Renewable Energy Markets 2011

Three weeks ago I attended the Renewable Energy Markets Conference in San Francisco.  It was a summit of renewable energy producers, brokers, purchasers and other interested stakeholders in the renewable energy marketplace.  I went there to find out what's out there in the renewable energy market these days.

The first thing that struck me is the ambitious goal of San Francisco to become a 100% renewable city, through the CleanPowerSF program. Other metro areas, like Austin and Portland, tout 100% renewably run government buildings but no large city has yet to get close to a total renewable goal.  Some of the avenues to reach this goal are Community Choice aggregation (CCA), near-shore oceanic generation, and distributed generation.  

Phase I of the CleanPowerSF , the CCA program in SF,  will begin in the spring/summer 2012.  This program offers local communities the option to buy their electricity directly from a power provider and ensure that the power is from a renewable source.  PG&E will still provide the transmission, power line maintenance and the billing but the energy used by the participating customers will be purchased directly from renewable energy producers, at little more than $4/month extra.  This is a movement that has taken off in other communities such as Marin and in other states like Illinois.

Another interesting idea that was highlighted is the potential benefit of electric vehicles (EV's) to help with the off peak energy load.  This is something that is inherent with EV already, but I'll explain.  In brief, energy production fluctuates during the day to meet demand, in the evening when industrial/commercial applications are low, energy is cheaper and due to an excess of energy generation without demand, energy is sometimes wasted.  Since, most people use there cars during the day and charge them at night there is a great potential for the "lost" energy to be captured at the fleet level. There are potential fleet level designs to turn municipal or industrial fleets into a "battery bank" to store wasted energy and create renewable energy credits (REC's), a win-win situation.

Another interesting thing I discovered was from a conversation with a few people regarding tidal power generation.  There was a feasibility study done in 2009 that looked at few different techniques of harvesting energy from the oceans and some promising findings came from it.  The findings indicate that under ideal wave conditions power can be produced at a cost that is close to solar production before subsidies and government rebates.  There have been pilot programs throughout the world and there is talk of an ocean power generation system for San Francisco in the not to distant future.

Many other panels talked about the dynamic approach to REC's and the renewable's market.  There were some great case studies of REC marketing, solar production and ways for businesses to enter the renewable energy market.  I am happy to report that even during the down economy over the last few years the voluntary renewable energy market has expanded and the future still looks bright for more expansion.  I recommend attending this conference next year, to anyone interested in keeping up to date or becoming a part of the renewable energy marketplace.

Steve's inspiration

Steve Jobs was a revolutionary.  He saw the potential for condensing and clarifying technology, while keeping it useful and affordable for the masses.  He was the poster child for the "What does this expensive piece of paper get me" college ideal.  With drive and focus in the face of adversity, he was incredibly successful.

I write this because I was inspired this morning listening to his 2005 commencement speech at Stanford.  He tells the story of his life and the motivation and perseverance that kept him going.  A rough paraphrasing of his inspirational point, " ...I lived everyday like it was going to be my last.  I would wake up every morning and ask myself. If today was my last day, would I be happy with what I was about to do today and if I said no too many times in a row then I knew something had to change."

I find this especially pertinent now, considering the state of the economy and that I am again back on the job hunt.  So, I will adopt this new way of addressing life when I wake up and assess what I am doing that day.  Hopefully this ideal will inspire me to make positive changes to reach positive ends.  I think all of us could use this ideal to invoke change in our daily lives.

With this being said, my first change is to revisit this blog and update frequently.  Feel free to give me ideas, feedback, and your perspective on energy/environmental/social issues.

Thanks

Hydrogen, the other white meat

Can a single electron spinning around a lonely proton be the answer for our energy independence?  This question has been bouncing around for many years.  Fuel cell cars, hydrogen gas vehicles and industrial applications make up the majority of the global hydrogen energy use.  I got the inspiration to delve into this topic from watching Oliver Stone's new Wall Street movie.  In the movie, the main character is an investment banker who is pushing funding for a"new" hydrogen energy plant.  So, I figured that I would look into the current state of hydrogen energy today.

The hydrogen atom is the most basic element in the universe.  It is the vehicle for many chemical reactions between substances, it is the power source for the sun, and is the most abundant elemental form in the universe.  Hydrogen as a power source is used in two applications.  Hydrogen gas (H2) is created and then used in a combustions engine or is used in fuel cell fusion. But is it the "silver bullet" for energy sustainability in the future?  There are many factors that come into play with the production and storage of hydrogen as a power source that may prevent it from being the perfect solution.

The majority of hydrogen gas is produced in two ways: natural gas reformation and water electrolysis.

Steam reformation takes a fossil fuel, primarily natural gas, and creates H2 and CO2.  This process is fairly easy but CO2 is a byproduct of the process which has environmental implications and by relying on fossil fuels it does not offer a sustainable avenue for the future.

Electrolysis a slightly better option. It is a process that uses electricity to "split" water into H2 and O2.  It is three times more expensive than steam reformation, on average, but the source and the byproducts can be as environmentally neutral as it comes, as long as the water source is not being negatively effected by production.  The largest downside for this method is that the source  of the electricity may be tied to fossil fuel use.  Some groups have developed solar or wind driven electrolysis which would be the least harmful way of producing H2 but there are economic barriers to mass production.

A third method using algae has been developed but is the development stage.

Hydrogen gas is not very dense.  Therefore it is difficult to contain and transport.  Today's technologies store H2 in two ways.  As a compressed gas and imbedded in metal hydrides (fancy battery type things).

Compressed gas tanks are the most typical H2 gas storage.  The limitations of tank size in automotive use means refueling  often and without an H2 infrastructure this type of storage limits uses to large fleet vehicles, buses ect.  Also, H2s is very flammable and when used on passenger vehicles safety design is critical, or boom goes the dynamite...

The metal hydride storage is a safe way to store H2.  The gas is trapped between layers of metal and would not be subject to explosion on impact.  This technology is limited by the sheer weight of the storage, the H2 "battery" is very heavy.  For automotive applications the addition of weight drastically reduces performance and efficiency.  Again, for shipping and mass transportation this technology is feasibly for application.  The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is developing carbon nanotube storage that is very similar to the metal storage at a fraction of the weight.

So a car using the NREL's carbon nanotube storage, fueled from a local solar electrolysis factory would be an ideal use hydrogen technology in automobiles.  There are many things to consider when developing an action plan for our energy future.  Hopefully H2 storage becomes more reasonable and production more cost effective, then the full potential of this clean energy can be harnessed.

D.I.E.T- Decreasing Individual Energy Thirst


This weeks installment is for adults or at least those people who can afford to buy appliances.  Thanks to government funding and research our good old friends at the D.O.E (department of energy) created the well known EnergyStar rating for appliances.  It is a simple stamp of approval showing that the attached product meets energy efficiency standards applicable for that line of devices.  So look for them when you're shopping for the fridge or washing machine.

There are also incentives for upgrading your appliances to EnergyStar qualified products.  Check out this link to find rebates in your area!  Save money when you buy, save money when you use, and help reduce your energy thirst!!

Distilling Plastics

Happy New Year!!! Although it is slightly late into the year for such types of well wishing it is indeed my first post of the new year. So happy 2011!  Hopefully your resolutions are in full effect, you've changed out your light bulbs and you are mindful of your own waste stream.  Waste stream?? No it is not your peepee silly, it is defined as: a waste production cycle for a given population.  The concept that the stuff you use or create becomes waste and moves along to the dump.  Typical Americans have a very large waste stream and those 3 R's (reduce, reuse, and recycle-in that order please!) are a great way to alter your waste stream.

I received an email the other day from a friend, Jimmy K, that showed a pretty ingenious little machine that takes your household plastics and converts it to a crude but usable oil. Click Here It is an inspirational video that shows how a tabletop version of this device can be set up in a school room and with the input of PP, PE,  and PS plastics (polypropylene, polyethylene, and polystyrene respectively) it spits out a flammable oil that is said to be able to power generators, cars, ect.  This is an interesting way to reuse those grocery bags, bottles, ect. that are a terrible part of your waste stream.

At first glance it's great, a way to reduce the volume of household plastic wastes that end up buried for eons in landfills and put them to use.  It seems fairly easy to use and reportedly does not subject the operator to noxious fumes, via a vapor collection system.  The oil is crude but, as the videos points out,  it could be used to power a boiler or it can be refined for high performance engines.  But the price tag is high.

For a table top machine (1kg plastic conversion) it costs roughly 12k as of 2009.  This is cost prohibitive for personal home use. An industrial size machine (5-50kg oil/day) ranges between 100k-700k depending on the conversion rate.  Then to refine these oils you can also purchase a processing machine for roughly a quarter of what you paid for the converter.  If you factor in the financial offset of oil produced at optimal efficiency, then you could recover a fair amount at the commercial level of recycling, plus the great environmental value of reducing the landfill volume.

The Blest Co. plastic distilling rig is one of those simple ideas that has the potential for great environmental change and I hope that the cost is driven down so that it is available for more widespread use.

While this machine is great at reusing it is always better to reduce your use, so carry that box of cereal out of the store with your own two hands or just throw that head of lettuce in the cart without a bag, your going to wash it anyway.

Which brings me to your, eh, weekly, maybe monthly:

D.I.E.T.- Decreasing Individual Energy Thirst

This installment will focus on the small amount of energy that is used by all your appliances that are plugged in but not in use.  This is also known as " Phantom Load".  With the increase in personal electronics this phantom load has increased over time.  Some estimates place it at 7% of the total annual energy consumption in the US or 280 million MWh.  That's enough energy to power Los Angeles county with some MWh to spare.

This phantom load is the energy that is pulsing through your dvd player, computer, cable box, ect.  It is the energy that keeps the light on your "sleeping" computer on.  So its a simple fix right?

Just unplug your appliances when you're not using them.  You don't need to keep your computer on during the day when you're at work, just shut it down and unplug it.  Same goes with your other personal electronics.  A simple way to make this easier is to plug in to a power strip then you can just flip the power strip off.  There are also a few fancy power strips and home monitoring systems that do the turning off for your but these devices are pricey.

A typical single family residence can save up to $100 per year!  So manage your phantom load and do your part for the environment!