Energy Exchange

California sets pace on clean energy funding, patents and adoption, while cutting pollution

By Tim O'Connor / Published: April 19, 2012

California continues setting the pace in the clean economy and is reaping tangible economic and environmental benefits from doing so. These are two of the key takeaways from a report released today by Next 10, which found that clean technology is fueling the state’s economic rebound and driving its efforts to cut climate pollution.

The 2012 California Green Innovation Index compiled by Collaborative Economics is the fourth annual report that tracks the “economic impacts of policies that help reduce state carbon emissions.” California’s Global Warming Solutions Act (AB 32) was among the policies cited as helping to drive the state’s economic growth.

According to the report, clean tech investments in California rose 24% between 2010 and 2011 to $3.5 billion. This represents 57% of all the venture capital (VC) funding in the country and 40% in the world. Additionally, California clean tech companies filed the most patents: 910 between 2008 and 2010. New York came in a distant second with companies filing 475.

Our solar industry did exceptionally well, attracting $1.2 billion, 62% of all U.S. VC funding in 2011. In part because of this investment, the Golden State reached a major milestone by installing 1,000 megawatts of solar capacity. Only five other countries in the world have hit this mark. Between January 1995 and January 2010, 1,503 solar businesses were founded here, an increase of 171%.

While this economic news is impressive, equally important were findings related to the environmental benefit: climate pollution fell even as the state’s population was rapidly expanding. By 2009, for every dollar of gross domestic product (GDP), California was producing 28% less carbon emissions than it did in 1990. These reductions happened as the population grew by 8 million residents. Specifically, since 1990, California’s per capita GDP expanded 16% while carbon emissions per capita fell. This is particularly encouraging as California prepares to launch a carbon market that will limit overall pollution in the state to 1990 levels by 2020.

This latest report further demonstrates that environmental policies lead to economic growth. We wholeheartedly agree with Doug Henton, CEO of Collaborative Economics, who said that by “setting the market rather than chasing it,” California’s leadership is “paying off in the form of investment, innovation, and growth.”

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Approved sale of Four Corners power plant shows California regulations are working

By Tim O'Connor / Published: March 22, 2012

Today, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) approved the sale of Southern California Edison’s (SCE) partial interest in the Four Corners coal-fired power plant to the Arizona Public Services Company.

This sale is another indication that California’s landmark climate and energy laws—including: AB 32, which puts a price on carbon; SB 1368, its electricity performance standard; and SB 2, its 33% renewable portfolio standard—are working to encourage state utilities to find ways to move toward cleaner energy sources, cut pollution, protect ratepayers, and maintain reliability.

According to long-term resource plans and investment initiatives, SCE intends to replace the 800 MW of power that was generated near the Four Corners landmark in northwest New Mexico with lower-carbon resources such as natural gas, renewable energy, and energy efficiency – all of which can create in-state jobs and economic activity.

Once the transaction is final, California will have dedicated contracts from four major coal-fired plants:

Navajo (Arizona);
Reid Gardner (Nevada);
San Juan (New Mexico), and;
Intermountain (Utah).

Of course, adherence to the California Environmental Quality Act and other applicable state and federal environmental standards must be observed in connection with investments or authorizations related to the sale of an emissions-generating source. Such provisions are necessary to ensure that documented emissions reductions are real and achieve the environmental benefits desired.

When this ownership transfer is complete, SCE’s contribution to California’s coal shadow will drop by approximately 5 million tons of CO₂ annually, an amount greater than the largest in-state source of greenhouse gas pollution. (EDF first highlighted California’s coal shadow, which is the impact of coal-produced power sold into the state, in a 2005 report.)

EDF looks forward to working with the CPUC and California utilities as environmental regulations are used to reduce our state’s future coal shadow.

*Legal disclaimer: Nothing in this post is intended to comment on or provide findings or conclusions related to future or pending evaluations of compliance with federal or state law.

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Energy Innovation Series Feature #2: Fuel Cell Technology From Bloom Energy

By Jim Marston / Published: March 19, 2012

Throughout 2012, EDF’s Energy Innovation Series will highlight more than 20 innovations across a broad range of energy categories, including smart grid and renewable energy technologies, energy efficiency financing, and progressive utilities, to name a few. This series will demonstrate that cost-effective, clean energy solutions are available now and imperative to lowering our dependence on fossil fuels.

For more information on this featured innovation, please view this video on Bloom Energy’s fuel cell technology.

California-based Bloom Energy is developing a different approach to power generation that has already had a profound impact on the way electricity is produced around the world.

Bloom Energy’s technology relies on fuel cells, which use an electrochemical process in which oxygen and fuel (natural gas or biogas) react to produce small amounts of electricity. When these fuel cells are stacked upon each other and arranged into large modules called Bloom Energy Servers™ or “Boxes,” they produce up to 200 kW of on-site power. This is enough power to meet the baseload needs of the average office building or 160 average homes.

Furthermore, this approach has the potential to reduce customers’ CO2 emissions by “40%-100% compared to the U.S. grid (depending on their fuel choice) and virtually eliminate all SOx, NOx, and other harmful smog forming particulate emissions.” It also enables the possibility of affordable on-site, user-owned power generation that is as constant and reliable as a utility and provides an attractive economic payback for customers.

This kind of technology is a win-win economically and environmentally; one from which all sectors stand to benefit. The Bloom Energy Server also makes the micro-generation concept feasible. Imagine subdivisions, apartment complexes or neighborhoods with their own carbon-free (if powered by renewables), mini power plants.

Source: Bloom Energy

Founded in 2001, Bloom Energy sold its first Bloom Box to Google and can trace its roots to the NASA Mars space program. In the last few years, the company has lined up an impressive list of name-brand customers, including eBay, Walmart, Coca-Cola and FedEx and is rumored, according to GigaOm and others, to be “the supplier behind Apple’s planned massive 5 megawatt (MW) fuel cell farm to be built at its data center in Maiden, North Carolina.” If built, this would be the nation’s biggest non-utility fuel cell installation.

In the U.S., much of the attention the Bloom Box has generated has focused on these large corporate customers. But the on-site generation concept could make its biggest impact in developing nations like India and China, where small communities and villages don’t have an electric infrastructure and new energy sources are in high demand.

The Bloom Box also has the potential to address problems here at home, with reliability concerns facing electric grids throughout the country. In Texas, where the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) struggles with how to add new capacity to meet growing peak demands and reduce water dependency at the same time, the Bloom Box offers an approach that can provide power at well below the peak prices paid for electricity during last year’s record drought.

To learn more about this topic, please view this post by Nobile Profit.

Update: eBay announced on June 21, 2012, that it will be using Bloom Energy fuel cell technology to construct a large-scale project at its data center in Utah. The proposed 30 fuel cells (the largest non-utility fuel cell installation) will run on biogas and will make their data center independent of the electricity grid.

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Western region can gain million-plus jobs, grow GDP by $142 billion by accelerating move to clean economy

By Tim O'Connor / Published: March 15, 2012

Speeding the development of clean energy in California, Oregon, Washington and British Columbia can generate more than one million jobs and $142 billion in gross domestic product (GDP) by 2020, according to a report released Tuesday.

It is the latest study showing that environmental policies can deliver broad economic benefits across industry sectors and to entire regions.

The report is a forward-looking assessment of how the West Coast mega-region can combine efforts to gain powerful competitive advantages. Among the key findings:

By 2020, the region’s clean economy could grow by more than 200% through the adoption of strategic policy measures, which represents up to $95.5 billion in new GDP contributions.
It is critical to put a price on carbon and use market-based approaches to drive innovation and investments that create long-term, sustainable employment.
The sectors with the highest job growth potential are: energy efficiency and green buildings; environmental protection and resource management; and clean transportation.

The West Coast Clean Economy Report was authored by GLOBE Advisors and The Center for Climate Strategies and released at the GLOBE 2012 Conference in Vancouver, Canada.

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A Triple Bottom Line for the Central Valley: Environment, Economy, Equity

By Jorge Madrid / Published: February 21, 2012

This week the Air Resources Board (ARB) held a public workshop in Fresno, California, to gather public input on ways to invest proceeds from California’s cap-and-trade auction. ARB heard from a wide variety of individuals and organizations with bright ideas on how to spend this money on projects that can lower greenhouse gases (GHG) and maximize the benefit to disadvantaged communities who are the most vulnerable to climate change and pollution impacts.

I represented EDF at the workshop, and an extended version of my public comments follows:

Also posted in California, Cap and Trade, Clean Energy, Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy, State / Comments are closed

Energy Innovation Series Feature #1: Energy Storage From Xtreme Power

By Jim Marston / Published: February 21, 2012

For more information on our first featured innovation, please view this video on Xtreme Power’s energy storage solutions.

Energy storage helps integrate clean energy into the electric grid

The electric grid today doesn’t look all that different from when Thomas Edison first envisioned it over 100 years ago. Walk into a utility control room today and you might still see the “red phone” that they use for emergencies.

Thankfully, power companies throughout the U.S. see real value in upgrading our grid with modern energy management technologies and energy sources that are fast, more flexible and cleaner. Companies are taking various approaches, innovating across the clean tech spectrum from renewable energy to communications to energy storage.

In energy storage, some are working on battery technology, which – though much more advanced – works essentially the same way as traditional batteries. You charge them when power is plentiful, and use them when it isn’t.

Innovative energy storage solutions in action

Source: Xtreme Power

Xtreme Power is a developer of digital power management and energy storage solutions and is currently designing the world’s largest battery system (36 MW) for Duke Energy’s 153 MW wind farm in Notrees, Texas, which was jumpstarted by a grant from the Department of Energy.

Xtreme Power’s Dynamic Power Resources™ (DPR®) solution combines their PowerCell™ battery” with sophisticated digital power management systems to instantly adjust for imbalances in the electric grid. Xtreme Power describes its PowerCell technology as a “unique, advanced lead acid battery that can beat lithium ion batteries in terms of energy storage, efficiency, cycle life and cost.”

How energy storage helps

Traditional fossil fuel power plants may be dirty, but they hum along pretty consistently, so the electric grid is able to manage the flow. Renewable energy sources like solar and wind not only vary from day to night, but also might vary from minute to minute, making power management more complicated.

Energy storage systems help ensure that we get the energy we need when we want it, and make it easier to use renewable energy in our homes and on the grid by balancing out a the effects of a cloud moving over a solar panel or of the wind dying down.

One of many opportunities in a complex system

This kind of innovation provides value all along the entire energy system. It can make renewable energy more valuable by making it more predictable, and stabilizing the grid for far less money than larger infrastructure projects, all while helping us reduce our dependence on fossil fuels.

When most people think of clean energy, they think of hybrid cars and solar panels. The truth is that there are countless opportunities along the supply chain for innovation, from the gears and ball bearings that improve the efficiency of wind turbines, to technology driven systems like Xtreme Power’s power management products.

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