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1. EnerNOC Signs Up General Mills for Electricity Demand-Response Network
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2. National Lab Pushes Combined Heat and Power
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3. Environmentally Friendly Fireplaces
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4. AEP Scopes Out $5B-$10B Transmission Project for Midwest Wind Farms
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5. Announcing Our Green:Net Conference!
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6. FPL Breaks Ground on Solar in the Sunshine State
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7. L.A. Auto Show Green Car Round-Up
EnerNOC Signs Up General Mills for Electricity Demand-Response Network
Josie Garthwaite - Energy
EnerNOC, a Boston-based company that reduces electricity demand for power grid operators by automating energy conservation, announced today that General Mills has joined its demand-response network. The food giant will use EnerNOC software to cut its West Chicago Facility’s energy load by up to 5 megawatts during periods of peak demand, such as during heat waves when air conditioners often work overtime. With similar reductions at commercial and industrial sites across its network, EnerNOC helps energy providers avoid blackouts and brownouts caused by overcapacity.
Network members like General Mills, Adobe, MIT and General Electric don’t do this for free, of course. They receive periodic “capacity payments,” regardless of how much (or how little) their electricity gets dialed back, plus a “curtailment payment” when EnerNOC switches them into conservation mode. By reducing consumption during high-use periods, when electricity rates spike, they can also cut costs.
EnerNOC, which was founded in 2001 and went public last year, has plenty of company when it comes to demand-response technology, or energy information management. It’s part of the larger smart grid technology market, which Lux Research anticipates will reach $4.7 billion by 2013, up from $2.7 billion this year. According to the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, automated demand-response has reduced peak-period demand in California by an average of 10 to 14 percent each year since 2003.
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National Lab Pushes Combined Heat and Power
David Ehrlich - Big Green
A new report from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory touts the potential of combined heat and power systems for large and small industrial, commercial and residential buildings to increase energy efficiency and cut emissions of carbon dioxide in the U.S. The Oak Ridge lab is part of a network of 21 research centers backed by the U.S. Department of Energy.
According to the report, boosting the use of combined heat and power, or CHP, to 20 percent of generating capacity in the U.S. by 2030 would save 5.3 quadrillion British thermal units of fuel annually, the equivalent of nearly half the total energy currently consumed by U.S. households. The lab said there would also be a 60 percent reduction of the projected increase in carbon dioxide, the equivalent of taking 154 million cars off the road. The report points out that several European countries have already exceeded that 20 percent level of CHP use.
Also known as cogeneration, CHP is the simultaneous production of electricity and heat from a single fuel source such as natural gas, biomass, biogas, coal, waste heat, or oil. The concept, which has been around for more than 100 years, is inherently more efficient than the separate generation of electricity from power plants and thermal energy from boilers or other heating equipment.
The size of CHP systems can range from 5 kilowatts for a single-family home to several hundred megawatts for a district heating project or large industrial site, where the continuous thermal demand leads to the most efficient use of the system. The generating capacity of CHP in the U.S. now stands at 85 gigawatts, or almost 9 percent of total capacity, according to the report. Most of that use is in industrial applications, providing power and steam to large industries such as chemical, paper, refining, food processing and metals manufacturing.
In March, UK utility Scottish and Southern Energy announced a deal with fuel cell company Intelligent Energy, also based in the UK, to develop fuel cell-based CHP systems for the residential and commercial markets.
Giving a boost to the number of CHP systems in the U.S. could generate $234 billion in new investments, according to the Oak Ridge lab, and create nearly 1 million new jobs. But the report said there are some significant hurdles as well, including environmental permitting approaches that it said do not acknowledge and reward the energy efficiency and emissions benefits.
Permitting and building code are problems for many innovative building solutions, and the lab said overcoming those challenges will take a broad approach, involving policy, regulatory, and technical solutions, some of which have already been achieved in the EU. The report said the EU has developed a cogeneration directive that includes feed-in tariffs, grants and loans, and tax incentives.
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Environmentally Friendly Fireplaces
jchait - Home & Garden
If you’re looking for earth-friendly fireplace options, pay a visit to EcoSmart Fire. Fires aren’t normally the best eco-friendly heat solution, but an EcoSmart Fire helps you to have a toasty fire and still stay pretty green.
EcoSmart was founded in Australia, but their fireplaces are available all over the world. An EcoSmart Fire is an open fireplace, most with a modern look, that works for businesses, homes, resorts, apartment, and most other places you can think of. There’s no flu and it requires no installation or utility connection. The best part — it runs on Denatured Ethanol (a renewable energy resource), burns clean, and requires almost no maintenance. Each fireplace includes a burner kit at its core (as seen below):
There are lots of nice designs to choose from to. As noted above these are mainly modern designs though. There are a few rustic choices, or at least ways you can incorporate a rustic look, as the backdrop. Following are two design styles, but there are plenty more to browse.
Some benefits from the EcoSmart Fire website:
• "No flue, no hard connection
• Efficient and effective heating solution
• Independently tested
• Unprecedented design flexibility
• Fuelled by a renewable green energy
• You can regulate the flame and turn it on/off at any time"
Visit EcoSmart Fire to see many more design choices and accessories like screens and extinguishers.
AEP Scopes Out $5B-$10B Transmission Project for Midwest Wind Farms
Josie Garthwaite - Energy
American Electric Power Co., the country’s largest producer of electricity from coal, has begun studying the possibility of building a 1,000-mile transmission line to connecting wind farms scattered across the Upper Midwest, the company announced yesterday. The project, now in a “conceptual stage,” would involve high-voltage (765 kilo-volt) transmission lines, cost anywhere from $5 billion to $10 billion, and be built in phases over the course of a decade.
“The Dakotas, Minnesota and Iowa have some of the very best wind generation resources in the United States,” AEP chairman, president and CEO, Michael Morris, was quoted as saying in the company announcement, “but the wind potential in this region cannot be developed unless we build a very efficient transmission superhighway to bring this clean, renewable generation to population and electricity load centers."
AEP’s envisioned “transmission superhighway” comes as part of a growing push for infrastructure to allow integration of renewable energy projects into the national electricity grid. As we’ve noted before, energy consulting firm The Brattle Group anticipates that more investment — as much as $2 trillion — may be needed for transmission and distribution networks than actual energy-generating projects. Al Gore has called for investment of $400 billion over the next decade for a grid that allows urban population centers to draw renewable energy directly from the sunniest and windiest remote areas, such as northeastern North Dakota, where AEP plans to link up with a Hartland Wind Farm project slated to begin construction in 2010.
For AEP, all of this will be easier if it gets its way with President-elect Barack Obama’s planned economic stimulus package. As Bloomberg reported yesterday, the company is calling for language that would grease the wheels for infrastructure financing and siting (laying 1,000 miles of transmission lines means first negotiating with a lot of property owners). "Obama gets that you can't just build windmills and wish for the power to get where it needs to go," said Susan Tomasky, president of AEP Transmission. "It is all about infrastructure."
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Announcing Our Green:Net Conference!
Katie Fehrenbacher - Misc
In the year and a half since we launched Earth2Tech, it’s become really clear to me that the technologies that were created in the Internet, computing and IT industries will be at the forefront of the fight against climate change. Think I’m drinking my own Kool-Aid over here in Silicon Valley? Imagine how a powerful social network effect could fundamentally change our energy consumption behavior; how the future of greener electric vehicles relies on networks and IT (hello, Car 2.0!); how software and databases will enable companies to monitor their energy and carbon emissions; or how the next generation of the electrical grid will take a cue from the intelligence of the Internet.
This intersection is the focus of our upcoming one-day event, Green:Net. In a year that promises some excellent conferences focused on the cleantech industry, Green:Net offers a solution for a yet-unmet need. There seems to be a lack of dialogue between the IT and web industries and the cleantech world, and led by our broadband-focused parent site GigaOM, we want to open up that line of communication.
Green:Net will take place on March 24, 2009, at San Francisco's Golden Gateway Club. We already have a superb lineup of speakers including
- Bob Metcalfe, Inventor of Ethernet, General Partner at Polaris Venture Partners and proponent of Enernet, the energy network.
- Rob Bernard, Microsoft's Chief Environmental Strategist
Other confirmed speakers include:
- Saul Griffith — Co-founder of Makani Power, Squid Labs, Potenco and Wattzon, and MacArthur Prize Winner
- Jonathan Koomey — Professor, UC Berkley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
- Dr. Albert Esser — VP of Data Center Infrastructure Group, Dell
- Rob Aldrich — Principal, Energy Efficient Solutions, Cisco
- Bill Vogel — CEO, Trilliant
- Andy Tang — Director of Smart Web, PG&E
- Sunil Sharan — Smart Grid Director, GE
- Erin Carlson — Director, Yahoo for Good, Yahoo!
- Paul Holland — Partner, Foundation Capital
- Erik Straser — Partner, Mohr Davidow Ventures
- Steve Westly — Founder, Westly Group
- Martin Tobias — Founder, Kashless.org
In days to come, we will be updating the list of speakers and will update the conference web site accordingly.
The event will also include a startup launch session, which will introduce 10 up-and-coming startups that are leveraging digital technologies for green aims. Pitch us your company!
You can register for the conference at the conference website, which also details information about schedule, speakers and the venue itself.
See you in San Francisco in March 2009!
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FPL Breaks Ground on Solar in the Sunshine State
Katie Fehrenbacher - Energy
The Sunshine State this week moved one step closer toward capitalizing on its namesake and becoming one of the largest producers of solar energy in the country. Florida utility Florida Power & Light Co. (FPL) said yesterday that it has broken ground on a 75-megawatt solar thermal plant at the site of its existing Martin combined-cycle power plant. It is the first utility-scale solar plant in Florida, according to the company.
FPL actually has a long history of building and operating solar thermal plants; it operates those large solar electric generating systems (SEGS) in California’s Mojave Desert. While many utilities are choosing to partner with developers — whether it’s a startup like BrightSource or a huge company like Abengoa — to build and own solar thermal plants, FPL seems to prefer moving ahead on its own.
That’s primarily because the utility can use its large balance sheet to construct the plants and can often build them at a lower cost. PG&E’s CEO Peter Darbee has said that the California utility may be interested in building and owning solar systems, too. Nathaniel Bullard, analyst with research firm New Energy Finance says that now that utilities are able to access the recently renewed Investment Tax Credits, he expects to see more utilities interested in building and operating their own solar projects. FPL can build it cheaper, says Bullard, it’s a sweet spot for them.
FPL is expecting to spend around $688 million for three solar projects: the solar thermal plant that it broke ground on this week, as well as two photovoltaic plants that will be built by PV maker SunPower but be owned and operated by FPL. With these three solar plants, FPL is planning on generating a total of 110 megawatts for the state of Florida.
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L.A. Auto Show Green Car Round-Up
khallgeisler - Bikes & Cars
The Los Angeles Auto Show just came to a close, and not surprisingly, manufacturers brought a lot of green cars to the event. There were high-mpg gasoline cars, electric cars, clean diesels, and more. (Ferrari and Bentley also brought expensive gas guzzlers, but I’m willing to bet the market for those is pretty small.)
Here, then, is the Good Green Cars round-up of the enviro-friendly autos that were at the L.A. Auto Show.
- Ford hybrids: Ford brought the all new 2010 Fusion hybrid and 2010 Mercury Milan hybrid to L.A. The cars are nearly identical but for a few styling cues and trim levels, and they share the new lighter hybrid system found in the current Ford Escape and Mercury Mariner SUVs. The cars can go 47 mph on electric power only, according to Ford.
- Hyundai Blue Drive: This isn’t a new engine technology; rather, it’s Hyundai’s strategy to reach a fleet average of 35 mpg by 2015. It includes the 2010 Sonata hybrid, high-mileage “Blue” versions of the 2009 Accent and Elantra, and a future crossover with a gasoline direct-injection engine.
- Lexus hybrid SUV: The 2010 Lexus RX 450h gets its first update since its introduction, with more horsepower and better exhaust-heat recovery. It also gets its own distinctive grille. No further word yet on whether Lexus could be Toyota’s all-hybrid brand in the future.
- Mini EV: The Mini E plug-in electric vehicle made its official debut in L.A. Only a handful will be available anytime soon, and those will be tested by private and corporate customers in California, New York, and New Jersey. The Mini E can go 150 miles on a charge, with a top speed of 95 mph.
- Volkswagen diesels: VW expands its clean-diesel TDI technology to the latest Touareg SUV, which means it passes California’s stringent emissions laws. The EPA rates it at 25 mpg, and it will be available in all 50 states. This is the same technology that earned the Jetta TDI the “Green Car of the Year” award at the show.
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