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Hybrid Power plants: Renewable Energy’s Newest Trend

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Image Courtesy of: SolarPraxis

by John Brian Shannon

One option for renewable energy producers that has been open to utility companies but rarely utilized, is the installation of both wind and solar power plants together at the same location, which results in a doubling in the amount of electricity produced.

Prior to a study done by Reiner Lemoine Institut and Solarpraxis AG, it was (incorrectly) thought that the huge towers upon which the wind turbines are mounted would cast long shadows over the photovoltaic solar panel array, thereby reducing their efficiency by a significant factor.

It turns out that when solar and wind power generation are combined on the same site, such hybrid power plants complement each other better, than had been imagined. Approximately twice the power generation is available from any such hybrid power plant site, when compared to wind only, or solar only.

Click here to read the Solarpraxis AG, news release.

The landmark study took into account the amount of sunlight loss (shading) which would occur in a carefully designed hybrid power plant. Energy losses were less than 2 percent of total output. This is a lower energy loss percentage, than compared to conventional power plant energy, such as coal — where up to 10 percent of the coal can be lost during transport from North America-to-China, or from Australia-to-China, and later storage, for example.

 A major benefit of such hybrid power plants is that due to the relative intermittency of both wind power and solar power is they tend to cancel out the others weaknesses. Grid expansion, is therefore not required for hybrid power plants. Wind power peaks at night, during cool days, and in the colder seasons of the year — while solar produces power during the daylight hours, the warmer parts of the day and most especially during the warmer seasons, when the Sun is high in the sky, directly over the solar panel array.

“Until now, it was thought that the shadows cast on solar plants by wind turbines led to high yield losses. The study shows, however, that these shading losses are much lower than expected, provided the hybrid power plant is well designed. Initial requests to create yield reports as well as technical and economic system planning have given us cause to hope that the more efficient utilization of space and infrastructure created by hybrid power plants has excellent prospects for the future.” — Alexander Woitas, Head of the Engineering Department at Solarpraxis AG

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Image Courtesy of: SolarPraxis

Many utility companies are already operating solar and wind hybrid power plants, or are planning for such installations over the next few years.

The U.S. state of Massachusetts has easily surpassed its previous goal of 250 megawatts (MW) of solar energy by 2017 and is planning to increase that goal to 1,600 MW (1.6 GW) of solar energy by 2017. View an interactive wind power map for the U.S. state of Massachusetts (103 MW as of 2012).

Boulder City, Nevada, is likewise adding wind turbines to their huge and ongoing solar power plant installations — so they can sell solar electricity to nearby cities and towns during the day, while adding the ability to sell wind electricity during the night. Find out about another U.S. state of Nevada wind energy project (151.8 MW as of 2013).

Washington Gas Energy Services (WGES) in Washington, D.C., buys wind power from a nearby producer and solar power from another nearby producer, and sells that electricity to residents, businesses, industry and the government throughout the northeast United States, including D.C.

I recently interviewed Mr. Harry Warren, the President of WGES, and speaking on the intermittency of wind power (and similar applies to solar power) that it is quite normal for different power producers to add their particular kind of power at different times of the day.

“The power grid operates with a variety of power plants constantly coming on line, going off line, and ramping production up and down to meet the varying demand for electricity over the course of the day and over the course of the year. There are always power plants idle and ready to generate more as part of the overall plan to assure reliable power.

So, nothing special is needed to back up wind power. Load merely shifts to other power plants when the wind isn’t blowing.

When the wind is blowing, other power plants, many of which burn fossil fuels like coal, ramp their operation down.” – WGES President, Harry Warren

Click here to read Part I, Part II and Part III of my interview with Harry Warren, WGES President.

Wind and solar power combined in hybrid power plants can add power 24/7/365 to any electrical grid, lower emission levels and help to levelize the cost of electricity for consumers.

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Bicycle-Sharing Systems: Pedal your way to Better Health

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by John Brian Shannon

Honk your horn, if you want better health!

OK, we all want to feel healthier, and many people these days ‘want to do their part’ to lower their personal carbon footprint. One way to accomplish both at the same time is to ride a bike anytime you can. It is so obviously, a good thing to do.

But when you are traveling, it can be difficult to lug your bike around just so that you can take a daily, hour-long ride in Naples, Barcelona, Miami Beach, or other warm and sunny place.

So, it may surprise you to know just how many bikes are available for rent at low cost, or are completely free to use, from the so-called Bicycle Sharing Systems (BSS) in many of the world’s cities. The total number of bikes available from the various BSS’s  around the world at the end of 2011, was 236,000 bicycles. That’s right, from 5 European-only operations with less than 100 bicycles ten years ago — to over 375 BSS’s worldwide, with 236,000 bikes in almost every country as of Dec 31st, 2011, BSS is a textbook definition of high growth!

Launched in 2008, the Hangzhou Public Bicycle programme in China is the largest bicycle sharing system in the world, with around 61,000 bicycles and over 2,400 stations; the Vélib’ in Paris, which encompasses 20,000 bicycles and 1,450 bicycle stations is the largest outside of China.[2] Other countries with systems are Spain (100+), Italy (80), and Germany (50). – Wikipedia

Please note, the following map does not cover free-to-use bikes which are provided by some cities or towns — nor does it cover bikes you rent from a real human being at a bike rental shop, or other bikes which may be rented in various ways. This Bike-sharing World Map shows only 2nd generation (coin deposit) and 3rd generation (high-tech) bike-sharing services, and the information is provided in conjunction with The Bike-sharing Blog by MetroBike, LLC. Here is the BikesharingMap Twitter account: @BikesharingMap

Accompanying the Google map is a comprehensive list of cities with bike-sharing, rental information and the number of bikes available within each city.

According to the Bike-sharing World Map info — just the cities and towns beginning with the letter “A” boast some 5000 bikes which are available only by coin deposit and high-tech (pre-paid passcard or credit card) but the numbers may be even higher, as accurate record-keeping is difficult to maintain with high rates of growth. (Again, on this map, the number of bikes available does not include bikes that are available at 1st generation bike-sharing, or bike-rental services — nor does it include free-to-use bike services.)

There are many compelling reasons to have a bike-sharing operation in your city or town. If you drive part-way to work in the city, many cities have convenient and low cost parking areas for your car which is where you pick up a bike. Done with your bike? Just pull out your smartphone, it will display a drop-off point close to you.

Does your city have a bike-sharing program or low cost bike-rentals? If it doesn’t, ask why not.

Solar powered bike-docking stations are popping up across New York City in preparation for the launch of the United States’ largest bike-sharing program, CitiBike. The initial roll-out of the program will include 300 stations and 5,500 bikes. A few years ago, the city’s department of transportation (otherwise known as NYC Dot) started replacing single-space parking meters with bike parking. Now, many more parking spaces will be converted into CitiBike hubs. – Meribeth Deen, EnergyBoom.com

Cities like Washington, D.C., can’t install bike stations fast enough to keep up with the demand — even with their time-weighted pricing schedule. The D.C. program has been called a victim of it’s own success.

  • From a government perspective, having healthier citizens will help to lower total health infrastructure expenditures and overall health care costs, while cleaner air and less traffic congestion in downtown or tourist areas can improve access, lower infrastructure costs and improve the visitor experience — meaning visitors might stay longer and spend more money.
  • For daily commuters or for tourists from outside the immediate area, adding the option of affordable bikes, means lower gasoline and parking costs. It adds convenience, health and enjoyment to their visit.

So, the next time you are planning to run errands downtown in the car (and trying to find parking spots) or if you are enjoying a weekend at the beach, ask yourself; Would my life be more enjoyable and would I spend less money on parking fees and gasoline, if I simply rented a bike?

Of course it would. Enjoy getting that extra sunshine! It will do you a world of good.

(Check the rates in your city.)

(Here is a handy carbon footprint calculator from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency)

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Ethanol’s Obvious Answer to the EPA’s Low-Sulfur Gasoline Regulations

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The EPA’s newly-proposed Tier 3 rule would cut sulfur levels in American gasoline by two-thirds, and by 2018 the new standard could be fully implemented.

According to the EPA, introducing and enforcing the new regulations would cost $3.4 billion between now and 2018, but Americans would save $23 billion in health care and environmental costs — amounting to a net savings of $19.6 billion dollars over the same time frame.

EPA is proposing the Tier 3 standards to address public health issues that exist currently and are projected to continue in the future as requested in a May 21, 2010 Presidential memorandum;

[From Section 2.1] “Over 158 million Americans are currently experiencing unhealthy levels of air pollution which are linked with adverse health impacts such as hospital admissions, emergency room visits, and premature mortality. Motor vehicles are a particularly important source of exposure to air pollution, especially in urban areas.”

[From Section 2.4] “EPA is also proposing that federal gasoline contain no more than 10 parts per million (ppm) of sulfur on an annual average basis by January 1, 2017. In addition, EPA is proposing to either maintain the current 80-ppm refinery gate and 95-ppm downstream caps or lower them to 50 and 65 ppm, respectively. The proposed Tier 3 gasoline sulfur standards are similar to levels already being achieved in California, Europe, Japan, South Korea, and several other countries.” – U.S. EPA 

Longer longer life-expectancy for citizens, a better quality-of-life during the time they are living in the U.S. and lower acid rain levels will result from this new regulation standard — benefiting many Americans while lessening the damage caused by acid rain to national infrastructure. Acid rain damage translates into crop damage, forest ecosystem damage (‘crowning’ on trees) and ‘spalling’ on concrete structures (especially historic concrete structures like the Brooklyn Bridge, for just one example) which are caused solely by acid rain — whether from anthropogenic (man-made) sources, or from minor acid rain causes, like volcano’s or forest fires.

(Read about anthropogenic acid rain damage to the bronze statues at Harvard University, here.)

Increasing the ethanol level in U.S. gasoline neatly solves the problem, as it has no sulfur component whatsoever. Simply increasing the percentage of ethanol in gasoline will allow oil companies to meet the new regulations. New cars and light trucks sold in the U.S.A. from 1990 onwards are able to run up to 85% ethanol with no harm to engine or exhaust components – in fact, ethanol is easy on engines and their related systems precisely because it burns so cleanly.

The EPA refers to the proposed new regulations as “common-sense standards” that will save American lives and money. The oil and gas industry are attempting to influence public opinion, by saying they must now invest $10 billion in new infrastructure, (one-time-cost) and spend $2.4 billion per year to cover the increased operating costs to implement the standards — resulting in an increased price at the pump of 9 cents per gallon.

Others, such as the U.S. auto industry are concerned with the proposal, saying European-style gasoline prices could be the end result. – OilPrice.com (newsletter)

Instead of spending billions on unproven and expensive technology to solve this problem, simply adding a larger percentage of bio-ethanol can solve the problem of sulfur content in gasoline. And as ethanol and bio-ethanol are already part of the petroleum feedstock, no other alterations need to be made to existing refineries to increase the percentage of ethanol or bio-ethanol in gasoline.

A happy coincidence related to this problem and its implementation timeline, is that new bio-ethanol supply streams are already available. In addition to the successful algae and camelina bio-fuel projects which the EIA, the U.S. Navy, Boeing, and Virgin Atlantic have all reported excellent results with — these organizations are now developing large scale biofuel supplies to fuel their fleets.

“Boeing’s (SBRTP) Sustainable Biofuels Research & Technology Program reported up to 80% lower CO2 emissions when compared to petroleum-sourced jet fuel.” – John Brian Shannon, Huffington Post

A second-generation bio-fuel, switchgrass — and other crops which grow well in poor soils and are tolerant of drought conditions, are becoming available to farmers who are able to grow this bio-fuel crop on marginal land and with little water usage. Not only that, the naturally self-seeding and disease resistant species require little or no pesticides or land-management such as, but not limited to, tilling, seeding, irrigation, repeated chemical applications and the like. Switchgrass (a tall, native, coarse grass of the American prairie) is being cultivated in the U.S. for bio-ethanol production at experimental facilities, where new enzymes and harvesting techniques are now showing good results.

Regarding third-generation bio-fuels, ethanol from algae shows record-smashing potential.

Algae can produce up to 300 times more oil per unit area than conventional [biofuel] crops such as rapeseed, palms, soybeans, or jatropha. As algae have a harvesting cycle of 1–10 days, their cultivation permits several harvests in a very short time-frame, a strategy differing from that associated with yearly crops (Chisti 2007).

Algae can grow on land unsuitable for other established crops, for instance: arid land, land with excessively saline soil, and drought-stricken land. This minimizes the issue of taking away pieces of land from the cultivation of food crops (Schenk et al. 2008).[41] Algae can grow 20 to 30 times faster than food crops. – Wikipedia

Simply stated, the solution to lower sulfur content in gasoline, is to increase bio-ethanol production. Farmers have plenty of marginal and otherwise unusable lands and will be quite happy to hear about the new EPA regulations.

It can become a ‘win-win’ situation for everyone, if we look profoundly enough at the situation that now exists and then move towards the obvious policies to take us into conformance with the EPA’s proposed new regulations.

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A Match made in Heaven: Solar power and Water desalination

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by John Brian Shannon

The nations of the Persian Gulf and Arabian Gulf are blessed to have access to unfathomable amounts of sunlight and salt water. With growing populations and scarce water reserves, governments, public or privately-held power companies and water utilities can capitalize on these national assets — when the economics work.

Even when the economics don’t work, human beings still need water! Growing cities need water for domestic use and industry needs water to produce the goods that we buy, or that they export.

In previous decades, the power-hungry desalination plants widely-used throughout the Middle East were powered by electricity created from burning vast amounts of fossil fuel. The economics barely worked when the oil prices were low – but now, with oil once more approaching $100. per barrel, they are costing a king’s ransom to operate. Even oil-rich kingdoms are feeling the pinch nowadays.

A cogent case can be made for adopting alternative energy to power existing and future desalination plants – thereby allowing that oil and gas to be sold at export instead of being burned up. Why burn your money?

The question for Oman is; How much of Oman’s oil and gas is burning up at desal plants — instead of being exported to add to Oman’s GDP?

At $96.80/barrel for oil (April 2/13) and the natural gas price passing $4.08/MMBtu (April 2/13) the annual fuel cost to produce electricity with fossil fuel is unimaginably high. Really, you don’t want to know.

Fossil fuel exports power the economies of rapidly growing Middle East and North Africa (MENA) nations. Each barrel of oil burned for local desal operations, is one less barrel contributing to the national GDP. A similar situation is at play with regards to natural gas in Oman and the other GCC nations.

Modern solar power plants, such as Masdar’s Shams 1 solar power plant can produce 100 megawatts of clean power for 30-years or more, powered only by sunshine. These modern electrical energy power plants are powerful enough to run; (1) a desalination plant, with enough energy surplus to run (2) a nearby town, or (3) a rural area – or, perhaps all three!

There are two basic types of solar power;

  • Photovoltaic solar, properly called ‘PV-solar’ or ‘PV-solar modules’. The solar panels only produce power when the Sun is shining. Which is fine, because the highest electrical demand occurs during daylight hours.
  • Thermal solar, known as ‘Concentrated Solar Power’ or ‘CSP’ produce power 24 hours a day, by storing excess daytime heat in liquids such as molten salt or oil, to run a steam turbine/electricity generator.

PV-solar (panels) have increased efficiency from their 1980’s-era, 11% efficiency rating — to today’s +33% efficiency rating units. Panels with much higher efficiency ratings (perhaps as high as 100%) will hit the market within 20-years. And through all this, PV-solar panel prices have been falling dramatically, to the point that PV-solar utility-scale power plants are now price-competitive with other kinds of power – assuming similar subsidy levels are in place.

Solar Bonus

As PV-efficiency continues to increase through the next few years, just as it has been doing thus far, PV-solar ‘scaling up’ will be very easy. For example, solar panels are size-standardized, so simply unbolting the ‘old’ 11% efficiency panels and replacing them with the ‘new’ 22% efficiency panels, effectively doubles the power output of the solar power plant — practically overnight! (e.g.; 100 MW to 200 MW)

A few years later, when PV-efficiency increases, those (by then) ‘old’ 22% panels can be replaced with ‘new’ 45% efficiency panels – thereby doubling (again!) the total output of the solar power plant. The ‘old’ solar panels will still work fine, and they can be sold to developing nations, or traded-in against the cost of the new panels, just the same way you would trade your old car for a new one.

In fact, PV-solar power now costs less than comparable coal-fired power — and that’s not factoring in the costly ‘externalities’ of coal-fired electrical power generation, which range from huge amounts of water usage by coal-fired power plants, to toxic airborne emissions, to adverse health effects on citizens – which prematurely killed 1.2 million people in 2010, in China alone!

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PV-solar power now costs less than comparable coal-fired power

CSP solar technology has advanced remarkably and several different designs have proven themselves viable in Spain, the United States and the UAE, although CSP costs are still high when compared to PV-solar and conventional power. This is changing as CSP production ramps up around the world. The one great advantage of CSP solar, is that these power plants produce power 24-hours per day, 365-days per year – and, no harmful emissions.

Holding nearly half of the world’s renewable energy potential, the Middle East and North Africa are poised for unprecedented growth in renewable energy. — Masdar

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Masdar’s Shams 1 Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) 100 megawatt power plant near Abu Dhabi. image courtesy: Masdar

“The inauguration of Shams 1 is a breakthrough for renewable energy development in the Middle East. With the demand for energy rising exponentially, the region is undergoing a major transformation in how it generates electricity. In fact, the Middle East is poised for major investments in renewables, and Shams 1 proves the economic and environmental advantage of deploying large-scale solar projects.” — His Excellency Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, CEO of Masdar. (Read Masdar Shams 1 Press Release here)

It’s safe to say that MENA nations should be planning a long-term switch to solar energy, starting with PV-solar now, and CSP solar starting within the next ten years.

Financing these new, pollution-free power plants could be assisted by GCC government investment (sovereign wealth funds) financed through increased oil and gas exports – as oil and gas will be ‘freed-up’ for sale to international buyers.

It must be said that in areas of the country that make the switch from fossil fuel to solar, the cost of externalities will fall and residents will notice better health and enhanced ‘quality of life’ due to lower airborne emission levels and governments will notice lower health care costs. Not to mention plenty of clean, low-cost water for citizens and industry.

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Wind power surpasses Nuclear in China

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The Chinese government has committed itself to producing 16% of its primary (electrical) energy from renewable sources by 2020 — UNEP | Photo credit: Barton Merle-Smith, Wind Currents

 

Wind power surpassed nuclear power to become China’s third-largest energy source.

In 2007, due to the political leadership of then-President Hu Jintao and then-Premier Wen Jaiboa of China, renewable energy began a dramatic surge which continues to this day — one that by all accounts is expected to continue in that rapidly growing, and energy-ravenous country. A fortuitous convergence of German wind turbine technology, combined with the ability to manufacture them in China, ushered-in sudden lower prices for wind energy projects in the country. The resultant boom in wind turbine installations continues to this day.

Wind power [in China] exhibited an annual growth rate of more than 100 per cent from 2005 to 2009. With new installations of 13.8 GW coming on line in 2009, China led the world in added capacity, and is second in terms of installed capacity, after the U.S.  – UNEP Green Economy Success Stories Renewable Energy in China

Although wind installations in the country slowed in 2012 due to market forces, (compared to their breakneck 2011 pace) the rate of wind turbine installations are again expected to increase to record levels.

He Dexin, Chairman of the China Wind Energy Association said; [The] country’s development of wind power has slowed down, with 14 gigawatts of newly installed capacity from wind turbines in 2012, down from 20.66 gigawatts in 2011. — People’s Daily Online

But based on current projects under construction, China will be operating more than 100,000 megawatts (100 GW) of grid-connected wind capacity by 2015. The Chinese Renewable Energy Industry Association (CREIA) says China will be operating 200,000 megawatts (200 GW) of wind power by 2020.

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Image courtesy: IAEA (republished by Earth Policy Institute)

 

China has astronomical wind power potential, with total wind energy resources far outstripping electrical consumption in the country.

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Image courtesy: EIA (republished by Earth Policy Institute)

Exponential growth for wind power is in China’s energy future as they ramp-up wind capacity from 2% of the total electrical energy mix in 2012, towards the Chinese government’s goal of supplying 16% of the country’s electrical energy requirements with renewable sources of all kinds, by 2020. Wind will form a large part of China’s renewable energy portfolio — as it is the natural choice for the country due to the steady onshore and offshore winds in thousands of suitable locations.

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Washington, DC government agencies to run 100% renewable energy

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by John Brian Shannon

http://www.eere.energy.gov/topics/wind.html

The United States has tremendous wind resources both offshore and on land. In 2012, the total installed wind capacity in the United States reached 50,000 MW. That’s enough to power more than 12 million homes annually, and it represents an 18-fold increase in capacity since 2000. — photo courtesy of U.S. DoE

Until now, U.S. government buildings in Washington, D.C. have had 50% of their electrical power needs met with wind-turbine powered electricity supplied by Washington Gas Energy Services CleanSteps® WindPower. That percentage increased recently to 100% as part of the government’s renewable energy target and building efficiency improvement plan.

Using 100 percent wind power for electricity equates to the Washington, D.C. government avoiding the consumption of 32,825,000 gallons of gasoline or taking 61,000 cars off the road for a year. The world’s fastest-growing energy resource, wind power displaces conventional power, reduces carbon dioxide and helps eliminate air pollution.

“Going green helps foster economic growth and creates modern and vibrant communities across the District of Columbia,” said Brian J. Hanlon, Director, Department of General Services. “Our goals are to become more energy efficient and reduce our carbon emissions, and our strategic partnership with WGES is playing a role in helping us achieve these objectives.” – WGES press release

Even prior to this announcement, Washington, D.C. held the record among U.S. cities for the highest total renewable energy use at over one billion kilowatt hours per year – or, 11.4% of it’s total electricity consumption. To read a complete breakdown of U.S. cities and their renewable energy use in 2012, visit this EPA Green Power Community Challenge Rankings page.

“We have stated our mission for Washington, D.C. to be the cleanest, greenest city in the nation, which includes the use of renewable energy for our power sources. We’re proud that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has recognized Washington, D.C. as the leading Green Power Community for our commitment to purchase green power.” — Keith Anderson, Director, District Department of the Environment

In his National Geographic NewsWatch piece, Sam Brooks, Associate Director of the Washington, D.C. Department of General Services and head of its Energy Division said, “conservative estimates indicate a long-term purchase of regional wind power could save more than $100 million over 20 years.”

What could be better than breathing clean air while saving 100 million dollars?

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NOTES:

  1. The U.S. Department of Energy funds R&D to develop wind energy. Learn about the DOE Wind Program, how to use wind energy and get financial incentives, and access wind energy information.
  2. In the District of Columbia, Maryland and Pennsylvania, businesses, organizations, government entities, institutions and individual residents can purchase their electricity and natural gas supply from retail energy providers. Customers in Virginia may purchase natural gas and customers in Delaware may purchase electricity from retail energy providers. To learn more about WGES and its CleanSteps® products, visit www.wges.com or call 1-888-884-WGES (9437).

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Why are Environmentalists excited about the Natural Gas boom?

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by John Brian Shannon

Mirror, mirror, on the wall, which is the cleanest fossil fuel of all?

You guessed it! Natural gas is the cleanest fossil fuel – and by significant margins, as data from the Environmental Protection Agency illustrates in the chart below.

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Natural gas, as the cleanest of the fossil fuels, can be used in many ways to help reduce the emissions of pollutants into the atmosphere. Burning natural gas in the place of other fossil fuels emits fewer harmful pollutants, and an increased reliance on natural gas can potentially reduce the emissions of many of the most harmful pollutants. — naturalgas.org

After investigating the externalities associated with conventional sources of energy and cognizant of their commitments towards clean air, many nations have begun to embrace natural gas as a stepping stone towards a cleaner energy future.

In the case of the U.S.A., as far back as 2003 when coal supplied more than 50% of America’s electrical power, coal-fired plants have been retired more quickly than new ones have come online. By 2012, coal supplied only 38% of U.S. electricity.

Nine gigawatts of U.S. coal-fired power generation was shut-down in 2012 alone, and replaced by an almost equal amount of natural gas power generation. Emission levels from those comparably-sized replacement natural gas power plants are less than half that of the now defunct coal-fired plants! Many more U.S. coal-fired power plants are scheduled for complete shutdown, or conversion to natural gas, over the next few years totalling 35 gigawatts (35,000 megawatts) according to experts.

Infographic courtesy of the U.S. Energy Information Administration — shows carbon emissions dropping as a result of switching from coal to natural gas,  2005-2012.

Critical NG Graph 2

‘”Carbon emissions of all end-use Sectors have decreased since 2005 in the United States. The largest reductions appear to be due to the Electric Power and Transportation sector’s emissions, followed by the Industrial, Residential and Commercial sectors.”

[Of all sectors] “the largest reduction to carbon emissions is due to coal-to-natural gas ‘fuels switching’ and construction of higher efficiency power plants.  Expansion of renewable power, overwhelmingly due to expanded wind power, has been the second largest factor to reduced Power Sector carbon emissions.” – theenergycollective.com

Infographic courtesy of peakoil.org.au — shows CO2 emissions dropping as a result of the combined effects of many countries switching from coal to natural gas and the switch to renewables, 1990-2100.

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The change-up to renewable energy will vary by country as OECD nations continue to take the lead in renewable energy between now and 2100. Even so, total worldwide emissions will drop dramatically and the switch from coal to natural gas is one big step towards a cleaner environment.

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America’s Updated Energy Strategy

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by John Brian Shannon

President Obama visited the Argonne National Laboratory today in Argonne, Illinois, to give a major speech on the future of American energy. A new, USD $2 billion dollar program called the energy security trust was announced which gives focus to the administration’s plans for more renewable energy and proposes lower subsidies for fossil fuels.

Much of the resulting policy statement is based upon information supplied to the administration by the nonpartisan, Securing America’s Future Energy (SAFE) which represents senior business and former military leaders on both ends of the American political spectrum.

Here are the main points of the energy security trust – more detailed information is available by clicking here and here. And you can read the transcript of the President’s speech today in Argonne, Illinois, as compiled by the Chicago Sun-Times here.

By 2020, the President and Energy Secretary Steven Chu want the US;

  • To double the present level of U.S. renewable electricity generation
  • To double American energy productivity (by 2030)
  • To cut energy waste in the U.S. by half over the next twenty years
  • To invest in technology promoting energy efficiency & reduced waste
  • To cut net oil imports in half by the end of the decade
  • To enable safer production & cleaner electricity from natural gas
  • To promote safe & responsible oil and natural gas development
  • To assist the Nation’s truck fleets to adopt natural gas & alternative fuels
  • To improve energy efficiency through the Better Buildings Challenge program
  • To help U.S. states cut energy waste, improve efficiency & modernize grids
  • To streamline Interior Department regulations for faster project permitting
  • To work with the G20 & other fora to phase-out fossil fuel subsidies worldwide
  • To work with the IEA & others to strengthen energy security
  • To promote energy efficiency & development & deployment of clean energy via Clean Energy Ministerial & other international fora
  • To promote safe & secure nuclear power in nations pursuing nuclear energy
  • To design a responsible nuclear waste strategy for the U.S.

As the President continues to pursue his ‘all-of-the-above’ energy strategy, it should be noted that significant progress has been made. As President Obama stated in his speech today,

“We produce more oil than we have in 15 years. We import less oil than we have in 20 years. We’ve doubled the amount of renewable energy that we generate from sources like wind and solar. We have tens of thousands of good jobs to show for it.

We’re producing more natural gas than we ever have before with hundreds of thousands of good jobs to show for it. We supported the first new nuclear power plant in America since the 1970’s. And we’re sending less carbon pollution into the environment than we have in nearly 20 years. So we’re making real progress across the board.” – President Barack Obama

All of this is adding up to huge changes in the American energy sector and for the producers, consumers and investors of energy, the energy map in 2020 will bear scant resemblance to our present-day energy model. And that means that seven years from now, the air in and around large U.S. cities will be the cleaner for it.

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Infographic: Energy Security Trust -- courtesy of The White House

Infographic: Energy Security Trust — courtesy of The White House

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Short UN video about food-related water usage ‘ALL YOU CAN EAT’

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by John Brian Shannon

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Watch the video. Click here >> ALL YOU CAN EAT

This is a one-minute United Nations video which demonstrates how much water it takes to produce the different foods that we eat every day.

Many of the world’s nations face water shortages and as climate change brings on more droughts, less rainfall will result in the lowering of underground water tables and crop failures will become more common. In the United States, 2012 was a drought year (again) and billions of dollars of crops died while still in the ground. It was a record year for crop failure insurance payouts in the U.S.A.

How can you help? Watch and share the video — and eat less meat. For myself, I decided long ago to eat meat only five days per week, instead of the usual seven. If large numbers of people in the developed nations would do this, it would have a measurable effect on the  developed world’s water consumption and we would all feel a lot healthier!

Bonus video. Click here >> WATER 101 Water for Food

This two-minute video shows some interesting statistics around water usage vs. population growth.

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Energy & Climate: The regulatory climate is changing too!

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Article by John Brian Shannon

Images by Cleantechnica

For several decades, U.S. environmental regulators have been the tall, silent type.

These highly-educated people worked for the government, but alongside industry, to craft energy regulations reflecting the ecological notions of their particular era. For most of the 20th century politicians favoured regulations which worked to promote the rapid growth of the economy and to advance the use of energy – particularly fossil-fuel energy.

But now, a new generation of regulators are actively contributing to the debate and they are doing so in significant ways. So much has changed and with little media coverage considering the scope of the changes which are now becoming apparent.

Such are the recent regulatory changes in the U.S.A. that people are now openly wondering if another coal-fired powerplant will ever be built in the United States! Coal, which produced a majority of America’s electrical energy in 1997,  has since dropped to 36% of total electrical energy production.

The average share of electricity generated from coal in the US has dropped from 52.8% in 1997 to 45.0% in 2009.[1] In the first quarter of 2012, the use of coal for electricity generation has declined substantially more, declining 21% from 2011 levels. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, 27 gigawatts of capacity from coal-fired generators [are] to be retired from 175 coal-fired power plants between 2012 and 2016.[8] Coal’s share of electricity generation dropped to just over 36%. – Wikipedia

The explanation for this sea-change is both simple and complicated. EPA regulators attempted to enforce the new for 2011 Cross-State Air Pollution Rule regulations (read other important CSAPR information here) due to go into effect on 7/7/11, but that act was struck down in appeals court on 21/8/12 for contravening another set of regulations called The Clean Air Act. Happily, another act (but with lower standards) called the Clean Air Interstate Rule automatically resumed as the prevailing regulatory framework until the CSAPR could be re-written so as not to contravene The Clean Air Act.

In the meantime, EPA bureaucrats set to work on changing the regulations for natural gas extraction, including fracking, which helped to make electricity produced by natural gas much cheaper than electricity produced by coal — and as a result, coal-fired plants are closing down far faster than if the CSAPR had been enacted and not struck down. (Moral: Never argue with the bureaucrats).

Yet more changes lay ahead due to upcoming proposed regulatory changes. A good example of this is Tina Casey’s post “Texas Wind Power Up, Nukes Down” which describes how the nuclear powerplant operator Exelon is shifting away from nuclear to wind energy.

In an interview with the Chicago Tribune last week, the CEO of energy giant Exelon, Christopher Crane predicted that the influx of low cost wind power would lead the company to start shuttering its nuclear plants.

Though wind and other renewables only account for about three percent of the company’s capacity now, that could change pretty fast.

Exelon’s first commercial wind farm only started operating in January 2012, and the company already has 44 wind projects operating in 10 different states. Tina Casey (Cleantechnica.com)

Coal is now being undercut by lower priced natural gas-fired electricity — and nuclear power is being undercut by lower priced wind-powered electricity, causing a historic shift in America’s energy makeup. We are just at the beginning of that road.

What happens if regulators decide to drop the huge subsidies the government pays to both the coal industry and the nuclear industry?

Even if regulators decided to bring subsidy levels for sustainable energy up to the same levels that coal and nuclear now enjoy – the changes we have seen thus far will seem microscopic.

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In the U.S.A., Oil and Gas receives 13 times more in historical subsidies than clean energy.

Over the first 15 years of these energy sources’ subsidies, oil and gas got 5 times what renewables got (in 2010 dollars) and nuclear energy got 10 times as much.

“Nuclear spent an average of about $3.3 billion a year, oil and gas about $1.8 billion, and renewable energy just under half a billion,” DBL Investors Managing Partner Nancy Pfund and Ben Healey recently wrote in “What would Jefferson do?” – Cleantechnica

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The energy regulatory climate is changing in the U.S.A., and we have only seen the beginning of these changes. By 2020, America’s energy regulations will have changed significantly to reflect what a large percentage of voters want. Clean energy, delivered on a (subsidy) level playing field.

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