New Energy Currents: 05-20-2005

[JK: Originally posted May 20th. Moved up to the 21st because it also fits our "Good News Saturdays" theme.]

As the US energy bill is being written in the Senate, the debate over our energy future is in full swing. Hydrogen fuel cells, or "gas optional" hybrids? Nuclear, or not? Coal... or not? As these different technologies begin to compete in earnest for your attention, acceptance, and tax dollars, New Energy Currents does its best to give you a broad overview of developments in energy science, technology, and policy. By John Atkinson, of chiasm.

• Bio
• Electricity
• Fossil Fuels
• Geothermal
• Hydrogen
• Nuclear
• Solar
• Water
• Wind
• Policy

Bio

• Bouphonia takes a look at a new method of producing ethanol from paper mill waste. Though details are sketchy, as he points out, it's probably better than using corn. (via Peak Oil Optimist)

• Jennings, Louisiana will be the home of the first commercial plant to use genetically engineered E. coli bacteria to produce ethanol from biomass such as sugarcane waste. The engineered bacteria produce ethanol from biomass sugars with 90-95% efficiency, and the plant should be operational by the end of 2006.

• Green Car Congress reports on a new venture between UK biodiesel producer D1 Oils and a Philippine mining company to restore land in the Philippines degraded by mining by planting jatropha trees for biodiesel. Crumb Trail has a useful post from last year on why jatropha can make sense as a biofuel feedstock, especially as part of remediation projects like this where the land is otherwise unusable, and Green Car Congress has another recent post up on India's jatropha-centric plans for a national biodiesel program.

• I don't usually go this small, but this is pretty hot - FuturePundit notes the invention of a tiny 0.2 milliwatt fuel cell that can run on blood (sugar) - perfect for the medical nanobots of the future.

Electricity

• Knowledge Problem reports on the results of a recent pilot project testing the impact of time-of-use (TOU) and dynamic pricing among 2,500 residential and small commercial and industrial customers in California. Participants were given several pricing options and were equipped with sophisticated digital meters and programmable thermostats that could be managed remotely over the Internet. The pilot's results suggest a potential 13 percent statewide average reduction in peak-period energy use - not bad for what Prof Kiesling calls only a "first step" towards introducing demand participation in retail electricity markets.

• The Engineer-Poet notes a new collaboration between Honda and a company called Climate Energy to produce a home-use "micro combined heat and power" (MCHP) cogeneration system. E-P long has been a forceful advocate of cogeneration as a major component of our long-term energy strategy, but is disappointed at the lack of ambition in this first attempt - "throw it back," too small.

• Green Car Congress takes a look at the EDrive, a commercial retrofit system that can turn a Prius hybrid into a GO-HEV - Gas Optional Hybrid Electric Vehicle (formerly known as 'Plug-In' hybrids) - capable of running in battery-only (no gas!) mode at neighborhood speeds and getting a cool 100 to 150 mpg for roughly the first 60 miles of the day otherwise.

Fossil Fuels

• Former oilman Geoff Styles drops an intriguing alternative peak oil scenario - "Could an OPEC policy aimed at increasing prices by restricting access to reserves result in a premature, but nonetheless permanent peak in oil production, either deliberately or inadvertently?"

• Searching For The Truth explores similar territory in a terrific, long post, "Emerging Dominance of Sovereign Oil Producers Presents Challenges To The West," and Rob McMillin's news on creeping oil industry nationalization in Venezuela, Mexico, and Ecuador, as well as news of a new oil law passed in Bolivia last week, seem to indicate that the process is well underway in Latin America.

• M. Simon notes recent moves towards big-time Chinese investment in the development of Canada's oil sands, and ponders the implications for the US.

• Wired is excited about the excitement surrounding $20 billion worth of investments that have been committed to make Qatar "the GTL [Gas-to-Liquids] capital of the world." GTL plants will transform Qatar's enormous - and largely stranded - natural gas reserves into 300,000 barrels of clean-burning synthetic diesel fuel and other liquid products every day by 2011. (via Crumb Trail)

• There's been a lot of talk about 'clean coal' technologies that may help meet our energy needs in a carbon-constrained environment - but have you heard of ULTRA clean coal, a purified form of coal that will burn much more cleanly and efficiently, being developed by researchers at the University of Nottingham? Via Crumb Trail, who also notes a good resource for information on other, 'regular' clean coal technologies.

• Searching For The Truth takes a look at harvesting methane from geopressurized brine, a non-conventional source of natural gas estimated to hold 110 times the world's proven reserves of conventional natural gas. !

Geothermal

• Geothermal energy has a lot of potential in Uganda - 127 MW of geothermal power are already installed, out of an estimated 450 MW of potential capacity - but not a lot of capital and technical expertise to take advantage of it. ENTER the German ministry of economic cooperation and development.

Hydrogen

• Using quantum physics theory, scientists have determined that carbon nanotubes "decorated" with titanium or other transition metals can hold 8 percent of their weight in hydrogen. This surpasses by a third the Department of Energy's FreedomCar target of a minimum 6 percent storage capacity for hydrogen storage for an economically feasible hydrogen fuel cell vehicle. (via Green Car Congress)

Nuclear

• NEI notes a deal between GE and NuStart, a US nuclear industry consortium, under which GE will design and submit for regulatory approval a next-generation ESBWR (Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor) for one of two proposed projects to be sited at existing U.S. nuclear power plants. GE calls it a "Generation III+" reactor, designed to be safer, more cost-effective to operate, faster to build, &c. If approved, this reactor could be the first new nuclear plant built in the US since the 1970s.

• The Engineer-Poet asks 'how could we make nuclear power less risky and more attractive?' Take it underground.

• The G8 chipped in another $200 million to fund the construction of a permanent sarcophagus around Chernobyl to stop radioactive leaks from the destroyed nuclear reactor. This raises the total in the Chernobyl Shelter Fund to $800 million, short of the $1 billion that will be required, but enough for work to begin - Russia is among the countries expected to step forward to contribute the rest, which is considerate of them. It's a pretty big cleaning bill.

• After Britain's Sellafield nuclear reactor had to be shut down due to leaky pipes, and as Britain gears up for a debate over new nuclear reactors, the EU Commission has renewed its call for tougher EU nuclear safety standards.

• After many months of masterful negotiating, Japan has finally conceded: France will host the ITER experimental fusion reactor. As Rob McMillin notes, Japan got quite an excellent compensation package in return. Also worth a look, now that we've finally settled the 'where' question, is this recent post looking at a new article in Europhysics News that asks "What Will We Learn From ITER?"

• Rob also covers two recent developments in the highly experimental field of sonofusion research, here and here.

Solar

• The MIT Technology Review takes a look at applications of flexible photovoltaics currently being evaluated by the US military, including clothing and tents embedded with solar cells to power night vision goggles, laptops, communications devices, GPS units, and the rest of the equipment that makes our super-soldiers so super. Pay attention, civvies, you'll probably be charging your cell phone the same way in a few years.

• Monkeysign continues to track the progress of Nanosolar's much-hyped nanoengineered thin-film PV sells - apparently they have completed the R&D phase and are moving into commercial production, and they have many more patents than previously thought - more on the patents here. We should see the first Nanosolar systems deployed later this year - stay tuned.

Water

• UK company Ocean Power Delivery has signed a contract to build the world's first commercial wave energy project off the coast of Portugal. The project will begin with a 3-machine, 2.25 MW capacity test installation that, if successful, will be followed by the addition of 30 more machines with 20 MW capacity by the end of 2006.

• Scotland's Robert Gordan University debuted a new, prefabricated ocean energy device, dubbed the Sea Snail, in Burra Sound. One of the most expensive components of current ocean energy projects is the cost of attaching turbines to the seabed; the SNAIL solves this problem with reversible hydrofoils, greatly reducing the cost of installation as well as increasing the number of suitable sites compared to conventional ocean energy devices. Also,

• Researchers at Oregon State University are developing a new way to harness ocean power: the permanent magnet linear generator buoy...

• ...and a Norweigan company has developed a new wave energy device called the Seawave Slot Cone Generator (SSG). Details are sketchy on both, but there's certainly a lot of technical innovation going on in this relatively young field.

• Villagers near Mount Kenya have joined together to form a hydro-power cooperative, the Baraani Hydro-electric Self Help Group, which has bypassed Kenya Power and Lighting to purchase and maintain a turbine producing 10 KW of power for distribution to 36 members of the group from Owinga falls on the Baarani River. The effort has attracted the attention of the UN Development Programme, who has lined up to help fund a second, larger, 75 kW project.

Wind

• A new assessment of global wind power indicates that "wind, for low-cost wind energy, is more widely available than was previously recognized." The study also indicates that better siting of wind turbines (potentially assisted by this study) could help overcome current problems stemming from local opposition to huge, concentrated arrays of wind turbines.

• A new case study of the tortuous journey of the Cape Cod Wind Project by University of Delaware researchers reveals that "Deeply Held Values, Plus Misperceptions" are fueling the public debate. Not exactly a revelation, but it's good (or interesting, at least) to know that this major obstacle to further development of wind power is being seriously studied.

• Hopefully, George Pataki and the Long Island Power Authority have been paying attention - they've just launched a campaign to get public support for a 40-turbine wind farm with 140 MW generating capacity in the Long Island Sound. (via Carolyn Elefant)

• China is unlikely to run into such problems with local resistance as it prepares to build its first big offshore windfarm, a development of unspecified size off the coast of the southern Chinese island of Nan'ao that will have 100 MW capacity upon completion. (also via Carolyn Elefant)

• The Renewable Energy Systems and Energy Efficiency Improvements Program created by the 2002 Farm Bill has $23 million in grants available this year to help farmers and small rural businesses finance renewable energy/energy efficiency projects - applications due June 27! Check out this account of one Iowa family farm/wind turbine operators' experience.

Policy

• Washington has passed "the most progressive energy legislation ever passed in a U.S. state", modeled after Germany's renewable energy programs. Passed with broad, bipartisan support, the two bills incentivize both demand for and in-state production of small renewable energy projects, especially photovoltaics.

• Green Car Congress reports that the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has proposed adopting California's greenhouse gas reduction legislation, which is the first and only mandatory emission reduction program in the US. The California regulations, which are currently being challenged by automakers in court, require emission cuts in cars and trucks by as much as 25 percent by 2009, and of 34 percent by 2016.

• A new World Bank report shows that world trade in CO2 permits during the first three months of 2005 were 3.5 times higher than the whole of last year, and that 2004's dealing volume was five times higher than 2003. Just a reminder that the Kyoto Protocol is, in fact, doing something, though that growth rate is going to have to start going seriously exponential if Kyoto countries are to meet their emissions reduction targets - Marginal Revolution notes new emissions projections from Brussels estimating that European countries in 2010 will exceed their Kyoto targets by 10 (Netherlands) to 77 (Spain) percent.

• Finally, earlier in the week the Senate Energy Committee revealed a partial draft of the Senate Energy Bill which will be written next week and brought to the floor in late June (hopefully). The draft Senate Bill did not include provisions for drilling in ANWR or for protecting oil firms from MTBE lawsuits, and Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM) indicated that they will increase the ethanol mandate from 5 billion barrels a year by 2012 to 6-8 billion barrels.

As always, please send any links, tips, questions, and (especially) hottt gossip to newenergy - at - windsofchange.net - see you next month.