Weekly Clean Energy Roundup:December 15, 2004

News and Events

• General Motors and DaimlerChrysler to Team Up on Hybrid Vehicles
• Honda Debuts Its Third Hybrid Vehicle, the Accord Hybrid
• Bay-Area Postal Facilities to Combine Efficiency, Fuel Cell, and Solar Power
• Major Corporations Buy 62 Megawatts of Green Power in 2004
• Wood Products Companies in Oregon Achieve Big Energy Savings

Energy Connections

News and Events

General Motors and DaimlerChrysler to Team Up on Hybrid Vehicles

DaimlerChrysler AG (DCX) and General Motors Corporation (GM) announced on Monday that they will work together to develop a hybrid propulsion system for use in GM, Chrysler Group and Mercedes Car Group vehicles. Although both companies have been working independently on their own hybrid propulsion systems, they have signed a non-binding “memorandum of understanding” for the joint hybrid project and intend to enter into a definitive agreement in early 2005. See the GM press release.

The companies will be working on a patent-protected hybrid system that incorporates two electric motors into an electrically variable transmission, creating a system that uses much smaller motors than today’s hybrid vehicles. The system appears to be modeled on a drive for buses and other transit vehicles developed by Allison Transmission and used by GM in its hybrid electric buses, since both the system under development and the Allison system are described as “two-mode” hybrid systems. The Allison system uses the electric power of the motors to accelerate from a stop, then uses the engine to assist at higher speeds. At high speeds, the engine will power the vehicle without help from the motors. Both the motors and the engine can independently drive the wheels. See the description of Allison’s hybrid drive on the Allison Transmission Web site.

Honda Debuts Its Third Hybrid Vehicle, the Accord Hybrid

The 2005 Honda Accord Hybrid went on sale in the United States last week. Honda’s third hybrid vehicle carries a manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) of $29,990. The vehicle comes standard with a large number of luxury add-ons that make it essentially equivalent (with the exception of a moon roof) to a Honda Accord EX V-6, which carries an MSRP of $26,700. Based on that comparison, the markup for the hybrid system is about $3,290. The Accord Hybrid with a 5-speed automatic transmission has earned fuel economy ratings from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of 29 miles per gallon (mpg) in the city and 37 mpg on the highway.

The Accord Hybrid employs the third generation of Honda’s hybrid propulsion system in combination with its new cylinder deactivation technology, which shuts down three of the cylinders while cruising. The vehicle generates 255 peak horsepower (hp)?6 percent more than the Accord V-6 Sedan?with “a remarkably broad and flat torque curve,” according to Honda. See the Honda press release.

While Honda launches its largest and most powerful hybrid to date, ZAP, a seller of advanced-technology vehicles, is preparing to market the tiny SMART two-passenger vehicle in the United States. The vehicle is manufactured in France by smart gmbh, a DaimlerChrysler company, and ZAP has earned approval from the EPA and the U.S. Department of Transportation to sell a modified version in the United States. The SMART features a six-speed transmission and a 61-hp, 3-cylinder turbocharged engine. Although ZAP claims the SMART achieves 60 mpg, EPA tests pegged it at 37 mpg. ZAP intends to start selling the SMART in early 2005 and is currently auctioning off one vehicle on e-Bay. See the ZAP press releases and SMART Web page.

Bay-Area Postal Facilities to Combine Efficiency, Fuel Cell, and Solar Power

Chevron Energy Solutions announced in early December that it will complete major energy efficiency upgrades and install a fuel cell and two solar power systems at the U.S. Postal Service’s largest mail processing and distribution facilities in San Francisco: the San Francisco Processing and Distribution Center and the Embarcadero Postal Center. The energy efficiency measures will include new energy management and compressed air systems, lighting retrofits, and upgrades to the heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems. Chevron Energy Solutions will also upgrade the Processing and Distribution Center with high-efficiency natural gas cooking equipment for the cafeteria.

That facility will also host a new hybrid solar/fuel cell power plant comprised of a 250-kilowatt fuel cell, a 100-kilowatt roof-mounted solar power system, and a 185-kilowatt solar power system mounted on a parking canopy that will track the sun. FuelCell Energy, Inc. will provide the fuel cell.

The improvements at both facilities will cut power purchases by about 10 million kilowatt-hours?a 46 percent reduction. In addition, the energy efficiency upgrades will reduce the heating needs by 69 percent at the San Francisco Processing and Distribution Center and by 28 percent at the Embarcadero Postal Center. See the press releases from Chevron Energy Solutions and FuelCell Energy.

Major Corporations Buy 62 Megawatts of Green Power in 2004

The World Resources Institute (WRI) announced last week that the members of its Green Power Market Development Group have bought 62 megawatts (MW) of
electricity from renewable energy sources over the past year. The Green Power Group is a WRI project that established a unique partnership dedicated to building corporate markets for green power. Its members are Alcoa Inc., Cargill Dow LLC, Delphi Corporation, The Dow Chemical Company, DuPont, FedEx Kinko’s, General Motors Corporation, IBM, Interface Inc., Johnson & Johnson, Pitney Bowes, and Staples.

The 62 MW of green power?enough to power 46,000 homes?represents purchases made for more than 80 facilities in 18 states. It includes 39 MW of certified renewable energy credits (supporting 21 MW of biomass power and 18 MW of wind power), 21 MW of power from landfill gas (supported by DuPont and Johnson & Johnson), and 2 MW of wind and solar power installed at facilities owned by Johnson & Johnson and IBM. In addition, Staples is installing two 280-kilowatt solar power systems at facilities in California. According to WRI, five of the Green Power Group members now draw on renewable energy for 10 percent or more of their power needs in the United States. See the WRI press release.

Wood Products Companies in Oregon Achieve Big Energy Savings

Three wood products companies in Oregon have proven that there are many routes to energy savings. Roseburg Forest Products installed a new “rolling screen” system to sort wood pieces for manufacturing particleboard, replacing steam-driven refiners and saving about 22 million kilowatt-hours of electricity per year. Cascade Wood Products installed new systems for dust collection, air compression, and lighting, saving nearly 2 million kilowatt-hours per year. Both companies received financial incentives from the Energy Trust of Oregon and expect to receive Business Energy Tax Credits and other rebates from the State of Oregon. Weyerhouser Company also saved about 1.3 million kilowatt-hours per year at its sawmill in Coburg by upgrading the facility’s compressed air system. That success story is documented in a BestPractices Case Study, produced by DOE’s Industrial Technologies Program. See the Energy Trust of Oregon press release (PDF 34 KB) and the BestPractices Case Study (PDF 385 KB).

With today’s high cost of energy, all types of industries are pursuing energy-saving projects. For instance, the Gas Technology Institute (GTI) is testing a gas-fired paper dryer at Liberty Paper Inc., a paper manufacturer in Minnesota. According to GTI, that technology could cut energy use at paper mills by 7 percent. Ohio recently presented its Awards for Excellence in Energy Efficiency, and included among the winners was Anheuser Busch, Inc., which is generating methane from its brewery wastewater and feeding it back into its boilers. In 2003, the system collected more than 200 million cubic feet of methane gas. Delphi Corporation also won an award for its plastic injection molding facility. By replacing its molding machines with all-electric models, it saved 11.7 million kilowatt-hours per year. See the press releases from GTI and the Ohio Department of Development.

Looking ahead, DOE’s Industrial Technologies Program just selected six facilities for plant-wide assessments, which investigate energy-saving opportunities and projects. The facilities include a synthetic fiber plant in South Carolina, owned by Shaw Industries Group, Inc.; a cement plant in Arizona, owned by the California Portland Cement Company; a fiberglass plant in Ohio, owned by Johns Manville; a chemical plant in West Virginia, owned by PPG Industries; a chicken processing plant in Texas, owned by Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation; and 10 die casting plants owned by eight companies. See the announcement from the Industrial Technologies Program.

Energy Connections

U.S. Dependence on Imported Energy to Grow by 2025

A growing U.S. thirst for oil and natural gas will draw increasingly on foreign imports over the next 20 years, according to the DOE’s Energy Information Administration (EIA). The EIA’s “Annual Energy Outlook 2005,” released last week, says that by 2025, as much as 68 percent of the U.S. petroleum demand could depend on imported oil, up from 56 percent in 2003. Meanwhile, U.S. natural gas consumption will increase by 9 trillion cubic feet, a 41 percent increase, of which 6.4 trillion cubic feet are expected to come from imported liquefied natural gas (LNG). That will cause LNG imports to increase 16-fold from the 2003 level of 0.4 trillion cubic feet. Meanwhile, the amount of electricity produced from renewable energy?including large-scale hydropower and combined heat and power generation?is projected to grow only 1.4 percent per year, increasing from 359 billion kilowatt-hours in 2003 to 489 billion kilowatt-hours in 2025. See the EIA press release and the early release of the “Annual Energy Outlook 2005.”

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