Weekly Clean Energy Roundup:August 29, 2007

News and Events

• DOE Offers up to $33.8 Million to Support Cellulosic Biofuels
• USDA Guarantees $97 Million in Loans for Biomass Projects
• Six Western States and Two Provinces Set Greenhouse Gas Goals
• North Carolina Sets a Requirement for 12.5% Renewable Power by 2021
• GM Unveils an Advanced Combustion Engine that Reduces Fuel Use
• Trade Commission Launches New EnergyGuide Label for Appliances

Energy Connections

• EIA: Renewable Energy Consumption Increased 7 Percent in 2006
  

News and Events

DOE Offers up to $33.8 Million to Support Cellulosic Biofuels

DOE is offering up to $33.8 million to support the development of enzymes for converting cellulosic biomass into biofuels. Cellulosic biomass includes a variety of non-food plant materials, such as agricultural wastes, sawdust, paper pulp, and switchgrass. Enzymes can be used in biorefineries to more efficiently break down cellulosic biomass into simple sugars, which can then be fermented into biofuels such as ethanol. Enzymes developed with the help of the new DOE funding must prove durable and effective in the conditions at which biorefineries would operate.

DOE issued its Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) on August 17th, and the enzyme development projects are expected to begin in fiscal year 2008 and continue through fiscal year 2011. Industrial partners must provide half of the cost of the development projects, for a total investment of nearly $68 million. Letters of intent are due on September 10th, and completed applications are due on October 30th. See the DOE press release and the FOA on the Grants.gov Web site.

USDA Guarantees $97 Million in Loans for Biomass Projects

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced last week that four biomass energy and biofuel projects in three states have been approved for loan guarantees totaling $97 million. The loan guarantees originate from two separate USDA programs and will support the construction of new facilities in Georgia, Illinois, and North Carolina.

Specifically, the USDA will guarantee loans of $19.5 million for a wood pellet plant in Savannah, Georgia, that will produce 130,000 metric tons of wood pellets per year; loans of $27.5 million and $15 million, respectively, for biodiesel facilities in Freeport, Illinois, and Jasper County, Illinois, that will each produce 30 million gallons per year of biodiesel; and loans of $35 million for an ethanol plant in Hoke County, North Carolina, that will produce 60 million gallons of ethanol per year. According to the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA), the North Carolina ethanol plant will be the first in that state. See the USDA press release and the RFA’s map of ethanol plants (PDF 231 KB).

Hawaii is also slated to receive its first ethanol plant, which will draw on an unconventional feedstock for the United States: sugar. Kauai sugar producer Gay & Robinson Inc. is teaming up with Pacific West Energy LLC to produce 12 million gallons of ethanol per year from sugar juice and molasses. Gay & Robinson sees the plant as essential to continue its sugar operations and preserve jobs for 230 of its employees. See the Pacific West Energy press release (PDF 84 KB).

Speaking of the RFA, its education and research arm, the Renewable Fuels Foundation (RFF), is now offering its first grants. The RFF seeks to provide funding to U.S. universities and non-profit organizations for research projects and policy studies related to ethanol production. The RFF intends to award one grant for $150,000, spread over two years. See the announcement on the RFF Web site.

Six Western States and Two Provinces Set Greenhouse Gas Goals

The members of the Western Climate Initiative agreed last week to a regional goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 15% below 2005 levels by 2020. The initiative was formed in February by the governors of Arizona, California, New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington, and was later joined by the state of Utah and the Canadian provinces of British Columbia and Manitoba. By August 2008, the members of the initiative plan to create a market-based mechanism, such as a carbon cap-and-trade program, to achieve the goal. See the agreement (PDF 224 KB).

The initiative members stressed that the regional goal does not replace or supersede the goals set by the individual states and provinces. For instance, Oregon has set a goal to stop the increase in greenhouse gas emissions by 2010, then to reduce emissions to 10% below 1990 levels by 2020 and to 75% below 1990 l
evels by 2050. Those goals were codified into state law this year. Meanwhile, Utah Governor Jon Huntsman, Jr., a relative newcomer to the process, has committed that state to developing a greenhouse gas reduction goal by June 2008. See the press releases from Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski and Utah Governor Jon Huntsman.

North Carolina Sets a Requirement for 12.5% Renewable Power by 2021

North Carolina Governor Mike Easley signed a bill last week that sets a minimum requirement for the use of renewable energy by the state’s electric utilities. The bill requires the investor-owned utilities to draw on renewable energy for 3% of their electricity supply starting in 2012, with the requirement increasing every three years until it reaches 12.5% of the electricity supply in 2021. Electric cooperatives and municipal utilities must also draw on renewable energy for 3% of their electricity supply starting in 2012, with the requirement increasing every three years until it reaches 10% of the electricity supply in 2018. North Carolina is the southernmost state on the East Coast to implement a renewable energy requirement. See the summary map on the Database of State Incentives for Renewable Energy (DSIRE) Web site (PowerPoint 327 KB).

The bill allows credit for the use of solar, wind, geothermal, and biomass energy sources, as well as hydropower, ocean current energy, and wave energy. It also allows for the use of hydrogen produced from any of these renewable resources. Utilities can buy the power from renewable projects located in or out of the state, or can buy renewable energy credits, although no more than a quarter of the renewable requirement can be met using credits from out of the state. Investor-owned utilities can also meet up to 25% of their renewable energy requirement through energy savings due to energy efficiency measures, and starting in 2021, they can meet 40% of the requirement through energy efficiency measures.

The bill also establishes requirements for the use of certain renewable technologies, an approach known as “set-asides.” Specifically, solar energy (including solar thermal energy) must provide the equivalent of 0.02% of the electricity sold by utilities in 2010, increasing to 0.2% by 2018. Electricity produced from swine waste must provide 0.07% of the state’s electricity supply in 2012, also increasing to 0.2% by 2018. And electricity produced from poultry waste and bedding material must supply 170 million kilowatt-hours of electricity in 2012, 700 million kilowatt-hours in 2013, and 900 million kilowatt-hours in 2014 and after. See the summary of the bill on the DSIRE Web site and the full text of the bill (PDF 111 KB).

GM Unveils an Advanced Combustion Engine that Reduces Fuel Use

General Motors Corporation (GM) has integrated a prototype advanced combustion engine into two drivable concept cars, a 2007 Saturn Aura and its European sibling, the Opel Vectra. The prototype GM engine uses homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI), a combustion technology in which the gasoline is pre-mixed with air, as in spark-ignition engines, but the engine combusts the mixture using compression, like a diesel engine. HCCI engines operate at lower temperatures than conventional gasoline engines, allowing them to achieve high efficiency and low emissions. The two concept cars feature 2.2-liter, four-cylinder HCCI engines that burn up to 15% less fuel while meeting current emissions standards.

HCCI engines have been under development for years, but they have an Achilles’ heel: the timing of the combustion process is difficult to control. The GM prototype accommodates that timing problem at low speeds and under low loads through several advanced engine control technologies, including cylinder pressure sensing and variable valve timing. The engine employs traditional spark ignition when it is started cold, then switches to the HCCI mode once it warms up. Under load and at speeds greater than 55 miles per hour, the engine switches back to spark ignition. GM admits that the transition is “notable” in its prototypes, but the company believes such problems can be ironed out in future production engines. See the GM press release.

Coincidentally, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are working with Ford Motor Company on a very similar HCCI engine. Like the GM prototype, MIT’s engine switches between spark ignition and HCCI, but the MIT engine has only been operated under test conditions, not in an actual vehicle. However, the researchers have simulated urban driving conditions and have found that the engine would run in HCCI mode about 40% of the time, yielding a fuel economy improvement of “a few miles per gallon.” See the MIT press release.

Trade Commission Launches New EnergyGuide Label for Appliances

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced in early August that it has finalized its revisions to the EnergyGuide label, which helps U.S. consumers compare the energy performance of many appliances. The new EnergyGuide label will still be a familiar yellow color, but will feature a streamlined look that prominently displays the estimated annual operating cost for most appliances.

Providing energy use data in terms of cost – rather than kilowatt-hours of electricity or British thermal units of natural gas – provides a clear context for consumers to compare different models. It also allows for a more informed decision when consumers trade off the up-front cost of an appliance with its annual operating cost. See the FTC press release.

Energy Connections

EIA: Renewable Energy Consumption Increased 7 Percent in 2006

The use of renewable energy in the United States increased nearly 7% in 2006, according to preliminary statistics released last week by DOE’s Energy Information Administration (EIA). The new report finds wind power to be the fastest growing renewable energy technology, growing by 45% in 2006, followed by biofuels, which grew by 27.6%. In 2006, ethanol provided 4% of the volume of finished gasoline produced in the United States while consuming 14% of the nation’s corn crop. Hydropower production also increased by 6.9% in 2006, reaching its highest level since 2003, but it remained below the high-water years of the late 1990s. See the report on the EIA Web site.

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