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10.
Our Energy Future |
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2007
15 November 2007. In
Eco-Friendly Factory, Low-Guilt Potato Chips.
The New York Times - By ANDREW MARTIN. Excerpt:
CASA GRANDE, Ariz. - At Frito-Lay's factory
here, more than 500,000 pounds of potatoes
arrive every day from New Mexico to be washed,
sliced, fried, seasoned and portioned into
bags of Lay's and Ruffles chips. The process
devours enormous amounts of energy, and creates
vast amounts of wastewater, starch and potato
peelings. Now, Frito-Lay is embarking on an
ambitious plan to change the way this factory
operates, and in the process, create a new
type of snack: the environmentally benign
chip.
Its goal is to take the Casa Grande plant off the power grid,
or nearly so, and run it almost entirely on renewable fuels and
recycled water. Net zero, as the concept is called, has the backing
of the highest levels of corporate executives at PepsiCo, the
parent company of Frito-Lay.
...The company...intends to advertise that its popular SunChips
snacks are made using solar energy.
...From coast to coast, more companies are thinking about how
much fossil fuel they use and ways to conserve energy. Venture
capital money is also pouring into fledgling green technology.
Only a few years ago, Andy Walker, a government engineer, pleaded
with companies to tackle the problems but got blank stares. "Now,
my phone is ringing off the hook," said Mr. Walker, who
works at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory of the Department
of Energy in Colorado. ...The retrofit of the Casa Grande factory,
scheduled to be completed by 2010, would reduce electricity and
water consumption by 90 percent and its natural gas use by 80
percent. Greenhouse gas emissions would be cut by 50 percent
to 75 percent, the company said.
Frito-Lay hopes the project will help the company save money
on energy costs, particularly as oil prices approach $100 a barrel.
What works in Casa Grande, one of 37 plants it operates in the
United States and Canada, would then be replicated at other sites
where possible....
10 October 2007. New
Space Solar Power Organization Announced -
The Space Solar Alliance for Future Energy.
SpaceRef.com Excerpt: "...study
concludes that space-based solar power deserves
substantial national investment as a path
towards addressing America's future energy
needs via a renewable energy source with no
carbon emissions or hazardous waste. In the
Space Solar Power concept, developed in the
late nineteen-sixties by Dr. Peter Glaser,
energy from sunlight is collected in space
and transmitted wirelessly for use on Earth."
Date: Thurs, Oct 11 2007 comment from: "Ron
Proctor" Production Director, Ott Planetarium
- Weber State University - I don't buy it.
How many kWh can we get with ground based
solar, wind, and wave sources for the same
amount of money? I'm no expert, but I'll bet
it's competitive. When the system needs maintenance,
who do you send? Highly trained and expensive
astronauts, right? With ground based solutions,
you send some guy in a truck at $15.00 an
hour. What is the angular size of this thing
in our sky? Should we trade the wonders of
backyard stargazing, Optical and Radio Astronomy
for something that could be installed on the
ground?
16 July 2007. Solar
Power Wins Enthusiasts but Not Money.
By ANDREW C. REVKIN and MATTHEW L. WALD, NY
Times. Excerpt:
The trade association for the nuclear power
industry recently asked 1,000 Americans what
energy source they thought would be used most
for generating electricity in 15 years. The
top choice? Not nuclear plants, or coal or
natural gas. The winner was the sun, cited
by 27 percent of those polled.
...some of the most ardent experts and investors
say that moving this energy source from niche
to mainstream - last year it provided less
than 0.01 percent of the country's electricity
supply - is unlikely without significant technological
breakthroughs. And given the current scale
of research in private and government laboratories,
that is not expected to happen anytime soon.
...coal-burning power plants, the main source
of smokestack emissions linked to global warming,
are being built around the world at a rate
of more than one a week.
Propelled by government incentives in Germany
and Japan, as well as a growing number of
American states, sales of solar panels made
of silicon that convert sunlight directly
into electricity, known as photovoltaic cells,
have taken off, lowering manufacturing costs
and leading to product refinements.
... research on solar power and methods for
storing intermittent energy has long received
less spending, both in the United States and
in other industrialized countries, than energy
options with more political support.
...In the current fiscal year, the Energy
Department plans to spend $159 million on
solar research and development. It will spend
nearly double, $303 million, on nuclear energy
research and development, and nearly triple,
$427 million, on coal, as well as $167 million
on other fossil fuel research and development....
26 June 2007. Enjoy
Your Green Stay. The New York Times. By
Martha C. White. Excerpt:
Remember when all a hotel had to do to show
its concern for the environment was to ask
its guests to reuse their towels? Hotels now
are rolling out all sorts of green programs,
in part because their business guests in particular
are demanding it, and in part because the
hotels are finding that going green saves
money. ... “Environmental issues are
one of the hottest issues within the travel
industry right now,” said Bill Connors,
the executive director of the National Business
Travel Association.Mr. Connors’s view
is borne out by the rise in hotels registering
to be certified under the United States Green
Building Council’s Leadership in Energy
and Environmental Design program, a commercial-building
rating system. ... There are currently two
certified hotels in the United States — a
Marriott in Maryland and a Hilton in Washington — and
several more are on the way. In a 2005 survey,
Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants found that
16 percent of guests choose their properties
because of the company’s environmental
practices. The chain’s housekeepers
use nontoxic cleaning agents, there are in-room
recycling bins and the hotels plan to switch
all light bulbs to compact fluorescents within
the next 12 to 18 months. Hospitality executives
and consultants point to the marketing potential
of a green designation. ... Another reason
behind the green push is economics. There
are financial benefits to installing light
bulbs that use less energy or bathroom fixtures
that limit water flow. ...
12 June 2007. Solar
Panels, Biofuel and Tidal Turbines in Bloomberg
Plans. By DIANE CARDWELL, NY Times. Excerpt:
Moving to harness cleaner forms of energy
to meet the city's growing power demands,
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced a plan
yesterday to outfit municipal buildings with
solar panels and to begin buying heating oil
containing biofuels. At the same time, he
said, a project that uses turbines beneath
the East River to deliver electricity will
be significantly expanded.
...In the hydropower project, begun in 2002,
six turbines spin with the tides like underwater
windmills, producing electricity without dams
to power a supermarket and parking garage
on Roosevelt Island. Officials at Verdant
Power, the Virginia company given permits
for the project, plan to expand, according
to Mr. Bloomberg, with more than 300 turbines
producing enough power for 8,000 homes a year....
2007 June 12. Honda
Solar Cell System - aims
to have solar arrays to power homes as well
as to provide hydrogen to run Honda
FCX fuel cell cars.
14 May 2007. Wash.
Utility to Build Solar Project. By THE
ASSOCIATED PRESS. Excerpt:
ELLENSBURG, Wash. (AP) ...At least 20 states,
including Washington, have passed laws requiring
utilities to boost their clean power sources.
The secret about solar energy is that it's
been increasing at well over 30 percent a
year for about the past 10 years, said Brad
Collins, executive director of the American
Solar Energy Society, a nonprofit group that
promotes renewable energy development. The
increase has been fueled largely by government
incentives, similar to those established in
Germany in 2000 to expand renewable energy,
Collins said. Germany now generates one-third
of the world's wind power, and 50 percent
of the solar modules produced worldwide are
installed in the country, which sees less
sunlight than Seattle. Japan also now provides
significant incentives for solar power, pushing
the United States to third in an area where
10 years ago, it led the field. ...Puget Sound
Energy plans to start construction next month
on a $3.7 million solar project next to its
wind farm overlooking the Columbia River,
about 115 miles east of Seattle. The 500-kilowatt
project, enough to power about 300 homes,
would easily be the biggest in the region.
...Just west on Interstate 90, the municipal
utility in the small city of Ellensburg ...
is pushing ahead with its own solar adventure
... residents may invest a minimum of $250
toward the purchase of solar modules. The
resulting power goes directly onto the utility's
power lines, but residents receive a credit
on their electricity bills. The utility, which
has about 8,000 customers, maintains and operates
the system. That allows residents who live
in a shady area or who can't afford to spend
thousands of dollars on rooftop modules to
tap into green power. ...The cost for solar
power is typically about 25 cents per kilowatt
hour, compared with about 4.5 cents for natural
gas and 4-5 cents for hydropower, according
to Mike Nelson, director of the Northwest
Solar Center, part of Washington State University's
energy program.
May 2007. A
Greener Roof-Literally. Greentips, Union
of Concerned Scientists (UCS). Excerpt:
Is your roof in need of replacement? If so,
you might consider one of the following high-tech
roofing options, which reduce your home's
energy demand while avoiding the use of fossil
fuel-derived asphalt shingles.
Green Roofs - A "green" (or "living")
roof is, in most cases, exactly what the name
implies: plants growing on a building's roof.
...you can have a roof covered with grass,
flowers, or even shrubs. Besides looking pretty,
green roofing offers numerous advantages:
Lower energy costs...an extra layer of insulation....
Environmental benefits ... food and shelter
for insects, birds, and other wildlife, and
plants' natural mechanisms for filtering impurities
help improve air and water quality. Green
roofs can also play a small role in flood
prevention by reducing storm runoff....
Solar Shingles ...Photovoltaic (PV) shingles
provide the same look, protection, and durability
as asphalt shingles but have the added benefit
of converting sunlight into electricity that
can power your home (or specific appliances),
reducing the need for electricity generated
from fossil fuels and lowering your electricity
costs. ...These environmentally friendly roofing
options do cost a lot more up front: approximately
$10 to $25 per square foot (including installation)
for green roofs and $20 per square foot (materials
only) for PV shingles, compared with $1 to
$2 per square foot for asphalt shingles. Unlike
asphalt shingles, however, green roofs and
PV shingles can save energy (and money) over
their lifetime. Local, state, or utility incentives
(see the related links) might be available
to lower the up-front costs.... Subscribe
to this free monthly newsletter or read past
issues in the Greentips
section of the UCS website.
March 2007 Solar
energy conversion. George W. Crabtree
and Nathan S. Lewis. Physics Today Online,
page 37. Excerpt:
If solar energy is to become a practical alternative
to fossil fuels, we must have efficient ways
to convert photons into electricity, fuel,
and heat. The need for better conversion technologies
is a driving force behind many recent developments
in biology, materials, and especially nanoscience.
The Sun provides Earth with a staggering amount
of energy-enough to power the great oceanic
and atmospheric currents, the cycle of evaporation
and condensation that brings fresh water inland
and drives river flow, and the typhoons, hurricanes,
and tornadoes that so easily destroy the natural
and built landscape. The San Francisco earthquake
of 1906, with magnitude 7.8, released an estimated
10^17 joules of energy, the amount the Sun
delivers to Earth in one second. Earth's ultimate
recoverable resource of oil, estimated at
3 trillion barrels, contains 1.7 ? 1022 joules
of energy, which the Sun supplies to Earth
in 1.5 days. The amount of energy humans use
annually, about 4.6 x10^20 joules, is delivered
to Earth by the Sun in one hour. The enormous
power that the Sun continuously delivers to
Earth, 1.2x10^5 terawatts, dwarfs every other
energy source, renewable or nonrenewable.
It dramatically exceeds the rate at which
human civilization produces and uses energy,
currently about 13 TW....
27 February 2007. Scientists
Urge Global Action on Clean Energy. By
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS. Excerpt:
UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 27 (AP) - A scientific
panel convened at the request of the United
Nations called Tuesday for drastic reductions
in fossil-fuel emissions around the world
and rapid increases in spending on clean-energy
research to head off the worst effects of
global warming. In a 166-page report, two
years in the making, 18 scientists from 11
nations forecast a turbulent century of rising
seas, spreading drought and disease, weather
extremes and damage to farming, forests, fisheries
and other economic areas. It said the United
Nations must better prepare to help tens of
millions of "environmental refugees," and
it urged all governments to discourage new
building on land less than one meter - about
39 inches - above sea level. ... the scientists
who produced the new report said global carbon
dioxide emissions should be made to level
off in the years 2015 to 2020, and then be
cut back to less than one-third of that level
by 2100. This would happen, they said, through
a vast transformation toward greater efficiency,
away from fossil fuels and toward biofuels
and solar and wind technology. The scientists
urged governments to immediately ban the construction
of coal-fired power plants, except for those
designed to capture carbon dioxide and store
it underground or under water....
27 February 2007. Practical
Fusion, or Just a Bubble? By KENNETH CHANG,
The New York Times. Excerpt:
LOS ANGELES - ... sound-driven fusion. A bubble
floating in the liquid - phosphoric acid -
started to shine, brightening into an intense
ball of light like a miniature star. The shining
bubble did not produce any significant energy,
but perhaps someday it might, just like a
star. A few small companies and maverick university
laboratories, including this one at U.C.L.A.
run by Seth Putterman, a professor of physics,
are pursuing quixotic solutions for future
energy, trying to tap the power of the Sun
- hot nuclear fusion - in devices that fit
on a tabletop. Dr. Putterman's approach is
to use sound waves, called sonofusion or bubble
fusion, to expand and collapse tiny bubbles,
generating ultrahot temperatures. ...Other
researchers already have working desktop fusion
devices, including ones that are descendants
of the Farnsworth Fusor invented four decades
ago by Philo T. Farnsworth, the television
pioneer....Mainstream science is pursuing
fusion along two paths. One is the tokamak
design, trapping the charged atoms within
a doughnut-shape magnetic field. An international
collaboration will build the latest, largest
such reactor in southern France in coming
years. The $10 billion international project,
called ITER, could begin operating around
2016 and is intended to demonstrate that all
the scientific and technological challenges
have finally been tamed....The other mainstream
approach is blasting a pellet of fuel with
lasers, creating conditions hot and dense
enough for fusion. The National Ignition Facility
at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
in California is to start testing that idea
around 2010. The cost of the center, with
192 lasers, has soared to several billion
dollars. Harnessing that approach will also
take decades...."I personally think there
should be more of these smaller ideas funded," said
L. John Perkins, a physicist at Lawrence Livermore. "Ninety-nine
might fail, but one might pay off."....
25 January 2007. Can
Polyester Save the World? By ELISABETH
ROSENTHAL for The New York Times. Excerpt:
..."If it falls apart, you just toss
it away!" said Jo Jo, proudly wearing
her purchase. Environmentally, that is more
and more of a problem. With rainbow piles
of sweaters and T-shirts that often cost less
than a sandwich, stores like Primark are leaders
in the quick-growing "fast fashion" industry,
selling cheap garments that can be used and
discarded without a second thought. Consumers,
especially teenagers, love the concept, ....
But clothes - and fast clothes in particular
- are a large and worsening source of the
carbon emissions that contribute to global
warming, because of how they are both produced
and cared for, concludes a new report from
researchers at Cambridge University titled "Well
Dressed?" ...women's clothing sales in
Britain rose by 21 percent between 2001 and
2005 alone to about £24 billion ($47.6
billion), spurred by lower prices, according
to the Cambridge report. And while many people
have grown accustomed to recycling cans, bottles
and newspapers, used clothes are generally
thrown away. ...Dr. Julian Allwood ... noted
... that it is now easier for British consumers
to toss unwanted clothes than to take them
to a recycling center, and easier to throw
clothes into the hamper for a quick machine
wash and dry than to sponge off stains. ...In
their efforts to buy green, customers tend
to ... purchase "natural" fibers
like cotton, believing they are good for the
environment. But ...while so-called organic
cotton is exemplary in the way it avoids pesticides,
cotton garments squander energy because they
must be washed frequently at high temperatures,
and generally require tumble-drying and ironing....
A polyester blouse, by contrast, takes more
energy to make, since synthetic fabric comes
from materials like wood and oil. But upkeep
is far more fuel-efficient, since polyester
cleans more easily and dries faster.
Over a lifetime, a polyester blouse uses less
energy than a cotton T-shirt.
One way to change the balance would be to
develop technology to treat cotton so that
it did not absorb odors so readily. Also,
Dr. Allwood said that "reducing washing
temperature has a huge impact," speaking
of a significant drop from about 122 Fahrenheit
to 105. Even better, he said, would be to
drop washing temperature below normal....
24 January 2007. Bush
Seeks Vast, Mandatory Increase in Alternative
Fuels and Greater Vehicle Efficiency.
By EDMUND L. ANDREWS and FELICITY BARRINGER,
NY Times Excerpt:
WASHINGTON, Jan. 23 - Vowing to reduce the
nation's thirst for foreign oil, President
Bush called on Tuesday for a huge government-mandated
increase in renewable fuels - mainly ethanol
- and tougher mileage standards for cars and
light trucks.....The centerpiece of Mr. Bush's
proposal, which he said would cut the projected
use of gasoline by 20 percent over the next
decade, was a nearly fivefold mandatory increase
in the production of ethanol and other alternative
fuels for cars and trucks. The most obvious
beneficiaries would be makers of ethanol and
other biofuels, but it could also promote
the production of liquefied coal. Mr. Bush
called for a mandatory requirement that makers
of fuel produce 35 billion gallons of alternative
fuels a year by 2017, replacing about 15 percent
of the projected gasoline use in that year.
A second major plank of Mr. Bush's energy
proposal calls for increasing fuel-efficiency
standards of cars and trucks by 4 percent
a year - about one mile per gallon - starting
in 2010 for cars and 2012 for trucks. ...In
a third proposal, Mr. Bush called for doubling
the amount of oil in the Strategic Petroleum
Reserve to about 1.5 billion barrels of oil.
The doubling would take place at a snail's
pace over the next 20 years. Even so, advance
word of the idea helped push up oil prices
by $2.46 a barrel on Tuesday to $55.04..... |
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2006
16 November 2006 Microorganisms
one part of the solution to energy problem,
says report. Excerpt:
The answer to one of the world's largest
problems -- the need for clean, renewable
sources of energy -- might just come from
some of the world's smallest inhabitants
-- bacteria -- according to a new [28 page]
report, "Microbial Energy Conversion," released
by the American Academy of Microbiology.
... The future might look like a new power
plant on the edge of town - an inconspicuous
bioreactor that takes in yard waste and
locally-grown crops like corn and woodchips,
and churns out electricity to area homes
and businesses," says Judy Wall of
the University of Missouri - Columbia, one
of the authors of the report.
17 October 2006. Search
Power Takes a Stand for Sun Power. By
MATT RICHTEL. NY Times. Excerpt:
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 16 - ...Google said
Monday that it would build a large solar
electricity system to provide about 30 percent
of the electricity used each day at its
one-million-square-foot office complex in
Mountain View, Calif. The system, which
would use 9,200 solar cells - capable of
powering 1,000 average California homes
- would be one of the largest corporate
solar installations, alternative energy
experts said. David
Radcliffe, vice president for real estate
at Google, ... said it would pay for itself
in 5 to 10 years. ...Nicholas Parker, chairman
of Cleantech Venture Network, a trade and
research group for investors in alternative
energy technology, ... estimated that such
a project could cost Google $10 million.
The system is being constructed by El Solutions,
a division of Energy Innovations, based
in Pasadena, Calif. Andrew Beebe, president
of El Solutions, said solar cells that capture
the sun's energy would cover the rooftops
of Google's main buildings, along with the
tops of several parking structures. ...Google
was drawn to solar energy for economic,
social and motivational reasons, Mr. Radcliffe
said. He said the solar power system, in
addition to paying for itself over time,
would be socially responsible and would
help attract smart, high-level engineers
who wanted to work for a company trying
to diminish the damage it does to the environment.
...Google might even be able to generate
surplus solar electricity that it could
sell back to PG&E, creating another
stream of revenue, said Mr. Parker of Cleantech
Network....
14 September 2006. The
First Tree Genome is Published; DOE Joint
Genome Institute. Poplar Holds Promise as
Renewable Bioenergy Resource. Excerpt:
WALNUT CREEK, CA--Wood from a common tree
may one day factor prominently in meeting
transportation fuel needs ...analysis of
the first complete DNA sequence of a tree,
the black cottonwood or Populus trichocarpa,
lays the groundwork that may lead to the
development of trees as an ideal "feedstock" for
a new generation of biofuels such as cellulosic
ethanol. ...Trees store captured carbon
dioxide in their leaves, branches, stems,
and roots ...provides opportunities to improve
carbon removal from the air by producing
trees that effectively shuttle and store
more carbon below ground in their roots
and the soil. Moreover, bioenergy crops
re-absorb carbon dioxide emitted when biofuels
are consumed, creating a cycle that is essentially
carbon neutral."
Poplar's extraordinarily rapid growth, and
its relatively compact genome size of 480
million nucleotide units, 40 times smaller
than the genome of pine, are among the many
features that led researchers to target
poplar as a model crop for biofuels production.
"...poplars can add a dozen feet of growth each year and
reach maturity in as few as four years, permitting ...large-scale
sustainable plantation forestry," said Dr. Sam Foster
of the U.S. Forest Service. "This rapid growth coupled
with conversion of the lignocellulosic portion of the plant
to ethanol has the potential to provide a renewable energy
resource along with a reduction of greenhouse gases."
...The poplar project supports a broader
DOE drive to accelerate research into biofuels
production, under the Bush Administration's
Advanced Energy Initiative. ...Secretary
of Energy Samuel W. Bodman has set a departmental
goal of replacing 30 percent of current
transportation fuel demand with biofuels
by 2030.
DOE scientists envision a future where vast
poplar farms in regions such as the Pacific
Northwest, the upper Midwest, and portions
of the southeastern U.S. could provide a
steady supply of tree biomass rich in cellulose
that can be transformed by specialized biorefineries
into fuels like ethanol....
Comment from Debbie J
Avalone-King:
I've recently heard of some significant downsides
to rapid growth trees and frequent harvesting
for production of cellulosic ethanol - one
being that it's effects on soils are increasingly
detrimental to nutrients in concert with acid
rain effects. This type of harvesting technique
is exacerbating the loss of soil nutrients
in forests and causing a greater impact on
water bodies from the effects of acid rain
as well. This approach is not the all wonderful
panacea for environmental
impacts. There are some "hidden" downsides
we need to consider when managing forests
in this way to avoid detrimental effects.
A new Study on the Acid Deposition Impacts
in Maine - soon to be released will provide
insights into this issue in the near future.
I will pass the info on the study on as soon
as it is released this winter.
12 September 2006. A
CONVERSATION WITH JAMES E. LOVELOCK—Updating
Prescriptions for Avoiding Worldwide Catastrophe,
By ANDREW C. REVKIN. NY Times. Excerpt:
Few scientists have elicited such equivalent
heaps of praise and criticism as James E.
Lovelock, the British chemist, inventor
and planetary diagnostician who has long
foreseen a clash between humans and their
planet. His work underpins much of modern
environmentalism. The electron capture detector
he invented in the 1950's produced initial
measurements of dispersed traces of pesticides
and ozone-destroying chlorofluorocarbons,
providing a foundation for the work of Rachel
Carson and for studies revealing risks to
the atmosphere's protective ozone layer.
His conception in 1972 of the planet's chemistry,
climate and veneer of life as a self-sustaining
entity, soon given the name Gaia, was embraced
by the Earth Day generation and was ridiculed,
but eventually accepted (with big qualifications),
by many biologists. ...In his latest book, "The
Revenge of Gaia: Why the Earth Is Fighting
Back - and How We Can Still Save Humanity" (Perseus,
2006), Dr. Lovelock says that any risks
posed by nuclear power are small when compared
with the "fever" of heat-trapping
carbon dioxide produced by burning coal,
oil and other fossil fuels....
Q. What's your perception of where we're
headed with even conservative predictions
for growth of both populations and energy
use?
A. I think we're headed straight back to
the Earth's second stable state, which is
a hot state that it's been in many times
before in the past. It's about 14 degrees
warmer than it is in these parts of the
world now. It means roughly that most life
on the planet will have to move up to the
Arctic basin, to the few islands that are
still habitable and to oases on the continents.
It will be a much-diminished world.
Q. Can you explain why you think nuclear
power is so vital?
A. The really bad thing we did way back
when was starting to burn things in the
atmosphere to get energy. We started with
fire, just cooking food, and probably could
have gotten away with that. But once we
started burning forests to drive the animals
out as a cheap way of hunting, then we started
on our downward course. What we're doing
now with fossil fuels is just as bad.
We live in a nuclear-powered universe. We're
the oddballs by getting energy from burning
carbon. My justification of nuclear power
is that we've reached a stage now where
the dire things that threaten us are so
great that even the results of an all-out
nuclear war pale into insignificance as
unimportant compared to what's going to
happen.
Q. You seem to say we have to get over the
idea that renewable energy sources - wind,
solar - in the short run, are a useful way
out of this.
A. I feel they're largely gestures. If it
makes people feel good to shove up a windmill
or put a solar panel on their roof, great,
do it. It'll help a little bit, but it's
no answer at all to the problem....
September 2006. Staggering
Towards Community.
by Lisa Stapleton, Terrain magazine, Ecology
Center. Excerpt:
Between 1973 and 1981, Michael and Judith
Corbett were part of a small group of people
who advocated for, designed, financed, and
built a 240-unit development on 60 acres of
land on the outskirts of Davis, a city
noted for its environmentally friendly bent.
The Village Homes development incorporated
many of the features that have come to define
sustainable living: a mix of single-family
homes and apartments, bike paths, edible landscaping,
passive solar design, community areas, natural
drainage, narrow streets, and a design that
doesn't prioritize the automobile. ...The
group encountered resistance from city planners
and had to negotiate over what were at the
time very unusual features. The completed
homes sold instantly to people seeking an
alternative to traditional tract-home design.
The Smart Communities Web site lists these
benefits:
* A 1990 study found that Village Homes residents
use 36 percent less energy for vehicular driving,
47 percent less electricity and 31 percent
less natural gas per household than a conventional
neighborhood control group.
* Tree-lined streets keep the temperature
about 10 percent cooler than surrounding neighborhoods.
* Open space accounts for 25 percent of the
development.
* Village Homes residents know 50 percent
more of their neighbors than do residents
in nearby developments.
* Initially, Village Homes sold for the same
price as other homes in Davis. On average,
they now sell for $11 per square foot more.
...Michael served as city councilmember and
mayor of Davis. Hoping to expand upon the
success of Village Homes, he designed Covell
Village, a much larger development. ...It
required a vote to annex the land to the city
of Davis. After a very heated campaign, the
measure was voted down last November, with
about 60 percent voting against the measure. "It
was really hard to see it voted down," says
Corbett, "especially since I'm of an
age where I probably won't get a chance to
have such an impact again." I caught
Michael Corbett at his office in Davis, where
he works as a planning consultant. What lessons
do you think planners and developers learned
from Village Homes?
I have no indication that most people have
learned much at all. It's still a fight for
natural drainage, edible landscaping, and
narrow streets. The north-south orientation
rule [which required that homes be built on
a north-south orientation so that passive
solar power was possible] also has been relaxed,
so developers aren't doing north-south orientation
any more. ... That development was the best
possible model development. It was big enough
for jobs and was designed near bus lines,
schools, commercial development. It had edible
landscaping, permanent agricultural set-asides-everything
you could want, really. But Davis has become
so anti-growth....
May/June 2006. Try
A Solar Water Heater. RealMoney - Co-op
America. With
a solar water heater, you'll get the hot
water your household needs while saving
money and energy and reducing your dependence
on coal-fired power. ...Solar Water heater
resources.
14 April 2006. Forget
Computers. Here Comes the SunBy JOHN
MARKOFF. The New York Times. Excerpt: SAN
JOSE, Calif. - T. J. Rodgers is surrounded
by a sea of silicon wafers on the roof of
his company's headquarters in a Silicon
Valley industrial park. No, not the ones
that Mr. Rodgers, who founded Cypress Semiconductor
in 1982, used to make high-speed computer
memories or the newer specialized chips
that go into iPods and high-end Mercedes-Benzes.
These wafers are soaking up the sun's rays
and turning them into electricity. ...Mr.
Rodgers has plenty of motivation to keep
an eye on his roof. The growth of his company
may soon depend on SunPower, a small subsidiary
that employs the six-inch-square silicon
wafers to make a more efficient solar cell.
..."I think T. J. has found a lot of
good things in SunPower," said Alan
F. Shugart, a Silicon Valley disk-drive
industry pioneer and a Cypress board member. "The
tail could easily end up wagging the dog." In
Wall Street's eyes, the tail is already
in motion.
Cypress owns 85 percent of SunPower, which
went public in November. Cypress is valued
near $2.5 billion, with its stock trading
at $17.24. SunPower's capitalization is
about $2.38 billion; since its offering,
its stock has risen from $24.42 to a closing
high of $44.07 on March 1. This suggests
that much of the value of Cypress these
days comes from SunPower. ... that is the
beauty of the six-inch squares of silicon
that are colored black to absorb the sun's
radiation. SunPower is on track to gain
the ability to make about 35 million wafers
a year by the end of 2006, enough to produce
100 million watts of solar power annually.
That should give SunPower an important stake
in a market that is expanding at a 31 percent
compound annual rate. After years of promise,
the market for solar power is finally taking
off, with annual demand expected to increase
to as much as 2,500 megawatts by the end
of 2008, from about 1,000 megawatts now
(which is the size of a large nuclear power
plant). Mr. Rodgers argues that his SunPower
subsidiary has a crucial advantage over
both larger and smaller competitors. While
most of the industry has a conversion efficiency
of around 14 percent, the SunPower photovoltaic
cell will reach 21 percent, a 50 percent
advantage that translates into both cost
and performance leads for the company. ....
19 March 2006. Rebates
put shine on solar power. Poised for boom. By
Steve Raabe, Denver Post Staff Writer -
DenverPost.com. Excerpt:
Jim Edwards has a powerful new toy: an electric
meter that spins backwards. On sunny days,
Edwards' rooftop solar panels generate more
electricity than his Lafayette home uses.
Instead of paying for power, he'll soon
be getting credits on his bill from Xcel
Energy. Edwards is among the first Coloradans
to benefit from new rebates and tax incentives
that are bringing the cost of sun power
down to earth. ... solar electric is poised
to boom, thanks to financial incentives
stemming from Colorado voters' passage of
Amendment 37 in 2004. The law requires the
state's largest utilities to obtain 10 percent
of their power from renewable sources by
2015. While much of the power will come
from wind farms, the law requires a portion
to come from solar energy. "Our phone
has been ringing off the hook with people
asking about this," said Blake Jones,
president of Namaste Solar Electric in Boulder. "There's
just a huge amount of interest." Xcel
Energy's recently announced rebates cover
half the cost or more of a photovoltaic
system up to $20,000. In addition, the new
federal energy bill provides a tax credit
of $2,000. The net result: A typical household
PV system costing at least $16,000 can be
had, after rebates and credits, for about
$5,000, according to renewable energy consultant
Morey Wolfson. ...Payback on the investment
can be measured two ways: in psychic satisfaction
or by financial return. ...For a financial
return, depending on a home's electrical
use, the payback period for a typical household
system could be about 16 years based on
current prices for electricity. If power
prices rise in coming years - which most
energy experts predict - the payback period
could be reduced by several years.
February 2006. What's
Your Carbon Footprint? Union of Concerned
Scientists Green Tips. Many
of our daily activities affect the environment,
but few people have stopped to consider
the most important: their personal contribution
to global warming. The fossil fuels we burn
to satisfy our transportation and energy
needs generate carbon dioxide (CO2), the
heat-trapping gas primarily responsible
for climate change. In fact, the average
American generates 20 tons of CO2 every
year-about the same amount as three new
cars! Several online calculators are available
to help you determine your own annual production
of CO2, or carbon "footprint."
(see Related Links). ... strategies ...
to shrink your carbon footprint...
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2005
22 December 2005. The year-end EnergyNet Update
on state clean energy policies is now available
at: http://ucsaction.org/ct/C1LDvRs1yX47/ This
EnergyNet update summarizes progress made on
state clean energy initiatives in 2005. This
year, Delaware and Montana established renewable
electricity standards. Meanwhile, Texas and
Nevada increased their renewable electricity
standards, with Texas more than doubling its
original requirement. Several other states are
considering an increase in their current standards,
including Arizona, California, New Jersey, and
Wisconsin. To date, 20 states and the District
of Columbia have implemented renewable electricity
standards. The Union of Concerned Scientists
projects that these requirements will support
nearly 32,000 megawatts (MW) of new renewable
power by 2017, an increase of 237 percent over
total 1997 U.S. levels (excluding hydro). This
represents enough clean power to meet the electricity
needs of 20.3 million typical homes. By 2017,
annual new renewable energy production from
all state renewable electricity standards programs
will reduce carbon dioxide emissions, the heat-trapping
gas primarily responsible for global warming,
by 77.1 million metric tons. This level of reductions
is equivalent to taking 11.5 million cars off
the road.
November 2005. Moving
Toward a Hydrogen Economy - Presentation
(PDF) by Rosa Young, Ovonic Hydrogen Systems
20 October 2005. Sunny
Future for Nanocrystal Solar Cells: Berkeley
Scientists Synthesize Cheap, Easy-to-Make
Ultra-thin Photovoltaic Films. By Lynn
Yarris. Excerpt:
Imagine a future in which the rooftops of
residential homes and commercial buildings
can be laminated with inexpensive, ultra-thin
films of nano-sized semiconductors that will
efficiently convert sunlight into electrical
power and provide virtually all of our electricity
needs. This future is a step closer to being
realized, thanks to a scientific milestone
achieved at the U.S. Department of Energy's
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley
Lab)...Researchers with Berkeley Lab and the
University of California, Berkeley, have developed
the first ultra-thin solar cells comprised
entirely of inorganic nanocrystals and spin-cast
from solution...According to the Energy Foundation,
if the available residential and commercial
rooftops in this country were to be coated
with solar cell thin films, they could furnish
an estimated 710,000 megawatts of electricity
across the United States, which is more than
three-quarters of all the electricity that
this country is currently able to generate.
2005 Summer. The
Promise of a Solar Future. Coop America
Quarterly #66. Article
titles:
Introduction: Bringing Solar to Scale.
Solar: Your Questions Answered.
Bringing Solar Home.
How Susanne Went Solar.
World Solar Leaders.
The Solar Road to Prosperity.
Resources.
April 2005. State
of the Art of Solar Cooking: A Global Survey
of Practices
& Promotion Programs
By Barbara Knudson, Ph.D. (Dr.
Barbara Knudson is a sociologist who has specialized
in women's affairs in the developing world for
the last 40 years. A leading advocate of solar
cooking since the mid-eighties, she has applied
her professional discipline to evaluation of
the technology's potential and to documentation
of its promotion. Dr. Knudson has extensive
experience with the organization solar cooking
programs in the field. She is a charter member
of Solar Household Energy, inc.) Executive Summary:
In her new global survey of solar cooking Dr.
Knudson reports that despite an urgent need
for the technology and strong demand in many
communities where it has been introduced, there
is still much work to be done. Specifically,
the study finds ongoing promotional efforts
in only a small fraction of countries where
the technology could offer great social, economic,
environmental and health benefits. This suggests
a good news/bad news situation: Opportunities
to improve lives through the introduction of
solar cooking are as extensive as the need is
compelling. However, inherent challenges have
impeded proliferation of this technology. Trees,
shrubs, dung and fossil fuels are the household
energies of the developing world. As the supply
of these traditional fuels continues to diminish
or increase in price, there is evermore urgent
need for an alternative. One exists. People
can cook with the free energy of the sun on
all continents except Antarctica. In fact, for
many millions, solar cooking is becoming their
only option.
March 2005. Building
the Hydrogen Boom. On Earth magazine-NRDC. ...
Nearly 30 years ago, Iceland was looking for
ways to reduce its reliance on imported fossil
fuels and replace them with local, renewable
sources -- geothermal and hydroelectric power.
But a chemistry professor named Bragi Arnason
... realized that the country was planning
to tap only a small fraction of the energy
resources that lay hidden beneath its volcanic
surface. That convinced him that Iceland could
become the first nation in the world to power
its economy entirely with what is now widely
seen as the energy of the future: hydrogen.
Arnason understood that Iceland offered a
unique laboratory for exploring the potential
of a hydrogen economy. The country's small
size (40,000 square miles) and population
(just 294,000) would simplify the challenge
of transforming its energy infrastructure.
Most important, he believed that the energy
required to split water molecules and produce
hydrogen could be provided by Iceland's cheap,
abundant supplies of geothermal and hydroelectric
power. -- Cynthia Grabber
January/February 2005. Solar Today - Chair's
Corner. The
Future's So Bright. Tom Starrs. Where
solar energy will make its ultimate mark, however,
is in power generation. The electricity industry
is the single largest source of industrial pollution
in the world, and one of the largest sources
of greenhouse gas emissions. Over 80 percent
of the world's electricity and 90 percent of
U.S. electricity comes from nonrenewable fossil
and nuclear sources. The transition to sustainability
will require important contributions from geothermal
power, hydropower, biomass and wind power, but
solar power is likely to be dominant. The main
reason solar energy has so much potential is
its ubiquity. Other renewable resources are
concentrated through natural forces, making
them easier to extract. But they are concentrated
enough to be technically and economically viable
in only a relatively small number of places.
Solar is more diffuse, making it more expensive
to extract, but it is much more evenly distributed
over the Earth's surface. For example, wind
power densities in the windiest parts of the
United States average over 1,000 watts per square
meter, while much of the country has average
wind power densities that are about one-tenth
as high. Meanwhile, the difference between the
best and worst solar power potential in the
Lower 48 states is a factor of about two. Another
reason solar energy has so much potential is
its availability where power is needed. Because
humans tend to live in places that have plenty
of sunshine, solar power is locally available
practically anywhere it is needed - in the world's
largest cities or its most rural villages. ...With
all this potential, why does solar energy produce
less than 1 percent of the world's power? Quite
simply, it is because the technologies to convert
sunlight to electricity have been too expensive.
But the cost of solar power has been declining
steadily since the first photovoltaic (PV) cells
were made, and the technology - which once produced
power that was 50 times the price of conventional
electricity - now costs only about twice the
price. Virtually every serious analysis of the
industry indicates that PV technology will be
cost-competitive within five to 15 years....
January/February 2005. Bringing
Light to Low-Income Communities. By Tim
Sears, P.E. Solar Today, p. 24. In
California, affordable-housing owners are
eligible for rebates on photovoltaic systems
on these homes or apartments. What better
way to help them take advantage of the rebates
than by matching them with individuals eager
to gain experience installing the systems?
It was just this goal that led to the creation
of the Solar Affordable Housing Program. By
providing free installation, access to low-interest
financing and assistance with rebates, permitting
and utility agreements, the program is bringing
solar to a new set of homeowners.... Get full-text
pdf of this article. This article is republished
courtesy of SOLAR
TODAY, the award-winning magazine dedicated
to energy-efficiency and renewable energy
technologies. www.solartoday.org.
January 2005. Japan
Takes the Lead, by Dan Bihn.
...Through
aggressive government subsidies
and policies, solar-powered
houses are now common in Japan,
and Japanese manufacturers dominate
the global PV market. By mid-2005,
Japan expects to have more than
1 gigawatt (GW) of installed
PV capacity, predominately iin
consumer-owned residential systems.
The country is well on the way
to achieving its goal of 4.84
GW of installed PV by 2010.
PV is an important part of how
Japan is meeting the threat
of global climate change through
a progressive, profitable industrial
strategy - a strategy that is
igniting a vibrant, consumer-driven
market in which reducing greenhouse
gases is not just the right
thing to do, but the cool thing
to do. The Japanese PV story
is also a wake-up call for U.S.
policy-makers who, through skepticism
of and indifference to the climate
change threat, continue to lull
all but the most visionary domestic
businesses into complacence.
Get full
article as PDF. This article
is republished courtesy of SOLAR
TODAY, the award-winning
magazine dedicated to energy-efficiency
and renewable energy technologies. www.solartoday.org.
January/February 2005. Solar Today, p. 10.
INVESTING IN CLEAN ENERGY. Tracking
Clean Energy. New benchmark makes it easier
than ever to invest in renewable energy. By
Rona Fried, Ph.D. ... green investors can soon
invest in a basket of renewable energy stocks
through the new WilderHill Clean Energy Index,
which debuted on the American Stock Exchange
in August. It's the brainchild and consummation
of a dream for Robert Wilder, Elias Azrak and
Josh Landess, long-time clean energy advocates.
...Investors don't place money directly into
an index, but into a fund that mirrors the index,
such as exchange-traded funds (ETF5). When PowerShares
Capital Management, a company specializing in
ETFs, offered to create a fund that mirrors
their clean energy index, Wilder and Azrak decided
to put the index on AMEX. "It costs tens
of thousands of dollars each year for AMEX to
calculate the index,"
explains Wilder. "When PowerShares came
forward, that's when we decided to take the
plunge."... criteria are qualitative:
no fossil fuel, oil or coal companies. "We're
including companies that stand to benefit
substantially should global warming and carbon
become more of an issue, and those that may
grow as society moves toward the use of cleaner
energy and conservation," says Wilder...Though
General Electric (GE), the world's second-largest
wind turbine manufacturer, is a powerful force
in wind energy, and Shell Solar (RD) and BP
Solar (BPA) are among the largest producers
of solar systems, they aren't in the index.
If a company dabbles in solar but their main
business is oil, they are out. Beyond GE's
involvement in nuclear weapons and other negatives,
the overriding reason it is excluded is that
when the stock price of this immense company
moves, it doesn't reflect its activity in
clean energy or the clean energy sector as
a whole. Learn more: Enter the symbol ECO
at http://www.amex.com |
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2004
December 2004. Product
Lifecycle Management Project for Environmental
Traceability of Electrical and Electronic
Equipment. Hitachi Corp: Eco & PLM
Project for Environmental Traceability of
EEE. Previously,
manufacturers of EEE (electrical and electronic
equipment) have not been held accountable
for the traceability of their products in
the way food and vehicle manufacturers have,
because these products do not have the same
direct impact on human life. In recent days,
however, environmental laws with strict regulations
and accountability about included substances
and restrictions on hazardous substances are
being introduced worldwide. These regulations
impose additional expenses on producers for
the recycling and collection of EEE. ... Taking
into consideration recent environmental laws,
we have started to construct an integrated
traceability system for EEE as an Eco
& PLM (product lifecycle management)
project. This term refers to not
only ecology but also product lifecycle
management. Thus the Eco & PLM
project has two missions: to observe
environmental laws and to manage
all records of product lifecycle.
December 2004. The
Hydrogen Economy. Physics Today. George
W. Crabtree, Mildred S. Dresselhaus, and Michelle
V. Buchanan. If
the fuel cell is to become the modern steam
engine, basic research must provide breakthroughs
in understanding, materials, and design to
make a hydrogen-based energy system a vibrant
and competitive force.
28 November 2004. Hydrogen
Production Method Could Bolster Fuel Supplies.
By Matthew L. Wald. NY Times. WASHINGTON, Nov.
27 - Researchers at a government nuclear laboratory
and a ceramics company in Salt Lake City say
they have found a way to produce pure hydrogen
with far less energy than other methods, raising
the possibility of using nuclear power to
indirectly wean the transportation system
from its dependence on oil.
July 2004. Basic
Choices and Constraints on Long-Term Energy
Supplies. Paul B. Weisz. Physics Today.
Population growth and energy demand are exhausting
the world's fossil energy supplies, some on
the timescale of a single human lifespan.
Increasingly, sharing natural resources will
require close international cooperation, peace,
and security.
See also "Letters" -- More
Options Offered for Long-Term Energy Solutions
26 August 2004. Focus
on hydrogen economy has things backwards.
An op/ed by Dr. David Suzuki. As
summer slides towards fall, fuel-cell manufacturers
and automakers are out on the streets of major
cities around the world, showing off million-dollar
prototypes of hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles.
The cars are technological marvels. They're
cool. They're futuristic. And they're virtually
useless - for now. As much as "gee whiz" stories
abound about new hydrogen fuel-cell technologies,
one can't help but wonder if we aren't getting
a tad ahead of ourselves. While it's great
to have these vehicles to show off, it would
be much better if we had a way to produce
hydrogen in sufficient quantities cleanly.
Or had a way to store the stuff. Or an infrastructure
to move it around. Or any number of a host
of other major hurdles we need to jump before
we are able to reach the vaunted goal of a "hydrogen
economy."
6 August 2004. California
EPA wants to spur solar-home development By
Don Thompson, Associated Press. SACRAMENTO,
Calif. - California officials are proposing
that half of all new homes in the state be
running on solar energy in 10 years, an effort
spurred by $100 million in annual incentives
paid for by electricity consumers. The move
comes three years after the state suffered
through an energy crisis that left utility
customers paying off billions in debts incurred
when wholesale electricity rates hit record-high
levels. The plan proposes that the state give
rebates to home builders who install solar
panels on new homes, and incentives for installing
panels on existing homes, according to a copy
of the California Environmental Protection
Agency draft. The program would be paid for
with a new monthly utility bill surcharge
of about 25 to 30 cents per household, projected
to raise $1 billion before the surcharge ends
in 10 years. But homeowners would be free
to sell excess solar energy back to electricity
companies, leaving them with no net cost.
3 August 2004. California. Administration
Proposes Strong Initiative To Achieve Governor's
Solar Homes Goal: Environment California Calls
On Governor To Adopt As His Own SACRAMENTO
...a representative of the California Environmental
Protection Agency announced a "Million Solar
Homes Initiative" to achieve Governor Schwarzenegger's
promise of building half of all new homes
with solar power. The policy aims to reduce
peak energy demand while bringing cleaner
energy to the state. "The goal is to build
more solar homes and by all measures this
proposal would put us on the right path in
a very bold way," said Bernadette Del Chiaro,
clean energy advocate for Environment California,
a non-profit environmental group that is sponsor
of the Solar Homes Bill, SB 1652 (Murray).
"This proposal is strong because it combines
incentives with mandates. The question at
this point is whether the governor is "manly-man" enough
to adopt this as his own or, better yet, come
out with something even stronger in time to
meet legislative deadlines.
Solar Catalyst Group -- http://www.solarcatalyst.com/ --
a nonprofit consortium of business, government,
investors, labor, and environmental and community
groups and individuals working to catalyze
the solar energy portion of a renewable energy
future by creating a mass market for solar
photovoltaics (PV).
February 2004. Can
Solar Energy Fit Your Budget? Union of
Concerned Scientists http://www.ucsusa.org/ --
If you ever considered installing solar collectors
on your house but chose not to follow through
because the costs sounded prohibitive, it
might be time to reconsider. Solar power is
one of the most environmentally benign energy
sources available. Just 20 days of sunshine
produces the same amount of energy as everything
stored in Earth's reserves of oil, coal, and
natural gas-yet does not come close to producing
the same amount of environmental damage as
even one of those options.
13 February 2004. Scientists
develop new hydrogen reactor MINNEAPOLIS,
Minnesota (AP) -- Researchers say they have
produced hydrogen from ethanol in a prototype
reactor small enough and efficient enough
to heat small homes and power cars. The development
could help open the way for cleaner-burning
technology at home and on the road. Current
methods of producing hydrogen from ethanol
require large refineries and copious amounts
of fossil fuels, the University of Minnesota
researchers said. The reactor is a relatively
tiny 2-foot-high apparatus of tubes and wires
that creates hydrogen from corn-based ethanol.
A fuel cell, which acts like a battery, then
generates power. "This points to a way
to make renewable hydrogen that may be economical
and available," said Lanny Schmidt, a
chemical engineer who led the study. The work
was outlined in Friday's issue of the journal
Science. ...The Minnesota researchers envision
people buying ethanol to power the small fuel
cell in their basements. |
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2003
25
December 2003. Court
Blocks U.S. Effort to Relax Pollution Rule,
by KATHARINE Q. SEELYE and JENNIFER 8. LEE. A
federal appeals court on Wednesday at least
temporarily blocked a Bush administration
rule, due to take effect on Friday, that would
have relaxed existing regulations and so allowed
hundreds of aging power and industrial plants
to make upgrades without installing modern
pollution controls.
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