Energy of Phoenix, Arizona has a long-term Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) for 100 megawatts (MW) of power from the High Lonesome Wind Ranch. This power is estimated to serve the electrical demands of up to 30,000 residences.

New Mexico Wind Energy Center, Eastern New Mexico

Wind Turbines, New Mexico Wind Energy Center (NMWEC).

The NMWEC facility went online October 1, 2003. There are 136 turbines that can produce up to 200 megawatts (MW) of electricity, enough to power about 94,000 average-sized New Mexico homes. Florida-based NextEra Energy (formerly FPL Energy) owns and manages the facility, and PNM, a New Mexico public utility, purchases all of its output.

Wind Turbines, Road and Vehicle, New Mexico Wind Energy Center (NMWEC). The NMWEC is located 170 miles southeast of Albuquerque and 20 miles northeast of Fort Sumner, New Mexico.

New Solar Photovoltaic Power Facilities Planned For Colorado & New Mexico

2009-04-28T10:17:00.032-06:00

New CO & NM Solar PV Plants Have Small Power Output Compared With Solar Thermal Plants

Xcel/SunPower Solar PV Project in Southern Colorado

Xcel Energy of Minneapolis, Minnesota and SunPower Corporation of San Jose, California on April 7, 2009 announced an agreement to build a 17-megawatt (MW) solar photovoltaic (PV) power plant near Alamosa, Colorado. The facility will use Sunpower® Tracker systems that generate up to more than 30 percent more energy per land area than conventional systems.

The new solar PV power is an expansion of the existing 8.24-megawatt (MW) Xcel/SunEdison solar PV power plant located west of Colorado State Highway 17 about one mile north of Mosca, Colorado. See the post of March 26, 2009 below for photographs of the existing Xcel/SunEdison facility's solar PV heliostats and panel arrays.

In the announcement, SunPower CEO Tom Werner says, “Today, high-efficiency solar PV technology is competitively proceed for power plant applications. It’s fast to install, and reliably delivers clean power, particularly during peak demand hours.”

SunPower Trackers are arrays of solar photovoltaic (PV) panels mounted on axles aligned in a north-south orientation. The panels rotate on the axles allowing the panels to track the sun from east to west throughout daylight hours.

Cimarrón I Solar Project in Northern New Mexico

Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association of Westminster, Colorado, and First Solar of Tempe, Arizona, on March 24, 2009 announced an agreement to build a 30-megawatt (MW) solar photovoltaic (PV) power plant between Cimarrón and Springer, New Mexico. Click on the box below to bring up and enlarge an artist's depiction of the solar PV facility.

Cimarrón I Solar Project Visualization Still Frame 3. The view is from east to west on the high plains of New Mexico just northwest of Springer, NM and west of U.S Interstate Highway 25. The eastern foothills and peaks of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains are on the horizon, and include snow-covered Baldy Mountain in the upper right which is on Philmont Scout Ranch property. Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association provides outstanding visualizations, animations, and still photographs of the site.

The Cimarrón I Solar Project will use 500,000 (five hundred thousand) solar PV panels, each 2 (two) by 4 (four) feet, installed on 250 (two hundred fifty) acres of land. Construction is to begin in April 2010, and the first part of the system should be producing power by August 2010. Click on the box below to bring up and enlarge an artist's depiction of the solar PV facility.

Cimarrón I Solar Project Visualization Still Frame 6. The view is from west to east on the high plains of New Mexico east of Cimarrón and northwest of Springer. The hills south of Raton, NM are on the horizon, the tallest of which is Laughlin Peak which is about 20 miles southeast of Raton. Note the transmission facilities in the foreground. Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association provides outstanding visualizations, animations, and still photographs of the site.

Solar Photovoltaic & Concentrating Solar Power Production Numbers In Perspective

The announcements for the two solar PV power plants indicate they are among the largest of their type in the world. Although these projects may indeed be large in comparison with other power plants relying exclusively on solar photovoltaic panels, the two NM and CO facilities together will produce only about 47 (forty-seven) megawatts (MW) of power. This amounts to about 13 (thirteen) percent of the power now being generated, for example, by the 354-megawatt (three hundred fifty-four MW) concentrating solar thermal power (CSTP or CSP) facilities at Kramer Junction, Harper Lake and Daggett, California.

The facilities at Daggett, Kramer Junction, and Harper Lake, CA were built from 1984 through 1990 and are known as Solar Energy Generating Systems (SEGS) I through IX. The nine SEGS concentrating solar power plants generate from 14 (fourteen) to 80 (eighty) megawatts (MW) of power. The SEGS solar thermal power plants have operated continuously and have been commercially successful for the past 20 to 25 years.

The Solar Electric Industries Association (SEIA) in its US Solar Industry Year in Review 2008 report notes that no new concentrating solar thermal power (CSTP or CSP) plants came online in the USA in 2008. However, CSTP/CSP projects in the planning or construction stages currently total more than six gigawatts (GW; 6 GW = 6,000 megawatts).

Among these are projects planned for California's Mojave Desert, Arizona and Florida. The Arizona projects include the Abengoa 280-megawatt (MW) solar CSTP/CSP plant near Gila Bend, AZ, and the Albasia 200-MW Solar CSTP/CSP plant near Kingman, AZ.

Xcel Energy also issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) on January 9, 2009 for installing 600 (six hundred) megawatts (MW) of solar CSTP/CSP in southern Colorado.

The Xcel/SunPower and Tri-State/First Solar PV power plants and other similar plants of relatively small electrical output produce power appropriate for a portion of local demand. The Tri-State/First Solar PV plant output is estimated to serve about 9,000 residences, for example. Such plants could serve as models for distributed generation (DG) solar PV power with short transmission distances that could be installed almost anywhere in the USA or the world where the sun shines.

Reegle Launches A Map Of The Clean Energy World

2009-04-28T07:51:00.009-06:00

The Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP) announced on April 27, 2009 that it now provides a global map to assist researchers with information on clean energy topics by country.

The “Reegle Maps” application provides a visual entry point to clean energy news and projects by countries and regions. The map allows searches by sectors under the major headings of:

Climate Protection
Cogeneration
District Heating Systems
Energy Efficiency
Renewable Energy
Rural Electrification,
...and many subheadings under these major headings.

“Reegle acts as a unique state-of-the-art search engine, targeting specific stakeholders including governments, project developers, businesses, financiers, NGOs, academia, international organizations and civil society.”

“Reegle’s information gateway provides information and data on all the various sub-sectors within sustainable energy at a global level including:

Jurisdiction and laws
News and announcements
Political declarations and discussion papers
Project activity and financial reports
Statistical data
Studies, manuals and reports
Tenders, grants and bids”

The REEEP was launched at the Johannesburg, South Africa World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in 2002. The REEEP’s goal is to accelerate the global marketplace for energy efficiency and renewable energy. The partner organizations actively facilitate financing mechanisms for sustainable energy projects, and structure policy initiatives for clean energy markets.

The REEEP lists of partners, international organizations, MOU organizations, governments, and international processes offers an impressive overview of global attention to creating a new energy economy.

Climate Literacy Guide Available

2009-04-20T08:49:00.011-06:00

The U.S. Global Change Research Program/U.S. Climate Change Science Program in March 2009 released the 17-page report, "Climate Literacy -- The Essential Principles of Climate Sciences," with the subheadings "A Climate-Oriented Approach for Learners of All Ages" and "A Guide for Individuals and Communities."

"The Essential Principles of Climate Science presents information that is deemed important for individuals and communities to know and understand about Earth climate, impacts of climate change, and approaches to adaptation or mitigation. Principles in the guide can serve as discussion starters or launching points for scientific inquiry. The guide aims to promote greater climate science literacy by providing this educational framework of principles and concepts. The guide can also serve educators who teach climate science as a way to meet content standards in their science curricula."

"Development of the guide began at a workshop sponsored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Multiple science agencies, non-governmental organizations, and numerous individuals also contributed through extensive review and comment periods. Discussion at the National Science Foundation (NSF)- and NOAA-sponsored Atmospheric Sciences and Climate Literacy workshop contributed substantially to the refinement of the document."

Earth photographed by Astronaut Ron Evans, USA Apollo 17 Mission, December 7, 1972. In this image, now known as "The Blue Marble," Antarctica is at the top. Other prominent features include the eastern coastline of Africa, the Island of Madagascar, the Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea, and the Arabian Peninsula.

USA National Science Board Wants Your Input On A Sustainable Energy Future

2009-04-17T09:05:00.011-06:00

NSB Task Force on Sustainable Energy Public Review and Comment Opportunity

The USA National Science Board released for public review and comments the 61-page draft report, Building a Sustainable Energy Future (NSB-09-35) and dated April 10, 2009.

The report contains a wealth of information on USA energy science, technology, economics and policy by way of tight summaries based on an extensive reference list.

The public invitation for review and comments says:

"The fundamental transformation of the current extractive U.S. fossil fuel energy economy to a sustainable energy economy is a critical grand challenge facing the Nation today."

"Transforming toward a sustainable energy economy requires national leadership and coordination, a new U.S. energy policy framework, and robust support for sustainable energy research, development, demonstration, deployment, and education (RD3E). In its report, the Board makes a number of recommendations to the U.S. Government and offers guidance to the National Science Foundation."

"Given the importance to promote national security through increasing U.S. energy independence, ensure environmental stewardship and reduce energy and carbon intensity, and generate continued economic growth through innovation in energy technologies and increases in green jobs, we hope that you will take this opportunity to express your views on the draft report."

"Submit comments by Friday, May 1, 2009, to Tami Tamashiro, Executive Secretary, Task Force on Sustainable Energy, at NSBenergy@nsf.gov. If you have any questions, contact Ms. Tamashiro at (703) 292-7000."

From the report:

U.S. Energy Supply (p. 9-10):

Today, 85 percent of the U.S. energy supply comes from the combustion of fossil fuels (e.g., oil, natural gas, and coal), and nuclear electric power provides 8 percent. Sustainable energy sources derived from water (hydroelectric), geothermal, wind, sun (solar), and biomass account for the remaining 7 percent of the U.S. energy supply. Dramatic advances and investment in the production, storage, and distribution of U.S. sustainable energy sources are needed to increase the level of sustainable energy supplies.

U.S. Energy Consumption (p. 10):

U.S. energy consumption varies by economic sector and by energy source. About one-third of energy delivered in the United States is consumed by the industrial sector, and one-half of that is consumed by three industries (bulk chemicals, petroleum refining, and paper products). The transportation sector accounts for the second highest share of total end-use consumption at 29 percent, followed by the residential sector at 21 percent and the commercial sector at 18 percent.

Across all sectors, petroleum is the highest energy source at around 40 percent, followed by natural gas (23 percent), coal (22 percent), nuclear electric power (8 percent), and renewable energy (7 percent). The transportation sector has historically consumed the most petroleum, with its petroleum consumption dramatically increasing over the past few decades. In 2007, petroleum accounted for 95 percent of the transportation sector’s energy consumption.

Recommendation 2: Boost R&D Investment (p. 16-17): Increase Federal investment in sustainable energy R&D

• Support a range of sustainable energy alternatives, their enabling infrastructure, and their effective demonstration and deployment. Funding should support investigation into a wide range of sustainable energy RD3E topics, including, but not limited to:

Advanced, sustainable nuclear power;

Alternative vehicles and transportation technologies;

Basic S&E research that feeds into applied energy technologies;

Behavioral sciences as it relates to energy consumption;

Carbon capture and sequestration;

Economic models and assessments related to sustainable energy;

Energy efficiency technologies at all levels of generation, transmission, distribution and consumption;

Energy storage;

Information and communications technologies that can help conserve energy and/or use it more efficiently, such as broadband cyberinfrastructure;

Renewable energy supply technologies (e.g., solar, wind, geothermal,
hydroelectric, biomass/biofuels, kinetic, tidal, wave, ocean thermal technologies);

Smart grid;

“Systems” approach to large-scale sustainability solutions, including full life-cycle analyses of energy systems (e.g., advanced fossil-fuel technologies andbiomass-derived fuels); and

Zero-energy buildings.

Recommendation 3: Facilitate Essential Policies (p. 17):

Consider stable policies that facilitate discovery, development, deployment, and
commercialization of sustainable energy technologies to reflect advances in basic and applied
research

• Understand the explicit and implicit subsidies of current energy sources that impede conversion to the use of sustainable energy sources, and actively work to establish research-based strategies that encourage greater market deployment of sustainable energy technologies.

Conclusion (p. 22):

This report marks a concerted effort by the Board to join with colleagues and stakeholders throughout the Federal, private, academic, and nonprofit sectors to address the challenges and opportunities for sustainable energy in the 21st century. The recommendations made herein to the U.S. Government strive to promote leadership of harmonized efforts in moving toward a sustainable energy economy. In addition, the Board offers guidance for NSF that aims to prioritize innovation in sustainable energy, by supporting sustainable energy RD3E that leads to the development and deployment of viable sustainable energy technologies. With resolve and invigorated initiative, the United States is positioned to successfully build and support a sustainable energy future.

Appendix A: History and Context of Sustainable Energy (p.25-44):

Provides interesting reading on the topics listed under Recommendation 2 above, the current state of USA energy supply and consumption, and a USA legislative timeline from President Truman's signing of the Atomic Energy Act (McMahon Act) in 1946 to President Obama's signing of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

South Africa To Produce 10,000 Gigawatt-Hours of Wind & Solar Energy Using Feed-In Tariffs

2009-04-12T11:21:00.016-06:00

South Africa's National Energy Regulator (NERSA) in late March 2009 introduced a system of Feed-in Tariffs (FITs) intended to produce 10 (ten) Terawatt-hours (TWh) = 10,000 (ten thousand) Gigawatt-hours (GWh) of electricity generated from wind, solar, small hydro, and landfill gas for the country by 2013.

"Feed-In Tariffs - Boosting Energy For Our Future" Report Front Cover, World Future Council, Hamburg, Germany, 2008.

Feed-In Tariffs For South Africa:

A March 31, 2009 Media Announcement briefs the NERSA Decision on Renewable Energy Feed-In Tariff (REFIT).

The 40-page report, South Africa Renewable Energy Feed-In Tariff (REFIT) - Regulatory Guidelines 26 March, 2009, states in its introduction:

"Grid connected renewable energy is currently the fastest growing sector in the global energy market. Installed global wind capacity at the start of 2008 is in the order of 90GW, with total world installed capacity having doubled since 2004. India, China, the United States, Spain and Germany together added over 20GW of wind power in 2007. China and India each are currently installing wind electricity in excess of 1GW per annum and both have targets of achieving over 10GW by 2015. The capacity of grid connected solar PV has also quadrupled from an installed capacity of 2GW in 2004 to approaching 8GW at the end of 2007. Commercial-scale solar thermal power plants are also under construction in countries such as the US and Spain. Targets for the promotion of renewable energy now exist in more than 58 countries, of which 13 are developing countries."

'The renewable energy industry is now a major economic player, with the industry employing over 2.5 million people worldwide. Renewable energy companies have grown significantly in size in recent years, with the market capitalisation of publicly traded renewables companies doubling from $50 billion to $100 billion in just two years (2005-7)."

"South Africa has a high level of renewable energy potential and presently has in place targets of 10,000 GWh of renewable energy by 2013. To contribute towards this target and towards socio-economic and environmentally sustainable growth, and kick start and stimulate the renewable energy industry in South Africa, there is a need to establish an appropriate market mechanism."

"Feed-in Tariffs (FIT) are, in essence, guaranteed prices for electricity supply rather than conventional consumer tariffs. The basic economic principle underpinning the FITs is the establishment of a tariff (price) that covers the cost of generation plus a "reasonable profit" to induce developers to invest. This is quite similar to the concept of cost recovery used in utility rate regulation based on the costs of capital."

"Under this approach it becomes economically appropriate to award different tariffs for different technologies. The price for the electricity produced should be set at a level and for a period that provides a reasonable return on investment for a specific technology. The tariff should also be certain and long term enough to allow for project financing to be raised by the project."

"Feed-in tariffs to promote renewable energy have now been adopted in over 36 countries around the world, including Spain and Germany and a number of states in the US, and also including developing nations such as Turkey, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Nicaragua, Indonesia, Ecuador, China, Brazil, Argentina and most recently Kenya."

"The establishment of the Renewable Energy Feed-In Tariff (REFIT) in South Africa will provide an excellent opportunity for South Africa to increase the deployment of renewable energy in the country and contribute towards the sustained growth of the sector in the country, the region and internationally."

"Feed-In Tariffs - Boosting Energy For Our Future" Report Back Cover, World Future Council, Hamburg, Germany, 2008.

Climate Masters Program Comes To New Mexico In May 2009

2009-04-12T10:37:00.014-06:00

The New Mexico Environment Department is offering the Climate Masters program at the Santa Fe Community College, Santa Fe, NM beginning May 26 and ending July 28, 2009.

The Climate Masters program is a free series of classes focused on climate change, what you can do to reduce greenhouse gases emissions in your daily life, and strategies for motivating others to do the same. In exchange for the 30 hours of course training, you will be asked to donate 30 hours of volunteer options in your communities.

For resources information, see "Resources for Climate Masters" at the University of Oregon's Climate Leadership Initiative, and the "Climate Master Handbook -- A Guide to Shrinking Your Climate Footprint and Motivating Others to do the Same".

Tesla Unveils Model S Electric Sedan

2009-03-29T08:28:00.021-06:00

Tesla Motors, Inc. of San Carlos, California on March 26, 2009 announced that it is taking orders for an all-electric family sedan that carries up to seven people and travels up to 300 miles per electric charge.

Tesla Model S Electric Sedan at the SpaceX rocket factory, Hawthorne, California, March 26, 2009. See "Up To Speed" in the Los Angeles Times for an associated article and more photos.

The Tesla Model S carries an onboard charger that can recharge the battery packs in as little as 45 minutes. The battery pack also is designed to be changed out in less time than it takes to fill a fuel tank on a similar gasoline-powered vehicle. As battery-pack swap and charging stations become more widespread in the new energy economy, drivers can expect to travel as far and as fast in electric vehicles as they can in gasoline-powered vehicles.

Tesla Model S Prototype

The standard Tesla Model S goes from zero to sixty miles per hour in under six seconds and will have an electronically limited top speed of 130 miles per hour. The Model S will not require routine oil changes, and has fewer moving and breakable parts than cars powered with internal combustion engines. The Model S operating cost is about five dollars for each 230 miles traveled.

The anticipated base price of the Tesla Model S is $49,900 after a federal tax credit of $7,500. The company has not released options pricing. Three battery pack choices will offer a range of 160, 230 or 300 miles per charge. This pricing is consistent with Tesla's long-term plans to produce highway-capable electric vehicles at increasingly lower prices as the EV technology develops. Tesla's efforts are focused on accelerating the electric car revolution, according to Tesla Chairman and Chief Executive Elon Musk. Tesla was selected in January 2009 to make batteries and chargers for Daimler's Smart EV.

Daimler Smart ForTwo Electric Vehicles

The Tesla Roadster

Tesla is the only production automaker already selling highway-capable electric vehicles (EVs) in North America or Europe. With 0-60 mph in 3.9 seconds, the Tesla Roadster outperforms almost all sports cars in its class yet is six times as energy efficient as similar gasoline-powered cars and delivers 244 miles per charge. The Roadster, Tesla's first model, has a base price of $101,500. Tesla has delivered Roadsters to about 300 customers, and has nearly 1,000 additional customers on its wait list.

Hybrid CSTP/Natural Gas Power Plant Under Construction In Florida

2009-03-27T09:39:00.022-06:00

The following information supplements the post of December 7, 2008 on a co-located solar/natural gas-fired power plant in Indiantown, Florida.

Co-locating industrial-scale solar power plants with existing fossil-fuel fired power plants can be an economical solution to power transmission and other problems. Co-location allows clean energy to be phased in as fossil-fuel energy is phased out, with the fossil-fuel energy plant becoming a backup, then eventually becoming unnecessary as solar heat storage technology improves.

Solar radiation is available onsite, whereas fossil fuels must be continually mined and transported to the old-technology plant. Co-locating solar power on the existing plant site takes advantage of transmission infrastructure already in place, avoiding costs of building extensive new transmission lines. Solar power plants avoid many of the water-use and land- and water-pollution problems of old-technology power plants. Thus, opportunities for land and water systems restoration after abandoning fossil-fuel power plants will increase substantially.

Lauren Engineers & Constructors and Florida Power & Light Company Building Martin Next Generation Solar Energy Center in Indiantown, Florida.

Lauren Engineers & Constructors is working with NextEra Energy Resources, a Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) Group Company on a new 75-megawatt (MW) concentrating solar thermal power (CSTP or CSP) facility.

The CSTP part of the facility will employ parabolic trough mirror technology and include approximately 180,000 parabolic mirrors on 500 acres of land. Solar power output is expected to be 155,000 megawatt-hours (MWhr) annually.

Artist's Conception of the FPL Martin Concentrating Solar Thermal/Natural Gas-Fired Power Plant, Indiantown, Florida.

Lauren Engineers & Constructors also worked with ACCIONA to build the Nevada Solar One Power Plant, a 64 MW parabolic mirror facility located in Boulder City, Nevada. This plant went online in June, 2007.

Nevada Solar One Concentrating Solar Thermal Power (CSTP) Plant, Boulder City, Nevada. This facility uses parabolic mirror technology and 182,000 curved mirrors, occupies 400 acres of land, and generates 64 megawatts (MW) of power. The plant began operating in June, 2007. Photograph: CNET News, March 12, 2007.

Detail views of Nevada Solar One CSTP Plant showing parabolic mirror arrangement. The parabolic mirrors are aligned on north-south axes, and rotate from east to west throughout the day to track the sun. The mirrors focus sunlight on an oil-filled pipe that carries the heated oil to a heat exchanger. The heat exchanger creates steam that powers an electricity-generating turbine. Photographs: Acciona U.S. Projects.

USA Installs 1,265 Megawatts (MW) Of Solar Power In 2008

2009-03-26T10:29:00.034-06:00

New Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) Report Details Solar Power Growth In The USA.

Xcel/SunEdison solar photovoltaic heliostats, 8.24 Megawatt (MW) Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Powerplant, San Luis Valley near Mosca, Colorado. This powerplant was activated in December 2007. View is eastward towards Sangre de Cristo Mountains.
Photograph by L.A. Brown, March 18, 2009.

The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) released its 12-page summary report, 2008 U.S. Solar Industry Year in Review.

The report states 1,265 megawatts (MW) of solar power of all varieties were installed in the USA in 2008. These include 342 MW of solar photovoltaic (PV) installations, 139 MWTh (megawatts thermal equivalent) of solar water heating, 762 MWTh of pool heating, and an estimated 21 MW of solar space heating and cooling.

Surface detail of Xcel/SunEdison solar PV heliostat, Mosca, Colorado, showing reflective metal triangular ridges that focus solar radiation on solar PV receptors. Photograph by L.A. Brown, March 18, 2009.

California was the leader among state grid-tied PV installations with 178.6 MW, New Jersey followed with 22.5 MW installed, Colorado was next at 21.6 MW, Nevada installed 13.9 MW and Hawaii with 11.3 MW. For solar water heating systems, Hawaii led states, installing 37 percent of the total U.S. systems in 2008, followed by Florida at 20 percent, California with 7 percent and both Colorado and Arizona with 5 percent. The Mid-Atlantic States, an important emerging region for solar, installed 7 percent of solar water heating systems.

Close-up of solar PV receptors and reflective metal triangular ridges, Xcel/SunEdison heliostat, Mosca, Colorado. Note dirt on panel surfaces and dents in metal reflectors caused by hail. Photograph by L.A. Brown, March 18, 2009.

The SEIA report indicates solar PV manufacturing capacity in the USA increased by 65 percent in 2008. this created many new jobs in California, Michigan, Ohio, Oregon and Tennessee. Total solar power production capacity in those five states now stands at approximately 685 megawatts (MW).

Solar panels, Xcel/SunEdison 8.24 MW Solar Photovoltaic Power Plant, Mosca, Colorado. These panels are supported by north-south aligned axles that rotate the panels from east to west throughout the day to track the sun. View is northeastward in the afternoon towards the Sangre de Cristo Mountains that form the eastern border of the San Luis Valley. Photograph by L.A. Brown, March 18, 2009.

The SEIA report notes that no new concentrating solar power (CSP) plants came online in the USA in 2008. However, CSP projects in the planning or construction stages currently total more than six gigawatts (GW; 6 GW = 6,000 megawatts). Among these are projects planned for California's Mojave Desert, Arizona and Florida.

Tracking The Sun

2009-03-04T13:12:00.014-07:00

Solar Panels On Rooftops, Ohta, Japan, Focus Solar, 2008

Solar Photovoltaic Power Costs In USA Drop 30 Percent Over Past Decade

The Environmental Energy Technologies Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California released a new report, “Tracking the Sun,” that documents the installed costs of solar photovoltaic (PV) power in the USA from 1998-2007.

The February 27, 2009 revision of the 42-page document indicates a positive outlook for the future of customer economics of solar PV. Primary indicators include an oversupply of solar PV modules in the near future together with lifting the cap on the Federal Investment Tax Credit (ITC) for residential PV will reduce costs for residential installations. Large commercial solar PV promises to be the dominant growth market because of economies of scale, but both large and small solar PV systems stand to make major gains in reduced costs per unit of energy generated.

The report examines 37,000 grid-connected solar PV systems installed in 12 USA states from 1998-2007. Among these, average costs before financial incentives or tax credits declined from $10.50 per watt in 1998 to $7.6 per watt in 2007 – roughly a 35 percent cost reduction over ten years.

Non-module costs such as inverters, mounting hardware, labor, permitting and fees, shipping, overhead, taxes and profit were responsible for the bulk of cost reductions.

Systems less than 5 kilowatts in size exhibited the largest cost reductions; however, data are lacking for larger solar PV systems with output greater than 100 kilowatts.

Average costs for all systems flattened and remained almost unchanged from 2005-2007.

Installed costs of solar PV show economies of scale. Systems less than 2 kilowatts averaged about $9.00 per watt in 2006-2007, and systems greater than 750 kilowatts averaged about $6.80 per watt during the same period.

State and utility cash incentives for solar PV installations declined from 2002 through 2007.

The increase in the Federal ITC in 2006 tended to stimulate commercial-scale solar PV from 2007-2009; however, residential solar PV should gain cost advantages in 2009 with changes in the Federal residential ITC.

In its introduction, the report says: “Despite the significant year-on-year growth, however, the share of global and U.S. electricity supply met with PV remains small, and annual PV additions are currently modest in the context of the overall electric system.”

Nonetheless, the growth of solar PV is encouraging. The data on its declining costs with time offer a promise of even more accelerated growth in the next few years.

A February 25, 2009 brief at WorldChanging expands upon the following:

Business Green reported on February 23, 2009 that the price of solar PV panels could fall by as much as 40 percent by the end of this year. Other analysts have been predicting this price drop that is based on huge increases in polysilicon supplies leading to a drop in production costs.

New Energy Finance also predicts a fall in solar PV module prices because of recent global investments in increasing silicon production.

China-based solar PV panel manufacturer Suntech Power Holdings estimates that demand from the USA could reach 700 megawatts (MW) during 2009 as a result of President Obama’s new stimulus package.

Climate Progress suggests if the dramatic price drop for solar PV panels materializes, solar PV will become "...one of the largest job-creating industries of the century, projected to grow from $20 billion two years ago to a $74 billion industry by 2017."

Solar Electric Power And Renewable Energy Futures For Colorado

2009-01-25T09:47:00.013-07:00

SES Stirling Energy Systems Solar One Power Plant in the Mojave Desert near Barstow, CA will develop 500 megawatts (MW) of electricity generating capacity with an expansion option to 850 MW. The plant will use 20,000 to 34,000 solar Dish/Stirling concentrators like the ones shown here.

A recent report on the renewable energy future of Colorado assesses the state’s potential to meet its own renewable energy standards (RESs) while also producing renewable energy for export to other markets.

The report is entitled, “Connecting Colorado’s Renewable Resources to the Markets -- Report of the Colorado Senate Bill 07-091 Renewable Resource Generation Development Areas Task Force Revised Edition July 2008”

The 64-page document treats wind, solar, hydroelectric, and geothermal power generation, and biomass, ethanol, and biodiesel fuels. The report sets these energies in the context of policy, economics, power transmission, land-use, and related elements. Importantly, the Task Force assesses electricity generation costs for different carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions penalty scenarios.

For wind and solar power, the Task Force identified “Generation Development Areas” or GDAs indicating power generation potential from specific regions of the state.

For wind power, the GDAs lie on the High Plains east of the Rocky Mountain Front and within which the Task Force found a potential for ninety-six (96) gigawatts (GW) of wind power generation. I will treat the implications of wind power development for Colorado and other regions in a future post.

For solar power, the Task Force defined two GDAs in the southern part of the state together having a potential to generate as much as thirteen hundred (1,300) gigawatts (GW) of electricity.

One "Central Solar Power" GDA is the San Luis Valley of south-central Colorado. The other, larger GDA includes a region extending from the eastern base of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains well into the High Plains of southeastern Colorado along the Colorado-New Mexico border.

The Task Force acknowledges the impracticality of the 1,300-GW scale of generation, saying that all the land in the GDAs would need to be covered with solar generation equipment. Further, the 1,300-GW output would be more than one hundred (100) times the current peak energy demand for the state.

The Task Force makes no specific recommendation for the level of solar power generation, but says about two (2) percent of the total land area of the two GDAs would allow production of about twenty-six (26) gigawatts (GW) of electrical generation capacity.

The Task Force then describes three utility-scale solar technologies currently available and operating elsewhere in the USA and the world. These technologies are grouped under the heading of Concentrating Solar Thermal Power (CTSP), frequently referred to in other reports and the media as Concentrating or Concentrated Solar Power (CSP).

The three technologies are Parabolic Trough Systems, Dish/Stirling Systems, and Solar Tower Systems. In each of these systems, large mirrors focus reflected solar radiation onto receivers that transform the intense heat into energy.

Parabolic Trough Systems focus solar radiation onto oil-filled pipes, and the heated oil is used to boil water, creating steam to drive electricity-generating turbines.

Sandia National Laboratories Researcher Rich Diver poses with a Parabolic Trough solar power concentrator, Albuquerque, NM, May 15, 2007. The parabolic mirrors focus sunlight on the oil filled pipe running above his head. The oil then flows though a heat exchanger to generate steam to power a turbine to generate electricity.

As illustrated by SES Stirling Energy Systems, Dish/Stirling Systems use large, mirrored, lens-shaped dishes to focus solar radiation on a Stirling engine mounted at the focal point of the lens. The heated fluid in the Stirling engine expands, creating pressure to drive pistons or turbines for electrical power generation.

The SES Stirling Energy Systems SunCatcher is a 25-kilowatt (kW) Solar Power System consisting of a 38-foot diameter dish structure that supports 82 curved glass mirrors. The system is also called a heliostat because it tracks the movement of the sun throughout the day. The device labeled "Power Conversion Unit (PCU)" is the Stirling engine and its housing.

Solar Tower Systems use a mirror array to concentrate and focus solar heat on a tower containing molten salt. The heated salt is used to produce steam to drive electricity-generating turbines.

Solar Tower System at Sandia National Laboratories National Solar Thermal Test Facility, Albuquerque, NM. In this 2006 view the nine-acre test facility at Sandia consists of a 200-foot-high solar tower, 212 computer-controlled mirrors called heliostats, and a separate five-story control tower. The heliostats focus sunlight on the tower to generate heat that produces steam to drive electricity-generating turbines.

Each of these three industrial-sale systems has different land-use and water-use requirements plus heat storage potential across a broad range of existing and evolving technologies. Despite many references to steam, the Task Force does not assess water use for different industrial-scale solar power systems in the July 2008 revision of its report.

In fact, Parabolic Trough and Solar Tower Systems can either consume significant quantities of water through evaporation as steam, or they can minimize water consumption using closed-loop and other dry-cooling systems. Dish/Stirling Systems operate at high temperatures, and require essentially no water other than what is needed to wash the mirrors from time to time.

The U.S. Department of Energy, Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) in 2006 published comparative water uses for coal, coal IGCC (Integrated Gasification Combined-Cycle), other fossil fuels, biomass, nuclear, geothermal steam, solar trough, solar tower, natural gas, and hydroelectric power. This report for the USA Congress is entitled “Energy Demands on Water Resources,” and the water demand tables are on pages 17 and 38.

I will devote a future post to land- and water-use requirements for specific renewable energy technologies. I will also devote a separate post to rapidly developing opportunities and technologies for storing solar and other forms of renewable energy.

In concluding the section on solar power generation potential for Colorado, the Task Force discusses solar photovoltaic systems (Solar PV), distributed solar photovoltaics (DG), and current and necessary future policy for Colorado regarding solar power development.

Solar Power Milestones In 2009

2009-01-11T10:23:00.014-07:00

Capturing The Energy Of The Sun, iStockphoto image in Science Daily, August 25, 2008.

The solar power industry continues its rapid evolution as evidenced by important milestones reached within the past few weeks. Progress in the solar power sector is being driven by practical economic, energy security, and environmental protection factors.

Guinness Atkinson Funds on December 31, 2008 for example argues that the long term prospects for solar power and other clean energies remain sound, in fact showing the potential to be one of the first sectors to emerge from the current financial downturn.

Guinness Atkinson invests in a wide variety of companies engaged in the production, exploration and discovery or distribution of energy, whether derived from fossil fuels or an “Alternative Energy” suite of solar, wind, hydro, efficiency, geothermal, biomass and biofuel.

Consistent with this appraisal, Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. announced on January 9, 2009 that it has reached 1 gigawatt (GW) of solar photovoltaic (PV) cell and module production capacity in Wuxi, China. Suntech is the first solar photovoltaic company in the world to achieve 1 GW of solar cell and module production.

Suntech’s announcement comes in contrast to other companies that are scaling back production estimates for 2009 because of global credit and stock market declines. Suntech is headquartered in Jiangsu Province, People’s Republic of China, with offices in Schaffhausen, Switzerland; San Francisco, California; New South Wales, Australia; Munich, Germany; Madrid, Spain; Gangnam-gu, South Korea; and Tokyo, Japan.

In the United States, SunEdison on January 9, 2009 announced one of the largest solar distributed generation (DG) programs ever conceived. SunEdison is partnering in the venture with Developers Diversified Realty, a Cleveland-based real estate investment trust (REIT) engaged in the development and management of shopping centers.

Under the terms of the deal, SunEdison “…has the rights to deploy solar energy systems at more than 200 shopping centers, covering up to an estimated 30 million square feet. Potential capacity of the program is up to 259 MW and the centers are located in 24 states and in Puerto Rico.”

“Once a particular system is operational, Developers Diversified will be able to purchase energy from SunEdison. In addition, shopping center tenants can benefit and realize energy savings by opting to purchase the power generated through the program at rates lower than retail energy rates.” SunEdison spokesman Brian Jacolick stated, “…a typical sized solar energy system in the program will avoid an estimated 10 million pounds of carbon dioxide pollution.”

Also in the USA, the Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA) on January 7, 2009 released a new research report, “Facilitating Utility Use and Integration of Solar Electric Power.”

This report is based on work supported by the
US Department of Energy Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy through the Solar America Initiative.

The report contains two informative summary tables. One documents large-scale USA utility solar photovoltaic projects [those projects of more than 20 megawatts (MW)] either completed or in development as of September 2008. The second documents large-scale USA concentrating solar thermal power (CSP) projects either completed or announced as of July 2008.

The report says, “This year has seen an unprecedented number of utility-scale photovoltaic and concentrating solar thermal project announcements – some 3,000 to 5,000 megawatts over the next five years.

“However, SEPA believes this is only the cornerstone of what’s to come. The effect of the long-term extension of the federal investment tax credit—which includes eligibility for utilities—combined with the expansion of global solar manufacturing, rapidly declining cost and price curves, and federal and state environmental policies, is laying a foundation for utility solar innovation at unprecedented scales.”

The SEPA/DOE research offers critical insights into policy and procurement innovations that are possible with the solar power industry, but not possible with old technology power production and distribution. Because solar power is available everywhere the sun shines - albeit in greater or lesser degrees - utility companies are not limited to solar power solutions based on a central-station power generation, long-distance power transmission construct.

The SEPA/DOE report lists several benefits for utility companies to find ways to increase their portfolio of renewable energy in general and solar power in particular.

"Utilities need to compare solar costs with peak generation costs [and/or new plant acquisition] rather than base load [or avoided cost] electricity generation;

"The distributed nature of PV adds to grid reliability;

"The distributed generation of PV has limited transmission and distribution costs;

"Solar project developers actively pursuing residential and commercial customers to install their own solar generation are taking business away from utilities and driving utilities to acquire solar resources to remain competitive;

"In a carbon-regulated world, solar will offer utilities credits rather than costs that will be incurred for their carbon polluting generation;

"Increasing solar integration will be aided by and will in turn aid adoption of 'smart grid' technologies;

"Utilities improve their image to the public by taking voluntary environmental measures;

"Solar 'fuel' will remain free while costs of coal and natural gas continue to fluctuate in volatile markets.

"Although, historically, utilities outside of the Southwest have played a lesser role in the direct growth of solar power, within a decade solar power is expected to be cost-competitive in most regions of the U.S. on both a wholesale and retail basis.

"As utilities and others scale up their solar efforts, they are reaching economies of scale unlike anything seen in the past."

The Wedge Game – Solving the Climate Problem By 2055

2009-01-04T11:18:00.016-07:00

Targets For Legislative Proposals In The USA Congress Of Mandatory Cap And Trade Programs For Greenhouse Gases Emissions, courtesy of World Resources Institute (WRI) – December 8, 2008.

The top (red) line shows historical and projected carbon emissions for the USA for 1990-2050 under conditions of "business as usual." The other lines show estimated carbon emissions reductions trends for 2010-2050 under different legislative proposals.

WRI offers a high resolution image of this graph plus details about the methodology, assumptions and references that went into creating it. WRI updates the graph each year.

A World In Transition

In the brief span of about two years – between the end of 2006 and the beginning of 2009 – our global society has greatly accelerated its transformation towards a new energy economy. Considering where we were just two short years ago, those of us in the business of climate change and economic improvement solutions should be very encouraged by this progress. In late 2006, global warming and climate change science and solutions were barely on the radar of our general public and the popular media.

As we begin 2009, concrete measures to better understand our Earth’s systems together with actions to manage climate change dominate global news, global politics, and the thinking of people at all levels of our global societies. Two years ago, I would have told people that such an expansive level of activity was a decade or more away.

By about the middle of 2007, my correspondents and audiences were demanding a story far more comprehensive than scientific accounts of global warming and its impacts. People were demanding solutions. And like people everywhere, they were demanding (and offering) straightforward solutions. And most were (and remain) convinced that somehow there would be an easy-to-understand and easily implemented single solution. How do we fix this quickly? What is the single most important thing we can do? What technology do we need? How much will it cost?

Unfortunately, there is no “silver bullet” solution to drastically eliminating the bulk of our polluting greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions in a reasonably short time. However, we can solve a major part of our emissions problems beginning now and using currently available technologies.

Often described as “silver shotgun” approaches, there are solutions scenarios that comprise several concurrent actions. These are actions that make sense physically, economically, and politically – actions that might be understandable and palatable across a broad spectrum of political, economic, cultural, spiritual and other viewpoints.

In 2004, prominent carbon management researchers Stephen Pacala and Robert Socolow of Princeton University introduced the “stabilization wedges” concept for solving our climate problem for the next 50 years using current technologies. This work continues to advance, and now is a joint project of Princeton University, BP, and Ford Motor Company. The project is called the Carbon Mitigation Initiative (CMI), and it seeks practical solutions to the greenhouse gases emissions problem.

The “stabilization wedges” concept is based upon using a suite of seven low-carbon energy technologies and enhancing natural carbon sinks. The concept name comes from the “wedge” or cut in emissions depicted on a graph of carbon emissions projected for 2005 – 2055. Each “wedge” represents a carbon-cutting strategy that can grow from zero in 2005 to one billion tons of carbon emissions by 2055.

Thus, pursuing seven “wedge” strategies would cut carbon emissions by seven billion tons, keeping global carbon emissions flat for the next 50 years. Pursuing more than seven strategies would reduce our carbon emissions below today’s levels by 2055. The CMI demonstrates that at least 15 “wedge” strategies are available now, showing there is already a more than adequate portfolio of tools available today to control carbon emissions for the next 50 years.

The CMI shows opportunities for cutting carbon emissions using current technologies in combinations of actions under these headings:

Efficiency & Conservation

Increased transport efficiency
Reducing miles traveled
Increased heating efficiency
Increased efficiency of electricity production

Fossil-Fuel-Based Strategies

Fuel switching (coal to gas)
Fossil-based electricity with carbon capture & storage (CCS)
Coal synfuels with CCS
Fossil-based hydrogen fuel with CCS

Nuclear Energy

Nuclear electricity

Renewables and Biostorage

Wind-generated electricity
Solar electricity
Wind-generated hydrogen fuel
Biofuels
Forest storage
Soil storage

The CMI provides briefs showing how GHG emissions reductions are calculated for each opportunity in this list. The briefs include commentaries on the pros and cons of each technology and how they interact with each other. The numbers in these commentaries should be useful to those wishing to understand the dimensions of combatting GHG emissions.

The CMI has produced a “Teachers Guide to the Stabilization Wedge Game.” This is a team-based exercise in which players build a portfolio of stabilization strategies and assess their impacts and costs. Those interested in explanations of our climate and carbon problem – and the relative contributions and costs of solutions using the strategies above – might want to examine this guide and its associated resources.

A significant feature of the “wedge” concept and game is that people may choose their preferred combinations of strategies from the above list, and reject strategies that might be less palatable for various political, economic or other reasons. For example, if you do not like current-technology nuclear or coal-fired electricity as a part of the suite of solutions, you can select a balancing alternative from the list of 15 opportunities. You might also consider the extra costs and benefits of substitututing compensating amounts of current-technology wind- and solar-generated electricity, for example.

New USA Greenhouse Gases Emissions Report Now Available

2008-12-27T12:37:00.010-07:00

Sunflower Electric Power Corporation Holcomb 1 360-Megawatt Coal-Fired Power Plant, Holcomb, Kansas -- Associated Press Photo in The Santa Fe New Mexican, May 14, 2007.

The USA Energy Information Administration (EIA) in December 2008 published its annual update, “Emissions of Greenhouse Gases in the United States 2007,” by the EIA Office of Integrated Analysis and Forecasting, U.S. Department of Energy.

This important 54-page document answers a wide variety of questions about fuel and sector roles in emissions of such greenhouse gases (GHG) as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride.

Page 4 provides an excellent diagram of the flow of greenhouse gases from sources to emissions throughout the USA economy.

The report breaks down GHG emissions by fuel source, showing, for example, that burning petroleum, coal and natural gas is responsible for about 99 percent of the USA’s carbon dioxide emissions. Burning fossil fuels is also responsible for the bulk of methane, nitrous oxide, and other gases that together constitute about 17 percent of the USA’s total GHG emissions.

The report contains historical information and shows a variety of trends, especially for the years 1990 – 2007. For example, the USA has steadily increased its anthropogenic GHG emissions by slightly less than one percent per year since 1990, from about 6,242 million metric tons CO2 equivalent in 1990 to about 7,282 million metric tons CO2 equivalent in 2007.

The report also has a section on land use, land-use change, and forestry activities in the USA and how these result in sequestration and/or emissions of carbon dioxide.

The report encapsulates “Recent U.S. and International Developments in Global Climate Change,” including California S.B. 375, the Thirteenth Conference of the Parties to the United Nation’s Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP-13) and the Third Meeting of the Parties of the Kyoto Protocol (CMP-3). [Now available are results of COP-14 and CMP-4 in Poznan´, Poland December 1-12, 2008 that were not available at the time of publication of the the EIA report.]

The EIA provides briefs on carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions at other web sites, including “Frequently Asked Questions – Environment,” and “Energy in Brief – What Everyone Should Know About Energy.”

These pages answer such questions as:

How much carbon dioxide (CO2) is produced when different fuels are burned?

How much CO2 does the United States emit? Is it more than other countries?

[The USA emits about 20 metric tons of carbon dioxide per capita, about 5 times the global per capita average. The USA (21% of world total), China (19% of world total) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Europe (16% of world total) together are responsible for 56 percent of anthropogenic global carbon dioxide emissions.]

What are the largest sources of total greenhouse gas emissions by sector?

[The residential sector is responsible for about 17 percent of the USA’s GHG emissions. The commercial sector is responsible for about 19 percent of the USA’s GHG emissions. The industrial sector is responsible for about 36 percent of the USA’s GHG emissions. The transportation sector is responsible for about 28 percent of the USA’s GHG emissions.]

How much greenhouse gas is emitted to produce and transmit electricity?

What are the largest sources of energy-related carbon dioxide emissions by fuel?

[Petroleum is responsible for about 44 percent of the USA’s GHG emissions. Coal is responsible for about 36 percent of the USA’s GHG emissions, and natural gas is responsible for about 20 percent of the USA’s GHG emissions.]

What are greenhouse gases and how do they affect the climate?

Why do carbon dioxide emissions weigh more than the original fuel?

Does EIA report water vapor emissions data?

How does the hole in the ozone layer affect global warming?

I plan to add information to this article during the next few weeks on the basis of requests from some of my colleagues. Please revisit this post from time to time if you have further interest in greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions information.

New Mexico Energy Efficiency Strategy: Policy Options

2008-12-20T11:04:00.009-07:00

Albuquerque, New Mexico, seen from the Northeast with Intersection of I-25 and I-40 in the foreground and Rio Grande in the background, Wikipedia, December 1, 2006.

The State of New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department (NMEMNRD) has just released a new 152-page report, "New Mexico Energy Efficiency Strategy: Policy Options" and Summary.

The report was prepared for the NMEMNRD, Ken Hughes, Project Coordinator, by the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project, ETC Group, LLC, and the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy.

Those working at the state and local levels might want to obtain this document for reference in anticipation of rapid upgrades of the New Mexico statewide building code and upgrades in other states as well. For example, the Buildings and Appliances Policies options in the report include a recommendation to upgrade the New Mexico statewide building code toward greater energy efficiency in 2009 and every three years after that.

"The New Mexico Energy Efficiency Strategy contains 25 major policies, programs, or initiatives that could be implemented in order to accelerate energy efficiency improvements in the state and achieve the goals where possible. The policies save electricity, natural gas, or gasoline. These energy sources account for 77 percent of primary energy consumption in the state and 65 percent of energy consumption on a secondary (site) basis."

The 10 highest priorities in the report are these:

"Among the 25 options developed in this report, we suggest that 10 be viewed as high priority by the Governor, the Legislature, the Public Regulation Commission, and other key decision makers. These options provide the greatest energy savings and consequently the bulk of the economic and environmental benefits."

Expand Electric Utility Demand-Side Management Programs

Adopt Decoupling or Shareholder Incentives to Stimulate Greater Utility Support for Energy Efficiency Improvements

Expand Natural Gas Utility Energy Efficiency Programs

Upgrade Building Energy Codes and Fund Code Training and Enforcement

Expand Retrofit of Homes Occupied by Low-Income Families

Undertake an Industry Challenge and Recognition Program

Increase Energy Efficiency in the Oil and Gas Sector

Adopt Energy Efficiency Requirements for Public Colleges and Universities and Extend the Requirements for State Agencies

Reduce Per Capita Vehicle Use

Implement a Broad-Based Public Education Campaign

The report – unlike many proposals that miss or downplay the connection between energy generation and water use -- considers impacts on limited and declining water supply in New Mexico and the American Southwest:

“There also will be significant water savings, particularly from options that result in reduced operation of fossil-fuel based power plants because these plants consume sizable amounts of water in their cooling systems. We estimate that the options taken together will lower water consumption in power plants by approximately 3.65 billion gallons per year in 2020. This is equivalent to the annual water use of 60,000 typical Albuquerque [New Mexico] citizens. There will be additional water savings from increased adoption of energy and water-conserving devices such as resource-efficient clothes washers and dishwashers.”

The report concludes:

“By 2020, electricity use [in New Mexico] could be reduced by 24 percent, natural gas use by nearly 20 percent, and gasoline use by 26 percent, all in comparison to otherwise forecasted levels of per capita energy use that year.”

Geothermal Energy In The USA

2008-12-19T08:04:00.006-07:00

Mammoth Pacific, LP Geothermal Power Facilities near Mammoth Lakes, Mono County, California with Sierra Nevada Mountains Forming the Horizon.

I call your attention to a status report on USA geothermal energy by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology originally released to the public on January 22, 2007.

More interesting is the impact of the report considered below by Professor Margot Gerritsen of the Department of Energy Resources Engineering at Stanford University. The report illuminates Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) that might be constructed in many USA locations. This technology depends upon large amounts of water or another fluid plus rock fracturing at depth among other major issues in EGS power plant siting and construction.

See a video on the status and future of USA geothermal energy produced by KQED Public Media for Northern California. The video focuses on The Geysers geothermal power plant operated by Calpine and vividly illustrates the infrastructure, energy generation processes, associated environmental problems, and other features of a geothermal power facility.

Dr. Gerritsen together with an Advisory Board provide an outstanding web site called "Smart Energy" containing abundant information to answer practical questions about our energy future.

The Future of Geothermal Energy in the US: what a little report can do...

Wed, 11/19/2008 - 03:35 — Margot Gerritsen

Two years ago, the future of geothermal energy in the USA did not look all that exciting. Although geothermal heat pumps (used for heating and cooling buildings) and natural geothermal energy were certainly not uncommon, very large scale geothermal, which draws heat energy from deep down in the earth's crust, seemed far in the future.

But then, MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) published an exciting report titled "The Future of Geothermal Energy" with subtitle "Impact of Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) on the United States in the 21st Century". This changed the scene. The report got the attention of policy makers as well as investors, EGS received enough capital to start several new projects, and suddenly it became a potentially important future energy source. I wished that more scientific reports had such a positive outcome!

To date there are 18 natural geothermal facilities in the United States in California, Nevada, Hawaii and Utah. In total, they supply around 2,700 megawatts (MW) of electricity. A decent amount when viewed by itself. One (1) MW can be seen to supply electricity to about 1000 homes, so 2,700 MW delivers enough energy for 2.7 million households. It is not that much as compared to the total geothermal capacity of the US which is around 1.1 million (1,100,000) MW. However, in California, geothermal energy supplies 5% of total electricity demand and 7% of that in Northern California, which boasts the site of The Geysers, at 620 MW the largest geothermal powerplant in the world. Apart from these 18 geothermal plants, the USA has more than 1 million geothermal heatpumps, supplying an additional 3700 MW for heating and cooling. 

Geothermal energy is not completely clean. Subsurface water, which is brought to the surface, can contain some carbon dioxide, for example, but it is a minor problem. It is estimated that a geothermal plants emits about 1/200 of the carbon dioxide of an equivalent coal-fired power plant.

The geothermal story gets much more interesting when we look at geothermal heat contained between 3 and 10 kilometer depth, which EGS taps into. The total energy in this layer is staggering. Just producing 1% of this energy would supply 1400 times the total energy that the USA needs per year! So, how can we tap into this resource? The idea is simple: we drill down to a depth at which the rocks are sufficiently hot (say 150-250 degrees centigrade). It is not a simple task to drill through hard granite to a depth of 20,000 feet, say, but in the oil industry we do this on a regular basis and so the technology exists. Then, we fracture the rock over a reasonably large area. We drill another well a bit removed from the first. This second well will serve as our production well. The first is used to pump water, or another liquid, into the rocks under high pressure. It will start moving through the fractures to the producing well under a pressure gradient. As it moves, it picks up heat from the surrounding rock. We then pump it back to the surface, extract the heat, and reinject the new cool liquid again. Sounds easy enough, and it certainly sounds like a great idea to tap into that huge heat reservoir down below.

EGS is not without its complications, of course. It is not trivial to create a good fracture system down below. We need to have a very large network of fractures so that the water that flows through this network touches a lot of the rock for better and prolonged heat transfer. Also, to make this economic, an EGS well must pump through at a rate of, say, 80 liters per second, the equivalent of 50,000 barrels per day. This has not yet been achieved in pilot tests.

However, EGS is certainly a promising technique. Estimates are that if it can be done at the high rate mentioned, then within 5-10 years a typical EGS project can be cost competitive in the current energy market of around 5 US cents per kilowatthour of energy. Not bad, huh! With sufficient investments, experts claim that we could produce around 30 times as much geothermal energy by 2030 as we do now, supplying around 5-10% of the electricity needs of the US in 2030. A substantial contribution. I think we should go for it. And I'm delighted that this MIT report established so much. It has pushed this energy technology forward at a much faster rate than I thought possible.

Signet Solar Plans Large Solar Panel Facility In New Mexico

2008-12-18T08:33:00.010-07:00

SunPower/Johnson & Johnson Ground-Mounted 739-kilowatt Solar Power System, New Jersey, USA.

Signet Solar, an international company with USA corporate headquarters in Menlo Park, California, will open a solar panel production facility in New Mexico in 2010. The company will produce large area, thin-film silicon photovoltaic modules for commercial rooftop and ground-mounted solar power systems.

Ground-mounted solar power systems are an important and growing contribution to distributed generation (DG). Ground-mounted systems are much more economical to install than rooftop systems, and can be integrated into communities and/or the existing power grid everywhere. A video by Applied Materials, a global company with corporate headquarters in Santa Clara, California, illustrates installation of a 10-megawatt (MW) ground-mounted solar power system in Germany.

Signet Solar plans an initial annual production of 65 megawatts (MW) growing to 300 MW per year, and creating 200 high-wage jobs growing to 600 as the New Mexico facility expands.

Renewable Energy World/Signet Solar/New Mexico

December 18, 2008

Signet Solar to Build 300-MW Production Facility in New Mexico

New Mexico, United States [RenewableEnergyWorld.com]

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson announced that Signet Solar will build the company's first North American solar panel production facility in Belen, New Mexico. The first phase of the plant will bring 200 high-wage jobs to the state and is scheduled to begin operations in 2010. Signet's long-term plans call for expansion and the creation of a total of 600 jobs.

“As Governor, I’ve been dedicated to making New Mexico a national leader of renewable energy and the creation of green jobs,” Richardson said. “At a time of economic uncertainty, this project will create hundreds of jobs and reaffirm New Mexico as a clean energy state and major player in our nation’s effort build a new clean energy economy.”  

The Signet Solar facility will produce large area thin-film silicon photovoltaic modules for commercial rooftop and ground mounted solar power systems. The first phase of the plant will have an annual production capacity of 65 megawatts (MW). Long-term plans call to increase production capacity to 300 MW per year with a 600,000 square foot production facility.  

“New Mexico was an obvious starting point for Signet Solar’s expansion into the growing US renewable energy market,” said Rajeeva Lahri, Signet Solar’s Co-Founder and CEO. “Under Governor Richardson’s leadership, New Mexico has demonstrated commitment to renewable energy through public-private partnerships, leveraging its skilled workforce and world class research institutions.”

RenewableEnergyWorld.com's Stephen Lacey talked with Dr. Keshav Prasad, vice president of business development for Signet Solar about the Applied Materials' SunFab line it uses for production and the company's growth plans at Solar Power International in October.

Applied Materials, Inc. (Nasdaq:AMAT) is the global leader in Nanomanufacturing Technology™ solutions with a broad portfolio of innovative equipment, service and software products for the fabrication of semiconductor chips, flat panel displays, solar photovoltaic cells, flexible electronics and energy efficient glass.

New Mexico: The Land Of Windchantment

2008-12-14T10:12:00.020-07:00

Windpower Turbines and Pawnee Grasslands, Eastern Colorado, Flickr, August 24, 2008.

Robert Foster, Program Manager for the Institute for Energy and Environment and an Associate Director in the College of Agriculture at New Mexico State University, offers an overview of wind power projects and plans for the State of New Mexico. The article is heavily referenced with major players in the wind power industry including wind energy providers, real estate and investment companies, New Mexico State University and New Mexico government. International and out-of-state heavy hitters include Edison International, Shell, FPL Energy, Babcock & Brown, Acciona, and Texas Wind Power.

Although the bulk of wind farm development to date in the USA is occurring on privately owned lands, the article emphasizes the potential role of public lands in New Mexico, especially with respect to transmission line routing. Private landowners are collaborating to gain stronger negotiating positions with wind power developers.

As in virtually all overviews of this type, power transmission is posed as a major issue for wind farm development. Note also the emphasis on New Mexico's role as a renewable energy provider for California and Arizona to assist those states in meeting their Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPSs).

New Mexico created the Renewable Energy Transmission Authority to facilitate expansion of the transmission grid in the state. "There are two large-scale transmission proposals under consideration: SunZia Southwest Transmission and the High Plains Express Transmission; both of which are designed to bring power to the large urban markets in Phoenix and Los Angeles."

New Mexico ranks 12th among USA states in wind power potential with about 50,000 megawatts [MW] of identified wind energy resources.

Renewable Energy World/New Mexico State University

December 11, 2008

New Mexico, Land of Windchantment

by Robert Foster, NMSU

New Mexico, United States [RenewableEnergyWorld.com]

New Mexico, nicknamed the Land of Enchantment, is rapidly becoming the "Land of Windchantment." There is a veritable wind land rush taking place in the state, with a plethora of wind developers signing wind power leases with ranchers across the eastern plains.

New Mexico is ranked 12th nationally in terms of wind energy potential, with about 50,000 megawatts (MW) of identified resource according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). By coincidence, the state is also ranked 12th in the U.S. for wind farm installations, with a total of 497 MW of installed capacity. Edison Mission Group (EMG) is now in the process of developing the 100-MW High Lonesome Mesa Wind Farm in eastern New Mexico using Clipper turbines.

New Mexico has the highest per capita wind energy usage of any state in the country, and Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM) has one of the highest percentages of wind grid penetration of any utility, with about four percent of its annual energy production coming from wind. And at times, as much as 20 percent of the load is carried by wind when it's really blowing.

Besides the clean power benefits, the other big advantage of wind power is that it does not require water for power generation, which for the arid Southwest is always a critical issue.

There are more than two dozen active wind developers in New Mexico. The existing windfarms were developed by Cielo Wind Power, a subsidiary of Texas Wind Power, FPL Energy, Babcock and Brown and Padoma Wind Power, with power from wind being sold to Xcel Energy , Arizona Public Service and Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM).

Windy land in New Mexico is becoming a highly sought after commodity as wind developers sign leases with hundreds of landowners. Shell Wind Energy and First Wind have already signed agreements with landowners in central New Mexico near Corona.

Energy Resources has purchased large tracts of land near Santa Rosa. GreenHunter Wind Energy and Penn Real Estate have also signed wind leases. Other companies active with New Mexico wind energy exploration and development include Acciona, Clipper, enXco, DKRW/Carbon Neutral, GEC, Gold Pact Power, Iberdrola, Invenergy, Horizon Wind Energy and Taos Wind Power

The New Mexico State University Institute for Energy and the Environment is monitoring the wind resource on lands owned by the University, as well as NASA and Fort Bliss.

New Mexicans have, so far, looked favorably on wind power development as it is clean power, provides local jobs and increases the tax base. New Mexico ranchers already receive about US $1.8 million/year for leasing their lands to existing wind farms. In general, ranchers have had very few issues with placing wind turbines on their land because the footprint of the wind farm including roads takes up only about 10 percent of the total land area leaving most of the ranch available for livestock or crops.

The main concern that ranchers have expressed relates to the restoration of any land that is disturbed during the construction of the wind farm and the request that service roads and noxious weeds be kept to a minimum.

Apparently, New Mexico cows like wind turbines as they can often be found lining up for the only shade available on the plains from the wind turbine towers to escape the summer heat.

Some New Mexico landowners have grouped together for a stronger negotiating position with wind developers, an example being the Corona Landowners Association (South and North groups), which hold together hundreds of thousands of acres. Most New Mexicans realize the importance of developing clean renewable energy resources and the need for energy independence.

Transmission Stands in the Way

Electric transmission is the greatest challenge for wind farm development in the Southwest and major transmission development will be required in order to fully tap New Mexico's wind power potential.

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson has been very supportive of new wind farm development and in building new transmission to serve the power markets. To this end, last year the state created the Renewable Energy Transmission Authority (NMRETA) to help facilitate expansion of the transmission grid in the state for development of wind and other renewable resources.

RETA has begun to explore several opportunities and specific proposals. There are two large-scale transmission proposals under consideration: SunZia Southwest Transmission and the High Plains Express Transmission; both of which are designed to bring power to the large urban markets in Phoenix and Los Angeles.

Since about half of New Mexican land is owned by the federal government, agencies such as the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) often play a key role when it comes to wind farm and transmission development.

There are over 8,000 MW of proposed wind projects in New Mexico that have been submitted for transmission planning to PNM. Of course, not all of these proposals will bear fruit, but if only a quarter are successful, that represents over 2,000 MW of new wind generation the will be coming online during the next decade.

To put this in perspective, PNM currently has about 2,300 MW of total electric generation capacity. The amount of wind and other renewable generation needed to meet New Mexico's Renewable Portfolio Standard is modest, as there are only 2 million New Mexicans. Most of New Mexico wind power is destined for the California and Arizona markets to help these states meet their Renewable Portfolio requirements.

The Argonne Mesa windfarm near Vaughn, New Mexico already sells its power to Arizona. The proposed High Lonesome Mesa will do the same. Presently, New Mexico exports about half of its coal-powered electricity out of state, so exporting wind power is the next logical step.

New Mexico, the "Land of Windchantment," will see thousands of MW of new windfarms built over the next couple of decades, but the rate of development will be dependent on how fast new transmission is constructed.

Robert Foster is a Program Manager for the Institute for Energy and Environment and an Associate Director in the College of Agriculture at New Mexico State University, where he has worked for 20 years. He has worked in over 30 countries with USAID, World Bank, DOE, NREL, NSF, NASA, Sandia Labs, and others. He has contributed to the development of wind energy projects in Brazil, Chile, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Mexico and the U.S. Mr. Foster is a Mechanical Engineering graduate from the University of Texas at Austin, and also holds a MBA from NMSU. He enjoys harnessing wind power with his sailboat.

California Greenhouse Gases Emissions Targets For Entire USA?

2008-12-13T09:47:00.006-07:00

"Overheated Planet," New York Times, December 11, 2006.

California regulators on December 11, 2008 voted to adopt the USA's most comprehensive plan to cut greenhouse gases emissions. President-elect Barack Obama expressed hope that the USA Congress would adopt California's targets for the entire nation.

Yahoo News/Associated Press

December 11, 2008

California adopts tough greenhouse gas restrictions

By SAMANTHA YOUNG, Associated Press Writer

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – California air regulators adopted a sweeping new climate plan Thursday that would require the state's utilities, refineries and large factories to transform their operations to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

The California Air Resources Board voted unanimously to adopt the nation's most comprehensive global warming plan, outlining for the first time how individuals and businesses would meet a landmark 2006 law that made the state a leader on global climate change.

The plan would hold California's worst polluters accountable for the heat-trapping emissions they produce — transforming how people travel, how utilities generate power and how businesses use electricity.

At the heart of the plan is the creation of a carbon-credit market designed to give the state's major polluters cheaper ways to cut the amount of their emissions. That market and the many other strategies referenced in the plan will be fleshed out and adopted over the next few years.

California's plan comes at a time when governments around the world are struggling with a financial crisis that threatens to undermine efforts to fight climate change. California itself is facing a forecast budget gap of $41.8 billion through June 2010.

Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has said the state's climate law will stimulate the economy, said Thursday that California was providing a roadmap for the rest of the country.

"Today is the day we help unleash the full force of California's innovation and technology for a healthier planet, a stronger and more robust economy and a safer and more secure energy future," Schwarzenegger said in a statement released after the board's vote.

His sentiments echo those of President-elect Barack Obama, who also has promoted investments in energy efficiency and green technology to help spur the country out of recession. Last month, Obama said he hoped Congress would adopt California's targets for the entire country, essentially reversing eight years of U.S. policy against mandated emission cuts.

California's 2006 law, called the Global Warming Solutions Act but commonly referred to as AB32, mandates the state cut emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.

The strategy chosen by air regulators relies on 31 new rules affecting all facets of life, from the fuels Californians put in their vehicles to the air conditioners businesses install in their buildings.

The average Californian, for example, could see more fuel-efficient cars at dealerships, better public transportation, housing near schools and businesses and utility rebates to equip their homes to be more energy efficient.

But there will also be costs.

California drivers will see more expensive cars on showroom floors and should expect to pay higher power bills as utilities increase their use of renewable energy.

Republicans, small businesses and major industries that will be forced to transform operations beginning in 2012 say jobs will be lost, companies might leave the state and energy prices will skyrocket. Many demanded the board perform more economic analysis before committing to policies they warned could worsen the economy.

"The deepening recession has affected businesses throughout the state," Amisha Patel, a policy advocate at the California Chamber of Commerce, told the board. "The reality of climate regulation is there will be costs."

The air board's background work has been criticized in reviews by California's nonpartisan legislative analyst and independent scientists, with both groups saying the costs to the state could be greater than projected.

Republican state lawmaker Roger Niello of Fair Oaks has asked the board to postpone its vote and complete a more thorough economic review.

An air board analysis published in September projected California's economy would grow at a faster rate by cutting emissions. It also estimated 100,000 more jobs would be created and the average California household would save $400 a year by driving more fuel-efficient vehicles and living in more energy-efficient homes.

Nichols said her board had done a thorough job of assessing the plan but vowed Thursday the board would conduct more studies as the regulations are developed over the next few years.

Most of the reductions in California's emissions will come from more detailed regulations that will be written over the next few years, including rules governing a cap-and-trade program that launches in 2012 to help the largest polluters achieve emission cuts.

But allowing businesses to buy their way out of the problem is another contentious part of the plan. Representatives of California's poor communities say the polluting power plants, refineries and factories in their neighborhoods could write a check rather than cut emissions.

Wind, Water & Sun Are Superior Energy Solutions

2008-12-11T09:24:00.013-07:00

Vestas Horn Reef wind power facility off the coast of Denmark.

Stanford University on December 10, 2008 announces the results of the "...first quantitative, scientific evaluation of the proposed, major energy-related solutions..." and their respective impacts on "...global warming, human health, energy security, water supply, space requirements, wildlife, water pollution, reliability and sustainability."

This significant work debunks many of the myths surrounding our progress towards a new energy economy, notably the "clean coal" myth, the "nuclear power solution" myth, and the myths challenging the reliability and variability of wind, solar and wave power.

"Coal with carbon sequestration emits 60- to 110-times more carbon and air pollution than wind energy, and nuclear emits about 25-times more carbon and air pollution than wind energy..."

[Despite significant technological progress and applications of interconnected wind farms, stored solar energy, etc., that I have reported during the past two years, politicians, mass media, special interest groups, and others continue to dismiss wind and solar power potential for supplying baseline power. The potential is there, and we only must develop that potential while ignoring false claims that baseline wind, solar and wave power systems are not possible.]

See the reference links at the end of the article for supporting information and Professor Jacobson's 2007 work on interconnected wind systems for supplying baseline power. That study focused on interconnected wind system potential for an array of wind farms that have been growing for the past few years across eastern New Mexico, northern Texas, western Oklahoma, southwestern Kansas, and southeastern Colorado.

Note the priority lists of best to worst power and vehicle options near the end of the article.

Importantly, Mark Jacobson's work represents a high level of integrity inasmuch as the research "...received no funding from any interest group, company or government agency."

Stanford University News Service

Energy & Environmental Science

Stanford Report, December 10, 2008

Wind, water and sun beat other energy alternatives, study finds

BY LOUIS BERGERON

The best ways to improve energy security, mitigate global warming and reduce the number of deaths caused by air pollution are blowing in the wind and rippling in the water, not growing on prairies or glowing inside nuclear power plants, says Mark Z. Jacobson, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford.

And "clean coal," which involves capturing carbon emissions and sequestering them in the earth, is not clean at all, he asserts.

Jacobson has conducted the first quantitative, scientific evaluation of the proposed, major, energy-related solutions by assessing not only their potential for delivering energy for electricity and vehicles, but also their impacts on global warming, human health, energy security, water supply, space requirements, wildlife, water pollution, reliability and sustainability. His findings indicate that the options that are getting the most attention are between 25 to 1,000 times more polluting than the best available options. The paper with his findings will be published in the next issue of Energy and Environmental Science but is available online now. Jacobson is also director of the Atmosphere/Energy Program at Stanford.

"The energy alternatives that are good are not the ones that people have been talking about the most. And some options that have been proposed are just downright awful," Jacobson said. "Ethanol-based biofuels will actually cause more harm to human health, wildlife, water supply and land use than current fossil fuels." He added that ethanol may also emit more global-warming pollutants than fossil fuels, according to the latest scientific studies.

The raw energy sources that Jacobson found to be the most promising are, in order, wind, concentrated solar (the use of mirrors to heat a fluid), geothermal, tidal, solar photovoltaics (rooftop solar panels), wave and hydroelectric. He recommends against nuclear, coal with carbon capture and sequestration, corn ethanol and cellulosic ethanol, which is made of prairie grass. In fact, he found cellulosic ethanol was worse than corn ethanol because it results in more air pollution, requires more land to produce and causes more damage to wildlife.

To place the various alternatives on an equal footing, Jacobson first made his comparisons among the energy sources by calculating the impacts as if each alternative alone were used to power all the vehicles in the United States, assuming only "new-technology" vehicles were being used. Such vehicles include battery electric vehicles (BEVs), hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (HFCVs), and "flex-fuel" vehicles that could run on a high blend of ethanol called E85.

Wind was by far the most promising, Jacobson said, owing to a better-than 99 percent reduction in carbon and air pollution emissions; the consumption of less than 3 square kilometers of land for the turbine footprints to run the entire U.S. vehicle fleet (given the fleet is composed of battery-electric vehicles); the saving of about 15,000 lives per year from premature air-pollution-related deaths from vehicle exhaust in the United States; and virtually no water consumption. By contrast, corn and cellulosic ethanol will continue to cause more than 15,000 air pollution-related deaths in the country per year, Jacobson asserted.

Because the wind turbines would require a modest amount of spacing between them to allow room for the blades to spin, wind farms would occupy about 0.5 percent of all U.S. land, but this amount is more than 30 times less than that required for growing corn or grasses for ethanol. Land between turbines on wind farms would be simultaneously available as farmland or pasture or could be left as open space.

Indeed, a battery-powered U.S. vehicle fleet could be charged by 73,000 to 144,000 5-megawatt wind turbines, fewer than the 300,000 airplanes the U.S. produced during World War II and far easier to build. Additional turbines could provide electricity for other energy needs.

"There is a lot of talk among politicians that we need a massive jobs program to pull the economy out of the current recession," Jacobson said. "Well, putting people to work building wind turbines, solar plants, geothermal plants, electric vehicles and transmission lines would not only create jobs but would also reduce costs due to health care, crop damage and climate damage from current vehicle and electric power pollution, as well as provide the world with a truly unlimited supply of clean power."

Jacobson said that while some people are under the impression that wind and wave power are too variable to provide steady amounts of electricity, his research group has already shown in previous research that by properly coordinating the energy output from wind farms in different locations, the potential problem with variability can be overcome and a steady supply of baseline power delivered to users.

Jacobson's research is particularly timely in light of the growing push to develop biofuels, which he calculated to be the worst of the available alternatives. In their effort to obtain a federal bailout, the Big Three Detroit automakers are increasingly touting their efforts and programs in the biofuels realm, and federal research dollars have been supporting a growing number of biofuel-research efforts.

"That is exactly the wrong place to be spending our money. Biofuels are the most damaging choice we could make in our efforts to move away from using fossil fuels," Jacobson said. "We should be spending to promote energy technologies that cause significant reductions in carbon emissions and air-pollution mortality, not technologies that have either marginal benefits or no benefits at all".

"Obviously, wind alone isn't the solution," Jacobson said. "It's got to be a package deal, with energy also being produced by other sources such as solar, tidal, wave and geothermal power."

During the recent presidential campaign, nuclear power and clean coal were often touted as energy solutions that should be pursued, but nuclear power and coal with carbon capture and sequestration were Jacobson's lowest-ranked choices after biofuels. "Coal with carbon sequestration emits 60- to 110-times more carbon and air pollution than wind energy, and nuclear emits about 25-times more carbon and air pollution than wind energy," Jacobson said.

Although carbon-capture equipment reduces 85-90 percent of the carbon exhaust from a coal-fired power plant, it has no impact on the carbon resulting from the mining or transport of the coal or on the exhaust of other air pollutants. In fact, because carbon capture requires a roughly 25-percent increase in energy from the coal plant, about 25 percent more coal is needed, increasing mountaintop removal and increasing non-carbon air pollution from power plants, he said.

Nuclear power poses other risks. Jacobson said it is likely that if the United States were to move more heavily into nuclear power, then other nations would demand to be able to use that option.

"Once you have a nuclear energy facility, it's straightforward to start refining uranium in that facility, which is what Iran is doing and Venezuela is planning to do," Jacobson said. "The potential for terrorists to obtain a nuclear weapon or for states to develop nuclear weapons that could be used in limited regional wars will certainly increase with an increase in the number of nuclear energy facilities worldwide." Jacobson calculated that if one small nuclear bomb exploded, the carbon emissions from the burning of a large city would be modest, but the death rate for one such event would be twice as large as the current vehicle air pollution death rate summed over 30 years.

Finally, both coal and nuclear energy plants take much longer to plan, permit and construct than do most of the other new energy sources that Jacobson's study recommends. The result would be even more emissions from existing nuclear and coal power sources as people continue to use comparatively "dirty" electricity while waiting for the new energy sources to come online, Jacobson said.

Jacobson received no funding from any interest group, company or government agency.

Energy and vehicle options, from best to worst, according to Jacobson's calculations:

Best to worst electric power sources:

1. Wind power
2. Concentrated solar power (CSP)
3. Geothermal power
4. Tidal power
5. Solar photovoltaics (PV)
6. Wave power
7. Hydroelectric power
8. A tie between nuclear power and coal with carbon capture and sequestration (CCS).

Best to worst vehicle options:

1. Wind-BEVs (battery electric vehicles)
2. Wind-HFCVs (hydrogen fuel cell vehicles)
3. CSP-BEVs
4. Geothermal-BEVs
5. Tidal-BEVs
6. Solar PV-BEVs
7. Wave-BEVs
8. Hydroelectric-BEVs
9. A tie between nuclear-BEVs and coal-CCS-BEVs
11. Corn-E85
12. Cellulosic-E85.

Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles were examined only when powered by wind energy, but they could be combined with other electric power sources. Although HFCVs require about three times more energy than do BEVs (BEVs are very efficient), HFCVs are still very clean and more efficient than pure gasoline, and wind-HFCVs still resulted in the second-highest overall ranking. HFCVs have an advantage in that they can be refueled faster than can BEVs (although BEV charging is getting faster). Thus, HFCVs may be useful for long trips (more than 250 miles) while BEVs more useful for trips less than 250 miles. An ideal combination may be a BEV-HFCV hybrid.

Related Information

Professor Mark Jacobson discusses alternative energy sources

Jacobson's paper in Energy & Environmental Science

Jacobson's Stanford web page

Stanford December 2007 press release on interconnecting wind farms to smooth power delivery

Jacobson's interconnecting windfarms paper in J. Applied Meteorology and Climatology

European Union's 20:20:20 Renewable Energy Plan Agreement

2008-12-10T07:44:00.007-07:00

The European Union reached an agreement that more than one-third of EU electricity must come from renewables by the year 2020. Each state of the EU must have drawn up an action plan by June 2010 to meet the 20:20:20 targets.

Renewable Energy World/European Union

December 10, 2008

EU Passes New Climate Directive

Brussels, Belgium [RenewableEnergyWorld.com]

Agreement on the European Union Renewable Energy Directive has paved the way for the economic bloc to achieve its plans for a 20% renewables contribution to total energy demand and a 20% cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, the so-called 20:20:20 plan. The deal, between the European Parliament, the French Presidency on behalf of the Council and the European Commission, means that more than one third of EU electricity must come from renewables by 2020.

A move welcomed by the renewable energy and environmental sector, European Renewable Energy Council (EREC) president Arthouros Zervos noted, "This European Directive will be the most important piece of legislation on renewable energy in the world," adding that the legislation will provide for much-needed investor confidence in the renewable energy sector, and thereby enable the European Union to achieve in the most cost-efficient way the binding 20% renewable energy target.

Under the terms of the Directive, for the first time each Member State has a legally binding renewables target for 2020 and by June 2010 each state will have drawn up a National Action Plan (NAP) detailing plans to meet their 2020 targets. Member states will report on progress every two years.

"At a time when international climate negotiations are ongoing, the European Union gives a strong signal to other countries worldwide. I am confident that this piece of legislation will inspire other parts of the world to help us achieve a sustainable energy future," Zervos said.

The European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) further noted that the Directive confirms Europe as the leader of the energy revolution the world needs. "Moreover, the directive addresses existing barriers that prevent Europe from fully exploiting its largest domestic energy resource," said a statement from EWEA.

Christian Kjaer, EWEA's chief executive said, "The grid and administrative barriers whose shadows loom long over wind energy project developers will finally be tackled throughout Europe thanks to the directive."

Ahead of the agreement, which had been in doubt following calls for a 2014 review from Italy and France, Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said that the climate change and energy package was one of the most significant pieces of work the EU had carried out over recent years. He added that a low carbon economy would boost Europe's competitiveness and encourage innovation.

British Government & Giant USA Utilities Announce Feed-In-Tariffs For Clean Enegy Development

2008-12-07T11:29:00.007-07:00

Two momentous events in the evolution of policy for a new energy economy for the planet occurred in late November 2008.

The Los Angeles Department of Water & Power, the largest municipal utility district in North America, announced on November 24, 2008 that it is prepared to launch one of the continent's largest solar power programs, also making use of a feed-in tariff by 2016. Los Angeles joins Gainesville Regional Utilities in Florida, Toronto Hydro (Canada's largest municipal utility, and second largest to LAWPD in North America), and a few other smaller cities in using FITs as a centerpiece for encouraging rapid clean energy development.

"Regardless of how or even whether it follows through, Los Angeles, as one of North America's largest cities, has put feed-in tariffs, at least for solar, on the continent's public policy map."

Two days later, The British Government on November 26, 2008 approved its Energy Bill that includes implementing a system of feed-in tariffs (FITs) for small renewable energy producers by 2010. The feed-in tariff provisions until recently were unthinkable in the British political landscape.

"The move by the British government has far reaching ramifications. The English speaking world has been more resistant to feed-in tariffs than non-English speaking countries, sometimes on ideological grounds, sometimes simply out of ignorance. Many North Americans, for example, attribute continental Europe's success with renewable energy to renewable portfolio standards, which is not the case.  Now that the British have clearly moved toward the camp favoring feed-in tariffs, there may be less reticence to do so elsewhere in the Anglophone world."

See full details in the second article below, and note that FITs are the basis for accelerated clean energy development in Germany, Spain, France, and Denmark, for example.

For a primer on FITs, see the easily readable and well illustrated 16-page 2008 report from the World Future Council: "Feed-In Tariffs -- Boosting Energy for our Future: A guide to one of the world's best environmental policies," by the World Future Council, 2008

It looks like a very promising 2009 awaits us in moving rapidly from a obsolescent fossil fuel/dirty energy economy to a modern clean energy economy.

Renewable Energy World/Los Angeles Department of Water & Power

December 3, 2008

North America's Largest Municipal Utility Proposes Solar Feed-in Tariff

by Paul Gipe, Contributing Writer

Los Angeles, United States [RenewableEnergyWorld.com]

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced to much fanfare on November 24 that the city's municipal utility would launch one of the continent's largest solar power programs. The mayor's plan would direct the city's municipal utility, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), to build or purchase 1,300 MW of solar energy by 2020.

Among provisions of the plan is a feed-in tariff for 150 MW of solar photovoltaics by 2016. This is the first official announcement of a feed-in tariff proposal by a California city, but it is not the first in the United States. Gainesville, Florida previously announced that it was formally considering a feed-in tariff to replace its solar rebate program.

Recently, the Palm Springs Desert Sun reported that Palm Desert, California was also considering solar feed-in tariffs after city officials toured Spain, one of the world's leading developers of solar energy. Spain uses feed-in tariffs.

LADWP is the continent's largest municipal utility. It was briefly at the forefront of solar energy development in California from 1999 to 2003, before inexplicably abandoning its program.

The city and LADWP provided no details on the solar feed-in tariff or on the other renewable energy proposals that were part of the mayor's press release. There were no further details on LADWP's web site. Photos of wind turbines on the web site were standard stock photos and all were of wind turbines outside the utility's service area.

LADWP claims that 8.5% of its electricity currently comes from renewables and that the utility is on track to meet its 20% target by 2010. The last report on the utility's web site about its renewable energy program, however, is dated 2003, the year the utility canceled its successful solar program.

Los Angeles' 120 MW Pine Tree wind project is slated to come on line in 2009. The project also is outside of the Los Angeles Basin, just north of the Tehachapi Wind Resource Area.

Interestingly, it was a municipal utility that launched the modern version of Germany's famed feed-in tariffs. Aachen introduced the first solar-specific feed-in tariff in the mid-1990s. Subsequently other German cities followed suit. In 2000 Germany's parliament incorporated the concept behind Aachen's policy in its groundbreaking system of Advanced Renewable Tariffs.

Municipal utilities in the Americas may be able to emulate Aachen and be the first to launch true feed-in tariffs. Because municipal utilities are governed by city officials, they can be more responsive to public demands for action on renewable energy than the often more distant state or provincial legislatures.

Toronto Hydro, North America's second largest and Canada's largest municipal utility, briefly considered a solar PV feed-in tariff in 2007, but took no action. The proposal before Toronto Hydro employed a differentiated feed-in tariff that was intended to work with the province of Ontario's Standard Offer Contract Program.

The proposal of Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU) is the most advanced in the United States.
GRU's commission has ordered preparation of a tariff. 

In contrast to Gainesville's approach, LADWP made public little or no information on the details of its proposal. GRU prepared a detailed report which it presented to Gainesville's utility commission when the utility went public with its proposal.

Los Angeles incorporates Hollywood within its city boundaries and there's always an element of showmanship in its pronouncements. The city's proposal is aggressive, more than one-third of the California Solar Initiative's 3,000 MW of solar PV, if it is more than simply aspirational.  

The portion of the plan devoted to a feed-in tariff is about one-tenth of the entire program. Countries that have been the most successful at rapidly developing renewable energy (Germany, France, and Spain) use feed-in tariffs as the principal if not only policy mechanism.

Despite the uncritical media accounts of the "world's most ambitious solar plan," attention has focused not only on the targets, but also on the various mechanisms that may be used to reach those targets, including feed-in tariffs.

Regardless of how or even whether it follows through, Los Angeles, as one of North America's largest cities, has put feed-in tariffs, at least for solar, on the continent's public policy map.

Renewable Energy World/Britain’s Energy Bill

December 1, 2008

British Feed-in Tariff Policy Becomes Law - Was Once Unthinkable

by Paul Gipe, Contributing Writer

London, UK [RenewableEnergyWorld.com]

The Queen gave her "royal assent" to Britain's long-debated Energy Bill on November 26, 2008, putting into law Britain's commitment to dramatically cut its greenhouse gas emissions. The Energy Bill also contained provisions calling on Gordon Brown's Labour government to implement a system of feed-in tariffs for small renewable energy producers by 2010.

The feed-in tariff provisions were once unthinkable in the British political landscape. They said it "couldn't be done" is how British campaigners described the remarkable success.  

Since Margaret Thatcher, Britain has relied on a series of call for tenders and eventually a complex quota system to build a modest wind energy industry dominated by the word's largest electric utilities. There was little more than token support for small-scale renewables through traditional subsidy programs under successive Conservative and Labour governments.  

Meanwhile on the continent, renewables were booming, first in Denmark, then in Germany, France, and Spain through the use of innovative systems of feed-in tariffs. These systems of Advanced Renewable Tariffs spurred growth of a variety of renewable energy technologies at all scales. In Germany, a large percentage of solar and wind energy are being developed by homeowners, farmers, and small investors.  

The feed-in tariff provisions of Britain's Energy Bill are modest in comparison to those in other countries. In contrast to continental European policies, projects are limited to no more than 5 MW. There are no project size limits in Germany, for example. Nor does the Energy Bill contain the specific provisions or prices that are part of such acts in France and Germany. Specific provisions will be determined administratively in 2009.  The Energy Bill leaves in place Britain's existing Renewable Obligation Certificate trading program for larger projects. The two programs, the Renewable Obligation and the feed-in tariff system, will operate in parallel.  

There was cross party agreement on amendments to the bill that included the essential elements of any successful feed-in tariff policy. For example, there was an amendment that called for different tariffs for different renewable energy technologies a key feature of the policies in Germany, France, and Spain. The cross party agreement included both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats.  

The campaign for the Energy Bill was led by Friends of the Earth UK (FOE) and Britain's Renewable Energy Association.  According to FOE campaigner David Timm, the Labour government now appears committed to introducing a true system of feed-in tariffs by the end of 2010.

  Alan Simpson, Labour MP, led debate in the House of Commons, taking issue not only with expected opposition to feed-in tariffs from electric utilities but also from the renewable energy industry itself.

"On the record, many of the big energy suppliers have been fighting tooth and claw to prevent us from doing anything as bold and imaginative as we are doing. The Association of Electricity Producers had lobbied for a threshold of 50 kW. The British Wind Energy Association lobbied, until the last moment, for a threshold of 500 kW. Such demands would preclude the opportunity to develop genuine, transformational renewable energy systems on a community, town or city scale. The Secretary of State should be praised for his determination and willingness to push the boat out much further than many of those vested interests would have felt comfortable with," he said.

Observers noted that no one rose in Commons to oppose final passage. Conservative Party leaders put the ruling Labour Party on notice that if the feed-in tariff provisions didn't pass, they would support the policy in a subsequent Conservative Government. Previously, Gordon Brown suffered an embarrassing back-bench revolt over the issue from his own party members.  

The move by the British government has far reaching ramifications. The English speaking world has been more resistant to feed-in tariffs than non-English speaking countries, sometimes on ideological grounds, sometimes simply out of ignorance. Many North Americans, for example, attribute continental Europe's success with renewable energy to renewable portfolio standards, which is not the case.  

Now that the British have clearly moved toward the camp favoring feed-in tariffs, there may be less reticence to do so elsewhere in the Anglophone world.

World's First Hybrid Solar/Natural Gas Power Plant Comes To Florida

2008-12-07T10:11:00.012-07:00

Greetings, All -- Florida Power & Light Company breaks ground for the world's first hybrid utility-scale solar power plant in Indiantown, Florida. The plant will use 180,000 mirrors spread over about 500 acres of land that is colocated with existing, older technology power plant facilities. The image here is an artist's illustration of the completed solar/natural gas hybrid facility. See related photos and images at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fplsolar]

With a combined total of 110 megawatts of emissions-free energy, the facilities will make Florida the No. 2 producer of solar energy nationwide.

Florida Power & Light Company

December 2, 2008 

Here comes the sun!

FPL's Next Generation Solar Energy Center to be world's first hybrid solar plant, first utility-scale solar facility in Florida

INDIANTOWN, Fla. – Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp and local community leaders joined officials of Florida Power & Light Company here today to break ground on FPL’s Martin Next Generation Solar Energy Center, which will be the world’s first hybrid solar energy plant and the first utility-scale solar facility in Florida.

With Florida and the nation facing the twin challenges of climate change and energy security, FPL’s new 75-megawatt Martin Next Generation Solar Energy Center marks an important early step in Florida’s quest to use more sun to power the Sunshine State.

“Florida’s future growth and economic strength depends on how we address climate change, and we know we can reduce greenhouse gases by using fewer fossil fuels and more natural energy sources like solar,” said Gov. Charlie Crist. “This solar facility is a significant step in that direction.”

As the first hybrid solar facility in the world to combine a solar-thermal field with a combined-cycle natural gas power plant, the Martin Next Generation Solar Energy Center will use less fossil fuel when heat from the sun is available to help produce the steam needed to generate electricity. This innovative technology will help protect customers from volatile fossil fuel costs as it reduces Florida’s carbon footprint. The solar facility will consist of approximately 180,000 mirrors over roughly 500 acres of land at the existing FPL Martin Plant location.

“The next generation of Floridians is counting on us to address the most pressing energy challenges of our time. With the Martin Next Generation Solar Energy Center, we will capture the power of the sun to fight climate change and provide the state with clean, affordable energy,” said FPL Group Chairman and CEO Lew Hay.

“At this innovative facility, each sunrise will be the equivalent of easing our foot off the gas pedal as solar power is being produced. With the continued support of Gov. Crist, the Florida Legislature and the Public Service Commission, FPL will do more – much more – in the coming years to build Florida’s renewable energy industry,” said Hay.

Gov. Crist has made clean energy and protecting Florida’s environment a priority since taking office.

"The Governor and I want to commend FPL for being a leader in the use of solar energy as the world’s No. 1 producer of solar thermal energy and one of the largest generators of wind power,” said Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp. “We believe there is no better place than here, in the Sunshine State, to lead the way in expanding solar technology to homes and businesses."

The Martin Next Generation Solar Energy Center will provide enough power to serve about 11,000 homes. Over 30 years, the solar facility will prevent the emissions of more than 2.75 million tons of greenhouse gases, which is the equivalent of removing more than 18,700 cars from the road every year for the life of the project, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The implementation of solar thermal technology will also decrease fossil-fuel usage by approximately 41 billion cubic feet of natural gas and more than 600,000 barrels of oil.

The facility will be the nation’s second-largest solar energy facility when it is fully operational in 2010. The Martin facility is the largest of three solar projects FPL is building in Florida. With a combined total of 110 megawatts of emissions-free energy, the facilities will make Florida the No. 2 producer of solar energy nationwide and will avoid nearly 3.5 million tons of carbon dioxide over the lives of the plants.

In addition to the Martin facility, FPL will also build two other solar projects in Florida – one at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center and the other in Desoto County. These facilities will add 35 megawatts of solar photovoltaic capacity to the state. Combined, these projects help strengthen FPL Group’s position as the nation’s clean energy leader.

Among the company’s clean energy credentials:

• FPL Group is the nation’s No. 1 producer of renewable energy from wind. The company has 58 projects in 16 states with a capacity of more than 5,800 megawatts of electricity, or enough to power more than 1 million homes and businesses with zero carbon emissions.

 • FPL Group is the nation’s No. 1 producer of renewable energy from solar. The company operates the largest solar-thermal plant in the world in California’s Mojave Desert, the 310-megawatt Solar Electric Generating System. 

• Florida Power & Light Company is the nation’s No. 1 utility for energy conservation, according to U.S. Department of Energy data. FPL’s conservation programs have helped the company avoid the need to build 12 medium-sized power plants since 1980, more than any other utility.

More information about FPL’s next-generation solar energy centers is available at www.fpl.com/solar. For downloadable, high-resolution photos of solar thermal technology, please visit www.flickr.com/fplsolar.

Florida Power & Light Company is a subsidiary of FPL Group, Inc. (NYSE:FPL), nationally known as a high quality, efficient and customer-driven organization focused on energy-related products and services. With annual revenues of over $15 billion and a growing presence in 27 states, FPL Group is widely recognized as one of the country's premier power companies. Florida Power & Light Company serves 4.5 million customer accounts in Florida. FPL Energy, LLC, FPL Group's competitive energy subsidiary, is a leader in producing electricity from clean and renewable fuels. Additional information is available on the Internet at www.FPL.com, www.FPLGroup.com and www.FPLEnergy.com.

Clean Energy Self Reliance Using Homegrown Renewable Power In Each USA State

2008-12-07T08:32:00.007-07:00

Greetings, All -- The information below was originally reported on November 11, 2008.

I call to your attention a new report by The New Rules Project that estimates the potential of individual states in the USA to tap into their own and nearby renewable energy resources. The relatively brief, 14-page report is well illustrated with maps and data to help change our way of thinking about renewable energy supplies and options.

For example, in our American Southwest, the New Rules reports says New Mexico has the potential to generate 2700 (twenty-seven hundred) percent of its electricity demands using wind power, and/or 37 (thirty-seven) percent of its electricity demands using rooftop solar photovoltaic power.

One also might consider that the immediate reaction to a solar power potential map for the USA is to believe that solar power must come from the American Southwest from a band extending from southern California eastward to west Texas. However, a more thoughtful reaction to the same map is that there is significant solar power potential in every state of the USA, and the solar resource can be more economically developed locally when long distance transmission costs (and power losses) are considered.

The report has its flaws. For example, The wind data are based on a 1991 study and on 30 m heights, and there is much research done since that provides more accurate data. The report data are based on average wind speeds whereas it is important to take into account fluctuations because loads do not vary linearly with speed. Also, the references used are not scientific peer-reviewed literature but mainly internet resources and blogs.

For an up-to-date report on wind power for the USA, see the 2007 edition of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Annual Report on U.S. Wind Power Installation, Cost, and Performance Trends

Nonetheless, we should be more concerned with the concept of locally generated energy as an alternative or complement to central station power generation with long-distance transmission. The precise scientific numbers and estimates re wind, solar, and other resources in the New Rules report are perhaps less relevant than creating an immediate national review and debate on retooling our energy infrastructure for our new energy economy.

What is happening, unfortunately, is that many political and technical advisors on our energy future have already adopted a model based on old-line thinking that applies to an obsolescent national power generation and transmission infrastructure -- without considering the merits of Distributed Generation. [There will be more on this page about Distributed Generation, Micro-Grid Technology, etc. in other posts.]

Consider this statement published November 14, 2008: "Another point that all [renewable energy] associations agreed was of utmost importance to bring the U.S. out of its economic woes was major investment in interstate electrical grid infrastructure, including new transmission and smart grid technologies. Many of the best renewable energy resources are located in remote areas that do not have ready grid-access. New transmission corridors will be necessary to bring wind, water, solar, and geothermal energy that is harvested in remote areas to areas of the country in which people reside."
See: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/story?id=54078&src=rss

Most of the best renewable energy resources in our nation are co-located with old technology power stations already connected to the national grid. [As one obvious example, the same 40,000 square miles of New Mexico already given over to oil and natural gas production in the San Juan and Permian Basins -- clearly connected to our national transmission grid -- could provide our entire nation's electrical demands via solar power for the remainder of this century.]

Additionally, many of the best renewable energy resources -- especially solar -- are colocated with major metropolitan areas in our nation where multi-millions of people reside [Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Tuscon, Albuquerque, Denver, El Paso, Austin, San Antonio, Salt Lake City, etc., etc.]. Thus, there is no immediate need to pursue the hugely wasteful process of building remotely located power plants and thousands of miles of new transmission lines with their inherent power losses with distance.

Nonetheless, political planning and the groundwork for economic resource allocation are already well in progress toward the obsolescent and uneconomical idea that we must necessarily think of our future energy infrastructure as we remember it from our past.

The new report is available for download at: http://www.newrules.org/de/energyselfreliantstates.pdf The Executive Summary follows.

Energy Self-Reliant States: Homegrown Renewable Power

Executive Summary

How much energy could be generated by states tapping into internal renewable resources? To date, no study has addressed this question comprehensively. This report is a first attempt to do so.

The data in this report, while preliminary, suggest that at least half of the fifty states could meet all their internal energy needs from renewable energy generated inside their borders, and the vast majority could meet a significant percentage. And these estimates may well be conservative.

A national renewable energy policy should reflect the unique distribution of these energy sources. Wind and solar and, to a lesser extent, biomass, can be found in abundance in virtually all parts of the country. A federal policy that focuses on harnessing local renewable resources for local markets could dramatically expand the number of communities and states economically benefiting from the use of renewable fuels while minimizing the transportation-related environmental impact of moving energy products long distances.

Yet current federal energy policy is largely focused on harnessing renewable energy in a few states and transporting it hundreds or even thousands of miles to customers in other states.

The rationale for this reliance on long distribution lines is that while renewable energy is widely distributed, the resources and cost of harnessing them vary widely state-by- state.

That is true. Agricultural states in the heartland can grow biomass in larger quantities and at a lower cost than states on the coasts. A state like Nevada has significantly more annual solar energy than Oregon. North Dakota’s high wind speeds translate into lower production costs.

However, while significant variations in renewable energy among states exist; in most cases, when transmission or transportation costs are taken into account, the net cost variations are quite modest. Homegrown energy is almost always cheaper than imports, especially when you factor in social, environmental and economic benefits.

Policies that encourage energy self-reliance at a state and even in many cases a local level could enable communities and regions to achieve economic and environmental goals simultaneously. It’s a win-win situation.

China Positions For World leadership In "Smart Grid" Applications

2008-12-07T08:21:00.003-07:00

Hello, All -- This information was originally reported on November 13, 2008.

China, in its economic stimulus plan, invites investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency.

Notably, China seeks to modernize its electrical transmission grid by merging the existing electricity infrastructure with information technology -- the "Smart Grid" concept.

The article explains cooperative agreements between the USA and China, facilitated by the Joint US-China Cooperation on Clean Energy and involving major USA/International utility companies.

Note the plans for nationwide electric vehicle charging stations, and the involvement of General Motors of USA in this venture. Also note the investment opportunities for foreign nations in China's overhaul of its electricity infrastructure.

The article concludes, "China is in a unique position to develop the world's most advanced power distribution network by adopting smart grid technologies as it further develops and enhances its power grid. The question is whether China is willing to take the lead and be at the forefront of the "smart grid" revolution that is surely the future of worldwide power distribution."

The USA is well positioned to be a co-leader in the global effort to revolutionize our power sources and distribution systems. There is no better time than now to move ahead with this effort.

http://www.RenewableEnergyWorld.com/rea/news/story?id=54061&src=rss

Renewable Energy World/China

November 13, 2008

"Smart" Energy Management for China's Transmission Grid

by Lou Schwartz and Ryan Hodum

Beijing, China [RenewableEnergyWorld.com]

On November 9th the Chinese government approved a US $586 billion stimulus plan focused on large-scale investment in low-income housing, water, rural infrastructure and electricity in China. Though the primary purpose of this initiative is to spur economic growth at a time when exports are falling, as the Chinese stock market is in the doldrums and GDP growth is flagging, a secondary effect of this stimulus plan may be increased investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency in China.

This effort would include accelerating efforts to achieve the goal of reducing China's energy consumption per unit of GDP by a cumulative 20% by 2010. One very promising approach for China to build energy conservation into its infrastructure is the construction of a "smart grid."

The "smart grid" is the merging of electricity infrastructure with information technology. The purpose is to add monitoring, analysis, control and communication capabilities to any national electrical delivery system to maximize efficiency while reducing energy consumption. Creating a unified power grid and upgrading aging power systems will increase productivity, reduce carbon dioxide emissions and increase national security.

The Need for a "Smart Grid" in China

In 2002, China established five independent electricity generating companies and several transmission companies. The five generators have an equal share of the assets — China Huaneng, China Datang, China Huadian, Guodian Power, China Power Investment — and compete to sell electricity.

The State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC), the Southern Power Grid Corporation and the Eastern China Grid Corporation are among China's transmission companies. The largest utility in the world, SGCC serves 26 provinces and 1.08 billion people with a peak load of 343 gigawatts (GW) and total investment in grid construction valued at US $31.8 billion in 2007. China's second largest utility, China Southern Power Grid, is ranked 226th in Fortune Magazine's Global 500 listing with revenues exceeding US $30 billion.

Throughout China, the existing regional grids have weak interconnections between provinces and largely non-existent interconnections between grids. In order to solve this deficiency, the Chinese government has plans to create a unified national power grid network by 2020.

The plans include what is known as the "West-East Electricity Transfer Project," which requires the construction of three major west-east transmission corridors: North, Central and South. The transmission capacity of each corridor is expected to reach 20 GW by 2020. While planning for such major infrastructure investments, the government would be well-positioned to lay the foundation for "smart grid" capacity across the country.

The Eastern China Grid Corporation initiated a feasibility study of "smart grid" technology in October 2007. Shi Junqing, the General Manager of Eastern China Grid Corp. described the findings earlier this year. In terms of the large load on its grid, the assets that it has built into its system, the necessity of continuing to build out the network and the increasing environmental, safety, reliability and efficiency pressures that it faces, Eastern China Grid Corp. believes that the conditions are now ripe for it to put in place a smart grid system; to that end the company has established a goal of gradually putting in place the elements of a "smart grid" over the coming years.

International Collaboration on "Smart Grid"

Efforts to develop and deploy "smart grid" technology are underway across the globe, supported by industry alliances such as the GridWise Alliance in the United States, Smart Grid Europe, and Smart Grid Australia.

In the United States, for example, although the transmission grid is 99.97% reliable, brief power interruptions have cost the country nearly US $100 billion each year; apart from enhanced reliability, smart grids promise to increase efficiency of power distribution and usage, with corresponding savings in power and power consumption.

With respect to China, international cooperation that focuses on energy efficiency includes the efforts of the philanthropic arm of Google, which has awarded a grant of US $250,000 to the U.S. National Academies and the Chinese Academies of Sciences and Engineering to develop recommendations for U.S.-Chinese cooperation on renewable electricity - central to which is a focus on grid connectivity and energy storage.

The Joint US-China Cooperation on Clean Energy (JUCCCE), a non-profit organization that brings together international experts to accelerate the use of clean and efficient energy in China, has been selected by the Clinton Global Initiative to organize The China Smart Grid Cooperative. JUCCCE received US $770,000 to run this initiative and has plans to partner with international companies such as Duke Energy and GridPoint to accelerate "smart grid" development in China.

This week (Nov. 10-11), JUCCCE is convening the JUCCCE Energy Forum in cooperation with the Energy Foundation and the National Development and Reform Commission. The JUCCCE Energy Forum will include a presentation on smart grids by IBM and will surely afford the opportunity to further the efforts of JUCCCE to engage the leadership in Beijing to urge the development of a plan to develop a smart grid in China.

Business Opportunities for Foreign Companies

Opportunities exist for foreign corporations to benefit from "smart grid" investments in China. In March, American-owned Composite Technology Corporation announced an order valued at approximately US $3.1 million for high efficiency conductors. In June, ABB Ltd., a Swiss-owned manufacturer of power-generation equipment, won a US $70 million order for power equipment from the State Grid Corporation for a high voltage DC (HVDC) transmission link in northeastern China to transmit 3,000 megawatts (MW) from Inner Mongolia to Liaoning Province.

Siemens recently announced an order from China Southern Power Grid Corporation to build the first 800-kV ultra high voltage DC system able to transfer 5000 MW of power to load centers on the southeast coast. In addition, IBM has developed products to implement smart grids that it is promoting throughout the world, including in China.

"Smart Grid" Accommodates Breakthrough Technology

The State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC) has plans to create a nation-wide electric-vehicle charging network with charging stations currently installed in Shanghai, Beijing, and Tianjin to name a few. It was recently announced that General Motors is collaborating with the SGCC to meet Chinese market demand for the Chevy Volt.

However, without aggressive investment in "smart grid" technology, this initiative may stumble as it attempts to expand across the country. The plug-in electric vehicle will depend on network improvements as much as today's car depends on petrol stations, which will require sophisticated appliances to communicate oscillations in energy supply and demand.

Exporting Smart Grid Technology to Other Asian Countries

In addition to creating a "smart grid" infrastructure, China also has the opportunity to export "smart grid" best practices. Recently it was reported that the State Grid Corporation of China won a US $3.95 billion bid for a 25-year contract to manage the Philippines' electricity grid (arguably the largest privatization deal in Philippines' history). A significant opportunity exists for China to collaborate with the rest of the world on investing in the grid of the future.

China is in a unique position to develop the world's most advanced power distribution network by adopting smart grid technologies as it further develops and enhances its power grid. The question is whether China is willing to take the lead and be at the forefront of the "smart grid" revolution that is surely the future of worldwide power distribution.

Lou Schwartz is president of China Strategies LLC, and publisher of the China Renewable Energy and Sustainable Development Report and the China Aluminum Industry Report. He has degrees in East Asian Studies from the University of Michigan and Harvard University where he studied Chinese language and literature, economics and law, among other disciplines. Lou also earned a J.D. from George Washington University Law School.

Ryan Hodum is an environmental and renewable energy professional who recently earned a Master of Arts in Global Environmental Policy from American University in Washington, D.C. with a focus on renewable energy utilization in China. He now works for David Gardiner & Associates LLC, a strategic consulting firm focused on climate and energy solutions. Ryan spearheaded the development of China Strategies' China Renewable Energy Interactive Map and the China Solar Map, which can be found on China Strategies' website.

See: http://www.chinastrategiesllc.com/index.htm

"The Climate Crisis and the Adaptation Myth"

2008-12-06T09:23:00.005-07:00

Hello, All – Robert Repetto of Yale University and a Senior Fellow of the United Nations Foundation has published a very readable report on the prevailing myth that the USA is prepared to adapt to climate change. He talks about the differences between “anticipatory or preventive adaptation” and “reactive adaptation,” and the economic consequences of reacting to rather than preparing for climate change.

The 24-page report, "The Climate Crisis and the Adaptation Myth," is published by the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies and is available for viewing or downloading at http://www.environment.yale.edu/publication-series/climate_change/

Importantly, the report discusses the behavior of people and organizations, and why we are so sluggish in responding to new conditions. He says, “Humans are myopic decision-makers, sharply discounting events in the farther future or past...exhibit strong ‘anchoring’ to the status quo… [and] tend to resist and deny information that contradicts their value or ideological beliefs.”

The report has specific references to our American Southwest where Repetto points out that 30 million people depend upon a limited and dwindling water supply, yet New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and Texas have done very little in terms of factoring climate change into long range water supply planning. Additionally, land and resource managers for the Forest Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management and the National Park Service – responsible for vast tracts of land in the American West – have ignored a directive by the U.S. Department of the Interior to consider climate change in their management plans.

The Science Daily article below briefs the report, but I urge you to read the full document that treats prevailing questions about our abilities to adapt to climate change. The report reconfirms climate change as a measured phenomenon that has affected temperature and precipitation patterns worldwide for the past 50 years, and will have even greater impacts during the coming decades.

Remember that estimates of the economics of climate change indicate that attempting to adapt to climate change is likely to be substantially more expensive than the lesser costs of cutting carbon emissions by moving into a new clean-energy economy.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081202115427.htm

Science Daily/Yale University

Most U.S. Organizations Not Adapting To Climate Change, Report Finds

ScienceDaily (Dec. 3, 2008) — Organizations in the United States that are at the highest risk of sustaining damage from climate change are not adapting enough to the dangers posed by rising temperatures, according to a Yale report.

"Despite a half century of climate change that has already significantly affected temperature and precipitation patterns and has already had widespread ecological and hydrological impacts, and despite a near certainty that the United States will experience at least as much climate change in the coming decades just as a result of current atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases, little adaptation has occurred," says Robert Repetto, author of "The Climate Crisis and the Adaptation Myth" and a senior fellow of the United Nations Foundation.

Repetto says that private- and public-sector organizations face significant obstacles to adaptation because of uncertainties over the occurrence of climate change at the regional and local levels, over the future frequency of extreme weather events, and over the ecological, economic and other impacts of climate change.

In addition, organizations lack relevant data for planning and forecasting, and the data that are available are typically outdated and unrepresentative of future conditions. Other institutional barriers to adaptation are overcoming or revising codes, rules and regulations that impede change; the lack of clear directions and mandates to take action; political or ideological resistance to the need for responsiveness to climate change; the preoccupation with near-term challenges and priorities and the lingering perception that climate change is a concern only for sometime in the future; and the inertia created by a business-as-usual assumption that future conditions will be like those of the past.

"Those organizations in the public and private sectors that are most at risk, that are making long-term investments and commitments and that have the planning, forecasting and institutional capacity to adapt, have not yet done so," says Repetto, who until recently was a professor in the practice of economics and sustainable development at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. "There have been very few changes in forecasts, plans, investment decisions, budgets or staffing patterns in response to climate risks."

The report cites:

New York City's 40-year-old building codes that require structures to withstand only 110 mph winds, when climate change is causing more intense hurricanes that could bring speeds of up to 135 mph, and its flood maps that are based on historical data and not on climate change modeling data. Increases in sea levels and surges associated with severe storms would likely inundate Kennedy Airport and lower Manhattan, including the subway entrances and tunnels into Manhattan.

Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Texas, where water supply is critical and climate change is not factored into state agencies' current water management plans.

A 2007 GAO report that land and resource managers for the Forest Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management and the National Park Service have ignored a directive by the Interior Department to consider climate change in their management plans.

Federal planning guidelines that states and municipalities must follow to receive funding for transportation investments that do not require consideration of climate change in the design and siting of highways and rail lines.

Municipal public health agencies in Los Angeles, Chicago and Philadelphia, among others, that have not factored climate change into plans for confronting public health risks, despite the belief that climate change will increase the incidence and severity of vector-borne diseases and respiratory illnesses.

"To say that the United States has the technological, economic and human capacity to adapt to climate change does not imply that the United States will adapt," said Repetto. "Without national leadership and concerted efforts to remove these barriers and obstacles, adaptation to climate change is likely to continue to lag."

Adapted from materials provided by Yale University, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Yale University (2008, December 3). Most U.S. Organizations Not Adapting To Climate Change, Report Finds. ScienceDaily. Retrieved December 3, 2008, from http://www.sciencedaily.com /releases/2008/12/081202115427.htm

US Renewable Energy

2008-12-05T11:52:00.004-07:00

Hello, All -- The latest monthly report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) of the U.S. Department of Energy shows that domestically produced renewable energy is now only slightly less than the total of domestically produced nuclear energy from the 103 nuclear power plants now operating in the USA.

Renewable energy now accounts for slightly less than 11 (eleven) percent of total domestically produced energy in the USA, and slightly more than 7 (seven) percent of total USA energy consumption from domestic plus imported energy.

I added three links to EIA information in and below the article for your research and reading pleasure.

Happy Holidays!

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/infocus/story?id=54199

Renewable Energy World/U.S. Energy Information Administration

December 1, 2008

US Renewable Energy Demand Increases 7.4%

Washington, D.C., United States [RenewableEnergyWorld.com]

According to the latest "Monthly Energy Review" issued by the U.S. Energy Information Administration on November 24, 2008, renewable energy accounted for almost 11 percent of the domestically-produced energy used in the United States in the first eight months of 2008.
See: http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/mer/contents.html
For the period January 1 – August 31, 2008, the United States consumed 67.550 quadrillion Btus (quads) of energy - of which 45.428 quads was from domestic sources and 22.122 quads was imported. Domestically-produced renewable energy (biomass/biofuels, geothermal, hydropower, solar, wind) totaled 4.886 quads, an amount equal to 10.76% of U.S. energy consumption that is domestically-produced.__

This share is only slightly less than the contribution from nuclear power (12.39%). And while consumption of nuclear power dropped slightly during the first eight months of 2008, compared to the same period for 2007 (5.629 quads, down from 5.637 quads), domestic renewable energy production's share increased by more than seven percent (4.886 quads, up from 4.549 quads). __

Biomass and biofuels combined presently constitute the largest source of renewable energy in the United States (2.554 quads) followed by hydropower (1.916 quads).

Wind power, however, experienced the largest growth rate, increasing by almost 45% compared to the first eight months of 2007 (0.300 quads, up from 0.207 quads).

Solar’s and geothermal’s contributions were at roughly the same levels in 2008 as they were in 2007 – although both are poised to greatly expand their market share in the near future.

Additional References:

Energy Information Administration – Official Energy Statistics From the U.S. Government: http://www.eia.doe.gov/

EIA Renewable & Alternative Fuels: http://www.eia.doe.gov/fuelrenewable.html