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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
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
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/.
AES is the UK's original solar thermal collector manufacturer and have been manufacturing collectors since 1979. AES are Scotland's only solar collector manufacturer and solar water heating system designer and are represented throughout the UK.
AES has an excellent longstanding reputation in the solar thermal energy market and is the UK’s oldest existing solar thermal collector manufacturer. Systems are suitable for all situations requiring hot water, such as private homes, B&B's, hotels, hospitals, offices, apartment blocks, swimming pools etc.
AES provides a sophisticated system design service that includes:
- Detailed layout design of collector array
- Detailed design of primary system pipework layout and sizing
- Detailed design of primary system safety devices
- Detailed design of primary system valves, operational devices and flow controls
- Design of system controls
- Design of anti-Legionellosis systems
- Design of DHW draw off temperature regulation systems
- Production of system layouts on to building designers ACAD drawings
- Production of system schematics in ACAD format
- Production of specification for the system
- Provision of support for the M&E contractors
www.aessolar.co.uk/
