Our Green Streets Blog

FROM RENEWABLE ENERGY WORLD (12/7/11)

“The solar industry got a turbo-boost of both name recognition and mainstream credibility on Wednesday as a subsidiary of billionaire Warren Buffett’s investment company MidAmerican Energy Holdings announced plans to purchase the Topaz Solar power development from thin-film PV module maker First Solar. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“The 550-megawatt Topaz project in San Luis Obispo County, Calif., is among the world’s biggest solar farms under development, and many times larger than any project currently in operation. The First Solar project was not able to close its conditional loan guarantee with the Department of Energy prior to the Sept. 30 deadline, but it has gone ahead anyway. Construction on the project began in November and is expected to run through 2015. According to First Solar, it will create about 400 construction jobs.

The $2 billion project will include First Solar’s thin-film panels, and the company will build, operate and maintain the project for MidAmerican. Pacific Gas and Electric will buy the electricity under a 25-year power purchase agreement.

“Based in Iowa, MidAmerican, a subsidiary of Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, is already a big player in wind energy. Some analysts are saying that the company’s move into solar power could be linked to the expiring Production Tax Credit for wind power, which is set to go away at the end of 2012. The solar industry, which is hoping for an extension of the Treasury Department grant that expires at the end of this year, still has an Investment Tax Credit that runs through 2016. That could make solar a safer bet.

“Regardless of the reason, MidAmerican clearly sees the Topaz project as a financial opportunity even without federal backing. SolarCity recently took a similar route when it announced that Bank of America Merrill Lynch was helping it move ahead with its $1 billion Solar Strong project, which also failed to close on a loan guarantee from the DOE.

“The project “demonstrates that solar energy is a commercially viable technology without the support of governmental loan guarantees and reflects the type of solar and other renewable generation that MidAmerican will continue to seek to add to its unregulated portfolio,” said Greg Abel, chairman, president and CEO of MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company in a press release.”

This is good news for renewable energy growth and its positive impacts on climate change!

Source: Solar Millennium

With the price of solar panels dropping significantly over the last five years, Germany’s Solar Millennium AG reports it will convert the first 500 megawatts of its 1,000 MW Blythe solar power plant in the Mojave desert from concentrated solar power/solar thermal system to PV.

It will decide what technology to use for the second half of the project at a later date. The company has not named who the PV panel supplier will be for the project.

“Solar Millennium responds quickly and pragmatically to market conditions, and at the moment the California market favors PV technology,” said Solar Millennium CEO Christophe Wolff said in a prepared statement.

This announcement represents the latest in a number of similar conversions this year by solar thermal power plant developers in California. This year at least four projects, producing some 1,850 MW of power generation, have changed most or all of their technology to PV.

PV systems turn sunlight into electricity, while concentrated solar power (CSP) uses heat to create steam that then powers a generator to create electricity.

Since California mandated that the state’s utilities must obtain 20 percent of their power from renewable sources, the price of PV panels have fallen by almost 50 percent. This has been followed by dramatic growth in solar and wind projects.

Solar Millennium officials in the United States said the switch to PV will allow its projects to become operational in smaller phases compared to the larger scale required by CSP technology.

Because of the switch to a more widespread PV technology, the company plans to finance the project in the commercial bank market rather than through loan guarantees from the U.S. Department of Energy. The loan guarantee program was developed to fund new technologies that have had trouble securing financing from traditional lenders.

Solar Millennium said it still sees strong demand for concentrated solar power, also referred to as solar thermal power, in markets such as Africa, the Middle East, India, China and Southern Europe.

Solar Trust of America, a joint venture between Solar Millennium and Ferrostaal AG, is developing the Blythe power plant.

Photo: Solar Millennium AG

Source: Clean Technica (http://s.tt/135J0)

The nation of China – once regarded primarily as the world’s leading coal user and polluter – is now supporting aggressive developments in the in the biomass industry for its energy portfolio in addition to solar and wind alternatives.

According to a report in Renewable Energy World, the Chinese central government has established policies boosting biomass energy development. These favorable policies may foster an era of accelerated growth for alternatives to fossil fuels.

Biomass energy has been increasingly favored by a number of energy firms for its clean, efficient, safe and sustainable features. Some multinational energy companies, including BP, American International Petroleum, BASF and DuPont, as well as the major Chinese players (CNPC, Sinopec and CNOOC) are expanding their presence into the biomass energy sector through direct investments.

On March 4, the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) entered into a cooperation framework agreement with the government of Shandong province to establish a fuel ethanol and biodiesel production facility. Following this agreement, Sinopec formed a cooperation agreement with China’s largest food processing manufacturer and trader, COFCO. Both companies will jointly build a fuel ethanol manufacturing facility that over the next five years will have an annual capacity of 100,000 tons.

China’s National Development and Reform Commission has reinforced agreements like these, issuing guidelines concerning structural changes within the industry that encourage the development and application of technologies for producing non-grain biomass fuels, including ethanol from cellulosic biomass and bio-diesel.

According to China’s five-year plan for renewable energy during the 2011-2015 period, the country plans to increase the annual usage of ethanol fuel to three million tons by 2015. As reported in April by Renewable Energy World, a renewable energy development strategy report from the Chinese Academy of Engineering states that biomass energy capacity in China is twice that of hydropower and 3.5 times that of wind power.

Tsinghai University’s chemical engineering professor Xing Xinhui said, “while China has built a number of biomass energy projects since the beginning of the last five-year period (spanning 2006-2010), the country still lags far behind other countries in terms of biomass energy investments and has not yet made any breakthrough in biomass energy technology. As a result, it behooves the central government to provide additional support for the industry by increasing its investment in research and development of biomass energy technologies, so as to speed up the development of the industry.”

China has substantial biomass resources, including and residues and leftover waste from the country’s agricultural and forestry. Biomass development is also an appealing economic proposition where non-grain plants can be grown on marginal land and converted to energy.

Presently, China produces 5 million tons of grain annually, generating some 700 million tons of straw that can be used as the main source of biomass energy. Additionally, organic materials like poultry manure, fallen leaves and industrial waste, can be added to the supply mix and converted to biomass energy. The country has announced it will build large biomass production plants in southwest and northwest regions.

This all looks promising as a means for China to move away from dependence on coal energy.

Source: Clean Technica

PHOTO: Inverter-China.com http://www.inverter-china.com/blog/articles/green-energy/biomass-power-in-china.html

Fracking trucks circle a natural gas well site

The drive to replace coal-burning electricity with natural gas continues to run into environmental speed bumps.

Research scientists writing for Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) report that while directional drilling and hydraulic-fracturing technologies are dramatically increasing natural-gas extraction, the aquifers overlying the Marcellus and Utica shale formations of northeastern Pennsylvania and upstate New York, show systematic evidence for methane contamination of drinking water associated with shale-gas extraction.

The PNAS report directly cites hydraulic fracturing as a contributor: “the process of hydraulic fracturing generates new fractures or enlarges existing ones above the target shale formation, increasing the connectivity of the fracture system. The reduced pressure following the fracturing activities could release methane in solution, leading to methane exsolving rapidly from solution, allowing methane gas to potentially migrate upward through the fracture system.”

Active gas-extraction areas having one or more gas wells within a 1-kilometer average not only imperil drinking-water wells, they are also potential explosion hazards, the report states.

The report continues: “These δ¹³C-CH₄ data, coupled with the ratios of methane-to-higher-chain hydrocarbons, and δ²H-CH₄ values, are consistent with deeper thermogenic methane sources such as the Marcellus and Utica shales at the active sites and matched gas geochemistry from gas wells nearby. In contrast, lower-concentration samples from shallow groundwater at nonactive sites had isotopic signatures reflecting a more biogenic or mixed biogenic/thermogenic methane source.

The researchers concluded “greater stewardship, data, and – possibly – regulation are needed to ensure the sustainable future of shale-gas extraction and to improve public confidence in its use.”

Beyond renewable energies, natural gas is one of the cleaner energy sources out there for those wishing to leave a green footprint. However, the techniques being used to obtain this gas are starting to make some worry.

During the last Congress, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce launched an investigation to examine the practice of hydraulic fracturing in the United States.  The committee asked the 14 leading oil and gas service companies to disclose the types and volumes of the hydraulic fracturing products they used in their fluids between 2005 and 2009 and the chemical contents of those products.

For those interested in knowing more, visit FracFocus – a chemical disclosure registry operated by the Groundwater Protection Council and the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission. The details are here for all lookers wanting to search for information about the chemicals used in the hydraulic fracturing of oil and gas wells.

This report was originally published in CleanTechnica.

Photo: from the J Henry Fair exhibit at the 2011 Earth Day Fair in Grand Central. Location of site in Dimock, Pennsylvania.

Source:

Biofuels developer, ZeaChem

Make another mark for alternative fuels and chemicals.

ZeaChem, a Colorado developer of biorefinery technologies that can convert renewable materials into sustainable fuels and chemicals, has signed an agreement with Procter & Gamble (P&G) for commercializing bio-based chemicals and other products.

The agreement was made public June 1. Under the multi-year agreement, the two companies will research, develop and commercialize ZeaChem’s  latest biorefinery technology, a process that uses renewable feedstocks like poplar trees and agricultural residues to produce high-yield, low carbon fuel emissions.

The deal fits well with P&G’s environmental sustainability vision. The company has indicated it intends to use 100 percent sustainably sourced renewable or recycled materials for all products and packaging.

“Novel innovations from our suppliers, such as ZeaChem’s unique process to create bio-based chemicals, are critical to us achieving this vision,” said Len Sauers, P&G vice president for global sustainability.

The two companies will utilize ZeaChem’s existing infrastructure at its lab in Menlo Park, Calif., pilot facility at Hazen Research in Golden, CO, and a demonstration-scale biorefinery in Boardman, OR.

ZeaChem has developed a cellulose-based biorefinery platform capable of producing advanced fuels and intermediate chemicals. ZeaChem’s indirect approach leapfrogs the yield and carbon dioxide (CO₂) problems associated with traditional and cellulosic-based biorefinery processes.

ZeaChem has begun fermentation work on this new product platform using the same processes and equipment that the company used to prove and scale up its C2 product platform. The company says the new platform will enable it to ultimately deploy its technology for the production of a variety of bio-based chemicals and fuels.

According to Biofuels Digest, the companies have not described the nature of the target molecules. However, ZeaChem has already stated it will initiate research and development of its three-carbon (C3) product platform.

“Nature has generally dictated that odd numbers like C3 provide more opportunities to make money,” ZeaChem CEO Jim Imbler said in the interview.

ZeaChem’s technology involves a parallel hybrid system of fermentation and gasification. ZeaChem reports this hybrid process can achieve a 40 percent higher yield than other cellulosic processes.

The main contenders for fuel substitutes are biomass fuels, derived from organic plant matter. Ethanol-based bio fuels are extracted from corn. Biodiesel is made up primarily of used vegetable oil and grease. Jatropha oil is also being used to make biofuels. Now added to the list is cellulosic biofuel – a new concept in biofuels because it is not plant specific and can be generated from both living and dead organic plant matter.

Read this short from gizmag on an car2go’s excellent car sharing program.

car2go in Vancouver Source: gizmag

Should you be asking about Google’s interest in renewable energy. the following Fast Company post by Ariel Schwartz is very much worth the read.

Rick Needham, Google Director of Green Business Operations and Strategy (center) Source: Fast Company

This kind of energy investment and leadership for renewable energy is important as we move forward in this century.

Wind power manufacturer Vestas has announced plans to complete the largest offshore wind turbine, the V164-7.0 MW. This colossal offshore turbine is being designed for the roughest North Sea conditions – notorious for violent winds.

In making this announcement, Vestas states; “Lowering the cost of energy in relation to offshore wind is essential for the industry. Some of the major stepping stones in achieving this are size and subsequent increased energy capture, which means a need for much bigger turbines that are specifically designed for the challenging offshore environment.”

The wind turbine rotor will measure 164 meters (538 feet), surpassing Spain’s current 420-foot rotor.

In the announcement, Vestas CEO Ditlev Engel said he is pleased to serve the market and show a commitment to the offshore wind industry by introducing the V164-7.0 MW. “Seeing the positive indications from governments worldwide, and especially from the UK, to increase the utilization of wind energy is indeed very promising.” He can be seen on this video discussing the development of this machine.

According to Anders Søe-Jensen, president of Vestas Offshore, the offshore wind market will expand over the coming years, especially in regions like the Northern part of Europe, where the conditions at sea are particularly rough.

The most outstanding feature of the new turbine is its size and resulting increased energy capture. The turbine will function with a medium-speed drive-train solution.

“We actually kept all options open from the start, running two separate parallel R&D development tracks: one focusing on direct drive and one on a geared solution. It soon became clear that if we wanted to meet the customers’ expectations about lowest possible cost of energy and high business case certainty we needed a perfect combination of innovation and proven technology and so the choice could only be to go for a medium-speed drive-train solution,” said Finn Strøm Madsen, President of Vestas Technology R&D.

Vestas, a pioneer of the industry, has installed 580 offshore turbines, or equaling 43 percent of the world’s offshore turbines.

Production of the 7 MW turbine is expected to begin in 2015.

Gary Mazzotta's Park Spark Project in Cambridge, MA uses dog waste to feed this anaerobic digester that produces methane to burn the gas lamp. Photo: Park Spark Project

Times change, thankfully. Instead of thinking first about how to get rid of waste, more people are now asking how they might put parts of the waste stream to use.

Some landfills now capture methane to power massive generators that feed electricity to the grid; a California company makes biodegradable plastic from organic waste without using petroleum. The list of companies and people involved in promising and innovative work continues to grow.

Dog poop is now on the list of viable new materials from that can be harvested and used from the waste stream. Last year in Cambridge, MA, conceptual artist Matthew Mazzotta launched the Park Spark Project, using dog feces to power lampposts in a park.

Mazzotta’s Park Spark Project was funded through MIT and created in partnership with the City of Cambridge. Methane, a common greenhouse gas, is created in a methane digester that converts freshly scooped poop into burnable fuel.

Dog owners collect dog droppings in biodegradable bags, then toss the mess into the digester –- a closed cylindrical container, where the dog feces are broken down by anaerobic bacteria. This process creates methane that is then released through a valve and burned to power an old-fashioned gas-burning lamppost in a park.

Mazzotta has said he hopes to install permanent underground digesters in parks, not only in Cambridge, but also throughout the country.

Read more of this >>

If you didn’t already know, most commercial buildings are unbridled energy hogs. The traditional glitzy, nighttime pan of a Manhattan skyline, or that of any other large city, comes with a large price tag.

It is estimated that commercial buildings consume almost 70 percent of the electricity consumed in the United States.

Buildings like the headquarters for US Airways feature and EPA Energy Star rating. Photo courtesy of Hines

Measuring and managing energy performance in existing building – a process known as benchmarking – is seen as a way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and potentially save building owners money on their energy expenditures.

For those unsure of what energy benchmarking is, it means measuring and auditing the energy use of a building and comparing it to other similar buildings to obtain an energy rating. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency offers a free online benchmarking tool called Energy Star Portfolio Manager (ESPM) that many owners currently use. ESPM scores range from 1 to 100, with a score of 50 being the average. A score of 75 or higher is needed to apply for an EPA Energy Star label.

Benchmarking and auditing represent key first steps for building owners to make in saving both energy and money, says Cliff Majersik, executive director of the Institute for Market Transformation (IMT) – a policy think tank on building energy rating and disclosure. The net result also makes these buildings more competitive in the marketplace.

“Energy is one of the biggest expenses of building ownership and will be an even greater financial burden for owners in the future as energy prices escalate. Owners can’t take control of energy costs if they don’t know where to begin. Benchmarking – or measuring and rating – a building’s energy performance is that critical first step owners can take to start controlling energy costs and saving money.”

A number of different studies linked through IMT  show that buildings with good energy ratings will command higher rents, sell for higher prices and have lower vacancy rates than other buildings.

On its website, IMT states that most U.S. building owners, including governments, have not measured the energy efficiency of their buildings. The result of such inaction has historically limited an owner’s ability to “manage and reduce energy consumption.”

Managing energy consumption also has a direct impact on the overall profitability of a building. According to a March 2008 national study by the CoStar Group, rental rates in Energy Star-labeled buildings command a $2.40 per square foot premium over similar non-labeled buildings and have 3.6 percent higher occupancy rates.

Another study by the University of California at Berkeley reported that buildings with the Energy Star label sold for 16 percent more than identical buildings without such labels.

These are the kind of green footprints that the best parts of many worlds.