The Energy Blogtag:typepad.com,2003:weblog-1227402008-12-01T20:42:38-05:00The Energy Revolution has begun and will change your lifestyleTypePadEPA Raises Raises Requirements for Renewable Fuelstag:typepad.com,2003:post-589578882008-12-01T20:42:38-05:002008-12-01T20:42:38-05:00An item of interest to ethanol producers and other supporters of ethanol is this announcement by EPA, as further clarified by this announcement by EERE: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on November 17 that the 2009 renewable fuel standard (RFS) will require most refiners, importers, and non-oxygenate blenders of gasoline to displace 10.21% of their gasoline with renewable fuels such as ethanol. That requirement aims to ensure that at least 11.1 billion gallons of fuels will be sold in 2009. . . . While the RFS requirement is increasing by about 23%—from 9 billion gallons in 2008 to 11.1 billion gallons in 2009—the percentage requirement is increasing by nearly one third, from 7.76% in 2008 to 10.21% in 2009. The larger relative increase in the percentage requirement reflects the fact that fuel consumption is expected to be lower in 2009, so a greater percentage of renewable fuel is needed to reach 11.1 billion gallons of renewable fuels. ....James FraserQteros - Raises $25 million, Changes Company Nametag:typepad.com,2003:post-589271062008-11-24T02:44:45-05:002008-11-24T02:44:45-05:00SunEthanol, a company that is developing microbes to produce cellulosic ethanol, announced on Nov. 18 that has raised $25 million in Series B financing and that it is changing its name to Qteros Inc. The funding will allow the company to scale up its process from the pilot plant to commercial operations, and hire additional engineers and scientists, company officials said. Plans call for a demonstration plant by 2010 and commercial production in 2011. The two year old Hadley, MA company is developing the Q Microbe™ (Clostridium phytofermentans), a lollipop-shaped microscopic organism that the company claims has unique properties that make it ideally suited to the production of cellulosic ethanol from a variety of non-food plant materials. Dr. Susan Leschine, Qteros’ Chief Scientist and co-founder, is the University of Massachusetts, Amherst microbiology professor who, nearly 10 years ago, first collected a sample of the Q Microbe™ near the Quabbin Reservoir in Massachusetts. The Q Microbe, was nearly perfect for the...James FraserAquaflow Algaetag:typepad.com,2003:post-585620082008-11-19T20:03:38-05:002008-11-19T20:03:38-05:00Aquaflow Bionomic Corporation (ABC), Melbourne, New Zealand, states on its website: The world is expected to move from the cultivation of corn and sugar cane for energy purposes to the cultivation of marine algae. Aquaflow has set itself the objective to be the first company in the world to economically produce biofuel from wild algae harvested from open-air environments, to market it, and meet the challenge of increasing demand. They are trying to simplify the algae to biooil process used by most others in the field by collecting wild algae growing in open-air sludge ponds and waste streams. UOP LLC, a Honeywell company, and Aquaflow have signed a memorandum of understanding to convert wild algae into fuel products using UOP’s processes and to develop a carbon dioxide sequestration storage model for Aquaflow’s algal oil production facilities. The companies will also study the feasibility of sequestering carbon dioxide from a refinery or power plant and adding it to wastewater streams in...James FraserBiobutanol - Cobalt Biofuels Raises $25 Million to Accelerate Commercialization of Biobutanol Processtag:typepad.com,2003:post-581003582008-11-14T23:18:00-05:002008-11-14T23:18:00-05:00Biobutanol (C4H10O) or butyl alcohol is a second generation biofuel that can be produced from biomass and can be used either as an industrial chemical or as a transportation fuel. Biobutanol can run in any gasoline engine with no modifications and, like ethanol, has a higher octane rating than normal gasoline. It has the additional advantages that it has a higher energy density than ethanol, can be transferred in our existing pipelines, and can be used as an additive in either gasoline or diesel fuel. Like ethanol, biobutanol is fermented by microorganisms from sugars, which are broken down from raw feedstocks and mixed with water. For the butanol process, the microbes have been genetically modified to produce an alcohol with a longer chain of hydrocarbons. The fermentation step is followed by a separation step in which the alcohols are separated from the fermentation steep. Since butanol doesn’t mix with water at high concentrations, the finished fuel can be stored easily...James FraserThin Film Solar - First Solartag:typepad.com,2003:post-582024242008-11-12T19:57:49-05:002008-11-12T19:57:49-05:00Thin film solar is becoming an increasingly important segment of the solar industry. Thin-film solar cells consist of layers of active materials about 10 µm thick compared with 200- to 300-µm layers for crystalline-silicon cells. Some sixty companies have announced to start thin film production by 2010, and EuPD Research estimates that by then, the production output will amount to 3.5 GW. According to the EIA, in 2006 thin film represented a 30% share of the of the 337,268 Wp of photovoltaic cells shipped by the U.S. solar industry, as compared to 12% in 2004. in 2007 total solar (including solar thermal) represented less than 1% of the total of all renewable energy [including biomass (53%), hydroelectric (36%), geothermal (5%) and wind (5%)] which in turn represented just 7% of total energy consumption in the U.S. Cadmium telluride PV (CdTe PV) is the only thin film photovoltaic technology to surpass crystalline silicon PV in the marketplace, in terms of lower...James FraserThe Return of The Energy Blogtag:typepad.com,2003:post-546320822008-11-08T00:25:03-05:002008-11-08T00:25:03-05:00Lest all of you that feared of my demise, The Energy Blog is returning, I am still alive and feeling better every day. I have been ill do to complications from chronic illinesses, but I am now taking medications that seems to have gotten every thing under control. I wish to thank everyone who has expressed their concern, both with the comments on the last post and by email I will resume regular posts soon, although probably not as frequently as in the past. The pressure and the grind required to post every day became too much for me, frequently causing me to work into the wee hours of the morning; that stress no doubt contributed to my illness.James FraserPickens Mesa Power Orders 1,000 MW of Wind Turbinestag:typepad.com,2003:post-499805302008-05-16T19:48:05-04:002008-05-16T19:48:05-04:00Per press release, edited slightly: Mesa Power LLP, a company created by T. Boone Pickens, has placed an order with General Electric to purchase 667, 1.5 megawatt wind turbines for the worlds largest wind farm, capable of generating 1,000 megawatts, nameplate, of electricity, enough to power more than 300,000 average U.S. homes. The order is part of the $2 billion first phase, see previous post, of the Pampa Wind Project planned in the Texas panhandle by Mesa. When all the phases of the project are completed it will become the world's largest wind energy project, with more than 4,000 megawatts, nameplate, of installed capacity. When completed, projected to be in 2014, the wind farm will be five times as big as the nation's current largest wind power project, now producing 736 megawatts. Pickens said he expects that first phase of the project will cost about $2 billion. When complete, the Pampa Wind Project will cover some 400,000 acres in the...James FraserWorlds Largest, $1.8 Billion, 500 MW, Wind Farm to be Built off the Coast of UKtag:typepad.com,2003:post-498764282008-05-15T01:31:56-04:002008-05-15T01:31:56-04:00Per Fluor Corporation press release: Fluor Corporation, Dallas, TX, (NYSE: FLR) announced Wednesday that it has signed a contract with Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) to design and construct the 500 megawatt (MW) Greater Gabbard Offshore Wind Farm. The venture is the world's largest offshore wind farm project to move into the construction phase and will be built approximately 25 kilometers off the Suffolk coast of the United Kingdom (UK). The new award will be booked in the company’s second quarter of 2008 and is worth approximately $1.8 billion (£900 million). . . . The first UK offshore wind farm to be built outside territorial waters, the project will feature 140 wind turbines each having a rated capacity of 3.6 MW. The turbines will be supplied by Siemens Wind Power A/S under a separate contract with SSE. Fluor will be responsible for the installation of the turbines which will be mounted on steel monopiles and transition pieces in water depths...James FraserDuPont To Enter Thin Film Amorphous Silicon Markettag:typepad.com,2003:post-498284782008-05-13T19:40:02-04:002008-05-13T19:40:02-04:00Per DuPont press release: DuPont (NYSE: DD) announced that it will soon begin construction on a research center in Hong Kong and a manufacturing facility in Shenzhen to support the rapidly growing photovoltaic (PV) solar energy industry. . . . DuPont expects growth in the photovoltaic market to exceed 30 percent in each of the next several years. The company has made significant investments in product development and capacity expansions to help keep pace with the demand. Accelerating its capability to meet emerging materials requirements is critical for DuPont, which has long been a leading supplier of materials primarily serving the crystalline silicon (c-Si) cell and module markets. The expansions in Hong Kong and Shenzhen will provide new offerings to serve the amorphous silicon (a-Si) thin film market. Thin film technology is well-suited for large-scale utility applications such as "solar farms" and industrial installations. The growth rate for thin film is projected to be approximately twice as high as demand...James FraserSungri Claims 5-7 cents per kWh for CSP Solar Technologytag:typepad.com,2003:post-493507222008-05-03T02:18:27-04:002008-05-03T02:18:27-04:00Using SUNRGI's propriety technology it is possible to produce large amounts of electricity from solar radiation at a wholesale price of US $0.05 / kWh is the lead headline on SUNGRI's website. The system is called Xtreme Concentrated Photovoltaics ™ or XCPV™. XCPV efficiently concentrates sunlight so than it is more that 1,600 times brighter than the sun. This concentrated sunlight is focused onto triple-junction solar cells photovoltaic (PV) solar cells that convert more than 37% of the sunlight directly into electricity. The technology will enable power companies, businesses, and residents to produce electricity from solar energy at a lower cost than ever before was announced recently by SUNRGI at the National Energy Marketers Association's 11th Annual Global Energy Forum. "Solar Power at 5 cents per kWh would be a world-changing breakthrough. It would make solar generation of electricity as affordable as generation from coal, natural gas or other non-renewable sources, without requiring a subsidy" -- Craig Goodman, president, National...James FraserGM Invests in Mascomatag:typepad.com,2003:post-493098322008-05-02T02:02:39-04:002008-05-02T02:02:39-04:00General Motors Corp. and Mascoma Corp. today announced a strategic relationship to develop cellulosic ethanol focused on Mascoma's single-step biochemical conversion of non-grain biomass into low-carbon alternative fuels to help address increasing energy demand. Mascoma's single-step cellulose-to-ethanol method, called Consolidated Bioprocessing, or CBP, lowers costs by limiting additives and enzymes used in other biochemical processes. The relationship, which includes an undisclosed equity investment by GM, complements an earlier investment in cellulosic ethanol startup Coskata that uses a thermo-chemical process to make ethanol from non-grain sources. "Taken together, these technologies represent what we see as the best in the cellulosic ethanol future and cover the spectrum in science and commercialization. Demonstrating the viability of sustainable non-grain based ethanol is critical to developing the infrastructure to support the flex-fuel vehicle market. One of the things that attracted us to Mascoma was its R&D team. Their development of best-in-class microorganisms and enzymes could lead a transformation to a new era of biofuels." --...James FraserLand for Largest Field of Switchgrass for Bioenergy Acquiredtag:typepad.com,2003:post-493091842008-05-02T00:46:59-04:002008-05-02T00:46:59-04:00Oklahoma has secured 1,100 acres of land for the world's largest stand of switchgrass devoted to cellulosic ethanol production. Planting will take place within the next 45 days. Switchgrass is a perennial grass that is naturally drought resistant and grows on marginal lands.The Oklahoma Bioenergy Center (OBC), demonstration fields will provide academia and industry a unique "living laboratory" to understand the production and long-term impact of bioenergy crops, as well as experiment with new production techniques and critical harvest, collection and transport methods. The critical piece of this effort is 1,000 acres of switchgrass which will be planted near Guymon, Okla. in the state's panhandle. This switchgrass field will be the first of its size anywhere in the world focused on biomass production. Additional acreage of sorghum and switchgrass will be planted near Chickasha and Maysville in central Oklahoma. A cellulosic biorefinery currently being constructed by Abengoa Boenergy in Hugoton, Kan., will be less than 35 miles from Guymon, and...James FraserMissouri City Goes 100% Wind Powertag:typepad.com,2003:post-491049282008-04-28T01:41:31-04:002008-04-28T01:41:31-04:00Following the opening of a new 5 MW four-turbine wind farm last week, Rock Port, a town of 1,395 in North West Missouri, has become the first U.S. town to get all its electricity from wind power. The $90 million Loess Hills Wind Farm, was built by St. Louis-based Wind Capital Group and the John Deere Corp. When fully operational, the four Suzlon 1.25 MW S-64 wind turbines will have the capacity to generate 16 million kilowatt hours a year. Historically, Rock Port electrical customers use approximately 13 million KwH annually. Missouri Joint Municipal Utilities will buy excess power from the farm, expected to eventually generate 16 million kilowatt hours of electricity per year. As part of this powerpurchase agrreement MJMU will supply Rock Port's power needs when the wind turbines are not generating at capacity.James FraserOptisolar to Build Largest Solar Farm in North Americatag:typepad.com,2003:post-490457682008-04-27T23:51:48-04:002008-04-27T23:51:48-04:00OptiSolar, Hayward, California, is developing a 550 megawatt photovoltaic (PV) solar farm, the largest in North America, covering over 6,000 acres, in San Luis Obispo County, California. OptiSolar intends to submit an application to San Luis Obispo County for a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) in May. Construction is targeted to begin in 2010, after completing the local approval process. Installation of panels will occur over a period of up to three years. OptiSolar is a vertically intigrated company manufacturing its own solar cells and panels and claims its amorphous silicon thin-film solar PV panels combine proprietary manufacturing processes and innovative design to yield affordable, durable panels that significantly reduce the cost of clean solar power. Their thin-film design requires only about 1% of the silicon used in crystalline systems, thus not being affected by the availability of crystalline silicon. The companies technology enables low-profile solar panels to be placed on simple concrete and steel ballasts with minimal grading. Although photovoltaic...James FraserEPRI Analysis Finds Utility Based Energy Efficiency Programs Could Cut Energy Consumption 7-11 %tag:typepad.com,2003:post-490466942008-04-26T03:37:09-04:002008-04-26T03:37:09-04:00Energy efficiency improvements in the U.S. electric power sector could reduce electric consumption by 7 to 11 percent more than currently projected over the next two decades if key barriers can be addressed, according to a preliminary analysis of potential energy savings released recently by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) during an Edison Foundation conference which examined strategies to meet the growing demand for electricity which is expected to soar 30 percent by 2030, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. “This study demonstrates the potential of energy efficiency to offset some of the projected need for new electric generation as cutting-edge technologies become available and are adopted. We think a 7-percent efficiency improvement is realistic – and gains of 11 percent or more are technologically feasible – depending on the degree to which various obstacles can be overcome.” -- Dr. Michael Howard, senior vice president at EPRI That demand growth projection would...James FrasereSolar Receives Funding for 33MW Modular Solar Power Plantstag:typepad.com,2003:post-490448762008-04-26T00:43:07-04:002008-04-26T00:43:07-04:00From a 4/21 press release: eSolar™, a producer of modular solar thermal power plants, announced (pdf) that is has closed $130 million in funding from Idealab, Google.org, Oak Investment Partners, and other investors for the construction and deployment of pre-fabricated power plants. Their distributed solar thermal plants achieve economies of scale at 33 MW, and are modularly scaled to fit the needs of large and small utilities. "The eSolar™ power plant is based on mass manufactured components, and designed for rapid construction, uniform modularity, and unlimited scalability. Rather than over-engineering the solution, eSolar’s smart scalable solar architecture targets what we see as the four key business obstacles facing the sector: price, scalability, rapid deployment, and grid impact." -- Asif Ansari, CEO of eSolar. . . . Centering on eSolar’s 33 MW pre-fab form-factor, the company’s modular design translates to minimal land requirements. The company’s solar power plant solutions are tailored to fit local resources and produce a low environmental footprint,...James FraserOrder your Tesla Roadster Now, TH!NK City Coming to North America in 2009tag:typepad.com,2003:post-488269442008-04-22T02:49:54-04:002008-04-22T02:49:54-04:00On Earth Day it is appropriate to feature one of the most sustainable products of the future, the electric car. High gas prices and growing environmental consciousness could finally usher in a new era for electric cars. The Tesla Roadster and the TH!NK City, represent the two extremes in electric vehicle choices and they are among the first, if not the first, electric cars scheduled to go into production. With the announcement, on March 17, that Tesla Motors had achieved their goal of starting regular production of the Tesla Roadster, the company claimed that the modern era of the electric car had begun. While this is an important milestone for the company and a watershed for the new era of electric vehicles, we still have a lot of work to do. Our key focus with the Roadster will be on gradually ramping up our production in a deliberate and controlled manner reaching a rate of over 100 Roadsters per month...James FraserStudy Develops More Accurate CO2 Datatag:typepad.com,2003:post-487142682008-04-19T23:51:35-04:002008-04-19T23:51:35-04:00Purdue University press release: - A new, high- resolution interactive map of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels has found that the emissions aren't all where we thought. "For example, we've been attributing too many emissions to the northeastern United States, and it's looking like the southeastern U.S. is a much larger source than we had estimated previously. "When you compare the old inventories to Vulcan, the new data show atmospheric CO2 differences that are as large as five parts per million in some U.S. regions in the late winter. The levels in the global atmosphere only rise one and a half part per million every year, so this is the equivalent of three years of global emissions in the atmosphere that isn't where we thought it was. This will be important for policy-makers and is enormous from a scientific point of view. It's shocking." -- Kevin Gurney, Project leader and assistant professor of earth and atmospheric science at...James FraserLargest Laser Beam in the World to Create Fusiontag:typepad.com,2003:post-486797882008-04-19T01:27:54-04:002008-04-19T01:27:54-04:00This video is about the National Ignition Facility, more details in previous post, at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, employing the largest bank of laser beams in the world, to be used in an experiment designed to create fusion ignition, a potential clean energy source for the 21st century. The $3.5 billion complex is under construction and expected to start full operations in 2009. Scientists are creating a system to replicate fusion by using lasers to create the high heat and pressure needed for fusion. At the center of the project is a gold cylinder the size of a dime. This gold cylinder, called the hohlraum, houses a capsule containing the hydrogen isotopes – the fuel for the fusion reaction. NIF scientists will blast the hohlraum with 192 laser beams simultaneously (containing a total of 1.8 million joules of energy, about 500 trillion watts) for a few billionths of a second. The cylinder will produce x-rays that compress and heat the...James FraserPickens Wind Farm to Get Underwaytag:typepad.com,2003:post-486342962008-04-18T03:35:03-04:002008-04-18T03:35:03-04:00Texas oil man T. Boone Pickens is commencing action, with plans for his company, Mesa Power, to build, over the next four years, the previously announced $10 billion wind farm, the world's largest, that will eventually generate 4,000 megawatts of electricity - the equivalent of building two commercial scale nuclear power plants - enough power for about 1 million homes. Next month Mesa Power, will begin buying land and ordering the first 500 wind turbines of the 2,700 turbines required for the project, at about $2 million each, to be located across 200,000 acres of the Texan panhandle. "Don't get the idea that I've turned green. My business is making money, and I think this is going to make a lot of money." -- Pickens in the Guardian Pickens grand plan, not to be built by him, for resolving the energy needs of the US. is to build wind farms on a corridor of land running north to south through...James FraserTrina Solar Cancels $1 Billion Polysilicon Planttag:typepad.com,2003:post-485687142008-04-17T01:51:56-04:002008-04-17T01:51:56-04:00China-based Trina Solar (NYSE: TSL) announced that it has canceled plans to build a $1 billion polysilicon plant that was revealed in December of 2007, with a target completion date by the end of 2012. Favorable changes in the polysilicon market has led Trina to believe that it can now obtain sufficient polysilicon on the open market to meet its production requirements. 21 new firms started manufacturing polysilicon during 2007. Trina also announced on 4/2/08 that it has entered an eight-year polysilicon supply agreement with GCL Silicon Technology Holdings Ltd.for enough polysilicon to produce about 2.6 gigawatts worth of solar modules. Trina has now secured about 95 percent of its estimated polysilicon requirements for 2008. Trina previously had said that it was targeting solar module production capacity of 350 megawatts of annual capacity by the end of this year. Trina announced in late October 2007, that it had launched production on its new multicrystalline module line, complimenting its monosilicon module...James FraserClimate Change Confirmed but Global Warming is Cancelled tag:typepad.com,2003:post-481933042008-04-09T01:31:43-04:002008-04-09T01:31:43-04:00I ran across an article, in The National Business Review (NZ), that (attempts to) explain why the climate is not highly sensitive to CO2 warming. In December last year . . . (the author) heard . . . a paper . . . that showed while the IPCC models predict that greenhouse gases would produce an extensive "hot spot" in the upper troposphere over the tropics, the satellite measurements show no such hotspots have appeared. . . . a large part of this discrepancy is the result of some basic errors in the IPCC's assessment of the Stefan-Boltzmann equation. When they applied their revised factor to the effect of greenhouse gases, the temperature rise was about a third of that predicted by the IPCC. . . . The findings that the predicted "tropical hot spots" do not exist are important because the IPCC models assume these hot spots will be formed by increased evaporation from warmer oceans leading to the...James FraserThe Beginning of the End for Coaltag:typepad.com,2003:post-481379262008-04-08T03:17:27-04:002008-04-08T03:17:27-04:00A post on Earth Policy Institute describes the difficulty power companies are having in getting coal fired power plants approved. There first paragraph sums up the difficulty they are having: With concerns about climate change mounting, the era of coal-fired electricity generation in the United States may be coming to a close. In early 2007, a U.S. Department of Energy report listed 151 coal-fired power plants in the planning stages in the United States. But during 2007, 59 proposed plants were either refused licenses by state governments or quietly abandoned. In addition, close to 50 coal plants are being contested in the courts, and the remaining plants will likely be challenged when they reach the permitting stage. The post goes on to outline 18 events that have occurred in the last year that have contributed to this dilemma. The latest action was the introduction of a bill in the House of Representatives that would block the EPA and states from...James FraserFYI: Nanomaterial Turns Radiation Directly into Electricitytag:typepad.com,2003:post-480809662008-04-07T01:08:28-04:002008-04-07T01:08:28-04:00According to an article in New Scientist, materials that directly convert radiation into electricity could produce a new era of spacecraft and even Earth-based vehicles powered by high-powered nuclear batteries, say US researchers. . . . The materials they are testing would extract up to 20 times more power from radioactive decay than thermoelectric materials, they calculate. . . . Tests of layered tiles of carbon nanotubes packed with gold and surrounded by lithium hydride are under way. . . . The tiles would be best used to create electricity using a radioactive material, says Liviu Popa-Simil, former Los Alamos National Laboratory nuclear engineer and founder of private research and development company LAVM , because they could be embedded directly where radiation is greatest. But they could also harvest power directly from a fission reactor's radiation. Devices based on the material could be small enough to power anything from interplanetary probes to aircraft and land vehicles, he adds.James FraserVolt Status Updatetag:typepad.com,2003:post-480807602008-04-07T00:56:30-04:002008-04-07T00:56:30-04:00GM released some more information on the status of the Chevy Volt plug-in hybrid last week in meeting with journalists and analysts at its battery research labs and design studio near Detroit. No real news to those of you who are following the Volt closely. A Reuters article summarized the information quite well, also see this post in GCC. The main points are: Executives are still committed to launching the Volt by November 2010, calling it the "No. 1 priority project" GM has started testing of two 16 kWh, 170 kg battery packs, one from a subsidiary of Korea's LG Chem and the 2nd suppled by Continental AG using A123 Systems technology. The goal for the battery is to be able to run at least 150,000 miles, last 10 years, provide 60-mph acceleration in less than 9 seconds and provide an all electric range of 40 miles. Testing some Volt-like technology in a 2005 Chevrolet Malibu began last year and...James FraserLargest Tidal Stream System Installedtag:typepad.com,2003:post-480415222008-04-06T04:05:26-04:002008-04-06T04:05:26-04:00Marine Current Turbines, has successfully completed the first installation phase of the 1.2MW SeaGen Tidal System, previous post, the world’s largest grid-connected tidal stream system, into the fast-flowing waters of Strangford Narrows off the coast of Northern Ireland. A crane barge safely positioned the 1000 ton structure onto the seabed in the early hours of Wednesday morning, 2 April, and released its four moorings on 3 April. SeaGen’s location is roughly 1km south of the ferry route between Strangford and Portaferry, approximately 400m from the shoreline. When fully operational later in the summer, its 16m diameter, twin rotors, one shown above, will operate for up to 18-20 hours per day to produce enough clean, green electricity, equivalent to that used by a 1000 homes, four times greater than any other tidal stream project so far built. “SeaGen is a hugely exciting project, as well as an historic achievement for both Marine Current Turbines and for renewables in the UK and...James FraserSkeptics Speak Out on Global Warmingtag:typepad.com,2003:post-478994682008-04-04T23:58:03-04:002008-04-04T23:58:03-04:00Aqua satellite data suggests there are reasons why we should be skeptical to the extent to which carbon dioxide drives warming, that CO2-driven increases in water vapor actually cool the earth, not magnify warming, and with equal interest the latest data from Argos float buoy data in the ocean could suggest the ocean is cooling since 2003 when they became operational. In a report posted on Australia’s ABC National on March 17th entitled “Climate Change,” Jennifer Marohasy of the Australian Environment Foundation comments on data from the NASA Aqua satellite: “The satellite was only launched in 2002 and it enabled the collection of data, not just on temperature but also on cloud formation and water vapour. What all the climate models suggest is that when you’ve got warming from additional carbon dioxide this will result in increased water vapour, so you’re going to get a positive feedback. That’s what the models have been indicating. What this great data from the...James FraserDesignLine Orders 150 Capstone Turbines for HEV Busestag:typepad.com,2003:post-478998222008-04-04T02:39:47-04:002008-04-04T02:39:47-04:00Capstone Turbine Corporation (NASDAQ: CPST), announced that it has received a 150 unit order for C30 Capstone MicroTurbines(R) to be deployed in ECOSaver IV hybrid electric buses manufactured by DesignLine International. This is the largest order to date for Capstone products in a Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) application. Hybrid electric buses equipped with Capstone microturbines, have been operating in various parts of the world for approximately 10 years. DesignLine buses are constructed with advanced extruded aluminum technology making them lightweight and very strong. The end result is the most fuel efficient vehicle available. In recent product demonstrations the ECOSaver IV hybrid buses equipped capstone turbines have seen up to a 100% improvement in fuel economy over a traditional diesel bus which equates to fuel savings of up to 6,000 gallons per year according to DesignLine. The bus has a serial drive, running on batteries all the time, the turbine being only used to charge the batteries The buses are also...James FraserFYI: TransAlta and Alstom Develping CCS Facility in Albertatag:typepad.com,2003:post-479478542008-04-04T00:50:51-04:002008-04-04T00:50:51-04:00TransAlta Corporation (NYSE: TAC) and Alstom (EPA: ALO) signed an agreement to work together to develop a large scale CO2 capture and storage (CCS) facility in Alberta, Canada. The project will pilot Alstom’s proprietary Chilled Ammonia Process. TransAlta considers the Chilled Ammonia Process as one of the more promising and potentially lowest cost solutions for CCS. TransAlta’s plan with Alstom is to test the technology at one of TransAlta’s coal-fired generating stations west of Edmonton and reduce current CO2 emissions by one million tons per year. . . . more A similar article can be found on Bloomberg.com Every CCS project that is built is a step foreword in controlling CO2 emissions and brings us a step closer to being able to require CCS on all coal fired power plants. Alberta already has regulation that require companies to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.James FraserWaste Hydrogen Used to Power Vehicles and Car Wash tag:typepad.com,2003:post-478961402008-04-02T23:41:59-04:002008-04-02T23:41:59-04:00CBCnews (Canada) has an interesting story about how the Integrated Waste Hydrogen Utilization Project (IWHUP) uses hydrogen from two chemical plants to power pickup trucks, shuttle buses and a car wash. The chemical plants produce more than 1000 kg/hr of hydrogen resulting form the production of sodium chlorate and clor-alkali by electrolysis of salt water. The waste hydrogen contains "chlorine, water vapor and other nasties," which have to be removed before it can be used. Sacré-Davey Engineering saw that the hydrogen was being wasted by venting the hydrogen to the atmosphere and designed a C$18.3 million facility to treat, compress and deliver the hydrogen to two fueling stations— one in North Vancouver and the other in Port Coquitlam, a nearby suburb. Fuel cells were deemed too expensive for the IWHUP project, and the existing internal-combustion technology was already available through Ford. "Ford supplied the trucks and they asked us to use them as much as we can. They wanted to...James FraserMIT Spin-off Developing Solar Cells That are 27% More Efficient, No more Expensive to Maketag:typepad.com,2003:post-478450482008-04-01T22:32:58-04:002008-04-01T22:32:58-04:001366 Technologies claims that its small multicrystalline solar cells are 27% more efficient than conventional cells while keeping costs about the same. It also announced its first round of funding of $12.4 million from Venture capitalists co-led by North Bridge Venture Partners and Polaris Venture Partners. The company's efficiency and cost claims are based on results from small solar cells (about two centimeters across) made in the lab of professor of mechanical engineering Emanuel Sachs, who is one of the company's founders. 1366 Technologies is building a pilot-scale manufacturing plant that will make full-sized solar cells (about 15 centimeters across) that should yield results in about a year. Sachs says that current solar cells cost about $2.10 per watt generated. When manufactured at a commercial scale, the first cells incorporating his new technology will cost $1.65 per watt while planned improvements will reduce the cost to about $1.30 a watt. The company's solar cells include three key innovations to improve...James FraserProject A Better Place Expands to Denmarktag:typepad.com,2003:post-476854302008-03-31T23:38:18-04:002008-03-31T23:38:18-04:00Project Better Place (PBC), California, has signed a letter of intent with Danish energy company DONG Energy aimed at reducing CO2 emissions from the Danish car fleet by providing electric cars, batteries and the infrastructure required for implementing a sustainable transportation energy solution. Together with PBC, DONG Energy will work on the further development of the project to give Danish consumers access to buying environmentally friendly electric vehicles (EVs) at attractive prices. Denmark is the second country in which such a transportation solution is being planned, Israel, previous post, being the first. The presentation, below, by Shai Agassi, founder and CEO of PBC, at a New Democrat Network meeting gives a very good explanation of the business model that will be used by PBC to implement the electric car fleet and required infrastructure (drag slider to 4:15 to avoid introduction), my short explanation is given following the video. Through the PBC and Renault-Nissan Alliance partnership announced last January, Renault will...James FraserMore News on EEStortag:typepad.com,2003:post-477445622008-03-30T22:44:25-04:002008-03-30T22:44:25-04:00The latest about EEStor, the promising developer of ultracapacitors can be found in a post by Tyler in Clean Break, EEStor Powered cityZenn targeted for fall 2009 the key item is taken from Zenn Motor Company's press release following its annual general meeting of March 28: The cityZENN is planned to be a fully certified, highway capable vehicle with a top speed of 125 KPH/ 80 MPH and a range or 400 kilometres/250 miles. Powered by EEStor, the cityZENN will be rechargeable in less than 5 minutes, feature operating costs 1/10th of a typical internal combustion engine vehicle and be 100% emission-free! The Zero-Emission, No-Noise cityZENN will be designed to meet the transportation requirements of a large percentage of drivers worldwide. "EEStor's game-changing energy storage technology is in the advanced stages of commercialization", stated Ian Clifford, Chief Executive Officer. "EEStor has publicly committed to commercialization in 2008 and their first production line will be used to supply ZENN Motor Company."...James FraserVirent: Biomass to "Biogasoline"tag:typepad.com,2003:post-476819062008-03-28T11:59:00-04:002008-03-28T11:59:00-04:00Shell and Virent Energy Systems, Inc., (Virent™) have announced a joint research and development effort to convert plant sugars directly into gasoline and gasoline blend components, via the BioForming™ process, rather than producing ethanol. The process is a simple reactor system operating at relatively low temperatures and pressures and once it is functioning, no additional energy inputs are required. The resulting "biogasoline" could potentially eliminate the need for specialized infrastructure, new engine designs and blending equipment. The production of gasoline via BioForming™ is a new pathway for the production of liquid fuels and chemicals from biiomass rather than from fossil fuels. Virent has received significant commercial interest and entered into key strategic industrial collaborations, including with Shell for the development of liquid fuels, which will speed the technology’s time to market and enable broad commercial penetration Virents process is a technology that economically transforms the sugars from biomass into universally usable fuel. The sugars can be sourced from non-food sources...James FraserFYI: Petrosun to Start Commercial Operation of 4.4 MGY Algae Oil Planttag:typepad.com,2003:post-474901702008-03-25T00:36:01-04:002008-03-25T00:36:01-04:00PetroSun, Inc (PINK: PSUD) announced that their Rio Hondo, Texas algae farm will commence operations on April 1, 2008 as PetroSun's initial commercial algae-to-biofuels facility. The current algae farm consists of 1,100 acres of saltwater ponds that the company projects will produce a minimum of 4.4 million gallons of algal oil and 110 million pounds of biomass on an annual basis. The company has dedicated 20 acres of ponds for a proposed algae derived JP8 jet fuel research and development program. The Rio Hondo algae farm will be expanded in the future to provide the feedstock required by present or proposed company owned or joint ventured biodiesel and ethanol refineries. The Company plans to construct or acquire additional plants in the Gulf Coast region that are reachable via barge up the Mississippi River and its tributaries. The previously announced Bridgeport, Alabama refinery will receive algal oil feedstock from this distribution program. "Our business model has been focused on proving the...James Fraser9MWe CHP Jatropha Bio-oil Plant Being Developed in Belgiumtag:typepad.com,2003:post-474867402008-03-25T00:03:00-04:002008-03-25T00:03:00-04:00Thenergo, a Belgian developer and operator of decentralized sustainable energy projects using biomass, biogas, bio-oil and cogeneration has announced that it has commenced development of a 9MWe, 6MWth CHP bio-oil to energy plant in Merksplas (Belgium). The project, named Greenpower, representing a total investment of €11 million will run on bio-oil extracted from the seeds of the jatropha plant (previous post). The jatropha seeds are a non-edible, high energy fruit grown on semi-arid or waste land in South East Asia. ”The Greenpower bio-oil project is a prime example of Thenergo’s multifuel approach to the production of sustainable energy. Our strategy to diversify our feedstock base,namely biogas, natural gas, bio-oil, woody biomass and secondary fuels, ensures long term procurement security, better management of fuel costs, while allowing us to be more reactive to market driven opportunities”. -- Kurt Alen, Thenergo CEO This is one of a few projects that I have seen using jatropha bio-oil as a feedstock. CHP plants are...James FraserFYI: Double Digit Oil Price is Historytag:typepad.com,2003:post-474896562008-03-24T23:48:31-04:002008-03-24T23:48:31-04:00The Economic Times has an article "Double-digit oil price is history: R S Sharma" that gives a perspective on where we stand on oil supply and consumption and some comments on what we need to do: Oilonomics has gone haywire. The rise in oil prices has now started to hurt. Crude oil price increased five-fold in five years (from $22 per barrel in 2003); doubling in just fourteen months (from $54 per barrel in January 2007 to $110 per barrel in March 2008). . . . During the last quarter century, primary energy consumption increased by about 64% (oil by 31%; gas by a spectacular 97%), primarily driven by growing demand from the developing world. CRISIL in a recent report has pointed out that non-OECD countries, particularly China and other Asian countries, have been the largest contributors to the 3.2 million bpd incremental world oil demand over the period 2004-07. Most forecasts for the next quarter century project more than...James FraserDuke Researchers Develop Ceramic Membrane that Permits Fuel Cells to Operate at Low Humidity and Higher Temperaturestag:typepad.com,2003:post-474395782008-03-24T00:31:33-04:002008-03-24T00:31:33-04:00Researchers at Duke’s Pratt School of Engineering have developed a membrane that allows fuel cells to operate at low humidity and theoretically at higher temperatures. “The current gold standard membrane is a polymer that needs to be in a humid environment in order to function efficiently. If the polymer membrane dries out, its efficiency drops. We developed a ceramic membrane made of iron nanoparticles that works at much lower humidities. And because it is a ceramic, it should also tolerate higher temperatures. “The efficiency of current membranes drops significantly at temperatures over 190 degrees Fahrenheit. However, the chemical reactions that create the electricity are more efficient at high temperatures, so it would be a big improvement for fuel cell technology to make this advance.” Mark Wiesner, Ph.D., a Duke civil engineering professor The membrane most commonly used today, known as Nafion, was discovered in the 1960s. As the temperature rises, the polymer becomes unstable and the membranes dehydrate, leading to...James FraserMost GM Vehicles will be Hybrids by 2020tag:typepad.com,2003:post-474392622008-03-24T00:02:00-04:002008-03-24T00:02:00-04:00Via the Detroit News: General Motors vice chairman Bob Lutz said on May 19 that GM would have produce 80 percent of its vehicles as some type of hybrid by 2020 in order to meet new tougher fuel economy standards. "Ultimately by 2020, we figure that 80 percent of vehicles are going to require some sort of level of hybridization. We cannot get to 35 miles per gallon with anything resembling the current product portfolio with conventional technology." Bob Lutz General Motors vice chairman Automakers must average a combined 35 miles per gallon by 2020 for passenger cars and light trucks, a 40 percent increase, in order to meet the first increases in the requirements, GM would build about one-third of its vehicles as hybrids by 2015 -- when new fuel economy standards "really start to bite." By the end of 2008, GM will have eight hybrids. That includes some "mild" cheaper hybrids that get a smaller fuel economy increase...James FraserWhy Exxon Won't Produce Moretag:typepad.com,2003:post-474375602008-03-23T22:49:23-04:002008-03-23T22:49:23-04:00From Business Week online March 20, 2008: . . . If you want to understand why Exxon won't produce more, it helps to listen in to ExxonMobil's presentation to analysts in New York City in early March. Halfway through the three-hour meeting, Exxon management flashed a chart that showed the company's worldwide oil production staying flat through 2012. . . . Yet even with prices at the pump near all-time highs, Exxon isn't planning on producing any more oil four years from now than it did last year. That means the company's oil output won't even keep pace with its own projections of worldwide oil demand growth of 1.2% a year. . . . "We don't start with a volume target and then work backwards," Instead, he said, his team examines the available investment opportunities, figures out what prices they'll likely get for that output down the road, and places their bets accordingly. "It really goes back to what is...James FraserAn Update on Uranium Reprocessingtag:typepad.com,2003:post-474356582008-03-23T21:56:21-04:002008-03-23T21:56:21-04:00A March 22 article "Recycling uranium and plutonium: where's it heading?" on the Nuclear Engineering International website explores the status of uranium recycling and its future. Programs for the recycling of plutonium were developed in the 1970s when it appeared that uranium would be in scarce supply and would become increasingly expensive. It was originally proposed that plutonium would be recycled through fast breeder reactors, that is, reactors with a uranium ‘blanket’ but which would produce slightly more plutonium than they consume. Thus it was envisaged that the world’s ‘low cost’ uranium resources, then estimated to be sufficient for only 50 years’ consumption, could be extended for hundreds of years. . . . As things transpired, the pressure on uranium resources was very much less than expected and prices remained low in the period up to 2003. . . . Revived interest in nuclear power in the 21st Century, as a clean air solution which contributes to world sustainable development,...James FraserFYI: GE Demonstrates World's First ''Roll-to-Roll'' Manufactured Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLEDstag:typepad.com,2003:post-472255722008-03-18T22:21:43-04:002008-03-18T22:21:43-04:00Press release - GE Global Research and GE Consumer & Industrial in conjunction with ECD announced the successful demonstration of the world’s first roll-to-roll manufactured organic light-emitting diode (OLED) lighting devices. This demonstration is a key step toward making OLEDs and other high performance organic electronics products at dramatically lower costs than what is possible today. . . . OLEDs have the potential to deliver dramatically improved levels of efficiency and environmental performance when compared to traditional products. GE researchers provided the organic electronics technology and were responsible for developing the roll-to-roll processes, while ECD provided its unique roll-to-roll equipment-building expertise to build the machine that manufactures the OLED devices. When commercialized this technology will make possible low cost high, efficieny lighting. Lighting currently comsumes about 22% of the total electricity generated in the U.S. and about 25% of the average homes electric bill. Thanks to Tyler at Clean Break for the tip.James FraserNew Enzyme Promises to Reduce Ethanol Coststag:typepad.com,2003:post-470097162008-03-14T00:10:01-04:002008-03-14T00:10:01-04:00University of Maryland research that started with bacteria from the Chesapeake Bay has led to the development of a bacterium, called Saccharophagus degradans which can break down almost any source of biomass, or plant life, into sugars, which can then be converted into ethanol and other biofuels. That process, developed by University of Maryland professors Steve Hutcheson and Ron Weiner, professors of cell biology and molecular genetics, is the foundation of their incubator company Zymetis. They discovered how to produce the enzyme in their own laboratories. The result was Ethazyme, a bacterium that creates a mixture of enzymes—through a patent-pending system which degrades the tough cell walls of cellulosic materials into bio-fuel ready sugars in one step, which are then converted into ethanol and other biofuels at a significantly lower cost and with fewer caustic chemicals than current methods. “We believe we have the most economical way to produce biofuels from cellulosic material” -- Steve Hutcheson, CEO of Zymetis Inc....James FraserBasin Electric Selects Powerspan's ECO2 Carbon Capture Process for Commercial Demonstration Projecttag:typepad.com,2003:post-470059542008-03-13T21:45:38-04:002008-03-13T21:45:38-04:00Basin Electric Power Cooperative and Powerspan Corp. today announced the selection of Powerspan's carbon dioxide (CO2) capture technology, called "ECO2(TM)," for a commercial demonstration at Basin Electric's Antelope Valley Station, a coal-based electrical generation facility located near Beulah, North Dakota. Approximately one million tons of CO2 will be captured annually from the 120 megawatt slipstream project, making this demonstration among the largest in the world. ECO2 is a post-combustion, regenerative process, which uses an ammonia-based solution to capture CO2 from the flue gas of a power plant and release it in a form that is ready for further compression, safe transportation, and geological storage. The demonstration will draw the equivalent of a 120 megawatt slipstream and will be designed to capture 90 percent of the incoming CO2. The captured CO2 would then be delivered by pipe to the existing compressor station at Dakota Gasification's adjacent Synfuels Plant and injected into Dakota Gasification's 205-mile pipeline system for delivery to Canada where...James FraserGM, Toyota Dismiss Fuel Cells for Mass Usetag:typepad.com,2003:post-466984662008-03-07T00:05:00-05:002008-03-07T00:05:00-05:00The Wall Street Journal reported this week that executives from General Motors Corp. and Toyota Motor Corp., at the Geneva Auto Show Tuesday, "expressed doubts about the viability of hydrogen fuel cells for mass-market production in the near term and suggested their companies are now betting that electric cars will prove to be a better way to reduce fuel consumption and cut tailpipe emissions on a large scale." Both GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz and Toyota President Katsuaki Watanabe expressed strong opinions that fuel cells are too expensive and will be for some time and that advances in lithium-ion batteries make them much more practical as a mass-market product. . . . read the WSJ article in a somewhat related post, the MIT Technology Review has a little more information on GM's BAS+ mild hybrid system that further explains how the Hitachi Li-ion batteries fit in with that system that increase the mileage by 20% and indicates that GM will...James FraserFive Passenger TH!NK Ox Introduced at Geneva Auto Showtag:typepad.com,2003:post-466485182008-03-06T02:10:34-05:002008-03-06T02:10:34-05:00Norwegian car maker TH!NK unveiled a new model, a five seater, the TH!NK Ox, at the Geneva Auto Show. The production model is said to closely resemble the concept car. The base model Ox, scheduled for production in 2011, will have a range of about 125 miles (200 kilometers) on a charge and a top speed of about 80 mph (130km/hr). A crossover, the TH!NK Ox is an electric five-seat car close to the size of a sport utility vehicle but lighter and more aerodynamic. In a related announcement GE said it is ramping up its efforts to enable global electrification of transportation by investing in $4 million in TH!NK and $20 million in A123Systems. GE is now A123’s largest cash investor. TH!NK has signed a commercial supply agreement with lithium-ion battery manufacturer A123Systems. The A123 supply agreement provides TH!NK with patented Nanophosphate™ lithium-ion batteries for the TH!NK City, now in production at the company’s factory in Norway. Think is...James FraserGM will use Lithium-ion Batteries with its "Mild" Hybrid Drivetrainstag:typepad.com,2003:post-466021222008-03-05T03:56:21-05:002008-03-05T03:56:21-05:00The Wall Street Journal reports that GM will announce an upgrade of its "mild" powertrain, the "Belt Alternator Starter," (BAS) drivetrain that is used on hybrids such as the Saturn Aura and Chevrolet Malibu at the Geneva Motor Show. The new system, "BAS-plus," will use lithium-ion batteries supplied by Japan's Hitachi Ltd. The upgrade to lithium-ion batteries will allow the new hybrid system to produce "limited electric drive" during the "extremely fuel-consumptive phase of initial acceleration." The system will increase mileage "better than the 12% to 15% benefit" of GM's current BAS system. Mr. Lutz, GM Vice Chairman, stressed that the system is less expensive than other electric-only driving hybrid systems and therefore more cost-effective for consumers.James FraserChilled Ammonia Carbon Capture Process to be Demonstratedtag:typepad.com,2003:post-465986302008-03-05T01:55:36-05:002008-03-05T01:55:36-05:00A pilot plant that uses chilled ammonia to capture carbon dioxide (CO2) from coal-fueled power plants was launched by Alstom, the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and We Energies, at We Energies’ Pleasant Prairie Power Plant in Wisconsin. Alstom designed, constructed and will operate the 1.7 MW system that captures CO2 from a portion of coal-fired boiler flue gas at the power plant, a 1,224 MW coal-fired generating station. Alstom’s process uses chilled ammonia to capture CO2 and isolates it in a highly concentrated, high-pressure form. In laboratory testing it has demonstrated the potential to capture more than 90 percent of CO2 at a cost that is far less than other carbon capture technologies. Once captured, the CO2 can be used commercially or sequestered in suitable underground geologic sites. “Developing cost-effective carbon capture technology is one of the most important environmental challenges facing the utility industry in the 21st century and it’s important that we take steps now to achieve...James FraserNuclear Power: A Change for the Bettertag:typepad.com,2003:post-465502622008-03-04T04:41:10-05:002008-03-04T04:41:10-05:00Former Florida governor Jeb Bush shared his opinions on nuclear power in the Ocala, Fl Star Banner: "Change" seems to be the operative word this election season. It's on the lips of political contenders and on the minds of the voters. But politics isn't the only arena where change is in the air. Change is happening in the world of energy as well, specifically when it comes to nuclear energy. Against the backdrop of a larger discussion about how we will meet our future energy demand while keeping our environment clean, nuclear energy is experiencing a renaissance. Americans are beginning to shed the emotional debate about nuclear energy and are taking a practical look at why it is essential to meeting our future energy demand. They like what they see. The support for nuclear energy is diverse. It's one of the few issues in Washington, D.C., these days that feels bipartisan. Even former naysayers are coming around to the merits...James FraserSodium Sulfur Batteries to be Used for Energy Storage at MN Windfarmtag:typepad.com,2003:post-464621282008-03-02T22:26:13-05:002008-03-02T22:26:13-05:00Xcel Energy, (NYSE: XEL)in partnership with the University of Minnesota, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the Great Plains Institute, will soon begin testing a one-megawatt sodium-sulfur battery storage system to demonstrate its ability to store wind energy and dispatch it to the electricity grid when needed. Fully charged, the batteries could power 500 homes for six and one-half hours. Xcel Energy will purchase the batteries from NGK Insulators, Ltd. that will be an integral part of the project. The sodium-sulfur battery is commercially available and versions of this technology are already being used in Japan and in a few US applications, but this is the first U.S. application of the battery as a direct wind energy storage device. The 50-kilowatt battery modules, 20 in total, will be roughly the size of two semi trailers and weigh approximately 60 tons. They will be able to store about 6.5 megawatt-hours of electricity, with a charge/discharge capacity of one megawatt. When the...James Fraser