April 2008 Archives
Some policy experts argue that blind faith in technology is a harmful distraction from the hard sacrifices needed to control global warming.
"The temptation is to say, 'Let's get John Wayne on horseback or Bill Gates . . . and solve this problem,' " said Dale Jamieson, director of environmental studies at New York University.
But some scientists say that the potential of such ideas cannot be ignored given the world's political paralysis on controlling emissions and its myopic addiction to cheap and dirty coal. LA TIMES
So it's technology VS conservation VS politics...? Or is it all three in balance and harmony? And maybe a few additional ingredients such as education, values and discipline, collaboration, and paying attention to history lessons about how our ancestors lived, thrived, and survived challenges.
Technologists work their way through the "heavy industrial" stage to get to more practical applications of their breakthrough solutions. The cost of that maturation is sometimes born by a society that eventually have to clean up the damage created by this long pathway. When diversity is included, technology solutions can draw on the elegance of nature's design, history lessons, and common sense based on affordability to vett the technology. Great designers have generous doses of those inspirational sources within one person...others work in teams of siblings or families or buddies to balance their perspectives.
But diversity has been shown time and again to be very smart in the solution process. DIVERSITY takes into account the diverse ingredients in reality.
The head of Nissan was interviewed on CNBC in April, 2008 and he stated that hybrids are the best technology today, but the electric vehicle will be the standard by 2010.
I had a call from one of our readers, however, that pointed out that a new energy is hitting the market in 2008...compressed air. And it's not coming from the US or Japan, but those energetic engineers in India. Actually it was developed based on technology as old as the late 1800s, when compressed air was used in street cars and locomotives. By 1932, compressed air cars were cars were build using compressed air -- both 3-wheel and 4-wheel models. And in 1983, Terry Miller patented a car that ran on compressed air.
Compressed Air
This year, 2008, Tata Motors and Motor Development International (MDI) of Luxembourg have jointly developed the world's first commercially-viable prototype of a compressed air car, named OneCAT.Tata Motors is a multinational corporation headquartered in Mumbai, India. It is India's largest passenger automobile and commercial vehicle manufacturing company. Part of the Tata Group, it is one of the world's largest manufacturers of commercial vehicles. www.tata.com
MDI Air Car Designers of the car with a compressed air engine. Includes details of the technology and images of the car. theaircar.com
Zero Pollution Motors - Air Car
This is the expected performance of the revolutionary compressed air vehicle that Zero Pollution Motors (ZPM) is introducing to North America. zeropollutionmotors.us
More info at Wikipedia ... with a whole passel of "future automobiles" listed!NREL's fiber optic hydrogen sensor utilizes a non-ignitable, flexible, thin, glass or plastic, fiber optic strand that transmits light to a thin film material. The material changes color in response to the presence of hydrogen. The CRADA allows NREL and Nuclear Filter Technology to develop a full-scale prototype of this technology, which ultimately will result in commercially available products.
Applications include those for the following industries:
- Petrochemical
- Transportation
- Fuel cell
- Fuel production
- Food processing
- Natural gas
- Nuclear waste
Nuclear Filter Technology is also licensing several NREL inventions related to the fiber optic and thin film materials that sense the presence of hydrogen.
SOURCE: Technology Transfer department of National Renewable Energy Laboratoryfor growth in renewable energy supply.
In 2007, total utility green power sales exceeded 4.5 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh), about a 20% increase over 2006. Approximately 600,000 customers are participating in utility customer choice programs nationwide.
Green Power Marketing Industry
Utility green pricing programs are one segment of a larger green power marketing industry that counts Fortune 500 companies, government agencies and colleges and universities among its customers, and helps support more than 3,000 MW of new renewable electricity generation capacity.Green Marketing Tips
NREL analysts attribute the success of many programs to persistence in marketing and creative marketing strategies, including in some cases, utility partnerships with independent green power marketers. In addition, the rate premium that customers pay for green power continues to drop.NREL performs analyses of green power market trends and is funded by DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.
NREL is the U.S. Department of Energy's primary national laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency research and development. NREL is operated for DOE by Midwest Research Institute and Battelle.
Pricing programs give consumers clean power choices
April 22, 2008 -- The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory's (NREL) annual ranking of leading utility green power programs provides insights into how consumers change their power-use behaviors.Under these voluntary programs, consumers can choose to help support additional electricity production from renewable resources such as solar and wind. More than 800 utilities across the United States offer these programs.
Using information provided by utilities, NREL develops a Top 10 ranking of utility programs in the following categories:
- total sales of renewable energy to program participants
- total number of customer participants
- customer participation rate, green power sales as a percentage of
- total utility retail electricity sales
- the lowest price premium charged for a green power program using new renewable resources.
Energy
consumption is one of six factors incorporated into the tally of Forbes magazines's "Greenest States", closely
linked to other "green" standards, including air quality and carbon
dioxide emissions.
Kateri Callahan, president of the Alliance to Save Energy, summarized the situation in a recent presentation to Oak Ridge National Laboratory employees: "The South is the Gobi Desert of energy efficiency."
Energy Efficiency Potential Provides Greatest Savings
While bioenergy, nuclear and other expanding energy options are important, "the potential of energy efficiency is probably greater than any other resource." She views the confluence of record prices for oil and increasing anxiety over carbon emissions as a "perfect storm" that makes the attitude of both the market and the public ripe for fundamental change.
Recognizing these trends, Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers are
developing an array of energy-efficient appliances, testing
energy-saving building materials and refining a zero-energy home that
literally will produce more energy than it consumes.
As world energy
demand collides with the growing public desire for a carbon-constrained
environment, ORNL increasingly is recognized as a source of expertise
for cities, states and utilities looking to trim bulging energy
waistlines. The Tennessee Valley Authority has joined state and local
government as well as non-profit energy efficiency advocate groups in
asking the Laboratory to provide input for policy, incentives and
technologies to transform the desert of consumption into an oasis of
energy efficiency.
Demonstrating a renewed commitment to energy efficiency, the TVA board recently named Joe Hoagland, former senior advisor to TVA President Tom Kilgore, to a newly created post of vice president for energy efficiency and demand response. Hoagland's first task is to determine how much energy savings TVA needs to achieve in order to meet growing energy demands over the next 20 years.
Times have clearly changed. "In order to meet the goals of low cost and
reliability, energy efficiency and demand response are now tools as
much as our assets that generate electricity," Hoagland says, adding
that TVA's strategy also incorporates environmental concerns. "A
megawatt not produced is a green megawatt.
"A megawatt not produced is a green megawatt." |
When Hoagland came to his new post last fall, he was asked to determine what was needed to generate 1,200 megawatts of energy savings, or the equivalent of one large nuclear or coal-fired power plant, by 2013. "As we begin to understand the situation better, I'm not sure that is going to be enough. I expect that we will need to cut back more, much more," he says.
Meeting the challenge will require TVA to adopt a combination of tactics, including new technologies, rate restructuring, education and customer incentives to achieve the required savings. The agency has signed a memorandum of understanding with ORNL as a first step in what Hoagland envisions as a growing, and necessary, partnership with the Laboratory.
"ORNL has a broad expertise in energy efficient technologies to help us
do things better," he says. Oak Ridge researchers have unique
experience in
- designing zero-energy homes,
- creative construction
techniques,
- new insulation technologies and
- a sophisticated set of
energy efficiency standards.
If these
initiatives prove successful, the potential impact is enormous. ORNL
researchers believe that fully one-half of the South's anticipated
increase in energy demand can be met through energy efficiency.
Read more about ORNL's Southern Energy Efficiency Initiatives
Clemson
International Center for Automotive Research, has served as a hub and a symbol of the South's
emergence over the last two decades as a powerhouse in automotive
manufacturing. A 2007 industry-wide event, part of the Tennessee Valley Corridor Southeast Partnership, was designed to bring together the region's collective transportation research talent to focus on ways to support continued growth of the automotive industry.
The gathering was symbolic of a growing realization that in matters of
economic development, the South has learned the importance of teamwork.
In the case of transportation, this regional teamwork has resulted in
the cooperation of lawmakers, business leaders and research
institutions on a broad array of initiatives, from creating new fuels
to helping the world's auto manufacturers build lighter, stronger, more
energyefficient cars and trucks.
ORNL Leader in Transportation Research
Oak
Ridge National Laboratory for years has been the leader in
transportation research for the Department of Energy's energy
efficiency programs. More recently, the Laboratory has sought to
connect to the growing automotive presence in the Southeast. The region
is now home to 3,000 automotive suppliers and 10 major automotive
assembly plants including Toyota in Kentucky and Mississippi; BMW in
South Carolina; Ford in Georgia; Mercedes, Hyundai and Honda in
Alabama, as well as Saturn and Nissan—which recently relocated U.S.
headquarters to Nashville—in Tennessee.
Universities and ORNL Provide Research for Supply Chain, Sustainable Manufacturing, Heavy Vehicle Research, Power Electronics, Engines and High-Performance Materials
Surrounding these plants is a set of universities that, along with ORNL, represent extensive expertise in supply chain management, sustainable manufacturing, heavy vehicle research, power electronics, engines and high-performance materials. In 2007, ORNL and the University of Tennessee, along with six southern research universities, announced the Automotive Research Alliance, a regional effort to provide southern automakers access to unique research capabilities.
Research
capabilities outside automakers' own R&D organizations are crucial
to development of new technologies and products, says Tom Bologa, vice
president of engineering, United States, for BMW of North America.
Detroit Center Coordinates ORNL, DOE, DOD and Automotive Suppliers
Although
the South's largest research laboratory, ORNL is not restricting
automotive research efforts to the Southeast. The Department of Energy
recently announced an initiative headquartered at automotive supplier
Delphi Automotive's former R&D center in Detroit that pulls
together ORNL, DOE, the Department of Defense and a consortium of
automotive suppliers. Called USAutoPARTs, the effort will provide both
expertise and facilities to second- and third-tier automotive
suppliers, most of which cannot afford a program of in-house research.
SOURCE: ORNL overview of automotive alternative energy research
Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles may have an unexpected value.
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One car of tomorrow may not only get its energy from the grid but also may give "imaginary power" back to the grid. The plug-in hybrid electric vehicle envisioned by the Department of Energy would be plugged at night into a home wall outlet, connecting the car to a local electrical distribution system that would recharge the battery. The next day the car would travel using a combination of stored electric energy and fuel. According to a vision of Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers, the car's charger would supply the grid with "reactive power," or non-active power, to help regulate local utility voltage.
To convert the alternating current from the local electrical distribution system to the direct current needed by the car's battery, a rectifier, or charger, is required. Conversely, an inverter is needed to convert direct current to alternating current. The car would use alternating current to power the drive motor. The rectifier, or charger, could be located either in the car or at facilities designed specifically to recharge batteries of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles parked for extended periods at, say, apartment complexes, hotels and parking garages.
Inverters have several uses, including
the ability to inject reactive power to
the grid or absorb this imaginary power
from the grid. This helps regulate the
voltage on distribution and transmission
systems. Inverters can prevent "micro-voltage collapses" that frequently occur
in the western United States. Such sudden
voltage dips can cause dimming of lights,
computer crashes, damage to equipment
and destruction of semiconductor wafers
during manufacture.
Automobile Industry Optimizes Plug-in Hybrid Engine, Motor and Battery Operation
DOE researchers are working with the U.S. automobile industry to optimize plug-in hybrid engine, motor and battery performance for efficient vehicle operation. ORNL and University of Tennessee power electronics experts at the National Transportation Research Center are seeking to improve inverter design to make the device smaller, lighter and less expensive. ORNL is a member of the Plug-in Hybrid Development Consortium.
DOE also supports research on one way
to reduce peak demands on the electric
grid: deploy distributed energy resources—microturbines, fuel cells and
photovoltaic panels—to provide electricity to both local buildings and
the electric grid. The plug-in hybrid could be considered another
distributed energy resource, but one that also stores energy.
Electric Grid for Distributed Energy System Benefits from Plug-In Vehicles
ORNL researchers led by Stan Hadley have found that the U.S. electric grid will operate more efficiently as more Americans charge the batteries in their plug-in hybrid vehicles after 10 p.m., when the electric load on the system has dropped to almost zero and the wholesale price for energy is least expensive. The researchers have analyzed the potential impacts of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles on electricity demand, supply, generation structure, prices and associated emission levels in 2020 and 2030 in 13 regions as specified by the North American Electric Reliability Council and DOE's Energy Information Administration.
Their study assumed that by 2020 a mixture of sedans and SUV plug-in hybrids would make up one-quarter of the cars sold. They performed calculations using the Oak Ridge Competitive Electricity Dispatch model, which was developed at ORNL over the past 12 years to evaluate a wide variety of critical electricity sector issues.
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The ORNL researchers ran seven scenarios for each region for 2020 and 2030. In each scenario they assumed these vehicles plugged in starting at either 5 p.m. (early evening) or at 10 p.m. (nighttime) and remained until fully charged.
"We concluded that most regions must build additional electrical generating capacity or rely on demand response to meet the added demands from plug-in hybrid electric vehicles in the early evening charging scenarios," Hadley says. "This need will be critical by 2030 when plug-in hybrids will likely have a larger share of the installed vehicle base and thus exert a greater demand on the electrical system."
Accommodating the peaks and valleys of electricity use is a major challenge for generators and transmission operators. Ideally, customers would reduce their consumption of electricity at peak load times in response to market prices or a utility's request. During hot summers, the demand for air conditioning between 2 and 6 p.m. can boost the peak load to the point that a utility must purchase power from another utility at a higher price. In sharp contrast, the grid on the same night may be so underutilized that energy is sometimes given away.
Smart Chargers for Distributed Energy System
Another potential advantage of wide
usage of plug-in hybrids is that charging
stations can help regulate local voltage.
Researchers at ORNL's Distributed Energy
Communications and Control laboratory
plan to test this concept.
Smart chargers are needed to avoid negative impacts on the distribution system. For example, if several plug-in hybrid pickup trucks with 250-kilowatt batteries were recharged in 10 minutes on a feeder without a smart charger, the distribution system's reliability could be threatened. In one project, ORNL's Burak Ozpenici is examining possible rectifier designs that would perform rapid charging while providing reactive power compensation.
SOURCE: ORNL Distributed Power Update
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After several years without funding, the Department of Energy's hydropower research program has been revived by Congress for 2008. The new "water power" program includes research on both conventional hydropower technologies and new ocean and instream hydrokinetic technologies. ORNL is the lead laboratory for the hydropower side of this new program. Total funding for the first year is $10 million, a large portion of which will come to ORNL.
ORNL's work will include technology development, demonstration and deployment, resource assessment, environmental studies, siting issues, strategic planning and analysis.
Hydropower provides more than 70% of the renewable electricity in the U.S., but that share has been declining in recent years as other renewables have been growing. The goal of the new DOE Water Power Program is to double generation to more than 500 terawatt hours per year by 2030, which would ensure that hydropower maintains an important place in the nation's renewable energy portfolio.Source: ORNL's hydropower update
On the roof of the largest research building along the courtyard of Oak Ridge National Laboratory's new east campus, perches a 700-watt solar system. The combination of concentrating solar modules and a turntable tracker makes the photovoltaic system more efficient and less costly than conventional systems. In each module 24 reflectors focus sunlight onto 72 single-crystal silicon solar cells. The four 175-watt modules concentrate sunlight up to three times its normal strength, reducing by two-thirds the number of expensive silicon cells required to produce the same amount of electricity.
Solar Tracker
An inexpensive solar tracker keeps the modules facing the sun
throughout the day, theoretically increasing the energy output as much
as 35% in some regions. ORNL purchased and installed the system in
September 2007.
Hybrid Solar Lighting
The rooms at the top of a nearby four-story research building are illuminated by hybrid solar lighting. In this technology pioneered by ORNL, sunlight is piped into rooms through optical fibers, and intelligent sensors adjust artificial light levels needed by occupants during cloudy days.
Sunlight Direct of Oak Ridge is commercializing this technology, which has entered the demonstration phase with installed systems at locations owned by Wal-Mart, Staples, Battelle and San Diego State University.
Thin-Film Solar Cells
ORNL materials researchers using the plasma arc lamp hope to demonstrate elimination of defects from multicrystalline and amorphous silicon thin-film solar cells, which are less efficient than single-crystal solar cells but less expensive to make. Measurements of these processed materials will be made at the new Center for Advanced Thin-film Solar Cells. (See Research Horizons: A Renewed Interest)
The Department of Energy, is a major driver behind ORNL's expanded research in solar energy. Craig Cornelius, acting program manager of Solar Energy Technologies in DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, has indicated that greater funding for research to make solar materials more efficient and less expensive will be available to national laboratories.
ORNL, which boasts one of the world's leading materials research capabilities, proposes innovative basic technology research to help meet DOE solar materials challenges.
The Department of Energy has mandated that by 2013 7.5%
of all energy used at national laboratories
must be produced from renewable energy.
ORNL plans to install more photovoltaic panels, perhaps as solar walkways and solar roofs over parking lots, and possibly biomassfired boilers, to help achieve that goal.
Cornelius, who leads the Solar America Initiative as part of the
President's Advanced Energy Initiative, has stated that DOE's goal is
to make solar energy cost-competitive with conventional forms of
electricity by 2015. DOE predicts that by 2015, solar energy will
produce 15 gigawatts, enough to power 11.2 million American homes.
Read more about Solar Energy Research
(left) Researchers
hike Yellowstone National Park, left, on the hunt for microbes that
could potentially be used in bioenergy production.
(right) They analyze the samples back home in the lab
Bioenergy from Microscopic Organisms
Oak Ridge National Laboratory microbiologist Tommy Phelps sees the untapped potential of bioenergy in shelves of bottles and beakers containing microscopic organisms that just might hold the elusive bug or enzyme capable of digesting large quantities of plant matter into ethanol.
Phelps's current batch of microbes, stockpiled in dozens of bottles of
silt, rocks and soils, was collected from Yellowstone National Park,
where the hot springs that draw millions of summertime visitors also
nurture microscopic life in their boiling waters. These bugs, in turn,
beckon microbiologists like Phelps, who seek a solution to transform
Earth's abundant cellulosic sources into a modern energy supply.
Yellowstone's warm waters offer the promise of microbes that can
rapidly and efficiently degrade cellulose—the woody, leafy matter that
makes up plants. Scientists hope to tap the power of these microbes for
industrial-scale consolidated bioprocessing of plants, including trees
and switchgrass, the species central to the BioEnergy Science Center's
research efforts.
BioEnergy Science Center
The hunt for this cellulosic "super bug" is part of a suite of efforts
under way at the BioEnergy Science Center, headquartered at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). Since
being named one of three $135 million Department of Energy bioenergy
research centers, researchers at ORNL and its partner institutions have
quickly gotten to work.
DOE's ambitious goal is to replace by 2030
one-third of the nation's transportation fuel with cellulosebased
sources. At these centers, researchers are carrying out the targeted,
fundamental science needed to bridge the gap between the potential of
cellulose-based fuels and their reality.
Current microbes and enzymes are relatively slow at attacking plant matter's complicated and protective structure. Researchers will determine precisely the genes involved in the interaction of the microbes and enzymes to break apart cellulose. Other genes responsible for producing undesirable products, such as acetic acids, will be knocked out in the hope of, ultimately, developing the perfect ethanol-manufacturing microbe. Particular enzymes will be isolated as well and genetically analyzed, with a focus on determining the ideal formula of enzyme or microbe and enzyme to serve as the vehicle for cellulosic ethanol production.
Plants with Good Biofuel Sugars
Microbes, however, are just a piece of the puzzle. Other researchers at the Oak Ridge center are going through similar steps to develop plants with qualities most conducive to processing into biofuel. Similar to the microbial work, researchers will analyze thousands of genetically modified switchgrass and poplar tree samples in order to discover and develop the best varieties for ethanol production. As part of the process, the biofeedstock, together with the microbes and the enzymes, will be joined in a complex matrix of analysis and R&D in order to develop the best biofuel recipe.
On the biomass formation side, the partners will produce samples of plant material genetically altered to modify their cell walls for optimum breakdown into usable sugars. Such altered species might feature lower amounts of lignin—the substance that holds cellulose fibers together—or a reduction in the crystallinity of the cellulose. ArborGen and ORNL will be primarily responsible for creating and studying various altered trees, while scientists from the University of Tennessee, the University of Georgia and the Noble Foundation will take the lead in switchgrass research.
Read more at ORNL
Technology Review: Tidal Turbines Help Light Up Manhattan
Apr 23, 2007 ... Working from barges and tugboats off New York City's Roosevelt Island, engineers are battling northeasters and this month's heavy spring tides to install the first major tidal-power project in the United States. The project involves a set of six submerged turbines that are designed to capture energy from the East River's tidal currents. The three-bladed turbines, which are five meters in diameter and resemble wind turbines, are made by Verdant Power of Arlington, VA. Thanks to lessons learned by wind turbine designers, tidal power is already economically competitive, producing electricity at prices similar to wind power, according to feasibility studies by the Electric Power Research Institute, an industry R&D consortium. As a result, developers in the United States have laid claim to the best sites up and down the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. In the past four years the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in Washington, DC, has issued preliminary permits for tidal installations at 25 sites, and it is considering another 31 applications. SOURCE: www.technologyreview.com/Energy/18567/
VIDEO OF RIVER TURBINE in NEW YORK
OCEAN TIDAL ENERGY
Northern Ireland
World’s Largest Tidal Turbine Successfully Installed
enn.com — The world ’s largest tidal turbine, weighing 1000 tonnes, has been installed in Northern Ireland’s Strangford Lough. The tidal turbine is rated at 1.2 megawatts, which is enough to power a thousand local homes. It was built by Marine Current Turbines, and it will be the first commercial tidal turbine to produce energy.A company called Marine Current Turbines
will be installing a 1.2 megawatt tidal turbine in Northern Ireland's
Strangford Lough in August. The SeaGen turbine will be the world’s
largest ever tidal current device by a significant margin. It will
generate clean electricity for approximately 1000 homes. The turbine is
a prototype to be replicated on a large scale over the next few years.
The rotors on the SeaGen turbine turn slowly: about 10 to 20
revolutions per minute. A ship's propellers, by comparison, typically
run 10 times as fast. The risk of impact from SeaGen rotor blades is
small, because the marine creatures that swim in strong currents tend
to be agile, and can avoid slow-moving underwater obstructions.
Future turbines will generally be rated at from 750 to 1500 kilowatts (kW), and will be grouped under the sea, at places with high currents, in much the same way that wind turbines in a wind farm are set out in rows to catch the wind.
SOURCE: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/06/12_megawatts_wo.php
Island Nations
Tidal energy is the largest sustainable and non-polluting energy resource of Pacific and Indian Ocean island nations.
Cost-competitive turbines to turn tidal currents into electrical currents are already available but are not being used.
This is perhaps due to the fact that tidal energy is yet to be recognized as a viable renewable energy technology, most likely because of lack of adequate information and advocacy to become recognized by funding agencies, even though it is far cheaper than solar energy and more abundant than wind, hydro, or geothermal power.
First looks at these turbines indicate that turbine energy sources could also be used for river power without dams in land locked countries that are not dry and flat.
Time: 11:30 AM - 1:30 PM
Location: Corporate Offices of the International Association of Nanotechnology
1290 Parkmoor Avenue, San Jose, CA 95126
Speaker: Heidi Livingston Eisips, Founder, Korala Consulting
Topic: "Cleantech and the Bottom Line"
Join the Clean Tech Institute and the International Association of Nanotechnology for a Nano Lunch focused on the latest commercial applications of clean technology. Guest speaker Heidi Eisips with Korala Consulting, will discuss how cutting-edge clean tech is impacting the bottom line of businesses in Silicon Valley and beyond.
About the Speaker
Heidi Livingston Eisips is a sustainability consultant and seasoned business professional with over twenty years of international experience managing and growing entrepreneurial ventures, solutions, brands, and alliances.
Registration: $10 for non-members. Free for Ianano members.
Please complete the online registration form: http://nanotechcongress.com/registration-nanolunch.htm
For more information, please contact us at 408-280-6266 or email to info@ianano.org
Alisha White
International Association of Nanotechnology
1290 Parkmoor Ave.
San Jose, CA 95126
awhite@ianano.org
www.ianano.org
April 7, 2008 -- Researchers have made a breakthrough in the development of "green gasoline," a liquid identical to standard gasoline yet created from sustainable biomass sources like switchgrass and poplar trees.
Reporting in the cover article of the April 7, 2008 issue of Chemistry & Sustainability, Energy & Materials (ChemSusChem), chemical engineer and National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER awardee George Huber of the University of Massachusetts-Amherst (UMass) and his graduate students Torren Carlson and Tushar Vispute announced the first direct conversion of plant cellulose into gasoline components.
In the same issue, James Dumesic and colleagues from the University of Wisconsin-Madison announce an integrated process for creating chemical components of jet fuel using a green gasoline approach. While Dumesic's group had previously demonstrated the production of jet-fuel components using separate steps, their current work shows that the steps can be integrated and run sequentially, without complex separation and purification processes between reactors.
While it may be five to 10 years before green gasoline arrives at the pump or finds its way into a fighter jet, these breakthroughs have bypassed significant hurdles to bringing green gasoline biofuels to market.
"It is likely that the future consumer will not even know that they are putting biofuels into their car," said Huber. "Biofuels in the future will most likely be similar in chemical composition to gasoline and diesel fuel used today. The challenge for chemical engineers is to efficiently produce liquid fuels from biomass while fitting into the existing infrastructure today."
For their new approach, the UMass researchers rapidly heated cellulose in the presence of solid catalysts, materials that speed up reactions without sacrificing themselves in the process. They then rapidly cooled the products to create a liquid that contains many of the compounds found in gasoline.
The entire process was completed in under two minutes using relatively moderate amounts of heat. The compounds that formed in that single step, like naphthalene and toluene, make up one fourth of the suite of chemicals found in gasoline. The liquid can be further treated to form the remaining fuel components or can be used "as is" for a high octane gasoline blend.
"Green gasoline is an attractive alternative to bioethanol since it can be used in existing engines and does not incur the 30 percent gas mileage penalty of ethanol-based flex fuel," said John Regalbuto, who directs the Catalysis and Biocatalysis Program at NSF and supported this research.
"In theory it requires much less energy to make than ethanol, giving it a smaller carbon footprint and making it cheaper to produce," Regalbuto said. "Making it from cellulose sources such as switchgrass or poplar trees grown as energy crops, or forest or agricultural residues such as wood chips or corn stover, solves the lifecycle greenhouse gas problem that has recently surfaced with corn ethanol and soy biodiesel."
Beyond academic laboratories, both small businesses and Fortune 500 petroleum refiners are pursuing green gasoline. Companies are designing ways to hybridize their existing refineries to enable petroleum products including fuels, textiles, and plastics to be made from either crude oil or biomass and the military community has shown strong interest in making jet fuel and diesel from the same sources.
"Huber's new process for the direct conversion of cellulose to gasoline aromatics is at the leading edge of the new ‘Green Gasoline' alternate energy paradigm that NSF, along with other federal agencies, is helping to promote," states Regalbuto.
Not only is the method a compact way to treat a great deal of biomass in a short time, Regalbuto emphasized that the process, in principle, does not require any external energy. "In fact, from the extra heat that will be released, you can generate electricity in addition to the biofuel," he said. "There will not be just a small carbon footprint for the process; by recovering heat and generating electricity, there won't be any footprint."
The latest pathways to produce green gasoline, green diesel and green jet fuel are found in a report sponsored by NSF, the Department of Energy and the American Chemical Society entitled "Breaking the Chemical and Engineering Barriers to Lignocellulosic Biofuels: Next Generation Hydrocarbon Biorefineries" released April 1 (http://www.ecs.umass.edu/biofuels/). In the report, Huber and a host of leaders from academia, industry and government present a plan for making green gasoline a practical solution for the impending fuel crisis.
"We are currently working on understanding the chemistry of this process and designing new catalysts and reactors for this single step technique. This fundamental chemical understanding will allow us to design more efficient processes that will accelerate the commercialization of green gasoline," Huber said.
Principal Investigators
James Dumesic, University of Wisconsin-Madison (608) 262-1095 dumesic@cae.wisc.edu
George Huber, University of Massachusetts - Amherst (413) 545-0276 huber@ecs.umass.edu
FirstLook Assessment™ helps developers prospect for wind energy
SEATTLE (April 8, 2008) – 3TIER announced the addition of Canada and Alaska to its FirstLook Assessment™ tool, providing online access to the world’s first geographically seamless 5 km wind data set for the continental United States and Canada. At the same time, 3TIER announced a deal with GENIVAR, a Canadian-based engineering firm, the first customer to use FirstLook Assessment for exploring Canada’s wind energy potential.
To find out more about FirstLook Assessment visit: www.firstlook.3tiergroup.com.
“At a 5 km resolution, FirstLook now provides developers with a powerful tool to quickly and cost-effectively prospect wind energy potential for the continental U.S., Alaska and Canada,” said Pascal Storck, president of 3TIER, one the largest independent providers of global renewable energy assessment and forecasting.
“With the attention we received after the announcement of FirstLook U.S. last June, we expect more developers will take notice and begin exploring wind potential in Canada and Alaska – all at a tenth of the price of a traditional wind assessment.”
GENIVAR, a Canadian leader in consulting engineering, signed a FirstLook Assessment bundled contract to help clients explore Canada’s wind energy potential.
“With the capabilities and reliability of FirstLook, what was once a complex process is now streamlined to deliver the information our clients need to move quickly on a project,” said David Baker, vice president, Wind Power of GENIVAR. “We look forward to using the Firstlook tool to be able to quickly estimate the wind resource potential where there is limited or no meteorological data available.”
The 5 km mapping of the continental U.S. and Canada is part of 3TIER’s “Remapping the World,” a longer-term, global initiative launched in March when 3TIER unveiled the first-ever seamless global wind map at a 15 km resolution.
3TIER’s REmapping the World initiative is focused on accelerating the development of renewable energy projects globally by providing information, publicly accessible on the Internet, about where global wind resources potentially exist.
“REmapping the World is meant to answer initial questions about what kind of wind potential exists globally,” said Kenneth Westrick, 3TIER CEO and founder. “The free map provides enough resolution so countries and organizations can begin to look at the potential wind resource at a regional level. If we want developing nations to ‘leapfrog’ over fossil fuels, they need information about what renewable energy resources exist.”
Over the next 21 months, 3TIER plans to continue to map the world for wind at 5 km, country by country, based upon a priority order that takes into account such issues as renewable energy policies, availability of the wind resource and economic development status.
The 5 km maps will be available through the FirstLook Assessment online tool.
Many FirstLook contracts are bundled deals where companies or organizations are purchasing multiple reports for a discounted price. Individual FirstLook Professional reports cost $2,500.
Additionally, customers can augment FirstLook’s wind assessment by purchasing geographic information system (GIS) layers to evaluate annual average wind speeds at specific grid points and at certain heights, allowing customers to customize the FirstLook data to more rapidly prospect and map potential wind power sites.
Technical highlights of FirstLook include:
- Accessible via the Internet 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
- A simple two-step, point-and-click process on a Web-based interactive map.
- Results are presented in a practical PDF format report.
- Uses 3TIER’s advanced numerical weather prediction (NWP) modeling technology. Model simulations were made at a spatial resolution of 5 km and are interpolated for specific areas.
- The 5 km map of the U.S. and Canada was based upon observations from 2,000 meteorological towers, which were used to correct the simulations and provide customers with a unique confidence rating for each report. FirstLook Canada and Alaska reach as far north as the 70th parallel.
To learn more about REmapping the World visit: www.remappingtheworld.com.
In addition to wind assessment services, 3TIER provides a full suite of assessment and forecasting services for wind, hydro and solar energy projects. 3TIER uses its knowledge about weather, climate and their impacts on weather-driven renewable energy resources to help customers make better decisions about their investments – before, during and after their projects are built.
Further proof that the pioneering spirit is alive and well in The Last Frontier, the City of Unalaska’s Department of Public Utilities is the first off-grid* power plant in Alaska to install fuel saving technology that is expected to save over 100,000 gallons of diesel fuel emissions from entering the atmosphere this year. In addition to reduced emissions, the fuel consumption savings can be passed on to consumers through lower costs to generate electricity.“The more fuel prices rise, the greater the savings we will pass on to our customers by using this fuel saving technology,” said Dan Winters, the Director of public utilities at the City of Unalaska’s Department of Public Utilities. “We made a commitment to this community to operate our generators in the most cost efficient manner possible and in doing so, go green and stay green, and this is a great solution to help clean up the environment while simultaneously reducing our fuel consumption and costs.”
The fuel saving technology is called the Etorus FE, and it is changing the way diesel engine operators save on fuel consumption and costs, while reducing greenhouse gases and other harmful emissions. It is currently being used throughout the world to reduce fuel consumption and emissions in a number of applications, including fleet trucks, buses, locomotives, generators, boilers, furnaces, marine vessels and heavy off-road construction and mining equipment. For more information, visit http://www.etorus.com/how.html
“This technology is different from any other fuel saving device. It causes clustered fuel molecules to temporarily repel each other, resulting in a greater surface area that is exposed to oxygen at the point of combustion,” explains chemist Robert E. Yelin, Ph.D., an environmental management consultant and Etorus, Inc. advisory board member who helped develop the technology.
“Studies document how this technology causes some saturated aliphatics to release hydrogen gas and form unsaturated aromatics. The hydrogen gas that results from the formation of the unsaturated ‘double bonds’ complements the increased oxygen at the point of combustion, providing an additional combustion source to the fuel, which further aids in providing a more complete and efficient fuel burn.” The turbulence caused by the Etorus FE internally enhances these reactions, Dr. Yelin adds. For more information, visit http://www.etorus.com/tech_write_up.html
“Our initial response was that this was just another snake oil product, but when we further investigated, read the research results, and then checked the company’s references, we decided to try it,” said Jim Fitch, the City of Unalaska’s power plant supervisor. “We continually monitor our fuel consumption by employing advanced technology including flow meters, and after the first week, it had dropped by more than 5%, which is a huge savings when you use more than 2 million gallons of fuel every year. At today’s fuel prices, this translates to $0.20 per gallon in fuel savings for our city, which will amount to about $2 million over five years. We were so excited when we first saw the results that we kept checking every hour to see how much more fuel we had saved. Now after four months, we are consistently saving over 5% in fuel consumption and costs while reducing our emissions.”
For more information about the City of Unalaska, visit http://unalaska-ak.us
*Off-grid refers to self-sufficient utility power made available in urban areas by means other than reliance on large public utilities.
Pacific Gas and Electric out here in California announced that it reached an agreement with BrightSource Energy to build three new solar-powered electric generating stations in the Mojave Desert. The three could eventually generate up to 900 megawatts of electricity, or the same amount as a major coal-fired power plant, only at lower cost and without producing any greenhouse gases. The first plant, producing 100 megawatts, and planned for Ivanpah, California could be online as early as 2011. According to the labor agreement signed by the building trades unions and utilities in 1997, the jobs to build and maintain the plants will be high-paying, clean energy union jobs.
“Solar thermal energy is an especially attractive renewable power source because it is available
when needed most in California – during the peak mid-day summer period,” said Fong Wan, vice
president of energy procurement at PG&E. “Through these agreements with BrightSource, we continue
to broaden our renewable energy portfolio and provide our customers with some of the cleanest energy
in the nation.”
BrightSource’s goal is to substantially lower the cost and increase the use of solar energy
throughout the Western United States. “PG&E is making this goal possible by committing to power
purchase agreements that will bring the benefit of carbon-free power to their customers,” noted John
Woolard, president and CEO of BrightSource in making this announcement. “PG&E is demonstrating
true leadership in bringing large scale solar power to California.”
The first of these solar power plants, sized at 100 MW in Ivanpah, California, could be
operating as early as 2011 and is expected to produce 246,000 megawatt hours of renewable electricity
per year. BrightSource will build and place in commercial operation each of its plants as quickly as
permitting and infrastructure allow.
The contracts filed today with the California Public Utilities Commission are part of PG&E’s
broader renewable energy portfolio. Since 2002, PG&E has entered into contracts for more than 2,000
MW of renewable power. California law requires each investor-owned utility to increase the share of
eligible renewable generating resources in its electric power portfolio to 20 percent by 2010. PG&E has
made contractual commitments to have over 20 percent of its future deliveries from renewables. For
2008, PG&E expects to have 14 percent of its energy delivered from renewable sources.
About BrightSource Energy, Inc.
BrightSource Energy designs and builds large-scale power plants capable of delivering solar energy to
industrial and utility customers at prices competitive with fossil fuels. BrightSource enables industrial
and utility customers to lessen their dependency on fossil fuels by providing a clean source of power.
Luz II, Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of BrightSource Energy, is located in Israel and is responsible
for solar technology development and the supply of solar fields to BrightSource plants.
Privately held, BrightSource Energy is headquartered in Oakland, California. Further information for
BrightSource and Luz II may be found at www.brightsourceenergy.com.
About Pacific Gas and Electric Co
.
Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation, is one of the largest combined
natural gas and electric utilities in the United States. Based in San Francisco, with 20,000 employees,
the company delivers some of the nation’s cleanest energy to 15 million people in northern and central
California. For more information, visit www.pge.com/about/.
In response, Apollo Alliance Chairman Phil Angelides issued the following statement:
“The Senate should be commended for extending a life-line to our clean energy industries that will preserve good jobs at a time of economic uncertainty while helping to secure a cleaner, brighter future for our children. Now that the Senate Finance Committee has taken the ball to the 10-yard line, we hope the full Senate and House leaders carry it into the end zone.
“The full Senate should also add the Green Jobs Act of 2007, authorized in the 2007 Energy Bill, to its stimulus package in order to train working Americans for green-collar jobs and provide pathways out of poverty into the new clean energy economy for low-income Americans. We greatly appreciate the leadership of Senators Sanders (D-VT) and Clinton (D-NY) on pursuing funding for this crucial initiative.
“In December, big oil’s lobbyists blocked a tax package to fund energy efficiency and expand renewable energy. That clean energy tax package is essential to America’s future. Without it, the wind, solar, and geothermal industries could start to lay off tens of thousands of workers in coming weeks. Without it, American consumers and businesses will pay more for energy, and fewer Americans will be put to work weatherizing homes and businesses.
“Thanks to the leadership of Senator Harry Reid (D-NV), Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-MT), Ranking Member Charles Grassley (R-IA) and Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Congress and the President now have a chance to take one small but important step toward economic and energy security by extending the tax credit for renewable and energy efficient technologies that create well-paying jobs, promote energy independence and curb global warming pollution. Not extending those credits, especially with the looming recession, could cost 75,000 good construction jobs as wind and solar projects are canceled in coming months. Conversely, extending the credit will spur the growth of this important 21st century initiative, and help relieve America’s costly dependence on foreign oil.”
The Apollo Alliance is a coalition of business, labor, environmental and community leaders working to catalyze a clean energy revolution in America to reduce our nation’s dependence on foreign oil, cut the carbon emissions that are destabilizing our climate, and expand opportunities for American businesses and workers.
Inspired by the vision and technological achievements of the Apollo space program, The Apollo Alliance promotes policies and initiatives to speed investment in clean energy technology and energy efficiency, put millions of Americans to work in a new generation of well-paid, green-collar jobs, and make America a global leader in clean energy products and services.
