Weekly Clean Energy Roundup:August 5, 2005

News and Events

• U.S. Joins Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development
• University of Michigan Wins the North American Solar Challenge
• Texas More than Doubles its Renewable Energy Requirement
• New York State Sets Efficiency Standards for Appliances
• Northwest Alliance to Promote Efficient Commercial Buildings

Energy Connections

News and Events

U.S. Joins Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development

President Bush announced last week that the United States has joined with Australia, China, India, Japan, and South Korea to create a new Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development. This new partnership will allow the six nations to develop and accelerate deployment of cleaner, more efficient energy technologies to address pollution reduction, energy security, and climate change concerns in ways that reduce poverty and promote economic development. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman will meet with their international counterparts this fall to carry the new partnership forward. See the White House announcement.

A White House fact sheet that accompanied the announcement noted that an increase in greenhouse gases caused by human activity is warming the surface of the Earth, and suggested the key to addressing this climate challenge is to develop and deploy cleaner, more efficient technologies. Among the energy technologies specifically mentioned in the fact sheet are energy efficiency, methane capture and use, biomass energy, geothermal energy, hydropower, wind power, solar power, and energy systems for villages and rural areas. See the White House fact sheet.

University of Michigan Wins the North American Solar Challenge

The University of Michigan held onto a narrow lead over the University of Minnesota last week to win the 2005 North American Solar Challenge. The 2,500-mile solar race?the longest in the world?concluded on July 27th in Calgary, Canada. Despite racing for 54 hours over the course of the event, the Michigan team finished less than 12 minutes ahead of Minnesota, with an average speed of 46.2 miles per hour (this includes low-speed driving in cities and towns). In contrast, the winners of the 2003 race beat their nearest rival by nearly five hours. The race was sponsored by DOE, DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and Natural Resources Canada.

Stanford University won the race’s “stock” category, in which the cars use lead-acid batteries and less expensive, lower-efficiency solar cells. Despite those limitations, the Stanford team’s total racing time was just 14 hours longer than the Michigan team. The Stanford win was particularly impressive after its troubles in the first stage of the race, when it fell more than two hours behind the leading stock solar car. See the press release (PDF 89 KB), the final race standings, and some parting thoughts from the solar racers (in the last entry of “Reports from the Road” by DOE’s Richard King).

Solar racing fans have just under two months to wait for the next big event: the World Solar Challenge in Australia. The 1,864-mile race bisects the country, departing from Darwin on September 25th and ending in Adelaide some four to seven days later. See the World Solar Challenge Web site.

Texas More than Doubles its Renewable Energy Requirement

Texas Governor Rick Perry signed a bill on Monday that will significantly increase the state’s requirement for the use of renewable energy in its electrical supply. Senate Bill 20 (SB 20) requires the state’s generating capacity from renewable energy sources to reach 5,880 megawatts by 2015, an amount capable of producing about 5 percent of the state’s electricity needs. It also sets a goal of reaching 10,000 megawatts in renewable energy capacity by 2025. The bill helps to further diversify the state’s sources of energy by requiring that 500 megawatts be produced by renewable energy sources other than wind power. The bill instructs the Public Utility Commission (PUC) of Texas to require utilities to add to their transmission systems as necessary to meet the renewable energy goal, and to allow utilities to recover the cost of such projects in their electric rates. See the governor’s press release and the text of the bill (PDF 47 KB).

The previous requirement, set in 1999, was for 2,880 megawatts of renewable power by 2009, an increase of 2,000 megawatts over the 880 megawatts of renewable generating capacity that was installed at that time. However, the PUC announced in March that the state would probably meet that goal by the end of this year. According to the PUC, wind power accounts for 96 percent of the renewable energy capacity added in the state since 1999. See the PUC of Texas press release.

New York State Sets Efficiency Standards for Appliances

New York Governor George Pataki signed a bill last week that will set energy efficiency standards for household appliances and electronic equipment. The new law sets energy efficiency standards for items not covered by federal efficiency standards, including ceiling fans and ceiling light kits; furnace air handlers; commercial wa
shing machines; commercial refrigerators, freezers, and icemakers; torchiere lighting fixtures; unit heaters; reflector lamps; large air-conditioning equipment; and other commercial and household items. The state expects the standards to save up to 2,096 gigawatt-hours of electricity per year, an amount equal to the energy required to power 350,000 homes, while saving the state’s consumers $284 million annually through lower energy bills.

Under the Appliance and Equipment Energy Efficiency Standards Act of 2005, the New York Secretary of State will consult with the president of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority to develop the energy efficiency standards for the specified products, although standards for most of the products are already included in the bill. They will also develop energy efficiency standards for products such as DVD players to reduce their energy use when in standby mode. Arizona, California, Connecticut, Maryland, and New Jersey have already adopted similar efficiency standards. See the governor’s press release and the full text of the bill.

Northwest Alliance to Promote Efficient Commercial Buildings

The Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance announced last week that it will spend $18.6 million over the next three years to promote energy efficiency in commercial buildings. The Commercial Sector Initiative, better known as BetterBricks, is expected to cut energy demand in the Northwest by 31 megawatts by 2015. The initiative will work with building owners and managers to encourage them to ask for energy-efficient, high-performance building practices in their new and existing buildings. Building types to be targeted under the effort include hospitals and other health care facilities, grocery stores, and commercial real estate such as office buildings. See the Alliance’s press release, a related fact sheet, and the BetterBricks Web site.

The Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance is a non-profit corporation supported by the Bonneville Power Administration, electric utilities, public benefits administrators, consumer interest groups and efficiency industry representatives. According to the Alliance’s 2004 Annual Report, released last month, projects supported by the Alliance and related efforts cut energy demand in the region by 35 megawatts last year. One indicator of the Alliance’s success: consumers in the Northwest bought more than 5 million compact fluorescent lamps in 2004, up from 3.8 million in 2003. See the annual report (PDF 475 KB).

Energy Connections

Asia’s Growth to Help Boost World Energy Use 57 Percent by 2025

A burgeoning energy demand in the rapidly developing countries of Asia will help increase world energy use by 57 percent over the next 20 years, according to DOE’s Energy Information Administration (EIA). The EIA’s “International Energy Outlook 2005,” released last week, projects a doubling of energy use in the emerging economies of China and India, while the United States and other developed countries will experience a 27 percent growth in energy use. In addition, the EIA expects energy use to increase by 45 percent in Eastern Europe and the countries of the former Soviet Union.

As a result, the EIA expects world oil use to increase to 119 million barrels per day by 2025, requiring an increase in production of 35 million barrels per day relative to today’s oil production. That’s actually a slight decrease from last year’s projection, because the EIA expects high oil prices to moderate demand. And despite recent escalations in oil prices, the EIA still expects prices to decline to $31 per barrel (in 2003 dollars) by 2010, then increase to $35 per barrel by 2025.

Meanwhile, grid-connected renewable energy sources are expected to keep pace with energy growth, maintaining an 8 percent share of world energy use. And although the Kyoto Protocol is now in effect, the EIA expects global carbon dioxide emissions to increase by nearly 60 percent over the next 20 years. See the EIA press release and the full report.

++++