President Bush Proposes Energy Initiative to Slash Oil Imports New Study Confirms Energy Benefit of Ethanol Fuel Ford Unveils Hybrid that Can Run on Ethanol-Rich Fuel U.S. Wind Industry Marks 2005 as its Most Productive Year Ever DOE and 15 Federal Agencies Sign Green Building Agreement DOE Conducts Energy Saving Assessment at Fertilizer Plant
Energy Connections
Nuclear Plant Revival Advances with Approval of New Design
News and Events
President Bush Proposes Energy Initiative to Slash Oil Imports
President Bush outlined an Advanced Energy Initiative in last night’s State of the Union Address, with the goal of replacing more than 75 percent of U.S. oil imports from the Middle East by 2025. The Initiative provides for a 22 percent increase in clean energy research at DOE. “America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world,” said President Bush. “The best way to break this addiction is through technology.” See the State of the Union Address on the White House Web site.
A White House fact sheet on the Initiative gives a preview of the President’s proposed budget for 2007, which will include a new $148 million Solar America Initiative to accelerate the development of solar cells. The Solar America Initiative would more than double the funding for research in solar photovoltaic technologies. The budget will also include $44 million for wind energy research, a $5 million increase over this year’s funding level.
The President also proposed accelerated research in producing ethanol from cellulosic biomass sources, such as agricultural wastes or switchgrass, with the goal of making such cellulosic ethanol practical and competitive within 6 years. The President’s 2007 budget will include $150 million for the effort, an increase of $59 million over this year’s funding. Cellulosic ethanol has the potential to displace up to 30 percent of the current fuel use in the United States.
The President’s plan also aims to accelerate research in the next generation of battery technology for hybrid vehicles and “plug-in” hybrids, vehicles that can be recharged at night and can run significant distances on electric power only. The 2007 budget will include $30 million to speed the development of this technology. The budget also continues to fund the President’s Hydrogen Fuel Initiative, providing $289 million in 2007, an increase of $53 million. See the White House fact sheet.
New Study Confirms Energy Benefit of Ethanol Fuel
Ethanol fuel produced from corn reduces petroleum use by about 95 percent, while also reducing greenhouses gases by about 13 percent, according to a report published last Friday in the journal Science. In the report, researchers at the University of California-Berkeley’s Energy and Resources Group and the Goldman School of Public Policy compared six analyses of the energy required to produce ethanol and the energy benefits of ethanol and other co-products. The report found that those studies most critical of the energy benefits of ethanol ignored the added energy benefits of co-products such as animal feeds and included old or non-representative data about the energy used in the processes. The report also examined the production of ethanol from grasses and other “cellulosic” biomass sources, and found that the energy benefit would decrease slightly, but the greenhouse gas benefits would be greatly enhanced. The authors suggest that such cellulosic ethanol could provide a sizeable fraction of the fuel needed for transportation in the United States. See the press releases from the Renewable Fuels Association and UC-Berkeley, and download the full paper, the six analyses, and supporting research from the UC-Berkeley Web site.
Several companies are already pursuing cellulosic ethanol. Abengoa Bioenergy, which has a pilot plant in Nebraska, is building a plant in Spain to produce 110,000 gallons per month of cellulosic ethanol from agricultural residues. MEMS USA, Inc. plans to build a facility in northern Ontario capable of producing 5 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol per month from forestry and mill waste. And Iogen Corporation is working with Volkswagen and Shell to study the feasibility of building a cellulosic ethanol plant in Germany. See the Abengoa Bioenergy press release, the January 4th press release on the MEMS USA Web site, and the Iogen press release.
Ford Unveils Hybrid that Can Run on Ethanol-Rich Fuel
Ford Motor Company unveiled last week a prototype vehicle that reduces petroleum consumption in two ways: it achieves a high fuel efficiency using hybrid technology, and it can run on a fuel made chiefly of ethanol. The Ford Escape Hybrid E85 is a flex-fuel vehicle, capable of running on gasoline or on E85, a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. Ford is a leader in flex-fuel vehicles, having produced 1.5 million flex-fuel vehicles in the past decade. In December, Ford launched the first full-size truck with flex-fuel capability, the E85 F-150. Ford is also pursuing hybrid vehicles with the launch of the Mazda Tribute Hybrid next year and hybrid versions of the Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan mid-size sedans in 2008. By 2010, Ford intends to launch hybrid versions of the
Ford Five Hundred and Mercury Montego full-size sedans, and the Ford Edge and Lincoln MKX “crossovers,” which are midway between sport utility vehicles and cars. See the press releases from Ford and the National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition.
One problem with flex-fuel vehicles is the limited availability of E85 pumps, leaving most owners to fuel with gasoline only. But both Ford and General Motors (GM) are working to remove that barrier. Ford and VeraSun Energy Corporation announced in November 2005 that they’d work together to convert fuel pumps in the Midwest to E85. GM announced in early January that it would work with the State of California, Pacific Ethanol, and Chevron Technology Ventures, LLC to deploy GM flex-fuel vehicles at state agencies to explore the merits of E85. Pacific Ethanol is currently building an ethanol plant in Madera and plans to build four more plants in California over the next two years. See the GM press release.
U.S. Wind Industry Marks 2005 as its Most Productive Year Ever
The U.S. wind energy industry grew at a record-breaking pace in 2005, installing 2,431 megawatts (MW) of new wind power capacity in 22 states, according to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA). The rapid growth increased the total U.S. wind power capacity to 9,149 MW, a 35 percent increase. Commercial wind turbines are now installed in 30 states, producing enough electricity annually to equal the power used by 2.3 million U.S. households. Wind power developers invested more than $3 billion in new wind turbines in 2005, and are expected to invest even more next year: AWEA predicts that 2006 will be an even bigger year for the industry, with the installation of 3,000 MW of new wind power capacity. Texas now rivals California as the state with the most installed wind power, while FPL Energy remains the nation’s largest wind power developer, and GE Energy supplied most of the new wind turbine capacity. See the AWEA press release.
A number of significant wind power projects were completed in 2005, including the 50-MW Kumeyaay Wind Power Project, the first large wind power project on tribal lands. Located on the Campo Indian Reservation east of San Diego, California, the project was financed by GE Energy Financial Services. Other major projects include: the 185-MW Century Wind Project in Iowa; the 150-MW Elk River Wind Farm, the largest in Kansas; the 135-MW Judith Gap wind project, the largest in Montana; the 59.4-MW Ainsworth Wind Energy Facility, the largest in Nebraska; the 7.5-MW Jersey-Atlantic Wind Farm, the first in New Jersey; the 137-MW Maple Ridge Wind Farm, the largest in New York; the 151.2-MW Blue Canyon II and the 147-MW Weatherford Wind Energy Center, the two largest projects in Oklahoma; the 210-MW Horse Hollow wind energy center in Texas, this year’s largest project; and the 149.4-MW Hopkins Ridge Wind Project in Washington. See the GE Web page on the Kumeyaay Wind Power Project, AWEA’s list of 2005 projects (PDF 17 KB), and AWEA’s updated map of all U.S. wind projects.
DOE and 15 Federal Agencies Sign Green Building Agreement
DOE joined 15 other federal agencies and the White House Council on Environmental Quality on Monday in a joint commitment to designing and constructing sustainable buildings that achieve high energy performance. The agencies signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) saying they would strive to adopt a standard set of guiding principles for sustainable buildings: employing integrated design principles; optimizing energy performance; protecting and conserving water; enhancing indoor environmental quality; and reducing the environmental impact of the building materials. The agencies will aim to achieve the Energy Star targets for new construction and renovation and will also employ daylighting and incorporate biobased materials into their buildings. See the press release from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the full MOU (PDF 191 KB) on the Energy Star Web site.
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) thinks sustainable design can eventually achieve large energy savings: The group has adopted position statements to promote sustainable design and resource conservation, with the goal of cutting in half the fossil fuels used to construct and operate buildings by the year 2010. The AIA also supports using rating systems and standards to promote the design and construction of sustainable communities and buildings. One such rating system, the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating system, was recently streamlined and simplified by the organization that developed it, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). See press releases from the AIA and the USGBC.
DOE Conducts Energy Saving Assessment at Fertilizer Plant
DOE announced last week that a three-day Industrial Energy Saving Assessment will take place at the Terra Nitrogen Company, LP plant near Tulsa, Oklahoma. Through its free energy assessments, DOE is working with major manufacturing facilities to identify opportunities to save energy and money, primarily by focusing on steam and process heating systems. DOE’s Energy Saving Teams have completed visits to 28 large federal facilities and are in the process of visiting 200 of the most energy-intensive manufacturing facilities in the United States as part of the national “Easy Ways to Save Energy” campaign launched in October 2005. See the “Easy Ways to Save Energy” Web site.
Terra Nitrogen Company, LP is a major U.S. producer of nitrogen fertilizer products. Its manufacturing facility in Verdigris, Oklahoma?
just northeast of Tulsa?has the capacity to produce 2.2 million tons annually of urea ammonium nitrate solutions and 1.1 million tons of anhydrous ammonia, both of which are ingredients in nitrogen fertilizers. See the DOE press release.
Energy Connections
Nuclear Plant Revival Advances with Approval of New Design
Advocates of new nuclear power plant construction moved closer to the goalpost on Tuesday, as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) published the final design certification rule for Westinghouse Electric Corporation’s “advanced passive” reactor design, the AP1000. The rule certifying the AP1000 design will become effective on February 27th, allowing utilities to reference the design in their applications to build new nuclear plants. In December 2005, the NRC also accepted an application from the General Electric Company for its advanced design, the Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor, or ESBWR. That design is still under review at the NRC. See the NRC press releases about the Westinghouse and GE designs.
A number of utilities are now moving ahead with applications to NRC for licenses to build new nuclear plants using the AP1000 design. Progress Energy, which previously indicated its intention to apply for a license, announced last week its selection of the Harris Nuclear Plant site near New Hill, North Carolina, as its proposed location. Georgia Power and Southern Nuclear Operating Company also announced plans last week to pursue new AP1000 nuclear plants at the Plant Vogtle nuclear site, near Waynesboro, Georgia. Duke Power announced back in October 2005 that it would also submit an application to build two reactors of the AP1000 design, but it has not yet named a location. See the press releases from Progress Energy, Georgia Power, and Duke Power.
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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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