Before I get to energy news, I'd like to address news on energy legislation. It's been reported in various places that Maj. Leader Harry Reid will pursue an energy-only bill w/o a cap on carbon, & then allow Kerry/Lieberman to be offered as an amendment. Then today, Lindsey Graham announced that he would not vote for K/L, a bill he helped write. Here's my question: why isn't anyone paying attention to the Cantwell/Collins CLEAR bill? Is it any weaker than Kerry/Lieberman? And if you think it doesn't spur enough renewable energy investment, why not pair it with the ACELA bill written by Jeff Bingaman? Here are some links:
CLEAR: Side by side w/ACES (PDF) & how it works (PDF).
ACELA: Summary (PDF)
I don't think ACELA is enough on its own. And it seems as though some momentum, however minimal, has swung behind CLEAR, & it has a Republican sponsor with the onions to put her name on it. With that, let's talk energy.
Nevada is serious about solar energy:
The state already has more solar energy per capita than any other, but with its small population that hasn't meant much to solar developers and manufacturers. Enter the state Office of Energy.
It announced this evening plans to contract with solar photovoltaic installers and developers in the state to build solar installations- including panel covered parking shades-at several state buildings across Nevada. The office is preparing a request for proposals that should be ready for developers and installers by the end of the month.
It is seeking proposals for projects at 15 specific sites, including nine in Clark County, as well as proposals for Department of Corrections sites.
Among the proposed projects are solar panel-covered parking shades at the Grant Sawyer building in Las Vegas, the Henderson, Flamingo Road and Decatur Boulevard Department of Motor Vehicle buildings, and shaded parking structures and removable solar installations on vacant land between Charleston and Oakey boulevards.
And California is following suit:
With California’s 2010 deadline for state utilities to meet 20 percent of electricity demands fast approaching, and the 2016 goal of 125 megawatts’ worth of solar photovoltaic (PV) installations not far behind, one utility is working to see that its obligations are met.
The Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD), in conjunction with the solar development company Solar Power Inc. and Aerojet, an aerospace and defense firm, yesterday announced the completion of a 2.4-megawatt (MW) solar energy system at Aerojet’s facility in Sacramento, California. The installation is an expansion of the current 3.6-MW system that was installed at the facility in June 2009. With the solar installation now at six MWs, California’s capital is home to the biggest single-site industrial solar electric generating facility in the state. The ground-mounted system utilizes 29,000 of Solar Power Inc.’s SPI 205-watt solar modules, which are joined with 22 tracking devices that follow the sun’s course to boost system efficiency.
This SMUD solar expansion will go a long way in supporting California’s renewable energy and solar energy goals. During its first year, the installation will offset just over 6,000 tons of carbon dioxide, nearly 24 tons of sulfur dioxide and roughly nine tons of nitrogen oxide. According the press release, that is equivalent to taking 1,075 combustion engines from California’s roads or planting exactly 1,396,423 trees.
More solar, this time in Florida:
BlueChip Energy, a provider of solar energy solutions for residential, commercial, government and utility applications, has started its stage one of the Rinehart solar farm, a 10MW utility-scale solar facility in Central Florida.
The Rinehart solar farm project, located in Lake Mary, Fla, will have a total capacity of 10MW and an annual generation of approximately 1.5millionkw hours. This is equivalent to the annual energy use of roughly 1,100 area homes. It will cover a portion of the 380,000sqft rooftop space and surrounding acreage of BlueChip Energy's Lake Mary facility.
The solar farm is being built in stages. The first stage is expected to be completed by July, 2010. Stage two is a roof top plant consisting of 500 kW. Subsequent stages will consist of a third, 1.4 MW rooftop system and 8 MW of ground-based systems.
More solar, from North Carolina:
Commonwealth Brands and Remington Arms are among 18 recipients of funds for energy-related projects throughout the state. The plants will each receive $200,000 to go toward installation of rooftop solar panels. North Carolina Gov. Bev Perdue recently announced the dispersion of $2.3 million in funds for energy conservation projects. Other recipients include Elon University, the City of Charlotte and several FLS Energy (a provider of solar energy based in Asheville) sites throughout the state.
According to the governor’s office, the 18 projects are expected to deliver enough energy to power 2,610 average homes for a year.
Commonwealth received its funding for a rooftop photovoltaic solar system, as well as furnishing and installing a photovoltaic-powered inverter and the wiring and data monitoring equipment to track five years of real-time data online. The total cost of the project is $810,000.
The money will fund a similar project at Remington, with installation of a rooftop solar system. The system will be monitored by measuring output from an inverter, and the data will be uploaded to the monitoring server in real time. The total cost of this project is $1.4 million.
And more, from New York:
The New York Power Authority has unveiled a new 48-panel solar thermal system at the 75-acre Subway Maintenance Facility on Coney Island.
The closed-loop facility (pictured right) uses water as a heat-exchange medium, pressurized so that it doesn’t freeze in winter.
Part of a $1.1 million upgrade program at the depot, the solar heating system is expected to save $170,000 a year in energy costs.
The US Navy has rewarded researchers across America for their ideas on renewable energy. The winners are:
Dr. Pyoungho Choi of the University of Central Florida-Florida Solar Energy Center - "Simultaneous Extraction of Lithium and Hydrogen from Seawater"
Dr. Nazim Muradov, University of Central Florida-Florida Solar Energy Center - "High Power Density Generators for Unmanned Undersea Vehicle Applications"
Dr. Bruce Rittman, Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University -"Advanced Photobioreactors for Biodiesel and Jet Fuel Production with Minimal Water and Nutrient Consumption" and "Development of an Acetate or Sugar Fed Microbial Power Generator for Military Bases"
Dr. Rahul Bidkar, GE Global - "Textured Hydrophobic Surfaces for Energy Efficient Naval Vessels"
Dr. Barrett Potter, University of Arizona - "Optoelectronic Nanocomposite Materials for Thin Film Photovoltaics"
Dr. Alan Huston, Naval Research Lab - "Engineered Core/Shell/Shell Quantum Dots for Photovoltaics"
Dr. Theodore Bloomstein, MIT/Lincoln Labs - "High Power-Per-Weight Organic Solar Cell"
Dr. Jason Ren, University of Colorado - "Low-Energy Desalination and Electricity Generation in Bioelectrochemical Systems"
Congratulations to all.
The Department of Energy also handed out some cash for energy education:
The U.S. Department of Energy recently announced that 34 projects in 27 states have been selected to receive $29 million under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to develop and expand weatherization training centers across the country. These projects will provide green job training for local workers in energy efficiency retrofitting and weatherization services.
Using innovative approaches to weatherization training and standardized training curricula, these projects will help prepare weatherization workers, supervisors, and inspectors to maintain a high degree of quality in weatherization projects and to work in the growing field of energy efficiency retrofits. DOE reports that the centers and programs will offer training using a combination of classroom, online, and hands-on learning tools. This funding will support the expansion of 8 existing weatherization training centers and the establishment of 26 new training centers, more than tripling the number of DOE-funded weatherization training centers nationally. The 34 programs announced today will significantly expand access to weatherization training, while improving the quality and consistency of training nationwide.
Under the Recovery Act, the Obama Administration is making unprecedented investments that are helping to build America's clean energy future, including $5 billion to significantly ramp up the pace of weatherization in the United States. According to DOE, these training programs will support a range of public and private energy efficiency efforts, including the Department's Weatherization Assistance Program, which has already funded the weatherization of nearly 200,000 homes since last February, using both Recovery Act and annual program funds.
Poo to energy! Global Energy Inc. & Covanta Energy Inc. have completed construction of the commercial pilot of a municipal solid waste to diesel plant wich will convert the waste to biofuel.
The world's first vertically integrated algal biorefinery opened near Carlsbad, NM Monday. Here's a report:
I'll leave you with a question: where are the hydrogen cars along the gulf coast? Here are the current hydrogen filling staions in states along the gulf:
- Austin, Texas: public or private (unknown) most likely private since it resides at a research center
- Louisiana: none
- Alabama: none
- Georgia: none
- Florida: 4 hydrogen stations total: Kennedy Space Center, private; Orlando: 2 private stations; & Oviedo, private.
Now, you may say it is simply not feasible to create a hydrogen infrastructure in the gulf region. Not so. Check out this map (PDF) of a hydrogen pipeline that already exists throughout Texas and Louisiana. These pipelines cover roughly 900 miles along the Gulf Coast. And if that isn't enough, check out this map (PDF) of hydrogen production centers throughout the US. At least 24 states have some sort of refining centers that produce hydrogen. There are two other recent announcements to note: Air Liquide recently opened up a hydrogen production facility in the San Francisco, California area. This facility pumps out 120 million standard cubic feet per day of hydrogen. Meanwhile, Air Products has announced that it is building a hydrogen production facility in Luling, Louisiana that will go online in 2012 with a capacity of 100 million standard cubic feet per day. We've seen numerous Republicans complain about the off-shore drilling ban costing jobs. Well, couldn't those jobs be replaced by investment in hydrogen?
eKos Earthship