Energy Exchange

Don’t Walk Away From Clean Energy Research & Development

By Jackie Roberts / Published: December 20, 2012

“The changing energy landscape and the resulting trade opportunities it affords will continue to provide consumers with more choices, more value, more wealth and more good jobs.” – ExxonMobil Energy Outlook, 12/12/12

I agree with Exxon.

We are moving closer to energy independence. But, even as the U.S. is facing a boom in natural gas, the only way we’ll reach our goal is if we don’t shortchange alternative energy research and development. Changing the energy landscape must include rapid advances in zero carbon energy technologies, for very good reasons that are in danger of being overlooked in the fiscal cliff negotiations.

First, despite its great promise, we should remember that important questions remain about the health and environmental impacts of natural gas operations. The extraction and distribution of natural gas can result in the release of methane – the main ingredient in natural gas and a greenhouse gas many times more potent than carbon dioxide. Due to the many possible escape routes for methane into the atmosphere, the true carbon footprint of natural gas is uncertain right now, and we need to diversify our energy portfolio and avoid getting locked into an over-reliance on one energy source.

Second, micro-grids will be increasingly important in a world with more storms, flooding, and other “weird weather.” We must be prepared for that scenario. Alternative energy and smart grid solutions can be more resilient, if designed properly. The current model of a large, centralized energy plant is increasingly problematic.

Third, alternative energy offers enormous potential for economic development, exports, and even savings on energy bills. As just one example, look at the Department of Energy’s investments into fuel cells. According to the Clean Energy Patent Growth Index, more clean energy patents are associated with fuel cell technologies than with any other clean energy technology, with over 950 fuel cell patents issued in 2011. Fuel cell durability has doubled, expensive platinum content has been reduced by a factor of five, and the cost of fuel cells has fallen 80% since 2002. With DOE support, 36 commercial technologies have entered the global market as of this past fall.

These advances can benefit communities across the country. Tulare, California invested in molten carbonate fuel cells for its wastewater treatment plant; this plant now produces about 45% of the electricity needed to run the plant which translates into a savings of more than $1 million per year (not to mention 6,200 tons less CO₂per year). With over 16,500 wastewater treatment plants in the U.S., communities could find enormous savings and build more resilience — if access to other fuel source is interrupted or electricity goes down, the plant can continue to partially operate and provide critical services to the community.

Talk about more choices and more value for communities, and more wealth and more good jobs for suppliers of fuel cells.

Posted in Renewable Energy, Washington, DC / Read 1 Response

More evidence emerges that California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard is a winning strategy and oil industry cost estimates are full of holes

By Tim O'Connor / Published: December 14, 2012

California drivers and policy makers should be breathing an extra sigh of relief this week with the release of a new study by the California Electric Transportation Coalition (CalETC). The study, an evaluation of electricity use within the state’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS), clearly shows that electrification benefits are on the horizon and oil industry funded analyses have yet again over-dramatized the difficulty of meeting one of the state’s landmark environmental laws.

In the study, CalETC shows that using electric passenger vehicles (both battery electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles), and electric off-road equipment (forklifts and trains), has the potential to generate a significant amount of creditable greenhouse gas reductions in the LCFS.

According to CalETC, three electrification solutions can cut up to 4 million tons of greenhouse gases per year by the year 2020, a significant portion of the total reductions required under the law. What’s more, since electricity as a fuel source costs one to two dollars per equivalent gallon less than gas and diesel, once the vehicles are on the roads and rails, the LCFS can actually save drivers a significant amount of money at the pump.

Prior industry reports on the LCFS like the one funded by the Western States Petroleum Association have lamented that compliance with the LCFS isn’t possible without oil companies going out of business or charging consumers significantly more at the pump. However, a plain reading of oil company cost analyses shows they purposely avoid consideration of the benefits of widespread deployment of alternative electric vehicles (EVs) in their research.

Not the first, probably not the last

Of course, this isn’t the first time industry cost estimates of environmental regulations, and specifically the LCFS, have emerged as highly suspect. For example, in September 2012, the non-partisan business group Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2) published a report showing how well positioned the US biofuel industry is to meet demand under the California standard – a direct counterpoint to recent oil industry estimates that say biofuels simply aren’t available.

In that E2 report, researchers found that 1.6 to 2.6 billion gallons of advanced biofuel will likely be produced in 2015, with increasing volumes thereafter, meaning LCFS compliance can be achieved solely through blending low carbon biofuels in the short, medium, and potentially long term. This blending will allow for compliance over and above what the electrification opportunities provide.

Similarly, for natural gas vehicles, the industry modeling of compliance scenarios assumes natural gas technologies won’t be sufficiently ready for widespread consumer use to be counted as a legitimate LCFS compliance opportunity. However, consistently low natural gas prices along with recent investments and R&D from companies like Chesapeake Energy Corp., Clean Energy, General Electric, Whirlpool and 3M have all been aimed at increasing the availability of natural gas as a fuel for passenger vehicles and heavy duty trucks.

In yet another analysis of LCFS compliance, it was found that “significant inaccuracies and faulty assumptions” led to the results of oil industry funded studies.

A first of its kind strategy whose time has come

California’s first-of-its-kind LCFS strategy for cutting climate change pollution from transportation fuel is designed to work alongside the state’s landmark cap-and-trade regulation between now and the year 2020, facilitating the transition of California’s transportation sector towards one which is lower carbon and is powered from an array of resources.

As Elisabeth Brinton, head of the Sacramento Municipal Utility District’s retail business, so aptly puts it, the California LCFS is “a great idea whose time has come.”

For more information about entities that support the California LCFS, (read here).

Posted in General / Comments are closed

EDF Energy Innovation Series Feature #17: Electric Vehicle Charging From Evatran

By Jim Marston / Published: December 13, 2012

Throughout 2012, EDF’s Energy Innovation Series will highlight around 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.

Find more information on this featured innovation here.

In the last few years, the first wave of electric vehicles (EVs) has been introduced in the U.S., marking the most significant technology shift in the auto industry’s 100-plus year history. The Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf have received the most attention, but Ford and Toyota also have models on the market and nearly every major auto manufacturer has at least one partial- or all-electric model in the works. In other words, EVs have arrived.

Source: Evatran

All EVs can plug directly into a regular 120-volt outlet. But for faster charges, a crop of 240-volt (240v) charging stations are available at Lowe’s, Home Depot and other retailers. Some companies, like Virginia-based Evatran, are taking charging to a whole new level, introducing technologies pioneered in the consumer electronic industry into the garage. The company’s Plugless Power EV charging system takes the plug out of EVs, making the “refueling” process as easy as parking your car.

“Our philosophy is based on ease and simplicity,” said Kevin Beck, vice president of business development and sales at Evatran. “EVs are very simple to own and maintain. Developing the plugging habit is one of the only hassles, and wireless charging is a game changing technology that will make the EV transition even easier.”

The Plugless Power system consists of two parts: a floor sensor connected to a wall-mounted 240v charger and hardware installed under the EV. When the car parks over the sensor, the system uses inductive charging to refuel the car battery – no plugs necessary. The charging time varies by car model, but the Plugless Power system will provide a full charge in the same amount of time as plugging it in.

Wireless, or inductive, charging is already available for some consumer electronic products. Several companies make smart phone cases that allow users to simply place their phones on a “charging mat” instead of searching for a charging cable. EV batteries are a lot bigger, but the technology for Plugless Power is similar.

Inductive charging has its tradeoffs. The process isn’t as efficient as wired charging, meaning that not all the energy that makes it to the wall charger makes it into the car battery. Evatran executives acknowledge that the process isn’t perfect, but the company has already made significant improvements in efficiency and has made it a focal point of their research and development.

EVs provide a remarkable carbon benefit over gasoline. Even an inefficient charging system using 100 percent coal-fired electricity is better for the environment than an inefficient gasoline engine.

Currently, the Plugless Power system will be installed after market by local and certified service centers, but true to its mission of simplicity, Evatran is working with EV manufacturers to provide the feature as an option when customers buy the car, like a navigation system, leather seats or tinted windows. “The goal is to install our system into EVs before customers drive them off the lot.”

Posted in Electric Vehicles, Energy Innovation / Comments are closed

A Red Flag On Disclosure Of Hydraulic Fracturing Chemicals

By Scott Anderson / Published: December 12, 2012

It’s not often that a new regulatory idea becomes so popular that one or more states per month climb on the bandwagon. But that is precisely what has happened with the push to disclose which chemicals are pumped into the ground to stimulate oil and natural gas production during the process known as hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.”

A year ago, only three states (Arkansas, Montana and Wyoming) required oil and gas producers to tell the public what chemicals they were using. Two other states (Colorado and Texas) were actively developing such rules. Today, just twelve months later, statutes or regulations mandating “frack” chemical disclosure are on the books in no fewer than 18 states, and proposals are pending or under consideration in several others.

FracFocus, an online registry that compiles information on hydraulic fracturing chemicals both for states where disclosure is voluntary and required, has been up and running for just 20 months, but already it houses approximately 800,000 records that include ingredients data. As of December 5, 2012, this data represented 33,606 wells. The amount of information on the site continues to grow rapidly.

It is impressive that so much information has been made available in such a short time. Still, people have begun to wonder whether the disclosure rules are accomplishing what was intended. The question is important because rules that aren’t working need to be changed. A good regulatory system is based on a process of continual improvement, not a naive idea that the rulebook can be written in a way that will never need changing.

Unfortunately, judging from early press reports, there are quite a few bugs in the system. To be fair, the reporting requirements are quite new and still being implemented — and analysis of the data has barely begun. But problems are emerging. The issue receiving the most media attention is the sheer number of trade secret claims. Read More »

Posted in General, Natural Gas, Texas / Read 5 Responses

More To Come On Methane…

By Steven Hamburg / Published: December 6, 2012

Concerns around the impacts of methane emissions have reemerged in headlines, with the release of a methane leakage study about Boston. Published in the journal of Environmental Pollution a couple weeks ago, researchers from Boston University and Duke University measured atmospheric methane concentrations leaking from natural gas pipelines in Boston many of which are over a hundred years old. Another report issued last week by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (published in Environmental Research Letters) looked at the impact of shale gas production on greenhouse gas emissions.

When talking about harmful greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide (CO2) usually gets most of the attention. Yet methane, the main ingredient in natural gas, is a short-lived greenhouse gas many times more potent than CO2 – or around 72 times more potent over a 20-year time frame. Stakes are high for the scientific community to fully understand the implications of methane leakage rates. These reports help elevate the issue that methane leakage matters to the climate and air quality, but this is only part of the story.

Methane is potentially leaking from the entire natural gas supply chain — from wells, pipelines and storage facilities — and no one knows precisely how much is leaking and where the leaks are stemming from. Some reports estimate the total methane leakage rate occurring during natural gas production, transmission and distribution to range anywhere from 1 to 7.9 percent. At the same time, the data that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and everyone else rely on were collected 20 or more years ago.

A challenge for understanding the distribution of methane concentration data in Boston is that no one knows how to interpret the data yet. Maps of methane concentrations in the urban environment can be spurious. They may look scary, but are they? This and many other tough scientific questions still need to be answered, we are very early in the process of understanding how much methane is leaking and from where. The scientific community at large, including EDF and the authors of the Boston study, are committed to collecting the data necessary to addressing these concerns and to understanding the true climate impact of methane emissions.

EDF is working with leading academic researchers and industry leaders to conduct scientifically rigorous measurements of quantitative emissions across the natural gas supply chain from well to the end user. We are developing the methodologies where necessary to move past a ‘he said, she said’ conversation to one focused on data characterizing leak rates. The critical next step for us in using the increasingly robust data gathered from new innovative technologies is to precipitate a clear enough understanding of where the leaks are in the supply chain to catalyze a constructive conversation about what new policies and industry practices will be required to minimize methane leakage.

The first EDF fugitive methane report, focused on field measurements made at natural gas production sites, will be completed early next year under the leadership of the University of Texas Austin. EDF and our partners are using a diverse array of measurement techniques to characterize leak rates. We are also working to make basin-wide measurements within areas of natural gas production. Over the course of 2013 and early 2014, studies of emissions at other key components in the supply chain, including the local distribution system, will be completed and the data and conclusions released to the public.

EDF is actively campaigning to ensure that fugitive methane emissions from the natural gas industry are less than 1 percent of production in order to ensure that the climate benefits of natural gas are maximized. We see development of innovative, cost effective and accurate methane detection technologies and procedures as a necessary part of minimizing leak rates. Our view is that minimizing methane leakage is an important enough issue that we need to take the time to establish a scientific understanding of the underlying issues and by doing so defining effective well-targeted actions.

Posted in Climate, Methane, Natural Gas / Read 1 Response

EDF Energy Innovation Series Feature #16: Demand Management From REGEN Energy

By Jim Marston / Published: December 5, 2012

Throughout 2012, EDF’s Energy Innovation Series will highlight around 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 REGEN Energy’s innovation here.

Mark Kerbel would like the world to think of every building as a giant beehive. In these bustling hubs of activity, each electrical device not only takes care of its individual tasks, but it is also aware of what the other devices are doing. They are part of a team and work together to minimize work and strengthen the “hive.”

Kerbel is co-founder of Toronto-based company REGEN Energy (REGEN). For REGEN, which makes wireless controllers that monitor and manage equipment with high power needs like heating and cooling, or “HVAC” systems, the beehive isn’t simply a sales pitch metaphor. Swarm theory is the company’s foundation.

For the last century, our outdated electric grid has generally worked the same way: energy is generated in a remote location and pushed to homes and businesses, where humans make most of the decisions about what switches are turned on and off. Demand management – like REGEN’s energy load management methodology – brings intelligent decision making into the process, which allows for more efficient use of energy, and helps reduce stress to the electric grid during peak times of energy demand by lessening consumer energy consumption.

Credit: REGEN Energy

“We think the natural world has a lot to teach us about efficiency,” said Kerbel. “And bees and other swarming animals are among nature’s best examples of teamwork and efficiency. Our technology injects swarm theory into a grid that has historically been simple and manual, and makes it intelligent and automatic.”

And much, much more efficient.

REGEN’s Swarm Energy Management technology employs a node at each electrical load in a building. For example, a large corporate campus might install a REGEN node on each HVAC unit. Using REGEN’s patented algorithms (which the company calls “swarm logic”), the nodes communicate with each other wirelessly and are able to balance the attached loads to smooth out the overall demand of a building. In a simple scenario, one HVAC unit might detect that another on a different part of a building will turn off in two minutes, and delay just long enough to avoid adding that extra load. But REGEN’s system can also handle more complex scenarios that consider dozens of nodes that control various types of loads.

All of this, REGEN states, can add up to a peak electrical demand reduction of 30 percent for commercial and industrial properties.

In the energy efficiency industry, things that save small amounts of energy are fairly simple and inexpensive. But improvements that reduce energy use as much as REGEN’s system are often cost prohibitive on the front end. REGEN promises quick energy reduction with a small up-front expense. And, because the parts of the system communicate wirelessly, it doesn’t require advanced metering or utility-side grid investments. It can work today, in many markets.

“The beauty of our system is that it is simultaneously elegant and simple,” Kerbel said. “It is very easy to install — one node per device you want to manage, and they communicate with each other. It doesn’t require any intervention from a customer’s IT department. So it’s easy to get online quickly and manage your loads without a massive retrofit or capital expense.”

Credit: REGEN Energy

In two early deployments in the U.S. — a big box retailer and a movie theatre chain — REGEN’s system resulted in enough energy savings to recoup the system’s cost in one to two years.

As the consumer electronic world evolves, we expect electrical devices to have this kind of awareness and intelligence. But heating and cooling represent such a large proportion of peak demand that it’s a logical, helpful and profitable place to start. And, because the payback period is so short, this is a great investment for schools, large corporate campuses and other multi-building sites that have intensive energy needs.

Posted in Energy Efficiency, Energy Innovation / Comments are closed