Feb 5, 2012 – The New York Times has the following report about the Advanced Clean Car Program and California.  Apparently it turns out to be 1 step forward and 2 steps back. Air regulators approved new car-pollution rules to cut down on smog and global warming they included a provision that critics described as a loophole that could substantially reduce the number of EVs sold in the state in coming years.

Under the new Advanced Clean Cars Program rules, approved last month, automakers will be required, beginning in 2018, to sell an escalating number of automobiles and light vehicles in California that can run on electricity, fuel cells or other zero-tailpipe-emission technologies.

But under a deal reached by automakers, the Obama administration and 2 senior California Air Resources Board officials, manufacturers that exceed new federal fuel-efficiency standards, even slightly, will be allowed to reduce the number of zero-emission vehicles they sell by up to 50 percent in 2018, a reduction that will drop to 30 percent by 2021.

The new rules also allow carmakers that do not meet their sales goals to purchase credits from other companies that surpass the goals, like Tesla Motors, a Bay Area company that plans to sell only electric vehicles and electric vehicle components.

Feb 5, 2012 – Tonight at 6:30 PM is the kickoff of the 2012 Super Bowl.  There will be a fly over of military jets.  How much fuel will be used for the fly over? How much CO2 will be produced from the fly over. “American Idol” winner Kelly Clarkson will sing the national anthem.  Madonna will highlight the half-time show.

FPL now offers solar rebate programs to customers who install photovoltaic (PV) and solar water heating systems in their homes and businesses. The solar rebate programs are part of a five-year pilot program authorized by the Florida Public Service Commission to promote clean solar power and reduce energy consumption.

Residential customers may receive a rebate of $1,000 for installing new solar water heating systems, and up to $20,000 for installing a photovoltaic (PV) system and interconnecting to FPL’s grid.

Business customers may receive rebates up to $50,000 per site for installing a new solar water heating system and up to $50,000 per site for installing a PV system and interconnecting to FPL’s grid.

For more information on residential programs, please go to the FPL site with the following link: http://www.fpl.com/landing/solar_rebate/residential.shtml.

Business customers may get more information from the following link: http://www.fpl.com/landing/solar_rebate/business.shtml.

Feb 2, 2012 – Johnson Controls has an ad in Forbes and other magazines showing the entrance to the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command.  Of course, this facility should get energy savings.  The ad states, “Mission Accomplished:L $134 million in energy savings, guaranteed.

“Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, is a 94-year-old U.S. Army installation with a 21st century mission… an executive order to cut energy use by 30% by 2015.  To meet this challenge, the U.S. Army partnered with Johnson Controls to upgrade buildings across its 72,500-acre testing, research and training facility.

The result? The installation is expected to reap $134 million in energy savings over the next 20 years.”

This is admirable, but it seems we are now stretching out the return to 20 years. First, savings on any program were shown for ONE year.  It has lately become fashionable to project the savings over 20 years so that the headline numbers look more impressive.  This is the first time I have seen the savings indicated over 20 years.  That makes the $134 million in savings equal to $6.7 million per year and we don’t know how much of the calculation will be in years 11-20.  I’m not saying it isn’t worthwhile or a good move in the right direction, but it does make it hard to evaluate what is really being done in the here and now.

The solar company Semprius, in which Siemens has invested as a strategic partner in June 2011, achieved a world record for photovoltaic module efficiency of 33.9 percent. This result was externally certified after measurement under standard test conditions at the Instituto de Energía Solar (IES) at the University of Madrid (Universidad Politécnica de Madrid).

Semprius, headquartered in Durham, North Carolina, develops high concentrating photovoltaic (HCPV) modules. The latest prototypes achieved a major milestone with 33.9 percent solar module efficiency. In a joint collaboration with the Spanish Institute of Concentration Photovoltaic Systems (ISFOC) and the University of Madrid, this testing was performed by the IES institute of the university. For the first time a photovoltaic module converted more than one-third of the energy of the solar irradiation on the module area into usable electricity. Depending on the specific location and irradiation, the HCPV modules can deliver an energy output per square meter that is two times higher than common polycrystalline modules. Leading module manufacturers of conventional PV technologies achieve a maximum module efficiency of approximately 20 percent with monocrystalline PV modules and about 16 percent with polycrystalline technology.

In June 2011, Siemens acquired a 16-percent stake in Semprius to scale up the innovative HCPV technology to market maturity. The Semprius HCPV systems bundle the sunlight on the modules with the aid of integrated lenses on small photovoltaic cells.

HCPV is a prime alternative to conventional photovoltaics especially suitable for sunbelt regions with high direct irradiation.

Semprius as a leader in HCPV modules shows us that we have bet on the right technology,” said Martin Pfund, CEO of the Siemens Energy Photovoltaic Business Unit. “The world record is a breakthrough in module efficiency. Combined with our expertise in turnkey solutions business it has the potential to become a game changer for the solar markets in regions with high irradiation. With Semprius as a partner we will further broaden our portfolio in the photovoltaics market. We’re very pleased to be working together with Semprius to commercialize this technology globally.”

Ener1, which received a $118.5 million U.S. Department of Energy grant to make lithium-ion and other batteries for electric cars, filed for bankruptcy protection after the demise of a large customer.

It comes amid persistent criticism of U.S. President Barack Obama from Republican lawmakers about whether his administration is properly assessing “clean energy” companies before authorizing government support.

The Energy Department had in 2009 awarded the $118.5 million grant to Ener1′s EnerDel unit, as part of a government stimulus package to bolster the U.S. electric car industry.

For the entire story, please visit http://www.cnbc.com/id/46156363 .

Jan 25, 2012 – Siemens wants to use “snapshots” of the power grid to help make it more stable. Power snapshots from smart meters by Siemens provide synchronous grid information with maximum precision from the low-voltage grid, data that can serve as a basis for analyzing these grids in cities and communities. Analysis of the collected data makes it possible to use the grid infrastructure more efficiently and to better integrate electric vehicles or the feed-in of power from photovoltaic systems, for example. Siemens developed the power snapshot analyses (PSSA) in collaboration with the Austrian Institute of Technology and several grid operators in Austria. The project received financing from Austria’s Climate and Energy Fund.
In the coming years, the growing number of decentral and fluctuating renewables-based energy sources feeding into the grid, and electric vehicles and electric heating systems will pose an enormous challenge for the power transmission and distribution networks. To estimate how many feed-in sources and how many users a local grid can handle, model simulations are conducted. These models used to be very rudimentary, so big safety margins had to be planned in. For more accurate simulations, detailed data on the low-voltage grids is needed.
That’s why developers from Siemens Austria developed the PSSA, with which the smart meters in local grids were equipped. These meters don’t only record energy-use data; they also generate real-time and synchronous displays of voltages in the local grids at points in time that are critical for the grid technology. The accuracy of the data is unprecedented because the load variations of the phases and the ground return conductor are also recorded. This information on the actual conditions in the grid enables grid operators to more efficiently use the available infrastructure. To compensate for power consumption peaks, the operators can for example take load groups like electric heating systems or heat pumps offline without compromising end users’ convenience. The data also can be used to estimate investment costs for expansions of grid infrastructure.
PSSA will be launched on the market before the end of 2012. Siemens smart meters, which are already being used by many customers, can be equipped with this additional function by means of a firmware download without disturbing the validity of the meters’ calibration.

The neutral inspectors at the TÜV Süd technical inspection authority have confirmed the high environmental compatibility of the new Mercedes B-Class, awarding the compact sports tourer the Environmental Certificate in accordance with ISO standard TR 14062. This certification is based on a comprehensive ecological life cycle assessment of the B-Class, documenting every detail of ecological relevance.

Siemens Energy has been awarded three orders by different customers to supply a total of four steam turbine generator units for solar thermal power plants in the Indian state of Rajasthan. The steam turbines of type SST-700 are intended for the Godawari, Abhijeet and Diwakar & KVK parabolic trough power plants. With a total rating of 300 megawatts (MW), these plants will make a contribution to meeting India’s growing electricity demand from solar power when they go on line in the spring of 2013.

All four power plant projects in the state of Rajasthan are being constructed as part of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM), the Indian government’s ongoing program for promoting solar power. The program envisages installing up to 20 gigawatts of solar power capacity in India by the year 2022. The parabolic trough power plants Godawari owned by Godawari Green Energy Ltd. and Abhijeet owned by Corporate Ispat Alloys Ltd. are each rated 50 MW. Siemens has been awarded contracts for an SST-700 steam turbine generator unit and auxiliary systems for each of these units. The third customer, Lanco Solar Energy, has ordered a steam turbine and generator rated at 100 MW, complete with auxiliary systems for each of the two units of the Diwakar & KVK parabolic trough power plant.

“As a leading provider of steam turbines for solar thermal power plants with an excellent track record in Spain and the USA, we are now in the front running on the rapidly developing market in India, too,“ says Markus Tacke, CEO of the Industrial Power business unit at Siemens Energy.

Siemens offers type SST-700 steam turbines for solar thermal power plants with a rated output of up to 175 MW. This type of turbine is particularly suitable for use in solar thermal power plants, because it can be run up and down quickly to respond very rapidly to the fluctuating service conditions typical of these plants. In addition, superheating the steam improves the efficiency of the turbines and thus of the power plant as a whole.
Steam turbines for solar thermal power plants are part of Siemens’ Environmental Portfolio. In fiscal 2011, revenue from the Portfolio totaled about €30 billion, making Siemens one of the world’s largest suppliers of ecofriendly technologies. In the same period, our products and solutions enabled customers to reduce their carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by nearly 320 million tons, an amount equal to the total annual CO2 emissions of Berlin, Delhi, Hong Kong, Istanbul, London, New York, Singapore and Tokyo.