Author: JT McLain

Greenland’s Uplift: Evidence Of Rapid Ice Loss

Scientists at the University of Miami say Greenland’s ice is melting so quickly that the land underneath is rising at an accelerated pace.

According to the study, some coastal areas are going up by nearly one inch per year and if current trends continue, that number could accelerate to as much as two inches per year by 2025, explains Tim Dixon, professor of geophysics at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science (RSMAS) and principal investigator of the study.

“It’s been known for several years that climate change is contributing to the melting of Greenland’s ice sheet,” Dixon says. “What’s surprising, and a bit worrisome, is that the ice is melting so fast that we can actually see the land uplift in response,” he says. “Even more surprising, the rise seems to be accelerating, implying that melting is accelerating.”

The research was published in Nature Geoscience. The idea behind the study is that if Greenland is losing its ice cover, the resulting loss of weight causes the rocky surface beneath to rise. The same process is affecting the islands of Iceland and Svalbard, which also have ice caps, explains Shimon Wdowinski, research associate professor in the University of Miami RSMAS, and co-author of the study.

“During ice ages and in times of ice accumulation, the ice suppresses the land,” Wdowinski says. “When the ice melts, the land rebounds upwards,” he says. “Our study is consistent with a number of global warming indicators, confirming that ice melt and sea level rise are real and becoming significant.”

Using specialized global positioning system (GPS) receivers stationed on the rocky shores of Greenland, the scientists looked at data from 1995 onward. The raw GPS data were analyzed for high accuracy position information, as well as the vertical velocity and acceleration of each GPS site.

The measurements are restricted to places where rock is exposed, limiting the study to coastal areas. However, previous data indicate that ice in Greenland’s interior is in approximate balance: yearly losses from ice melting and flowing toward the coast are balanced by new snow accumulation, which gradually turns to ice. Most ice loss occurs at the warmer coast, by melting and iceberg calving and where the GPS data are most sensitive to changes. In western Greenland, the uplift seems to have started in the late 1990’s.

Melting of Greenland’s ice contributes to global sea level rise. If the acceleration of uplift and the implied acceleration of melting continue, Greenland could soon become the largest contributor to global sea level rise, explains Yan Jiang, Ph.D. candidate at the University of Miami RSMAS and co-author of the study.

“Greenland’s ice melt is very important because it has a big impact on global sea level rise,” Jiang says. “We hope that our work reaches the general public and that this information is considered by policy makers.”

Nation’s largest fair-weather CPV project opens in Calif.

A solar technology that leads the pack in hot, sunny climates scored a victory this week with the official launch of a concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) system in Victorville, Calif., that officials claim is North America’s largest facility of its type.

The project brings 1 megawatt of electric capacity online at Victor Valley College, a small school near Los Angeles, and consists of 122 arrays made by Mountain View, Calif.-based SolFocus Inc.

The installation, dubbed a “micro-generating facility,” is connected to the local electric grid and will produce about 30 percent of the electricity used by the college in a year, officials said.

“In addition to providing energy cost savings and a new revenue stream, these 122 arrays will provide the ideal testing ground for our students to build green careers that support the nation’s new energy economy,” said Victor Valley College President Christopher O’Hearn at a launch event. School officials plan to develop curricula on system installation, operations and maintenance around the facility.

The school did not disclose the system’s cost or expected payback time, but they said it uses one-thousandth as much of the expensive solar photovoltaic material as is in traditional cells. The cost of CPV is typically raised by other elements of the systems, such as moving parts that track the sun across the sky, however.

CPV technology is similar to the photovoltaics found on many rooftops but is far more efficient thanks to reflective optical elements that concentrate sunlight onto high-power solar cells. SolFocus claims its cells are more than twice as efficient as traditional silicon solar cells.

The technology works especially well in very sunny regions since, unlike some other photovoltaics, it does not produce energy well with the diffuse light available on cloudy days. It is also more effective than other photovoltaics when temperatures are high, according to the CPV Consortium, a global industry group.

The technology is often confused with concentrating solar power, or CSP, that group said. CSP is also used for large-scale installations but uses the sun’s heat rather than converting it directly to electricity. CSP installations concentrate the sun’s rays onto collectors that heat up a medium, often molten salt, which is then used to produce steam that turns a turbine.

Western U.S. Grid Can Handle More Renewables

More than a third of the electricity in the western United States could come from wind and solar power without installing significant amounts of backup power. And most of this expansion of renewable energy could be done without installing new interstate transmission lines, according to a new study from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, CO. But the study says increasing the amount of renewables on the grid will require smart planning and cooperation between utilities.

The NREL findings provide a strong counterargument to the idea that the existing power grid is insufficient to handle increasing amounts of renewable power. As California and other states require utilities to use renewable sources for significant fractions of their electricity, some experts have warned that measures to account for the variability of wind and solar power could be costly. At the extreme, they speculated, every megawatt of wind installed could require a megawatt of readily available conventional power in case the wind stopped blowing. But the NREL findings, like other recent studies, suggest that the costs could be minimal, especially in the West.

“It’s a lot lower than what people thought it was going to be,” says Daniel Brooks, project manager for power delivery and utilization at the Electric Power Research Institute. Even if wind farms had to pay for the necessary grid upgrades and backup power themselves, they could still sell electricity at competitive rates, he says.

NREL considered a scenario in which 30 percent of the total electricity produced in a year in western states comes from wind turbines and 5 percent comes from solar power–mostly from solar thermal plants that generate power by concentrating sunlight to produce high temperatures and steam. The researchers assumed the solar thermal plants would have some form of heat storage, although not all planned plants do. The study used detailed data about wind speeds, solar irradiance, and the operation of the electrical grid. GE Energy researchers commissioned by NREL then used the data to simulate the impact of various scenarios for wind and solar power use.

The researchers found that one way to keep the number of new backup power plants to a minimum is to expand the geographical area that renewable energy is gathered from, says Debra Lew, the NREL project manager in charge of the study. If utilities can call on wind farms and solar power from several states, rather than just from the local area, a drop in wind in one area is likely to be offset by an increase in wind elsewhere, and solar panels shaded by clouds in one area will be offset by others in sunny areas.

That makes it far less necessary to have conventional power plants standing by to make up for drops in power. The NREL study estimated that drawing only on local resources would increase variability on the grid by a factor of 50. That’s “a huge increase,” Lew says, too big for a local utility to balance using backup power and other resources. If you aggregate resources over several states, the increase is less than a factor of two.

Nissan Says Electric Car Is Sold Out for This Year

Nissan’s chief executive, Carlos Ghosn, said Tuesday that the company had already received 19,000 orders in the United States and Japan for the electric car that it would start selling at year-end.

More than six months before the car, the Nissan Leaf, arrives at dealerships, the preorders mean that the car is sold out for this year and that the company might stop taking reservations, Mr. Ghosn said during a visit to the Detroit Economic Club.

“The preorders are such that we are very comfortable with what we have undertaken,” Mr. Ghosn said after the speech. “The more we advance into it, the more comfortable we are with it.”

Nissan plans to break ground Wednesday in Smyrna, Tenn., for a plant to build batteries for the Leaf and eventually other models, part of its goal to sell at least 500,000 electric cars worldwide starting in 2013. The first Leafs will be made in Japan, with assembly in Tennessee planned to start in 2012.

Mr. Ghosn’s enthusiasm for electric vehicles contrasts with some recent studies and with comments from other automakers, including Honda, suggesting that pure electric vehicles have little short-term potential.

General Motors is scheduled to begin selling a battery-powered plug-in car, the Chevrolet Volt, later this year, but the Volt also has a small gasoline engine so that drivers can go beyond the battery’s expected range of 40 miles a charge.

Mr. Ghosn said he did not want the Leaf, whose expected range is 100 miles on a full charge, to have a range-extending engine, a feature that G.M. has said would assuage drivers’ worries about being stranded with a dead battery with no fast or easy way to recharge.

“We wanted to do a zero-emission vehicle,” Mr. Ghosn said. “I don’t want gasoline in the car, period.”

Nissan has given the Leaf a starting price of $32,780, minus a $7,500 federal tax credit. The Volt, whose price has not been disclosed, is expected to sell for close to $40,000 before the tax credit.

Among the other electric vehicles planned for sale in the United States within several years are a battery-powered version of Ford’s compact car, the Focus, and the Tesla Model S sedan, which will be built in California as part of a new partnership with Toyota announced last week.

The preorders for the Leaf include 13,000 in the United States, where dealers take a $99 deposit, and 6,000 in Japan.

Mr. Ghosn said sales in the United States would be concentrated in areas where there was sufficient means to support electric vehicles, like cities in California and other states that are installing charging stations.

Obama Says U.S. Can’t Lag Behind on Energy Technology

President Barack Obama said the “heartbreaking” oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, which has fouled wetlands and closed fishing grounds, underscores the need for the U.S. to rapidly develop alternative energy sources.

The Earth can’t sustain continued dependence on fossil fuels and the U.S. is in a race with other nations to find renewable sources to power cars and companies, the president said after touring the Solyndra Inc. solar-panel manufacturing plant in Fremont, California.

“Even as we are dealing with this immediate crisis,” he said of the BP Plc spill, the U.S. is in competition with countries including Germany and China to develop advanced energy technology.

“Nobody is playing for second place,” Obama said.

He vowed to keep pressing Congress to pass energy legislation that would spur alternative energy development and lessen consumption of oil, most of which the U.S. imports.

Obama was in Fremont to highlight the efforts his administration already is undertaking to both revive economic growth and encourage new energy technology.

Solyndra received $535 million in loan guarantees under last year’s economic stimulus. According to the company, construction of the new solar panel plant will create as many as 3,000 jobs and lead to as many as 1,000 full-time jobs.

Leak as Backdrop

The leaking BP well, which the London-based company was attempting to plug today, served as the backdrop for his remarks.

Obama said he spoke earlier today with Energy Secretary Steven Chu about BP’s work to seal the well, which is about 5,000 feet (1,524 meters) underwater, and cut off the gushing oil.

“If it’s successful, and there’s no guarantees, it should greatly reduce or eliminate the flow of oil,” Obama said. “If it’s not, there are other approaches that may be viable.”

Obama is set to get a report tomorrow from his interior secretary, Ken Salazar, about the cause of the April 20 explosion and fire on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig that resulted in the leak. He’s scheduled to visit the gulf coast May 28.

“Our dependence on foreign oil endangers our security and our economy,” Obama said. “The spill in the gulf, which is just heartbreaking, only underscores the necessity of seeking alternative fuel sources.”

Natural gas takes breeze from wind energy’s sails

The good news for your energy bill may be bad news for Iowa’s wind energy.

Thanks to a drilling boom in new fields extending from Texas to New York, natural gas has become as an environmentally friendly competitor to wind. Big new discoveries in shale deposits have brought down the price of natural gas by 60 percent from two years ago.

Michael O’Sullivan of NextEra Energy, Iowa’s second-largest producer of wind power, told the
American Wind Energy Association meeting in Dallas this week: “Our product is too expensive relative to other options. Our competitive advantage has largely evaporated.”

The sudden rise of natural gas is credited with throwing wind energy into another of its periodic slowdowns. Iowa, with 2,300 megawatts of wind electricity generation, trails only Texas among the 50 states in wind capacity.

Iowa is seeing the herky-jerky path of wind. The state has gained about 2,300 jobs making towers, turbines, blades and gearboxes at plants in Cedar Rapids, Fort Madison, Newton and West Branch.

TPI Composites recently announced a 237-worker layoff at its Newton blade plant, but at the same time asked the state for assistance to build a blade plant at Sioux City that would employ up to 500 workers, if it is built. Clipper Windpower in Cedar Rapids laid off workers a year ago, but now has stabilized its employment at about 320 workers.

The news for Iowa in the natural gas boom isn’t all bad. At least homeowners are less likely to face
budget-busting winter heating bills if the price of natural gas stays around $4 per thousand cubic feet, down from more than $10 two years ago.

Report: NC solar power could yield 28,000 jobs

An environmental group says North Carolina could generate at least 28,000 jobs in the solar energy field if it shifts electricity production more from traditional sources to solar energy in the next 20 years.

The research arm of Environment North Carolina released a report on Wednesday and held a news conference outside the Legislative Building. The report based findings on raising the percentage of power that comes from solar sources to 14 percent of the state’s electricity consumption by 2030. Current law requires less than 1 percent of electric power to originate from the sun by 2018.

Report co-author Elizabeth Ouzts said lawmakers could help the state encourage solar power by approving a tax break to those who build plants for renewable energy manufacturing.

JR:  If you think we’re going to have to wait until 2020 to see $108 oil and 2035 to see $133, then I have some credit default swaps to sell you (see Deutsche Bank: Oil to hit $175 a barrel by 2016 and World’s top energy economist warns peak oil threatens recovery: “We have to leave oil before oil leaves us”).  This is one reason EIA’s long-term forecasts are not viewed as terribly useful by a lot of folks.

Oil to Reach $108 by 2020 as Economy Grows, EIA Says [seriously]

Oil prices will rise to $108 a barrel by 2020 as a global economic rebound boosts demand, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said today.

Average prices for crude oil, which rose 17 cents yesterday to settle at $70.21 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, will keep climbing beyond 2020 to $133 a barrel by 2035, the EIA said in its yearly International Energy Outlook.

Oil prices hit a record of $147.27 in July 2008 before collapsing as the first global recession since World War II cut demand for energy. Today’s report predicts a slower recovery in oil prices than last year’s forecast of $110 a barrel by 2015.

“The global economic recession that began in 2007 and continued into 2009 has had a profound impact on world energy demand in the near term,” the EIA said. “Although the recession appears to have ended, the pace of recovery has been uneven so far.”

While the report predicts an oil price of $133 by 2035, there is a “wide range of possibilities,” Howard Gruenspecht, EIA’s deputy administrator, said at a press conference in Washington. The report includes alternative scenarios that could result in 2035 oil prices as low as $51 a barrel and as high as $210, Gruenspecht said.

World energy demand is expected to grow 49 percent by 2035 under the scenario in which prices rise to $133, the EIA said. Energy demand in developing countries like China and India will rise by 84 percent, outpacing growth of 14 percent in the nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which include the U.S., U.K. and Japan, EIA said.

Oil Consumption

World oil consumption should grow 7 percent from its 2007 level of 86.1 million barrels a day to 92.1 million barrels by 2020, the EIA said. It will increase 28 percent to 110.6 million barrels by 2035, the EIA said.

World oil production is expected to increase by 25.8 million barrels a day by 2035, with the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries retaining its current 40 percent share of global output.

Global natural gas consumption is predicted to rise 44 percent by 2035 to 156 trillion cubic feet. To keep pace with rising demand for the fuel from factories and power plants, natural gas production should increase 46 percent by 2035.

Climate Wire (subs. req’d) quotes me today as a critic of how EIA models energy and technology:

From oil price spikes to U.S. natural gas supply to their less-than-enthusiastic projections for renewable energy development, EIA analysts come under fire nearly every time they put out their best guesses.

“Most models say the future will be like the recent past. But in energy, that’s often not the case,” said Joseph Romm, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and former assistant Energy secretary. “When it isn’t the case, they fail catastrophically.”

The agency has underestimated wind power, Romm said, and has a built-in bias against solar power and other technologies that appear to be developing rapidly and signing up electric utilities. “The EIA often models the impact of climate change, but it’s not good at dealing with innovation,” he said.

Green Roofs as Come to China

Architects use all kinds of tricks to make their buildings look better in renderings; mirrored glass used to be a favourite, with renderings of buildings showing reflections of sky and clouds as the building just blended into the landscape. As we have noted before, green roofs are the new mirrored glass, as architects bring roofs down to ground level and blur the line between landscape and building. But just imagine what this project would look like if green roofs had not been invented.

The architect of the Caohejing hi tech park in Shanghai, massimo roj of progetto CMR, tells designboom:

Special attention to the environment has been taken into consideration in the design incorporating plants in order to reduce and save energy. The large amount of green space is the heart of the project. To lower the density of visible construction and significantly increase the area devoted to green, the project foresees the creation of ‘hills’ below buildings which require less direct light, such as businesses, shopping centers, boutiques, sporting centers, restaurants, bars and a lobby.

Green roofs are wonderful things. But perhaps there should be a rule that architects showing aerial perspectives should have to show them without the green as well, so people can see what almost two million square feet of building covering a site edge to edge really looks like.

Electric car startup unveils plan for Ohio battery plant

Coda Automotive Inc. announced plans yesterday to build the batteries for its electric cars in Columbus, Ohio, jointly operating a manufacturing plant with a Chinese battery company.

Santa Monica, Calif.-based Coda, which hopes to begin selling a compact sedan later this year, has raised $125 million in capital and lined up $300 million in financing, but it is still dependent on state and federal tax breaks and grants, the company said yesterday. It will submit an application to the U.S. Department of Energy seeking $400 million to $500 million through a program offering loan guarantees for green auto manufacturing.

Commerce Secretary Gary Locke recently toured a Chinese plant jointly run by Coda and Lishen Power Battery, the company’s partner for the proposed Columbus plant. Coda scrapped a previous plan to build its battery plant in Connecticut after the federal government rejected the company’s request for funding.

“Battery production is something that is hugely important for the future and for this company to choose Ohio for this I think is very, very good news,” Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland (D) said yesterday.

Engineer Explores Intersection of Engineering, Economics and Green Policy

Engineers bring a critical perspective to the economic models and mathematical predictions that are used to influence public policy, says Iowa State mechanical engineer W. Ross Morrow.

“With these quantitative models, people in policy and economics tend to take them at their word,” said Morrow, an Iowa State University assistant professor of mechanical engineering with a courtesy appointment in economics. “Engineers bring a great skepticism about what the models say. They ask, ‘What evidence is the model based on?’”

Morrow, who’s finishing his first year at Iowa State, knows what he’s talking about. He’s building a research career on improving large-scale computer models of engineering and economic systems. He’s focusing on energy and environmental issues that involve government, corporations, technology and consumers.

As a doctoral student at the University of Michigan, Morrow developed new theories and numerical methods to analyze the government policies regulating greenhouse gas emissions and their effects on the auto industry’s design and pricing decisions.

Then, as a post-doctoral researcher at Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, he and colleagues studied how hikes in gas taxes could reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transportation. When their report was released in March, it made The New York Times’ Dot Earth blog (”Fuel taxes must rise, Harvard researchers say”), Rush Limbaugh’s radio show (”Will America stand for $7 a gallon?”) and an interview on Bloomberg Television.

As an Iowa State faculty member, he’s continuing to look at numerical methods for modeling engineering and economic systems. He’s working to improve how models handle something as complex and uncertain as the energy industry. How do models, for example, account for uncertainties about the future of oil reserves and advances in vehicle technology?

He also wants to develop new technical solutions to building large-scale, complex models that take into account engineering technology and market behavior.

Amid Focus On Spill, Obama Touts Alternative Energy

President Obama visits a solar cell factory in California on Wednesday, touting a federal loan guarantee that is helping the company to add jobs.

The visit is part of a broader push by the White House to promote alternative forms of energy. But in the wake of the massive Gulf oil spill, some observers say Obama is missing an opportunity for even stronger action.

The Solyndra company in Fremont, Calif., was one of the early beneficiaries of Obama’s support for green energy. Last year, the federal government guaranteed a $500 million loan for the company that, White House economic adviser Jared Bernstein said, is allowing Solyndra to build a new solar cell factory employing 3,000 construction workers and creating 1,000 permanent jobs.

“But what’s happening at Solyndra isn’t just about new jobs today. It’s about new industries tomorrow,” Bernstein said. “What’s more, these new industries are in the business of clean, renewable energy, thus invoking environmental benefits while reducing our dependence on foreign imports of fossil fuels.”

Alternatives In Focus

The administration wants to do more to encourage alternative forms of energy, including solar, wind and nuclear power. It has asked Congress to expedite funding for additional loan guarantees.

Obama also called last week for higher fuel economy standards for cars and trucks of the future. He said it’s important to stretch every gallon of oil as far as it can go.

“The disaster in the Gulf only underscores that even as we pursue domestic production to reduce our reliance on imported oil, our long-term security depends on the development of alternative sources of fuel and new transportation technologies,” Obama said.

But the president acknowledged it would take more than higher fuel economy standards to make the U.S. a leader in green energy. He repeated his pledge to work with Congress to pass a broad energy and climate bill.

Political adviser David Axelrod said on MSNBC this week that effort could get a lift from the oil spill.

“I would like to think that this will increase the sense of urgency in Congress because it underscores the value in developing alternative sources of energy,” Axelrod said. “So I hope that it will give added impetus. We’re going to press very hard.”

US secretary seeks clean energy energy ties in Indonesia

Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said on Tuesday the United States was keen to develop clean-energy partnerships with Indonesia, a leading energy producer, ahead of a visit by President Barack Obama.

With executives from 10 energy companies in tow, Locke held group meetings on clean energy with officials and business leaders in Jakarta, as well as talks with the government, said the US embassy.

Obama is expected to sign a “strategic partnership” with Indonesia when he visits in June, although the details have not been made known.

“The companies on this trade mission are at the vanguard of a movement to meet the world?s clean energy needs,” Locke said in a statement.

“As they expand their presence in fast-growing countries like Indonesia they can help solve unprecedented energy and environmental challenges, while creating good-paying jobs for the people of America and Indonesia.

“That’s a win for everyone involved.”

Companies represented in the delegation included General Electric, Lockheed Martin Global, Oshkosh Corporation, Peabody Energy and Pratt and Whitney Power Systems.

Indonesia is a top coal exporter, is the world’s fourth most populous country with about 240 million people, and has the largest Muslim population, making it a strategic economic and diplomatic partner of the United States in Southeast Asia.

In addition to exporting “dirty” fuels like coal and gas, it is the top exporter of palm oil used in biofuels and is estimated to possess around 40 percent of the world’s geothermal energy potential, or around 28,000 megawatts.

As EU wrangles over CO2 cuts, green tech fears Asia

European green technology companies warn that failing to toughen up European Union climate targets will play into the hands of rivals in Asia.

Traditional heavy industry has successfully fought off the prospect of deeper European emissions curbs since U.N. talks ended in stalemate in Copenhagen last December.

Since then, climate issues have dropped down the agenda as EU governments struggle to contain the debt crisis.

European climate commissioner Connie Hedegaard will seek to regain the initiative on Wednesday by launching a cost-benefit analysis of deepening EU emissions cuts to 30 percent from the current 20 percent target.

But heavy industry has already launched a pre-emptive attack, uniting against deeper emissions cuts.

The economic crisis may have made such a move cheaper by eroding the price of carbon emissions permits, but it has also left companies too weak to make the required investment, they say. [ID:nLDE6460Z6]

Their argument appears to have already been won, with successive drafts of Hedegaard’s paper toning down any hint of a political proposal.

German economy minister Rainer Bruederle said on Tuesday more time was needed to get past the worst of the economic turmoil.

“At such a moment, it is legitimate to owe oneself more time,” he told reporters.

But Europe’s nascent green industries are keen to point out they are not the same as traditional sectors such as steel and cement — and sticking with the current 20 percent could slow their growth.

GOP, Silicon Valley ‘disconnect’ over green

As President Obama visits a Fremont solar panel manufacturing plant today to tout green jobs, a huge divide is opening up between the state’s top Republican and Democratic candidates over their environmental positions – in particular about how to attract and retain clean-tech business.

Four of the five Republicans seeking statewide office boast about their Silicon Valley roots, but all oppose the state’s groundbreaking climate change law, known as AB32, that was championed by the region’s tech leaders. Under AB32, California must reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by 2020, returning them to 1990 levels.

While critics say the law would be a job-killer, they often do so by citing a widely discredited 2009 study by Sacramento State University business Professor Sanjay Varshney that examined only the potential cost of the law and not the savings.

GOP gubernatorial candidate Steve Poizner, among other candidates, supports an initiative expected to qualify for the November ballot that would suspend the state’s sweeping law to curb greenhouse gases. The campaign is largely funded by out-of-state oil companies, including Valero Energy Corp. and Tesoro.

“These candidates are incredibly bright and often in alignment with valley leaders – but in this case there is a serious disconnect,” said Carl Guardino, president and CEO of the nonpartisan Silicon Valley Leadership Group.

Semiconductor Manufacturing Technique Holds Promise for Solar Energy

Thanks to a new semiconductor manufacturing method pioneered at the University of Illinois, the future of solar energy just got brighter.

Although silicon is the industry standard semiconductor in most electronic devices, including the photovoltaic cells that solar panels use to convert sunlight into energy, it is hardly the most efficient material available. For example, the semiconductor gallium arsenide and related compound semiconductors offer nearly twice the efficiency as silicon in solar devices, yet they are rarely used in utility-scale applications because of their high manufacturing cost.

U. of I. professors John Rogers and Xiuling Li explored lower-cost ways to manufacture thin films of gallium arsenide that also allowed versatility in the types of devices they could be incorporated into. “If you can reduce substantially the cost of gallium arsenide and other compound semiconductors, then you could expand their range of applications,” said Rogers, the Lee J. Flory Founder Chair in Engineering Innovation, and a professor of materials science and engineering and of chemistry.

Typically, gallium arsenide is deposited in a single thin layer on a small wafer. Either the desired device is made directly on the wafer, or the semiconductor-coated wafer is cut up into chips of the desired size. The Illinois group decided to deposit multiple layers of the material on a single wafer, creating a layered, “pancake” stack of gallium arsenide thin films.

“If you grow 10 layers in one growth, you only have to load the wafer one time,” said Li, a professor of electrical and computer engineering. “If you do this in 10 growths, loading and unloading with temperature ramp-up and ramp-down take a lot of time. If you consider what is required for each growth — the machine, the preparation, the time, the people — the overhead saving our approach offers is a significant cost reduction.”

Next the researchers individually peel off the layers and transfer them. To accomplish this, the stacks alternate layers of aluminum arsenide with the gallium arsenide. Bathing the stacks in a solution of acid and an oxidizing agent dissolves the layers of aluminum arsenide, freeing the individual thin sheets of gallium arsenide. A soft stamp-like device picks up the layers, one at a time from the top down, for transfer to another substrate — glass, plastic or silicon, depending on the application. Then the wafer can be reused for another growth.

U.S. Postal Service, GridPoint ink $28M deal

Arlington, Va.-based GridPoint Inc. will supply energy management technology for as many as 2,250 post offices, under a contract designed to help the U.S. Postal Service meet its energy savings targets, the company announced today.

Under the agreement, USPS will install GridPoint’s hardware and software in 750 medium-sized facilities in the first year, with options to add that number in each of two additional years to reach 2,250 sites in total. The maximum value of the contract is $28.7 million.

GridPoint Executive Vice President John Clark said the installations would include hardware that allows users to more finely control the operations of heating, cooling and lighting systems, and software that provides visibility into how individual components and the whole system are using energy. “We give our customers both a speedometer and a tachometer for their energy use to see how they’re doing, as well as a gas pedal and a brake,” he said.

The system is compatible with other vendors’ smart grid tools through a compatibility standard called BACnet, which would allow USPS to roll the resultant data in with information collected from other compliant tools for a big-picture view, Clark said.

The system to be used splits control between local users and central planners, Clark added. A key feature allows a central facilities manager to set the default temperature for a number of linked facilities, but lets a local manager temporarily override that setting. If on-site employees want to increase the air conditioning level, for example, they can temporarily cool the facility more, but the setting eventually resets to the central office-approved default.

Clark said a pilot at 16 USPS facilities in North Carolina showed that from a user-acceptance perspective, long-term changes to climate control systems need to be made slowly.

First U.S. freshwater turbine farm proposed for Lake Erie

General Electric Co. and Lake Erie Energy Development Corp. announced plans today to build the nation’s first offshore, freshwater wind farm near Cleveland.

GE will provide five wind turbines and maintenance services for the 20-megawatt project, company officials noted at a wind energy industry conference in Dallas.

Lake Erie Energy Development Corp. (LEEDCo), a nonprofit economic development corporation launched last year, is evaluating candidates to build the project. The project, which would cost roughly $90 million to build, would be located about 7 miles north of Cleveland in the waters of Lake Erie.

LEEDCo President Lorry Wagner said his organization is evaluating three teams of companies to build the wind farm and begin producing power by late 2012. He declined to name the companies.

“They’re all U.S.-based companies, but each group has different types of international experience, whether it’s developing offshore wind or oil and gas,” Wagner added.

The developer would be responsible for inking a power-purchase agreement.

GE will build the turbines in Europe, but LEEDCo officials hope the Lake Erie project spurs the industrial conglomerate to eventually build turbines in Ohio. LEEDCo has set a goal of generating 1,000 MW of cost-competitive wind power from Lake Erie by 2020, while leveraging the region’s manufacturing base.

“It’s not about putting just 20 megawatts in the water, it’s about 2020,” Wagner said.

LEEDCo’s founding partners include the Cleveland Foundation, city of Cleveland, Cuyahoga and Lorain counties, and NorTech.

Climate change threatens the diversity of small mammals

A period of rapid warming that ended roughly 11,700 years ago has had lasting changes on the diversity of small mammals in northern California, according to a new study.

While many ecologists have warned that climate change could eventually drive many species to extinction, the authors of the new study say their work shows that warming can bring about more subtle, but enduring, changes.

Fossils excavated from northern California’s Samwell Cave, at the foot of the Cascade Range, show that warming — and the arrival of humans — at the end of the Pleistocene Epoch changed the balance of the area’s small mammal populations.

More adaptable, “weedy” species like deer mice became more common, while species that were already less abundant became even rarer.

“If we only focus on extinction, we are not getting the whole story,” said lead author Jessica Blois, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in a statement. “There was a 30 percent decline in biodiversity due to other types of changes in the small-mammal community.”

The effects are still apparent today, Blois and her co-authors found, based on their examination of the small mammals present near the cave today.

The scientists say their work suggests that future climate change could have unanticipated consequences for the diversity of small mammal species, which perform important functions like aerating soil, dispersing seeds and providing prey for larger animals.

The study was published Sunday in the journal Nature Geoscience.

Gov. Deval Patrick: Cape Wind energy will be worth it

Gov. Deval Patrick yesterday stoutly defended a multibillion-dollar rate agreement for Cape Wind electricity, saying it will provide ratepayers with a stable source of renewable energy.

Patrick’s comments came as Cape Wind Associates and Nstar met yesterday about a possible long-term contract for Cape Wind’s electricity from its proposed offshore wind farm. The two sides yesterday declined comment on the substance of the talks.

Cape Wind has already signed a long-term agreement with National Grid, which agreed to pay Cape Wind about double the price of today’s electricity.

Asked if expensive offshore wind was appropriate when land-based wind is only half the cost, Patrick said “we need a variety” of clean-energy fuels. “We need it all,” Patrick told a reporter before a speaking event at the Suffolk University Law School.

Patrick said the Cape Wind-National Grid agreement will cost the average user of 550 kilowatts about $1.59 a month, though critics say the price will be far higher for large users of electricity.

The Department of Public Utilities is reviewing the Cape Wind-National Grid agreement. The agency would also review any pact with Nstar.

China Huaneng Signs $1.2 Billion Wind-Turbine Accord

China Huaneng Group, the country’s largest power producer, agreed to buy wind turbines from six domestic suppliers for 8.06 billion yuan ($1.2 billion) in total to meet rising demand for clean energy.

The Beijing-based parent of Hong Kong-listed Huaneng Power International Inc signed a framework agreement yesterday with suppliers including Sinovel Wind Group Co. and Shanghai Electric Group for the purchase of 1,800 megawatts of generating units, China Huaneng said in a statement on its website today.

China wants at least 15 percent of its energy to come from renewable sources including wind by 2020. Investment in renewable energy in the world’s biggest polluter reached $6.5 billion in the first quarter, the most for any country, New Energy Finance said on April 12. Huaneng Power posted a 41 percent gain in profit during the period.

The other wind-turbine suppliers include Dongfang Electric Corp., China Shipbuilding Industry Corp., Zhejiang Machinery and Electrical Group and a Guangdong-based manufacturer, according to the statement. The six turbine makers will each supply about 300 megawatts of capacity, China Huaneng said.

China Huaneng plans to have 20,000 megawatts of wind-power capacity by 2020, or about 10 percent of its total estimated generating capacity by then, according to today’s statement. The group currently has 2,800 megawatts of wind-power capacity.

The state-run company is seeking to set up wind farms in northern China and in coastal areas in the country’s southeast, China Huaneng said. Its unit Huaneng Power plans to spend 1.2 billion yuan on new wind projects this year, Chief Accountant Zhou Hui said on March 25.

Huaneng Power has risen 2.5 percent in Hong Kong trading this year, beating the 12 percent drop in the benchmark Hang Seng Index. The stock was at HK$4.50 at the midday break, down 2.2 percent.

Blair to advise Silicon Valley group on climate

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair is joining a Silicon Valley business as a senior adviser on environmental issues.

Khosla Ventures announced the association with Blair on Monday during its limited partner summit in Sausalito.

The firm, started by Sun Microsystems Inc. co-founder Vinod Khosla, has invested in companies pursuing alternative fuel strategies and other environmentally-minded technologies.

Menlo Park’s Khosla Ventures has invested companies including Cogenra Solar Inc., which wants to multiply the energy efficiency of solar cells, and Calera, which is converting manmade greenhouse gas emissions into sustainable building products.

Khosla said Blair will advise the companies it invest in on how to meet their business goals.

“He’s going to help us in many areas that techie nerds like us here in Silicon Valley don’t understand and tend to underestimate the importance of,” Khosla said.

Since leaving office three years ago, Blair has urged policy makers and businessmen to work together on environmental problems.

“I’m more and more convinced that unless we connect and align the public policy space with the creativity and ingenuity and innovation of the entrepreneurs, we’re not going to resolve this issue,” Blair said. “The answer to this has got to lie in science and technology.”

It wasn’t disclosed how much Blair would be getting paid in this new advisory role. Blair said he would continue to work on his other projects, including his “Breaking the Climate Deadlock Initiative” in support of an international framework on climate change.

Nuclear Reactor Aims for Self-Sustaining Fusion

In a few years, an experimental nuclear fusion reactor near Moscow could be the first to yield a self-sustaining fusion reaction. If the Italian-Russian project is successful, it would be a key milestone for fusion power.

The proposed reactor is based on a design developed by Bruno Coppi, a professor of physics at MIT, and principal investigator on the reactor project with Italy’s National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and the Environment. Three similar reactors based on the same design have already been built at MIT. Italian and Russian physicists plan to meet on May 24 to chart a course for the new reactor, called Ignitor, in the first such meeting since the two countries agreed to join forces on the project in April.

Ignitor is a tokamak reactor, a doughnut-shaped device that uses powerful magnetic fields to produce fusion by squeezing superheated plasma of hydrogen isotopes. As an electric current and high-frequency radio waves pass through the plasma, heating it to extreme temperatures, the surrounding electromagnetic field confines the plasma under high pressure. The combined pressure and heat causes the hydrogen nuclei to fuse together to form helium in a process that releases tremendous amounts of heat. In a fully functional fusion reactor, this heat would be used to power an electricity-generating turbine.

A much larger, far more complex tokamak fusion reactor–the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER)–is planned for construction in Saint-Paul-lez-Durance, France. ITER, which will be completed in 2019 and ready for full-scale testing in 2026, will be closer to a functioning fusion generator but will not produce a self-sustaining fusion reaction. Ignitor will be a sixth the size of ITER and will test the conditions needed to produce a self-sustaining reaction.

“Ignitor will give us a quick look at how burning plasma behaves, and that could inform how we proceed with ITER and other reactors,” says Roscoe White, a distinguished research fellow at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory.

But Ignitor will only test one key aspect of fusion. “It will give us information that is important, but it won’t give us all the information we need and certainly doesn’t replace ITER,” Steven Cowley, director of the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy in Oxfordshire, U.K. “It’s a demonstration that you can create ignition, but it’s not really a pathway to a reactor.”

Unlike ITER, Ignitor doesn’t include many of the components that a real reactor would require. For example one crucial missing part is the “breeder blanket,” which contains lithium and sits inside the reactor’s magnetic coils, providing a continuous supply of tritium–one of two isotopes fused in the reaction. Ignitor’s design is so compact that there is no room for a test blanket inside its coils.

Schooling Fish Offer New Ideas for Wind Farming

The quest to derive energy from wind may soon be getting some help from California Institute of Technology (Caltech) fluid-dynamics expert John Dabiri — and a school of fish.

As head of Caltech’s Biological Propulsion Laboratory, Dabiri studies water- and wind-energy concepts that share the theme of bioinspiration: that is, identifying energy-related processes in biological systems that may provide insight into new approaches to — in this case — wind energy.

“I became inspired by observations of schooling fish, and the suggestion that there is constructive hydrodynamic interference between the wakes of neighboring fish,” says Dabiri, associate professor of aeronautics and bioengineering at Caltech. “It turns out that many of the same physical principles can be applied to the interaction of vertical-axis wind turbines.”

The biggest challenge with current wind farms is lack of space. The horizontal-axis wind turbines most commonly seen — those with large propellers — require a substantial amount of land to perform properly. “Propeller-style wind turbines suffer in performance as they come in proximity to one another,” says Dabiri.

In the Los Angeles basin, the challenge of finding suitable space for such large wind farms has prevented further progress in the use of wind energy. But with help from the principles supplied by schooling fish, and the use of vertical-axis turbines, that may change.

German company will build $10M turbine parts plant in Ark.

German manufacturer Beckmann Volmer will build a $10 million plant in Arkansas to craft steel components for wind turbines.

The company was helped by a state incentive package, including $1.5 million from the Governor’s Quick Action Closing Fund and another $2.5 million from a Community Development Block Grant. The company will also receive a rebate for 5 percent of payroll and will be exempt from state corporate taxes for 14 1/2 years. The state will also offer training assistance and a refund of some sales and use taxes.

The plant will eventually employ 500 people to construct parts that will be sent to a Nordex USA Inc. turbine manufacturing plant just 60 miles away. The plant will primarily produce turbine main frames, which support the entire structure.

Florian Stamm of Smith Gambrell & Russell LLP, which helped with the site selection, said Arkansas presented the right set of elements for Beckmann Volmer.

“Qualified workforce, transportation costs and a pro-business environment were leading criteria in identifying east Arkansas as location for the investment,” said Stamm.

Arkansas has become a popular destination for wind energy-related facilities. Mitsubishi Power Systems Americas recently announced a turbine plant in the state, and Denmark-based LM Wind Power is already producing windmill blades in Little Rock

Paper Bags or Plastic Bags? New Proposals Like Neither

Three years ago, San Francisco was the first city in the country to ban the ubiquitous plastic shopping bag, but it was quickly followed by Palo Alto and Oakland. These cities, and the Bay Area generally, were at the forefront of the movement to keep single-use, filmy carry-out bags out of landfills, out of the bay and out of the innards of marine mammals.

But now cities are reconsidering, in part because of lawsuits filed by opponents, but also because too many shoppers in San Francisco and Palo Alto simply shifted their carry-out purchases to paper sacks, which have environmental costs of their own. Plastic bags are still a target, but the bulls-eye is now widening to cover paper bags, too.

“We saw in the experience of San Francisco and other cities that a plastic-bag ordinance pushes consumers to use paper,” explained a San Jose City Council member, Sam Liccardo, “which in many instances is as bad or worse than plastic, when you consider the water, energy and natural resources involved in production, and the transportation costs, and of course, consuming trees.”

San Jose, Berkeley and Santa Clara County are working on ordinances that restrict distribution of paper as well as plastic bags at the check-out counter, either with bans or fees, or both.

The ultimate goal is to compel people to carry reusable bags.

But experts say it is too soon to accurately measure whether municipal crackdowns on bags are changing individual behavior. Monique Turner, a professor of communications at the University of Maryland who studied this issue, said that behavioral changes, like wearing seat belts, can require “policy changes,” when the behavior is harmful enough. In this case, she said, “it’s debatable whether this behavior falls into that category.”

Opponents and supporters of bag regulation agree that about 90 billion plastic bags are distributed nationwide annually.

In its 2009 annual report, the nonprofit environmental group Save the Bay, said local residents used 3.8 billion of those bags every year before the ordinances went into effect. Last fall, San Francisco officials estimated that the ban at the city’s 140 grocery and convenience stores would cut that total by about 100 million.

There has been no re-count of plastic bags in use, but last winter the city’s recycling center said it was receiving 5 to 10 percent less plastic-bag refuse. That may be due to the ban or because stores that no longer give out plastic bags are also no longer collecting them for recycling.

Then there are the anecdotal reports. “I used to get 10 cases of plastic bags, with 500 bags each,” said Dennis McClellan, the director of Piazza’s Fine Foods in Palo Alto. “That was per week. And 40 bales of paper bags with a thousand bags. Now I’m not using plastic bags, and I get 35 or 36 bales of paper bags.” That means 20,000 fewer plastic check-out bags each month, but almost as many paper bags as before.

Japan, Korea to Exchange Information on Emissions Trading

Japan and South Korea agreed to exchange information on a proposed emissions-trading mechanism, the Japanese environment ministry said today in a statement.

Minister Sakihito Ozawa met South Korean counterpart Lee Maanee for bilateral discussions yesterday, ahead of today’s three-nation meeting with China, according to the statement.

The three countries today adopted a five-year plan that pledges cooperation on the environment, focusing on 10 areas including climate change and biodiversity conservation, the statement said.

A climate bill before the Japanese Diet calls for a so- called cap-and-trade mechanism to help cut greenhouse gases, and South Korea has said it’s also considering the system. Japan wants bilateral trading to reduce volatility in the carbon market and lower the risk of domestic companies shifting production overseas where regulations are more lax, Nikkei English News reported last week.

Under a cap-and-trade system, a ceiling is imposed on emissions, and companies that pollute too much must buy credits from companies that don’t exceed their limit.

Glitzy Google gathering launches green-product institute

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) was joined by executives from Google Inc., Wal-Mart Stores Inc., YouTube LLC and the designer chairmaker Herman Miller Inc. yesterday to launch a nonprofit group created to help scrub hazardous chemicals from consumer products.

The Green Products Innovation Institute, formally announced at Google corporate headquarters here, builds on a 2008 state law that seeks to establish the nation’s first “green chemistry” program. The institute is meant to serve as a clearinghouse for chemicals in the state, register chemicals and help advance a standard or seal of approval that the groups’ leaders hope will be codified into widespread use.

The institute’s “founder’s circle” and board of directors is as high-profile as its glitzy launch, including actor Brad Pitt, celebrity environmentalist Robert Kennedy Jr., and Chad Hurley, the founder of YouTube. Its board is headed by Bridgett Luther, director of conservation for California, and was co-founded by Will McDonough, the designer of “cradle to cradle” certification in a book written with the chemist Michael Braungart.

Luther said the idea behind the institute is to serve as a third-party certifier of chemicals and a standards developer, in much the same way early-actor climate registries have advanced protocols for global warming regulations in California and elsewhere. The group will attach cradle-to-cradle certification to products that pass its litmus test and work to have its seal stamped on products, in much the same way LEED standards have become widely adopted as a recognizable label.

Recent polls show Latinos strongly support action on climate change and clean energy jobs.  On Wednesday, a group of Hispanic business leaders from Florida headed to the Capitol to urge their Senators – Bill Nelson (D-FL) and George LeMieux (R-FL) – to support comprehensive climate and clean energy legislation.

The group brought a petition signed by 2,000 Hispanic business owners from South Florida to bolster their cause.  CAP intern JT McLain has the story.

Hispanic business leaders are at the forefront of the push for energy and climate legislation.  Wednesday’s fly-in, organized by American Businesses for Clean Energy, is another reminder that Hispanics continue to be amongst the most active proponents of comprehensive climate and clean energy legislation.  As Climate Progress reported here, Hispanics and African Americans overwhelmingly support the transition to a clean energy economy, and they are disproportionately likely to vote on climate in the 2010 elections.  Those same demographics also have strong majorities who believe that that a low carbon economy will create jobs, and oppose the idea that policies which curb global warming harm the economy.

Of the total 900 Latinos polled:

• Overwhelming majorities of Latino voters in Florida (80%), Nevada (67%) and Colorado (58%) say they are more likely to vote for a U.S. Senate candidate that supports proposals for fighting global warming. Virtually no one is less likely.
• About three out of four Latino voters in Florida (76%) and Nevada (74%), and about two out of three voters in Colorado (64%), consider global warming very or somewhat serious. Three out of four Latino voters in each state say Congress should take action now.
• By about three to one, Latino voters in these states say switching to a clean energy economy will mean more U.S. jobs (66% in Florida, 72% in Nevada, 64% in Colorado). Over 8 out of 10 voters in each state reject the idea that fighting global warming will hurt the American economy.

According to the business owners, comprehensive legislation will bolster investor confidence in clean energy technologies, creating new business opportunities and jobs.  The legislation also will improve the quality of life across the board; Porfiria Ramirez, co-owner of Solar Green Energy Solutions in Miami, argues:

Hispanic businesses like mine can lead the way and be part of the start-up of the clean energy economy; this is good for our state and every member of our community… it means our children can grow up in clean neighborhoods breathing clean air. But we need to create incentives for the private sector to invest in order to compete globally. For that, we need legislation.

This recent outpouring of support is made more urgent by the devastating BP oil disaster unfolding in the Gulf, and the likely negative impacts it will have on our Southern economy.  Dana Sanchez-Quist, a realtor in the Miami/Fort Lauderdale area, points out the threat to an economy heavily reliant on tourism:

Florida is in the eye of the storm – we look at the Gulf and all we can do is hope the massive oil spill doesn’t reach our shores and scare off the millions of tourists who visit them every year.

The group also is keenly aware of the negative economic and environmental implications of American dependence on oil.  Alberto Cardona, an engineer in Fort Lauderdale, said:

The alarm has sounded. We have a huge oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico caused by our over-reliance on oil. We cannot afford to wait any longer for a comprehensive energy and climate plan that puts America back in control of its energy future and back in the lead. We can and must develop the technology to move to clean, renewable 21^st century energy sources that will never run out. Countries like China are doing it. Why can’t we?

The petition, hand delivered by the Florida Hispanic business leaders, reads:

On behalf of the undersigned Hispanic business owners, local leaders, parent organizations and concerned constituents whom we represent, we urge you to support strong climate and energy legislation. We support Congressional enactment of clean energy and climate legislation that will significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

We agree.

– JT McLain

JR:  Gives new meaning to GIGO.  Your jokes are welcome!

“The average cow makes enough waste per day to power a 100-watt light bulb.”

One Moos and One Hums, but They Could Help Power Google

Hey diddle diddle. Guess what the cow has done this time?

America’s dairy farmers could soon find themselves in the computer business, with the manure from their cows possibly powering the vast data centers of companies like Google and Microsoft. While not immediately intuitive, the idea plays on two trends: the building of computing centers in more rural locales, and dairy farmers’ efforts to deal with cattle waste by turning it into fuel.

With the right skills, a dairy farmer could rent out land and power to technology companies and recoup an investment in the waste-to-fuel systems within two years, Hewlett-Packard engineers say in a research paper to be made public on Wednesday.

“Information technology and manure have a symbiotic relationship,” said Chandrakant D. Patel, the director of H.P.’s sustainable information technology laboratory, which wrote the report. “And having these data centers locally will give farmers a new opportunity.”

Companies have historically tended to build their large computing centers — often called server farms — in or near large cities and industries. As this practice has continued over the years, it has become difficult for companies building the largest data centers to find enough cheap electricity and real estate to meet their needs.

The rise of higher-speed data transfer networks, however, has given technology companies a chance to move farther from large populations and still be able to get information to them as quickly as they need it. So companies like Google, Yahoo, Amazon.com and Microsoft have been engaged in a mad dash to find spots in the United States that have plenty of electricity and land. As a result, more data centers have been built in states like Washington, Texas, Iowa and Oklahoma. If those locations are near dairy farms, so much the better.

Rather than being an alternative energy convenience, this approach could benefit companies operating in countries like China and India that need to find an economical way to power their computing centers.

Back on the farm, dairy producers have increasingly been looking to deal with their vast collections of smelly cow waste by turning it into something called biogas.

To make biogas, a farmer needs to buy specialized equipment that runs the manure through an anaerobic digestion process, which results in a large quantity of methane that can be used as a natural gas or diesel replacement.

“The average cow makes enough waste per day to power a 100-watt light bulb,” said Michael Kanellos, editor in chief at Greentech Media, a research and publishing firm.

According to H.P.’s calculations, 10,000 cows could fuel a one-megawatt data center, which would be the equivalent of a small computing center used by a bank. Mr. Kanellos has tracked both the data center and green technology industries and agreed that there was some convenient overlap. Computing equipment produces a lot of heat as a waste product, and the systems needed to create biogas require heat. So, there is a virtuous cycle of sorts possible.

“The cows will never replace the hydroelectric power used by a lot of these data centers,” Mr. Kanellos said. “But there is interest in biogas, and this presents another way to make manure pay.”

White House to announce energy-loan plan

The White House is expected to soon announce a multi-billion dollar package of new loan guarantees for nuclear and renewable energy projects to be supported by adding $180 million to a pending war funding bill.

The proposal follows talks Wednesday between Energy Secy. Steven Chu, White House officials and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Cal.), who used her leverage to ensure solar would share in the funding together with the nuclear industry.

The administration has already proposed a greatly expanded loan guarantee program for nuclear as part of its 2011 budget. But Chu would like to advance a quarter of the planned increase into 2010 to make $9 billion more immediately available.

In Senate testimony last month, the secretary said his goal is to put three reactor projects on a faster track and believes this can be done for a relatively small up-front cost of $90 million to satisfy congressional budget rules.

South Carolina and Texas, two Republican-leaning states, have a direct stake in the outcome, and Chu has a valuable ally in House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, whose own state of Maryland is home for a proposed new reactor with financing helped by the same loan guarantee program.

Pelosi has been open to Chu’s request but wants parity for her priorities: solar and other renewable energy programs. Within the California delegation, there has been criticism, in fact, that the Energy Department has been slow to advance major solar proposals in the state. And quite apart from solar, the speaker wants the White House to restore an estimated $2 billion previously “borrowed” from a program she favors to promote more fuel efficient, clean energy type automobiles.

This was the background to Wednesday’s meeting attended by Chu, Budget Director Peter Orszag, and Carol Browner, director of the White House Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy. Hoyer and Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), a strong Pelosi ally and chairman of the Select Energy Independence and Global Warming Committee, were also present.

Report: Kan. could have 30,000 green jobs by 2012

Kansas has the potential to create up to 10,000 “green” jobs in the next two years, adding to the 20,000 people already working in that sector, according to a new state survey.

The Kansas Department of Labor released results Tuesday of a voluntary survey designed to gauge potential employment growth in sectors including renewable energy development, energy efficiency, agriculture and natural resource conservation, pollution prevention and remediation, and alternative transportation and fuels.

The report said the largest increases were expected in renewable energy, up 121 percent; energy efficiency, up 57 percent; and clean transportation and fuels, up 37 percent.

“This gives us our first good look at the areas of the green economy where we have jobs today and where we’re likely to grow jobs in the future,” said Kansas Department of Labor Secretary Jim Garner.

Bill Thornton, secretary of the Kansas Department of Commerce, said the survey supports efforts to provide programs that educate and train workers in biofuels production, installation of efficient furnaces, manufacturing of products for wind farms and dozens of other occupations.

“The survey shows clearly that the future demand for green skills and knowledge is significantly greater than the current demand,” Thornton said. “That is good information to have as we consider future training efforts.”

The report was based on a survey sent to more than 6,000 Kansas employers in late 2009, with about 55 percent responding.

Senate Energy Bill Less Costly than Alternatives

A proposed climate bill unveiled last week by senators John Kerry (D-MA) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) is getting the support of some economists and utilities as a relatively inexpensive way to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions that will initially have almost no impact on electricity prices. The supporters, however, worry that the legislation won’t be passed, which would open the way for far more expensive regulations from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The bill, called the American Power Act, is designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and lay out a national energy strategy. Last year Congress seemed to be moving quickly on passing a climate and energy bill after the House passed such a bill in June, but Senate versions stalled. It’s not clear when the Senate will officially take up the new bill, which was put together with the help of Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who recently withdrew his support. Meanwhile, the EPA is drawing up regulations for controlling greenhouse-gas emissions that could go into effect in January if Congress fails to pass a climate bill.

The new bill seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 17 percent as of 2020 and by 83 percent by 2050, compared to 2005 levels, by limiting the amount that major emitters can release into the atmosphere. These limits will be enforced via a type of cap-and-trade system. This would require utilities, and eventually heavy industry and refiners, to obtain allowances for emissions, some of which will be given out, and some sold. Companies can decide to either reduce emissions or buy enough allowances to cover their emissions. The allowances can also be traded between emitters. Some of the proceeds from purchasing allowances will go to pay down the federal government deficit, some will go directly to consumers in the form of rebates, and some will fund programs to encourage the development of new technologies.

The bill includes incentives for nuclear power, natural-gas vehicles, and carbon-dioxide capture and storage technology, which would be most useful for coal power plants. It funds R&D for renewable energy and advanced vehicles, and includes a variety of measures to help decrease petroleum consumption. It includes incentives for offshore drilling, but states that could be affected by oil spills can veto projects.

Unlike the bill passed by the House last year, the Senate bill does not require utilities to use renewable energy, but such provisions exist in a separate energy bill sponsored by Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), and they could eventually be incorporated into the new bill. Another key difference with the new bill is the introduction of the rebate program for consumers that will offset the costs of the bill.

Is this the near-future of aviation, since peak oil production is coming sooner than expected?

MIT-Designed Futuristic Airplanes Use 70% Less Fuel Than Current Models

What will the airplanes of the future be like? This is the question that the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT tried to answer for NASA. The goal was to look 3 generations ahead of the current planes (that’s around the 2035 timeframe) and improve substantially on current tech in the areas of fuel-efficiency, noise, NOx emissions, safety, etc. Two plane designs came out of the research project; one to replace the current Boeing 737, and the other to replace the 777. Read on for more details.

180-Passenger D Series [image below, from MIT]

The smaller of the two designs, the 180-passenger D “double bubble” series plane would be used for domestic flights. Built with current conventional aluminum and current jet technology, it would burn about 50% less fuel than a 737. But if it used more advanced materials and jet tech, fuel savings could be as high as 70%. That’s very significant, especially if oil-based fuel is replaced with advanced biofuels made without fossil-fuel inputs.

350-Passenger H Series [image at top, from MIT]
The bigger of the two planes is the 350-passenger H “hybrid wing body” series that would replace the 777 for international flights. One interesting result from using the flying-wing approach: “The large center body creates a forward lift that eliminates the need for a tail to balance the aircraft.” The H would also meet NASA’s 70% fuel reduction target, as well as the 75% NOx emission reduction goal.

Using Ice to Cool Down the Grid

Over the next few weeks, a consortium of municipal utilities in California will begin retrofitting government offices and commercial properties with systems that use ice made at night to replace air-conditioning during the day. It’s part of a pilot program for the devices, which are built by Windsor, CO-based Ice Energy. If widely deployed, they could reduce fuel consumption by utilities by up to 30 percent and put off the need for new power plants.

The first devices will be installed on about two dozen city-owned buildings in Glendale, CA, under the plan being coordinated by the Southern California Public Power Authority. Over the next two years, the 11 participating utilities will install 1,500 of the devices, providing a total of 53 megawatts of energy storage to relieve strain on the region’s electrical grid. The project is the first large-scale implementation of Ice Energy’s technology.

Each Ice Energy device is designed to make ice overnight, when demand for electricity is low, using a high-efficiency compressor to freeze 450 gallons of water. Around midday, the cooling mode kicks in, and the device shuts off the building’s regular air conditioner for a six-hour cycle. It pipes a stream of coolant from the slowly melting block of ice to an evaporator coil installed within the building’s heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning blower system. Once the ice is melted, the air conditioner returns to normal operation. Brian Parsonnet, Ice Energy’s chief technology officer, says the Ice Bear can cut a building’s power consumption by 95 percent during peak hours on the hottest days.

Cutting demand for electricity during peak hours reduces the need to build new power plants. It also allows utilities to rely on their most efficient power plants, says Ronald Domitrovic, a senior project manager for electric utilization at the Electric Power Research Institute. He says that when utilities fire up their “least efficient, oldest, and least desirable” generating resources to meet peak demand, every increment of increased power on the grid sends costs surging, whether one is talking fuel costs, greenhouse gas emissions, or service reliability. However, at night, utilities draw on their most efficient power plants, which use less fuel than power plants used only during peak hours. The utility also saves energy at other points in the grid–for example, cooler power lines at night transmit electricity more efficiently.

Mighty River Plans More Investment in U.S. Geothermal Projects

Mighty River Power Ltd., operator of the world’s largest single-turbine geothermal generating unit, has increased funding to help identify and build power projects in the U.S. and Chile.

The company today announced a $107 million investment in a $400 million, 49.9 megawatt geothermal power plant in Southern California, its first in the U.S. The New Zealand government- owned generator said it has also more than doubled to $250 million a fund available for projects identified by its Denver, Colorado-based associate GeoGlobal Energy LLC.

“GGE’s capability in identifying potential projects in the U.S. as well as Chile has really started to bear fruit,” Mighty River Chief Executive Officer Doug Heffernan said in a phone interview from Auckland today. “We think there are some other prospects that they may well bring to the table in the U.S. over the next two or three years.”

Mighty River is among the world’s 10 largest operators of underground steam fields. It’s investing internationally to profit from its experience building large-scale geothermal power projects, its relationships with bankers and plant manufacturers, and increasing global demand for non-polluting energy.

Geothermal plants tap heat from the earth to power turbines and generate electricity 24 hours a day with minimal emissions. New Zealand, Chile and the west coast of the U.S. lie on the 40,000-kilometer (25,000-mile) chain of active volcanoes that surrounds the Pacific Ocean. The zone, known as the Ring of Fire, also includes Japan and Indonesia.

Obama proposes $800M fund to clean, redevelop shuttered GM plants

The Obama administration announced plans today to create an $800 million fund to clean up and redevelop more than 90 former General Motors Co. plants shuttered during the automaker’s restructuring.

The plan still needs approval from state officials and the bankruptcy court overseeing Motors Liquidation, the “Old GM” that was broken off during the bankruptcy process, but the administration said it hopes to have the trust up and running by the end of this year.

The fund would include roughly $530 million for environmental cleanup with another $300 million available for other costs, such as demolition of unwanted buildings, property taxes and plant security. It would be paid for with money set aside during the restructuring process, which was overseen by President Obama’s auto task force, and is not expected to require additional federal cash.

The cleanup fund will be overseen by U.S. EPA and the White House Council on Auto Communities and Workers.

“We are making a significant investment in better health, a cleaner environment and a brighter future in communities that need our support,” EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said. “Supporting the restoration of polluted sites not only protects human health and the environment, it also fosters new economic possibilities, makes these communities more competitive and opens pathways to long-term success.”

The fund is only for former GM plants and does not cover shuttered sites owned by Chrysler Group LLC, which also received billions of dollars in federal aid to undergo massive restructuring.

Google searches for smart, green energy investments

Google is looking to expand into the energy smart meters business and to invest in renewable generation projects in Europe, the head of green business operations at the internet giant said on Tuesday.

The aim of smart metering technology is to let customers view real-time electricity and gas consumption and allow them to optimize usage and therefore cut energy waste and save money by using energy during low demand periods.

Through Google.org, the philanthropic arm of the internet firm, the company has developed a free web-based application called PowerMeter which collects data from smart meters and displays the data on a customizable customer webpage.

“We’re looking at getting more utility partners and more device partners. We’re always looking for a broader reach and we’re talking to utilities in all the major markets,” Ben Kott told Reuters on the sidelines at a news briefing in London.

In partnership with British independent energy retailer, First Utility, Google is providing an opt-in service to the utility’s 30,000 smart meter customers.

“I think in the UK, people are relatively open to this, not only focusing on cost but also efficiency. It is also a highly liberal energy market, so there are opportunities for companies like First Utility who wouldn’t be able to operate in other markets,” Kott said.

He said there were no plans to charge for the PowerMeter web application.

“There’s no money going backwards and forwards,” First Utility chief executive Mark Daeche said.

Google is also looking at investing in renewable power generation projects in Europe, following a $38.8 million U.S. wind farm investment in North Dakota in early May.

Malaysia Spearheads Clean Energy Bank for Islamic Nations

Malaysia is prepared to spearhead the creation of a clean energy development bank for Islamic countries, Prime Minister Najib Razak today.

Clean energy and security of energy supply are “becoming a priority for countries with few, if any, hydrocarbon resources,” Najib said in a speech at the World Islamic Forum in Kuala Lumpur today. “There is tremendous potential for the development of alternative energy sources.”

The so-called Clean Energy Development Bank would accelerate the development of clean energy-related industries in developing countries of 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference, he said, adding that the initiative will be further discussed at the forum tomorrow.

The Kyoto climate-protection treaty expires in 2012 and negotiators are trying to work out new mechanisms to cut greenhouse-gas emissions. The Copenhagen summit last year failed to lead to a binding agreement, with negotiators settling for a more limited political accord.

Electric Drive Concepts for the Cars of the Future

In order to make electric cars a part of everyday life, new vehicle designs and parts are needed. Take wheel hub motors, for instance.  [Click on image to enlarge.] One of the advantages of wheel hub motors is that manufacturers can dispense with the conventional engine bay — the space under the “hood” or “bonnet” — since the motors are attached directly to the wheels of the vehicle. This opens up a wealth of opportunities for car designers when drafting the layout of the vehicle.

Additional advantages: By dispensing with the transmission and differential, the mechanical transmission elements suffer no losses or wear and tear. Moreover, the direct drive on each individual wheel may improve the drive dynamic and drive safety.

Researchers are developing not only individual components, but the total system as well. They assemble the components on their concept car, known as the “Frecc0″ or the “Fraunhofer E-Concept Car Type 0″ — a scientific test platform. Starting next year, automobile manufacturers and suppliers will also be able to use the “Frecc0″ for testing new components. The basis of this demo model is an existing car: The new Artega GT manufactured by Artega Automobil GmbH. The establishment of this platform and the engineering of the wheel hub motor are just two projects among the panoply run by “Fraunhofer System Research for Electromobility.” The research cooperative is focusing on subjects that include vehicle design, energy production, distribution and implementation, energy storage techniques, technical system integration and sociopolitical matters. The federal ministry for education and research BMBF is funding this Fraunhofer initiative with 44 million euro. The goal is to develop prototypes for hybrid and electric vehicles, in order to support the German automotive industry as it makes the crossover to electromobility.

Wheel hub motors were invented back in the 19th century. Ferdinand Porsche used these motors to equip his “Lohner Porsche” at the 1900 World Fair in Paris. Much has been done since then: “We are developing a wheel hub motor that integrates all essential electric and electronic components, especially the power electronics and electronic control systems, into the installation space of the motor. Thus, no external electronics are necessary and the number and scope of the feed lines can be minimized. There is a marked increase in power compared to the wheel hub motors currently available on the market. Moreover, there is an innovative security and redundancy concept, which guarantees drive safety — even if the system breaks down,” explains Professor Matthias Busse, head of the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Applied Materials Research IFAM. Beside IFAM, researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Systems and Device Technology IISB, for Mechanics of Materials IWM and for Structural Durability and System Reliability LBF are tackling these issues.

Scientists weigh use of bacteria for cleaner fossil fuel production

Much of the world’s oil reserves lies in giant tar sand stretches in places like Alberta and Venezuela. While the oil industry uses an energy-intensive and fairly dirty process to make steam to cook the oil out of the tar sands, underground bacteria simply eat the crude oil and break it down into methane, or natural gas.

In nature, that process takes millions of years. A small group of cross-disciplinary microbiologists with their feet both in the oil industry and academic geochemistry wants to speed up the work. They are trying to get these bugs to break down carbon much faster to produce a steady supply of commercial natural gas, and to enhance the recovery of crude.

Interest in using microbes that grow naturally in oil fields, coal beds and shale deposits is growing, according to a group of industry insiders at the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) 2010 convention last week in Chicago.

“We’ve garnered the attention of large oil and gas producers around the world,” said Mark Finkelstein, vice-president of science at Colorado-based Luca Technologies. “The recent emphasis on climate change and natural gas bodes well for our technology.”

And with the oil spill from the Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico, and subsidies for carbon capture and storage, or CCS, in the recently released “American Power Act,” the focus has turned to increasing production from traditional oil wells, according to John Steelman, program manager at the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Climate Center.

In a typical oil extracting operation, only about 20 to 50 percent of the petroleum is removed from the ground. When the pressure of oil falls, the oil companies pump in some water to increase pressure. Then, with more than half the oil left underground, the wells get plugged and the company moves off to newer opportunities. Recently, that has meant offshore drilling.

Software prospects fuel manufacturer of high-end electric motorcycles

Entrepreneurs trying to capitalize on growing consumer interest in clean, green transportation typically build cheaper and lighter vehicles to serve as entry points to the new carbon-constrained marketplace.

Not Mission Motors.

The Bay area startup, formed in 2007 by mechanical engineers in a Mission District garage, is placing a big bet on high-end performance. The company’s first-edition prototype electric motorcycle is selling for $68,995, with the first 50 bikes set to be delivered this year.

Bucking a global movement toward cheap, electric Chinese two wheelers, the Mission One is no scooter. The single-speed bike has been clocked at more than 160 miles an hour and tops out at a relatively stable 6,500 rpm. And it is powered by a lithium-ion battery that recharges in a 220-volt outlet in less than two hours.

Mission’s business model is a virtual photocopy of Tesla Motors, the Silicon Valley-based carmaker looking to sell high-end electric sports cars to wealthy auto enthusiasts worried about their carbon footprints. Like Tesla, Mission intends to roll out at top speed, at the upper end of the market.

The goal, Mission executives say, is to reinvent the modern sports bike without alienating riders used to tailpipe rumbling and speed. The Mission One is less eco-toy than a new way to appeal to adrenaline junkies who demand acceleration to 100 mph in less than five seconds.

So says Mission CEO Jit Bhattacharya, whose top-line Google search result is still his profile on the Stanford University Ultimate Frisbee team. Yet Bhattacharya, 31, who recently took the company’s handlebars from Mission founder Forrest North, said the company is not in business for fun and games.

“We wanted to build a vehicle that is going to sell, that is going to get riders excited, and not just because it’s green,” Bhattacharya said. “You get a riding experience that is unlike anything you can possibly get on a gasoline motorcycle.”

US Commerce Secretary leads trade mission to China

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke is leading an American trade mission to China, aiming to boost clean energy technology sales as one industry leader announced a fresh contract to supply components for Chinese wind turbines.

The visit, one of several by U.S. Cabinet officials, preceeds annual talks called the Strategic Economic Dialogue, a top-level venue for thrashing out grievances on trade, currency and other policy issues.

Locke, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk will attend those talks, which begin Monday in Beijing. They come as the two countries are mending ties after a bout of friction over various issues, including U.S. arms sales to Taiwan.

The Commerce Department’s trade mission intends to help deliver on President Barack Obama’s pledge to double U.S. exports over the next five years and create 2 million jobs.

“Promoting American exports, particularly here in Asia, will create more jobs in America while improving the lives of people around the world and introducing new products and services to local communities,” Locke said before leaving Hong Kong for Shanghai.

In Hong Kong, the U.S. and local governments signed an agreement on promoting American wines. In the Chinese mainland, Locke’s delegation will be promoting technologies related to clean energy, energy efficiency, and electric energy storage, transmission and distribution in Asia.

On Tuesday, American Superconductor Corp. announced a new electrical components order from Sinovel Wind, China’s largest wind turbine maker. Beijing-based Sinovel, ranked the world’s third-largest wind turbine maker worldwide, has so far ordered US$1 billion from AMSC.

China’s potential market for renewable energy is huge: Total investment by the government and private sector last year was $34.6 billion, nearly double U.S. spending of $18.6 billion, according to the Pew Charitable Trusts.

Turning to Water Conservation to Save Energy

In the run-up to the Copenhagen climate summit conference last year, water researchers and advocates held a special meeting to address the fact that water issues were absent from the draft negotiating text. This was a major oversight, given the amount of energy that is used to collect, treat, distribute and use water and wastewater.

Just how much energy is consumed has not been measured in most places, but a 2005 energy policy report published by the state of California found that annual water-related energy consumption in the state accounted for 19 percent of electricity consumption, 32 percent natural gas consumption, and 88 million gallons, or 333 million liters, of diesel fuel. River Network, an organization that advocates water conservation, has extrapolated that data nationally. In a report last year it calculated that Americans use 520 megawatt-hours, or 13 percent of U.S. electricity consumption, on water.

This level of consumption offers an opportunity, said Bevan Griffiths-Sattenspiel, a project coordinator with the network. “Reducing your water use not only saves energy and greenhouse gas emissions, but it’s also a key way to adapt to climate change because most effects of global warming will be manifest through our water resources,” he said.

The relationship between power and water utilities is lopsided. While electric utilities pay little or nothing for their water, the largest operating cost for water utilities is often their electricity bill.

Santa Clara Valley Water District has drawn a lesson from that. Serving 1.8 million residents in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, including Silicon Valley, it has had a water conservation program since the early 1990s. In 2007, it released a report analyzing its success in terms of energy conservation, emissions mitigation and cost. From 1993 to 2006, the report said, the district saved approximately 1.42 billion kilowatt-hours of energy, equivalent to the annual power used by 207,000 households, through financial incentives, advisory programs and infrastructure investments that cut water consumption.

That translated into a financial saving of about $183 million and an avoidance of 335,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions.

California is not the only U.S. state with water supply issues. By 2013, at least 36 states expect shortages, according to a 2003 study by the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

Last year, driven by climate change concerns, the U.S. government drafted several policy proposals, mostly focused on water conservation — with indirect energy efficiency benefits — but a few directly addressing the connection between water and energy.

LED Bulbs for the Home Near the Marketplace

The prospects of replacing today’s inefficient incandescent light bulbs with long-lasting, low-power LEDs are increasing.

Two of the lighting industry’s three biggest manufacturers, Osram Sylvania and Philips, plan to sell energy-efficient LED bulbs this year that can replace a 60-watt bulb, the most commonly used incandescent lamp.

The third company, General Electric, will sell an LED equivalent to a 40-watt bulb this year, but it will not have a 60-watt replacement ready until 2011.

Beginning in January 2012, federal law will require that light bulbs, or lamps as the industry calls them, will need to be 30 percent more efficient than current incandescent bulbs. Standard incandescent lamps will most likely not be able to meet those requirements. LED makers hope their bulbs will.

Compact fluorescents have been unpopular with consumers, and LED bulbs have been too dim. But Osram’s Ultra bulb, available in August, and Philips’s EnduraLED, which will be in stores in the fourth quarter, will use just 12 watts of power to equal the light output of a 60-watt bulb.

“The 60-watt lamp is the most-sold bulb in America,” said James R. Brodrick, the manager for solid-state lighting at the Energy Department. “These new bulbs should give consumers something to think about.”

The LED bulbs use 20 percent of the power of a current incandescent bulb and last up to 25,000 hours, compared with 2,000 hours for a standard bulb and 8,000 for a compact fluorescent. That’s 17 years if the bulb is on four hours a day.

The companies say that, unlike compact fluorescents, these new LED lights completely mimic standard bulbs. They are dimmable, create light in all directions, and display virtually the same warmth and range of colors as incandescent bulbs. And most important, they work.

“In our research, we mixed up these new LED lamps with regular bulbs, and when asked which was which, most selected the wrong lamps,” said Guido van Tartwijk, a Philips group manager.

Glacier Park: The next 100 years

Glacier National Park just marked 100 years as crown jewel of the parks system, but questions dot its spectacular landscape as its next century begins.

Will the park’s 2 million tourists still come when the glaciers are gone? Is the nation willing to spend $200 million to repair the cliff-hugging Going-to-the-Sun Road? Will climate change destroy the habitat of grizzly bears, bighorn sheep and other iconic animals?

…  The 25 or so remaining glaciers in the park are mostly located in the back country, and many tourists never see them. What they do see are the jagged, snowcapped peaks that were carved by those glaciers, along with blue lakes, alpine meadows and hiking trails.But there are those who worry that tourism may drop once the glaciers disappear in the next decade or so.

A recent report by the Rocky Mountain Climate Organization and the Natural Resources Defense Council said climate change threatens the nearly $1 billion a year tourism business in Glacier, the 11th most visited national park.

Nearly three-quarters of its visitors are from out of state, and 56 percent are returnees, the report said.

“I have been coming to Glacier ever since my parents came here on their honeymoon,” Steve Doherty, senior adviser to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, joked during the anniversary celebration.

Glacier supports more than 4,000 Montana jobs, the report said….

The park will inevitably be changed as average temperatures in Glacier have climbed 2 degrees compared to what they were in 1979, double the national average.

GCL May Build 500 Megawatts of Solar Farms in China

GCL-Poly Energy Holdings Ltd., in which China’s sovereign wealth fund holds a stake, may build solar farms with a total capacity of as much as 500 megawatts to help meet demand in the world’s fastest-growing major economy.

China’s largest producer of polysilicon, the main raw material used in solar cells, is also looking at setting up solar farms in the U.S., Europe and the Middle East and may make investment decisions on some projects this year, Chief Financial Officer Sam Tong said at a media briefing in Hong Kong today.

The solar-cell parts maker completed its first 20-megawatt solar plant in China in December and is seeking clean-energy projects overseas to benefit from global efforts to harness energy from the sun. Tong didn’t give a timescale or figure for GCL-Poly’s planned investment in China.

“Building generating capacity of between 400 megawatts and 500 megawatts would be feasible,” he said.

Investment in the 20-megawatt farm reached 420 million yuan ($62 million), Tong said. Costs vary for each project, he said.

GCL-Poly expects strong demand for polysilicon this year partly because of rising consumption in emerging markets including India, Tong said. The company said last month it expects to double production this year to 16,500 metrics tons.

China Investment Corp., the nation’s sovereign wealth fund, acquired a HK$5.5 billion ($705 million) stake in GCL-Poly in November.

With Solar Valley project, China embarks on bold green technology mission

Uprooting the last traces of rural life on the edge of this northern Chinese city, laborers with chain saws spent a recent morning cutting down trees to make way for a hulking factory. A big red banner trumpeted the future for what used to be farmland: “The Biggest Solar Energy Production Base in the Whole World.”

Across China, villages are being turned into pollution-belching industrial zones, but nature’s retreat on the outskirts of Dezhou boasts a paradoxical purpose — protecting nature.

“This is an experiment. It is a big laboratory,” said Huang Ming, an oil industry engineer turned solar energy tycoon, who is driving one of China’s boldest efforts to promote, and profit from, green technology.

At the center of his outsize ambitions is Solar Valley, a massive exercise in social, economic and ecological engineering. As part of the project, tens of thousands of farmers have been moved into concrete apartment blocks and their land is being converted into what Huang and Dezhou’s planners hope will be China’s clean-technology answer to California’s Silicon Valley.

The $740 million plan has attracted about 100 companies and spawned factories, a research center and wide boulevards illuminated by solar-powered lights. It highlights the promise — as well as the limits — of China’s efforts to reconcile breakneck economic development with environmental concerns.

Pricing for Utility Green Power Continues to Fall

Edmond Electric, OG&E Company, Avista Utilities, Park Electric Cooperative and Arizona Public Service offer the lowest price premiums for renewable energy, according to the annual assessment of leading utility green power programs by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Price premiums range from -0.17 cents/kWh to 0.80 cents/kWh.

NREL analysts report that the rate premium that customers pay for green power continues to drop. The average net price premium for utility green power products has decreased from 3.48 cents/kWh in 2000 to 1.75 cents/kWh in 2009.

Even during the downturn, the assessment shows that consumers continued to support renewable energy by voluntarily participating in utility green power programs. More than 650,000 customers are currently participating in these programs, according to NREL.

This year’s assessment finds that more than 850 utilities across the United States now offer green power programs. In 2009, utility green power sales exceeded 6 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh), representing more than 5 percent of total electricity sales for some of the most popular programs.

NREL says wind energy represents approximately two-thirds of electricity generated for green energy programs nationwide.

A recent wind power assessment conducted by NREL shows that U.S. wind resources are larger than previously estimated. The new assessment shows that onshore U.S. wind resources could generate nearly 37,000,000 gigawatt-hours (GWh) annually, more than nine times current total U.S. electricity consumption.

In addition, a shift to 20 percent or more of the Eastern Interconnection’s electrical load to wind energy is possible by 2024, but costs for new transmission lines could be as high as $93 billion, according to a new NREL study.

US, Europe look to China for clean energy sales

U.S. leaders want China’s clean energy boom to drive technology exports and are sending a sales mission to Beijing this week. But Beijing wants to create its own suppliers of wind, solar and other equipment and is limiting access to its market, setting up a new trade clash with Washington and Europe.

China passed the United States last year as the biggest clean power market, stoking hopes for Western sales of wind turbines, solar cells and other gear. But U.S. and European companies find that while Beijing welcomes foreign technology, it wants manufacturing done here and know-how shared with local partners. In the wind industry, foreign suppliers with factories in China say they are shut out of major projects.

“China is very keen on being able to depend on themselves,” said Frank Haugwitz, a renewable energy consultant in Beijing.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke says clean energy sales to China can help fulfill President Barack Obama’s pledge to double U.S. exports over the next five years and create 2 million jobs. Locke is leading a group of 24 American suppliers to Beijing and Shanghai this week to drum up business.

But Chinese leaders want clean energy to be one of a series of emerging industries with their companies playing a leading global role. They are using regulations to ensure the bulk of Chinese sales go to local producers.

“There is a clash there that I think is going to become more and more prominent unless both sides come to some agreement,” said Jim McGregor of APCO Worldwide Inc., a consulting firm, and a former chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China.

China already is embroiled in an array of disputes with Washington, Europe and others over currency, trade in goods from steel to shoes to chicken and Beijing’s industrial policies that favor Chinese companies in areas including computer security and telecoms at the expense of foreign competitors.

Washington and Beijing have so far avoided a formal dispute over clean energy and have pledged to cooperate in research.

The potential Chinese market is huge: Beijing invested $34.6 billion in renewable energy last year, nearly double U.S. spending of $18.6 billion, according to a report by the Pew Charitable Trusts.

On Climate, Food and Security

I recently moderated a conversation on climate, food and security at the Asia Society involving some informed and influential figures, including  Maria Blair, who’s directing analysis of climate adaptation for the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Here’s the summary:

Erratic weather patterns caused by climate change are undermining traditional agricultural practices across much of the developing world. At the same time, high levels of population growth in these regions are generating greater demand for food. Though nations with temperate climates may benefit from increased agricultural yields, farmers in other parts of the world will be more susceptible to changes in water supply and soil moisture. Is it too late to combat the effects of climate change? What could new policies look like? How can climate change adaptation improve food security? What responses are needed from donors, governments and civil society to reduce impacts of climate change on food security?

Carbon, Nitrogen Link May Provide New Ways to Mitigate Pollution Problems

A new study exploring the growing worldwide problem of nitrogen pollution from soils to the sea shows that global ratios of nitrogen and carbon in the environment are inexorably linked, a finding that may lead to new strategies to help mitigate regional problems ranging from contaminated waterways to human health.

The University of Colorado at Boulder study found the ratio between nitrates — a naturally occurring form of nitrogen found in soils, streams, lakes and oceans — and organic carbon is closely governed by ongoing microbial processes that occur in virtually all ecosystems. The team combed exhaustive databases containing millions of sample points from tropical, temperate, boreal and polar sites, including well-known, nitrogen-polluted areas like Chesapeake Bay, the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Mexico.

“We have developed a new framework to explain how and why carbon and nitrogen appear to be so tightly linked,” said CU-Boulder doctoral student Philip Taylor, lead author on the new study. “The findings are helping us to explain why nitrate can become so high in some water bodies but remain low in others.”

A paper by Taylor and CU-Boulder ecology and evolutionary biology Professor Alan Townsend is being published in the April 22 issue of Nature. The study was funded in part by the National Science Foundation. Both Taylor and Townsend also are affiliated with CU-Boulder’s Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research.

While the vast majority of nitrogen gas is abundant in the atmosphere, it is nonreactive and unavailable to most life, said Townsend. But in 1909 a process was developed to transform the nonreactive gas into ammonia, the active ingredient of synthetic fertilizer. Humans now manufacture more than 400 billion pounds of fertilizer each year — much of which migrates from croplands into the atmosphere, waterways and oceans — creating a suite of environmental problems ranging from coastal “dead zones” and toxic algal blooms to ozone pollution and human health issues.

Break-through MIT Battery Maker Tries ‘Made in USA’ — Betting U.S. Manufacturing Can Rise Again

Yet-Ming Chiang relishes his 20-mile drive to work. His hybrid car  gets more than 100 miles per gallon, recharges by plugging into a regular wall outlet, and purrs so quietly that it’s his favorite place for making important phone calls.

But what makes Chiang’s ordinary-looking beige Toyota Prius even more special is that it’s powered by a break-through battery he invented himself and is working to turn into the kind of high-tech, green, “Made in America” product that many see as the key to the nation’s economic future.

Safer and more long-lasting than conventional lithium-ion car batteries, the 52-year old MIT professor’s invention packs 600 cells into a case the size of an airplane carry-on bag. His technology has already transformed the batteries used in many cordless power tools.

So why are Chiang and his company, A123 Systems, having trouble moving to full-scale commercial production and creating thousands of new American jobs with his better mousetrap?

The answer is a story of both the current obstacles to a rebirth of U.S. manufacturing – and of the tantalizing possibilities if such a rebirth could be achieved.

The obstacles are rooted in the sad history of manufacturing’s decline in the United States: Despite the promise of Chiang’s batteries, many in Wall Street and Silicon Valley were incredulous when he and other leaders at A123 asked for capital to build factories in America – Asia, yes, but Michigan, why would you want to?

Even more daunting, virtually all of the world’s battery manufacturing industry is now in Asia, where plants can be built faster and supplies and equipment are much easier to get than in the United States These days, it’s hard to find Americans who even know how to build a battery factory.

That’s why A123 had to give in and build its first plants in China – where the company could move into production quickly to show auto industry customers that it could deliver on future contracts.

“Without question, we would rather have done it all in the U.S.,” said Chiang, who left Taiwan as a six-year-old with his family, earned degrees at MIT and has been a materials science professor there since the mid-1980s. “I’m an American citizen,” he adds. “We’re an American company. It’s an American-born technology.”

Despite the obstacles, A123 and a handful of other advanced battery producers are building plants in Michigan and other states – thanks massive government support that has offset Wall Street’s skepticism. A123 alone is getting a whopping $250 million in aid from Obama’s stimulus program as well as tax incentives from Michigan.

Germany, Mexico trying to push climate talks ahead

Five months after the troubled United Nations conference in Copenhagen, Germany and Mexico are teaming up in an effort to break the deadlock in negotiations on a global climate deal.

They will co-host a three-day meeting in Bonn starting Sunday of representatives from a selected 45 countries with hopes of building trust and clearing some of the rubble left from Copenhagen, German Environment Minister Norbert Roettgen said this week.

“The most important thing is to get the process moving again,” he said.

Momentum in the drive to control global warming has slowed in some countries. The United States still has not tackled its domestic energy bill, which climate negotiators believe will provide a critical signal about U.S. global intentions; and Australia — one of the world’s biggest per capita polluters — put off for as long as two years legislation setting up a carbon trading scheme.

Roettgen said Germany and others have not entirely given up on striking a deal at the next U.N. climate summit in Cancun, Mexico, Nov. 29-Dec. 10.

“We want to pave the way to a good result in Cancun,” he said adding that “nobody wants another big disappointment.”

The Copenhagen conference with representatives from some 190 countries last December was originally intended to produce a new global treaty to cut greenhouse gases and set up mechanisms to deal with the worst effects of global warming. Yet, the two-week meeting came up with far less than hoped, setting back the schedule for action possibly by years.

China Nuclear Sets Up Fourth-Generation Plant Venture

China National Nuclear Corp. set up a venture with local partners in Fujian province to build fourth-generation reactors as the world’s biggest polluting- country turned to clean energy to drive its economy.

China National Nuclear holds a controlling stake in the venture formed on April 28 with Fujian Investment and Development Corp. and the government of Sanming city, where the atomic plant will be located, the Beijing-based company said on its website.

The world’s fastest-growing major economy is developing nuclear energy to help cut reliance on more polluting coal and oil and to meet surging electricity demand. China is emerging as a potential exporter of atomic technology, increasing competition for companies including Areva SA.

China National Nuclear and its partners aim to start building the plant “soon,” according to the statement.

The fourth-generation nuclear technology developed under the China Experimental Fast Reactor program has “noticeable advantages” in increasing the efficiency of uranium use and reducing nuclear waste, China National Nuclear Vice General Manager Yu Jianfeng said in the statement.

Concentrated Solar Set to Shine

A California-based startup, Amonix, has received $129 million in venture-capital investments to further its commercialization of concentrated photovoltaic technology. The company’s product combines powerful lenses, a tracking system, and solar cells for large, highly efficient solar-power installations. The funding could give the company, and the emerging field of concentrated photovoltaics, the boost it needs for widespread utility-scale deployments.

“We’ve looked at 100 solar companies in the last 18 months, and Amonix is the one that stood out to us as having breakout potential,” says Ben Kortlang, a partner at venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, which led the recent investment.

Amonix recently launched its newest solar concentrator, which converts one fourth of the sunlight that falls on it into AC electricity. That’s compared with the approximately 18 percent system efficiency–including inverters that convert solar’s DC power to useable AC power–of the most efficient photovoltaic systems that don’t use special optics or track the sun.

To collect sunlight as efficiently as possible, Amonix starts with a massive 23.5-meter-by-15-meter array. The array is covered with thin, plastic Fresnel lenses, each measuring 350 square centimeters, that focus sunlight to an area that’s .7 square centimeters. The sunlight, concentrated to 500 times its normal intensity, hits an ultra-efficient multi-junction solar cell that converts 39 percent of the light into electricity. The cell, made by Spectrolab, is the most efficient in the world, demonstrating more than 41 percent efficiency in lab tests. To further enhance performance, Amonix uses a tracking system that keeps the lenses pointed within .8 degrees of the angle of the sun throughout the day.

Russia’s Putin voices fears for polar bears

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, better known in the West for his tough-guy image, expressed concern Thursday for the fate of Arctic polar bears threatened by climate change.

“The polar bear is under threat. Their population is currently only 25,000 individuals,” Putin was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying after a recent trip to an island in the Arctic Ocean.

Although Putin is better known in the West for pushing a muscular foreign policy and tightening control over the Russian political system, he has occasionally shown compassion for wildlife and nature.

His press service and the Russian Geographical Society said that Putin went to the Arctic to visit Russia’s most northerly border post and take part in a Russian scientific expedition.

“The reduction in the surface of the ice sheet, the melting of the ice, all this adds to the complications in the conditions of life” of the polar bears, he said.

He helped scientists put a tracking collar on a 230-kilo (506-pound) polar bear as part of an observation programme,

Last year he condemned the hunting of baby whitecoat seals, saying it was a “bloody business”

The big question: How much CO2 can the Earth hold?

The Dutch used to discover new worlds across unexplored seas. Now, they are beginning to trace the edges of a new undiscovered country, and it is right beneath their shores.

The Netherlands, a country that chose to build many of its cities below sea level, is famous for its pragmatic, long-term planning. So it should be no surprise that, when it comes to efforts to store carbon dioxide underground for a millennium or more, Holland has been leading the way, planning for years to turn declining natural gas fields off their shores into storage sites.

Initial estimates of the fields were promising. It seemed 40 years of emissions from eight large coal-fired power plants could be stored. Then scientists looked closer, probing each site’s geology, to disturbing results.

Some fields were too small or perforated by drills to store CO2, they found. Others were stubborn, their rocks likely to resist the injection of the gas.

Soon enough, the Dutch had to cut their storage estimate in half.

It is a disappointing result that should be kept in mind as estimates of CO2 storage potential, which mostly exist on countrywide or regional levels, are refined and localized, said Filip Neele, a research geologist here at the geosciences branch of TNO, the Dutch national lab of applied sciences.

In some cases, Neele would not be surprised to see storage estimates fall by up to 95 percent compared with the original projection. Though even then, he added, the capacity would be still large thanks to the vast size of the available storage formations.

“This is likely to be true for any large-scale inventory of storage capacity,” Neele said. “If you look at a country scale and try to assess the storage potential, you’re very likely to grossly overestimate the storage potential.”

Welcome to the new terra incognita. As politicians and businesses push forward with carbon capture and storage, or CCS, as their “bridge” to renewable energy, geologists are scrambling to properly estimate how much CO2 can be stored in deep, water-flush rock formations — called saline aquifers — that have long been ignored by, well, pretty much everyone. They are blank spaces below the map and are only beginning to be better understood.

House panel approves $84B research, innovation bill

The House Science and Technology Committee last night approved, 29-8, an $84 billion research and education bill that reauthorizes an innovative energy technology research program at the Energy Department.

The committee approved the bill (H.R. 5116) with a substitute amendment that would keep key science agencies on a path to doubling their budgets from 2007 appropriated levels after hours of debate on nearly 60 amendments.

“Honestly, this bill is a big deal and is important,” said Chairman Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.). “It’s a big deal and important for our country and for this committee’s stature in the Congress. It’s a big deal and an important step in leading our innovation agenda.”

In addition to authorizing big boosts in funding for DOE’s Office of Science, the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes for Standards and Technology over the next five years, the legislation would authorize $3.15 billion in spending at DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, or ARPA-E, through fiscal 2015. That funding level, laid out in a manager’s amendment offered by Gordon, is a 7 percent decrease from the funding level passed out of subcommittee last month.

The funding cut in the manager’s amendment — 10 percent of the original bill’s authorization level — was a move to earn the support of Republicans who have lamented such big spending increases during an economic downturn. But the effort did not appease all concerns.

Most Americans still breathing dirty air — Lung Association

More than half of the U.S. population lives in areas whose air is often unhealthy, the American Lung Association said in a report released today.

The group’s annual State of the Air report found that while air quality in many regions of the country has improved, about 58 percent of Americans — about 175 million people — still live in areas with dangerous levels of soot or smog.

Compared with last year’s report, the study found that fewer Americans live in counties with unhealthy levels of either ozone or particle pollution. The 2009 assessment showed that about 186 million people lived in areas with unhealthy air (Greenwire, April 29, 2009).

The report looks at levels of ozone and particle pollution from monitoring sites across the country between 2006 and 2008. Those are the most current quality-assured data available nationwide for the analysis, according to the study.

The association credits the improvements in part to reductions in emissions from coal-fired power plants and the transition to cleaner diesel fuels and engines.

“State of the Air 2010 proves with hard data that cleaning up air pollution produces healthier air,” said Mary Partridge, American Lung Association national board chairwoman.

Still, said Janice Nolen, the association’s assistant vice president of national policy and advocacy, “one thing to keep in mind is, this is not clean air.” She said that while the country has made improvements, “we are not where we need to be.”

World needs clean energy revolution: UN chief

Rich and poor nations need a “clean energy revolution” in order to cut greenhouse gas emissions responsible for global warming, UN chief Ban Ki-moon said here Wednesday.

“We cannot achieve the (poverty-reduction) Millennium Development Goals without providing access to affordable modern energy,” he said as he opened a day-long energy conference.

Noting that 1.6 billion people around the world lack access to electricity while two to three billion still rely on traditional energy sources such as firewood, peat or dung, the UN boss said access to energy must be expanded “in the cleanest, most efficient way possible.”

Ban spoke as he launched a report by his advisory group on energy and climate change that calls for “universal access to modern energy services” by 2030 and stresses the need to cut energy intensity by 40 percent also by 2030.

Energy intensity is measured by the quantity of energy per unit of economic activity or output.

“The aim of providing universal access should be to create improved conditions for economic take-off, contribute to attaining (the development goals by the 2015 target) and enable the poorest of the poor to escape poverty,” the report said.

It added that curbing global energy intensity would require developed and developing countries to strenghthen their capacity to implement effective policies, market-based mechanisms, investment tools and regulations with respect to energy use.

GE’s leader issues an energy warning

While the rest of the world invests in renewable, nuclear and cleaner energy sources, the U.S. continues to fall further behind, General Electric’s chairman and CEO said Wednesday in Houston.

In an interview before the company’s annual meeting, Jeffrey Immelt said the situation eventually could put the nation at a competitive disadvantage.

“We just seem to be stalled,” he said.

Over the next five years, China will have installed five times more than the U.S. in power capacity, Europe is moving aggressively into offshore wind power, and Asia is focusing on solar energy, he said.

Only two of about 50 nuclear plants under construction globally are in the U.S., he said. “It’s just not enough.”

Immelt called for a comprehensive government effort to put standards into place so businesses can invest in technologies that have a solid future.

“Some leadership in Washington would be helpful,” he said, emphasizing that he’s not focused on any one technology.

If the United States doesn’t do it, GE will have to go overseas. “We have to go where the action is,” he said.

GE recently announced it would invest about $200  million in European offshore wind projects, especially in the United Kingdom and Norway. The investment will create about 2,000 jobs.

All-electric Chinese car headed to U.S. market

The first Chinese-made car to hit the U.S. market might be an all-electric minivan that bypasses gasoline technology altogether and could be a harbinger of the auto industry’s new era.

BYD Inc., part owned by billionaire investor Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., hopes to start selling its five-seat e6 on the west coast this year.

The e6, displayed at the recent Beijing auto show, is one of a series of “green” vehicles being developed by Chinese automakers that run on everything from batteries to solar panels and tiny wind turbines.

They lag Western rivals in technology but are working at a frenzied pace to ensure they’ll be part of the green automobile age.

Home Sensor Startup Snapped Up

If you knew how much electricity your plasma television used or how much water your dishwasher drank at different times of day, would you change your habits to conserve more and spend less on utilities? Researchers at the University of Washington, Duke University, and Georgia Tech believe that you might. Several years ago they invented sensors that could track the electricity consumption and water usage throughout an entire building via a single point on each system. In 2008, the researchers founded a company called Zensi to commercialize the technology, and last week, they sold that company to Belkin, an electronics hardware manufacturer.

A line of easy-to-install sensors for homes could be commercially available within the next year, says Shwetak Patel, professor of computer science and engineering at the University of Washington, and co-inventor of Zensi’s sensors. Data from such sensors could lead to itemized utility bills–and customers who are more aware of the energy sinks in their homes, he says.

Right now it’s impossible for a consumer to get an accurate gauge of energy use without deploying numerous expensive sensors. But cost reductions in key technologies have made the concept of watching every device in a home more feasible, says Ivo Steklac, executive vice president of sales and strategy at Tendril, a Boulder, CO-based, energy-monitoring startup. The key technologies are high-speed analog-to-digital conversion devices, digital signal processing algorithms, low-power communications, and ubiquitous Internet access and connectivity, Steklac says.

The concept behind Zensi’s technology is simple: a single sensor is plugged into a wall outlet, where it “listens” to the high-frequency electrical noise produced in the wiring when different devices are turned on. Each electrical device has a signature that is unique to the kind of device it is, its brand, and its location within a house. This information, in turn, reveals its energy consumption. MIT professor Fred Schweppe, and others tested a similar idea more than a decade ago. In the case of plumbing, a sensor is connected to the hose spigot on the side of a house. When a toilet is flushed or a sink is turned on, the sensor detects the characteristic change in pressure.

Do the Rules of the Nation’s Electric Grid Discriminate Against Wind Power?

The future mix of electric power generation sources in the United States is critically linked to the fate of climate legislation in Congress.

But changes in the way the grid works — if they occur — hinge more on what happens at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, where a set of central policy issues are on the table.

FERC has solicited comments (FERC docket RM10-11) into whether the grid’s current operating rules discriminate unduly against wind power, and if so, what should be done about it. The inquiry focuses on possible rule changes in how wind power forecasts are handled, how backup generation for wind is priced, and whether wind generation should be coordinated more widely across grid regions to dampen the impact of sudden wind shifts. The comments fill 2,800 pages, and the commission has set no timetable for taking action.

The questions the FERC staff posed in the inquiry — warmly endorsed by FERC Chairman Jon Wellinghoff in January — suggest that it sees plenty of reason for concern about the prospects for wind and solar power based on the way the grid is run today, industry officials say.

“FERC inquiries that have incredibly detailed analysis and lengthy sets of questions are especially likely to lead somewhere. And that’s what this is,” said Rob Gramlich, senior vice president of the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA).

The same conclusion registered with the Organization of Southeastern Utilities, a group of power companies from the nation’s poorest wind resources region that stand opposed to AWEA on essentially all of the critical issues raised in the FERC proceeding.

While the FERC inquiry pledges not to pick one kind of generation over another, “certain of the proposals tentatively advanced” in the inquiry “actually imply a selection of VERs [variable energy resources such as wind] as the favored class of generating resources,” the Southeastern utilities complained in their filing.

US lawmakers propose boost to clean energy exports

A group of Democratic lawmakers on Tuesday proposed legislation to promote U.S. exports of clean energy technology, which they said are badly lagging behind those of China and Europe.

“The U.S. must be the leader in manufacturing and exporting clean technologies, not one that becomes dependent on foreign energy products,” U.S. Representative Doris Matsui, a California Democrat, said in a statement.

Clean energy comes from renewable natural resources, such as sunlight, wind and geothermal heat.

The U.S. Department of Energy has estimated U.S. exports of clean energy technology, also known as green technology, could reach $40 billion per year and help create more than 750,000 jobs by 2020, the lawmakers said.

“Right now, the global market for environmental goods and services is estimated at $700 billion … At present, only six of the top 30 global companies that lead in this sector are American-owned. This must change,” said Representative Bobby Rush, an Illinois Democrat.

Senators look to solidify funding for coastal conservation

Sens. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and James Inhofe (R-Okla.) yesterday both backed a proposal to codify funding for the Interior Department’s efforts to protect coastal wildlife.

Interior’s Coastal Program began in 1985 as an initiative to protect the creatures of the Chesapeake Bay that sends federal experts to partner with state agencies and local volunteer groups to protect wildlife habitat, remove invasive species and restore wetlands. It has since expanded to 23 coastal areas, but Congress has never specifically authorized funding for the program.

Cardin said he was exploring such an authorization and that it would “establish more permanence” for the program. The legislation was still being drafted and will likely not set a specific authorization level but rather call for “such sums as necessary,” he said yesterday after an Environment and Public Works Subcommittee hearing.

Healthy coastal ecosystems create $800 billion worth of economic benefits annually, and every dollar the Coastal Program spends on restoration, leverages three in private contributions, Cardin said.

Inhofe, the ranking member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, also said he would support the authorization.

On Patrol With the Reef Ranger

Gilbert Martínez has his work cut out for him. A reef ranger for the Belize Department of Fisheries, he spends his days patrolling a 87,000-acre Marine Protected Area called Glover’s Reef, an azure paradise of an atoll about 28 miles from the country’s mainland. I met him while reporting for an article in Tuesday’s Science Times about a reef-monitoring project in the atoll that is sponsored by the Bronx-based Wildlife Conservation Society.

Beneath the white hull of Mr. Martínez’s patrol boat was a reef system teeming with diverse life. Robust corals, sponges the size of oil barrels, spiny lobsters and a dizzying array of multihued tropical fish all call this place home.

The ranger’s job to protect these animals from overfishing and other damage. Within just three hours on a recent afternoon on which I accompanied him, he encountered at least three men illegally collecting conch, a local favorite that can fetch $15 a pound in local markets.

One of these men was just outside the so-called no-take zone, where no fishing of any kind is allowed. It is legal for him to collect conch here so long as they weigh three ounces or more. The fisherman’s bag was swollen with the slimy reef-dwellers, which are cut from their shells by using a short blade.

US & Canada Lose Higher Percentage of Forests Than Brazil

All I can say is wow! Mongabay is highlighting a new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences which reveals that between 2000 and 2005 over one million square kilometers of forest were chopped down worldwide, with both the United States and Canada losing a greater percentage of forest than the poster children of tree destruction, Brazil and Indonesia.

Brazil Has Highest Area Loss, But Average Percentage

There is a little bit of stats parsing going on here: Looking at the seven nations which have more than one million square kilometers of forest still remaining–that’s Brazil, Canada, China, Democratic Republic of Congo, Indonesia, Russia, and the United States–Brazil still led the pack in terms of area cleared, with about 33,000 square kilometers of both rainforest and tropical dry forest cleared per year, for a total of 165,000 square kilometers lost. That represents 3.6% of it’s total forest cover at the start of the period examined.

However, though Canada and the United States lost less forest cover by area (160,000 and 120,000 square kilometers, respectively), in percentage terms Canada lost 5.2% of it’s total and the US lost 6% of total forest cover.

Keep in mind, the global average for the time period was 3.5%.

The main drivers of forest loss in the US during this time period were fire and better infestation in Alaska and the western states, “large-scale logging in the southeast, along the western coast, and in the Midwest.”

US Southeast Among Highest Rates of Global Deforestation
The report concludes,

The often publicized phenomenon of forest conversion within the humid tropics is observed in our results, but significant [gross forest cover loss] is evident in all biomes. For example, rates of GFCL in regions such as the southeast United States are among the highest globally.

Read more, about the distribution of forest loss by ecosystem: Mongabay

Here’s the original paper: Quantification of global gross forest cover loss

See also “Is human-caused climate change killing the great forests of the American West?”

Business Groups Say Climate Impasse Undermines Clean Energy

The Capitol Hill politics bogging down a climate bill in the Senate are also hobbling investments in low-carbon energy and prompting calls from some business groups for action.

President Barack Obama is scheduled to travel Tuesday to a Siemens Corp. wind turbine facility in Fort Madison, Iowa, Tuesday as part of the White House effort to tout the economic, environmental and national security benefits of clean energy investments. The company expanded the plant, adding more than 600 jobs with capital from the stimulus package and tax credits.

Siemens, a unit of the German parent company Siemens AG, is representative of thousands of companies looking to capitalize on a carbon-constrained economy. It is building a range of products that would be attractive if there was a cost for emitting carbon. Besides efficient motors and generators, they are also developing technology to capture emissions from coal plants, have a retro-fitting business that installs energy-efficient equipment in buildings, and plan to expand their solar power unit in the U.S.

Nearly every sector of the energy industry is in some way affected by Congressional deliberations on climate and energy policy, whether it is makers of wind turbines and solar plants, utilities planning nuclear power projects or companies that make natural-gas generators and clean-coal technology. While some want to see a carbon market that will create demand for their products, others say they want to get clarity on how the new emission rules will affect their plans.

May the Trimmest Building Win

The Environmental Protection Agency has announced an energy efficiency contest to help buildings around the nation trim their consumption.

Called the National Building Competition, it is patterned after “The Biggest Loser,” an NBC show that spotlights overweight contestants trying to lose weight. The competitors include an office building in Midtown Manhattan, a department store in Southern California, a medical center in Cleveland and elementary schools in Colorado and New Jersey.

“We came up with the idea that most everyone could relate to the idea of losing weight, and that having U.S. buildings try to shed their energy waste made sense,” Maura Beard, a spokeswoman for the E.P.A.’s Energy Star program, said in an e-mail message. “We felt people could follow the contestants, relate to their efforts and encourage similar changes in buildings across the country.”

The 14 contestants, selected from among 200 applicants, will be encouraged to improve their efficiency by taking simple steps like turning off lights, unplugging power charges and switching to automated temperature controls.

The New York City participant, a 23-story building built in 1896 at 522 Fifth Avenue, at 44th Street, is owned by Morgan Stanley.

Cape Cod Project Is Crucial Step for U.S. Wind Industry

More than 800 giant wind turbines spin off the coasts of Denmark, Britain and seven other European countries, generating enough electricity from strong ocean breezes to power hundreds of thousands of homes. China’s first offshore wind farm, a 102-megawatt venture near Shanghai, goes online this month, with more in the pipeline.

But despite a decade of efforts, not a single offshore turbine has been built in the United States.

Experts say progress has been slowed by a variety of factors, including poor economics, an uncertain regulatory framework and local opposition.

When the Obama administration announces a decision this week on the most prominent project — Cape Wind, off the coast of Massachusetts — it could have implications from Long Island to Lake Erie. An approval from Interior Secretary Ken Salazar might well nudge the project to completion as the nation’s first offshore wind farm. On the other hand, some developers say a thumbs-down could gut America’s offshore wind industry before it ever really gets started.

“It is imperative that Cape Wind gets built — we need the momentum,” said Peter Giller, chief executive of OffshoreMW, an upstart developer with ambitions to build two 700-megawatt projects off the shores of New Jersey and Massachusetts.

At least half a dozen offshore wind projects that could provide electricity for hundreds of thousands of customers have already been proposed in the shallow waters off the East Coast and the Great Lakes. Even more are in the paper-napkin stage, including a project that would place a bank of turbines about 13 miles off the Rockaway peninsula in New York.

Although offshore wind farms are roughly twice as expensive as land-based ones, developers and advocates say offshore projects have several advantages. Sea and lake breezes are typically stronger, steadier and more reliable than wind on land. Offshore turbines can also be located close to the power-hungry populations along the coasts, eliminating the need for new overland transmission lines. And if the turbines are built far enough from shore, they do not significantly alter the view — a major objection from many local opponents.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has estimated that about 90,000 megawatts of electricity could be extracted from offshore winds in United States coastal waters less than 100 feet deep, the easiest and most cost-effective depths. Most of that potential lies in New England, the mid-Atlantic and the Great Lakes.

If the handful of American projects on the drawing board are built as planned, they would produce some 2,500 megawatts, according to the American Wind Energy Association, or about as much as two midsize nuclear power plants.

The Cape Wind project would place 130 turbines, each 440 feet tall, over 24 square miles of Nantucket Sound at a likely cost of more than $1 billion.

Opponents have argued that the venture is too expensive and would interfere with local fishermen, intrude on the sacred rituals and submerged burial grounds of two local Indian tribes and destroy the view.

GE to Debut Gearless Offshore Wind Turbine to Rival Siemens

General Electric Co., the world’s second-biggest maker of wind turbines, plans to introduce a 4 megawatt gearless wind turbine for offshore use in 2012 in a challenge to market leader Siemens AG of Germany.

Government incentives and pricing pressure for onshore models amid the economic slowdown make the offshore market more attractive, Mete Maltepe, global sales leader for wind energy at GE, said in a telephone interview on April 20.

Customer feedback on the offshore turbine has so far been positive, Maltepe said. GE is using technology acquired in its August takeover of the ScanWind unit of Morphic Technologies AB in Sweden to take on Siemens and Vestas Wind Systems A/S of Denmark. The purchase marked a change in tack for the U.S. company, which has mostly focused on the onshore market.

“It’s a good turbine, the direct drive is key,” Maltepe said. In the onshore segment, “there are notable headwinds in pricing. We are reducing costs and improving the performance. There is pressure on margins and we’ll have to see if we can hold them up.”

GE, with a 12.4 percent share of the overall on- and offshore wind turbine market by capacity, is head to head with Vestas, which in 2009 held the top spot at 12.5 percent, according to Danish consultants BTM Consult APS.

Munich-based Siemens, with 5.9 percent of the overall market and the top spot in offshore models, is installing as many as 10 of its new gearless 3 megawatt turbines for both offshore and onshore use this year, with large-scale production planned to start in 2011. Vestas CEO Ditlev Engel on Feb. 10 declined to say if his company also plans to develop a gearless turbine.

Direct drive or gearless turbines reduce the number of moving parts in a unit and increase reliability, helping minimize costly open-sea maintenance. Such technology accounted for about 14 percent of installed capacity last year, BTM said. Offshore wind park operators include Germany’s Enercon GmbH and Xinjiang Goldwind Science & Technology Co. of China.

Big Energy Storage in Thin Films

Energy storage devices called ultracapacitors can be recharged many more times than batteries, but the total amount of energy they can store is limited. This means that the devices are useful for providing intense bursts of power to supplement batteries but less so for applications that require steady power over a long period, such as running a laptop or an engine.

Now researchers at Drexel University in Philadelphia have demonstrated that it’s possible to use techniques borrowed from the chip-making industry to make thin-film carbon ultracapacitors that store three times as much energy by volume as conventional ultracapacitor materials. While that is not as much as batteries, the thin-film ultracapacitors could operate without ever being replaced.

These charge-storage films could be fabricated directly onto RFID chips and the chips used in digital watches, where they would take up less space than a conventional battery. They could also be fabricated on the backside of solar cells in both portable devices and rooftop installations, to store power generated during the day for use after sundown. The materials have been licensed by Pennsylvania startup Y-Carbon.

An ultracapacitor is “an electrical energy source that has virtually unlimited lifetime,” says Yury Gogotsi, professor of materials science and engineering at Drexel University in Philadelphia, who led the development of the thin-film ultracapacitors. “It will live longer than any electronic device and never needs to be replaced.” While batteries store and release energy in the form of chemical reactions, which cause them to degrade over time, ultracapacitors work by transferring surface charges. This means they can charge and discharge rapidly, and because the electrode materials aren’t involved in any chemical reactions, they can be cycled hundreds of thousands of times. Researchers have begun developing thin-film ultracapacitor materials but have had difficulty getting high enough total energy storage using practical fabrication methods, says Gogotsi.

Study details at least four epic droughts in Asia

A study of tree rings provided Thursday the most detailed record yet of at least four epic droughts that hit Asia over the past millennium, including one that helped end China’s Ming Dynasty in 1644.

Data collected over the past 15 years for the study is expected to help scientists understand how climate change can unleash large-scale weather disruptions.

Any drastic shifts to the seasonal monsoon rains in Asia, which feed nearly half the world’s population by helping crops grow, could have serious socio-economic consequences, according to scientists at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.

They mapped out past droughts and their relative severity by sampling the wood of thousands of ancient trees across Asia. Among them was a drought that caused tens of millions of people to starve to death in the late 1870s.

“Global climate models fail to accurately simulate the Asian monsoon, and these limitations have hampered our ability to plan for future, potentially rapid and heretofore unexpected shifts in a warming world,” said lead author Edward Cook, head of Lamont’s Tree Ring Lab.

Prior to the study, published in Friday’s edition of Science, reliable instrumental data collected in Asia — such as temperature, rain accumulations and winds — only dated back to 1950.

The scientists pointed to some evidence that monsoon changes are driven at least in part by variations in sea-surface temperatures, with some speculation but no certainty that warming global temperatures could modify and possibly intensify these cycles.

The Key to Fixing Global Warming? China

It’s late November 2009, and US energy secretary Steven Chu is leaning against a fake sink in a fake kitchen. Chu is 62 years old and athletically trim with graying black hair.

He’s wearing a rumpled pin-striped suit, argyle socks, and gold-framed glasses. Chu is a renowned physicist, a cabinet appointee, and the winner of a Nobel Prize. But that’s not why he’s now being treated like a rock star. This morning a small crowd of scientists, politicians, and local businesspeople are flocking to him because he’s got cash, specifically $75 million in stimulus funds for the Ohio subsidiary of the American Electric Power utility.

Chu likes to ask questions — a lot of questions — and he can dive deep into the details of any science or technology issue very quickly. Today he’s touring a lab run by AEP just outside of Columbus, Ohio, that includes a model kitchen full of energy-saving appliances. Standard protocol would suggest that he smile vapidly and hustle along. But almost immediately, he starts to wonk out with Ray Hayes, the lab’s white-bearded manager. They talk power meters and the feasibility of sensors that can measure which gadget is sucking down what power. Chu is enjoying himself, his hands buried in his suit-pants pockets. A small crowd, including Ohio senator Sherrod Brown, follows the men around the room for a while, but everyone soon loses interest and strikes up side conversations. (”I didn’t know what the hell he and Ray were saying,” Brown later admits.)

Finally Chu is ready to do what he came to do. He walks outside to a tent, where in front of AEPers and politicos he announces the grant. He knows that all politics is local, especially in Ohio, a battleground state with high unemployment and strong unions. This is “a farsighted state,” he says; he mentions Toledo as the “solar valley of Ohio” and talks about the state’s prowess in manufacturing.

Still, he can’t help himself, and after a few minutes he departs from his prepared remarks. “I just came back from visiting China with the president,” he says, no longer reading. When he was there two years ago, there was little interest in doing anything about climate change or carbon emissions. “That is no longer true,” he says. “The president of China, the premier of China, the vice premier of China are all saying, ‘This is a very big deal for us. If we continue business as usual, continue to grow our carbon emissions, it would be devastating for the world, devastating for China.’ But they also say, ‘This is our great economic opportunity.’ And for that reason, they’re investing over $100 billion a year in the clean energy economy.”

SEC’s climate change transparency

Transparency is a cornerstone of our economy.

For investors, that means being entitled to hear about the risks of an investment before making a long-term capital commitment.

You might not commit, for example, to a computer chip-maker whose silicon costs are about to triple, or a clothing manufacturer whose factories are caught up in civil unrest overseas. Or you might invest and then pressure the company to address its issues.

That’s why the Securities and Exchange Commission’s new climate change disclosure guidance is important. It outlines the type of information that publicly traded companies facing material effects from climate change should be disclosing.

This is what regulators are supposed to do — get ahead of the curve as business risks and opportunities change.

Climate change is a classic material risk to businesses.

It is clear that a changing climate affects virtually all companies. Recent droughts and water shortages in California, for example, have led to dramatic reductions in hydropower use — and more than $1 billion in losses for the state’s agriculture industry. Melting ice in the Arctic is expected to have far-reaching effects on shipping and energy exploration.

Climate change is also a risk because it is altering behavior. Governments at all levels, here and abroad, are mandating greenhouse gas reductions, cleaner electricity generation and energy-efficiency initiatives. Consumers are demanding change. Large emitters are facing lawsuits.

Supreme Court to take first look at GM crops in case with NEPA implications

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments Tuesday involving a federal judge’s temporary ban on a breed of pesticide-resistant alfalfa, setting the stage for the court’s first-ever ruling on genetically modified crops.

Legal experts do not expect a blockbuster decision on the merits of regulating modified plants such as Monsanto Co.’s Roundup Ready alfalfa, but the case, Monsanto Co. v. Geertson Seed Farms, has drawn widespread interest because the justices could issue a ruling that would raise or lower the threshold for challenges under the National Environmental Policy Act.

Environmental groups, which frequently use the statute to bring lawsuits against government agencies and industry groups, “don’t expect anything good” to come from the Supreme Court’s eventual decision, said David Bookbinder, chief climate counsel at the Sierra Club. It seems that some of the justices are “on a kick to gut NEPA remedies,” he said earlier this year during a panel discussion on environmental law at Georgetown University.

That sense of foreboding is compounded by the fact that the case comes from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, a frequent source of environmental cases struck down by the Supreme Court. Last year, when the Supreme Court overturned five decisions favoring environmentalists, four had come from the 9th Circuit (Greenwire, June 25, 2009).

The Monsanto case stems from a 2006 lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Led by Phillip Geertson, a producer of organic alfalfa seeds from Adrian, Ore., the plaintiffs claimed that Roundup Ready alfalfa could spread its genes to alfalfa in neighboring fields, potentially preventing the other farmers from marketing their produce as organic.

Organic farmers convinced the court that they faced a “likelihood of irreparable harm” from genetic contamination, securing a ban on planting of Roundup Ready alfalfa that would remain in place until the Department of Agriculture concludes an environmental review.

“The court of appeals approved an injunction that is so broad that it prohibits beneficial activities that pose no risk of harm whatsoever,” attorneys for Monsanto wrote in their petition for Supreme Court review, which was granted in January. “If not reversed, the Ninth Circuit’s holding threatens to make blanket injunctions all but automatic in NEPA cases arising in that circuit.”

Defenders of Wildlife, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Humane Society of the United States filed a friend-of-the-court brief urging the court not to accept Monsanto’s argument, saying such a ruling would hinder their ability to rely on the statute “to ensure a meaningful consideration by federal agencies of the impacts of their actions on the environment, and particularly wildlife and plants.”

Michael Senatore, vice president of conservation law at Defenders of Wildlife, said his organization has not been involved in the issue of modified crops but wanted to weigh in because of the case’s potential impact on environmental litigation.

“It is a NEPA case, and NEPA has fared exceedingly poorly in the Supreme Court — I think it’s 0-for-13,” Senatore said. If the organic farmers lose, he added, “we could get another adverse NEPA ruling that could have implications for the work that we do.”

Scientist questions safety of new Westinghouse reactor design

A former nuclear industry engineer now affiliated with anti-nuclear groups has urged the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to reject Westinghouse Electric Co.’s new AP1000 reactor design, claiming it would be “inherently less safe than current reactors.”

Anti-nuclear advocacy groups released yesterday Arnold Gundersen’s study, which concluded that the reactor’s steel liner would be vulnerable to rust leaks. Because of a new design element in the AP1000 reactor, the study says, “there is no backup containment” behind the steel liner should a leak develop.

Westinghouse spokesman Vaughn Gilbert said the reactor would be safe despite backup containment because its steel liner is three to four times thicker than that in any existing plant. The containment was designed to prevent the leaks that have occurred in previous generations of reactors, he said.

“In the unlikely event that there was some corrosion, we’re confident it would be readily visible and corrected during plant inspections,” Gilbert said.

The new reactor design would be used in several U.S. nuclear proposals currently under consideration by NRC. Southern Co., which recently received $8 billion in federal loan guarantees, plans to build two of the reactors at its Vogtle facility near Waynesboro, Ga.

The company has received approval to begin site work, though NRC has not yet approved Westinghouse’s design.

Charging Up Electric Car Batteries in Environmentally-Friendly Way

Electromobility makes sense only if car batteries are charged using electricity from renewable energy sources. But the supply of green electricity is not always adequate. An intelligent charging station can help, by adapting the recharging times to suit energy supply and network capacity. Germany aims to have one million electric vehicles — powered by energy from renewable sources -on the road by 2020. And, within ten years, the German environment ministry expects “green electricity” to make up 30 percent of all power consumed.

Arithmetically speaking, it would be possible to achieve CO2-neutral electromobility. But, in reality, it is a difficult goal to attain. As more and more solar and wind energy is incorporated in the power grid, the proportion of electricity that cannot be controlled by simply pressing a button is on the increase. In addition, there is a growing risk that the rising number of electric vehicles will trigger extreme surges in demand during rush hour.

“What we need is a smart grid that carries information in addition to power,” says Dominik Noeren of the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE. The structure of the grid has to change from a push system based on energy demand to a pull system based on production output. In Noeren’s opinion, “electric cars are best equipped to meet this challenge.” Introduced in large numbers, they have the capacity to store a lot of energy. On average, a car is parked for at least 20 hours out of 24. That is more than enough time to recharge them when the wind picks up or the demand for electricity is low.

Developed by Fraunhofer researchers, the “smart” charging station is a device that enables electric vehicles to recharge when the system load is low and the share of energy from renewable resources is high. In this way, load peaks can be avoided and the contribution of solar and wind power fully exploited. “For us, it is important that end consumers are completely free to decide when they want to recharge. We do not want them to suffer any disadvantages from the controlled recharging of their vehicles’ batteries,” Noeren emphasizes. That’s why he favors electricity rates that adapt to the prevailing situation in the power grid — ones that are more expensive in periods of peak demand and particularly cheap when there is a surfeit of renewable energy.

Solar Power to the People, With a Lot of Public Help

IT’S Earth Day, and among the many activities planned for students at the Lagunitas school campus, about 30 miles north of San Francisco, is a field trip to visit a solar power installation, where they will learn how photovoltaic technology converts the sun’s energy to electricity.

But they won’t need permission slips from their parents to leave the school grounds, as the system sits on a sunny spot next to the school’s soccer field.

In operation since 2008, the system provides about 70 percent of the school’s annual electric needs and will save more than $100,000 on its energy bills over the next 15 years.

Installing it cost the school nothing. In a business arrangement becoming common for solar projects like this, the project developer, Solar Power Partners, installed, owns and operates the system. It then sells power back to the school through a long-term power purchase agreement.

Retaining ownership lets the developer and its investors take advantage of federal tax incentives and California state subsidies, which in turn allow them to compete on price with the local utility.

Government incentives to private industries are nothing new. In 1917, the federal government offered a tax credit to a young oil industry to encourage exploration and drilling, opening up an industry that transformed our economy, while creating thousands of new companies and many more jobs. Today’s solar power proponents hope generous federal and state incentives, along with creative business models like power purchase agreements, will provide the same result.

Photovoltaic technology has been around since the 1950s. It was originally used to power sites far off the utility grid. The market for building solar electric systems on homes and commercial properties, however, really took off when the federal Energy Policy Act of 2005 raised the investment tax credit for solar projects to 30 percent. Almost all of these systems remain connected to the utility grid, so the customer, like the Lagunitas school, can still buy power from the utility when its solar energy system does not meet its demands. And when they generate a surplus, they can put power back on the grid and receive a credit on their utility bill.

New energy powers up lobbying

Alternative energy used to be just a speed bump on K Street.

In 1998, the entire sector spent only $2.4 million lobbying the federal government, compared with $142 million spent by the oil and gas, electrical utilities and mining industries, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan group that tracks political spending.

A little more than a decade later, the advocacy class for wind, solar, ethanol and a host of other alternative and renewable energy sources is growing exponentially — much as the sector hopes its market share will in the coming decades. In 2009, alternative energy spent $30 million on lobbying, 12 times its 1998 amount.

The prospects of action on a major energy bill — with billions set aside for research and development of new, cleaner fuels — is a major reason for that. “The industry realizes it needs to have a larger political presence and has responded with increased lobbying expenditures,” said Dave Levinthal, a center spokesman.

But the speed of expansion is eye-popping.

Until 2008, the American Wind Energy Association spent less than $1 million a year on lobbyists — and most years less than $500,000. In 2009, it spent nearly $5 million on lobbying, almost triple its 2008 outlay.

Similarly, the Solar Energy Industries Association increased its 2007 expenditures of $630,000 to more than $1.6 million in 2009.

Monique Hanis, director of communications for SEIA, said there are several reasons for SEIA’s increased presence in Washington. Among them is getting help in delivering solar-powered electricity to customers and, ultimately, breaking up old energy’s market dominance. “We need a level playing field to compete, and that comes back to policy,” Hanis said.

With the growth of the solar energy industry, SEIA’s membership has expanded, giving the organization a larger budget and the freedom to hire more lobbyists to work on a wider range of policy issues. The group exercised that new muscle in 2008 when it won extension of the Solar Investment Tax Credit for another eight years.

White House to provide $452M for retrofits

Twenty-five states, local governments and nonprofits will split $452 million to retrofit energy-inefficient homes and office buildings, Vice President Joe Biden will announce this afternoon.

The money comes as part of the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which President Obama signed into law 16 months ago. The stimulus package earmarked roughly $80 billion for clean-energy and energy-efficiency projects.

The so-called “Retrofit Ramp-Up” funding commitments to be announced today at the White House will help the 25 states, local governments and nonprofits swap out building insulation, windows and lights, among other things. Grantees will offer building owners low- or no-interest loans for retrofits that may be repaid through property tax or utility bills.

The Energy Department will use the program’s financing and retrofit models to develop best-practice guides that other cities could adopt. Replicating such efforts nationally could save homes and businesses about $100 million in utility bills annually, as well as leverage about $2.8 billion in from the private sector and create about 30,000 jobs during the next three years, administration officials claim.

“This investment in some of the most innovative energy-efficiency projects across the country will not only help homeowners and businesses make cost-cutting retrofit improvements but create jobs right here in America,” Biden notes in prepared remarks.

The 25 grantees and their grant amounts: Austin, Texas ($10 million); Boulder County, Colo. ($25 million); Camden, N.J. ($5 million); Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning ($25 million); Greater Cincinnati Energy Alliance ($17 million); Greensboro, N.C. ($5 million); Indianapolis ($10 million); Kansas City, Mo. ($20 million); Los Angeles County, Calif. ($30 million); Lowell, Mass. ($5 million); state of Maine ($30 million); state of Maryland ($20 million); state of Michigan ($30 million); state of Missouri ($5 million); Omaha, Neb. ($10 million); state of New Hampshire ($10 million); New York State Research and Development Authority ($40 million); Philadelphia ($25 million); Phoenix ($25 million); Portland, Ore. ($20 million); San Antonio ($10 million); Seattle ($20 million); Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance ($20 million); Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority ($15 million); and Wisconsin Energy Conservation Corp. ($20 million).

Commercial and residential buildings consume about 40 percent of the nation’s energy and account for about 40 percent of its carbon dioxide emissions, according to DOE. Existing building retrofit technologies could slash residential buildings’ energy use by 40 percent and associated greenhouse gas emissions by up to 160 million metric tons annually.

Edging Back to Nuclear Power

FOR the first time since the 1970s, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has announced a step that it once took routinely: appointing an inspector for a new reactor construction project.

With 17 applications in hand from companies that want to build 26 reactors, the agency is likely to name a lot more inspectors; it also expects five more applicants in the next few years.

Is this the long-awaited renaissance of the nuclear construction business, after years of being moribund?

Certainly, some crucial ingredients are falling into place. Nuclear power provides 70 percent of the nation’s carbon-free electricity, important at a time when environmentalists track carbon in the atmosphere the way baby boomers check their cholesterol levels. And while Congress has not agreed on setting a price on carbon emissions, important people say we need more low-carbon power. President Obama said in his State of the Union address that it was time to build “a new generation of safe, clean nuclear power plants in this country,” and his budget plan would triple the pool of loan guarantees available for construction, to $57.5 billion.

Near Augusta, Ga., where the Southern Company opened its Vogtle 1 and 2 reactors in 1987 and 1989, workers have cleared away storage sheds and are preparing a site for construction of units 3 and 4. Vogtle received the first loan guarantees, $8.3 billion, under a program enacted in 2005; the five years that have passed are an indication of the pace of the renaissance.

Yet, undeniably, there is progress. Parts have been ordered from as far away as Italy and Japan, and there are stirrings in the supply chain here, suggesting that, while the United States can no longer manufacture all the key components, it can at least contribute to a global system. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved the Vogtle site, and a legion of its engineers and those at Westinghouse, the designer, are hashing out details before a new kind of license can be issued — one that will allow cookie-cutter copies of the reactor around the country. Generic approvals for other designs are at various stages.

Boosters of nuclear power want to repeat the 1970s, with dozens of orders a year; Senator Lamar Alexander, Republican of Tennessee, has called for building 100 plants, which would more than double existing capacity, just as the United States did from 1970 to 1990. And there appears to be bipartisan support for new reactors.

Some longtime opponents, like Representative Edward J. Markey, Democrat of Massachusetts, said they still do not like the technology but would hold their noses and take a package that included some of what they want. Mr. Markey, who with Representative Henry A. Waxman, Democrat of California, wrote the climate bill that passed the House last year, has been an implacable critic of the industry for decades. But if support for new reactors is the price of getting Senate agreement to a carbon cap, he said in an interview, he would negotiate over that.

Interior Moving to Curb Coal Mining Pollution, Require Mountaintop Restoration

The Interior Department is writing new regulations for mountaintop-removal coal mining that would expand protection for waterways and require the restoration of dynamited areas.

Christopher Holmes, spokesman for Interior’s Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, said the agency is rewriting its “stream protection rule” to boost environmental safeguards.  The proposal being drafted, Holmes said, would:

*  Establish a clear standard for restoring dynamited mountaintops. The 1977 Surface Mining Reclamation and Control Act requires that mountaintops be restored to their “approximate original contour,” but defining the term has been left to individual states.

*  Yank the right of state regulators to grant exceptions to the contour-restoration requirement. Federal authorities currently allow states to set their own standards for granting exemptions, and state standards vary widely.

*  Set a federal definition for “material damage” to watersheds beyond permitting areas. The surface-mining law prohibits mountaintop-removal mines and other above-ground coal operations from damaging watersheds outside areas covered by mining permits, but the requirement has been difficult to enforce because “material damage” has never been defined.

*  Require companies applying for mining permits to collect more information on the environmental health of watersheds where they intend to work and to monitor conditions during and after mining. Mines that inflict environmental damages beyond what is permitted would be required to change their operations or close.

*  Clarify that seasonal streams and temporary streams are covered by the regulations, even when the streambed is dry.

New Life for Old Tires

Of the nearly 300 million tires discarded in the United States each year, more than half end up either as landfill or are burned for fuel in cement kilns and in other industries.

Lehigh Technologies of Tucker, GA, has developed a process for rejuvenating discarded rubber that could open up new recycling opportunities. If the company’s technology catches on, it could carve out a billion-dollar market for high-performance recycled rubber.

Used rubber is hard to recycle because it is vulcanized–hardened and rendered chemically inert–by the addition of sulfur and other compounds to the material’s long molecular chains. Small chunks of used tires can be partially melted and used as filler in asphalt, but devulcanizing rubber involves expensive chemical and thermal processes.

Lehigh Technologies instead shatters rubber into a fine powder using a process that involves freezing old rubber and smashing it to pieces. This starts with tires that have been torn into half-inch chunks using conventional shredding equipment. Lehigh mixes these rubber pieces with liquid nitrogen, cryogenically cooling the rubber to -100°C. The rubber is then fed into a high speed “turbomill” that shatters it into particles no more than 180 microns in size.

Creating such fine powder transforms the rubber from a highly inert filler material to one that can bond with other materials. “We deliver a huge increase in surface area relative to size, and that allows for a much more intimate mixing with other materials,” says Lehigh Technologies CEO Alan Barton.

In 2006, Lehigh Technologies opened its first commercial facility, which has a capacity to produce 100 million pounds of rubber powder and to process four million tires per year. Sales of the company’s products increased by 40 percent last year, but the facility is still operating at less than half capacity. Barton says that his firm has sold recycled rubber to a number of leading tire manufacturers. He estimates that 30 million tires now on the road in the United States are made in part with his company’s recycled rubber, although only about 3 to 7 percent of all the rubber in these tires is their recycled material.

White-hot energy

Storing energy is one of the biggest obstacles to the widespread adoption of alternative sources of power. Batteries can be bulky and slow to charge. Hydrogen, which can be made electrolytically from water and used to power fuel cells, is difficult to handle. But there may be an alternative: magnesium. As school chemistry lessons show, metallic magnesium is highly reactive and stores a lot of energy. Even a small amount of magnesium ribbon burns in a flame with a satisfying white heat. Researchers are now devising ways to extract energy from magnesium in a more controlled fashion.

Engineers at MagPower in White Rock, British Columbia, for example, have developed a metal-air cell that uses water and ambient air to react with a magnesium fuel supply, in the form of a metal anode, to generate electricity. Doron Aurbach at Bar-Ilan University, Israel, has created a magnesium-based version of the lithium-ion rechargeable cell, a type of battery known for its long life and stability. It would be ideal for storing electricity from renewable sources, says Dr Aurbach. And Andrew Kindler at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena is developing a way for cars to generate hydrogen on board by reacting magnesium fuel with steam. The reaction produces a pure form of hydrogen suitable for fuel cells, leaving behind only magnesium oxide, a relatively benign material, as a by-product.

But there is, of course, a catch. Although magnesium is abundant, its production is neither cheap nor clean, says Takashi Yabe of the Tokyo Institute of Technology. Various industrial methods are used to extract magnesium, ranging from an electrolytic process to a high temperature method called the Pidgeon process, but the energy cost is high. Producing a single kilogram of magnesium requires 10kg of coal, says Dr Yabe.

To change this, he is developing a process using only renewable energy. Dr Yabe’s solution is to use concentrated solar energy to power a laser, which is used to heat and ultimately burn magnesium oxide extracted from seawater—where, he says, there is enough magnesium to meet the world’s energy needs for the next 300,000 years. A solar-pumped laser is necessary, he says, because concentrated solar energy alone would not be enough to generate the 3,700˚C temperatures required. Dr Yabe calls his approach the Magnesium Injection Cycle.

A ‘Hamburger Helper’ for Diesel Fuel

In the never ending search for substitutes for oil in cars and trucks, a Nevada company has found an unusual partial replacement: natural gas.

Natural gas, of course, is already used in thousands of buses, in compressed form. But building a compression station for fueling, and converting the buses, is expensive. The Nevada company, Advanced Refining Concepts, of Reno, has developed a fuel that runs through conventional fuel pumps, truck fuel tanks and diesel engines.

That is crucial, said Peter W. Gunnerman, who co-founded the company with his father, Rudolf. “You can have the best fuel in the world, but the second you tell mechanics you have to change this or change that, it just doesn’t get done,’’ he said.

His company produces something called GDiesel, which starts with ordinary ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel and with natural gas, which is primarily methane.

In its refinery, Advanced Refining Concepts bubbles the gas through the diesel fuel. In the presence of a proprietary catalyst, the methane and the diesel fuel react chemically, with the diesel fuel pulling apart the methane and absorbing its component atoms, hydrogen and carbon.

As the molecules of diesel fuel absorb the natural gas, they get bigger. Mr. Gunnerman said that the liquid grows by more than 10 percent.

Diesel fuel is sold by volume (gallons refers to size, not energy content) so anything that expands the product becomes a sort of Hamburger Helper, an inexpensive filler. Natural gas is considerably cheaper than diesel.

As the fuel’s density declines, the amount of energy declines very slightly. But that seems fine with the company’s customers, said Mr. Gunnerman. They report going more miles on a tank and needing fewer oil changes. Users include a construction company and truck fleet operators.

None of the benefits have been confirmed by a lab, but sales are growing, through a distributor that serves northern Nevada and northern California.

Mr. Gunnerman’s company has produced the fuel at a single processing unit. The unit could make 10,000 gallons a day but has been limited to 4,000 because there is not much natural gas available at the spot where it is installed, in Sparks, he said. In October, the company broke ground at an industrial park nine miles east of Reno, where it is installing 10 such units. Start-up is scheduled to begin next month.

A Clear-Eyed Look at China’s Climate Target

In the lead-up to Copenhagen, and again in its submission to the UNFCCC in January, China announced a target to lower its carbon intensity, the amount of carbon dioxide emitted per unit of GDP, by 40-45% by 2020 compared to a 2005 baseline. Now, while U.S. legislators deliberate the details of a much-needed climate and energy bill, Chinese leaders have already entered into in-depth discussions on their national plans, policies, investments and enforcement mechanisms for achieving this target.

Just last week, a senior Chinese climate statesman, He Jiankun, made news when he and other energy experts recommended that China should set a target for reducing its carbon intensity by 18% in the upcoming Twelfth Five-Year Plan (2011-2015).   By including this carbon intensity target  into the next  Five-Year Plan, it will become legally binding once approved by the National People’s Congress early next year.  Progress in achieving the target will also become an indicator in the job performance rating of every provincial governor and major enterprise owner.

In order to provide more context to the recent policy proposals in China, this blog post takes a closer look at the details of China’s carbon intensity target and answers some of the crucial questions about how it can achieve its target.

Colo. passes legislation to switch power plants to natural gas

Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter (D) plans to sign into law today a piece of legislation that imposes stricter air pollution rules on power plants while helping the state’s coal-fired power plants switch to natural gas.

The legislation, opposed by the coal industry but backed by utilities and the natural gas industry, was passed by both houses of the Colorado General Assembly within 17 days of its introduction.

Mike Beasley, a lobbyist for utility Xcel Energy Inc., said it was “one of those rare perfect storms” where industry and environmental groups agree on a policy outcome.

“Gas folks wanted to increase the use of gas,” Beasley said. “Environmentalists wanted a cleaner, better utility fuel. And utilities wanted a cleaner fuel but wanted to do it in a cost-effective manner.”

Under the legislation, Xcel Energy must provide the state Public Utilities Commission with a plan for three aging power plants in the state’s Front Range. The utility will need to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides by up to 80 percent, using cleaner-burning fuel such as natural gas to accomplish the reduction.

In exchange, Xcel will be allowed to use long-term contracts to address the volatility of natural gas prices. Supporters said the bill is necessary to get a head start on tougher federal air pollution regulations, but critics described the bill as a handout for natural gas at the expense of coal.

“If we were up against imminent catastrophe,” asked state Sen. Shawn Mitchell (R), “why were we only hearing that warning now over halfway through the session, from the backers of a sweetheart deal for Xcel and the gas companies?”

Global temperatures hit ‘hottest March on record

Global temperatures fueled by El Nino seasonal warming last month chalked up the hottest March on record, US weather monitors reported.

“Warmer-than-normal conditions dominated the globe, especially in northern Africa, South Asia and Canada,” the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in a statement on Thursday.

Combined global land and ocean average surface temperature for March 2010 was the warmest on record at 13.5 degrees Celsius (56.3 degrees Fahrenheit), which is 0.77 degrees Celsius above the 20th century average of 12.7 C, it said.

Average ocean temperatures were the hottest for any March since record-keeping began in 1880, while the global land surface was the fourth warmest for any March on record, NOAA said, citing analysis from the National Climate Data Center.

Rebound in stock prices prompts green-tech IPOs

Green businesses have responded to a turnaround in stock prices over the past year by planning initial public offerings worth more than three times the amount raised in 2009.

Among them are California-based electric carmaker Tesla Motors Inc., Massachusetts-based renewable energy producer Ameresco Inc. and Spanish photovoltaics manufacturer T-Solar Global SA, which have all filed to go public.

Nineteen green businesses plan to raise $9.6 billion through IPOs this year, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Twelve of them are solar and wind companies.

“There’s renewed appetite for green IPOs,” said Luigi Ferraris, chief financial officer of Enel SpA. The Italian utility hopes to sell a minority stake in Enel Green Power this year for $5.4 billion, which would be Europe’s largest offering since 2007.

Analysts say the surge in IPOs has resulted from higher stock prices. The MSCI World Index, which tracks equities in developed countries, has risen by 80 percent since March 2009.

“Investment bankers are out there soliciting business,” said Nigel Meir, a fund manager at London-based Ludgate Environmental Fund. “The green sector has a lot of forward propulsion”

Competition on batteries could overwhelm Daimler-Renault partnership

Though the two car companies have formed a joint venture to develop electric cars, Renault SA and Daimler AG will compete to produce the battery packs that will be used in their electric Smart and Twingo models.

The companies traded 3.1 percent stakes last week, but they left battery development out of the deal, creating a potential source of conflict down the road. Both companies have described the technology as critical to the development of future vehicles.

“Daimler has been a company that has traditionally been reluctant to give up its own technology path,” said Anil Valsan, London-based director of automotive research at Frost & Sullivan Inc. “While Daimler’s battery may have a technical edge, Renault-Nissan’s solution may end up being more cost competitive.”

Daimler is “not obliged” to use Renault’s batteries for its cars, Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn said at the announcement of the alliance last week, but the company is “obviously going to do everything in order for our battery to be considered as the best.”

The two companies plan to spend several billion dollars on battery development over the next two years. Considering the cost of the technology, it would be surprising if the companies decide to use separate batteries for the two vehicles, said Mike Tyndall, a London-based analyst at Nomura Securities Co.

“They may reach a point where it’s clear that one technology will be better than the other,” Tyndall said. “It’s all a question of how willing they are to work together”

German solar firms get warm welcome in California market

German companies eager to profit from their expertise have been flocking to California in recent years. With government incentives driving the growth of renewable energy sources at a breakneck speed in the US, California has emerged as one of the nation’s most active markets for solar energy.

The companies range from contractors who install solar panels on homes to energy suppliers, who feed electricity from renewable sources into the nation’s power grid. Some enterprises form partnerships with local companies while others launch North American subsidiaries. But all say there is no shortage of demand.

Growth potential yet to peak

California’s economy is the eighth largest worldwide, and its goal is to use 33 percent renewable energy by 2020. Angela Merkel said during her current visit that the state is a source for German cooperation in both industry and scientific research.

“We can dramatically develop our relationships here,” she told the dpa press agency.

German companies have been doing just that, largely because California’s solar energy market is known for rapid growth thanks to progressive government policies.

Johannes Buchholz, managing director of the German-American Chamber of Commerce in San Francisco, said those companies developed much of their expertise because of Germany’s feed-in tariff, which pays for renewable energy supplied to the electricity grid.

“California is starting to move in that direction. It’s not anywhere close to the German model yet, but the steps are going in that direction. The potential is still absolutely great. California is this sleeping giant that is starting to awake to mostly solar energy,” Buchholz told Deutsche Welle.

Google climate change chief wants price on carbon

Google wants a price on carbon and wants it now — both for lofty reasons like combating global warming, but also because it could be good for business.

As the Senate inches closer to climate legislation that could give the Internet giant what it wants, I checked in with Dan Reicher, the director of climate change and energy initiatives at Google, to see what surfing the web had to do with reining in greenhouse gases.

Turns out, the answer is technology. Reicher — a former Department of Energy assistant secretary who now directs Google’s investments in clean energy — believes that exposing the hidden costs of dirty fuels will set off a rush of investment in new energy innovations. He says carbon pricing is an “essential signal we have to get to.” Right now, “money is sitting there to make significant investments,” he says, but the cash flow is sidelined because the incentives aren’t there.

Once they have to pay the true price of carbon combustion, the calculus for companies would change, making it fiscally prudent for them to conserve and make cleaner energy. All of a sudden it would make sense to invest in figuring out how to consume less power, or in new technologies that cut emissions at the source. And that would mean a huge new market for innovations that would help them do that.

The same would go for individuals — under carbon pricing, households save if they reduce their electricity loads, and we’d expect a spike in demand for cheap energy efficiency technology as folks seek to reduce their monthly bills. Reicher gives us a compelling vision full of smart grids that know when your fridge needs to defrost and when your car’s battery can turn you a profit by selling spare juice.

House committee clears bill to boost energy grid security

The House Energy and Commerce Committee unanimously approved a bill Thursday that seeks to address security vulnerabilities in the nation’s energy grid.

The legislation, which now heads to the House floor, would charge the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) with the responsibility of identifying and addressing weaknesses in the country’s energy delivery system.

The Grid Reliability and Infrastructure Defense (GRID) Act arrives at the behest of lawmakers and experts who fear hackers and other cyber-terrorists could easily de-stabilize the country’s energy systems remotely, causing untold harm to both the federal government and the private sphere.

Closing those prospective security holes is crucial for Democrats, especially, if they hope soon to forge ahead with their plans to establish a Web-based “Smart Grid” that allows Americans to gauge their energy use.

“Right now, our electrical grid is vulnerable to threats from terrorists and hostile countries. Our adversaries have motive, intent, and the capacity to exploit these weaknesses,” said Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), the chairman of the Energy and Environment Subcommittee and the bill’s co-sponsor, following Thursday’s 47-0 vote.

“Every one of our nation’s critical systems – water, healthcare, telecommunications, transportation, law enforcement, and financial services – depends on the grid,” Markey said in a statement stressing the legislation’s importance.

Low-carbon growth could be key to alleviating poverty — U.N. study

The United Nations has called on China to “blaze a unique trail” for itself in low-carbon development by linking clean energy opportunities to improving the standards of living of millions of citizens.

In its new “China Human Development Report,” released yesterday, researchers with the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP) warn that if China does not curb the impacts of climate change and environmental degradation, it could reverse 30 years of achievements.

With nearly 350 million rural Chinese expected to migrate to urban areas over the next two decades, officials said now is the time for China’s leadership to smash the traditional wisdom that has dictated that economic advancement necessarily comes with pollution.

“China is at a critical juncture when the business as usual growth model is not sufficient to the country’s emerging challenges and pressures,” Khalid Malik, U.N. resident coordinator and UNDP resident representative in China, said in a statement. He called the shift to low-carbon development “imperative” as China balances its growth against the threat of climate change.

The annual development report this year focuses entirely on climate change and sustainable development in China. Done in partnership with Renmin University of China, it argues that the country needs to accelerate the phase-out of old and polluting equipment, industries and products. In its place, the authors said, China should ramp up its renewable energy development — but should also give priority to training, building institutions and pouring research and development funding into creating more jobs in low-carbon fields.

It points out that China’s living standards have improved dramatically over the past decades. Yet those changes, the authors note, “have not come without serious costs,” including environmental degradation, fast depletion of natural resources and zooming emissions. China in 2007 surpassed the United States to become the world’s largest emitter of climate change-causing greenhouse gases.

“Today it is widely recognized that China needs to take advantage of the international low carbon development boom in order to accelerate its shift to a more efficient pattern of economic growth,” the authors wrote. “China should transition from its heavy dependence on energy and resource consumption to improving energy efficiency while also enhancing the country’s high-value-added and high-tech industries.”

The report calls for “setting the stage for the introductions of a cap and trade system in the medium and long term,” based on a national carbon intensity target, and an enhanced system for monitoring and enforcement. It also recommends “establishing a credible and robust system” for greenhouse gas accounting and data as a basis for policymaking as well as enforcement. The authors argue that beefed up fiscal policies will be critical to attracting technical and management talent to spur innovation.

“To achieve such a fundamental transformation, the country must also revolutionize its mindset,” the authors note, urging China’s leadership, academia and think tanks to “continually question and challenge themselves” about how the country is meeting development needs.

China already is investing heavily in clean energy, having sunk $34.6 billion last year into green energy markets, according to a recent Pew Environment Group report. It also has a hefty body of national policies — from a renewable energy standard to a plan to reduce carbon intensity 40 to 45 percent in the coming decade.

Deborah Seligsohn, China program director of the World Resources Institute’s Climate, Energy and Pollution Program in Beijing, said at a recent forum that China is well on its way to achieving that carbon intensity goal. While many have criticized the carbon intensity target as merely “business as usual” — a phrase that implies China will have to change little in order to achieve it — Seligsohn argued that “what is business as usual has changed dramatically over the last five years.”

That’s the period that has seen China close down inefficient plants and establish its 1,000 Enterprise Program, under which the government works with the top 1,000 top energy-consuming businesses to tailor emission reductions. Seligsohn noted, though, that while both moves have been successful, the government now has to think about establishing broader regulations that apply to a larger number of industries and work through local energy conservation centers.

“As you do that, the challenges are greater,” she said. But, she added, she sees “no diminution in Chinese interest in having this ambition.”

Julian Wong, a senior policy analyst at the Center for American Progress think tank, called the report “refreshing” for focusing less on gross domestic product and more on standard of living as an indicator of economic development.

“When people discuss China’s development, it’s in terms of GDP. GDP is a very crude indicator, and almost too crude to measure human welfare. Ultimately, what we care about is the standard of living of the country’s citizens rather than how much churn of dollars there is in an economy,” Wong said.

“When you start speaking of development in more human terms, then I think the benefits of going low-carbon and climate change action become a lot more compelling, because then you’re talking about what are the co-benefits of climate change action,” like reducing air pollution, he said.

A Clean Energy Competitiveness Strategy For America

Accelerating U.S. clean technology innovation, manufacturing, and market creation has become not just an environmental necessity but an economic imperative. A recent Pew study showed that the global clean energy industry has experienced rapid investment growth over the last five years. New clean tech investments in 2009 reached $162 billion, which is expected to grow 25 percent to $200 billion in 2010. With the global clean energy economy emerging as one of the largest economic opportunities of the 21st century, government policy and public investment will be critical determinants of which countries come out on top in the race to attract private sector investment in clean energy technologies.

The United States is currently behind other nations in this race, and lacks an effective national strategy to compete. Climate legislation proposed in Congress to date, with its low price on carbon, ineffective renewable electricity standard, and collection of efficiency regulations, will not be enough for the United States to catch up to countries like China in building the clean energy industries of the future. To regain leadership in the global clean technology industry, the United States must enact a comprehensive clean energy competitiveness strategy that prioritizes major public investments in clean energy innovation, manufacturing, market development, education, and infrastructure.

Company to roll out ’smart charger’ invented at DOE lab

Electric vehicle maker ZAP announced today the planned rollout of a charging control device invented at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory for use in the United States, Korea and China.

The “smart charger controller” lets the owner of an electric car manage how and when the vehicle will charge, taking into account time-of-day or energy-cost signals.

The controller relies on a wireless communication device using the proprietary ZigBee standard to relay information about energy pricing and the vehicle’s state of charge. It also senses voltage or frequency disruptions on the electric grid. The device then manages power flowing to a vehicle based on user-programmed settings and the grid’s state.

Experts say this type of control can alleviate strain on the grid caused by large numbers of plug-in cars.

“If millions of owners plug in their electric vehicles to recharge after work at the same time, it could cause stress on the grid,” said Pacific lab engineer Michael Kintner-Meyer. “The smart charger controller will prevent those peaks in demand from plug-in vehicles and enable our existing grid to be used more efficiently.”

ZAP distributes electric trucks, vans, motorcycles, scooters and cars worldwide and is developing an electric vehicle dubbed the Alias.

The controller license agreement is between Battelle, the company that manages the Energy Department’s lab, and ZAP, according to the auto company. The companies did not release financial details of the agreement.

ZAP plans to use the technology for vehicles and charging stations to be introduced in the United States and Korea, and to sublicense it to a joint venture operating in China, it said. Those rollouts are expected later this year.

A previous Pacific lab study found the U.S. power grid could support about 158 million vehicles, or about 70 percent of the light-duty fleet, if battery charging is carefully managed.

A Program to Certify Electronic Waste Recycling Rivals an Industry-U.S. Plan

The Basel Action Network, an American watchdog group that has sought to curb the export of toxic electronic waste from the United States, plans to begin a new certification and auditing program on Thursday for both recyclers and companies that generate electronic refuse.

In addition to outlining safe domestic handling and disposal practices for old televisions, computers and other electronic devices, the system would effectively bar participating recyclers from exporting toxic, nonfunctional electronic waste to developing nations. The program will compete directly with a less stringent standard recently developed by industry and the federal government that companies and recyclers say makes more economic sense.

“The U.S. has been asleep at the switch,” said Jim Puckett, the executive director of the Basel Action Network, which takes its name from the Basel Convention, an international agreement governing the handling and trade of hazardous waste, including discarded electronics. More than 165 countries have ratified the convention, but the United States has not.

Much of the debate over the handling of electronic refuse arises from the metals like lead and mercury that are used to make electronic devices. Most discarded equipment is either ported to landfills or sold into a murky global market, where it often ends up in vast and unregulated harvesting and smelting operations in poor corners of Africa and Asia. In either case, the disposal poses significant environmental and health risks.

Some 53 million tons of electronic waste was generated worldwide in 2009, according to ABI Research, a technology market research firm. Only about 13 percent of it was recycled. Global revenues for e-waste recovery were roughly $5.7 billion last year, according to ABI, and are expected to grow to $14.6 billion by 2014.

The Basel network has long administered a program in which participating recyclers promised to abide by a set of rules for responsibly handling electronic waste.

Beginning Thursday, the group’s certification, called e-Stewards, will be based on standards set out by the International Organization for Standardization, and compliance will be independently audited.

Recyclers will pay a fee to the auditor and a licensing fee to BAN — roughly $15,000 for a midsize company, Mr. Puckett said — which will earn them the right to use the e-Steward logo.

Electronic waste generators, including corporate buyers of technology and gadget makers, would earn an e-Steward Enterprise designation in return for a smaller licensing fee and a commitment, subject to continuing monitoring by BAN, to make a “best effort” to use e-Steward certified recyclers.

FDA orders phase-out of ozone-depleting inhalers

The Food and Drug Administration announced the phase-out yesterday of seven inhalers that use ozone-depleting chemicals.

At issue are chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, used as propellants to move the medicine from inhalers.

Four inhalers referenced by FDA are no longer manufactured. Companies that made them –Tilade Inhaler by King Pharmaceuticals, Alupent Inhalation Aerosol by Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Azmacort Inhalation Aerosol by Abbott Laboratories and Intal Inhaler by King Pharmaceuticals — say they won’t be sold after this year.

Three other inhalers will be phased out over the next three years, according to their manufacturers — Aerobid Inhaler System by Forest Laboratories, Combivent Inhalation Aerosol by Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals and Maxair Autohaler by Graceway Pharmaceuticals.

“During this transition, FDA wants to ensure that patients have access to safe and effective alternative medications to treat their asthma or COPD [chronic obstructive pulmonary disease],” Badrul Chowdhury, director of FDA’s Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Rheumatology Products, said in a statement.

CFCs are known to damage the Earth’s stratospheric ozone layer, and FDA has been working for years on the phase-out. The United States banned CFC production in 1996 except for certain limited uses, including metered-dose inhalers.

FDA struggled with eliminating the asthma inhalers and delayed a plan in 1998 to gradually replace CFC-inhalers with CFC-free alternatives given a lack of alternatives that were fully developed, widely available and affordable.

In 2007, the agency proposed to phase out the seven remaining products and made its final announcement after reviewing more than 4,000 public comments, according to the agency’s Web site.

Norman Edelman, chief medical officer for the American Lung Association, pointed to the Montreal Protocol — the international treaty for eliminating ozone-depleting chemicals — as the impetus behind FDA’s announcement. The treaty, ratified by the United States in 1987, established target phase-out dates for the manufacture and consumption of most ozone-depleting substances.

“This is the final step,” Edelman said, “in something that’s been ongoing for a long time.”

House panel approves $48B research bill

A House Science and Technology subcommittee yesterday approved a $48 billion bill to fund research and development programs at the National Science Foundation that include big boosts in funding for innovative technology research and manufacturing research.

The committee print — part of the reauthorization language for a broad 2007 research and education bill — was approved in the Research and Science Education Subcommittee by voice vote.

In addition to authorizing $47.5 billion in NSF spending over the next five years, the measure approved yesterday includes language that would direct NSF to use at least 5 percent of its research budget to fund basic, high-risk, high-reward research proposals that have the potential to radically change understanding of existing scientific or engineering concepts or could lead to the creation of a new field of science or engineering.

The language would also establish a program to award grants to university researchers studying transformative advances in manufacturing technologies, processes and enterprises that will support U.S. manufacturing.

Lawmakers yesterday largely agreed that the language would boost and strengthen activities at NSF, although Republicans expressed some misgivings about the price tag and some Democratic amendments.

“Many of my colleagues are concerned that the authorized levels of funding for the NSF may be excessively high in light of our current economic situation,” said subcommittee ranking member Vernon Ehlers (R-Mich.).

Republicans were especially concerned by an amendment offered by subcommittee Chairman Daniel Lipinski (D-Ill.) that would authorize a new pilot program to award cash prizes in an effort to stimulate innovative research. “The prizes would highlight important problems no one knows how to solve and would benefit a broader range of researchers than traditional grants,” Lipinski said, stressing that the program was not meant to replace grants but to supplement them.

Despite GOP misgivings, the measure was ultimately approved by voice vote.

“I think prizes are an excellent idea, and they have a place and can be used effectively in certain areas, but I have some concerns about NSF being a part of the process,” Ehlers said. “There is no evidence that NSF is equipped to implement them in an effective manner.”

The subcommittee also approved several other additions, including a manager’s amendment offered that makes minor technical changes and several other Democrat-offered amendments dealing with math and science education.

Legislators voted down three amendments offered by Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-Texas) that would shorten the overall authorization period from five years to three years, reduce authorized funding levels for certain programs and broaden language for the manufacturing research program.

Yesterday’s markup was the second of three subcommittee markups the House Science Committee is holding on reauthorization of the 2007 America COMPETES legislation. The Energy and Environment Subcommittee marked up the first portion of the reauthorization bill, dealing with the energy program, last month (E&ENews PM). That language would reauthorize the Energy Department’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, or ARPA-E, through 2020 and authorize $3.4 billion through 2015.

The Technology and Innovation Subcommittee meets next week to mark up the final part of the larger bill. That markup will focus on programs at the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Science Chairman Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.) said the full committee will mark up the bill by early May, and it will move to the House floor by Memorial Day.

China shift to low-carbon model vital for future: U.N

China should step up its drive to a low-carbon growth model to maintain economic development and preserve achievements that have made it the world’s third largest economy, a United Nations report says.

The report by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) released on Thursday says China’s current growth model will be hard to sustain as the nation becomes more urbanized and the economy keeps expanding, consuming ever more amounts of energy.

China is already the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases from power plants, industry and transport blamed for heating up the planet and is under international pressure to curb the growth of its emissions. Coal is, and will remain, a major source of energy.

The country is also the world’s most populous with 1.3 billion people and the number is expected to keep growing in coming decades. Hundreds of millions expect to migrate to the cities, threatening a massive spike in carbon emissions.

“The shift to a low-carbon development pathway is imperative as China balances further economic development with environmental sustainability and the need to respond to the threat of climate change,” Khalid Malik, UNDP Resident Representative in China, said in a statement.

The report, “China and a sustainable future, toward a low carbon economy and society” and written in partnership with Renmin University of China, links economic growth, carbon emissions and human development in China.

Enviro group hopes to unseat Rep. Michele Bachmann

The League of Conservation Voters announced Wednesday that it will work to defeat Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) this year.

The group named Bachmann to its “Dirty Dozen” list of targets for the 2010 cycle, but with a twist – LCV said she won 60 percent in an online vote LCV hosted to select a “people’s choice” addition to the list.

“Representative Bachmann’s landslide win as the ‘People’s Choice’ clearly shows voters are fed up with her over-the-top, anti-science rhetoric in which she continually parrots the talking points of Big Oil and other corporate polluters,” said Tony Massaro, LCV’s senior vice president for political affairs, in a statement.

The group criticized Bachmann for voting against climate and energy legislation the House approved last year. LCV also cited several Bachmann statements on environmental issues, such as her pronouncement that global warming is “voodoo, nonsense, hokum, a hoax.”

Volt meeting goal of 40-mile electric range, GM says

The first Chevrolet Volt cars to roll off production lines at a General Motors Co. plant in Michigan are going 40 miles on a single battery charge as promised, the plug-in hybrid electric vehicle’s head engineer said yesterday.

“I’m very confident that the batteries are delivering the energy that they need to deliver and that the vehicle’s efficiencies are where it should be,” chief engineer Andrew Farah told the Detroit Free Press. “We’re still doing a few last-minute tweaks and tunes on the aerodynamics but, again, that’s just to stabilize some things.”

Pre-production of the Volt began about two weeks ago. The car is scheduled for launch in November.

Unlike the all-electric Nissan Leaf, also slated for launch late this year, the Volt is equipped with a gasoline engine to keep the car running once it uses up its electric charge. Total electric range varies depending on terrain and weather, but the car is meeting expectations, Farah said.

“This weekend alone, I had at least two cycles that were over 40 miles,” Farah said. “I think I drove one at 41.5 and another 42.5″ miles.

Green LEDs for Efficient Lighting

A new approach to fabricating light-emitting diodes (LEDs) could be used to increase their efficiency by 20 percent while yielding higher-quality light than conventional LEDs. Researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, CO, have demonstrated the approach by making a yellow-green LED that could soon be combined with other colored LEDs to yield white light. The new LED could help replace current, inefficient methods of generating white light.

LEDs, devices that emit photons when an electrical charge is applied to them, are more efficient and last longer than incandescent lightbulbs. By varying the composition of the semiconductor LEDs, materials scientists can coax the devices into emitting different colors. At the minimum, producing white light requires combining red, blue, and green, but so far, only red- and blue-light-emitting diodes are well developed. To produce green light, LED manufacturers typically apply one or more phosphor materials to blue LEDs. The phospors convert high energy blue spectrum light into lower-energy light through a process that reduces overall luminosity by approximately 20 percent.

To eliminate this loss of efficiency, researchers have tried to develop efficient green LEDs that don’t require phosphors. But a major stumbling block is that the different known semiconductor materials that can be combined to emit green light, typically indium and gallium nitride, have different-sized crystal lattice structures. For semiconductors to work efficiently, each layer of the device has to have a similarly sized lattice structure as the layer above or below it.

To get around the lattice-size mismatch, NREL researchers used a fabrication method that they had previously developed for building highly efficient multi-junction solar cells. Their method relies on using additional layers of other semiconducting materials with intermediate-sized lattice structures that bridge the gap between the disparate-sized semiconductors. “If you try to do it in one shot, the whole thing will be defective,” says Angelo Mascarenhas, team leader for solid state spectroscopy in the Center for Basic Sciences at NREL. “You have to grow a sequence of layers in a step-wise fashion.”

Big Coal’s “Stealth Mode” Campaign to Kill the Climate Bill

The coal industry includes companies that profess to support climate legislation but are in fact operating behind the scenes in “stealth mode” to deny climate science and thwart needed action on climate change.

Consider two of the coal companies that keep their heads down and yet still do a lot of damage: Peabody Energy Company, the world’s largest private-sector coal producer, and Arch Coal, the second largest U.S. coal producer.

Peabody claims to support climate legislation, but it has been identified as a key figure in opposition to climate legislation.

Climate change could raise cost of U.S. allergies

Climate change could push the cost of U.S. allergies and asthma beyond the current $32 billion annual price tag, conservation and health groups reported on Wednesday.

A warming planet makes for longer growing seasons that would produce more allergy-provoking pollen in much of the heavily populated eastern two-thirds of the United States, the National Wildlife Federation and the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America said in their report.

The cost of coping with allergies and allergen-driven asthma in the United States is at $32 billion in direct medical costs, lost work days and lower productivity, the report said.

“Climate change could allow highly allergenic trees like oaks and hickories to start replacing pines, spruces and firs that generally don’t cause allergies, exposing many more people to springtime allergy triggers,” said Amanda Staudt, a climate scientist at the wildlife federation.

Obama Seeks Local Action for Earth Day

President Obama today urged Americans to honor the upcoming 40th anniversary of Earth Day by acting to improve the environment around them and launched a Web site,  Whitehouse.gov/EarthDay, compiling citizens’ success stories.

In the video message above, Mr. Obama describes how the first Earth Day was prompted in part by vivid incidents like a fire on the pollution-stained Cuyahoga River in Cleveland. He listed that era’s suite of environmental laws, most of which were enacted under a Republican president in a time of environmental bipartisanship that long ago vanished from Capitol Hill.

Clearly with today’s Washington paralysis in mind, Mr. Obama notes that people shouldn’t count on elected officials to solve all environmental problems and “should take steps in their own homes and their own communities.” That’s always a fine message. Little acts are valuable, even in the face of planet-scale problems.

South Could Benefit From a Little Efficiency

That the American South is both a voracious consumer of energy and a laggard on implementing efficiency measures has long been a matter of some concern for policymakers and energy analysts.

A 2007 report by Forbes magazine, for example, ranked states according to a composite score in six categories: carbon footprint, air quality, water quality, hazardous waste management, policy initiatives and energy consumption.

Top honors went to states like Vermont, Oregon, Washington, Hawaii, Maryland, Connecticut and New Jersey. The first Southern state east of Texas listed was Florida — at number 20. And as noted at the time by Robert Hawley — then a renewable energy researcher at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory — Tennessee, Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama and West Virginia made up seven of the bottom eight on the list. (The were joined by Indiana.)

None of that would be a surprise to the authors of a study released Monday by researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Duke University. Among the chief conclusions: introducing aggressive efficiency measures to industrial processes as well as to the residential and commercial building sectors (transportation was not considered) could well offset the expected growth in energy demand in the South over the next 20 years.

Solar-Powered Desalination

Saudi Arabia meets much of its drinking water needs by removing salt and other minerals from seawater. Now the country plans to use one of its most abundant resources to counter its fresh-water shortage: sunshine. Saudi Arabia’s national research agency, King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), is building what will be the world’s largest solar-powered desalination plant in the city of Al-Khafji.

The plant will use a new kind of concentrated solar photovoltaic (PV) technology and new water-filtration technology, which KACST developed with IBM. When completed at the end of 2012, the plant will produce 30,000 cubic meters of desalinated water per day to meet the needs of 100,000 people.

Photo caption:  “Heat transfer: IBM’s concentrated photovoltaic system can focus 2,300 times the power of the sun onto a one-square-centimeter solar cell without causing heat damage, thanks to an indium-gallium liquid-metal alloy that conducts heat away from the cell.”   Credit: IBM

KACST’s main goal is to reduce the cost of desalinating water. Half of the operating cost of a desalination plant currently comes from energy use, and most current plants run on fossil fuels. Depending on the price of fuel, producing a cubic meter now takes between 40 and 90 cents.

Reducing cost isn’t the only reason that people have dreamed of coupling renewable energy with desalination for decades, says Lisa Henthorne, a director at the International Desalination Association. “Anything we can do to lower this cost over time or reduce the greenhouse gas emissions associated with that power is a good thing,” Henthorne says. “This is truly a demonstration in order to work out the bugs, to see if the technologies can work well together.”

While the new concentrated PV technology might generate affordable electricity, solar power still costs more than fossil fuels in many parts of the world. But even with those high costs, using it to power desalination makes sense, Henthorne says. “You’re not doing it because it’s the cheaper thing to do right now, but it would be the cheapest thing down the road.”

Black Silicon Makes Solar Cells Cheaper

A simple chemical treatment could replace expensive antireflective solar cell coatings, bringing down the cost of crystalline silicon panels. The treatment, a one-step dip in a chemical bath, creates a highly antireflective layer of black silicon on the surface of silicon wafers, and it would cost just pennies per watt, say researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). They’ve used it to create black silicon solar cells that match the efficiency of conventional silicon cells on the market.

The crystalline silicon wafers used to make today’s solar cells are treated to create a textured surface, then coated with an antireflective layer, usually silicon nitride, using high-vacuum processes. This additional layer increases the value of a solar cell by improving its efficiency–it suppress reflection so that more photons actually enter the silicon wafer instead of bouncing off its surface, increasing the flow of electricity off the cell. But the extra layer also adds to the expense. “We believe it can be cheaper,” says Howard Branz, principal scientist in silicon materials and devices at NREL. Even with a coating, the best-quality silicon solar cells typically reflect 3 percent of the light that hits them. Branz’s lab is developing inexpensive ways to create black silicon, which reflects almost no light.

Prototype solar cells made at NREL have the best efficiency ever reported for black silicon cells. Monocrystalline silicon cells with the black surface, and no additional antireflective coating, convert 16.8 percent of the light that hits them into electricity, about the same efficiency offered by a typical crystalline silicon solar cell coated with antireflective material. The previous record for black silicon cells was 13.9 percent.

To replace the vacuum-deposition processes used to treat the surface of a silicon wafer, Branz’s lab developed a chemical process that can be performed at ambient temperature and pressure using equipment already on site at solar-panel factories. A wafer is submerged in a bath containing a water solution of hydrogen peroxide, hydrofluoric acid, and chloroauric acid, which is made up of hydrogen, chlorine, and gold. The small amount of gold in the acid bath acts as a catalyst for chemical reactions. It’s not clear exactly what the chemical reactions are, but they lead to the formation of gold nanoparticles that drill nanoholes at varying depths into the wafer. Branz says the gold can be reused again and again.

GE to Boost Research in China

GE is starting to let its research and development organizations in China take the lead on research projects, rather than just playing a supporting role to its global research headquarters in New York, says Xiangli Chen, the general manager of GE’s China Technology Center.

The 10-year-old center in Shanghai is one of GE’s four global research centers and home to 1,300 researchers and engineers. An additional 700 researchers develop health-care-related projects in the country at two other locations. In the past, GE has focused on creating products in and for rich countries such as the United States, and these products were sometimes adapted for poorer countries. Now it’s developing products in research facilities in China and selling them in China before finding new applications for these products in its more traditional markets. GE says this is essential for competing in China, where many companies are able to offer low-priced goods and create new products for emerging markets such as China and India, as well as richer countries.

The increased competition for GE from local companies in China is due in part to a massive push by the Chinese government to promote clean energy and R&D. In recent years, it has rolled out a range of renewable energy targets and financial incentives, including significant tax breaks for companies that invest in research related to energy.

A Novel Way to Thin-Film Solar Cells?

A Silicon Valley company said on Wednesday that it had raised $10 million to bring to market a novel way of making thin-film solar cells.

Applied Quantum Technology is one of a score of start-ups trying to develop low-cost solar cells made from copper indium gallium (di)selenide, a compound that can be printed or deposited on glass or flexible materials.

That has proved a tough challenge and start-ups like MiaSolé, Nanosolar and Solyndra have raised hundreds of millions of dollars to perfect the technology by building propriety solar cell-making machines.

But Michael Bartholomeusz, Applied Quantum Technology’s chief executive, claims that by using off-the-shelf machinery from the computer hard drive industry, his company has been able to dramatically cut its capital costs.

“Companies have become equipment manufacturers first and product manufacturers second,” said Mr. Bartholomeusz. “Building a manufacturing platform around a nascent process, then trying to marry a nascent process with an unproven manufacturing process is a daunting task.”

“This is an extremely capital inefficient and a long process,” he added. “We come from the hard disk drive and optical storage industry, which are the ultimate commodity industries today.”

Hard drives are manufactured using a process called sputtering that deposits materials in layers on a disk. Mr. Bartholomeusz said his company had developed a process that used “dry sputtering” to make an entire solar cell.

Midwest turns to wind turbines

The wind-energy industry last year installed 5,700 new turbines with more than 10,000 megawatts of generating capacity — enough to serve more than 2.4 million homes — said the American Wind Energy Association.

Texas leads the nation with more than 9,000 megawatts of wind generation capacity, including 2,292 megawatts added last year. But Iowa is the leader in relying on wind-generated electricity. Last year, 14.2 percent of the state’s electrical power came from wind — compared to 1.8 percent nationwide.

Indiana added 905 megawatts of capacity in 2009, second only to Texas. Measured by total installed capacity, the top states are Texas, Iowa, California, Washington and Oregon.

The data from AWEA reveals another year of continued growth for wind power. But industry leaders said they are constrained by the nation’s aging electrical transmission system and that sustained growth depends on the continuation of expiring federal tax credits as well as a new national requirement that power companies must get a portion of their electricity from renewable sources.

“What we have to do is get these policies in place that really provide that long-term commitment, so we can have that exponential growth,” said Denise Bode, AWEA’s CEO.

Renewable electricity standards mandate the use of wind, solar and other easily replenished power sources in 39 countries and 29 states, including Texas and California. There is no similar nationwide mandate, though proposals for a federal requirement are pending in Congress.

A national renewable electricity requirement could steer utilities away from some lower-cost energy sources and encourage investment in wind and solar power.

Although an increasing number of states are adding wind power to their energy portfolios, turbines remain concentrated in the Great Plains and along the Pacific Coast. The industry has not secured a foothold in the Southeast, where less gusty conditions make the power source less attractive.

The nation’s six largest wind farms are in Texas, with the biggest — the Roscoe Wind Farm near Abilene — boasting 782 megawatts of generating capacity.

Bode stressed that wind power projects are spurring domestic manufacturing and said the industry supported 85,000 U.S. jobs in 2009. “We’re really one of the only bright spots out there in terms of growing the U.S. manufacturing sector,” he said.

Arizona to world: Do we have solar!

Barry Broome slipped into San Francisco on a mission: Lure California-based solar companies to Arizona.

“I think there’s a lot of compelling technology in Silicon Valley that’s going to be able to be put to work in Arizona,” the chief executive of the Greater Phoenix Economic Council said recently in a downtown office tower lobby across from the U.S. headquarters of Yingli Solar, a Chinese solar module maker.

For decades, border states have raided California, enticing companies to pull up stakes by offering tax breaks, low-cost workforces, affordable housing and business-friendly bureaucrats.

But Broome says he was in California to deliver a different message: Arizona comes in peace. Yes, the state wants a share of California’s burgeoning solar industry, but it also wants to develop a cross-border solar industry that will benefit both states.

“We’re not interested in succeeding at the expense of California,” he said. “California’s going to need Arizona as an energy market and we need an export industry. We can’t continue to just live off housing and tourism.”

Arizona’s construction-dependent economy cratered with the collapse of the housing boom. The solar industry could anchor a more sustainable green economy, Broome said.

“When those solar power-plant projects are built, the amount of materials in them is staggering and there will need to be a place for component manufacturing,” he said. “A billion-dollar concentrated solar power project creates about a thousand construction jobs. So if you put $5 billion to $10 billion in the ground, it’s a nice set of jobs in a state that has a big slump in construction.”

Arizona and California increasingly find their renewable energy fortunes tied to each other.

Arizona-based companies First Solar and Stirling Energy Systems are building giant solar farms in California to supply electricity to Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas & Electric Co.

EU Pledges Climate Funding in Bid to Revive Confidence in UN

The European Union is prepared to pay 2.4 billion euros ($3.2 billion) a year through 2012 to help developing nations adapt to climate change as the 27-nation bloc bids to reinvigorate talks on cutting greenhouse-gas emissions.

“We need to restore confidence in the UN process and between the parties,” Alicia Montalvo said today in Bonn at a United Nations meeting in which the EU representative reiterated that billions in funding announced at the Copenhagen climate summit would be available starting this year. “We must all honor our commitments. We are prepared to do our part.”

Developed nations agreed to provide $30 billion to poorer nations over that period in the Copenhagen Accord for climate- change adaptation and mitigation efforts. Delegates from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Grenada criticized the way the Copenhagen summit was conducted, saying nations brokered deals outside of the main talks.

The Copenhagen summit was marred by “the emergence of a secret text put together by a select few,” Congolese delegate Tosi Mpanu Mpanu said. “These mistakes fundamentally broke the trust that is necessary for any partnership that is successful and enduring to work.”

Officials representing the 194 parties to the UN’s climate convention met today in Bonn to search for ways to advance climate negotiations after leaders failed to seal a binding agreement in Copenhagen.

Obama demands report on mining accident, sets meeting with safety officials

President Obama is requiring an initial report from federal mine safety officials next week on the explosion at a West Virginia coal mine Monday that killed at least 25 workers, the White House announced Thursday.

The explosion at Massey Energy Co.’s Upper Big Branch mine – a mine that federal regulators have cited for numerous safety violations – is the nation’s worst mining accident in over two decades.

Obama has tasked the officials with producing an initial assessment on the causes of the accident and “what actions could prevent further tragedies in this industry,” the White House said.

Obama will meet with Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis and Mine Safety and Health Administrator Joe Main.

“He expects them to report on their early assessment of the deadly explosion’s cause, the safety record at the Upper Branch mine, and the steps that the Federal government should take to improve safety enforcement and prevent future tragedies,” the White House said. “The Secretary and MSHA Administrator will address safety issues as well as enforcement and legal authorities in their briefing.”