PowrTalk

Another Spawn of PowTalk

2008-10-22T13:47:00.001-04:00

For a US military-focused version of PowrTalk's relentless renewable energy tech coverage, see The DOD Energy Blog.

PowrTalk Moving On/Up

2008-05-03T08:15:00.002-04:00

Dear loyal reader(s),

May 2008 marks an important transition for our blog as we've been picked up by the Discovery Communications News site. All new posts can be found here.

Taxi? ... taxi? .. TAXI !!!!

2008-04-26T11:53:00.005-04:00

Here we go - the real world, dollars and cents, non tree-hugger benefits of new energy are beginning to appear in Manhattan. NYT reports taxi owners and drivers on the cusp of calling the Ford Escape Hybrid a superior financial vehicle, so to speak.

It's not a clear slam dunk due to current lease cost differences and evolving maintenance cost factors such as battery pack replacement frequency and costs and marginally higher costs for some parts. But if the anecdotal evidence in this article is correct, it appears they may have reached break even with gas at $3.00 and may be moving into clear increases in profitability at $3.50 and above.

I remember thinking a while ago that this is where we'd see it first. In the non-stop, stop and go daily grind of urban taxi companies, where hybrids' regenerative braking gains and low fuel burn in traffic would give them a big advantage. Acquisition and maintenance costs are the downside, while ever rising gas prices create the upside. Next steps are maturation of gas hybrids and the appearance on the NY Taxi test track of plug-in hybrids and full electrics.

New Museums Walk the Talk

2008-04-23T22:03:00.005-04:00

The best science museums explain and excite, using whatever materials they have at their disposal, donated or otherwise. Often the exhibits are confined to a defined space within the museum walls. But sometimes ... and increasingly, they creep out of their confines and do much more than advertised. The Water + Life Museums in Hemet, California is one of those cases, and this article describes not only the museum's LEED Platinum rating, but its massive solar installation that provides approximately half the power. (Editorial note: the 540 Watts cited is a bit less than you'd expect from a three thousand panel installation. The article may be off by a decimal point or two ... or more.) Nevertheless, renewable exhibits that power themselves and their museums are a wave of the future. Mark my words ...

New Energy Workforce begins Punching In

2008-04-20T22:30:00.005-04:00

Renewable energy is going to change the world in more ways than one. For me, it's come to occupy a significant part of my after hours scene. For many other folks, it may well become their day job. Here are a few examples of real jobs that didn't even exist until recently:

Carbon trader
Eco-investor
Corporate climate strategist
Green recruiter
Environmental banker

They all sound suspiciously similar to other more familiar positions, but all have a new energy twist that makes them different. If the US can become the locus of this new economy, we won't have to worry about a serious economic downturn for at least another 50 years or so.

Oil Goes Up a Dollar a Day from Now On - OK ???

2008-04-16T22:28:00.006-04:00

$100 ... 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115 ...

At this rate, we'll be well into in the upper 300s for a barrel by the end of 2008. That alright with you? Still interested in who's taking the early lead in the American League East? Who's looking hot on American Idol? Which Democratic candidate dodged the MSM People Magazine-esque questions more successfully tonight? Still want more horses under that hood?

I'm writing from Harrisburg, PA tonight where the price of a gallon of gas is $3.35 and diesel is well over 4 bucks. The Renewable Energy technology advocate in me is ecstatic. But this kind of a price climb scares me. This isn't how it's supposed to play out. It can't keep going up like this, right? Right ???

There's a great future in plastics. Think about it.

2008-04-13T08:42:00.028-04:00

Much like Mr. McGuire urging Ben to understand that plastics were the future in the 1967 movie "The Graduate," Amory Lovins continues to push automakers to give plastics (that is, lightweight composite carbon) a look.

Mr. Lovins, et al make the strong case for light cars in Winning the Oil Endgame. When you consider that less than one percent of the gas you use moves your passengers, or that ninety-nine some odd percent has to move the vehicle, putting cars on a diet makes sense.

What you've gotta love about Lovins and the Rocky Mountain Institute folks is their willingness to go beyond their compelling ivory castle pontifica (buttressed with good, hard science), by developing patented prototypes to further lure some enterprising automaker to a future in plastics.

To date, composites have been cost prohibitive. But with oil prices up, and likely to stay up, and steel prices up, with no foreseeable letup in demand, automakers ought to run the math again.

The future is looking light.

(For the nostalgiac, here's Mr. McGuire delivering the hot tip.)

New RE-newables and a RE-cession

2008-04-13T08:06:00.004-04:00

What happens when all the renewable energy start-ups, and the investment money behind them, crash headlong into this year's financial crash? A Boston-based clean energy VC with @Ventures, Rob Day says we can expect some good things and some bad things.

To my mind it's like the price of gas at the pump. As it goes up and stays up, it hurts everyone in every business (except the Saudis that is). But while it's a bit of a cliche, the good thing with adversity is it almost always creates opportunity.

Day lays out his four main trends, with a bit of a tilt towards doom and gloom here. I'm looking forward to a day, years from now, when Day's companies are kicking such major ass that it's the old energy companies' stocks that are both gloomy ... and doomed.

LEED Buildings Save Money, but, really...need more info

2008-04-12T07:57:00.013-04:00

The banners proclaim green buildings use 25 to 30 percent less energy than others. These on top of articles about a study released on behalf of the US Green Building Council, administrator of the Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) system that rates and certifies green buildings.

A major flaw, however, is that the study compares 121 LEED buildings to "all national building stock." All stock presumably includes a lot of old, worn out buildings, and thus does not deliver the apples to apples comparison that will get skeptical building owners to bite. The offspring of this study ought to measure against the true option: new, non-LEED buildings. (A challenge authors of this study may have faced is that non-LEED building owners are reluctant to participate).

The study does offer some actionable conclusions:

the higher the LEED rating, the better the energy performance

there are wide disparities between modeled (predicted) and actual performance

labs and other buildings with high process loads use twice as much energy as predicted

This study plows new ground and moves in the right direction. But future studies should show conclusive justification for LEED in the cost arena. If LEED is conclusively justified, it's a no-brainer. If a no-brainer, everyone will design and build according to LEED tenets, so that the need for LEED, and the corresponding costs to administer it, go away.

Floating Wind Turbines

2008-04-11T22:41:00.000-04:00

This is good stuff from MIT's Technology Review mag, even if it's not ready for prime time world wide. According to a 2006 analysis by the U.S. Department of Energy, "General Electric, and the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, offshore wind resources on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts exceed the current electricity generation of the entire U.S. power industry."

Screw the Kennedy's and the other Cape Wind naysayers who don't want to see 1.5" turbines 3 miles offshore from their luxury compounds. With this technology the turbines can be so far offshore you won't even be able to see them with the Hubble telescope.

Play along, and "the economics of the power industry are approaching a tipping point that will drive rapid adoption of floating turbines." Tipping is what we're trying to achieve, and avoid, at the same time.

Coal Costs Climbing: Cruel or Crucial?

2008-04-09T23:12:00.003-04:00

Renewable energy zealots (hmmm, does that describe anyone I know?) have long hoped for a day when rising prices for carbon-based fuels will prime the pump for new, but comparatively expensive energy sources. Well guess what? ... that day has come. In fact, it came last year when you were out. According to some experts, oil, having reached $100 a barrel, has liked what it's seen and won't be going back to double digits soon ... or ever.

Well, at least there's coal you were going to say. There's tons of it (no pun intended) and the US has a Saudi-like portion all to itself. And the good thing about coal is that it's always been cheap, and always will be cheap. Unfortunately, that last statement is only half right. Those self same experts reporting on oil prices in the WSJ have an increasingly similar tale to tell about coal: demand is higher than supply and that, among other things, is making it expensive as well.

Right about now we sure could use some good old fashioned cold fusion.

Go Blow

2008-04-07T21:42:00.003-04:00

The American Wind Energy Association has just released its April 2008 assessment of the state of Wind power in the US, and it's chock full of good news and strong trends. My friends in Texas don't need to be told that they are way out in front and getting stronger (and bigger) in this department every day. As of 2007, Texas had almost twice as much wind power installed as the next leading state, diminutive California. And for the year, it looks like its only going to extend its lead as it installed more than twice the new capacity of the 2nd place finisher, Colorado.

My own state Massachusetts, despite all the hot air billowing from our portly and pretentious pols, never mind the steady ocean breezes, has barely 1 MW installed and signs of improvement are slim. Oh well, maybe I'll move. Or maybe I'll start raising a ruckus and getting some action going up here in the Northeast. If we're going to get away from dino-fuels, renewables installations need to become the new gridiron competition among states. Give me a W - I - N - D !!!!

Water's Turn

2008-04-06T10:09:00.004-04:00

It seems that 90% of the renewable energy action, and maybe 95% of its press comes from solar and wind technologies and projects. But as you may have learned in school, 70% of the surface of the Earth is covered by water, not land. So when less-heralded water-born approaches make strides, I like to make sure they get noticed. Here's a recent one from Ireland over 1 MW (a new record) that will soon be spawning a larger sibling in North America up in British Columbia.

For more information on different forms of tidal power, check out this site which has some pretty cool pictures.

Military Stung by High Cost of Fuel (Just like the regular folks)

2008-04-02T18:49:00.006-04:00

No matter what the current administration says, no one would argue that our military is fighting in Iraq, at least in part, to protect US oil interests. That's why it's somewhere between ironic and outright painful that high fuel costs are impairing DOD's ability to fight (and build a nation) effectively, by taking funds that might be better spent on other supplies. This article breaks out some of the details.

Each M-1 Abrams tank requires a substantial support convoy of tankers and maintenance trucks, all of which are burning gas at a amazing clip. Check out these stats from AP:

Overall, the military consumes about 1.2 million barrels, or more than 50 million gallons of fuel, each month in Iraq at an average $127.68 a barrel. That works out to about $153 million a month
In WWII, the average fuel consumption per soldier or Marine was about 1.67 gallons a day; in Iraq, it's 27.3 gallons

Lastly, if you want to see the organization that's running this energy show for the DOD, go to the Defense Energy Support Center's home page. They are a subsidiary organization of the Defense Logistics Agency based south of DC in Fort Belvoir, VA.

(Not Just) April Fools !!!

2008-04-01T22:27:00.006-04:00

Last year I wanted to buy a Ford Escape Hybrid in the worst way. It's just the right size for me and the offspring, and it looks like it could handle itself on a snowy Boston side street. So I looked online to see which local dealers had them. The answer: hardly any. When I called, the dealers didn't really seem to understand why they didn't have more, and they certainly didn't have any intel on whether supply would improve in the future. So I attempted to call and email Ford and found their consumer communication channels great at keeping me out. Ultimately I bought a 5 speed manual shift 4 speed gas engine because a) it gets decent mileage, and while they are rare as well, b) they exist.

This article from HybridCars.com does some digging and follows up on a recent NPR story on the same theme: where the hell are the hybrids from the US auto makers? GM is going out of its way to convince folks with advertising that it is now a green minded company, and that its 2010 Volt is going to save humanity ... and maybe the company. But guess what none of the Big 3 are actually doing? That's right ... they are not building hybrids. As much as it hurts the nostalgic patriotic side of me to say it, stupid companies deserve to die and these guys are queuing to see which one is going to walk the plank first. Fools 365 x 24.

One Expert says "10 more years of Solar R&D required"

2008-03-31T00:20:00.002-04:00

This article isn't live on the net yet, but here's a sneak preview. Not that there's a hurry. If what this scientist is saying is true, we can chill another decade or so before installing solar en mass to replace fossil fuel sources. Kind of maddening, but good news if 10 years means 10 years. I don't think we're in a fusion power situation where despite breakthroughs the energy payoff is always 50 years away. Not to mention, cold fusion ...

New Orleans - Despite oil prices that hover around $100 a barrel, it may take at least 10 or more years of intensive research and development to reduce the cost of solar energy to levels competitive with petroleum, according to an authority on the topic.

Solar can potentially provide all the electricity and fuel we need to power the planet, Harry Gray, Ph.D., scheduled to speak here today at the 235th national meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS). His presentation, Powering the Planet with Solar Energy, is part of a special symposium arranged by Bruce Bursten, Ph.D., president of the ACS, the world's largest scientific society celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Beckman Scholars Program.

"The Holy Grail of solar research is to use sunlight efficiently and directly to split water into its elemental constituents, hydrogen and oxygen, and then use the hydrogen as a clean fuel," Gray said.

In his talk at the ACS Presidential Symposium, Gray cited the vast potential of solar energy, noting that more energy from sunlight strikes the Earth in one hour than all of the energy consumed on the planet in one year.

The single biggest challenge, Gray said, is reducing costs so that a large-scale shift away from coal, natural gas and other non-renewable sources of electricity makes economic sense. Gray estimated the average cost of photovoltaic energy at 35 to 50 cents per kilowatt-hour. By comparison, other sources are considerably less expensive, with coal and natural gas hovering around 5-6 cents per kilowatt-hour.

Because of its other advantages, being clean and renewable, for instance, solar energy need not match the cost of conventional energy sources, Gray indicated. The breakthrough for solar energy probably will come when scientists reduce the costs of photovoltaic energy to about 10 cents per kilowatt-hour, he added. "Once it reaches that level, large numbers of consumers will start to buy in, driving the per-kilowatt price down even further. I believe we are at least ten years away from photovoltaics being competitive with more traditional forms of energy."

Major challenges include developing cheap solar cells that work without deterioration and reducing the amounts of toxic materials used in the manufacture of these cells. But producing low cost photovoltaics is only a step in the right direction. Chemists also need to focus on the generation of clean fuels at costs that can compete with oil and coal.

Imagine

2008-03-30T16:15:00.013-04:00

Imagine Masdar. This video provides a compelling, dreamy look at this zero carbon, zero waste, renewably powered city. Much like the science newsreels from the fifties that imagined the future in luxurious, automated, labor-saving terms. And while the skeptic in you may whisper that it's a little too dreamy, you know that current realities come from, at least in part, the dreams and visions of the past.

But beyond the epic task of creating from scratch a city that is wholly sustainable, what is perhaps more exciting is that this bold, positive vision comes from the Middle East. A place many Westerners view as a hotbed of sullen, reactionary groupthink.

So what if Masdar is the opening shot of a Middle East that leapfrogs past the West, past India and China, past everyone, to take us beyond classic capitalism to a natural capitalism based on an updated reckoning of our use of resources ? What if, instead of dragging up the rear, we find the Middle East drawing us to the future?

Masdar is a layered vision worth imagining.

Net Metering for Gross Profit

2008-03-29T10:19:00.015-04:00

Net metering is good. With net metering, someone with a rooftop solar panel producing more power than they use gets credit on their utility bill for the surplus sent to the grid. This is key to inducing people to produce power at their place.

Net metering needs to be everywhere and it needs to be easy. Thirty five states currently allow net metering, and it is required with the passage of the 2005 Energy Act.

In Texas this week, the Public Utility Commission held off on enacting net metering regulations because of public concern that the rules being considered wouldn't really promote net metering. Take some time to get the rules right, but get net metering out there.

The rules should make it easy to net meter at your house. If special meters and disconnects are needed, the utility should provide them cheerfully, without cost, to the on-site power producer (distribute those costs across all users, maybe). If utilities are reluctant to implement, fearing they'll lose revenue if they're not the ones making the power, create pricing mechanisms where utilities profit by re-selling home-grown power. (You'd think utilities could find a way to make money when others are funding the added power plants, especially if those plants make peak use power).

Given the manifold benefits of distributed energy, we need net metering to be easy and profitable for both utility companies and the new power producers.

Tier 4 Now

2008-03-25T21:15:00.006-04:00

Someone told me this week that Tier 4 is here. The more stringent emissions standard for off-road vehicles (including, importantly, construction equipment) begins phasing in this year and is fully in place by 2011. According to Cummins, a big producer of the engines, Tier 4 "represents a 90 percent reduction in particulate matter (PM), and a 50 percent reduction in emissions of Nitrogen Oxide (NOx)" over the current Tier 3 standard. Tier 4 also begins to address sulfur content in diesel.

The phase in period allows industry time to incorporate: replacing equipment at the end of its service life, or developing the experience and training to maintain the new engines. A noisy, messy corner of the motive world will become significantly quieter and cleaner in the next four years.

New Glass Kicks Ass

2008-03-24T20:40:00.004-04:00

Sorry if I offended any reader with this clearly butch, tough guy language, but there's a new development on the glass front that has me all worked up. In another year or so there will be a type of glass entering the market that will make buildings, from an insulation perspective, behave as if they don't have any windows. Ginormous energy and money savings await those who begin installing these windows on new buildings, or replacing their old windows.

These things could play a major part in a classic pincer maneuver on old energy use as renewables put pressure on coal plants from one side, while super-efficient materials dramatically reduce new buildings' energy requirements.

Yippie yi Ohhh - Renewables as Calvary

2008-03-22T09:59:00.007-04:00

Those WSJ Enviro Capital guys are nailing it again, this time spotting a trend that's surfacing all around the country, and particularly out west. The short story is that because planners are not getting any consistent signals, let alone clear leadership, from Washington, they are making their own plans. And they are looking to Renewables to increasingly power their regions when more carbonaceous forms of power (coal, gas, cow farts) may start to bear additional costs in the form of carbon taxes. This is a great sign that the general public is getting it, even if the current administration is asleep at the wheel. And who knows, maybe it's the nature of Washington itself to lag on this stuff. Who can say that despite their forward looking words and pledges, O'McClinton would/could really deliver intelligent new energy policy for the USA? Government can only do so much, and what it does, it often does wrong or too late. The mass move to renewables looks like it's going to be one revolution that's truly driven by "We the People."

Go Go Solar Gadget

2008-03-19T21:12:00.003-04:00

You know, it's going to get pretty gadgety pretty fast. As a business category that depends on recurring technical innovation, renewable energy, is starting to look a lot like the computer and internet space. As it moves from remote Texas mega-farms to our own back yards and roofs, and then to our own clothes and bodies, its going to get caught up in the personnel technology section covered by folks like Walt Mossberg and David Pogue at NYT. Green tech is already a news staple at popular gadget sites like Gizmodo and Engadget. Tell me this new Solar Gateway from Xantrex, announced today, doesn't sound more like a PC than a piece of renewable energy equipment ... from the product site:

Product Features

Can monitor a network consisting of up to 20 single phase GT inverters

Wi-Fi/Ethernet module with 10/100 Base-T or 802.11 b/g

Can be configured to send energy and alarm reports via email

Graphical interactive solar monitoring software

Embedded web page for configuring the Gateway and upgrading inverter firmware 16 megabytes of storage

Water Power

2008-03-17T20:25:00.005-04:00

A little over a year ago, Verdant Power put its first turbine in New York City's East River. If grown to its design scale of 300 turbines, this project would bring 10 megawatts on-line, enough to power 8,000 homes.

The turbines use the movement of water in oceans and rivers, and can even operate in both directions to take advantage of tides coming in and going out.

If you're near an ocean, a river, even a man-made channel, Verdant wants to know if your water can make energy. They ask you to complete a survey to help them assess the water's potential.

What do they need?

30 feet of water

4 knots average water speed

5 acres

If you just want to see the "dive-through" animated video, go here.

$110 Gas = Bzillions of New Green Tech Investment Bucks

2008-03-12T21:26:00.004-04:00

A recent MarketWatch article reports that money for new renewables is coming in in record amounts. It's why every time I top off my tank and feel the pain in the pocket, I also give thanks for there is literally a silver lining in the pain of unprecedented high gasoline prices. No need to harp on Al Gore's climate message, when it's coming down to pure dollars and cents. If the world is saved in the process of swapping out dirty old energy sources for shiny new ones, then that's a double bonus !!!

The piece ends with this sweet prediction for progressive-minded greedy bastards everywhere:

A McKinsey Global Institute report presented at the summit says that major investments over the next decade in energy productivity -- the level of output achieved from the energy consumed -- could earn double-digit rates of return for investors.

I see the greening of Gordon Gecko.

The Near Term Future is Here

2008-03-09T08:29:00.006-04:00

GM and Toyota recently opined that the fuel cell powered vehicle is not a near term solution. This is good. This says less about the viability of fuel cells (they were never a near term solution, anyway, were they?) than that the near term solutions are getting nearer and more real.

As GM Vice President Bob Lutz asks, "If we get lithium-ion to 300 miles, then ... Why do you need fuel cells?"

The near term solution is the all-electric or the plug-in hybrid electric vehicle. The vehicle technology is here. The energy infrastructure (the electrical grid) is here. The near term future is here.

Ain't No Oil Price High Enough

2008-03-05T21:26:00.005-05:00

Holy Moly Batman, we're over a $104 dollars a barrel. Historically adjusted for inflation, this is the most oil has ever cost in the world ... in the history of mankind ... in the history of history. Of course, it's still much less than a good malbec.

Anyway, as the NYT reports today, this price sure is stirring up a lot of action, both on the good side (renewables R&D) and the evil sides (Exxon pledged greatly increased exploration and development of new oil resources today ... cause it would be worth it !)

Despite the pain this blogger feels at the pump, if this is what it takes to get us: a Tesla, an Aptera, a Volt and the Automotive X Prize, then I say, standing proudly on my own carrier deck of justice, "Bring it On !!!" How about $200 a barrel? How about a million bucks? Then we could call oil a collectible, or make jewelry out of it, and drive our cars and economy with wind, sun or nuclear-boosted electrons instead.

Charging Employees

2008-03-01T12:59:00.011-05:00

Charging employees. To be more specific, waiting until plug-ins are available so he can let employees charge their PHEVs from solar panels at work. What a perquisite, gassing up for free at your place of employment. Here's a reader's letter to USA Today, telling us what he intends to do:

Consider solar recharge

Robert Myers - Columbia, Mo.

USA TODAY's story on plug-in hybrid electric cars raises a number of good points about the tradeoff in pollution.

But the article fails to mention an approach that has many plug-in hybrid advocates excited — using solar panels in the parking lots of companies or other institutions to charge the cars during the day while the owner is working. No battery storage for the solar panels is needed because the cars are providing the batteries. This approach is quiet, less polluting than coal and would allow employers to become part of the energy solution.

I plan to offer solar charging for my employees as soon as the technology is available.

Posted at 12:10 AM/ET, February 29, 2008

Net Plus

2008-02-29T21:30:00.013-05:00

Watch closely: a defining point emerged this week in the Building-Powered Car Master Plan. Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture was selected to design the first large-scale positive energy building (producing more power than it consumes). The surplus power this building makes could charge plug-in hybrid electric cars.

But it won't. The city will be car-free.

Still, Masdar's headquarters may serve in perhaps the more important role of modeling what can be done elsewhere. Keep an eye out for points that emerge, one by one, to define a new way to power our vehicles.

Holy Cow!

2008-02-26T07:49:00.009-05:00

Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA) issued a report (Crossing the Divide: the Future of Clean Energy) that is hugely significant. If you are not familiar with CERA, it was founded by Daniel Yergin, author of The Prize: the Epic Quest for Oil, Money and Power, which is the Pulitzer winning, authoritative history of oil. And as the Wall Street Journal notes, CERA is "as close as it gets to a proxy for conventional wisdom within Big Oil."

So when Dr. Yergin tells us "high energy prices, climate change, and energy security are becoming the new engine driving the development of clean energy,"and when CERA issues a pro-renewables report that says “putting a price on CO2 emissions, setting mandates, and providing subsidies all work to kick-start and sustain many clean energy technologies,” we have entered a new era.

....

We have crossed a divide.

Brewing up a Sustainable Storm

2008-02-24T08:45:00.006-05:00

As the Brooklyn Brewery, purveyor of the well received "Brooklyn Brown Ale" likes to say, "there's wind in our ales". On the back of their coasters and on their web site they tout:

On September 1, 2003 Brooklyn Brewery because the first NY City company to switch to 100% wind generated electricity. The company's brewery and corporate HQ are 100% powered by Newwind Energy, a product of Community Energy Inc.

Here's the link to Community Energy, purveyor off all things wind including RECs (renewable energy credits) companies like Brooklyn Brewery can purchase when they can't actually stick a turbine on their front lawns. Can you imagine the new turbines required if Bud and Miller went this way? I'd respect their companies a whole lot more if they did, though I still wouldn't drink their swill. Well, maybe when parched on a very hot summer day, and if the beer was really cold. OK, then I'd make an exception.

Silicon Goes Both Ways

2008-02-23T09:01:00.000-05:00

Here comes the sun. Some of the same minds and many of the same processes that gave us the every faster microprocessor and the ever denser random access memory (RAM) have turned their sites skyward. Now the NY Times reports that some of them are having success improving the efficiency of the silicon wafer's solar power characteristics. It's not likely Moore's Law - that's the doubling of the number of transistors that can fit on a chip every 2.5 - 3 years - is going to be in effect here. But it is clear that these guys know what they're doing and that the marriage of minds, experience and money is going to be an accelerator for this industry. We can now expect to see solar move closer to mainstream price points in the not-too-distant future.

Oil Closed over $100 a Barrel Yesterday

2008-02-20T23:21:00.001-05:00

This is a new milestone. As reported here, it's been over a couple of times in recent months, but this is the first time a day has ended with oil in triple digits. Some publications are forecasting $4 a gallon gas in the US this summer. Please hurry up Auto X Prizers !!!

Wind Power Flying High in 2008

2008-02-17T16:10:00.001-05:00

"Mission Control, we have lift off". The WSJ reports that the wind power industry is a $6 billion business for GE this year, and they are far from the world's largest provider of turbines. Despite this great news, some folks apparently wish things were otherwise: see the comments that follow the blog. Seems there's some folks out there who believe wind and other types of non-fossil power exist only because the government is paying for them in the form of subsidies, and that once those funds run dry, the entire new energy economy will grind to a halt. Maybe when wind is a $100 billion business, more skeptics will be convinced. Then again, Kansas still doubts Darwin.

The Hawaii Thesis

2008-02-17T09:01:00.003-05:00

Haven't explored, much less attempted to prove, the Hawaii thesis , but it might say something like this: "Hawaii has a robust, innovative and now self-funding renewable energy effort because it is isloated by oceans from traditional energy sources more so than the rest of us, creating cost barriers tall enough to encourage it to broadly develop renewables sooner than the rest of us." If true, and if those taller cost barriers are coming soon to a country near you, Hawaii might offer models to emulate at state and federal levels to promote intelligent energy self sufficiency.

Hawaii's governor in 1995 set the goal of making the state more energy self-sufficient. For Fiscal Year 2007, this is being done by the National Enerrgy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority with "no general fund support."

More later if this thought has merit. If not, maybe a ton of posts to sort of wash this one away in the sands of time.

Everyman's Rights

2008-02-15T19:41:00.007-05:00

You can pick wild berries, mushrooms and herbs in Finland under the aged laws proscribed by Everyman's Rights. By this account "even in forests and swamps that they do not own, without needing permission from landowners as long as they do not cause damage to the environment. About 67% of Finnish adults pick wild berries, 46% pick forest mushrooms and 20% pick herbs. When the crop is good, people pick about 50 million kilograms of berries. 35 million kilograms are picked for use at home and 15 million kilograms are picked commercially."

The progression might be an EveryPerson's Privilege to pick apples and pecans grown for that purpose in public spaces: resorts, parks, walking trails.

Orange Tree Energy

2008-02-15T17:08:00.004-05:00

I'm eating an orange I picked from the tree in front of my parking space at the Arizona Grand Resort in Phoenix. And I wonder, as I've often wondered, why not a bounty of trees in public and semi-public places offering their produce for the taking. The energy used to get that produce to the end user would be nothing. The cost to the end user would be nothing. The cost to the provider minimal. And the generous spirit engendered by the act would be, maybe, something.

In the US, the Greenest Cities are the Best Cities

2008-02-12T16:48:00.004-05:00

Popular Science has just come out with rankings on the most energy and environmentally proactive cities in the country. Taking into consideration four factors: (1) clean/sustainable electricity generation; (2) transportation; (3) green space; and (4) recycling, here's the top ten from the list of fifty:

Portland, OR
San Francisco
Boston
Oakland
Eugene, OR
Cambridge, MA
Berkeley, CA
Seattle
Chicago
Austin

Category winners were also named:

Electricity: Eugene
Transportation: New York City
Green Space: Chicago
Recycling: Lexington, KY

Is it is just a coincidence, or not, that these are all my favorite urban places in the USA?

Air Check

2008-02-09T18:50:00.001-05:00

While the companies in the post below look forward with new technologies to improve the fuel efficiency and air-worthiness of their fleets, Texas is working on the tail end of the problem: dirty, old cars. To deal with possible non-attainment of EPA air quality standards, Texas launched AirCheckTexas, offering as much as $3,500 towards the purchase of a new car for those that qualify.

In place since December, the program gets 600 calls a day, and has disbursed vouchers to 2,150 in the Dallas area alone. With $20,000,000 in annual funding, almost 7,000 of Texas's dirtiest cars could be retired each year. If cars that are over ten years old emit 10 to 30 times as much pollution as this article claims, AirCheckTexas could do much to attack the big back end of the problem, by simply leveraging the current state of technology. And maybe get some ugly cars off the road in the process.

Space Truck'n

2008-02-07T22:33:00.000-05:00

This GreenBiz feature article provides a nice walk through of how several companies, including Walmart (guided by REI) have shaved big percentage points off their truck fleets' diesel expenses and emissions over the past few years. Small changes are the rule: better tires, better aerodynamics, GPS and better routing and scheduling. To me, the most innovative yet simple mod is the addition of the aptly named Auxiliary Power Unit (APU). The APU is a small generator that gives the itinerant trucker the power he/she needs to simulate home on the road. In other words, electricity to power air conditioning, heaters, small appliances and killer stereos without having to idle the big diesel engine all night. Word is the APUs consume on average 1/10th the power of the main engine, saving not only fuel costs and emissions, but wear and tear on those expensive engines as well. It's a win-win-win-win-win. Or something like that. You've got to check it out.

Bills Coming Due for Old King Coal

2008-02-05T08:13:00.001-05:00

The free ride for coal is over. With guidance from Environmental Defense and the Natural Resources Defense Council, big banks have banded together with large energy companies to form what's being called the Carbon Principles. You may think I'm exaggerating here, but this is BIG, BIG, BIG, BIG, BIG, BIG news. The increasing alignment of environmental and economic drivers means the sustainability team has just grown by a factor of 100, and some of the new teammates have very deep pockets indeed.

Short and mid term, coal plants are not going to disappear; they are going to change, however. And new ones likely will not be built in the numbers some in the industry had imagined. Put yourself in the place of investors considering placing their funds in a new plant. In Rumsfeld-speak, there are known knowns: carbon emissions are going to cost money; unknown knowns: don't know how much money yet; and unknown unknowns: how fast current electricity generating alternatives will be replaced by breakthrough clean energy alternatives we don't even know of yet.

You want to invest in a new coal plant? We definitely need the energy. But you've got a lot to think about these days before you lay your money down.

Make Megawatts

2008-02-04T20:04:00.000-05:00

Amid tales of unemployment woe and shuttered factories, an industry growing so fast it can't fill its ranks: technicians that get wind turbines up and running command as much as $25 an hour according to this account. Make decent money to get in on the ground floor of a young industry that portends plenty of upside.

Bruce Graham, director of a wind education program in Concorida, Oregon notes, "I could go out on the Internet and find 500 jobs...that are open and they want someone right now."

Requirements: technicians with a "working knowledge of mechanics, hydraulics, computers and meteorology with the willingness to climb 200 feet in the air in all kinds of weather."

Wonder how much you're bagging if you're working overtime installing this 7 megawatt wonder in the Gulf of Mexico some dark and stormy night:

Give Me a Tax Break

2008-02-02T09:02:00.001-05:00

On the pages of this morning's edition of the Dallas Morning News, the interesting juxtaposition of these two articles:

Exxon profits break records again

Turning green, Experts say help is needed to boost clean energy industry

The Exxon article notes they "didn't produce as much oil this year as last, but the company's prouduct fetched a much higher price." To the extent this trend continues on constrained supply and burgeoning demand, subsidies and other forms of help for the industry can be drawn down.

The other article highlights a wind turbine blade manufacturing company setting up shop in Iowa to take advantage of the skilled workforce from a recently closed Maytag factory, and the thousands of "green collar jobs" that might be created here in America.

The irony and the urgency is the fledgling renewables industry living on nervous borrowed time as its Production Tax Credits get ready to expire, while oil's tax breaks continue in place, even as it experiences record profits.

Oil should be allowed to profit unfettered as is the American Way, but it doesn't need help from taxpayers.

SolarNanoHydro Breakthrough: It's No Fairy Tale

2008-02-01T08:48:00.001-05:00

MIT's Technology Review highlights a Massachusetts' company's recent A-round funding after earlier grants from NASA and DOE. Read it for yourself and see if it sounds plausible. It appears to me (and skeptical others ... like VCs) that Nanoptek has found a way to piggyback on existing technology and manufacturing processes, move them a step further with the material Titania (borrowed from Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream?) and now has a potential breakthrough on its hands. Perchance, will keep an eye on these guys for sure.

Priming the New Energy Pump: Intel Supplies the Demand

2008-01-30T20:35:00.000-05:00

Intel Corporation, the fabled designer and manufacturer of almost every processor in every computer in the land, has just put its very big foot on the e-pedal. The company's purchase of over a billion kilowatt hours of Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) is a market-making maneuver that will boost the confidence, if not the fortunes, of many new energy suppliers.

RECs are a bit astract for some, but until demand expands dramatically, RECs are a transitional financial tool and a necessity. The following generation technologies qualify as producers of RECs:

Solar
Wind
Geothermal
Low Impact Hydropower
Biomass
Biodiesel
Fuel cells (only if powered by hydrogen produced by one of the above approved generators)

Let's see if Intel's bold move engenders competition not just among other high tech manufacturers, but Fortune 500 and Global 1000 companies in every sector.

Steady Tailwind

2008-01-28T05:18:00.000-05:00

The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) reports that wind blew it out this year: increasing total installed capacity by a record 45 percent and adding 5,244 megawatts (more than all the wind in Texas alone). What's more, the supply chain is thickening: at least fourteen new manufacturing facilities opened or were anounced in 2007. There's tangible evidence in Texas: blades manufactured by GE in Gainesville, stacked in the yard and visible from Interstate 35, and towers manufactured by Trinity Structural Towers, further south and also visible from Interstate 35.

The scourge of this effort is the intermittent Production Tax Credit, set to expire again this year. Here's a graph from AWEA that paints a pretty crisp picture:

What would the graph look like if the Production Tax Credit were enacted to accomodate a longer business horizon, say ten or twenty years?

Not the Solution ... Except maybe in Seattle

2008-01-26T09:06:00.001-05:00

Don't want to be dark cloud, but raindrop power ?!? Need to charge your laptop ... or keep your fridge cold ... or recharge your electric car? Better commence a rain dance. I note this approach to point out that in our search for dramatic new ways to get away from coal and oil, there will be some "out of the box" projects that aren't going to make much sense. And we shouldn't spend any time on them once they've been demonstrated to produce too little energy to make an impact. Maybe I'm wrong, but I group rain power with dance floor and pedestrian foot step power in a long list of quirky ideas that could distract from otherwise constructive work in more potentially promising new energy fields.

Sorry, hope I didn't rain on anyone's parade.

Cute Power: Inhabitat

2008-01-24T21:57:00.001-05:00

Sometimes it's OK for attractive people to do things that are not necessarily related to their attractiveness. Not ones to rest on their laurels (so to speak), Brown grad and founder Jill Fehrenbacher and the women (and one guy) at Inhabitat.com have keen eyes for what's new and visually exciting in the alternative energy sphere. Check out their recent posts on energy developments here. These folks are tuned into the good stuff, so I've added them to the PowrTalk Tech Blogs sidebar cause I want to make it easy to check in on what they're writing about.

Electric Cars get Real in Israel (or, Shai Agassi Strikes Again !!!)

2008-01-21T12:45:00.000-05:00

First, a statement of the obvious: Israel is not the United States. While gas here is high at $3 a gallon, it is well over $6 there. And another thing: the distances between its major cities can be measured in the dozens of miles, vs. our hundreds or thousands of miles.

So guess what? One way the two countries are very much alike is in their entrepreneurial spirit, and (depending on who's in charge) their support for bold new ideas and innovation. See today's NYT article about Israel's bold plan to move rapidly to electric cars and infrastructure. And for a little more detail on the young businessman/entrepreneur behind it all, see this recent Discovery Tech post on former SAP VP Shai Agassi.

You got to like it when our friends show us the way.

More on Net Zero Buildings

2008-01-18T20:20:00.000-05:00

Here's some more on the plan to make buildings Net Zero by 2030. The alliance responsible for shepherding this plan is called the Commercial Buildings Initiative , a consortium of six heavy hitting organizations, including US Green Building Council (USGBC), the American Society of Heating and Refrigeration Engineers (ASHRAE) and as previously reported, the American Institute of Architects.

Net Zero in 22 years is a tall order. How do they intend to do this? Their plan is to reduce the buildings' energy use by 50 to 70 percent then provide the balance of their requirements from renewables like wind and solar.

A tall order indeed. Sign me up.

Change

2008-01-18T15:31:00.000-05:00

“If you don't like change, you're going to like irrelevance even less."

--Gen. Eric Shinseki,former Army Chief of Staff

Advanced Energy Initiative

2008-01-16T21:15:00.000-05:00

When President Bush spoke to Johnson Controls employees after he rolled out the Advanced Energy Initiative in the 2006 State of the Union Address, he said some things that were hard to believe were coming out of his mouth (by his own admission it was a shock to some to hear a Texan admit that America is addicted to oil).

The foremost objective of his plan: "change the way we power our cars and trucks."

To do this he said we needed to:

"First, invest in new kinds of vehicles that require much less gasoline. It's a practical thing to do.

Secondly, find new fuels that will replace gasoline and, therefore, dependence on oil.

And, finally, develop new ways to run a car without gasoline at all."

He want on to talk up the plug in hybrid, saying "Eventually, plug-in hybrids with lithium ion batteries will be able to get 100 miles per gallon. And now all of a sudden you're beginning to see the effects of this important technology on our national security and on our economic security."

So this is old news. Who cares?

But it's interesting to mark the shift in thinking from, say, 2003, when few conservatives were publicly concerned about energy, to 2006, when Bush spoke these words, to last week, when at least two automakers announced intentions of manufacturing plug in hybrids in the near future.

Six Bits

2008-01-15T22:27:00.000-05:00

With Toyota promising plug in hybrids by 2010, consider this:

A plug in operating in all-electric mode is powered at the gas cost equivalent of $0.75 per gallon.

Big Biofuel Blight

2008-01-14T10:27:00.000-05:00

If there were no such things as wind turbines or solar power, aggressive pursuit of biofuels might make sense. But given the current superiority of (and ongoing improvements in) the aforementioned technologies, why the hell are biofuels being pushed so hard by pols when they bring so many attendant problems (e.g., environmental damage, increase in food prices, carbon-based energy (and emissions) required to produce biofuels, etc.) ?!? This recent ScienceDaily article "Some Biofuels Are Worse Environmentally Than Fossil Fuels" lays out the case.

Mass (Finally) Kicks Energy Ass

2008-01-12T00:18:00.001-05:00

The same "ultra progressive" state that can't get Cape Wind built has just passed some seriously far reaching legislation paving the way for all kinds of clean energy improvements and energy conservation. Wind, solar, LEED buildings and cleaner auto's will all benefit. I have an idea, let's make it a national movement. How about if Mass joins hands with California to form a nationwide clean energy scrum, and anybody who slips through gets a heap of whoop ass from any one of Texas' ten thousand turbines !!!???

Can the US Become Energy Independent? Denmark Did

2008-01-11T08:35:00.000-05:00

Middelgrunden off-shore wind farm (Photo: René Seindal [Flickr])

In 1973, Denmark was 99 percent dependent on foreign oil. The '73 oil embargo pushed the Dutch to make a profound comittment to change. The result: Denmark is now energy independent, and in fact, exports electricity to neighboring European countries.

Some highlights of their efforts:

Wind supplies 21 percent of their energy
They now export wind technology, making 20,000 jobs for a country with half the population of the state of Maine
Cars are taxed at 105% of the cost of the vehicle
The government put up $1 billion to develop and integrate solar, tidal and fuel-cell technology

My original source is a SolarAustin@yahoogroups.com email, but see this Fox News report on the Dutch.

Necessity mothered Danish energy indepenence, the same necessity is coming for the United States.

Already Green Military Getting Greener

2008-01-10T10:00:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Earth2Tech's Katie Fehrenbacher for calling out the link between two worlds many would suppose have no contact with each other: the green energy innovators and the US military. Similar to the way the military took the lead on racial integration because it was a good idea and provided benefits to the military, the Army and the other service components are investigating solar, hybrid electrics, and other technologies because they could provide real benefit. Benefit to the Army that is.

Simply put, cleaner, greener power sources give the military multiple advantages over the largely oil-driven approach it's had since WW2:

On field power generation that markedly more quite - you can understand why that's a benefit right? And it's not just so the soldier can hear his/her iTunes more clearly!
Less smoke - for reasons that are similar to above, beyond the fact that soldiers don't have to breath as many fumes, it's easier to remain hidden from enemy forces.
Less dependence on oil - the world's most volatile energy source. Heck, it's probably what many if not most of the future wars are going to be about, anyway. Removing oil partially or fully from the logistic's tail would remove a ton (actually, thousands of tons) of risk for battlefield planners as well as make the combatant forces many times more agile.

Go Army !!!

Wall Street Journal on Why We Must Move Quickly @ $100 Oil

2008-01-03T13:14:00.000-05:00

It's all here. Every problem you can possibly imagine is wrapped up in what's been going on with oil since 2000 or so. US economic decline, climate degradation, heightening international tensions and a steep drop in US prestige and power in the world. If anyone can help, in any way, now would be a damned good time to get started. Here's the comprehensive WSJ article from the cover this morning.

US Fed Goes Green

2008-01-03T09:30:00.000-05:00

OMB - otherwise known as the Office of Management and Budget, has just issued new policy that guides the acquisition of new product and services, including IT equipment like PCs, designed to give energy efficient solutions an upper hand in competitive bids. This news may not be as titillating as a new X Prize for in-home solar/nuclear power plants, but it does mark a very substantial win for the good guys in the new energy battle. Read it here.

The $100 Question

2008-01-03T08:52:00.000-05:00

This would be a good time, then, to take a look at Robert Hirsch's 2005 report for the Department of Energy, Peaking of World Oil Production: Impacts, Mitigation, & Risk Management.

It opens with this bold statement: "The peaking of world oil production presents the U.S. and the world with an unprecedented risk management problem." If real, peak oil does represent an unprecedented challenge for a society thoroughly dependent on (a society whose foundation is) oil.

A vexing aspect is that peak oil is a risk, not a certainty. There isn't concensus that it is real. If it is real, it's hard to agree when it will, or did, occur. The report makes the case that the downside to doing something if "peaking is long delayed" is that we will mitigate prematurely. The flip side (failure to mitigate) has much heftier consequences.

Oil was $25 a barrel in 2003. It is $100 in 2008.

Oil Over $100 Today

2008-01-02T19:03:00.001-05:00

This is a first in the history of black gold, Texas tea. Old Jed would be a billionaire at these prices. Note: oil hit $99 a barrel on November 21 and had backed down until now.

SO-LARge !!!

2008-01-02T17:23:00.000-05:00

Cover of this month's Scientific American promotes a feature article on an all-solar solution to the majority of our indeed dire energy woes. Its primary thrusts are (1) using tolerably small parts of the southwest USA that receive 100 mega shiteloads of solar radiation every second, and (2) building out a DC based electricity distribution system to get the power from there to here ... and everyplace else it's needed. Objectives/benefits would be we'd free ourselves of depending on other countries to feed our energy appetite, we'd radically reduce global warming emissions, and we'd have millions of new jobs. There's a lot of detail here, and even more is referenced if you want to do a deep dive. The overall premise warmed my heart.

AXP - More Fun with Numbers in 2008

2007-12-31T09:20:00.000-05:00

A nice article in this month's Wired magazine outlines how 2008 will see the real launch of the Automotive X Prize, with dozens of competitors going for broke (with some going broke) to reach the objectives:

Efficiency: at least 100 MPG
Emissions: while producing less than 200 grams of greenhouse gases per mile
Economic Viability: with solid plans for safety, mass production and affordability

Contestants range from the well heeled (with millions in VC funding) to the non-heeled (sandal clad long haired California types). One point of interest - none of the big auto makers are participating. Just as Clayton Christiansen, Mr. Innovator's Dilemma, would have predicted, the large entrenched players cannot see past their current plans and their perceptions of what their best customers have always wanted. I think that guarantees we're going to see some great results.

207 Reasons Revisited

2007-12-28T10:32:00.001-05:00

The 2003 book Small is Profitable offers 207 reasons for decentralizing electricity production. In the few short years since its publication, conditions favoring the book's premise have improved markedly: building-integrated wind turbines on the drawing board, rapidly improving photovoltaic technology, a flood of venture capital, growing public awareness of the need for energy security and energy independence, among other things.

Here's a sampling of the 207:

24 Small units with short lead times reduce the risk of buying a technology that is or becomes obsolete even before it's installed, or soon thereafter.

49 Volatile fuel prices set by fluctuating market conditions represent a financial risk. Many distributed resources do not use fuels and thus avoid that costly risk.

60 Distributed resources matched to customer loads can displace the least utilized grid assets.

82 Distributed resources have an exceptionally high grid reliability value if they can be sited at or near the customer's premises, thus risking less "electron haul length" where supply could be interrupted.

89 Multiple small units are far less likely to fail simultaneously than a single large unit.

123 Distributed resources defer or avoid adding grid capacity.

178 Distributed resources can often be locally made, creating a concentration of new skills, industrial capabilities, and potential to exploit markets elsewhere.

Power 2030

2007-12-27T08:13:00.000-05:00

The American Institute of Architects intends carbon neutral buildings by 2030. Why not look at every building, the vast acreage and surface area this entails, as the opportunity to produce power (not just be "carbon neutral")? Every new building a Power Plant by 2030. Produce clean power in abundance at the point of consumption. Be carbon negative.

The goal of creating power is ambitious and captures the imagination, as compared to the more middling objective of neutralizing carbon emissions.

PowerSheet My Plug In

2007-12-19T09:56:00.000-05:00

Gizmodo's report of the already-on-the-market, cost competitive, put-it-anywhere Nanosolar Powersheet pictured above conjures visions of hundreds of PowerSheet skinned cars soaking up a little sunshine during peak power so they can send some back to the building from their plugged in parking spots.

Pimp my building.
...

...

The Oil for Wind Program

2007-12-16T10:53:00.001-05:00

If the energy bill passed by the House (but not the Senate) would have drawn down $13.5B over ten years in oil industry subsidies, and assuming you could frictionlessly redeploy this money, what could you buy? Follow this simple, klunky math to gauge the magnitude of $13.5B:

Subsidies forgone by the oil industry in the failed energy bill: $13,500,000,000 over ten years

If it cost $1M to build a 1 MW wind turbine,

You could buy 13,500 wind turbines outright, or,

If you subsidized 25% of wind turbines' construction cost

Then 13,500 turbines x 4 (representing the 25% subsidy): 54,000 turbines

Since 1 GW = 1,000 MW

New wind power created: 54 GW

Current US Renewable Nameplate Capacity: 26.5 GW

So you could more than double US renewable energy capacity by 2018. Since wind competes on cost with other power sources on occasion now, a 25 percent subsidy ought to make wind consistently, broadly competitive.

Sure, these calcs might be simplistic and hurried, but they're intended to serve as a ten minute assessment of the opportunity to buy the future instead of simply continuing to dole out for what the future used to be. Transform the oil subsidy into the wind subsidy. The Oil for Wind Program.

Quote of the Day

2007-12-13T09:24:00.000-05:00

“One of the top 10 pleasures in life is watching your electrical meter go backward."

-- Marc Schambers, California residential wind turbine owner/operator

Wind turbines for homes becoming increasingly affordable in many US states. From article today in the gardening section of the NYT.

Out of Africa - Winds of Change

2007-12-12T21:37:00.001-05:00

The Wall Street Journal featured this story on page one today about a young man in Malawi named William Kamkwamba showing some incredible imagination and initiative. He's building windmills (and changing lives) out of local materials and old bicycle parts based on pictures he saw in textbooks. William's blog here reprints the WSJ article and provides more background on this great success story. So, individuals can do it. Countries can do it (see recent post on Great Britain's 20 Gigawatt plan for offshore turbines). So what's keeping the mighty US from taking a giant step forward? What do you think it could be?

Britain Winding up a Wind Power Whopper

2007-12-11T08:34:00.000-05:00

Britain's decision to built 20 Gigawatts of offshore wind isn't going to change Bush's behavior ... or the current US Congress's either. But it may embolden the next president, GuliRomClintama. Current administration seems more likely to seek permits to drill for more oil. In reality, we need to pull out all the stops, find more oil but ensure we have the pedal to the metal on all forms of alt energy research. And implementation of what we already know works ... like offshore wind farms. Here's the link.

Far Out Energy Storage

2007-12-07T09:36:00.001-05:00

Storage of energy, like storage of data in the computer world, isn't the sexiest topic on the planet. Re: a recent PowrTalk article on using gajillions of plugged-in Car batteries to to smooth out capacity, this C|Net article raises the specter of some way out-of-box approaches. Think: super batteries, compressed air (titillating image to the right is one of these new compressors ... try to contain yourself !!!). But wait there's more: putting the compressed air in natural underground structures - aka caves. And mega flywheels. Energy created when wind is blowing and the sun is shining that's not used immediately, needs to be stored for use at night and when the winds die down. As solar, wind and wave tech gets better and better, and especially when they start to put coal and oil out of business, this is going to be an increasingly important function. In fact, a la chicken and the egg, the storage issue needs to be solved long before alt-e will be able to go mainstream.

Ford Plugs In

2007-12-06T09:49:00.000-05:00

Highlights from Ford's delivery of 20 Escape Plug Ins to electric utility Southern California Edison:

the Escape Plug In can get 120 mpg

Ford and So Cal are looking at business models to exploit the Plug In's connection to the home and, in time, the electrical grid

they're also looking at ways to make Plug Ins more affordable

Buffer Cars

2007-12-05T09:05:00.000-05:00

Okay, to the Car+ Building posts below, add the thought that plug in hybrids (or electric cars), could act as a buffers to the electrical grid, giving it a place to store surplus power, and then to draw that power to respond to surges or increases in demand. This buffering service could reduce our need for the most expensive, and dirtiest "peaker" power plants, and make the intermittency of wind and solar less of an issue. What's more, vehicle owners might be paid for the buffering service (in addition to the deep discount on their motoring energy costs). See this NewScientistTech article or some thoughts on V2G (vehicle to grid) from the Rocky Mountain Institute.

A little dowry for the building/car marriage.

Oil Drops Below $88 a Barrel Today

2007-12-04T13:57:00.000-05:00

This is good news ... and bad news ... depending on which game you're playing.

Using Vision to Push Reality Around

2007-12-04T08:04:00.000-05:00

Ponder this powerful vision of clean skies and home grown American energy: buildings that draw power from the wind and sun to power themselves and the cars that visit them . But that vision can be thwarted by the realities of how we cost things and how we allocate resources in our political system. Our laissez-faire market isn't as frictionless as we might want. Some of the things that thwart:

Transmission. If a building's power is made and used in the same place there is little to no transmission cost. But transmission (high voltage lines, substations, and so on, maybe $1M per mile to install) is costed separately from power production. So building power doesn't get credit for this advantage.

Power loss. More of the power generated on-site gets to the end user, it isn't lost in transmission. No credit here, either.

Peak Shaving. If solar panels are deployed incrementally to handle peak power needs to avoid building new power plants, the avoided cost is much more than the otherwise too expensive solar panel.

Oil subsidies. Oil is subsidized more generously than emerging renewable energy sources. The subsidies made sense given oil's national strategic significance during and after World War II . It now makes sense to transition to (that is, to subsidize) alternatives, given that they can now be used instead of oil, and offer significant advantages over oil. (With the building powered car electricity becomes an alternative to oil.)

Start Up. Given new energy's national strategic signficance, and that it faces the traditional hurdles of the start up, it deserves national subsidization (just as oil and other undertakings did in previous situations).

Reduced Health Care Costs. Improving air quality probably means less people visiting the doctor for asthma, allergies, lung and heart disease, and so on. So, we can expect, but probably can't price well, lower health care costs and higher productivity.

What is asked is a visionary leader (visionary like FDR or Ronald Reagan or Winston Churchill or John F. Kennedy) to gloss over these pesky realities, and draw us to this place. Why should such a grand vision not materialize because of a dozen or so worth less realities?

What's in a Word: Makani

2007-12-03T21:45:00.000-05:00

Does Google know something you don't? Duh. I'm pretty sure they know hundreds of billions of things I don't. And here's one of them: one of their alternative energy partners, with a very minimal site is Makani. What is this? Their own explanation: mah kah' nee [Hawaiian] n. Wind, breeze.

Makani's stated space is high altitude wind power, where the breezes are reliable and super strong. Makes me think of Magenn or Skywindpower but with much less detail exposed on the web. Keep you eyes/ears open on this one. Having GOOG in their camp may make all the difference.

Straight Thinking Chevron Rebuttle

2007-12-03T21:24:00.000-05:00

Sometimes a comment is so strong and so thorough, there's nothing to do but put the spotlight right on it. Take this, Mr. O'Reilly (from "Tracy"):

With an attitude like that, of course we won't achieve any great energy milestones in 25 years. Why not take a hint from the folks in the UK? The gov there has already committed to reducing greenhouse gases 26% by 2020 and earlier this month, PM Brown said they could achieve a reduction of 60% by 2050. See the BBC news story here. With that kind of drive and presumably research $$$ coming from the top, it's hard to believe that no new smart techs will be developed to supplant oil.

Furthermore, Mr. Chevron may not be taking into account that the fundamental way research happens in this country is changing. Although the lion's share still occurs at the university and government-funded level, where bureaucracy and special interests can weigh down innovation, some of it is getting underway at private sources. Look at Google. It behooves them to find a cheaper, alternative source for energy because computer servers suck up electricity. Why just today (Dec 3), the Global Action Plan released a report called An Inefficient Truth, which states that the computer sector has a carbon footprint similar to the aviation industry. To really hit the point home, they said that the average server, for example, has roughly the same annual carbon footprint as an SUV doing 15 miles-per-gallon!

Chevron's business plan might benefit from little to no innovation in alternative energy, but for others, finding a solution may be the key to their business's ultimate survival, and as an added benefit, our world's.

Chevron CEO Says Oil to Remain Dominant for Decades

2007-12-02T13:42:00.000-05:00

Chevron CEO O'Reilly says, love it or hate it - the world is going to keep running on oil for a long, long time. I think he's old school and may be like a one of those guys in the early 1900s, perhaps a CEO of a company that made horse drawn buggies, who couldn't foresee the enormous changes coming in that century, as early as the 20s and 30s. You know ... cars, planes, etc.

Still, you have to admit he's got a great vantage from which to view the global economy and energy markets, even if his big oil CEO cap is screwed on a little too tight. And it bothers me to hear him say this about the mega-freaking-enormous size of current and ever-expanding energy demand. In an interview last week, when asked "Will oil become less important in the future?" Reilly said:

The scale of the energy system is enormous. Forty thousand gallons of oil are consumed every second, and that represents only one-third of the total global energy system. To significantly change the energy mix is a big challenge, and I don't think it's likely to occur anytime soon. Very long term, a century out, maybe 50 years out, with new technology and changes in the capital structure - maybe some changes will occur. But in the next 25 years, it's unlikely there will be significant change.

Here's his full interview from the November 28, 2007 edition of Fortune magazine. I think he's correct for this moment. And maybe for the rest of this decade. But he's not allowing for innovation and the tremendous breakthroughs we're going to see with so many good minds (backed by increasingly large sums of funding) trained on this problem. I really hope he's not right for much longer.

What's Up With Wal Mart

2007-12-01T07:40:00.000-05:00

This is not your father's Wal Mart.

The company is emerging as a leader in resource husbandry, to wit:

Green store test platforms. Wal Mart built two stores with an array of environmental features to study which could be implemented across the company. Maybe wind turbines like this one at the McKinney store will make sense at windier Wal Marts.

Truck Fleet Efficiency. Wal Mart engaged environmental consultant Rocky Mountain Institute to wring fuel out of its trucking operation, promising to cut fuel use in half by 2015.

Clinton Climate Initiative. Most recently, Wal Mart announced it will help "cities to buy green by using its purchasing resources to help drive down the cost of green technologies...the retail giant is working with the CCI [Clinton Climate Initiative] to create high-performance LED light fixtures designed for parking lots and street lamps."

Getting a little help from Wal Mart is exciting because:

1) the impacts of the world's largest retailer can in turn be large.

2) Wal Mart excels at rooting out efficient, market-worthy ways of doing business--showcasing sustainability's profit potential.

For those who have issues with the company's track record on corporate citizenship, Wal Mart deserves another look. It might not be your father's Wal Mart, but it's my Wal Mart.

Hot New Energy Car Action

2007-11-29T22:55:00.000-05:00

There's a freaking mother load of innovation going on out there, especially in the Golden State. Check out this round-up and then check out Aptera and Tesla in depth. The auto times will soon be a-change-n my friends.

Cars and Buildings to Marry

2007-11-29T08:15:00.000-05:00

Picture if you can cars running on the excess power produced by buildings. The dots that would frame this picture are beginning to pop up, and they're begging to be connected. One dot is Dynamic Architecture's wind powered skyscraper planned for Dubai.

Another is Ferreira Construction's 45,000 SF solar powered warehouse that might be the first U.S. net zero commercial building (net zero: producing more power than used). Pair these buildings with the Plug In Hybrid movement, put outlets in their parking spaces, and you start to get a picture of the marriage that might be made between cars and buildings.

The Wind Coalition

2007-11-28T10:26:00.000-05:00

In response to a comment I made about the tens of Gigawatts of wind power installed in Germany and Spain, a blustery Texan noted that 4 Gigs up already, and lots more coming, his state alone eclipses both Britain and Greece. He commented that once Texans see themselves in a competition (see: Football, Rodeo, pride), they won't rest till they win it. The Wind Coalition site is a good place for tracking progress in South Central US, including the mighty TX.

World Gone Schitzo on Wind Power

2007-11-28T01:20:00.000-05:00

WTF alert: what do you want? Do you want a world of landscapes free of windmills but with oceans rising, higher temps and more powerful storms and blackouts galore? Or do you want the same bad scene world but with power to get you through all those dark and stormy nights. Seems like our race is split about 50/50 on this. IMHO we're not going to stop climate change through half hearted actions over the next 20 years. It's coming no matter what we do and don't do. But we can keep energy flowing and maybe even crank a few more hundred more Gigawatts out of all that stormy weather if we choose right. See here.

News Just in: Google to Save World with New Energy

2007-11-28T01:09:00.000-05:00

This comes as quite a relief as it didn't look like any one organization was willing to save the entire world. Google says its going to power San Francisco first with one Gigawatt's worth of solar and wind power and then see what it can do from there. Some folks will see this as idealism and a waste of Googlebucks that could be put to better use taking over all the online advertising in the galaxy. Me, I applaud each and every step towards new energy implementation. Go Google Go !!!

Hard Decisions: Make 'em Now

2007-11-24T08:51:00.000-05:00

I'd like to have all oil and coal plants immediately replaced by levitating maglev solar windfarms powering the grid and fueling our all-hydrogen fleet of cars and trucks. But you know what, we don't get to have that yet. We may not get that for a long time. What we need now is time to stay afloat while the new tech is being developed. And some increased energy production that don't exacerbate the human component to climate change ... to the extent we understand it. See this article on a Colorado community grappling with solar and nuclear energy.

Using current technology, we can't build nearly enough renewable technology to replace coal and oil. That's true for us, and it's true for China and India. So in most cases, either/or choices don't exist. We've got to build both sustainable new sources to push those capabilities to the next level, even if we don't get much from it yet. But we've got to build real capacity too, and since there's a choice, we shouldn't make the worst one, i.e., traditional coal or oil fired power. New nukes keep us in the game long enough to discover, design and build what we're all looking forward to: what comes next.

Good Day Sunshine

2007-11-21T16:24:00.000-05:00

I was just pawing through the current version of Popular Science and noticed their first Best of What's New (BOWN) Green Tech category. The winner of which this year is Silicon Valley based NanoSolar. Ironic, perhaps, in that there ain't no silicon required in their design, and that's the beauty of their creation. Far cheaper to make and move and install, this stuff is a true green energy game changer. Check out the PopSci article here, and here's NanoSolar's site.

Watts up with the Volt?

2007-11-21T15:22:00.000-05:00

Autovaporware or really in the production pipeline ... is the GM / Chevy Volt still on track for 2010? You be the judge. Nice piece here at Autoblog. CEO says yes. Good God they're going to HAVE TO BUILD IT.

I'll Take Climate Change Linkage for 50, Alex

2007-11-21T13:46:00.001-05:00

Here's a nice write-up on the recent Presidential Forum on Global Warming at the group blogging site, Celsias. Personally, I'm in the better-safe-than-sorry mode on the human contribution to global warming. We not be able to change a thing through our actions. Or we make it worse if we don't change our ways soon ... or soonish. We are working with lots of partial information on this problem, and we may never understand all the mechanisms that are playing a part. But if the draft solution to the perceived problem involves getting us out of oil and into better means of energy production fast, I'm all for it. Seems like each of candidates know how to articulate bold visions for bringing new energy online with urgency. Got to keep an eye on this, and that that connection alive.

Oil Hit $99 a Barrel Today

2007-11-21T09:58:00.000-05:00

With oil this expensive and going higher, so much is possible.

The End of not talking about the End of Oil

2007-11-20T21:58:00.000-05:00

I mentioned to my PT blog buddy the other day how we wouldn't need or want to talk about the why's that are the catalysts for talking about new and better forms of power. Said that would all be obvious to anyone thinking about this stuff so by the time they got to this address there'd be no need for persuasion, on that topic of the need at least. So, I'm sorry, but a recent series of articles in the WSJ and Wired have caused me to reverse and link to More Evidence We've Entered the End of Oil here. The point I took away isn't about the fundamental drivers involving rising demand and stagnating if not declining supply. It's about urgency. About how little time may be left to grow up some of these new technologies. You think solar can go large scale in 10 years? How fast can we double or quadruple nuclear capacity? Wind/water ... what else is there that's going to be ready to stand in when oil just isn't dependable any more.

"Beyond Bush"

2007-11-19T23:05:00.000-05:00

The 15 November 2007 edition of the journal Nature raises a question almost too tantalizing to bear: what happens with climate and energy policy once GWB's administration is outta here?

I wonder which way this will play out. While Bush might have revived his image and salvaged his historical reputation by crafting aggressive policies to deal with climate and energy in his second term, and while he did appear to be moving in this direction if the last two State of the Union addresses, and made moves towards investment in hydrogen tech and biofuels, he still seems to be largely tied to the status quo mast. That means that US inaction to date is all his fault. So what happens when he's gone? What if we learn that a President Giuliani or Clinton or Obama can accomplish little more than their tongue tied, oil industry predecessor?

A charismatic leader can sometimes unite a nation into swift and unified action (sometimes for better, sometimes for worse), and we may get such a leader. But the scope of the challenges is so enormous ... this is such a very large ship to turn ... that it may take more than one or two 4-year terms before progressive thinking get implemented as tangible action. How much time, from a climate change perspective, from an energy security perspective, from an economic perspective, do you think we really have? Do you know which candidate would do the most? Do you know which candidate could to the most? The clock is ticking ... and it's twelve months till November ...

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2007-11-19T18:06:00.001-05:00

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Changing Tech vs. Changing Humans

2007-11-18T23:52:00.000-05:00

I feel a Siskel (RIP) and Ebert moment coming on. Thesis post sounds right, but I have a lot more confidence in science paving the way for new modes of energy generation than in somehow coaxing/ prodding/ convincing/ persuading/ beating humans into doing the right thing in time to save themselves, a majority of the remaining species, and a good chunk of the habitats and systems everything needs to survive. Transitional, incremental technologies like hybrid cars are being purchased by the small percentage of the US population that: a) can afford them, and b) understands their benefits. The rest of the driving population either can't play along or doesn't even get it. It's going to take extraordinary technical advances so game-changing that for 95% of the population adoption is a no brainer. Until then the benefits will be so marginal, that as the Thesis thesis goes, we won't get out of the woods in time. I give 100+ mpg (equivalent) electric cars available at a good price in the next couple of years two thumbs way up.

New Energy Thesis

2007-11-18T08:34:00.000-05:00

Thesis: What is needed most in transitioning to a new energy order, is not so much a search for new technological solutions, but rather the will to quickly and broadly adapt what is here now to secure energy independence and, in fact, our way of life.

We have adequate resources to make the transition. It is as if we are trapped in the wilderness with enough food to get out, but only if we grasp that we are trapped and without infinite supplies, and therefore act decisively to get out.

The carbon energy economy offered a wonderful stepping stone to a better place. We need to step. The viable technologies of wind turbines, solar panels, nuclear power and others need to be evaulated in a broader financial model than the marketplace, considering the significant external costs related to health, energy dependence, climate change, and other issues, and the exacerbation of the impacts of these issues with the passage of time. If we do, it will be easy to develop the will to use the extraordinary discretionary wealth we now have (but do not have indefinitely) to use the stepping stone and avoid being trapped to wither and die.

Hello World

2007-10-31T23:24:00.001-04:00

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