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2003 and 2002 Tied as Second-Warmest Years on Record
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U.S. and Philippines Join Forces on Sustainable Energy Projects
U.S. Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham and Philippine Secretary of Energy Vincente Perez signed a memorandum of understanding on January 13th to strengthen the Sustainable Energy Development Program between the two countries and to promote the use of cleaner-burning fuels in vehicles. The Sustainable Energy Development Program is a $5 million project sponsored by DOE, the Philippines Department of Energy, and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). It includes efforts to develop a renewable energy bill for the Philippines and to expand the use of cleaner alternative fuels such as natural gas.
While in the Philippines, Secretary Abraham also participated in a “Lights On” ceremony for the Alliance for Mindanao Off-Grid Renewable Energy (AMORE) Program. By December, the AMORE program aims to bring electricity to more than 5,000 homes in 160 remote communities. The program presently supplies electricity to more than 2,500 households in 84 communities using solar-powered battery chargers. Mirant Philippines is providing equipment worth approximately $3.2 million, while USAID is providing $6.4 million to strengthen the ability of local communities to operate, maintain, and protect the renewable energy systems. See the DOE press release.
The USAID’s Philippines Web site provides additional information on the AMORE program and sustainable energy development efforts.
International Builders Show Showcases Energy-Efficient Homes
Two highly energy-efficient model homesthe “New American Home” and the “2004 NextGen Demonstration Home”are now being showcased at the International Builders Show, underway at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The New American Home is designed for Nevada’s hot and dry climate and cuts by half the energy used for air 
conditioning and water heating. The home achieves its energy savings through insulated concrete forms, used in the foundation and exterior walls; windows that limit solar heat gain; and highly efficient structural insulating panels (SIPs), which form the roof. The house is cooled with high-efficiency air conditioners and is ventilated with a heat-recovery ventilator, which cools incoming air using the exhaust air from the home. DOE’s Building Technologies Program and DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) contributed to the project. The home is in the Sahara Lake community, just west of downtown Las Vegas. See the NREL press release.
The NextGen Demonstration Home is actually in the parking lot of the Las Vegas Convention Center, and features such energy-saving technologies as Icynene spray insulation, radiant barrier roof sheathing, low-E windows, and a high-velocity heating and cooling system. Tankless water heaters produce hot water on demand for the house’s low-flow plumbing fixtures, and Energy-Star-rated appliances save electricity throughout the house. Once the home is placed on a permanent foundation, it is expected to earn an Energy Star label as well. All American Homes built the NextGen home in association with the Partnership for Advanced Technology in Housing. See the NextGen04 Web site.
The International Builders Show runs through January 22nd.
Companies Examine New Ways to Keep Buildings Cool
With the International Builders Show in progress in Las Vegas, Nevada, you can be sure a lot of building professionals are thinking about how to keep buildings cool, and companies throughout the country are examining a range of techniques to accomplish that goal.
SPD Technologies, Inc. is at the show, displaying a new line of “smart” windows that can be electronically dimmed to filter out 99 percent of the ultraviolet light entering a room. The windows are suspended particle devices (SPDs), which use an applied voltage to align suspended particles in a thin-film coating, causing the windows to change from nearly opaque to slightly tinted. Research Frontiers, Inc. developed the SPD technology, which in the past has mainly been applied to sunroofs and various privacy-window applications , although it has been licensed to a number of window companies. See the Research Frontiers press releases.
Meanwhile, the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) is gearing up for its 2004 Winter Meeting, at which one seminar will examine the use of deep, cold water in lakes and rivers for cooling. Although such cooling projects are rare, according to ASHRAE, they yield large energy savings: a lake-source cooling project in Ithaca, New York, cut energy use by 87 percent. See the ASHRAE press release. The ASHRAE Winter Meeting runs from January 24th to 28th in Anaheim, California.
The International Air-Conditioning Heating Refrigerating Exposition, or AHR Expo, is also taking place in Anaheim in late January, and will feature two products that use an innovative thermodynamic process called the “Maisotsenko Cycle.” Though the process is too technical to explain here, the results are astounding: Idalex Technologies, Inc. claims its prototype condenser for air conditioners, refrigerators, and freezers is 57 percent more efficient than today’s high-efficiency products. And its air conditioner, marketed as the Coolerado Cooler, is a commercial product that the company claims is the most efficient air conditioner ever made, with an SEER of 40. The air conditioner is powered only by a fan (there’s no compressor) and was demonstrated at a school in Denver in October 2003, in partnership with the Colorado Governor’s Office of Energy Management and Conservation (OEMC). To learn about the Maisotsenko Cycle and Idalex’s products, see the Idalex Technologies Web site and the OEMC press release.
Manhattan Skyscraper Owner Makes Large Green Power Purchase
The Durst Organizationowner of seven high-rise office buildings in Manhattanbecame New York State’s largest commercial buyer of wind power last week, when the company agreed to buy 10.5 million kilowatt-hours of wind power per year. Community Energy, Inc. (CEI) will generate the wind power at its 30-megawatt Fenner Wind Power Project, located east of Syracuse. See the CEI press release.
DOE’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is also buying a large amount of green power: its Marine Sciences Laboratory is drawing on a landfill gas power plant for all of its power. PNNL is buying nearly 2.7 million kilowatt-hours of green power for the Marine Sciences Laboratory and another 9.3 million kilowatt-hours of power from wind energy and small hydropower systems for its main campus. Other recent purchases of green power include Connecticut College, which doubled its purchase of wind energy certificates from EAD Environmental LLC to 13.3 million kilowatt-hours over two years, and Eastern University in Pennsylvania, which is buying wind power from CEI for 37 percent of its power needs. See the press releases from PNNL, EAD Environmental, and CEI.
BPA Draws on Hydropower to Make Wind Energy More Attractive
The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), which supplies power to utilities throughout the Northwest, has launched a new service that will make wind power more attractive to those utilities. Because the wind produces a variable supply of energy, BPA is using its hydropower facilities as a back-up energy source to cover the times when the wind turbines don’t turn. BPA announced the new service last week in conjunction with its sale of two megawatts of wind power to Cowlitz County Public Utility District in Longview, Washington. The wind power will be generated at the Nine Canyon wind energy project near Kennewick, Washington, a facility operated by Energy Northwest. See the BPA press release.
The BPA service is partially based on a report by energy consultant Eric Hirst, who for years has been studying how best to integrate wind power into utility power grids. According to a report published by Hirst in 2001, wind advocates often claim that wind energy can be integrated into existing power grids at no cost, and detractors claim that “every unscheduled megawatt movement of a wind farm must be offset, megawatt for megawatt, by some other resource, generally at high cost.” The truth, says Hirst, lies somewhere in between. Hirst concludes that wind facility owners can use improved wind forecasting techniques to schedule their wind power output in advance with electric system operators, thereby earning more money per kilowatt-hour of wind power. See Hirst’s summary, with a link to his 2001 report, on his Web site.
Wind integration into the utility grid is also an issue in New York State. The New York Public Service Commission (PSC) is developing a minimum requirement for renewable power generation in the statealso known as a renewable portfolio standard (RPS)and wants to know how much wind power could be integrated into the power system without harming reliability. According to a preliminary assessment prepared by GE Power Systems Energy Consulting, the state should be able to provide 10 percent of its peak power load from wind power without any adverse impacts. That would be about 3,300 megawatts of wind power. See the report (PDF 1.75 MB) and the PSC RPS Web page. Download Acrobat Reader.
Altamont Wind Plants Sued for Failing to Prevent Bird Deaths
The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), a non-profit environmental organization, filed a federal lawsuit on January 12th against FPL Group, Inc. and NEG Micon A/S, claiming that the two companies have violated state and federal laws by allowing birds to be killed at their wind power facilities in California’s Altamont Pass. The two companies and their subsidiaries own or operate roughly half of the 5,400 wind turbines in the Altamont Wind Energy Resource Area (AWERA), an area known for its high rate of bird deaths. The area is particularly problematic because of the large number of golden eagles in the area, some of which are killed each year. CBD claims the wind power companies at AWERA have failed to implement effective mitigation strategies to reduce bird kills in the area. “The issue at Altamont is not wind power versus birds,” says CBD, “but rather whether the wind power industry is willing to take simple steps to reduce bird kills.” See the CBD press release.
Wind turbines’ interactions with birds have long been of concern to the wind power industry, in fact, the issue was one of the drivers for forming the National Wind Coordinating Committee (NWCC) in 1994. In 1999, the NWCC Wildlife Working Group p
roduced “Studying Wind Energy/Bird Interactions: A Guidance Document,” a comprehensive guide for determining or monitoring potential impacts on birds at proposed and existing wind energy sites. The Wildlife Working Group has also facilitated four National Avian-Wind Power Planning Workshops to define needed research and explore current issues. See the latest publications and activities of the Wildlife Working Group on the NWCC Web site.
A study prepared for the NWCC in 2001, called “Avian Collisions with Wind Turbines,” found that wind power facilities kill 10-40 thousand birds each year. To place that in context, the study also found that vehicles kill 60-80 million birds per year, and buildings and windows kill 98-980 million birds per year. See the study (PDF 2.78 MB). Download Acrobat Reader.
A fact sheet on bird deaths from the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) notes that avian mortality is low at most wind power sites, but acknowledges that Altamont Pass remains a concern because of the deaths of golden eagles there. The fact sheet also notes that other energy sources also have adverse effects on birds. See the AWEA fact sheet (PDF 126 KB).
Energy Connections
2003 and 2002 Tied as Second-Warmest Years on Record
The past two years tied as the second-warmest years on record, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Global temperatures for both years averaged 1.01 degrees Fahrenheit (0.56 degrees Celsius) above the long-term average. The warmest year on record was 1998, when average global temperatures hit 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit (0.44 degrees Celsius) above the long-term average. See the annual review of global temperatures on NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center Web site.
In a series of announcements over the past three years, President Bush has acknowledged the long-term challenge of global climate change and the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In early 2003, DOE launched Climate VISION (Voluntary Innovative Sector Initiatives: Opportunities Now), a Presidential public-private partnership to help meet the President’s goal of reducing greenhouse gas intensity by 18 percent in 10 years. In December, DOE launched a new Climate VISION Web site, which includes President Bush’s statements regarding climate change.
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| Kevin Eber is the Editor of EREE Network News, a weekly publication of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). |
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