New Energy Currents: 2005-01-21

Welcome to the first 'New Energy Currents' of what will undoubtedly be a big year (2005!) in new (and 'old') energy news. The pace of renewable energy projects all over the world is accelerating, as is the pace at which existing fossil fuel supplies are being developed and exploited. The policy front will be full of activity as well, with the Kyoto Protocol going into effect in February and the US Energy Bill returning to the legislative table in the near future. I don't know about you guys, but I'm pretty excited!

To help you keep track of these developments as they happen, 'New Energy Currents' is a broad but by no means comprehensive compilation of noteworthy news in energy technology and policy from the past month. Brought to you by John Atkinson of chiasm.

• Bio
• Fossil Fuels
• Hydro
• Hydrogen
• Nuclear
• Solar
• Wind
• Policy + Misc

Bio:

• Willie Nelson is selling biodiesel! Mr. Nelson has formed a partnership to market biodiesel nationwide under the name “Willie Nelson’s Biodiesel.” Says Mr. Nelson: “I got on the computer and punched in biodiesel and found out this could be the future!” Says his biodiesel suplier: "What Willie brings to this is the ability to communicate directly with a truck driver… When he starts talking, these folks really listen to him.... It's like having Tiger Woods talk about golf clubs."

• In light of higher energy and gas prices as well as expanded government support for renewable fuels, Florida's sugar industry is reconsidering ethanol production. All ethanol in the US is currently produced from corn, and is centered almost entirely in the midwest. Sugarcane, however, is a cheaper, easier, and generally more efficient feedstock, so sugarcane ethanol may be an idea whose time has come for the US. Brazil has long relied on sugarcane to fuel its own massive ethanol industry, the world's largest.

• Green Car Congress points to this interesting bit of news - providers of home heating oil are starting to offer customers a 20% biodiesel blend. The biodiesel option has been made possible by the FSC-ETI bill that went into effect January 1, which grants a whopping $1/gallon subsidy to biodiesel producers.

• Britain is rapidly expanding its domestic biodiesel production - early this spring the largest biodiesel plant in the UK will open in Scotland. This plant will produce 35,000 tons of fuel a year - more than triple the entire UK's existing production of 10,000 tons/year. Its run as the largest biodiesel plant will be short-lived, however - a truly ginormous 250,000 ton facility will open in northeast England later in the year.

• Biomass power, Asia-style – researchers at Japan’s Hiroshima University have launched a project to make bamboo charcoal for power and rooftop gardening. The charcoal will be sold by a cooperative in Japan and will be made from Thailand’s abundant and fast-growing bamboo crops.

Fossil Fuels:

• Kentucky is contemplating whether or not to go ahead with plans for one of the largest integrated gasification combined cycle coal power plants in the country.

• A new project in Kansas turns a triple play with an innovative design - a natural gas power generator provides thermal energy for a corn ethanol plant, and CO2 from the fermentation process is captured and injected into the ground to facilitate enhanced oil recovery (EOR).

• Asia continues to go gangbusters for compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles as a way to combat air pollution and reduce oil imports - Green Car Congress has links to recent news of government CNG programs in Pakistan, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Myanmar. Moreover, Canada's Westport Innovations continues to make deals to produce CNG vehicles in China.

• Meanwhile, back in the States, Mack Trucks has announced the success of an extremely promising liquefied natural gas (LNG) garbage truck demonstration project in Burlington, NJ. It's not the LNG trucks that are new, though - it's the LNG, which is refined from landfill gas (LFG) produced by the very organic waste that the trucks have been hauling to the Burlington Co. landfill. Elegant and economical!

• The energy industry loves LNG, but potential hosts for LNG terminals in North America aren't always so enthusiastic. This article explores how geography and culture have affected the reception of LNG projects.

• A federal judge has upheld the Bush administration's plans to open federal lands on Alaska's North Slope for oil drilling.

• China, the world's #2 oil consumer (with a bullet!), has announced plans to begin filling a strategic oil reserve next year.

• Russia’s largest oil producer, Yukos, is staggering through the last stages of its renationalization by President Putin. Interestingly, it appears as if China may be helping to finance the transaction. Awfully nice of them, don’t you think?

Hydro:

• Alt-E James links to a BBC article discussing various water-related projects around the world, including rural Vietnam's Pico Hydro boom. Pico Hydro is a small-scale version of conventional hydro-electric power generation (producing several hundred watts per unit), and it's an ideal power solution for rural farmers for whom grid power is unavailable or too expensive. An estimated 120,000 units are in use in Vietnam, more than anywhere in the world.

Hydrogen:

• Physics Today has a lengthy and informative article on the scientific and technological breakthroughs needed to facilitate the much hoped-for hydrogen economy (via Crumb Trail).

• Green Car Congress has the goods on the new Sandia National Labs/General Motors collaboration on developing solid-state hydrogen storage tanks. If successful, the project could greatly expand the driving range of hydrogen vehicles, which currently store hydrogen in either liquid or compressed gas forms that have yet to provide ranges comparable to conventional cars.

• GM debuted its new hydrogen concept car, The Sequel (as in 'the sequel' to gasoline-powered cars, get it?) at the North American International Auto Show. Cue the usual ambivalence from environmentalists worried about how working towards long term goals could be used as an excuse for NOT DOING EVERYTHING WE CAN RIGHT NOW!!!!!!

• The BBC reports on the successful trial of three hydrogen buses on Central London bus routes. The buses – part of a two-year demonstration program in nine European cities – have proven reliable and popular. But is there a double decker model in the house?

Nuclear:

• There’s a good editorial in the UK Times this week on the need for that government to stop ‘dithering’ over a long-term strategy for the disposal of nuclear waste, citing a need to clear the way for more nuclear power plants as well as a need to minimize the threat of terrorists seizing nuclear material. The same could be said about nuclear waste in the US, certainly.

• White hot energy consumers China and India are racing to secure energy supplies wherever they can get it, and both countries see nuclear energy playing a significant role in keeping pace with soaring demand. The NY Times covers China’s nuclear ambitions here, and India’s own Frontline magazine has an interesting interview with the head of India’s Department of Atomic Energy here.

Solar:

• You can apparently buy solar panels at Costco now - I guess that means they've gone 'mainstream', no?

• An important new breakthrough in nanoengineering will make it possible to create light-sensitive materials - including photovoltaics - that can utilize the infrared portion of the spectrum (current photovoltaics only harness the visible portion of the spectrum). This could pave the way for flexible, lightweight PV cells that could be incorporated into clothing or come in a useful 'spray-on' form while harvesting an extremely impressive 30% of the sun's energy. Current plastic PV cells only capture about 6% (via Crumb Trail).

• Solar power continues to find a niche in rural electrification projects - government officials in India announced that 10,000 solar home lighting systems and 6,000 solar lanterns have been installed in 90 remote villages and hamlets in the Ladakh region.

• That 'blue' Danube River just got a little greener and a little brighter - solar-powered LEDs will illuminate riverbank markers and buoys along the river as it winds through Serbia and Montenegro.

• Worldchanging has a post up on the beautiful Solar Sailor, an Australian-made passenger boat that runs on both solar and wind power (and a diesel/electric hybrid engine when necessary).

Wind:

• Spain – already one of Europe’s largest users of wind power (with 8,500 MW capacity, second only to Germany) – wants to build a 400-turbine offshore wind farm off Cape Trafalgar. Local fishermen are protesting that the wind farm threatens their livelihood and their very lives, claiming that it will disturb tuna migration routes and force the fishermen to fish in more dangerous waters. You can't make an emission reduction omelette without breaking a few eggs, right?

• A German utility wants to build a 25-turbine, 50 MW onshore windfarm in the Scottish Highlands. The project is expected to stir controversy among the Scots, much like the recent jousting over the much larger 702-MW farm on the Isle of Lewis. Construction of onshore windfarms is a major concern for rural Scotland, as expressed in this piece written by MSP Murdo Fraser and this article on famous Scottish conservationist and wind opponent Dr. David Bellamy. Scotland is one of the most beautiful places in the world, but, again, omelette, eggs, &c, right? RIGHT??

• Alt-E James links to news on this interesting project from New Zealand - a hi-tech wind farm that will generate 120 MW of power with only 40 turbines, which are new models that use micro-computers to continually adjust blade angles to maximize efficiency.

• James also has a post up with some details on a windfarm off the coast of Shanghai that will be Asia's largest, with a capacity of 200 MW.

• Gristmill's Geoff Dabelko points to an LA Times article highlighting at least one way in which the War on Terror is facilitating the push for energy independence - the surge of 'residents' at Guantanamo Bay has forced the Navy to install more power, in the form of four new windmills producing 950 kW each.

Policy + Misc:

• The European Union launched its Emissions Trading Scheme on January 1st. It will be the world's first international carbon dioxide emissions market, and is a key component of the EU's plan to meet its Kyoto targets. In a unique and time-honored ritual that traditionally accompanies large scale economic or social engineering in the EU, the European Commission is celebrating by suing four member states for insufficient compliance.

• New York representative John McHugh has reintroduced a package of bills designed to spur economic growth in rural areas, dubbed the ‘Economic Development Initiatives for Rural America,’ that emphasizes an important role for new energy technologies. The package includes H.R. 140, the Agrofuel Rural Energy Empowerment Act, which provides incentives for investment into agricultural waste management technology, and H.R. 141, which would make the wind tax credit permanent.

• The frequently-cited Solarbuzz unveiled a new feature this month - Greenjobs, a new job recruitment service for renewable energy professionals. Green power + Greenbacks = Green SQUARED.

• The excellent hybrid car resource, HybridCars.com, has had a facelift that includes an entire stable of blogs. I got word of this too late to include stories from these blogs in this edition of NEC, but I'm sure I'll be regularly citing them in the future.

• Finally, Engineer-Poet has an interesting post up with numerous links detailing the massive energy efficiency gains (up to 148 GW including residential and commercial as well as industrial applications) we could make with wide scale implementation of distributed energy projects utilizing generation-side efficiency improvements and cogeneration.

As always, leave any tips or questions in the comments, or e-mail me at newenergy@windsofchange.net.