"Operation Change Out" Spurs Efficient Lighting at Military Bases
In honor of Earth Day, DOE and the U.S. Department of Defense launched a new Energy Star campaign called "Operation Change Out," which will challenge military bases across the country to install Energy Star-qualified compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) in their on-base housing.
Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman announced the new campaign at Camp Lejeune-a Marine Corps base near Jacksonville, North Carolina-as he screwed in the last of the 17,500 CFLs that have been installed in the camp’s military houses. Over their lifetime, the new CFLs at Camp Lejeune will prevent more than 7.5 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions, while saving nearly 5 million kilowatt-hours of electricity and at least $500,000 on energy bills. Energy Star is a joint program of DOE and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
There are more than 200 military facilities located across the U.S, and changing one incandescent light bulb to a CFL in every on-base housing unit could prevent the emissions of more than 95 million pounds of carbon dioxide and would cut nearly $7 million in energy costs over the lifetime of the bulbs. See the DOE press release and the Operation Change Out Web site.
Three New Cellulosic Biorefineries to Receive $86 Million from DOE
DOE announced last week that it will invest $86 million over the next 4 years in three new cellulosic ethanol biorefineries, to be built by Ecofin, LLC; Mascoma; and RSE Pulp & Chemical, LLC. The small-scale biorefineries will produce ethanol from non-edible cellulosic biomass sources, such as corncobs, wood chips, and switchgrass. Cellulosic biomass has three main components: strong crystalline strands of cellulose, which are protected by hemicellulose, a complex carbohydrate, and the glue-like lignin.
Ecofin, LLC plans to build a biorefinery in Washington County, Kentucky, which will use a novel fermentation process to convert corncobs into more than 1 million gallons of ethanol per year, as well as other products. Mascoma proposes to build a biorefinery in Vonore, Tennessee, that will convert switchgrass and wood chips into 2 million gallons of ethanol per year using a biochemical process that employs ethanol-producing bacteria. The Mascoma facility will burn the lignin from the biomass to provide heat for the process. And RSE Pulp & Chemical, LLC, a subsidiary of Red Shield Environmental, LLC, plans to build a biorefinery at its pulp and paper mill in Old Town, Maine. Hemicellulose extracted from the wood pulp will be used to produce 2.2 million gallons of ethanol per year.
Mascoma plans to begin operating its Tennessee facility in 2009, while the other two facilities are expected to start operating in 2010. Such small-scale biorefineries are meant to test novel conversion technologies, providing the information needed to scale up the process to a commercial scale biorefinery, which would typically produce 20-30 million gallons of ethanol per year. The proposed biorefineries in Maine and Kentucky will each receive up to $30 million dollars in DOE funding, while the Tennessee facility will receive up to $26 million. See the DOE press release and the Mascoma Web site.
DOE Offers $7 Million for Biomass Pyrolysis Research
DOE released a solicitation last week that offers up to $7 million over the next 2 years to support research into improved methods of biomass pyrolysis-a process that uses heat to chemically decompose biomass materials, such as wood chips, into an oily liquid. This "bio-oil" is a complex mixture of oxygenated hydrocarbons that can be upgraded to fuels, such as gasoline and diesel fuel, using conventional oil refinery processes. However, bio-oil can be corrosive to storage tanks, and when stored for a period of time, it typically becomes more viscous or can even turn into a solid. In addition, bio-oil typically contains small particles of charred biomass residue, and minerals in the char can catalyze reactions that degrade the quality of the bio-oil.
The new DOE solicitation will support the development of enhanced pyrolysis methods or inexpensive post-pyrolysis processing techniques that will result in a less corrosive bio-oil with greater stability. Such an improved bio-oil would be more practical to store, transport, and upgrade into motor fuels. DOE anticipates that five to seven applicants will be selected, and with a minimum 20% cost share from the applicants, roughly $8.75 million will be invested in these projects. Applications are due on May 29. See the DOE press release and the Funding Opportunity Announcement at Grants.gov.
DOE to Offer $10 Billion in Renewable, Efficiency Loan Guarantees
DOE announced on April 11 that it will issue a solicitation in June, offering up to $10 billion in loan guarantees for energy efficiency, renewable energy, and electric transmission projects. The $10 billion will be part of a larger $38.5 billion loan guarantee package that will support a variety of energy technologies. Selection criteria for the clean energy projects will focus on the avoidance of emissions of greenhouse gas emissions and other air pollutants; the speed at which technologies can be commercialized; the cost-saving potential for consumers; the prospect of loan repayment; and the potential for long-lasting success of these technologies in the marketplace. To support the launch of the solicitations in June, DOE has also published an implementation plan for its Loan Guarantee program. See the DOE press release, the Loan Guarantee program Web site, and the implementation plan (PDF 54 KB).
As noted in that press release, DOE has also issued a Request for Information (RFI) to solicit input from stakeholders on which technologies to focus on for the energy efficiency, renewable energy, and electric transmission projects. These technologies could include advanced transmission and distribution systems; hydrogen and fuel cell technologies; energy efficient building technologies and applications; battery development; alternative vehicles; and ocean, solar, wind, geothermal, and biomass energy technologies. The RFI was also issued on April 11, and responses are due by May 2. See the RFI on the Financial Opportunities section of the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Web site.
DOE currently has a number of solicitations open for a range of technologies. EERE’s Industrial Technologies Program (ITP) has called for DOE national laboratories and industrial partners to submit proposals for new energy-efficient manufacturing processes using nanomaterials (materials that employ particles on the nanoscale, which is a billionth of a meter). This research call (PDF 137 KB) will support a new "Nanomanufacturing for Energy Efficiency" program that ITP will launch this year. Proposals are due by May 30.
ITP is also offering up to $7 million to develop transformational industrial processes to increase the energy efficiency of the U.S. manufacturing industry, with proposals due by May 7. In addition, DOE is offering up to $18.5 million to support advanced water power projects-technologies that produce power from tides, waves, or free-flowing water-with proposals due by June 16. Finally, DOE’s Office of Basic Energy Sciences seeks proposals for "Energy Frontier Research Centers" that will aim to accelerate the rate of scientific breakthroughs needed to create advanced energy technologies for the 21st century. Proposals are due on October 1.
DOE Presents an Earth Day Vision for Today and the Future
DOE is celebrating Earth Day by presenting its vision for today’s clean energy home and for the energy technologies that will help stop the growth of greenhouse gas emissions. Visit the DOE home page and you’ll see a Flash animation about how you can make a difference at home and on the road, including the use of energy efficient technologies, solar energy, and biofuels.
The second page of the animation shows the technologies that DOE is developing for a cleaner, more secure energy future. This page includes information about industrial energy efficiency, efficient buildings, zero energy homes, wind power, solar electric power, geothermal energy, water power, hydrogen, and biofuels. These and other technologies will help the nation meet the President’s goal to stop the growth of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 2025. See the DOE home page.
EPA: U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions Dropped 1.1% in 2006
Mild weather, a drop in fuel consumption, and an increased use of renewable energy and natural gas 
all conspired to cause U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to decrease by 1.1% in 2006, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The EPA’s annual inventory of GHG emissions and sinks forms the official U.S. report to the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. It also represents a refinement of the inventory produced by DOE’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) back in November 2007, which found a 1.5% decrease in GHG emissions.
Since 1990, U.S. GHG emissions have increased by 14.7%, while the U.S. gross domestic product has increased by 59%. Carbon dioxide emissions dominate U.S. GHG emissions, providing 84.8% of the total emissions, and most of the carbon dioxide emissions are caused by burning fossil fuels. See the press release and report on the EPA Climate Change Web page, and for comparison, see the November 2007 press release from the EIA.
To get a better handle on U.S. GHG emissions, researchers at Purdue University, Colorado State University, and DOE’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have estimated the geographic distribution of the emissions. The "Vulcan" project draws on federal government information about stationary emitters, such as power plants and industrial facilities, and combines it with estimates of GHG emissions from homes, commercial buildings, and vehicles, yielding a data set that is nearly complete (it currently omits aircraft and non-road vehicle use). The project, which was funded by DOE and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, shows emissions in the Southeast to be much larger than expected. See the Purdue press release and the Vulcan project Web site.
++++
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).
Loading...