10 Innovations That Could Make Us Greener Drivers
Some are just around the corner, while others are just today's pipe dreams. Either way, they all will help lower our carbon footprint.
By Jacob Gordon of TreeHugger
The European Union is embarking on a three-year trial to test whether computer-controlled highway convoys can safely reduce traffic congestion and emissions. Safe Road Trains for the Environment, or SARTRE, will wirelessly link as many as seven vehicles in tight formation behind a professional driver.
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While they may sound nuts, these wild and innovative ideas could be the future of mobility. From electric cars that charge without wires to remote-controlled commuter convoys, plenty of far-fetched technologies are in the works that could green up the way we drive and make our roads do more than just lie there.
Some are still tantalizing concepts, others are just around the corner, but as the second-largest source of carbon-dioxide emissions on the planet, transportation is long overdue for some fresh ideas.
Road Train
During a race, NASCAR drivers tend to run bumper-to-bumper on the track in a technique they call "drafting." It cuts turbulence and lets both leader and follower go faster. But don't try this on the way to work (it's called tailgating on the street, and it is illegal), unless of course your car is on autopilot.
Sound nuts? The European Union has commissioned a three-year study to test "platooning," or automated road trains that roll down the highway in line behind a professional driver, just like railroad cars follow a locomotive engine. Here's how it works: A commuter would enter the highway and signal a convoy already heading in his or her direction. The driver would then relinquish control of the vehicle to a professional driver at the head of the convoy, whose job it would be to guide the vehicle into line and then operate it by remote control. The driver could then let go of the wheel and watch TV, write an e-mail, or just relax as the car drives in tight formation with up to six other vehicles. According to the designers of Safe Road Trains for the Environment (SARTRE), platooning could save 20 percent on fuel consumption and cut down on commute time and congestion.
Read: Cars That Drive Themselves
Wireless Charging
Every day it seems more inevitable that electric cars are our fate. If true, we'll all soon become accustomed to charging up at home, at work and probably where we shop. Nissan, maker of the forthcoming Leaf electric vehicle, is already experimenting with ways to make the chore more of a no-brainer. Using magnetic induction — the same technology found in electric toothbrushes and pacemakers — the automaker is devising ways to charge EV batteries wirelessly. Nissan has demonstrated a system that can wirelessly charge a parked car, but the Japanese automaker is also tinkering with the next frontier: implanting induction charging strips into roads so cars can juice up on the go.
Read: First Look: Nissan Leaf Electric Vehicle
Kinetic Roads
In the United Kingdom, the Sainsbury grocery chain is experimenting with special plates implanted in its parking lots that produce power as cars drive over them. Only a little energy is harvested from the pressure of each passing car, but tallied up, it's enough to run the grocery store's checkout counters.
This type of kinetic-energy harvesting is drawing increasing interest in many industries. A nightclub in Rotterdam, Netherlands, even has a kinetic dance floor to generate power from the movement of its guests.
But when it comes to cars, skeptics cite the first law of thermodynamics (energy can't be created or destroyed), rebuking systems like Sainsbury's on the grounds that such a thing must slow a car down, thereby forcing its engine to work harder and spew more pollution.
Watch Video: Riding the Green Wave at the 2010 Detroit Auto Show
Speed Bumps
Where Sainsbury's brand of technology may make more sense is in spots where cars are already using their brakes to slow down. Special speed bumps leading up to a toll booth or traffic signal could help slow a car and spare the brake pads while recapturing some of that momentum, turning it into electricity (not unlike the way a hybrid's regenerative braking system reclaims friction used during deceleration).
New Energy Technologies in Burtonsville, Md., is claiming to do just this. Its Motion Power Energy Harvesting system consists of a series of short, angled flippers protruding from the road surface. As the car rolls over the fins, they depress, helping to slow the moving vehicle and make electricity in the process. The company is testing the system at a Holiday Inn Express in Maryland and a Burger King drive-through in North Carolina.
View Pictures: The Chevy Volt and Cruze
Higher-Tech Hybrids
Once only the obsession of tech-happy hobbyists and college engineering classes, the plug-in hybrid car is about to become a regular sight around the neighborhood. In late 2010, General Motors will introduce the Chevy Volt, a car that will charge up in eight hours and travel roughly 40 miles in electric mode, after which it can rely on its backup gasoline engine. Scheduled to first hit the California market, the Volt will be priced at around $40,000.
Discuss: Do you have any ideas how to make driving more environmentally friendly?
Toyota, currently the leader in hybrids, has been reluctant to embrace the plug-in, but has decided to dive into the fray; in late 2011 it will start selling a car that charges in 100 minutes and can do 14.5 miles of pure electric driving.
Nissan is experimenting with smartphone apps that will allow users to control the charging of an electric vehicle and get text-message alerts on the battery's state of charge.
Smart Charging with Smartphones
Leading up to the introduction of the all-electric Leaf in late 2010, Nissan has been thinking hard about how people will take to the new reality of owning, charging and driving a battery-powered vehicle. Because modern electric cars are heavily computer-driven, the door is open to a slew of new capabilities that might help drivers adapt.
In the summer of 2009, Nissan displayed several interesting prototypes in Japan, including an iPhone app that lets users control the charging mode of their car from afar. Using the app, the Leaf owner can tell the car when to start charging, and the car can reply with SMS alerts when the battery is full. A smartphone could even be used to access the Leaf's climate control, pre-heating or cooling the car while it's still plugged in, saving it from performing this battery-draining task once on the road.
Read: Smartphones and Greener Driving
Pit Stop Battery Swap
While boosters of electric cars assure us that battery technology is improving by leaps and bounds, the first affordable EVs probably won't do much better than 100 miles on a charge. Promises vary, but charging a drained battery will likely take between four and 10 hours (depending on the voltage of the charging station), pretty much ruling out the long-distance road trip. But Israeli startup Better Place says it has you covered. Pull your EV into Better Place's automated drive-through swap stations, and it can remove your depleted battery and exchange it for a fresh one in just over 60 seconds.
Watch Video: "Steer Clear" E-Mail
A Hot Piece of Asphalt
A sweltering stretch of blacktop may not seem like a useful resource, especially when you're ensnared in summer traffic. But what if all that heat could be stored up for winter? Invisible Heating Systems in Scotland is already installing systems that harvest the thermal energy of hot roads using a network of water-filled tubes running below the paving surface. By pumping the hot water into giant underground "thermal batteries" made of moist sand, the heat can then be drawn upon in the winter to warm homes. An average airport runway, the company estimates, could heat 2,500 homes with 50 to 90 percent lower carbon-dioxide emissions. And because these roads stay warm in the winter, they could offer safer driving and eliminate the need to spray harmful, paint-eating salt.
Read: Car Tech Trends for 2010 — and Beyond
The Stackable CityCar
As our urban areas become more cramped each year, the Smart Cities program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is inventing ways to fit more mobility into less space. The CityCar is a proposal for a 2-passenger electric vehicle that would be available to commuters on an as-needed basis. These micro cars would be parked tip to tail in special racks (like luggage carts at the airport) at key locations around the city, while a jointed driveshaft allows the vehicle to scrunch up to consume even less space.
Discuss: Do you have any ideas how to make driving more environmentally friendly?
Robin Chase co-founded Zipcar, the most successful car-sharing business to date, and then moved on to create GoLoco, a high-tech mashup of social networking and carpooling. But her real fervor is in creating a distributed mesh network that will enable America's millions of cars to share up-to-the-second information. By weaving our cars into a decentralized network of data sharing, the personal transportation experience can be made radically more efficient. Imagine not waiting at a red light at an empty intersection, or being able to pay for car insurance by the mile instead of by the year. If plugged into such a peer-to-peer system, your car could learn your commute, then warn you before getting into a traffic snarl, suggesting alternative routes or alternative modes like public transit.
MSN Autos' "Exhaust Notes" blog and keep up to date on all things automotive.
Jacob Gordon is a freelance writer, a blogger for TreeHugger.com and a producer of TreeHugger Radio. He can be reached at jacob@treehugger.com.
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JoeP731#1
Friday, January 29, 2010 9:18:41 PM
What's interesting about all these electric car articles is that no one talks about the cost of the electricity used to recharge the batteries. Do people think it will be free? No nationwide infrastructure exists where a hybrid owner can park his electric and plug it in to recharge. And when it does, the juice ain't gonna be free. Urban dwellers who park on city streets face another dilemma. How to they get the extension cord from the apartment/condo to their car? Drop it out their bedroom windows?
Electric cars have their place but they are not a panacea. Nickel mining for the batteries is destroying the environment in Canada, the energy to transport and recycle millions of hybrid batteries is still an unknown, the expense to the owner to replace them is still prohibitive, and so far eclectic cars shift the energy resources and production (to make gas/diesel) from the refinery to the power plant.
ReplyReport Abuse
Rowdygator20#2
Friday, January 29, 2010 8:32:28 PM
Ranger-Sorry Dude,but you are in no way a "Professional Driver". Not even a,"Gifted Amatuer" with 4 accidents. Call back when you rack up 5.3 million miles with nary an accident. Oh,and do all that driving coast to coast in a tractor trailer in every kind of weather you can imagine with fools like you trying to wreck the truck every day. Then you can claim to be a "Professional Driver".
ReplyReport Abuse
Ranger91#3
Friday, January 29, 2010 7:02:46 PM
Junk (most of this crap anyway)! I want my vehicle to deliver me safely from point A to point B . I have driven somewhere around 1.5 million miles with 4 accidents (2 serious, 2 not so serious) in 32 years,with about 7 100,000+ years and several between 50,000 and 80,000 miles . I don't want to turn my car over to a professional driver, I am a professional driver. As for all of the electric horse hockey it sounds great but the bottom line is the bottom line. I highly doubt I will ever be able to drive an electric car 200,000 (my current Ford Ranger is at 190,000) or 300,000+ miles (the distance I went in 10 years with the Ranger I bought new 250,000 of which had passed before it was 5 years old!) ,plus if I do what is it going to cost? When I traveled for a living many days would see 500 or 600 miles. Is that possible with an electric car and if not, when will it be possible?
Friday, January 29, 2010
E-waste showdown unearths deeper questions
January 16, 2010 6:00 AM PST
E-waste showdown unearths deeper questions
by Martin LaMonica
32 comments
Share
Oral hearings are scheduled to start next month in a court case that could test the limits of manufacturer participation in electronics recycling.
The case pits New York City against tech industry groups the Computer Electronics Association (CEA) and the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI), which are seeking an injunction to stop the city's proposed electronics recycling program.
(Credit: Erik Palm/CNET)
In a background conference call on Thursday, supporters of the city's recycling mandate said the notion of "extended producer responsibility," or taking on some of the cost of recycling used electronics, is being put on trial. There is also concern that a ruling in favor of the CEA and ITI could weaken existing programs or stall passage of new ones, they said.
The growing amount of e-waste, which contains heavy metals and other hazardous materials, has led 19 states to introduce electronics recycling legislation, said Scott Cassel, the executive director of product stewardship council. In addition to electronics, there are 31 states with producer responsibility laws for some sort of product, such as paints or thermostat and light bulbs that contain mercury.
Forcing electronics manufacturers to take responsibility for goods at the end of their useful life shifts the cost of recycling to users and producers of goods, rather than states and municipalities, said Melissa Walsh Innes, a state representative from Maine, which has had recycling regulations in place since 2004. In addition, mandatory recycling creates an economic incentive to design easy-to-recycle products without hazardous materials, she added.
"We believe it is unfair to ask all our taxpayers and ratepayers to cover all these costs. This move to producer responsibility puts the onus on the manufacturers and consumers of products, not every single taxpayer," Walsh Innes said.
Until now, electronics and computer industry manufacturers have complied with state laws. Five companies--Sharp, Panasonic, Toshiba, Vizio, and Mitsubishi Electric--created MRM, a company that offers recycling services nationwide. There are now 400 drop-off sites, which should grow to 600 by the end of next year, said Peter Fannon, vice president of corporate and government affairs at Panasonic of North America.
The industry associations, however, are contesting the legality of the New York plan, arguing that it's unconstitutional and designed in a way that places "enormous burdens and costs" on manufacturers. In its motion for a preliminary injunction (click for PDF), the CEA and ITI single out a rule where "direct collection" must be provided for all electronics over 15 pounds.
During a keynote at last week's Consumer Electronics Show, CEA president and CEO Gary Shapiro called city's law "ridiculous," saying that "it will require manufacturers to send trucks to consumers' homes to pick up old products." He added that the CEA plans to a propose a market-based national recycling system to Congress this year based on the principle of shared responsibility.
Watch CBS News Videos OnlineBut that's not an accurate picture of what will be needed to comply, contends Kate Sinding, a senior attorney at the National Resources Defense Council. The NRDC has joined New York to defend the recycling law, although not specific regulations in how the program is designed, such as its direct collection rule.
"The plaintiffs are interpreting the direct collection requirement in the most onerous, burdensome, and frankly absurd way possible. This doesn't mean there's an on-demand pick up requirement," Sinding said. Instead, manufacturers could, for example, contract with third-party waste haulers to do the pick up on a regular schedule, she said.
The NRDC favors rules where manufacturers need to meet performance requirements, such as a certain number of pounds recycled. It appears that the industry group's interpretation of the direct collection requirement "pushed them over the edge" and prompted the legal challenge to the New York City law, Sinding said.
In practice, states with mandatory recycling laws are seeing higher rates of electronics collection and recycling, said Barbara Kyle, the national coordinator for the Electronics TakeBack Coalition. Voluntary programs, meanwhile, don't provide full coverage for a state and aren't the primary driving higher recycling rates. In all of New York state, for example, the MRM program only offers two drop-off recycling sites for millions of people.
"These companies have on their Web sites, in their sustainability reports, in their PR--they have all kinds of statements that 'We support recycling and we believe there should be producer recycling.' The question on the table is, do they really?" Kyle said. "This case is not about New York City really...This is about the states being able to compel them to create meaningful programs."
E-waste showdown unearths deeper questions
by Martin LaMonica
32 comments
Share
Oral hearings are scheduled to start next month in a court case that could test the limits of manufacturer participation in electronics recycling.
The case pits New York City against tech industry groups the Computer Electronics Association (CEA) and the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI), which are seeking an injunction to stop the city's proposed electronics recycling program.
(Credit: Erik Palm/CNET)
In a background conference call on Thursday, supporters of the city's recycling mandate said the notion of "extended producer responsibility," or taking on some of the cost of recycling used electronics, is being put on trial. There is also concern that a ruling in favor of the CEA and ITI could weaken existing programs or stall passage of new ones, they said.
The growing amount of e-waste, which contains heavy metals and other hazardous materials, has led 19 states to introduce electronics recycling legislation, said Scott Cassel, the executive director of product stewardship council. In addition to electronics, there are 31 states with producer responsibility laws for some sort of product, such as paints or thermostat and light bulbs that contain mercury.
Forcing electronics manufacturers to take responsibility for goods at the end of their useful life shifts the cost of recycling to users and producers of goods, rather than states and municipalities, said Melissa Walsh Innes, a state representative from Maine, which has had recycling regulations in place since 2004. In addition, mandatory recycling creates an economic incentive to design easy-to-recycle products without hazardous materials, she added.
"We believe it is unfair to ask all our taxpayers and ratepayers to cover all these costs. This move to producer responsibility puts the onus on the manufacturers and consumers of products, not every single taxpayer," Walsh Innes said.
Until now, electronics and computer industry manufacturers have complied with state laws. Five companies--Sharp, Panasonic, Toshiba, Vizio, and Mitsubishi Electric--created MRM, a company that offers recycling services nationwide. There are now 400 drop-off sites, which should grow to 600 by the end of next year, said Peter Fannon, vice president of corporate and government affairs at Panasonic of North America.
The industry associations, however, are contesting the legality of the New York plan, arguing that it's unconstitutional and designed in a way that places "enormous burdens and costs" on manufacturers. In its motion for a preliminary injunction (click for PDF), the CEA and ITI single out a rule where "direct collection" must be provided for all electronics over 15 pounds.
During a keynote at last week's Consumer Electronics Show, CEA president and CEO Gary Shapiro called city's law "ridiculous," saying that "it will require manufacturers to send trucks to consumers' homes to pick up old products." He added that the CEA plans to a propose a market-based national recycling system to Congress this year based on the principle of shared responsibility.
Watch CBS News Videos OnlineBut that's not an accurate picture of what will be needed to comply, contends Kate Sinding, a senior attorney at the National Resources Defense Council. The NRDC has joined New York to defend the recycling law, although not specific regulations in how the program is designed, such as its direct collection rule.
"The plaintiffs are interpreting the direct collection requirement in the most onerous, burdensome, and frankly absurd way possible. This doesn't mean there's an on-demand pick up requirement," Sinding said. Instead, manufacturers could, for example, contract with third-party waste haulers to do the pick up on a regular schedule, she said.
The NRDC favors rules where manufacturers need to meet performance requirements, such as a certain number of pounds recycled. It appears that the industry group's interpretation of the direct collection requirement "pushed them over the edge" and prompted the legal challenge to the New York City law, Sinding said.
In practice, states with mandatory recycling laws are seeing higher rates of electronics collection and recycling, said Barbara Kyle, the national coordinator for the Electronics TakeBack Coalition. Voluntary programs, meanwhile, don't provide full coverage for a state and aren't the primary driving higher recycling rates. In all of New York state, for example, the MRM program only offers two drop-off recycling sites for millions of people.
"These companies have on their Web sites, in their sustainability reports, in their PR--they have all kinds of statements that 'We support recycling and we believe there should be producer recycling.' The question on the table is, do they really?" Kyle said. "This case is not about New York City really...This is about the states being able to compel them to create meaningful programs."
Bill Gates investing in Vinod Khosla green-tech fund
January 25, 2010 5:00 AM PST
Bill Gates investing in Vinod Khosla green-tech fund
by Martin LaMonica 6 comments Share
Bill Gates, whose philanthropy is aimed at improving the lives of people in poor countries, is also taking a interest in clean energy, both intellectually and financially.
In an interview published Sunday, Gates said he has invested in Vinod Khosla's green-technology fund, which is aimed at incubating breakthrough technologies.
"He is backing some great entrepreneurs. I get some exposure to them as part of that. Innovation is called for in a big way," Gates said.
After leaving full-time work at Microsoft in mid-2008 to focus on the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the software pioneer had been relatively quiet on the topic of energy and climate.
His publicly disclosed investments in energy include algae fuel company Sapphire Energy. He was invested in Pacific Ethanol but is now divested from it. With former Microsoft CTO Nathan Myhrvold, Gates is also backing TerraPower, which seeks a breakthrough in the design of nuclear power plants.
Last week, though, Gates launched his Gates Notes Web site, where he collects his big-picture thoughts on issues he has been studying. Energy and environment are high on the list of topics there, in part because they closely relate to his philanthropic goals, Gates said.
"For rich people, yes we can use less energy, we can afford a higher price. For the poor, a higher price of energy would mean that their life would be much worse. They couldn't afford as much fertilizer, they couldn't get to their job, they can't get clean water. So the progress of civilization has depended on and will depend on energy being cheaper. But now we have this constraint of not just less CO2, but no CO2."
Gates said that most new clean-energy companies will fail. "But all we need is a few to succeed to take on both helping the poor and getting the climate change problem under control."
The Khosla Fund, led by famed investor Vinod Khosla, is one of the largest green-tech funds formed in the past year, having raised over $1 billion with much of dedicated energy and materials technology.
Khosla has been an aggressive investor in a wide range of technologies, including biofuels, energy efficient lighting, and cleaner industrial processes, such as low-polluting methods for making cement.
Bill Gates investing in Vinod Khosla green-tech fund
by Martin LaMonica 6 comments Share
Bill Gates, whose philanthropy is aimed at improving the lives of people in poor countries, is also taking a interest in clean energy, both intellectually and financially.
In an interview published Sunday, Gates said he has invested in Vinod Khosla's green-technology fund, which is aimed at incubating breakthrough technologies.
"He is backing some great entrepreneurs. I get some exposure to them as part of that. Innovation is called for in a big way," Gates said.
After leaving full-time work at Microsoft in mid-2008 to focus on the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the software pioneer had been relatively quiet on the topic of energy and climate.
His publicly disclosed investments in energy include algae fuel company Sapphire Energy. He was invested in Pacific Ethanol but is now divested from it. With former Microsoft CTO Nathan Myhrvold, Gates is also backing TerraPower, which seeks a breakthrough in the design of nuclear power plants.
Last week, though, Gates launched his Gates Notes Web site, where he collects his big-picture thoughts on issues he has been studying. Energy and environment are high on the list of topics there, in part because they closely relate to his philanthropic goals, Gates said.
"For rich people, yes we can use less energy, we can afford a higher price. For the poor, a higher price of energy would mean that their life would be much worse. They couldn't afford as much fertilizer, they couldn't get to their job, they can't get clean water. So the progress of civilization has depended on and will depend on energy being cheaper. But now we have this constraint of not just less CO2, but no CO2."
Gates said that most new clean-energy companies will fail. "But all we need is a few to succeed to take on both helping the poor and getting the climate change problem under control."
The Khosla Fund, led by famed investor Vinod Khosla, is one of the largest green-tech funds formed in the past year, having raised over $1 billion with much of dedicated energy and materials technology.
Khosla has been an aggressive investor in a wide range of technologies, including biofuels, energy efficient lighting, and cleaner industrial processes, such as low-polluting methods for making cement.
Better Place raises $350 million, first projects on track
January 25, 2010 7:16 AM PST
Better Place raises $350 million, first projects on track
by Martin LaMonica 1 comment Share
Better Place has raised $350 million to build its charging network for electric cars, the start-up said Monday.
The series B round was led by HSBC Holdings and brought new investors Morgan Stanley Investment Management and Lazard Asset Management. The investment, which follows a $200 million round in 2007, is likely to be one of the largest in the green-tech area this year.
Shai Agassi, founder and CEO of Better Place
(Credit: Martin LaMonica/CNET) Better Place also said that its first two projects in Denmark and Israel are on track to go online in 2011 using all-electric Renault sedans. The new money will allow the company to further build its technology and test it in full-scale trials in the second half of this year.
Better Place, started by former SAP executive Shai Agassi, has developed a business model around consumers paying a monthly fee to lease electric batteries. Instead of fueling up at gas stations, people can charge for free at home or swap out batteries at specific locations. People can sign on for different monthly plans, which would correspond to how far they expect to drive.
Although many people agree it's an innovative business model, the company has only signed on one carmaker, Nissan Renault, to build cars with swappable batteries. Still, the investment by HSBC and others, including first-time investors, is an endorsement for the plan, Agassi said in a statement.
"One of the world's largest, most conservative banks, HSBC, [has taken] the validating step of investing in a private company intent on bringing innovation to the trillion-dollar automotive and energy industries," Agassi said.
The round values Better Place at $1.25 billion.
Better Place said that it expects to continue working on already-announced projects to install charging and battery-swapping networks in Australia and certain area in the U.S., including San Francisco and Hawaii.
It indicated on Monday, though, that it expects to expand in geographical regions that offer the best financial returns, which are in Europe and Asia.
Comment
The reason they are starting in Israel and Hawaii is because they are small geographically and the residents dont usually drive over 40 miles, which is the range of the batteries.
Better Place raises $350 million, first projects on track
by Martin LaMonica 1 comment Share
Better Place has raised $350 million to build its charging network for electric cars, the start-up said Monday.
The series B round was led by HSBC Holdings and brought new investors Morgan Stanley Investment Management and Lazard Asset Management. The investment, which follows a $200 million round in 2007, is likely to be one of the largest in the green-tech area this year.
Shai Agassi, founder and CEO of Better Place
(Credit: Martin LaMonica/CNET) Better Place also said that its first two projects in Denmark and Israel are on track to go online in 2011 using all-electric Renault sedans. The new money will allow the company to further build its technology and test it in full-scale trials in the second half of this year.
Better Place, started by former SAP executive Shai Agassi, has developed a business model around consumers paying a monthly fee to lease electric batteries. Instead of fueling up at gas stations, people can charge for free at home or swap out batteries at specific locations. People can sign on for different monthly plans, which would correspond to how far they expect to drive.
Although many people agree it's an innovative business model, the company has only signed on one carmaker, Nissan Renault, to build cars with swappable batteries. Still, the investment by HSBC and others, including first-time investors, is an endorsement for the plan, Agassi said in a statement.
"One of the world's largest, most conservative banks, HSBC, [has taken] the validating step of investing in a private company intent on bringing innovation to the trillion-dollar automotive and energy industries," Agassi said.
The round values Better Place at $1.25 billion.
Better Place said that it expects to continue working on already-announced projects to install charging and battery-swapping networks in Australia and certain area in the U.S., including San Francisco and Hawaii.
It indicated on Monday, though, that it expects to expand in geographical regions that offer the best financial returns, which are in Europe and Asia.
Comment
The reason they are starting in Israel and Hawaii is because they are small geographically and the residents dont usually drive over 40 miles, which is the range of the batteries.
Harvest Power lands cash for compost, biogas
January 25, 2010 9:11 AM PST
Harvest Power lands cash for compost, biogas
by Martin LaMonica 1 comment Share
Trash hauler Waste Management said on Monday it has invested an undisclosed sum in Harvest Power, a Boston-area company developing techniques for turning organic waste into energy or fertilizer.
Existing investors Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers and Munich Venture Partners also increased their investment in the company.
(Credit: Harvest Power) Harvest Power already operates a facility in British
Columbia that turns food and yard waste into compost. It also is developing anaerobic digester technology to produce biogas from those same wastes. The biogas can be burned in turbines to make electricity or heat. It can also be converted into compressed or liquefied natural gas, according to Waste Management.
The investment from Waste Management will help Harvest Power build more municipal facilities, company CEO Paul Sellew said in a statement. The city of San Jose, Calif., last year contracted with Harvest Power as part of a renewable-energy program (click for PDF) with a goal of collecting 150,000 tons of household organic waste to produce 900,000 gallons of biogas. It would be the first organic waste-to-biogas facility in the U.S., following a number in Europe.
Waste Management said it invested in the company to reach its corporate sustainability goals of increasing renewable-energy production, boosting recycling, and investing in waste management technologies. Waste Management has also invested in solar trash can maker Big Belly Solar and waste gasification company S4 Energy Solutions.
Harvest Power lands cash for compost, biogas
by Martin LaMonica 1 comment Share
Trash hauler Waste Management said on Monday it has invested an undisclosed sum in Harvest Power, a Boston-area company developing techniques for turning organic waste into energy or fertilizer.
Existing investors Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers and Munich Venture Partners also increased their investment in the company.
(Credit: Harvest Power) Harvest Power already operates a facility in British
Columbia that turns food and yard waste into compost. It also is developing anaerobic digester technology to produce biogas from those same wastes. The biogas can be burned in turbines to make electricity or heat. It can also be converted into compressed or liquefied natural gas, according to Waste Management.
The investment from Waste Management will help Harvest Power build more municipal facilities, company CEO Paul Sellew said in a statement. The city of San Jose, Calif., last year contracted with Harvest Power as part of a renewable-energy program (click for PDF) with a goal of collecting 150,000 tons of household organic waste to produce 900,000 gallons of biogas. It would be the first organic waste-to-biogas facility in the U.S., following a number in Europe.
Waste Management said it invested in the company to reach its corporate sustainability goals of increasing renewable-energy production, boosting recycling, and investing in waste management technologies. Waste Management has also invested in solar trash can maker Big Belly Solar and waste gasification company S4 Energy Solutions.
U.S. wind power capacity up in 2009
January 26, 2010 9:45 AM PST
U.S. wind power capacity up in 2009
by Reuters 5 comments Share
WASHINGTON--U.S. wind power capacity soared 39 percent last year but job growth stalled as uncertainty about renewable-energy policies and the recession slowed manufacturing, an industry group said.
The combined power-generating capacity of new U.S. wind turbines installed last year hit more than 9,900 megawatts, up from a gain of over 8,400 MW in the previous year. Total capacity hit more than 35,000 MW, or about enough to power 9.7 million homes, the American Wind Energy Association said.
Total U.S. jobs associated with wind energy, stalled at 85,000, about flat from the previous year as the recession took a toll on manufacturing. In 2008, job growth surged as the sector added 35,000 positions.
Denise Bode, chief executive of AWEA, said jobs stalled because of tight financing and uncertainty about wind power incentives, including long-term tax credits and a national mandate for renewable energy.
She said President Barack Obama's recovery act that set aside billions of dollars for renewable energy helped prevent job losses. Some 1,500 to 2,000 jobs were lost in wind power manufacturing, but those jobs were made up for with gains in construction and maintenance at wind power farms, she said.
AWEA wants Congress to pass national mandates for generating renewable power, which are expected to be included in a compromise climate bill to be considered by the Senate this year.
"We are trying to convince European wind manufacturers to invest in the United States but first they want to know what policies will be in place," said Bode.
The United States overtook Germany in 2008 as the world's top wind power generator. But China, which unlike the United States, has set national clean-energy targets, may take the top spot for 2009 when the results are finalized.
"We are in a foot race with the Chinese who are providing more and more incentives and mandates for the industry," said Bode.
Texas led the country in added wind capacity last year with nearly 2,300 MW, followed by Indiana with 905 MW and Iowa with 879 MW. The gains came despite billionaire oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens' announcement last summer that he would postpone construction of a huge wind farm in Texas.
Wind accounted for about 6 percent of the electricity produced last year in Texas, according to the state.
Wind power generated only about 1 percent of power supply for the entire country last year.
Bode said if the country adopted national renewable-electricity mandates investors would put more money into building transmission lines to carry more wind from the gusty center of the country to cities with high power demand.
U.S. wind power capacity up in 2009
by Reuters 5 comments Share
WASHINGTON--U.S. wind power capacity soared 39 percent last year but job growth stalled as uncertainty about renewable-energy policies and the recession slowed manufacturing, an industry group said.
The combined power-generating capacity of new U.S. wind turbines installed last year hit more than 9,900 megawatts, up from a gain of over 8,400 MW in the previous year. Total capacity hit more than 35,000 MW, or about enough to power 9.7 million homes, the American Wind Energy Association said.
Total U.S. jobs associated with wind energy, stalled at 85,000, about flat from the previous year as the recession took a toll on manufacturing. In 2008, job growth surged as the sector added 35,000 positions.
Denise Bode, chief executive of AWEA, said jobs stalled because of tight financing and uncertainty about wind power incentives, including long-term tax credits and a national mandate for renewable energy.
She said President Barack Obama's recovery act that set aside billions of dollars for renewable energy helped prevent job losses. Some 1,500 to 2,000 jobs were lost in wind power manufacturing, but those jobs were made up for with gains in construction and maintenance at wind power farms, she said.
AWEA wants Congress to pass national mandates for generating renewable power, which are expected to be included in a compromise climate bill to be considered by the Senate this year.
"We are trying to convince European wind manufacturers to invest in the United States but first they want to know what policies will be in place," said Bode.
The United States overtook Germany in 2008 as the world's top wind power generator. But China, which unlike the United States, has set national clean-energy targets, may take the top spot for 2009 when the results are finalized.
"We are in a foot race with the Chinese who are providing more and more incentives and mandates for the industry," said Bode.
Texas led the country in added wind capacity last year with nearly 2,300 MW, followed by Indiana with 905 MW and Iowa with 879 MW. The gains came despite billionaire oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens' announcement last summer that he would postpone construction of a huge wind farm in Texas.
Wind accounted for about 6 percent of the electricity produced last year in Texas, according to the state.
Wind power generated only about 1 percent of power supply for the entire country last year.
Bode said if the country adopted national renewable-electricity mandates investors would put more money into building transmission lines to carry more wind from the gusty center of the country to cities with high power demand.
Breakthrough made in nuclear-waste sequestration
January 28, 2010 10:13 AM PST
Breakthrough made in nuclear-waste sequestration
by Candace Lombardi 11 comments Share
Mercouri G. Kanatzidis, a professor of chemistry at Northwestern University
(Credit: Northwestern University) Researchers at Northwestern University are developing a new method for removing radioactive materials from liquid nuclear waste.
The group of scientists led by Mercouri G. Kanatzidis, a Charles E. and Emma H. Morrison professor of Chemistry at Northwestern University, announced their breakthrough on Tuesday. The group's paper described the process metaphorically to how a Venus flytrap closes after absorbing a fly in its grip, while letting other objects pass by.
At the molecular level the radioactive ion cesium found in liquid nuclear waste passes through "holes" in a porous metal-sulfide material via an ion-exchange process. Meanwhile, harmless substances like sodium ions are allowed to pass through.
The cesium itself triggers a response in the material's structure causing its atoms, which are arranged in a layered and porous pattern, to "close up" around the cesium. Once the cesium is captured, the structure keeps its "holes" closed preventing the radioactive cesium from leaching out while letting other materials pass by.
"Seeing the windows close was completely unexpected. We expected ion exchange--we didn't expect the material to respond dynamically. This gives us a new mechanism to focus on," Kanatzidis said in a statement.
Kanatzidis published his group's results in the February issue of Nature Chemistry.
Breakthrough made in nuclear-waste sequestration
by Candace Lombardi 11 comments Share
Mercouri G. Kanatzidis, a professor of chemistry at Northwestern University
(Credit: Northwestern University) Researchers at Northwestern University are developing a new method for removing radioactive materials from liquid nuclear waste.
The group of scientists led by Mercouri G. Kanatzidis, a Charles E. and Emma H. Morrison professor of Chemistry at Northwestern University, announced their breakthrough on Tuesday. The group's paper described the process metaphorically to how a Venus flytrap closes after absorbing a fly in its grip, while letting other objects pass by.
At the molecular level the radioactive ion cesium found in liquid nuclear waste passes through "holes" in a porous metal-sulfide material via an ion-exchange process. Meanwhile, harmless substances like sodium ions are allowed to pass through.
The cesium itself triggers a response in the material's structure causing its atoms, which are arranged in a layered and porous pattern, to "close up" around the cesium. Once the cesium is captured, the structure keeps its "holes" closed preventing the radioactive cesium from leaching out while letting other materials pass by.
"Seeing the windows close was completely unexpected. We expected ion exchange--we didn't expect the material to respond dynamically. This gives us a new mechanism to focus on," Kanatzidis said in a statement.
Kanatzidis published his group's results in the February issue of Nature Chemistry.
'Stealth' wind turbine blade may end radar problem
January 27, 2010 2:30 PM PST
'Stealth' wind turbine blade may end radar problem
by Reuters 7 comments Share
The development of a "stealth" turbine blade, based on military technology, may help overcome the problem of wind farms interfering with aviation radar systems, its developers said.
The issue of turbine blades confusing radar operators accounts for around half the objections to wind farm planning applications in Britain.
Now, Vestas Wind Systems is experimenting with stealth technology, developed to help warplanes escape notice, to reduce a turbine blade's radar signature--the size of the blip it makes on an air traffic controller's radar screen.
"These tips of the blades travel at about the same speed as a light aircraft," said Ian Chatting, head of research in Britain for Vestas, the world's largest wind energy company.
"So you can see this blip and the radar operators don't know if it is a light aircraft...whether it is real, interference or a shadow from the wind turbines," he said.
The confusion is caused by radar bouncing off moving wind turbines, creating a cloud of reflected signals.
"As an aircraft flies into that cloud, you can then never tell whether it is the same aircraft that has come out or if it is a different one or if it has stopped or whether it is just a wind turbine blade that is coming over toward you," Chatting said.
Global wind power capacity is now more than 120 gigawatts (GW), according to the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), and Vestas say as much as 9 GW of potential wind power is on hold because of objections by civilian, military and marine radar operators.
In Britain alone the problem has led NATS, formerly the National Air Traffic Service, to object to more than 5GW worth of planning applications.
Brendan Kelly, NATS head of operational strategy, said it was working with industry to solve the problem.
"Whilst we do object to wind farms, our arguments on our objections to wind farms are always based on the operational or technical issues that actually the industry does understand," he said.
Three potential solutions are under consideration, including a software fix and efforts to 'factor out' whole wind farms.
The Vestas solution has to be carefully implemented to make sure aircraft will still be aware of turbine blades.
"It is exactly the same technology as a stealth bomber or a stealth fighter only it is specially tuned again, so that we don't completely disappear from the radar and if you are in an aircraft you can actually still see these things in your radar screen," said Chatting.
The 44 meter (144 ft) long blade incorporates two layers of glass cloth printed with a special ink that are embedded in the structure as part of the normal manufacturing process. The radar passes through the first layer, but bounces off the second and is effectively trapped between the two.
The British Wind Energy Association welcomed all development efforts but said a range of solutions are needed.
"I think the stealth blade has the potential to make a significant contribution. Projects would need to be assessed on a case-by-case basis to see if this would be, as I understand, appropriate mitigation," said BWEA aviation spokeswoman Nicola Vaughan.
"It is unlikely to work in every single case...but if we can address the aviation issue as a whole it will take away a significant barrier to wind energy projects both on and offshore," Vaughan said.
As GWEC estimates of the number of wind farms increasing on average by 30 percent per year, the problem of crowded skies is likely to make a solution to the problem ever more important.
'Stealth' wind turbine blade may end radar problem
by Reuters 7 comments Share
The development of a "stealth" turbine blade, based on military technology, may help overcome the problem of wind farms interfering with aviation radar systems, its developers said.
The issue of turbine blades confusing radar operators accounts for around half the objections to wind farm planning applications in Britain.
Now, Vestas Wind Systems is experimenting with stealth technology, developed to help warplanes escape notice, to reduce a turbine blade's radar signature--the size of the blip it makes on an air traffic controller's radar screen.
"These tips of the blades travel at about the same speed as a light aircraft," said Ian Chatting, head of research in Britain for Vestas, the world's largest wind energy company.
"So you can see this blip and the radar operators don't know if it is a light aircraft...whether it is real, interference or a shadow from the wind turbines," he said.
The confusion is caused by radar bouncing off moving wind turbines, creating a cloud of reflected signals.
"As an aircraft flies into that cloud, you can then never tell whether it is the same aircraft that has come out or if it is a different one or if it has stopped or whether it is just a wind turbine blade that is coming over toward you," Chatting said.
Global wind power capacity is now more than 120 gigawatts (GW), according to the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), and Vestas say as much as 9 GW of potential wind power is on hold because of objections by civilian, military and marine radar operators.
In Britain alone the problem has led NATS, formerly the National Air Traffic Service, to object to more than 5GW worth of planning applications.
Brendan Kelly, NATS head of operational strategy, said it was working with industry to solve the problem.
"Whilst we do object to wind farms, our arguments on our objections to wind farms are always based on the operational or technical issues that actually the industry does understand," he said.
Three potential solutions are under consideration, including a software fix and efforts to 'factor out' whole wind farms.
The Vestas solution has to be carefully implemented to make sure aircraft will still be aware of turbine blades.
"It is exactly the same technology as a stealth bomber or a stealth fighter only it is specially tuned again, so that we don't completely disappear from the radar and if you are in an aircraft you can actually still see these things in your radar screen," said Chatting.
The 44 meter (144 ft) long blade incorporates two layers of glass cloth printed with a special ink that are embedded in the structure as part of the normal manufacturing process. The radar passes through the first layer, but bounces off the second and is effectively trapped between the two.
The British Wind Energy Association welcomed all development efforts but said a range of solutions are needed.
"I think the stealth blade has the potential to make a significant contribution. Projects would need to be assessed on a case-by-case basis to see if this would be, as I understand, appropriate mitigation," said BWEA aviation spokeswoman Nicola Vaughan.
"It is unlikely to work in every single case...but if we can address the aviation issue as a whole it will take away a significant barrier to wind energy projects both on and offshore," Vaughan said.
As GWEC estimates of the number of wind farms increasing on average by 30 percent per year, the problem of crowded skies is likely to make a solution to the problem ever more important.
Researchers coax bacteria to make biodiesel
January 27, 2010 3:59 PM PST
Researchers coax bacteria to make biodiesel
by Martin LaMonica
Biofuel start-up LS9 and California researchers on Wednesday claimed a breakthrough in converting non-food biomass into biodiesel using a genetically modified form of e. coli bacteria.
The research, done with the University of California at Berkeley and the U.S. Department of Energy's Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI), is a step toward lowering the cost of making biodiesel from wood chips, corn stover, and other residual agricultural products. The group published its results in the journal Nature on Wednesday.
A diagram of LS9's one-step process for converting biomass into diesel fuel.
(Credit: LS9) LS9 is one of a handful of U.S. synthetic biology companies that are manipulating microorganisms to convert plants into liquid fuels or plastics.
Next week, LS9 will announce the planned location of a demonstration facility in the U.S. to convert sugar cane into biodiesel using an existing organism, said Stephen del Cardayre, the vice president of research and development at the company. That plant, which will use an existing microorganism, will open this summer and pave the way for large-scale manufacturing and sales in 2012, he said.
Its research with the University of California and the Department of Energy also focuses on a single-step biorefinery process. But researchers tuned another strain of e. coli that can work with different feedstocks, such as straw or wood. Those cellulosic feedstocks are typically harder to convert into fuel through fermentation than sugar cane or corn, but offer the potential of lower overall greenhouse gas emissions.
This second-generation process will take "a few years" to further develop, Del Cardayre said. But because it avoids costly pretreatment processes, it promises to lower the cost of production. "This demonstrates for the first time that you can engineer e. coli to leverage complex biomass feedstocks and convert them into advanced biofuels, which is how you connect the dots to lower cost," he said
Researchers coax bacteria to make biodiesel
by Martin LaMonica
Biofuel start-up LS9 and California researchers on Wednesday claimed a breakthrough in converting non-food biomass into biodiesel using a genetically modified form of e. coli bacteria.
The research, done with the University of California at Berkeley and the U.S. Department of Energy's Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI), is a step toward lowering the cost of making biodiesel from wood chips, corn stover, and other residual agricultural products. The group published its results in the journal Nature on Wednesday.
A diagram of LS9's one-step process for converting biomass into diesel fuel.
(Credit: LS9) LS9 is one of a handful of U.S. synthetic biology companies that are manipulating microorganisms to convert plants into liquid fuels or plastics.
Next week, LS9 will announce the planned location of a demonstration facility in the U.S. to convert sugar cane into biodiesel using an existing organism, said Stephen del Cardayre, the vice president of research and development at the company. That plant, which will use an existing microorganism, will open this summer and pave the way for large-scale manufacturing and sales in 2012, he said.
Its research with the University of California and the Department of Energy also focuses on a single-step biorefinery process. But researchers tuned another strain of e. coli that can work with different feedstocks, such as straw or wood. Those cellulosic feedstocks are typically harder to convert into fuel through fermentation than sugar cane or corn, but offer the potential of lower overall greenhouse gas emissions.
This second-generation process will take "a few years" to further develop, Del Cardayre said. But because it avoids costly pretreatment processes, it promises to lower the cost of production. "This demonstrates for the first time that you can engineer e. coli to leverage complex biomass feedstocks and convert them into advanced biofuels, which is how you connect the dots to lower cost," he said
Thursday, January 28, 2010
White roofs do cool temps, study finds
Model predicts cities would be nearly 1 degree F cooler
White roofs are being tested around the world, including this one in Washington, D.C.
msnbc.com
updated 1:32 p.m. ET, Thurs., Jan. 28, 2010
If every degree Fahrenheit counts in stabilizing the climate, then painting the roofs of city buildings white could offer a significant payoff, according to the first computer modeling study of an idea that's taken hold in cities around the world.
"Our research demonstrates that white roofs, at least in theory, can be an effective method for reducing urban heat,” Keith Oleson, the lead author of the study and a scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, said in a statement.
The idea is being tested in cities like Seattle and Washington, D.C., as well as parts of Europe. And it's been touted by policymakers like U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu.
"As we put in more greenhouse gases, we're putting in more insulation for infrared light. So if you make white roofs and the sunlight comes in, it goes right through" that insulation, Chu told a conference last year.
Urban heat islands
It's known that cities are warmer by a few degrees than rural areas due to what's called the "urban heat island effect" — artificial surfaces like dark roads and roofs that absorb heat more than lighter surfaces.
If every roof in a given city were entirely painted white, the urban heat island effect could be reduced by 33 percent, the researchers found.
"This would cool the world's cities by an average of about 0.4 degrees Celsius (0.7 degrees Fahrenheit), with the cooling influence being particularly pronounced during the day, especially in summer," the National Center for Atmospheric Research said in a statement.
The model did not have enough detail to capture individual cities, but it could estimate changes in larger metropolitan regions. "The New York area, for example, would cool in summer afternoons by almost 1.1 degrees Celsius (2 degrees Fahrenheit)," NCAR said.
Not always a better way
The team also emphasized that the impact is not uniform across cities and that white rooftops in some areas could even have a downside.
That's because white roofs would cool temperatures within buildings. A good thing in summer but in winter that could mean an increased use of heaters — and burning of fossil fuels tied to warming.
"Depending on whether air conditioning or heating is affected more, this could either magnify or partially offset the impact of the roofs," NCAR said.
Added Oleson: "It’s not as simple as just painting roofs white and cooling off a city."
Funded by the National Science Foundation, NCAR’s sponsor, the study has been accepted for publication in Geophysical Research Letters, a journal of the American Geophysical Union.
Chu, for his part, said society should also think beyond buildings. "If all vehicles were light-colored, there could be considerable savings because then you can downsize the air conditioning," he said at the conference. "And downsizing the air conditioner means more efficient air conditioning and a considerable reduction in energy."
White roofs are being tested around the world, including this one in Washington, D.C.
msnbc.com
updated 1:32 p.m. ET, Thurs., Jan. 28, 2010
If every degree Fahrenheit counts in stabilizing the climate, then painting the roofs of city buildings white could offer a significant payoff, according to the first computer modeling study of an idea that's taken hold in cities around the world.
"Our research demonstrates that white roofs, at least in theory, can be an effective method for reducing urban heat,” Keith Oleson, the lead author of the study and a scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, said in a statement.
The idea is being tested in cities like Seattle and Washington, D.C., as well as parts of Europe. And it's been touted by policymakers like U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu.
"As we put in more greenhouse gases, we're putting in more insulation for infrared light. So if you make white roofs and the sunlight comes in, it goes right through" that insulation, Chu told a conference last year.
Urban heat islands
It's known that cities are warmer by a few degrees than rural areas due to what's called the "urban heat island effect" — artificial surfaces like dark roads and roofs that absorb heat more than lighter surfaces.
If every roof in a given city were entirely painted white, the urban heat island effect could be reduced by 33 percent, the researchers found.
"This would cool the world's cities by an average of about 0.4 degrees Celsius (0.7 degrees Fahrenheit), with the cooling influence being particularly pronounced during the day, especially in summer," the National Center for Atmospheric Research said in a statement.
The model did not have enough detail to capture individual cities, but it could estimate changes in larger metropolitan regions. "The New York area, for example, would cool in summer afternoons by almost 1.1 degrees Celsius (2 degrees Fahrenheit)," NCAR said.
Not always a better way
The team also emphasized that the impact is not uniform across cities and that white rooftops in some areas could even have a downside.
That's because white roofs would cool temperatures within buildings. A good thing in summer but in winter that could mean an increased use of heaters — and burning of fossil fuels tied to warming.
"Depending on whether air conditioning or heating is affected more, this could either magnify or partially offset the impact of the roofs," NCAR said.
Added Oleson: "It’s not as simple as just painting roofs white and cooling off a city."
Funded by the National Science Foundation, NCAR’s sponsor, the study has been accepted for publication in Geophysical Research Letters, a journal of the American Geophysical Union.
Chu, for his part, said society should also think beyond buildings. "If all vehicles were light-colored, there could be considerable savings because then you can downsize the air conditioning," he said at the conference. "And downsizing the air conditioner means more efficient air conditioning and a considerable reduction in energy."
CES: Picowatt does smart grid without smart meter
7, 2010 8:52 PM PST
by Martin LaMonica
LAS VEGAS--Tenrehte Technologies has a grassroots vision for the smart grid.
Instead of relying on a utility-installed smart meter to help consumers ratchet down their electricity bills, the Rochester, N.Y.-based start-up is building Wi-Fi-enabled smart plugs.
A few strategically placed smart plugs, called a Picowatt, will provide many of the benefits promised to consumers by the smart grid, including a real-time read-out of electricity usage and the ability to control appliances from a central point. By having data on electricity usage and the ability to take advantage of off-peak rates, people can make a significant reduction to consumption, studies have shown.
There are a number of companies preparing in-home energy displays that are designed to poll data from smart meters to show, for example, how much electricity different appliances consume. Millions of smart meters are being installed over the next three years, but utilities are being slow with sharing consumption data inside the home over a wireless network, in part because of security concerns.
A prototype Picowatt smart plug for killing vampires and controlling home energy. When released in April, the company expects it to be about as big as an Apple Airport (behind).
(Credit: Martin LaMonica/CNET)
By contrast, the Picowatt lets individuals set up a home energy monitoring themselves. The smart plugs, which fit over existing outlets, are essentially mini Wi-Fi routers running Linux, each capable of gathering data and controlling devices. People can view data, such as historical energy usage, from a Wi-Fi-enabled PC or through a Facebook application that can be operated from a smart phone.
Tenrehte Technologies executives said they are establishing partnerships with utilities to make rate information available. That would allow a person to schedule an energy-intensive job, such as washing the dishes, to take advantage of off-peak rates.
Another nice feature of the Picowatt is that it will eliminate stand-by power, where electronics such as TVs consume juice even when not in use.
At CES, the company had prototype models available but said that it expects that a smaller smart plug, about the size of an Apple AirPort, will be available in April of this year for $79, sold directly to consumers.
by Martin LaMonica
LAS VEGAS--Tenrehte Technologies has a grassroots vision for the smart grid.
Instead of relying on a utility-installed smart meter to help consumers ratchet down their electricity bills, the Rochester, N.Y.-based start-up is building Wi-Fi-enabled smart plugs.
A few strategically placed smart plugs, called a Picowatt, will provide many of the benefits promised to consumers by the smart grid, including a real-time read-out of electricity usage and the ability to control appliances from a central point. By having data on electricity usage and the ability to take advantage of off-peak rates, people can make a significant reduction to consumption, studies have shown.
There are a number of companies preparing in-home energy displays that are designed to poll data from smart meters to show, for example, how much electricity different appliances consume. Millions of smart meters are being installed over the next three years, but utilities are being slow with sharing consumption data inside the home over a wireless network, in part because of security concerns.
A prototype Picowatt smart plug for killing vampires and controlling home energy. When released in April, the company expects it to be about as big as an Apple Airport (behind).
(Credit: Martin LaMonica/CNET)
By contrast, the Picowatt lets individuals set up a home energy monitoring themselves. The smart plugs, which fit over existing outlets, are essentially mini Wi-Fi routers running Linux, each capable of gathering data and controlling devices. People can view data, such as historical energy usage, from a Wi-Fi-enabled PC or through a Facebook application that can be operated from a smart phone.
Tenrehte Technologies executives said they are establishing partnerships with utilities to make rate information available. That would allow a person to schedule an energy-intensive job, such as washing the dishes, to take advantage of off-peak rates.
Another nice feature of the Picowatt is that it will eliminate stand-by power, where electronics such as TVs consume juice even when not in use.
At CES, the company had prototype models available but said that it expects that a smaller smart plug, about the size of an Apple AirPort, will be available in April of this year for $79, sold directly to consumers.
Intel, too, eyes home energy management
January 19, 2010 10:15 AM PST
by Martin LaMonica
Intel has designs on the nascent home energy management business, following Google, Microsoft, Apple, Panasonic, and dozens of smaller tech companies.
Intel last week launched a Web site dedicated to its Home Dashboard Concept, a touch-screen display designed to help families control and reduce energy use. The Atom-based device will let people record video messages to other family members and, through third-party applications, let people look up information on online yellow pages or track packages over the Internet.
Intel's Intelligent Home Energy Management Proof of Concept is an 11-inch touch screen that works like a remote control for home energy. The switch at the top lets people turn a home to 'away' mode, automatically adjusting security, thermostats, and cutting off stand-by power.
(Credit: Intel) For Intel, the energy dashboard is another attempt to crack into the consumer electronics market. "Computing in the home is going to be a lot more than just the PC," Intel CEO Paul Otellini said during a brief demo of the energy dashboard at CES.
Seeing a potential new revenue source, other tech companies are jockeying into home energy management with different technology approaches, a situation that's creating a crowded market of suppliers and myriad choices for consumers. Pike Research forecasts that there will be more than 28 million energy displays installed by 2015, with 11 million people accessing home energy data from Web-based dashboards and 2.6 million from mobile phones.
A patent application from Apple, unearthed last week, described a system to optimize power for a network of electronics, such as laptops, solar chargers, and iPods.
Apple characteristically is taking a somewhat unique approach, relying on a power line standard that would allow a dedicated Apple device to efficiently send power to plugged-in devices. Consumers could track electricity use and get ideas on how to reduce consumption through a small LCD screen, according to the patent.
Microsoft and Google have developed Web applications for tracking home energy use, although they differ significantly in features.
Microsoft is seeking to partner with utilities installing smart meters to offer its Hohm application to customers, who can get online access to utility bills and real-time snapshots of electricity use. For every consumer, though, Hohm provides recommendations on how to cut electricity and gas consumption, based on a lengthy questionnaire.
Google's PowerMeter, by contrast, is geared mainly at surfacing usage information to help consumers find ways to cut back on bills. It has signed on with a few utilities and smart meter makers to offer the energy-tracking dashboard through smart meters. It also offers that data through a home-monitoring device called The Energy Detective (TED) from Energy Inc., a company that 3M's venture arm invested in last week.
Whole-home monitoring
Intel's home energy dashboard is a more sophisticated version of existing whole-home monitoring products, such as TED. But Intel's approach suggests one route for getting the energy data promised by the smart grid without having to wait for smart meters to be installed and fully activated.
The Home Dashboard Concept is an energy-efficient OLED touch screen hung on a wall that acts as a hub to manage and monitor a network of devices. Intel recommends that people purchase smart plugs which, through a wireless network, will allow the central console to monitor and control devices. Once plugged in, people can see how much power TVs and other major appliances use, and set goals for reducing use.
Intel's home energy dashboard concept would use smart plugs to connect appliances to a central console for energy monitoring and control.
(Credit: Intel)
Because the dashboard device is a Wi-Fi hub, it can get recommendations on how to reduce energy use from the Internet, according to the Intel demo. People click a switch to turn the house to "away" mode, turning all stand-by power off and adjusting the thermostat.
Using the home energy dashboard, a household could save 30 percent on electricity bills, according to Chris O'Malley, a marketing manager at Intel's embedded and communications group.
Although Intel's dashboard is still a concept, a number of other start-up companies, such as Control4 and OpenPeak, are already planning similar products, released either through utilities or appliance companies such as GE and Whirlpool.
For all the activity, though, there remain questions about how much consumers are willing to pay to better manage home energy and whether Intel or any other tech provider can make money helping consumers save money.
by Martin LaMonica
Intel has designs on the nascent home energy management business, following Google, Microsoft, Apple, Panasonic, and dozens of smaller tech companies.
Intel last week launched a Web site dedicated to its Home Dashboard Concept, a touch-screen display designed to help families control and reduce energy use. The Atom-based device will let people record video messages to other family members and, through third-party applications, let people look up information on online yellow pages or track packages over the Internet.
Intel's Intelligent Home Energy Management Proof of Concept is an 11-inch touch screen that works like a remote control for home energy. The switch at the top lets people turn a home to 'away' mode, automatically adjusting security, thermostats, and cutting off stand-by power.
(Credit: Intel) For Intel, the energy dashboard is another attempt to crack into the consumer electronics market. "Computing in the home is going to be a lot more than just the PC," Intel CEO Paul Otellini said during a brief demo of the energy dashboard at CES.
Seeing a potential new revenue source, other tech companies are jockeying into home energy management with different technology approaches, a situation that's creating a crowded market of suppliers and myriad choices for consumers. Pike Research forecasts that there will be more than 28 million energy displays installed by 2015, with 11 million people accessing home energy data from Web-based dashboards and 2.6 million from mobile phones.
A patent application from Apple, unearthed last week, described a system to optimize power for a network of electronics, such as laptops, solar chargers, and iPods.
Apple characteristically is taking a somewhat unique approach, relying on a power line standard that would allow a dedicated Apple device to efficiently send power to plugged-in devices. Consumers could track electricity use and get ideas on how to reduce consumption through a small LCD screen, according to the patent.
Microsoft and Google have developed Web applications for tracking home energy use, although they differ significantly in features.
Microsoft is seeking to partner with utilities installing smart meters to offer its Hohm application to customers, who can get online access to utility bills and real-time snapshots of electricity use. For every consumer, though, Hohm provides recommendations on how to cut electricity and gas consumption, based on a lengthy questionnaire.
Google's PowerMeter, by contrast, is geared mainly at surfacing usage information to help consumers find ways to cut back on bills. It has signed on with a few utilities and smart meter makers to offer the energy-tracking dashboard through smart meters. It also offers that data through a home-monitoring device called The Energy Detective (TED) from Energy Inc., a company that 3M's venture arm invested in last week.
Whole-home monitoring
Intel's home energy dashboard is a more sophisticated version of existing whole-home monitoring products, such as TED. But Intel's approach suggests one route for getting the energy data promised by the smart grid without having to wait for smart meters to be installed and fully activated.
The Home Dashboard Concept is an energy-efficient OLED touch screen hung on a wall that acts as a hub to manage and monitor a network of devices. Intel recommends that people purchase smart plugs which, through a wireless network, will allow the central console to monitor and control devices. Once plugged in, people can see how much power TVs and other major appliances use, and set goals for reducing use.
Intel's home energy dashboard concept would use smart plugs to connect appliances to a central console for energy monitoring and control.
(Credit: Intel)
Because the dashboard device is a Wi-Fi hub, it can get recommendations on how to reduce energy use from the Internet, according to the Intel demo. People click a switch to turn the house to "away" mode, turning all stand-by power off and adjusting the thermostat.
Using the home energy dashboard, a household could save 30 percent on electricity bills, according to Chris O'Malley, a marketing manager at Intel's embedded and communications group.
Although Intel's dashboard is still a concept, a number of other start-up companies, such as Control4 and OpenPeak, are already planning similar products, released either through utilities or appliance companies such as GE and Whirlpool.
For all the activity, though, there remain questions about how much consumers are willing to pay to better manage home energy and whether Intel or any other tech provider can make money helping consumers save money.
U.S. says wind could power 20 percent of eastern grid
January 20, 2010 9:38 AM PST
by Reuters 19 comments Share
Wind energy could generate 20 percent of the electricity needed by households and businesses in the eastern half of the United States by 2024, but it would require up to $90 billion in investment, according to a government report released on Wednesday.
For the 20 percent wind scenario to work, billions must be spent on installing wind towers on land and sea and about 22,000 miles of new high-tech power lines to carry the electricity to cities, according to the study from the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
"Twenty percent wind is an ambitious goal," said David Corbus, the project manager for the study. "We can bring more wind power online, but if we don't have the proper infrastructure to move that power around, it's like buying a hybrid car and leaving it in the garage,"
The private sector cannot fund all the needed spending, so a big chunk would have to come from the federal government through programs such as loan guarantees, Corbus said.
The Obama administration is already dedicating billions of dollars to double the amount of electricity produced by wind and other renewables energy sources by January 2012.
The Interior Department will decide this spring whether to approve the Cape Wind project off Cape Cod, Mass. That project, long delayed because of local opposition, would provide electricity to about 400,000 homes.
The amount of U.S. electricity generated by wind was up 29 percent during January-October of last year compared to the same period is 2008, according to the Energy Department.
Reaching the 20 percent threshold for wind by 2024 in the eastern electric grid would require 225,000 megawatts of wind generation capacity in the region, about a 10-fold increase from current levels, the study said.
One megawatt of electricity can provide power to about 1,000 homes.
Wind turbines would be scattered throughout the eastern grid, which extends from the Plains states to the Atlantic Coast and south to the Gulf of Mexico.
Most of the big wind farms would be concentrated off the Atlantic Coast in federal waters from Massachusetts to North Carolina and on land in Midwest states from North Dakota to Nebraska and into Kansas.
Many states already require utilities to produce a portion of their electricity from renewable energy sources, but a federal mandate covering all utilities nationwide would help create the 20 percent wind scenario, Corbus said.
Sen. Byron Dorgan said on Tuesday he thought the Senate would forgo dealing with climate change legislation this year after going through the contentious health care debate and instead focus on passing an energy bill that, in part, requires U.S. utilities to generate 15 percent of their electricity from renewables by 2021
by Reuters 19 comments Share
Wind energy could generate 20 percent of the electricity needed by households and businesses in the eastern half of the United States by 2024, but it would require up to $90 billion in investment, according to a government report released on Wednesday.
For the 20 percent wind scenario to work, billions must be spent on installing wind towers on land and sea and about 22,000 miles of new high-tech power lines to carry the electricity to cities, according to the study from the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
"Twenty percent wind is an ambitious goal," said David Corbus, the project manager for the study. "We can bring more wind power online, but if we don't have the proper infrastructure to move that power around, it's like buying a hybrid car and leaving it in the garage,"
The private sector cannot fund all the needed spending, so a big chunk would have to come from the federal government through programs such as loan guarantees, Corbus said.
The Obama administration is already dedicating billions of dollars to double the amount of electricity produced by wind and other renewables energy sources by January 2012.
The Interior Department will decide this spring whether to approve the Cape Wind project off Cape Cod, Mass. That project, long delayed because of local opposition, would provide electricity to about 400,000 homes.
The amount of U.S. electricity generated by wind was up 29 percent during January-October of last year compared to the same period is 2008, according to the Energy Department.
Reaching the 20 percent threshold for wind by 2024 in the eastern electric grid would require 225,000 megawatts of wind generation capacity in the region, about a 10-fold increase from current levels, the study said.
One megawatt of electricity can provide power to about 1,000 homes.
Wind turbines would be scattered throughout the eastern grid, which extends from the Plains states to the Atlantic Coast and south to the Gulf of Mexico.
Most of the big wind farms would be concentrated off the Atlantic Coast in federal waters from Massachusetts to North Carolina and on land in Midwest states from North Dakota to Nebraska and into Kansas.
Many states already require utilities to produce a portion of their electricity from renewable energy sources, but a federal mandate covering all utilities nationwide would help create the 20 percent wind scenario, Corbus said.
Sen. Byron Dorgan said on Tuesday he thought the Senate would forgo dealing with climate change legislation this year after going through the contentious health care debate and instead focus on passing an energy bill that, in part, requires U.S. utilities to generate 15 percent of their electricity from renewables by 2021
Indonesia cuts capacity of planned geothermal plants
Indonesia cuts capacity of planned geothermal plants
Muklis Ali
JAKARTA
Tue Jan 26, 2010 8:38am
Ontario says Samsung deal to make it green leader
Thu, Jan 21 2010
U.S. solar thermal firm in deal for China power project
Mon, Jan 11 2010
California's renewable pipeline hits nearly 70 GW
Wed, Dec 30 2009
SNAP ANALYSIS: UAE strengthens hand with nuclear deal
Sun, Dec 27 2009
Indonesia Market factors to watch - Nov 20
Thu, Nov 19 2009
JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia has cut the planned capacity of geothermal power plants it will start building this year by 18 percent to 3,900 megawatts (MW), an official at the mines and energy ministry said on Tuesday.
Green Business | Indonesia
Indonesia has established two programmes to increase power generation by 10,000 MW in a bid to resolve chronic power shortages in the country.
One of these "crash programmes" originally had nearly half or 4,733 MW of its power slated to come from geothermal sources across Indonesia.
"After we examined it carefully, we can only build 3,900 MW of the geothermal projects for the second crash programme. We expect those projects to be concluded in 2014," J. Purwono, director general of electricity at the ministry, told reporters.
He said state electricity company PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) is expected to build a combined total of 880 MW of geothermal power plants in the second crash programme and the rest are expected to be built by the private sector.
"PLN will build the geothermal power plants and it will buy the steam from geothermal operated by state oil firm Pertamina's unit," he said.
He also said the government may allow PLN to amend an agreement it made with Sarulla geothermal developer on electricity prices from the project.
PLN awarded a contract in 2006 to a consortium of PT Medco Energi Internasional, Ormat Technologies, and Itochu Corp to build a 330-megawatt geothermal power plant in Sarulla, North Sumatra province.
The Sarulla developer asked for an electricity price revision but the talks have stalled in recent years, holding up the project.
"The government has allowed PLN to settle the Sarulla project. But PLN has to ask state audit agency opinion first. If the audit agency say the project is okay then PLN can amend its contract and revise the price," Purwono said.
Indonesia is tapping alternative sources of energy to meet rising power demand and cut consumption of expensive crude oil as its own reserves dwindle.
It also has rising greenhouse gas emissions, but the clean energy source projects are not expected to generate carbon credits. Indonesia has pledged to cut emissions by 26 percent from business as usual levels by 2020.
The vast archipelago, with hundreds of active and extinct volcanoes, has the potential to produce an estimated 27,000 MW of electricity from geothermal sources.
However, that potential remains largely untapped because the high cost of geothermal energy makes the price of electricity generated this way expensive.
PLN has 25,000 MW of generating capacity but daily output is far less because most of its plants are old and inefficient.
Muklis Ali
JAKARTA
Tue Jan 26, 2010 8:38am
Ontario says Samsung deal to make it green leader
Thu, Jan 21 2010
U.S. solar thermal firm in deal for China power project
Mon, Jan 11 2010
California's renewable pipeline hits nearly 70 GW
Wed, Dec 30 2009
SNAP ANALYSIS: UAE strengthens hand with nuclear deal
Sun, Dec 27 2009
Indonesia Market factors to watch - Nov 20
Thu, Nov 19 2009
JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia has cut the planned capacity of geothermal power plants it will start building this year by 18 percent to 3,900 megawatts (MW), an official at the mines and energy ministry said on Tuesday.
Green Business | Indonesia
Indonesia has established two programmes to increase power generation by 10,000 MW in a bid to resolve chronic power shortages in the country.
One of these "crash programmes" originally had nearly half or 4,733 MW of its power slated to come from geothermal sources across Indonesia.
"After we examined it carefully, we can only build 3,900 MW of the geothermal projects for the second crash programme. We expect those projects to be concluded in 2014," J. Purwono, director general of electricity at the ministry, told reporters.
He said state electricity company PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) is expected to build a combined total of 880 MW of geothermal power plants in the second crash programme and the rest are expected to be built by the private sector.
"PLN will build the geothermal power plants and it will buy the steam from geothermal operated by state oil firm Pertamina's unit," he said.
He also said the government may allow PLN to amend an agreement it made with Sarulla geothermal developer on electricity prices from the project.
PLN awarded a contract in 2006 to a consortium of PT Medco Energi Internasional, Ormat Technologies, and Itochu Corp to build a 330-megawatt geothermal power plant in Sarulla, North Sumatra province.
The Sarulla developer asked for an electricity price revision but the talks have stalled in recent years, holding up the project.
"The government has allowed PLN to settle the Sarulla project. But PLN has to ask state audit agency opinion first. If the audit agency say the project is okay then PLN can amend its contract and revise the price," Purwono said.
Indonesia is tapping alternative sources of energy to meet rising power demand and cut consumption of expensive crude oil as its own reserves dwindle.
It also has rising greenhouse gas emissions, but the clean energy source projects are not expected to generate carbon credits. Indonesia has pledged to cut emissions by 26 percent from business as usual levels by 2020.
The vast archipelago, with hundreds of active and extinct volcanoes, has the potential to produce an estimated 27,000 MW of electricity from geothermal sources.
However, that potential remains largely untapped because the high cost of geothermal energy makes the price of electricity generated this way expensive.
PLN has 25,000 MW of generating capacity but daily output is far less because most of its plants are old and inefficient.
Green investors should go geothermal, says VCH
Christoph Steitz
FRANKFURT
Thu Jan 28, 2010 11:14am ESTRelated NewsRPT-U.S. solar startup teams up with battery maker
1:11pm EST
Indonesia cuts capacity of planned geothermal plants
Tue, Jan 26 2010
Greenpeace says Europe smart power grid affordable
Fri, Nov 20 2009
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Investors looking for fresh opportunities in the volatile renewable energy sector should look at stocks in the geothermal industry, a VCH Investment Group fund manager told Reuters on Thursday.
"Geothermal energy, albeit still a tiny market itself, is a young growth area but a strong one. You can see that already happening in the United States, where there is large geothermal activity," Olaf Koester said in an interview.
Geothermal power -- which, along with solar thermal power, is part of the second generation of renewable energy sources -- uses the earth's inner heat and turns it into electricity by using specially designed power plants.
Koester's fund -- which quadrupled its volume in 2009 and stands at 10 million euros ($14.04 million) -- solely invests in global renewable energy stocks, including more traditional fields such as photovoltaic, wind and water.
But Koester expects the geothermal market will grow to above 20 gigawatts (GW) by 2020, from about 10 GW in 2008, compared with expectations of more than 150 GW for solar and more than 1,000 GW for wind power.
Koester said that the U.S. will be one of the growth drivers in geothermal power and referred to large geological activity in Hawaii and the San Andreas fault.
"This is why the first question I asked Ormat was whether they could build earthquake-proof geothermal plants," he said, noting that Ormat does build such plants.
Ormat Technologies is one of the market leaders in the geothermal sector and, along with Germany's Daldrup and Waterfurnace Renewable Energy, held in Koester's fund, which gained about 12 percent in 2009 versus a 3 percent gain in the S&P Global Clean Energy Index.
"One reason why I like the sector is its stability. Unlike wind and solar power -- where you need the wind to blow and the sun to shine -- geothermal power is stable and sustainable. You can have energy creation 24/7 without any fluctuation."
FRANKFURT
Thu Jan 28, 2010 11:14am ESTRelated NewsRPT-U.S. solar startup teams up with battery maker
1:11pm EST
Indonesia cuts capacity of planned geothermal plants
Tue, Jan 26 2010
Greenpeace says Europe smart power grid affordable
Fri, Nov 20 2009
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Investors looking for fresh opportunities in the volatile renewable energy sector should look at stocks in the geothermal industry, a VCH Investment Group fund manager told Reuters on Thursday.
"Geothermal energy, albeit still a tiny market itself, is a young growth area but a strong one. You can see that already happening in the United States, where there is large geothermal activity," Olaf Koester said in an interview.
Geothermal power -- which, along with solar thermal power, is part of the second generation of renewable energy sources -- uses the earth's inner heat and turns it into electricity by using specially designed power plants.
Koester's fund -- which quadrupled its volume in 2009 and stands at 10 million euros ($14.04 million) -- solely invests in global renewable energy stocks, including more traditional fields such as photovoltaic, wind and water.
But Koester expects the geothermal market will grow to above 20 gigawatts (GW) by 2020, from about 10 GW in 2008, compared with expectations of more than 150 GW for solar and more than 1,000 GW for wind power.
Koester said that the U.S. will be one of the growth drivers in geothermal power and referred to large geological activity in Hawaii and the San Andreas fault.
"This is why the first question I asked Ormat was whether they could build earthquake-proof geothermal plants," he said, noting that Ormat does build such plants.
Ormat Technologies is one of the market leaders in the geothermal sector and, along with Germany's Daldrup and Waterfurnace Renewable Energy, held in Koester's fund, which gained about 12 percent in 2009 versus a 3 percent gain in the S&P Global Clean Energy Index.
"One reason why I like the sector is its stability. Unlike wind and solar power -- where you need the wind to blow and the sun to shine -- geothermal power is stable and sustainable. You can have energy creation 24/7 without any fluctuation."
Is clean tech China's moon shot?
Is clean tech China's moon shot?
Gerard Wynn
DAVOS, Switzerland
Thu Jan 28, 2010 10:32am ESTRelated News
Clean tech: can sovereign wealth help?
Wed, Jan 27 2010
DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - So far, wind turbines are not Sputnik. But one day they could be.
The global race to develop clean technology is not just about who can build the best solar parks or wind farms. It is also shaping up as a contest between Chinese-style capitalism and the more market-oriented approach fancied by the United States and Europe.
The question comes down to this: will China's highly capitalized command-and-control economy trump laissez-faire in a low-carbon shift that is widely portrayed as the next industrial revolution?
The failure in Copenhagen to agree to replace the Kyoto Protocol with a new global climate treaty when it expires in 2012 has thrown the focus on national measures. And by almost all accounts, the Chinese are coming on strong.
Beijing's top leaders have made clear their intention to have their nation dominate this new industry, up and down the value ladder. And in their quest for the prize, they are not burdened by concerns facing their Western counterparts -- such as the impact of wind turbines on landscapes, higher energy prices for consumers, or investor returns.
"Developed markets need to be aware that China is gaining in this space," said David Russell, co-head of responsible investment at the 28 billion pound ($45 billion) British universities pension fund, the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS).
The recession has made it tougher for Europe and America to effect meaningful climate policy change. And with most major nations piling on debt to stimulate flagging economies, politicians likely will find it harder to earmark additional voter money for clean technology.
Instead, recession-hit Western economies are hoping the private sector can plug an estimated worldwide $150 billion annual funding gap to avoid more extreme droughts and floods.
But investors almost always follow the returns, and if the performance is not there, they are not likely to risk their capital. For example, Britain's USS allocates about half a percent of its assets to low-carbon and renewable energy funds, not including its investment in conventional energy companies, which themselves will have some green tinges.
It's hard to imagine the West filling the clean tech funding gap if pension funds -- which are as influential as they are big -- don't pony up more.
Russell says he would like to do more, but like other fund managers he has an obligation to pension holders. He and other fund managers say they won't allocate more to green because their first duty is to guarantee payouts for their members, and while clean tech stocks can yield decent returns, they are often small and risky.
Since a trough in global equities last March, energy efficiency stocks have risen 126 percent and clean energy and technology by 88 percent, compared with wider global stocks' 70 percent, a Deutsche report found this month.
But there are limited opportunities for investors. Oil majors, for example, dwarf the asset value of green companies, and cleantech funds can't move the dial for the big funds whose participation is necessary to close the funding gap.
Advantage, China?
Fortunately for the West, it's not so simple.
WINDY PLAYING FIELD
The global wind industry highlights diverging tactics between China and the West in developing important new markets.
China is leapfrogging global wind power rankings with a combination of aggressive growth targets and domestic support. It has doubled its entire installed capacity each year since 2005, according to the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC).
This month, the British government announced plans for 32 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2020 -- more than a third of its entire present electricity generating capacity now.
The plan also depends on 100 billion pounds of increasingly finicky private capital. And this is an election year.
"I think it will happen," said Benjamin Sykes, head of renewables technology at the UK government-funded Carbon Trust, which advises British companies on how to reduce their carbon footprint. "It's do-able."
Others are less sure. "I don't think it's achievable without a big redirection of investment focus," said investor Tom Murley, at private equity firm HgCapital.
Murley runs a 300-million euro infrastructure fund focused on renewable energy projects in western Europe, in wind power, biogas and solar. The fund has combined debt and equity assets worth over 1 billion euros.
"Will the capital flow to this sector? That's the big question mark. Offshore wind is still relatively new, as yet we don't really know how that equipment is going to perform in the long-run, whether that's really going to be a good investment," said Murley.
As he and other investors see it, British policymakers have to make a choice: either create bigger incentives for investors to underwrite offshore wind power or impose additional taxes on fossil fuels, which would make carbon-based energy less profitable.
CHINA INC.
Europe has the world's clearest, most ambitious renewable energy law, most analysts agree. A European Union directive requires that the 27-nation bloc get a fifth of its energy from renewable sources by 2020.
Germany is leading the charge there. It has the world's biggest solar power market because of aggressive market incentives that even Beijing has sought to mimic.
But China has its own distinct advantages. First and foremost is a "cozy relationship" between state-owned utilities, grid companies and banks, said Steve Sawyer, secretary-general of the Global Wind Energy Council.
China is expected to announce a target soon for about 150 gigawatts of wind power by 2020, which it would hit if it simply maintained present annual capacity growth, said Sawyer. The country also has two turbine makers, Sinovel and Goldwind, in the world top 10, according to the International Energy Agency.
Tao Wang, a climate policy expert with WWF China, said the country would this year develop its next five-year development plan to run from the start of 2011: this is likely to contain new steps to boost alternative energy.
"The Chinese government is essentially using the state banks and state power companies to support and foster a turbine industry," said Jefferies Bank analyst Michael McNamara.
It's not as if Western governments aren't involved in promoting wind turbines. The United States and Germany are the top two countries by installed power, and China edged out Spain into third place last year, according to GWEC.
How fast wind power develops in the United States depends on a climate and energy bill. If the United States passed a bill with an ambitious renewable energy target then "all bets are off" on the pace of growth, said Jefferies' McNamara.
But China has been on a tear -- last year it installed more wind turbines than any other country, says GWEC.
Furthermore, Western businesses are worried China is freezing them out of this lucrative market, preferring to nurture its own nascent industries without subjecting them to competition.
"The state-owned energy company sets up its development arm and they then go to a state-owned bank to get the funding, and they go to a state-owned grid company to make sure they can get a grid connection, and then lo and behold! If there's a bidding process, the state-owned turbine manufacturers happen to win the contracts," said McNamara.
That process has annoyed some Western manufacturers. They say that despite being forced to build local factories in China, because of a "local content" rule for installed turbines, they were still passed over on major contracts.
CAN THE MARKETS PREVAIL?
Some Western analysts still believe a markets-oriented approach works best and will ultimately prevail.
They argue that subsidized inputs will result in a less efficient industry, more focused on volume than cost and quality. "The best solutions come out of a competitive environment," said the Carbon Trust's Sykes.
The focus on adding new capacity has also run ahead of grid connections, meaning many Chinese turbines may never actually produce electricity.
"They will look like wind farms, and they may spin like wind farms, but there's no guarantee that they will actually work like wind farms," said Michael Liebreich, chief executive of the research firm Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
Moreover, some in the West believe the United States still has an advantage in innovation. The owner of patents, not factories, will likely earn the biggest profits and win the technology race.
In a Reuters poll of 41 U.S. venture capital investors, more than three-quarters of respondents said the United States would be the best market for cleantech over the next five years, and 88 percent believed America was the best place to base this business in the same time period. China ranked as the second best market (with 16 percent of the total).
"The world has absolutely no hope of making any substantial impact on global warming without major scientific breakthroughs, almost all which will come from United States' innovation," said Robert Nelsen, co-founder and managing director of Arch Venture Partners.
An undeniable edge for China is its huge pile of foreign exchange reserves. The nation's clean energy industry has recently benefited from Beijing's aggressive economic stimulus, which included funds for energy-efficient buildings.
Signs of an overheating Chinese economy may turn that tap down for a spell. By contrast, Western economies are expected to spend much of their green recovery cash this year and next.
FUNDING GAP
In recession-battered Western nations, and in China, the prime motives for promoting clean technology are jobs, profits and energy security -- not climate change. That leaves no guarantee that there will be enough investment to fight global warming.
An estimated $150 billion invested globally last year was only about half what is required annually by 2015 to avoid dangerous climate change, the International Energy Agency estimates.
"There is a big funding gap. I would say we need at least a doubling by 2015," said Cecilia Tam, citing draft estimates the IEA published in June.
If over the next 20 years the world is to boost renewable power, build greener buildings and roll out more fuel-scrimping cars including hybrid and electric models, it must invest more than an additional $500 billion annually, according to Tam.
Many forms of renewable power are expected to be more expensive than their fossil fuel counterparts for at least another decade.
Given the incompatibility of communist-style targets with western democracies, how can free markets mobilize more green technology cash?
CHINESE LESSONS
Western nations could boost clean investor returns with a tax on fossil fuels or guaranteed higher prices for renewable power. And aside from market levers, governments could adopt standards to make clean tech more attractive -- requiring homes to install smart meters, for example -- but rapid deployment doesn't seem politically palatable at the moment.
"It's worthwhile learning from the Chinese that these big transformations do require some exercise of public power," said James Cameron, vice-chairman of green investors and advisers Climate Change Capital.
Dutch pension asset manager APG has about 2 billion euros allocated to green investments, by the "broadest definition", said Rob Lake, head of sustainability. That compares with total assets of 206 billion euros.
"The reality at the moment is that investment in oil and gas is still attractive," said Lake.
But pension funds and other institutional investors can do more. Even if they don't put more of their own money into clean tech, they can use their clout to encourage more conventional energy companies to clean up, said Marcel Jeucken, head of responsible investment at the Netherlands-based, 86 billion euro PGGM pension asset manager.
Jeucken said his fund is "in constant dialogue" with Royal Dutch Shell, the oil major with a major investment in Canadian oil sands -- where oil production entails more carbon emissions than conventional oil fields.
"We used our shareholder rights wherever possible," he added. "Climate is one of our focus areas, and within that we are working on oil sands. We initiated a trip to the oil and fields last year."
TRY URANIUM?
A discouraging sign for investors who were hoping environmental markets would soon take off is the cloudy future of cap-and-trade plans. Such schemes force coal plants and other polluters to buy carbon emissions permits. They add to the cost of electricity, and are proving a hard sell in the United States.
Opposition to cap-and-trade among U.S. Republicans and some Democrats could block the roll-out of a federal trading scheme which would limit the further growth of global carbon markets, valued at around $125 billion last year.
Furthermore, last month's U.N. summit in Copenhagen was expected to unveil an expansion of global trade in carbon offsets between rich and developing nations, but in the end they won no explicit mention in a weak, final declaration.
What all that means for traders is clear: "To tell you the truth I'm starting to look toward other commodities -- uranium," said Laurent Segalen, head of emissions trading at Nomura.
Does all this suggest China is destined to win the clean tech race? Hardly, though it does seem to have a little more forward momentum than do its rivals these days.
But it's still very early goings, and there's more at stake than business success
Gerard Wynn
DAVOS, Switzerland
Thu Jan 28, 2010 10:32am ESTRelated News
Clean tech: can sovereign wealth help?
Wed, Jan 27 2010
DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - So far, wind turbines are not Sputnik. But one day they could be.
The global race to develop clean technology is not just about who can build the best solar parks or wind farms. It is also shaping up as a contest between Chinese-style capitalism and the more market-oriented approach fancied by the United States and Europe.
The question comes down to this: will China's highly capitalized command-and-control economy trump laissez-faire in a low-carbon shift that is widely portrayed as the next industrial revolution?
The failure in Copenhagen to agree to replace the Kyoto Protocol with a new global climate treaty when it expires in 2012 has thrown the focus on national measures. And by almost all accounts, the Chinese are coming on strong.
Beijing's top leaders have made clear their intention to have their nation dominate this new industry, up and down the value ladder. And in their quest for the prize, they are not burdened by concerns facing their Western counterparts -- such as the impact of wind turbines on landscapes, higher energy prices for consumers, or investor returns.
"Developed markets need to be aware that China is gaining in this space," said David Russell, co-head of responsible investment at the 28 billion pound ($45 billion) British universities pension fund, the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS).
The recession has made it tougher for Europe and America to effect meaningful climate policy change. And with most major nations piling on debt to stimulate flagging economies, politicians likely will find it harder to earmark additional voter money for clean technology.
Instead, recession-hit Western economies are hoping the private sector can plug an estimated worldwide $150 billion annual funding gap to avoid more extreme droughts and floods.
But investors almost always follow the returns, and if the performance is not there, they are not likely to risk their capital. For example, Britain's USS allocates about half a percent of its assets to low-carbon and renewable energy funds, not including its investment in conventional energy companies, which themselves will have some green tinges.
It's hard to imagine the West filling the clean tech funding gap if pension funds -- which are as influential as they are big -- don't pony up more.
Russell says he would like to do more, but like other fund managers he has an obligation to pension holders. He and other fund managers say they won't allocate more to green because their first duty is to guarantee payouts for their members, and while clean tech stocks can yield decent returns, they are often small and risky.
Since a trough in global equities last March, energy efficiency stocks have risen 126 percent and clean energy and technology by 88 percent, compared with wider global stocks' 70 percent, a Deutsche report found this month.
But there are limited opportunities for investors. Oil majors, for example, dwarf the asset value of green companies, and cleantech funds can't move the dial for the big funds whose participation is necessary to close the funding gap.
Advantage, China?
Fortunately for the West, it's not so simple.
WINDY PLAYING FIELD
The global wind industry highlights diverging tactics between China and the West in developing important new markets.
China is leapfrogging global wind power rankings with a combination of aggressive growth targets and domestic support. It has doubled its entire installed capacity each year since 2005, according to the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC).
This month, the British government announced plans for 32 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2020 -- more than a third of its entire present electricity generating capacity now.
The plan also depends on 100 billion pounds of increasingly finicky private capital. And this is an election year.
"I think it will happen," said Benjamin Sykes, head of renewables technology at the UK government-funded Carbon Trust, which advises British companies on how to reduce their carbon footprint. "It's do-able."
Others are less sure. "I don't think it's achievable without a big redirection of investment focus," said investor Tom Murley, at private equity firm HgCapital.
Murley runs a 300-million euro infrastructure fund focused on renewable energy projects in western Europe, in wind power, biogas and solar. The fund has combined debt and equity assets worth over 1 billion euros.
"Will the capital flow to this sector? That's the big question mark. Offshore wind is still relatively new, as yet we don't really know how that equipment is going to perform in the long-run, whether that's really going to be a good investment," said Murley.
As he and other investors see it, British policymakers have to make a choice: either create bigger incentives for investors to underwrite offshore wind power or impose additional taxes on fossil fuels, which would make carbon-based energy less profitable.
CHINA INC.
Europe has the world's clearest, most ambitious renewable energy law, most analysts agree. A European Union directive requires that the 27-nation bloc get a fifth of its energy from renewable sources by 2020.
Germany is leading the charge there. It has the world's biggest solar power market because of aggressive market incentives that even Beijing has sought to mimic.
But China has its own distinct advantages. First and foremost is a "cozy relationship" between state-owned utilities, grid companies and banks, said Steve Sawyer, secretary-general of the Global Wind Energy Council.
China is expected to announce a target soon for about 150 gigawatts of wind power by 2020, which it would hit if it simply maintained present annual capacity growth, said Sawyer. The country also has two turbine makers, Sinovel and Goldwind, in the world top 10, according to the International Energy Agency.
Tao Wang, a climate policy expert with WWF China, said the country would this year develop its next five-year development plan to run from the start of 2011: this is likely to contain new steps to boost alternative energy.
"The Chinese government is essentially using the state banks and state power companies to support and foster a turbine industry," said Jefferies Bank analyst Michael McNamara.
It's not as if Western governments aren't involved in promoting wind turbines. The United States and Germany are the top two countries by installed power, and China edged out Spain into third place last year, according to GWEC.
How fast wind power develops in the United States depends on a climate and energy bill. If the United States passed a bill with an ambitious renewable energy target then "all bets are off" on the pace of growth, said Jefferies' McNamara.
But China has been on a tear -- last year it installed more wind turbines than any other country, says GWEC.
Furthermore, Western businesses are worried China is freezing them out of this lucrative market, preferring to nurture its own nascent industries without subjecting them to competition.
"The state-owned energy company sets up its development arm and they then go to a state-owned bank to get the funding, and they go to a state-owned grid company to make sure they can get a grid connection, and then lo and behold! If there's a bidding process, the state-owned turbine manufacturers happen to win the contracts," said McNamara.
That process has annoyed some Western manufacturers. They say that despite being forced to build local factories in China, because of a "local content" rule for installed turbines, they were still passed over on major contracts.
CAN THE MARKETS PREVAIL?
Some Western analysts still believe a markets-oriented approach works best and will ultimately prevail.
They argue that subsidized inputs will result in a less efficient industry, more focused on volume than cost and quality. "The best solutions come out of a competitive environment," said the Carbon Trust's Sykes.
The focus on adding new capacity has also run ahead of grid connections, meaning many Chinese turbines may never actually produce electricity.
"They will look like wind farms, and they may spin like wind farms, but there's no guarantee that they will actually work like wind farms," said Michael Liebreich, chief executive of the research firm Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
Moreover, some in the West believe the United States still has an advantage in innovation. The owner of patents, not factories, will likely earn the biggest profits and win the technology race.
In a Reuters poll of 41 U.S. venture capital investors, more than three-quarters of respondents said the United States would be the best market for cleantech over the next five years, and 88 percent believed America was the best place to base this business in the same time period. China ranked as the second best market (with 16 percent of the total).
"The world has absolutely no hope of making any substantial impact on global warming without major scientific breakthroughs, almost all which will come from United States' innovation," said Robert Nelsen, co-founder and managing director of Arch Venture Partners.
An undeniable edge for China is its huge pile of foreign exchange reserves. The nation's clean energy industry has recently benefited from Beijing's aggressive economic stimulus, which included funds for energy-efficient buildings.
Signs of an overheating Chinese economy may turn that tap down for a spell. By contrast, Western economies are expected to spend much of their green recovery cash this year and next.
FUNDING GAP
In recession-battered Western nations, and in China, the prime motives for promoting clean technology are jobs, profits and energy security -- not climate change. That leaves no guarantee that there will be enough investment to fight global warming.
An estimated $150 billion invested globally last year was only about half what is required annually by 2015 to avoid dangerous climate change, the International Energy Agency estimates.
"There is a big funding gap. I would say we need at least a doubling by 2015," said Cecilia Tam, citing draft estimates the IEA published in June.
If over the next 20 years the world is to boost renewable power, build greener buildings and roll out more fuel-scrimping cars including hybrid and electric models, it must invest more than an additional $500 billion annually, according to Tam.
Many forms of renewable power are expected to be more expensive than their fossil fuel counterparts for at least another decade.
Given the incompatibility of communist-style targets with western democracies, how can free markets mobilize more green technology cash?
CHINESE LESSONS
Western nations could boost clean investor returns with a tax on fossil fuels or guaranteed higher prices for renewable power. And aside from market levers, governments could adopt standards to make clean tech more attractive -- requiring homes to install smart meters, for example -- but rapid deployment doesn't seem politically palatable at the moment.
"It's worthwhile learning from the Chinese that these big transformations do require some exercise of public power," said James Cameron, vice-chairman of green investors and advisers Climate Change Capital.
Dutch pension asset manager APG has about 2 billion euros allocated to green investments, by the "broadest definition", said Rob Lake, head of sustainability. That compares with total assets of 206 billion euros.
"The reality at the moment is that investment in oil and gas is still attractive," said Lake.
But pension funds and other institutional investors can do more. Even if they don't put more of their own money into clean tech, they can use their clout to encourage more conventional energy companies to clean up, said Marcel Jeucken, head of responsible investment at the Netherlands-based, 86 billion euro PGGM pension asset manager.
Jeucken said his fund is "in constant dialogue" with Royal Dutch Shell, the oil major with a major investment in Canadian oil sands -- where oil production entails more carbon emissions than conventional oil fields.
"We used our shareholder rights wherever possible," he added. "Climate is one of our focus areas, and within that we are working on oil sands. We initiated a trip to the oil and fields last year."
TRY URANIUM?
A discouraging sign for investors who were hoping environmental markets would soon take off is the cloudy future of cap-and-trade plans. Such schemes force coal plants and other polluters to buy carbon emissions permits. They add to the cost of electricity, and are proving a hard sell in the United States.
Opposition to cap-and-trade among U.S. Republicans and some Democrats could block the roll-out of a federal trading scheme which would limit the further growth of global carbon markets, valued at around $125 billion last year.
Furthermore, last month's U.N. summit in Copenhagen was expected to unveil an expansion of global trade in carbon offsets between rich and developing nations, but in the end they won no explicit mention in a weak, final declaration.
What all that means for traders is clear: "To tell you the truth I'm starting to look toward other commodities -- uranium," said Laurent Segalen, head of emissions trading at Nomura.
Does all this suggest China is destined to win the clean tech race? Hardly, though it does seem to have a little more forward momentum than do its rivals these days.
But it's still very early goings, and there's more at stake than business success
Honda's fuel cell vehicle gets free energy
January 27, 2010 12:16 PM PST
Honda's fuel cell vehicle gets free energy
by Wayne Cunningham
Honda's new hydrogen station uses a solar panel array for power.
(Credit: Honda)
Honda developed and put into operation a new solar hydrogen station at its Los Angeles research center to refill the Honda FCX fuel cell vehicle.
The new station delivers a trickle of hydrogen, designed to put half a kilogram into the FCX's tank over an eight hour period, enough, according to Honda, for most drivers' daily commutes. The FCX has a hydrogen capacity of about 4 kilograms and a range of 240 miles, so a half kilogram will run it for 30 miles.
Honda developed prototypes of this station previously, but most were inefficient because of the need for a compressor to pressurize the hydrogen. The new station combines compressor and electrolyzer in what Honda calls a "high differential pressure electrolyzer."
While the station can use electricity from its 6-kilowatt solar panel array to power the electrolyzer and generate hydrogen, Honda envisions most people hooking the FCX up to the hydrogen station overnight and using nonpeak capacity electricity from the grid. The solar panels would send electricity back into the grid during the day, when the FCX owner is at work.
Given the slow fill rate of the hydrogen from this station, public hydrogen stations, which can fill the tanks in 5 minutes, would still be needed.
Honda's fuel cell vehicle gets free energy
by Wayne Cunningham
Honda's new hydrogen station uses a solar panel array for power.
(Credit: Honda)
Honda developed and put into operation a new solar hydrogen station at its Los Angeles research center to refill the Honda FCX fuel cell vehicle.
The new station delivers a trickle of hydrogen, designed to put half a kilogram into the FCX's tank over an eight hour period, enough, according to Honda, for most drivers' daily commutes. The FCX has a hydrogen capacity of about 4 kilograms and a range of 240 miles, so a half kilogram will run it for 30 miles.
Honda developed prototypes of this station previously, but most were inefficient because of the need for a compressor to pressurize the hydrogen. The new station combines compressor and electrolyzer in what Honda calls a "high differential pressure electrolyzer."
While the station can use electricity from its 6-kilowatt solar panel array to power the electrolyzer and generate hydrogen, Honda envisions most people hooking the FCX up to the hydrogen station overnight and using nonpeak capacity electricity from the grid. The solar panels would send electricity back into the grid during the day, when the FCX owner is at work.
Given the slow fill rate of the hydrogen from this station, public hydrogen stations, which can fill the tanks in 5 minutes, would still be needed.
Minnesota Twins stadium to recycle rainwater
Minnesota Twins stadium to recycle rainwater
by Candace Lombardi
The Minnesota Twins' new stadium will include a rain-water recycling system, the baseball team said Tuesday.
The system was custom designed for Target Field by Minnesota-based Pentair, a tech company that specializes in part on water treatment and storage. Pentair's system will capture, filter, and purify rainwater for reuse at the stadium.
Specifically, the system will collect and purify rainwater from throughout the ballpark's seven acres, including the stands, and store it in a cistern buried deep in the ground under the outfield. That so-called gray water will then be used to wash down the stands and irrigate the field.
Pentair, which has been named the "official sustainable water provider" for the Twins, asserts that its filtration and purification system produces water that is as clean or cleaner than most household tap water.
In addition to the rain-recycling system, Pentair will also provide the stadium's spectator suites, administrative offices, and training facilities for players with its tap water filtration system. The additional system is part of an effort to encourage stadium visitors to drink tap water and use less bottled water.
It's estimated that Target Field will still need to draw 50 percent of its water from the municipality. However, the use of gray water should reduce the club's use of municipal water by about 2 million gallons per year, according to the Twins.
"Clean water and conservation are worldwide issues, but that being said, I believe that they hit closer to home in the Land of 10,000 Lakes," Twins President Dave St. Peter said at a Tuesday news conference.
Comments
by javair January 13, 2010 1:18 PM PST
Seattle Mariners' Safeco Field has used a rainwater capture system for use on its field since it was built about ten years ago. The water that runs off the facility is captured in giant tanks, they send water under the field, and it is then heated so that the grass will grow in spring. I forget the statistic they gave when I was on tour there, but is was immense amount of gallons collected per month here in the Pacific Northwest.
by MaurizioMaranghi January 19, 2010 11:05 AM PST
WOW! What an amazing recycling idea! Seriously, all stadiums, buildings, etc. need to recycle rainwater as well, especially in places such as Seattle (where it rains 10 months out of the year). Great post...keep 'em coming.
- Maurizio Maranghi -
What a great idea. How much energy is used to heat the water, etc.? Is it used for irrigation of the playing fields? Water conservation is almost always a good deal.
by Candace Lombardi
The Minnesota Twins' new stadium will include a rain-water recycling system, the baseball team said Tuesday.
The system was custom designed for Target Field by Minnesota-based Pentair, a tech company that specializes in part on water treatment and storage. Pentair's system will capture, filter, and purify rainwater for reuse at the stadium.
Specifically, the system will collect and purify rainwater from throughout the ballpark's seven acres, including the stands, and store it in a cistern buried deep in the ground under the outfield. That so-called gray water will then be used to wash down the stands and irrigate the field.
Pentair, which has been named the "official sustainable water provider" for the Twins, asserts that its filtration and purification system produces water that is as clean or cleaner than most household tap water.
In addition to the rain-recycling system, Pentair will also provide the stadium's spectator suites, administrative offices, and training facilities for players with its tap water filtration system. The additional system is part of an effort to encourage stadium visitors to drink tap water and use less bottled water.
It's estimated that Target Field will still need to draw 50 percent of its water from the municipality. However, the use of gray water should reduce the club's use of municipal water by about 2 million gallons per year, according to the Twins.
"Clean water and conservation are worldwide issues, but that being said, I believe that they hit closer to home in the Land of 10,000 Lakes," Twins President Dave St. Peter said at a Tuesday news conference.
Comments
by javair January 13, 2010 1:18 PM PST
Seattle Mariners' Safeco Field has used a rainwater capture system for use on its field since it was built about ten years ago. The water that runs off the facility is captured in giant tanks, they send water under the field, and it is then heated so that the grass will grow in spring. I forget the statistic they gave when I was on tour there, but is was immense amount of gallons collected per month here in the Pacific Northwest.
by MaurizioMaranghi January 19, 2010 11:05 AM PST
WOW! What an amazing recycling idea! Seriously, all stadiums, buildings, etc. need to recycle rainwater as well, especially in places such as Seattle (where it rains 10 months out of the year). Great post...keep 'em coming.
- Maurizio Maranghi -
What a great idea. How much energy is used to heat the water, etc.? Is it used for irrigation of the playing fields? Water conservation is almost always a good deal.
Kendall-Jackson to drastically cut water usage
January 6, 2010 9:05 AM PST
Kendall-Jackson to drastically cut water usage
by Candace Lombardi Font size Print E-mail Share 5 comments Yahoo! BuzzShare
The majority of water used in wineries goes toward rinsing barrels, tanks, and equipment.
(Credit: Kendall-Jackson)
Jackson Family Wines, known for its Kendall-Jackson label, has developed a process to reduce winery water usage by 70 percent.
The majority of water consumed in wineries typically goes toward rinsing wine barrels, tanks, and equipment.
A new system developed by Jackson Family Wines recycles and filters the hot water used for rinsing, losing only about 10 percent of that water in the process, the company said Tuesday. The system also retains 75 percent of the water's heat. As a result, the process also saves energy.
The company developed and tested the process in conjunction with the University of California at Davis, winery waste-water specialist Heritage Systems, and civil engineering firm Riechers Spence and Associates.
After a year-long pilot program, Jackson Family Wines has decided to implement the process in its Kendall-Jackson winery in Sonoma County, California. The process is expected to save the winery up to 6 million gallons of water, 133,000 kWh of electricity, and 73,000 therms of natural gas each year, according to company estimates.
"This is the first time that the wine industry has seen a water filtration system that is so efficient and cost effective. We expect this to have a major beneficial impact on water and energy use not only in the wine industry, but in many industries throughout the state," Jess Jackson, founder and proprietor of Jackson Family Wines, said in a statement.
If 35 percent of California wineries adopt the process, it will save the state 1 billion gallons of water annually, according to Jackson Family Wines, which is seeking grant money to help other wineries implement the system
Kendall-Jackson to drastically cut water usage
by Candace Lombardi Font size Print E-mail Share 5 comments Yahoo! BuzzShare
The majority of water used in wineries goes toward rinsing barrels, tanks, and equipment.
(Credit: Kendall-Jackson)
Jackson Family Wines, known for its Kendall-Jackson label, has developed a process to reduce winery water usage by 70 percent.
The majority of water consumed in wineries typically goes toward rinsing wine barrels, tanks, and equipment.
A new system developed by Jackson Family Wines recycles and filters the hot water used for rinsing, losing only about 10 percent of that water in the process, the company said Tuesday. The system also retains 75 percent of the water's heat. As a result, the process also saves energy.
The company developed and tested the process in conjunction with the University of California at Davis, winery waste-water specialist Heritage Systems, and civil engineering firm Riechers Spence and Associates.
After a year-long pilot program, Jackson Family Wines has decided to implement the process in its Kendall-Jackson winery in Sonoma County, California. The process is expected to save the winery up to 6 million gallons of water, 133,000 kWh of electricity, and 73,000 therms of natural gas each year, according to company estimates.
"This is the first time that the wine industry has seen a water filtration system that is so efficient and cost effective. We expect this to have a major beneficial impact on water and energy use not only in the wine industry, but in many industries throughout the state," Jess Jackson, founder and proprietor of Jackson Family Wines, said in a statement.
If 35 percent of California wineries adopt the process, it will save the state 1 billion gallons of water annually, according to Jackson Family Wines, which is seeking grant money to help other wineries implement the system
Generator maker sees used motor oil potential
January 14, 2010 9:01 AM PST
Generator maker sees used motor oil potential
by Candace Lombardi
An engineer's sketch of the Cyclone Mark V external combustion engine.
(Credit: Cyclone Power Technologies) An inventor and a generator manufacturer have come up with a new use for used motor oil.
Cyclone Power Technologies signed a deal with Phoenix Power Group on Thursday to develop an external combustion engine that runs on waste oil. The deal signs over waste-oil-related rights to Cyclone's Mark V external combustion engine to the Phoenix Power, which plans to use the engine in its new Phoenix 5-Series Generator.
"Cyclone still retains rights for the Mark V with other fuels," a Cyclone representative noted in an e-mail. "Phoenix Power only holds exclusive rights for generators running on waste oil." The representative noted that the Mark V "runs on all fuels--including biofuels like algae and orange peels."
Cyclone Power Technologies is the company founded by Harry Schoell, an inventor of an improved version of the steam engine that Popular Science named an "Invention of the Year" in 2008 and also garnered an award from the Society of Automotive Engineers. A description and video of Schoell's steam engine invention, which can run on "virtually any fuel" can be found in a Popular Science profile on him in 2008. At the time he said he was planning to offer it to lawnmower manufacturers. Now, it seems, a modified version of that original Cyclone Engine, the Cyclone Mark V, will be used in power generators.
"The P5S is expected to be the first power generator capable of utilizing waste oil products, such as used motor/equipment oil, to produce electricity for on-site operational requirements or as a power grid feed, " Phoenix Power Group said in a statement.
There is a reason why the Phoenix Power Group is so keen on used oil.
The generator designer and manufacturer is a subsidiary of the Atlantic Systems Group, a Harrisonburg, Va.-based company that designs and builds automotive oil change and service stations. That's obviously a group of people who think a lot about used oil and its problem as a potential contaminate to our water supply. As it's been noted before in other articles on motor oil, the Environmental Protection Agency contends that dumping the waste oil from just one car's oil change into the ground can contaminate up to 1 million gallons of fresh water.
Generator maker sees used motor oil potential
by Candace Lombardi
An engineer's sketch of the Cyclone Mark V external combustion engine.
(Credit: Cyclone Power Technologies) An inventor and a generator manufacturer have come up with a new use for used motor oil.
Cyclone Power Technologies signed a deal with Phoenix Power Group on Thursday to develop an external combustion engine that runs on waste oil. The deal signs over waste-oil-related rights to Cyclone's Mark V external combustion engine to the Phoenix Power, which plans to use the engine in its new Phoenix 5-Series Generator.
"Cyclone still retains rights for the Mark V with other fuels," a Cyclone representative noted in an e-mail. "Phoenix Power only holds exclusive rights for generators running on waste oil." The representative noted that the Mark V "runs on all fuels--including biofuels like algae and orange peels."
Cyclone Power Technologies is the company founded by Harry Schoell, an inventor of an improved version of the steam engine that Popular Science named an "Invention of the Year" in 2008 and also garnered an award from the Society of Automotive Engineers. A description and video of Schoell's steam engine invention, which can run on "virtually any fuel" can be found in a Popular Science profile on him in 2008. At the time he said he was planning to offer it to lawnmower manufacturers. Now, it seems, a modified version of that original Cyclone Engine, the Cyclone Mark V, will be used in power generators.
"The P5S is expected to be the first power generator capable of utilizing waste oil products, such as used motor/equipment oil, to produce electricity for on-site operational requirements or as a power grid feed, " Phoenix Power Group said in a statement.
There is a reason why the Phoenix Power Group is so keen on used oil.
The generator designer and manufacturer is a subsidiary of the Atlantic Systems Group, a Harrisonburg, Va.-based company that designs and builds automotive oil change and service stations. That's obviously a group of people who think a lot about used oil and its problem as a potential contaminate to our water supply. As it's been noted before in other articles on motor oil, the Environmental Protection Agency contends that dumping the waste oil from just one car's oil change into the ground can contaminate up to 1 million gallons of fresh water.
Think City EV promises 80 percent charge in 15 min.
January 27, 2010 9:51 AM PST
by Candace Lombardi
Think City, like EnerDel, has manufacturing facilities in Indiana.
(Credit: Think)
Think announced Monday that EnerDel will be the exclusive supplier of lithium ion batteries for Think City's U.S. cars and for 60 percent of its cars sold in Europe.
The company also announced that AeroVironment will be partnering with Think in the U.S. to build a series of "very-fast-charge stations."
The result of the fast-charging stations, combined with EnerDel's lithium ion batteries in Think City cars, will be electric cars that take only 15 minutes to charge from zero capacity to 80 percent capacity, according to Think.
As previously reported, the Think City all-electric car will have a range of about 112 miles per charge. It will be compatible with both a standard U.S. 110-volt household outlet, as well as a special 220-volt fast-charging outlet designed for home use.
In conjunction with Mazda, EnerDel and Think Global have already partnered on a pilot project in Japan set to start March 2010. Drivers will be able to rent all-electric Mazda2 cars (known as Mazda Demios in Japan) that will have Think drivetrains with EnerDel batteries and utilize fast-charging stations.
EnerDel, a subsidiary of Ener1, is an automotive lithium ion battery manufacturer that has become an auto industry darling and a poster child for the U.S. stimulus package success.
In August, it was announced in conjunction with President Barack Obama's trip to Elkhart, Ind., that the Indiana-based battery manufacturer would receive $118.5 million in federal grants to double its U.S. production facilities resulting in the creation of approximately 1,700 new jobs as part of the U.S. stimulus package. Since then, EnerDel has also signed a contract with Volvo for its C30 electric-car project, and a $1.29 million contract with the U.S. Army to develop a lithium ion battery system for a hybrid version of the iconic High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV aka Humvee).
EnerDel also has deals with Fisker Automotive, Nissan, and the Japan Postal Service among others.
AeroVironment, on the other hand, is probably best known in recent years for its high-profile work on unmanned aerial vehicles for DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. But the California-based company has actually been involved in electric cars for decades. AeroVironment has made charging systems for industrial and construction electric vehicles (forklifts, light duty trucks), and was involved in General Motors' EV1 project in the 1980s. Most recently, AeroVironment signed a deal to supply Nissan with 220-volt home charging stations as part of its widespread Nissan Leaf rollout in the U.S.
by Candace Lombardi
Think City, like EnerDel, has manufacturing facilities in Indiana.
(Credit: Think)
Think announced Monday that EnerDel will be the exclusive supplier of lithium ion batteries for Think City's U.S. cars and for 60 percent of its cars sold in Europe.
The company also announced that AeroVironment will be partnering with Think in the U.S. to build a series of "very-fast-charge stations."
The result of the fast-charging stations, combined with EnerDel's lithium ion batteries in Think City cars, will be electric cars that take only 15 minutes to charge from zero capacity to 80 percent capacity, according to Think.
As previously reported, the Think City all-electric car will have a range of about 112 miles per charge. It will be compatible with both a standard U.S. 110-volt household outlet, as well as a special 220-volt fast-charging outlet designed for home use.
In conjunction with Mazda, EnerDel and Think Global have already partnered on a pilot project in Japan set to start March 2010. Drivers will be able to rent all-electric Mazda2 cars (known as Mazda Demios in Japan) that will have Think drivetrains with EnerDel batteries and utilize fast-charging stations.
EnerDel, a subsidiary of Ener1, is an automotive lithium ion battery manufacturer that has become an auto industry darling and a poster child for the U.S. stimulus package success.
In August, it was announced in conjunction with President Barack Obama's trip to Elkhart, Ind., that the Indiana-based battery manufacturer would receive $118.5 million in federal grants to double its U.S. production facilities resulting in the creation of approximately 1,700 new jobs as part of the U.S. stimulus package. Since then, EnerDel has also signed a contract with Volvo for its C30 electric-car project, and a $1.29 million contract with the U.S. Army to develop a lithium ion battery system for a hybrid version of the iconic High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV aka Humvee).
EnerDel also has deals with Fisker Automotive, Nissan, and the Japan Postal Service among others.
AeroVironment, on the other hand, is probably best known in recent years for its high-profile work on unmanned aerial vehicles for DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. But the California-based company has actually been involved in electric cars for decades. AeroVironment has made charging systems for industrial and construction electric vehicles (forklifts, light duty trucks), and was involved in General Motors' EV1 project in the 1980s. Most recently, AeroVironment signed a deal to supply Nissan with 220-volt home charging stations as part of its widespread Nissan Leaf rollout in the U.S.
Ferrari set to unveil hybrid
January 28, 2010 8:23 AM PST
by Candace Lombardi
Here was the Ferrari 599 XX at last year's Geneva Motor Show.
(Credit: CNET)
Ferrari will unveil a hybrid at the Geneva Motor Show in March, the company's chairman confirmed Thursday.
Rumors of a hybrid Ferrari prototype based on the Ferrari 599 GTB, which debuted at the 2006 Geneva Motor Show, have long been making the rounds.
Ferrari filings with the European Patent Office for a "4WD system with hybrid propulsion" were reported in June. At the time, Ferrari confirmed it was developing hybrid technology and hinted at a release within the year, but did not specify when.
Since then, there has been much speculation (and outrage by some purists) about a hybrid version of the iconic sports car. Thursday was the first official confirmation that it will appear at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show.
"It has to be the avant-garde in automobile technology. We're constructing cars with an enormous part of the innovative technology. We'll present a 599 hybrid in Geneva, which will represent a great path towards the future," Ferrari Chairman Luca di Montezemolo said in Maranello, Italy, at the presentation of the 2010 Formula One Ferrari.
Confirmation of his statement and a video of the event were released simultaneously on Ferrari's F1 Web site.
What remains to be seen is whether the prototype makes it to even limited production and whether Ferrari aficionados and buyers will find such a car blasphemous or forward-thinking.
by Candace Lombardi
Here was the Ferrari 599 XX at last year's Geneva Motor Show.
(Credit: CNET)
Ferrari will unveil a hybrid at the Geneva Motor Show in March, the company's chairman confirmed Thursday.
Rumors of a hybrid Ferrari prototype based on the Ferrari 599 GTB, which debuted at the 2006 Geneva Motor Show, have long been making the rounds.
Ferrari filings with the European Patent Office for a "4WD system with hybrid propulsion" were reported in June. At the time, Ferrari confirmed it was developing hybrid technology and hinted at a release within the year, but did not specify when.
Since then, there has been much speculation (and outrage by some purists) about a hybrid version of the iconic sports car. Thursday was the first official confirmation that it will appear at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show.
"It has to be the avant-garde in automobile technology. We're constructing cars with an enormous part of the innovative technology. We'll present a 599 hybrid in Geneva, which will represent a great path towards the future," Ferrari Chairman Luca di Montezemolo said in Maranello, Italy, at the presentation of the 2010 Formula One Ferrari.
Confirmation of his statement and a video of the event were released simultaneously on Ferrari's F1 Web site.
What remains to be seen is whether the prototype makes it to even limited production and whether Ferrari aficionados and buyers will find such a car blasphemous or forward-thinking.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
High-rise to get 250-foot-tall 'garden'
What plants will survive up there? Green remodel working on it
This computer generated architectural image shows 250-foot-tall trellises designed to shade the west side of an 18-story federal building in Portland, Ore.
updated 1:28 p.m. ET, Mon., Jan. 18, 2010
PORTLAND, Ore. - They haven't figured out yet how to get the pruning done, but architects and federal officials plan one of the world's most extensive vertical gardens in downtown Portland — what amounts to a series of 250-foot-tall trellises designed to shade the west side of an 18-story office building.
It is not a new idea to use greenery vertically as "living architecture," running plants up the sides of a building to keep it cool.
But even in a city with a reputation for rainfed greenery as well as for green architecture, the wall of the Edith Green-Wendell Wyatt Federal Building would stand out.
The architects' plans call for seven vertical "vegetated fins" to jut at acute angles. The fins would be the metal framework for planters and the greenery sprouting from them.
The west wall is 150 feet long, making the expanse to be shaded about three-quarters the size of an NFL playing field, minus the end zones.
The work is part of a $135 million remodeling, with most of the money from federal stimulus funds. It is the largest single stimulus project announced so far in Oregon. The U.S. General Services Administration says its goal is to create a "landmark high-performance building."
The green wall concept is familiar to anyone who has planted a deciduous tree or used a vine-covered trellis on the west side of the house: In the summer the leaves provide cooling shade; in the winter, the bare limbs and stems admit comforting light.
"If you think about it, it's a planter every 25 feet," architect Don Eggleston said. "A lot of people have 10-foot trellises in their gardens."
Some unanswered questions
Eggleston's firm, SERA Architects, is working on some questions that weekend gardeners never have to figure out: what plants will grow readily at more than 200 feet in the air and how to water, fertilize, weed and prune at that height.
The pruning might be done in much the same way windows are washed, he said, with workers hoisted and lowered on platforms.
Rainwater collected on the roof, supplemented by city water, will be piped for irrigating the green wall, he said.
The building is a modernist, International style high-rise completed in 1975 and named for two U.S. representatives from northwest Oregon. Across a city park, it is face to face with City Hall.
It hasn't gotten a great deal of respect in Portland. Bart King, author of a local guidebook to the city's architecture, said he found it ugly and boring, so he didn't include it.
It hasn't aged well, either. Its precast concrete facade has settled, opening gaps around its single-pane windows, and it's leaking air and water, said Kevin Kampschroer, the General Services Administration official in charge of the greening of the federal buildings.
"It's not structurally unsound, but it's not going to get any better," said Kampschroer.
So, off will come the facade, and out will come some of the building's guts.
Construction is expected to take 30 to 40 months. Federal workers are beginning to move to temporary quarters.
Elevators will produce electricity
The General Services Administration, landlord for federal office buildings, lists other energy-efficient features: Elevators that generate electricity on the way down, solar arrays on the roof, smart lighting systems that adjust to the daylight available, using some of the collected rainwater to flush toilets.
The building's three other walls will have less striking treatments: shades on the south and east walls and windows that drink in the indirect north light.
The building's roof will stick out — about 20 feet — and look like a giant mortarboard. The overhang is designed for shade.
But attention is likely to turn quickly to the plans for a greened-up west wall.
Sean Hogan, writer, nursery owner and garden designer who worked on a green wall several years ago for the parking garage at Portland's airport said irrigation and plant selection will be critical to keeping a green wall green in Portland's summers.
Despite its national reputation as a drizzly place, the city's climate is Mediterranean, with warm to hot temperatures from late spring to early fall and little rainfall. Garden irrigation is commonplace.
"Trust me, it will be a challenge," said Randy Gragg, former architecture critic for The Oregonian newspaper and editor of Portland Monthly magazine. "It will get baked, absolutely."
The idea of vertical gardens has a root in antiquity — the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, probably near Baghdad, were in legend one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Their existence and extent, however, are in question.
More recently, green roofs have become established as a way of providing insulation and controlling stormwater runoff, among other benefits, and green walls have begun to emerge as not only pleasing to the eye but also part of highly efficient buildings.
At small scale, green walls can even provide fruits and vegetables, but they are used mostly for energy and environmental benefits: insulation, cleansing urban air, deadening sound, sequestering carbon.
The president of a trade group that promotes green roofs and walls said the Green-Wyatt installation is likely to be the most extensive in North America so far.
"The GSA has been a real leader in the use of green roofs and walls," said Steven Peck of Green Roofs for Healthy Cities. "It's nice to see the government leading by example."
This computer generated architectural image shows 250-foot-tall trellises designed to shade the west side of an 18-story federal building in Portland, Ore.
updated 1:28 p.m. ET, Mon., Jan. 18, 2010
PORTLAND, Ore. - They haven't figured out yet how to get the pruning done, but architects and federal officials plan one of the world's most extensive vertical gardens in downtown Portland — what amounts to a series of 250-foot-tall trellises designed to shade the west side of an 18-story office building.
It is not a new idea to use greenery vertically as "living architecture," running plants up the sides of a building to keep it cool.
But even in a city with a reputation for rainfed greenery as well as for green architecture, the wall of the Edith Green-Wendell Wyatt Federal Building would stand out.
The architects' plans call for seven vertical "vegetated fins" to jut at acute angles. The fins would be the metal framework for planters and the greenery sprouting from them.
The west wall is 150 feet long, making the expanse to be shaded about three-quarters the size of an NFL playing field, minus the end zones.
The work is part of a $135 million remodeling, with most of the money from federal stimulus funds. It is the largest single stimulus project announced so far in Oregon. The U.S. General Services Administration says its goal is to create a "landmark high-performance building."
The green wall concept is familiar to anyone who has planted a deciduous tree or used a vine-covered trellis on the west side of the house: In the summer the leaves provide cooling shade; in the winter, the bare limbs and stems admit comforting light.
"If you think about it, it's a planter every 25 feet," architect Don Eggleston said. "A lot of people have 10-foot trellises in their gardens."
Some unanswered questions
Eggleston's firm, SERA Architects, is working on some questions that weekend gardeners never have to figure out: what plants will grow readily at more than 200 feet in the air and how to water, fertilize, weed and prune at that height.
The pruning might be done in much the same way windows are washed, he said, with workers hoisted and lowered on platforms.
Rainwater collected on the roof, supplemented by city water, will be piped for irrigating the green wall, he said.
The building is a modernist, International style high-rise completed in 1975 and named for two U.S. representatives from northwest Oregon. Across a city park, it is face to face with City Hall.
It hasn't gotten a great deal of respect in Portland. Bart King, author of a local guidebook to the city's architecture, said he found it ugly and boring, so he didn't include it.
It hasn't aged well, either. Its precast concrete facade has settled, opening gaps around its single-pane windows, and it's leaking air and water, said Kevin Kampschroer, the General Services Administration official in charge of the greening of the federal buildings.
"It's not structurally unsound, but it's not going to get any better," said Kampschroer.
So, off will come the facade, and out will come some of the building's guts.
Construction is expected to take 30 to 40 months. Federal workers are beginning to move to temporary quarters.
Elevators will produce electricity
The General Services Administration, landlord for federal office buildings, lists other energy-efficient features: Elevators that generate electricity on the way down, solar arrays on the roof, smart lighting systems that adjust to the daylight available, using some of the collected rainwater to flush toilets.
The building's three other walls will have less striking treatments: shades on the south and east walls and windows that drink in the indirect north light.
The building's roof will stick out — about 20 feet — and look like a giant mortarboard. The overhang is designed for shade.
But attention is likely to turn quickly to the plans for a greened-up west wall.
Sean Hogan, writer, nursery owner and garden designer who worked on a green wall several years ago for the parking garage at Portland's airport said irrigation and plant selection will be critical to keeping a green wall green in Portland's summers.
Despite its national reputation as a drizzly place, the city's climate is Mediterranean, with warm to hot temperatures from late spring to early fall and little rainfall. Garden irrigation is commonplace.
"Trust me, it will be a challenge," said Randy Gragg, former architecture critic for The Oregonian newspaper and editor of Portland Monthly magazine. "It will get baked, absolutely."
The idea of vertical gardens has a root in antiquity — the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, probably near Baghdad, were in legend one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Their existence and extent, however, are in question.
More recently, green roofs have become established as a way of providing insulation and controlling stormwater runoff, among other benefits, and green walls have begun to emerge as not only pleasing to the eye but also part of highly efficient buildings.
At small scale, green walls can even provide fruits and vegetables, but they are used mostly for energy and environmental benefits: insulation, cleansing urban air, deadening sound, sequestering carbon.
The president of a trade group that promotes green roofs and walls said the Green-Wyatt installation is likely to be the most extensive in North America so far.
"The GSA has been a real leader in the use of green roofs and walls," said Steven Peck of Green Roofs for Healthy Cities. "It's nice to see the government leading by example."
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Dianne Feinstein Not in Anyone’s Backyard
Protect the environment or create renewable energy? A new bill shows they're far from the same thing.
By Daniel Stone | Newsweek Web Exclusive
Jan 13, 2010
You can't blame California for not being ambitious. In 2008, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger set the bold goal that by 2020, a third of the state's power would come from renewable sources. Not bad for the nation's most populous state and among the world's top 10 largest economies. At the time, it was a target miles ahead of any other state, and a fairly risky one at the beginning of a would-be global recession that would drive the Golden State deep into the red.
It's easy to see why Schwarzenegger thought it was possible. Earlier that year, oilman T. Boone Pickens characterized the Southwest U.S. as the Saudi Arabia of solar power, offering the choicest elevation and sun strength in the world for optimal power generation. On that, everyone agreed. Where to put the solar panels continues to be a different story. Everyone's for renewable energy, just not when solar or wind farms block their view or drive down property values.
California Sen. Dianne Feinstein revived the debate last month with a wilderness designation bill intended to rope off more than half a million acres of Southern California land between Joshua Tree National Park and the Mojave National Preserve, restricting the area to both solar developers and off-road vehicles. Such prime desert land shouldn't be touched, she has argued, and the accentuated effects of global warming will make that territory increasingly valuable to desert wildlife.
That kind of reasoning, though, has some energy developers accusing Feinstein of pulling the NIMBY card—wanting renewable energy at any cost, but hollering "not in my backyard" when looking at the map. A valid criticism, perhaps, considering all of the protected land would be in California, even though the Mojave's prized ecosystem extends into parts of Nevada, Arizona, and Utah.
Feinstein cites two reasons why her proposed area is different. One is that the public land in question was donated to the government by conservation groups in 2003 under the condition that it be protected. The other reason is loftier. The western Mojave houses several endangered species, a stretch of the historic Route 66, sweeping desert vistas, lava flows and the ancient Amboy volcanic crater. A blanket of solar panels could threaten it all. Feinstein's staff would not respond on the record to criticism of the bill, but directed a reporter to the senator's public statements. In December, she said that there were many places in the California desert "essential and appropriate" for renewable energy, "but there are also places that future generations will thank us for setting aside."
California has other lands, both federally and state owned, on which solar producers could relocate their projects. But no place is perfect; the sun doesn't shine as brightly in California's Central Valley and the desolate areas of Arizona or Utah are either too mountainous or too far from consumption centers to make transmission viable. Get too close to populated areas like San Bernardino and people complain that the infrastructure ruins the landscape. "There's a compelling case that any land in the Southwest is too environmentally rich to develop on; but the fact is, if we want renewable energy, they have to go somewhere," says Jim Baak, director of utility-scale policy with California advocacy group Vote Solar. Speaking at Yale in 2008, Schwarzenegger was more blunt: "They say that we want renewable energy, but we don't want you to put it anywhere.I mean, if we cannot put solar power plants in the Mojave Desert, I don't know where the hell we can put them."
Despite the disagreement, the measure already has considerable support, especially after Feinstein redrew the boundaries of the land to accommodate developers who were unhappy with the original draft. Nearly a dozen influential conservation and wilderness groups have signed on to Feinstein's bill.
More notable, however, is the parties who disagree, many of them solar associations and power companies. Far from searing and critical opposition, the reaction has been more of a grumble. Of 130 applications for solar projects currently under review by the California Energy Commission, just over a dozen fall within Feinstein's proposed area. With federal subsidies and incentives to move elsewhere, none have complained too loudly. As environmentalists, they also realize that debating renewable energy vs. environmental protection, they're arguing amongst friends.
Some of the bills backers on the Hill say it's too early to gauge senate support of her bill, although it won't hit the same legislative roadblock as other contentious issues like health care or cap and trade. If it does pass, however, less available land makes the NIMBY issue even more difficult to address. If it can be addressed at all. The newer acronym cheekily floated by frustrated renewable energy developers is "BANANA." Build absolutely nothing anywhere near anyone.
By Daniel Stone | Newsweek Web Exclusive
Jan 13, 2010
You can't blame California for not being ambitious. In 2008, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger set the bold goal that by 2020, a third of the state's power would come from renewable sources. Not bad for the nation's most populous state and among the world's top 10 largest economies. At the time, it was a target miles ahead of any other state, and a fairly risky one at the beginning of a would-be global recession that would drive the Golden State deep into the red.
It's easy to see why Schwarzenegger thought it was possible. Earlier that year, oilman T. Boone Pickens characterized the Southwest U.S. as the Saudi Arabia of solar power, offering the choicest elevation and sun strength in the world for optimal power generation. On that, everyone agreed. Where to put the solar panels continues to be a different story. Everyone's for renewable energy, just not when solar or wind farms block their view or drive down property values.
California Sen. Dianne Feinstein revived the debate last month with a wilderness designation bill intended to rope off more than half a million acres of Southern California land between Joshua Tree National Park and the Mojave National Preserve, restricting the area to both solar developers and off-road vehicles. Such prime desert land shouldn't be touched, she has argued, and the accentuated effects of global warming will make that territory increasingly valuable to desert wildlife.
That kind of reasoning, though, has some energy developers accusing Feinstein of pulling the NIMBY card—wanting renewable energy at any cost, but hollering "not in my backyard" when looking at the map. A valid criticism, perhaps, considering all of the protected land would be in California, even though the Mojave's prized ecosystem extends into parts of Nevada, Arizona, and Utah.
Feinstein cites two reasons why her proposed area is different. One is that the public land in question was donated to the government by conservation groups in 2003 under the condition that it be protected. The other reason is loftier. The western Mojave houses several endangered species, a stretch of the historic Route 66, sweeping desert vistas, lava flows and the ancient Amboy volcanic crater. A blanket of solar panels could threaten it all. Feinstein's staff would not respond on the record to criticism of the bill, but directed a reporter to the senator's public statements. In December, she said that there were many places in the California desert "essential and appropriate" for renewable energy, "but there are also places that future generations will thank us for setting aside."
California has other lands, both federally and state owned, on which solar producers could relocate their projects. But no place is perfect; the sun doesn't shine as brightly in California's Central Valley and the desolate areas of Arizona or Utah are either too mountainous or too far from consumption centers to make transmission viable. Get too close to populated areas like San Bernardino and people complain that the infrastructure ruins the landscape. "There's a compelling case that any land in the Southwest is too environmentally rich to develop on; but the fact is, if we want renewable energy, they have to go somewhere," says Jim Baak, director of utility-scale policy with California advocacy group Vote Solar. Speaking at Yale in 2008, Schwarzenegger was more blunt: "They say that we want renewable energy, but we don't want you to put it anywhere.I mean, if we cannot put solar power plants in the Mojave Desert, I don't know where the hell we can put them."
Despite the disagreement, the measure already has considerable support, especially after Feinstein redrew the boundaries of the land to accommodate developers who were unhappy with the original draft. Nearly a dozen influential conservation and wilderness groups have signed on to Feinstein's bill.
More notable, however, is the parties who disagree, many of them solar associations and power companies. Far from searing and critical opposition, the reaction has been more of a grumble. Of 130 applications for solar projects currently under review by the California Energy Commission, just over a dozen fall within Feinstein's proposed area. With federal subsidies and incentives to move elsewhere, none have complained too loudly. As environmentalists, they also realize that debating renewable energy vs. environmental protection, they're arguing amongst friends.
Some of the bills backers on the Hill say it's too early to gauge senate support of her bill, although it won't hit the same legislative roadblock as other contentious issues like health care or cap and trade. If it does pass, however, less available land makes the NIMBY issue even more difficult to address. If it can be addressed at all. The newer acronym cheekily floated by frustrated renewable energy developers is "BANANA." Build absolutely nothing anywhere near anyone.
Hyundai Plugs In
The Korean automaker previews a plug-in hybrid system and a new design direction with a provocative concept car.
By Matthew de Paula of MSN Autos
Blue-Will Plug-in Hybrid Concept
Detroit Auto Show
Hyundai unveiled its weirdly named Blue-Will plug-in hybrid at the 2010 North American Auto Show in Detroit, showcasing the Korean automaker's next-generation electric drivetrain technology, some of which will debut on the Hyundai Sonata Hybrid that will go on sale later this year. Its "eco-sleek" design, with sweeping character lines, hints at what future Hyundai models might look like.
The basis of Hyundai's new hybrid system is a 152-horsepower 1.6-liter gasoline engine and a 100-kilowatt electric motor powered by a lithium-polymer battery. The transmission is continuously variable, which means it eschews traditional fixed gears for better fuel efficiency.
The basic hybrid system will have electric-only drive capability at low speeds, with the gas engine kicking in to provide power when needed, much as the current Toyota Prius operates. It gets an estimated 50 to 55 mpg.
Slideshow: Coolest Concept Cars at the Detroit Show
The Blue-Will concept's plug-in system will reportedly get an estimated 106 mpg thanks to extended electric-only capability that enables it to drive up to 40 miles on a single charge. It can be recharged from regular household power outlets.
Other innovative features include a solar-cell sunroof that trickle-charges a fan to ventilate the interior and help reduce the need for fuel-robbing air conditioning. A thermal generator converts heat from the gasoline engine's exhaust gases into electrical energy to help power auxiliary systems.
Some of the Hyundai Blue-Will's body panels, including side moldings, bumpers and fenders, use carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics and nanocomposites to reduce weight.
Photosynth: View Hyundai Display in our interactive image viewer
The interior has some far-out features that could have interesting implications if, in fact, they become a reality. For instance, the instrument cluster behind the steering wheel is a thin LED panel, and the center console incorporates a svelte touch-screen for all climate controls, audio and other ancillary systems.
By Matthew de Paula of MSN Autos
Blue-Will Plug-in Hybrid Concept
Detroit Auto Show
Hyundai unveiled its weirdly named Blue-Will plug-in hybrid at the 2010 North American Auto Show in Detroit, showcasing the Korean automaker's next-generation electric drivetrain technology, some of which will debut on the Hyundai Sonata Hybrid that will go on sale later this year. Its "eco-sleek" design, with sweeping character lines, hints at what future Hyundai models might look like.
The basis of Hyundai's new hybrid system is a 152-horsepower 1.6-liter gasoline engine and a 100-kilowatt electric motor powered by a lithium-polymer battery. The transmission is continuously variable, which means it eschews traditional fixed gears for better fuel efficiency.
The basic hybrid system will have electric-only drive capability at low speeds, with the gas engine kicking in to provide power when needed, much as the current Toyota Prius operates. It gets an estimated 50 to 55 mpg.
Slideshow: Coolest Concept Cars at the Detroit Show
The Blue-Will concept's plug-in system will reportedly get an estimated 106 mpg thanks to extended electric-only capability that enables it to drive up to 40 miles on a single charge. It can be recharged from regular household power outlets.
Other innovative features include a solar-cell sunroof that trickle-charges a fan to ventilate the interior and help reduce the need for fuel-robbing air conditioning. A thermal generator converts heat from the gasoline engine's exhaust gases into electrical energy to help power auxiliary systems.
Some of the Hyundai Blue-Will's body panels, including side moldings, bumpers and fenders, use carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics and nanocomposites to reduce weight.
Photosynth: View Hyundai Display in our interactive image viewer
The interior has some far-out features that could have interesting implications if, in fact, they become a reality. For instance, the instrument cluster behind the steering wheel is a thin LED panel, and the center console incorporates a svelte touch-screen for all climate controls, audio and other ancillary systems.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
China taps U.S. for solar thermal power plants
$5 billion investment deal announced with California company
This solar thermal power plant, built by eSolar in Lancaster, Calif., was inaugurated last August.
updated 1:46 p.m. ET, Sun., Jan. 10, 2010
BEIJING - A U.S. solar power company said Saturday it will help build a series of solar thermal power plants in China, as the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases tries to decrease its heavy reliance on coal, imported gas and oil.
California-based eSolar Inc. will provide Shandong Penglai Electric Power Equipment Manufacturing Co. with the technology and information to build the concentrated solar thermal power farms with a capacity totaling 2,000 megawatts.
The $5 billion investment would be the largest such project in China, though the companies didn't say who would be investing how much.
"This is a huge jump for China," said Deborah Seligsohn, director of the China climate program for the U.S.-based World Resources Institute. "That amount suggests a number of commercial plants."
Interest in China as a solar energy market is growing quickly as the government looks for alternatives to coal. Saturday's deal comes four months after the largest solar panel maker in the U.S., First Solar, struck a tentative deal to build a massive solar field in China.
The eSolar deal is for concentrated solar thermal power — not the traditional image of vast farms of solar panels, but a system of taking what essentially are mirrors and focusing them to heat water to create steam to power a generator.
"There's room in the world for both systems, and we need both," Seligsohn said.
China is moving much faster than the U.S. in solar power development, eSolar officials said.
"This is an excellent example of what we all must do to fight climate change," Merrick Kerr, eSolar's chief financial officer, told a news conference Saturday in Beijing.
The first solar plant under the deal will be in Yulin city in the central province of Shaanxi.
China has set ambitious goals for solar and other renewable energy in an effort to clean up its environment and curb surging demand for imported oil and gas, which communist leaders see as a strategic weakness.
Late last year, legislators approved changes to China's 2006 renewable energy law saying utilities will be required to buy all the power produced by wind farms and other renewable sources in an effort to reduce heavy reliance on coal.
Government goals issued in 2005 call for at least 15 percent of China's power to come from wind, solar and hydropower by 2020, up from 9 percent now. Officials say that target may be raised to 20 percent because the industry is developing so quickly.
Coal, however, provides two-thirds of China's power and is expected to remain the dominant energy source in coming years.
China is the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases and is not bound by global agreements on curbing emissions because it is a developing economy. But the State Council, or China's Cabinet, has promised to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide for each unit of economic output by 40 percent to 45 percent from 2005 levels by 2020.
This solar thermal power plant, built by eSolar in Lancaster, Calif., was inaugurated last August.
updated 1:46 p.m. ET, Sun., Jan. 10, 2010
BEIJING - A U.S. solar power company said Saturday it will help build a series of solar thermal power plants in China, as the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases tries to decrease its heavy reliance on coal, imported gas and oil.
California-based eSolar Inc. will provide Shandong Penglai Electric Power Equipment Manufacturing Co. with the technology and information to build the concentrated solar thermal power farms with a capacity totaling 2,000 megawatts.
The $5 billion investment would be the largest such project in China, though the companies didn't say who would be investing how much.
"This is a huge jump for China," said Deborah Seligsohn, director of the China climate program for the U.S.-based World Resources Institute. "That amount suggests a number of commercial plants."
Interest in China as a solar energy market is growing quickly as the government looks for alternatives to coal. Saturday's deal comes four months after the largest solar panel maker in the U.S., First Solar, struck a tentative deal to build a massive solar field in China.
The eSolar deal is for concentrated solar thermal power — not the traditional image of vast farms of solar panels, but a system of taking what essentially are mirrors and focusing them to heat water to create steam to power a generator.
"There's room in the world for both systems, and we need both," Seligsohn said.
China is moving much faster than the U.S. in solar power development, eSolar officials said.
"This is an excellent example of what we all must do to fight climate change," Merrick Kerr, eSolar's chief financial officer, told a news conference Saturday in Beijing.
The first solar plant under the deal will be in Yulin city in the central province of Shaanxi.
China has set ambitious goals for solar and other renewable energy in an effort to clean up its environment and curb surging demand for imported oil and gas, which communist leaders see as a strategic weakness.
Late last year, legislators approved changes to China's 2006 renewable energy law saying utilities will be required to buy all the power produced by wind farms and other renewable sources in an effort to reduce heavy reliance on coal.
Government goals issued in 2005 call for at least 15 percent of China's power to come from wind, solar and hydropower by 2020, up from 9 percent now. Officials say that target may be raised to 20 percent because the industry is developing so quickly.
Coal, however, provides two-thirds of China's power and is expected to remain the dominant energy source in coming years.
China is the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases and is not bound by global agreements on curbing emissions because it is a developing economy. But the State Council, or China's Cabinet, has promised to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide for each unit of economic output by 40 percent to 45 percent from 2005 levels by 2020.
Indian tribe hopes to profit from solar energy
Jemez Pueblo is denied a gambling casino, so it turns toward the sun
A solar panel helps provide electricity to the Jemez Pueblo Day School in Jemez Pueblo, N.M., in December. The pueblo is on the verge of building the nation's first utility-scale solar plant on tribal land.
View related photos
Susan Montoya Bryan / AP
Chameleons thaw out in Fla.
Jan. 12: A Florida resident uses a blow dryer to warm up a lizard that became immobilized by the state's current cold temperatures. Msnbc.com's Dara Brown reports.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Couple collects cans to pay for wedding
Battling rising tides with bamboo
Ice sculpture Al Gore belches exhaust
Rolling Stone: Global warming battle may be over
for msnbc.comRace to rescue rhinos
The northern white rhino is nearly extinct, with just eight known to exist, but a rescue operation that included airlifting four from a Czech zoo to Kenya, is underway.
updated 7:01 p.m. ET, Tues., Jan. 12, 2010
JEMEZ PUEBLO, N.M. - A poverty-stricken Indian tribe that holds the sun and nature's other gifts sacred sees a brighter future for itself in solar power.
The 3,000 members of the Jemez Pueblo are on the verge of building the nation's first utility-scale solar plant on tribal land, a project that could bring in millions of dollars.
Experts say tapping into the sun, wind and geothermal energy on Indian land could generate the kind of wealth many tribes have seen from slot machines and blackjack tables.
"We don't have any revenue coming in except for a little convenience store," said James Roger Madalena, a former tribal governor who now represents the pueblo in the state Legislature. "It's very critical that we become innovative, creative, that we come up with something that will last generations without having a devastating impact on the environment."
The 30-acre site where 14,850 solar panels will be set up has been selected, and after four years of arduous planning and negotiations, a contract to sell outsiders the electricity produced by the four-megawatt operation is at hand. The plant would be capable of cranking out enough electricity to power about 600 homes.
The project — which would cost about $22 million, financed through government grants, loans and tax credits — could bring in around $25 million over the next 25 years. That could help the tribe improve its antiquated drinking water system and replace the lagoons it uses to treat wastewater.
New revenue source
Renewable energy is a new option for bringing revenue to Indian country, where many communities are poverty-stricken and unemployment is often double the national rate. Jemez Pueblo's effort comes after the federal government refused to let it build a casino because the proposed site was too far away from the community.
"Not every tribe is a gaming tribe, but every tribe is an energy tribe," said Roger Fragua, a Denver-based consultant who works with the Council of Energy Resource Tribes.
Indian tribes control more than 55 million acres of land across the nation, and those lands are capable of producing an estimated 535 billion kilowatt hours of electricity per year from wind power, according to the U.S. Department of Energy's Tribal Energy Program. Solar has even greater promise, at 17 trillion kilowatt hours per year, or more than four times the amount of electricity generated annually in the U.S.
"There's huge potential," said Jerry Pardilla, executive director of the National Tribal Environmental Council.
President Barack Obama acknowledged the possibilities during a meeting last fall with leaders of the nation's tribes. He said he would work to ensure tribes have access to transmission and financing for energy projects.
From 2002 to 2008, the Tribal Energy Program funded nearly 100 projects totaling $16.5 million. A 2005 federal law authorizes up to $20 million for the program each year.
Tribal wind farms
One of the leading tribes has been the Campo Kumeyaay Nation outside of San Diego. It is home to a 50-megawatt wind farm, and the tribe is joining forces with San Diego Gas & Electric Co. to build a second wind farm capable of producing 160 megawatts. Tribal wind farms have also sprouted up across the Midwest.
However, the development of solar power on Indian land is in its infancy. While many tribes use solar panels to power casinos and individual homes, Jemez Pueblo is leading the way in developing a grid-connected solar array for selling power to outside customers.
Every fall, Jemez Pueblo gives thanks to nature in an age-old harvest celebration during which dancers wearing headdresses and jingling bells pound the ground with their feet to the beat of drums. Tribal members hold the sun sacred as the source of the warmth and light needed to grow crops in this remote area about 50 miles northwest of Albuquerque.
Just beyond the dirt baseball diamond and cinderblock dugouts are the rolling hills dotted with pinon and prickly pear cactus where the panels will be laid out and connected to the transmission line already overhead.
State and federal grants have covered many of the tribe's planning costs, while engineers and legal firms have donated their expertise.
"We know other tribes are interested in doing the very same thing, and they're following our project to see what kind of success we have," said Greg Kaufman, an environmental scientist who works with the pueblo's Resource Protection Department.
The tribe is not looking to get wealthy with its solar panels, Kaufman said. He said tribal leaders' primary concern is making life better for tribal members.
Experts say demand for renewable energy in the U.S. will continue to grow as the government tries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and Indian tribes could play a big role.
"Indian people have always given," Fragua said. "We have an opportunity to give once again to America and her energy security."
A solar panel helps provide electricity to the Jemez Pueblo Day School in Jemez Pueblo, N.M., in December. The pueblo is on the verge of building the nation's first utility-scale solar plant on tribal land.
View related photos
Susan Montoya Bryan / AP
Chameleons thaw out in Fla.
Jan. 12: A Florida resident uses a blow dryer to warm up a lizard that became immobilized by the state's current cold temperatures. Msnbc.com's Dara Brown reports.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Couple collects cans to pay for wedding
Battling rising tides with bamboo
Ice sculpture Al Gore belches exhaust
Rolling Stone: Global warming battle may be over
for msnbc.comRace to rescue rhinos
The northern white rhino is nearly extinct, with just eight known to exist, but a rescue operation that included airlifting four from a Czech zoo to Kenya, is underway.
updated 7:01 p.m. ET, Tues., Jan. 12, 2010
JEMEZ PUEBLO, N.M. - A poverty-stricken Indian tribe that holds the sun and nature's other gifts sacred sees a brighter future for itself in solar power.
The 3,000 members of the Jemez Pueblo are on the verge of building the nation's first utility-scale solar plant on tribal land, a project that could bring in millions of dollars.
Experts say tapping into the sun, wind and geothermal energy on Indian land could generate the kind of wealth many tribes have seen from slot machines and blackjack tables.
"We don't have any revenue coming in except for a little convenience store," said James Roger Madalena, a former tribal governor who now represents the pueblo in the state Legislature. "It's very critical that we become innovative, creative, that we come up with something that will last generations without having a devastating impact on the environment."
The 30-acre site where 14,850 solar panels will be set up has been selected, and after four years of arduous planning and negotiations, a contract to sell outsiders the electricity produced by the four-megawatt operation is at hand. The plant would be capable of cranking out enough electricity to power about 600 homes.
The project — which would cost about $22 million, financed through government grants, loans and tax credits — could bring in around $25 million over the next 25 years. That could help the tribe improve its antiquated drinking water system and replace the lagoons it uses to treat wastewater.
New revenue source
Renewable energy is a new option for bringing revenue to Indian country, where many communities are poverty-stricken and unemployment is often double the national rate. Jemez Pueblo's effort comes after the federal government refused to let it build a casino because the proposed site was too far away from the community.
"Not every tribe is a gaming tribe, but every tribe is an energy tribe," said Roger Fragua, a Denver-based consultant who works with the Council of Energy Resource Tribes.
Indian tribes control more than 55 million acres of land across the nation, and those lands are capable of producing an estimated 535 billion kilowatt hours of electricity per year from wind power, according to the U.S. Department of Energy's Tribal Energy Program. Solar has even greater promise, at 17 trillion kilowatt hours per year, or more than four times the amount of electricity generated annually in the U.S.
"There's huge potential," said Jerry Pardilla, executive director of the National Tribal Environmental Council.
President Barack Obama acknowledged the possibilities during a meeting last fall with leaders of the nation's tribes. He said he would work to ensure tribes have access to transmission and financing for energy projects.
From 2002 to 2008, the Tribal Energy Program funded nearly 100 projects totaling $16.5 million. A 2005 federal law authorizes up to $20 million for the program each year.
Tribal wind farms
One of the leading tribes has been the Campo Kumeyaay Nation outside of San Diego. It is home to a 50-megawatt wind farm, and the tribe is joining forces with San Diego Gas & Electric Co. to build a second wind farm capable of producing 160 megawatts. Tribal wind farms have also sprouted up across the Midwest.
However, the development of solar power on Indian land is in its infancy. While many tribes use solar panels to power casinos and individual homes, Jemez Pueblo is leading the way in developing a grid-connected solar array for selling power to outside customers.
Every fall, Jemez Pueblo gives thanks to nature in an age-old harvest celebration during which dancers wearing headdresses and jingling bells pound the ground with their feet to the beat of drums. Tribal members hold the sun sacred as the source of the warmth and light needed to grow crops in this remote area about 50 miles northwest of Albuquerque.
Just beyond the dirt baseball diamond and cinderblock dugouts are the rolling hills dotted with pinon and prickly pear cactus where the panels will be laid out and connected to the transmission line already overhead.
State and federal grants have covered many of the tribe's planning costs, while engineers and legal firms have donated their expertise.
"We know other tribes are interested in doing the very same thing, and they're following our project to see what kind of success we have," said Greg Kaufman, an environmental scientist who works with the pueblo's Resource Protection Department.
The tribe is not looking to get wealthy with its solar panels, Kaufman said. He said tribal leaders' primary concern is making life better for tribal members.
Experts say demand for renewable energy in the U.S. will continue to grow as the government tries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and Indian tribes could play a big role.
"Indian people have always given," Fragua said. "We have an opportunity to give once again to America and her energy security."
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