Weekly Clean Energy Roundup:May 4, 2005

News and Events

• Oregon and California Students Win Fuel Cell Model Car Challenge
• State Collaborative Offers $4.95 Million for Efficiency, Distributed Energy
• Long Island Power, FPL Energy Apply to Build an Offshore Wind Plant
• California Continues to Lead the Way with Large Solar Projects
• Arizona Passes, Colorado Vetoes Appliance Efficiency Standards
• Portland Aims for Gold with Revised Green Building Policy

Energy Connections

DOE: Liquefied Natural Gas Imports Increased 29 Percent in 2004

News and Events

Oregon and California Students Win Fuel Cell Model Car Challenge

High school students from Portland, Oregon, and San Jose, California, took top honors on Saturday at the Hydrogen Fuel Cell Model Car Challenge, part of DOE’s National Science Bowl competition. The team from the Woodrow Wilson High School of Portland took first place in the Grand Prix speed race, and the team from the Harker School of San Jose won the “King of the Hill” award by conquering a 20-degree incline with their hydrogen-powered model car. The two first-place teams will each receive $1,750 for their schools’ science departments. The Model Car Challenge is one of several hands-on activities in which the 63 National Science Bowl teams took part on Saturday. Eighteen teams, selected by lottery, used model car kit components provided by General Motors Corporation to design and build hydrogen-powered race cars measuring at most one foot wide by two feet long. See the DOE press release.

While West Coast schools dominated the Hydrogen Fuel Cell Model Car Challenge, on Monday an East Coast school won the main event: the 2005 National Science Bowl championship. The team from the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science & Technology, located in Alexandria, Virginia, earned first place for the fourth consecutive year. Clinching the top spot by answering a question about mathematician Kurt Godel’s Incompleteness Theorem, the team earned its fourth trophy as well as a research trip to Alaska, three computer-based laboratories, and $1,000 for its school’s science department. See the DOE press release.

DOE created the National Science Bowl in 1991 to encourage high school students to excel in math and science and to pursue careers in these fields. The 63 National Science Bowl teams had to first win regional competitions before congregating in Washington, D.C., for this weekend’s competition. See the National Science Bowl Web site.

State Collaborative Offers $4.95 Million for Efficiency, Distributed Energy

The State Technologies Advancement Collaborative (STAC) announced Monday a $4.95-million solicitation for distributed energy and energy efficiency projects. The solicitation is open to state entities for multi-state projects involving distributed energy and energy efficiency in industry, transportation, and buildings, including projects relating to the Rebuild America Program (DOE recently transferred the management of that program to STAC). Formed in November 2002, STAC is a five-year pilot project comprising DOE, the National Association of State Energy Officials, and the Association of State Energy Research and Technology Transfer Institutions. See the STAC press release (PDF 108 KB). The full solicitation is linked to from the STAC home page.

Long Island Power, FPL Energy Apply to Build an Offshore Wind Plant

The Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) and FPL Energy are moving ahead with their plans to build a 140-megawatt wind power facility off the south shore of Long Island. The two companies announced last week that they were jointly filing an application with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, thereby starting an extensive state and federal review of the project. The project will consist of 40 3.6-megawatt wind turbines clustered in an eight-square-mile area about 4.1 miles south of Cedar Beach, with a 10-mile transmission cable to connect the facility to an existing substation in West Amityville. See the LIPA press release.

Meanwhile, the developers of two other North American offshore wind projects are planning to work together to cut costs. Cape Wind Associates, LLC plans to build a 420-megawatt wind project on Horseshoe Shoal, five miles off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and Nai Kun Wind Development Inc. plans to build a 700-megawatt wind project off the north coast of British Columbia. Under a collaboration agreement announced Monday, the companies will jointly procure the foundations, towers, turbines, blades, and power cables for both projects. The companies also plan to pool their skills and experience on other aspects of the projects, such as maintenance regimes, marine service vessels and best practices. See the Nai Kun press release.

While offshore wind projects remain in the planning stages, wind projects on land continue to charge ahead. Last week, the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) increased its forecast for new wind power capacity this year. AWEA now expects up to 2,500 megawatts of new U.S. wind power capacity this year, a record growth that could exceed the p
revious record by 50 percent. See the AWEA press release.

California Continues to Lead the Way with Large Solar Projects

An increasing number of solar energy projects are now being installed across the United States, but California is still king when it comes to really large solar power installations. Shell Solar provides the best proof: last week alone, the company powered up a 350-kilowatt solar power system at the Desert Water Agency in Palm Springs, then dedicated a 980-kilowatt system at the Semitropic Water Storage District in Wasco, about 25 miles northwest of Bakersfield. The Palm Springs system was assembled into large panels at the Shell Solar plant, allowing for easier installation at the site. The Semitropic system, which covers an area equal to about four football fields, employs a unique single-axis tracking system to maximize its power production. See the Shell Solar press releases from April 26th and April 29th.

California universities and local governments are also leaders in solar power. Cal State Northridge recently dedicated a 467-kilowatt system that also provides shade in one of its parking lots. The campus already has a 225-kilowatt solar power system, making it a leader among California universities. And Alameda County marked Earth Day by dedicating 1.1 megawatts of new solar arrays, located at seven sites across the county. The county now has a total of 2.3 megawatts of solar power projects, all of which were installed by PowerLight Corporation. See the press releases from Cal State Northridge and PowerLight.

All of the new solar power systems earned hefty checks from local utilities, thanks to the state’s Self-Generation Incentive Program, which continues to drive new solar power investments in the state. But while those utilities encourage their customers to invest in solar power, they are also investing directly in solar power. For instance, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) approved last week the installation of a 300-kilowatt solar power system on the roof of the city’s Northpoint Wastewater Treatment Plant, noting that the system would pay for itself over the life of the project. In addition, San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) announced plans to install as much as 3 megawatts of solar power in its service area. See the press releases from SFPUC and SDG&E.

Arizona Passes, Colorado Vetoes Appliance Efficiency Standards

Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano signed a bill last week that sets minimum energy efficiency standards for 12 products not covered by current federal standards. Starting in 2008, the law will apply to the following products sold in Arizona: torchiere light fixtures, exit signs, commercial refrigerators and freezers, commercial clothes washers, large commercial air conditioning equipment, icemakers, spray nozzles used in commercial kitchens, low-voltage distribution transformers, metal-halide lamp fixtures, power supplies for electronic devices, unit heaters, and traffic signals. According to the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project (SWEEP), the standards will save Arizona consumers and business a total of $650 million on energy bills by 2030. California, Connecticut, Maryland, and New Jersey have already adopted efficiency standards on these products. See the history and text of House Bill 2390 and the SWEEP press release (PDF 136 KB).

Colorado Governor Bill Owens vetoed a similar bill last week. House Bill 1162 aimed to set minimum energy efficiency standards on 14 products not currently covered by federal energy efficiency standards. According to the governor’s veto message, Governor Owens prefers to let market forces generate energy efficiency, with the concern that standards could increase costs. The governor is also opposed to state-by-state legislation, arguing that the federal government should set uniform standards. See the governor’s veto message.

Meanwhile, New York Governor George E. Pataki has proposed similar legislation in his state. The governor’s proposed legislation would set energy efficiency standards for 14 products not currently covered by federal efficiency standards. Governor Pataki estimates that the legislation could save New York consumers $284 million annually when fully implemented. See the governor’s press release.

Portland Aims for Gold with Revised Green Building Policy

Portland, Oregon, has updated its four-year-old Green Building Policy and now requires all municipal buildings to obtain LEED Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). The Gold certification is the second-highest rating under the USGBC LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification system. Portland and Scottsdale, Arizona, are now the only two U.S. cities that require municipal buildings to acquire LEED Gold certification. The new policy also requires new city-funded private sector buildings and major retrofits of city-owned buildings to achieve LEED Silver certification, and provides for city support of new private building projects to help them achieve LEED Silver certification. See the press release from the City of Portland Office of Sustainable Development (PDF 89 KB).

Green building continues to gain momentum in the United States. In Tennessee, DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has built a joint institute building with the University of Tennessee that is expected to receive LEED certification. The joint institute uses 25 percent less energy than comparable buildings. In Maryland, the Maryland Energy Administration has set its own green building standards, and has recently awarded tax credits to both a 65-unit residential building and an office building. Both buildings will be 35 percent more efficient than comparable buildings, and the office building will also generate 200 kilowatts of power from a wind turbine and building-integrated solar power panels. See the ORNL press release and the Maryland Energy Administration press releases for the residential building (PDF 61 KB) and the office building (PDF 65 KB).

Building designers that aim to save energy rely heavily on building energy simulation software such as DOE’s EnergyPlus program. Those designers now have more computing power to draw on, as the latest version of EnergyPlus is now available for Windows and Linux operating systems. The new version includes more weather files, the ability to model more complex ventilation schemes, and many other new features. See the EnergyPlus Web page and the full list of new features on DOE’s Building Technologies Program Web site.

Energy Connections

DOE: Liquefied Natural Gas Imports Increased 29 Percent in 2004

Imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) increased 28.7 percent in 2004, according to a report issued in mid-April by the Natural Gas Regulatory Program, part of the DOE Office of Fossil Energy. DOE’s fourth quarter report on natural gas imports and exports says that LNG imports equaled about 3 percent of U.S. natural gas consumption in 2004, with 71 percent of the imports coming from Trinidad. Maryland’s Cove Point receiving terminal, which reopened in late August 2003, became the most active LNG receiving terminal in 2004. See the 2004 fourth quarter report (PDF 413 KB).

According to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), there are now five operating LNG terminals in the United States, the latest consisting of a submerged buoy in the Gulf of Mexico that is connected to an undersea natural gas pipeline. As of Monday, FERC has approved an additional eight U.S. LNG terminals, and the U.S. Coast Guard has approved two. Another 23 terminals have been proposed to either FERC or the Coast Guard, and 10 potential sites have been identified by developers. Meanwhile, seven new terminals have been proposed for Canada, and five new terminals have been proposed for Mexico. See the FERC list and map of “Existing, Proposed and Potential North American LNG Terminals” (PDF 160 KB).

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