DOE Awards $15 Million to 21 Companies for Efficient Buildings
DOE announced last week that it has selected 21 companies to receive $15 million as the first phase of awards for the Net-Zero Energy Commercial Building Initiative. DOE’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and National Renewable Energy Laboratory will work with each awardee to design, build, commission, and operate at least one new energy-efficient prototype building. Compared to similar new commercial buildings that meet the minimum requirements of standards set by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), the new prototype buildings will consume only half as much energy.
The two national labs will also work with each company to retrofit one existing building to consume 30% less energy than a retrofitted building that meets the minimum ASHRAE standards. The building projects will use both cutting-edge energy efficiency technologies and on-site renewable power generation to reduce the energy use of the buildings.
The awardees for this phase of the award include retailers Best Buy, JCPenney, John Deere, Macy’s, SuperValu, Target, Toyota, and Whole Foods Market; commercial real estate firms CB Richard Ellis, Forest City Enterprises, Hines, InterContinental Hotels Group, The Opus Group, ProLogis, Regency Centers, Ryan Companies US, Simon Property Group, Tishman Speyer, and The Westfield Group; and two financial institutions, namely, the Bank of America and the PNC Financial Services Group. The intent is to identify approaches that can be replicated across the nation, while gaining insight into private-sector decision processes, business models, and financial drivers for achieving low-energy buildings. See the DOE press release and DOE Building Technologies Program’s list of commercial building energy alliances.
Meanwhile, on the residential side, DOE is working toward its goal of building a zero-energy home and has announced the formation of the Zero Energy Building Research Alliance, or ZEBRAlliance. Partners include DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), sponsored by DOE and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to conduct research and provide consumer education, and Schaad Companies, which is funding and building demonstration houses.
The goal of the ZEBRAlliance is to create a home that generates more energy than it consumes, but costs the same to purchase and own as a typical house. Schaad will construct four homes in 2008 and ORNL and TVA will collect data from the houses and make modifications to ensure optimal efficiency. The initial demonstration homes will each employ a different strategy for constructing the home’s shell, including Structural Insulated Panels, advanced wood framing, dynamic insulation that stores solar energy, and a conventional wood framing system with exterior insulation. Researchers will then test the affordability and performance of each. See the ORNL press release and the ZEBRAlliance Web site.
Deepwater Wind to Build Rhode Island Off-Shore Wind Plant
Rhode Island Governor Donald L. Carcieri announced last week that Deepwater Wind will construct a wind energy project that is projected to provide 15% of all electricity used annually in the state-about 1.3 million megawatt hours. The project, expected to cost $1 billion to construct and funded by private investments, will be built off the shore of Rhode Island. The exact location is still being determined.
Deepwater Wind will also construct a regional manufacturing facility in Quonset, New Hampshire, which will serve the entire northeast with support structures for wind turbines and towers. The facility is expected to create up to 800 jobs. Rhode Island and Deepwater Wind are entering formal negotiations, and final approval of the projects is subject to state and federal regulatory approvals. See the press release from the Rhode Island Government.
As this and other wind projects are built across the country, the environmental, social, and economic effects of such projects are of increasing concern. To address these concerns in areas including Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota, the Western Area Power Administration and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are preparing a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS). The PEIS will evaluate concerns, identify mitigation strategies, establish best practices for construction and management, and create a program for evaluating the environmental impact of future projects. Public meetings to gather comments will be held in Sioux Falls, South Dakota on September 30 (prior to publication of this story); Bismarck, North Dakota, on October 1; and Billings, Montana, on October 2. See the Western Area Power Administration press release.
GM to Produce New Efficient Engines in Flint, Michigan
General Motors Corporation (GM) announced last week that it will invest $370 million to build a new manufacturing plant in Flint, Michigan, that will produce efficient 4-cylinder engines. The plant will be the sole North American facility to produce the 1.4-liter naturally aspirated engine used in the Chevrolet Volt, GM’s plug-in hybrid vehicle that is touted to travel up to 40 miles without using gasoline or producing emissions. GM unveiled the production version of the Chevrolet Volt this month and expects to begin building the vehicle in 2010. GM also expects to build the 1.4-liter turbo engine for the Chevrolet Cruze, an efficient, compact car expected for global release in mid-2010. In addition to producing efficient engines, the facility itself will be LEED-certified. The U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Green Building Rating System, short for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is a nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction, and operation of high-performance green buildings. The plant will also be landfill free; all waste from manufacturing operations will be recycled, reused, or converted to energy. See the GM press releases on the new facility and boost in turbo engine manufacturing, and the September 17 article in this newsletter on the Chevrolet Volt.
The Volt will use a lithium-ion battery pack to store 16 kilowatt-hours of electricity. Continental Automotive announced on September 24 that it would begin such production, making them the first to offer series production of lithium-ion batteries for hybrid-drive cars. Lithium-ion batteries offer greater storage capacity than the nickel-metal hydride batteries currently used in hybrid vehicles. The batteries, which will be produced in Nuremberg, Germany, will be installed as standard in the Mercedes S400 BlueHYBRID, a luxury sedan expected in the United States in late 2009. See the Continental Web site.
First U.S. Auction of CO2 Allowances Brings in $38.5 Million
The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) last week successfully conducted the first-in-the-nation auction of carbon dioxide emission allowances. More than $38.5 million was raised from the sale of 12.5 million allowances to bidders from the energy, financial, and environmental sectors. The allowances were sold at a clearing price of $3.07, with demand exceeding the offerings by more than four times the available amount.
Six of the ten RGGI states offered allowances for sale in the first auction. Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Vermont will invest the proceeds from the auction in energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies and other programs that benefit energy consumers. The allowances can be used for compliance in any of the ten states participating in RGGI, including the four states-Delaware, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and New York-that did not offer allowances in this first auction.
RGGI aims to reduce carbon dioxide emissions through a cap-and-trade program. Under the initiative, the ten participating states will stabilize carbon dioxide emissions from the power sector at capped levels. The states will then reduce the cap 10% by 2018, with 2.5% decreases each year between 2015 and 2018.
Auctioning the allowances allows the states to invest the revenues in programs that reduce energy demand and the use of fossil fuels. The next auction will be held in December of this year, and all ten states are expected to offer allowances for sale in the first 2009 auction and in quarterly auctions thereafter. See the RGGI press release detailing the results of the auction (PDF 39 KB) and the RGGI Web site.
Also last week, the Western Climate Initiative (WCI) announced its own plan for a regional market-based cap-and-trade program for the seven U.S. states and four Canadian provinces participating in the initiative. The governors of Arizona, California, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, and Washington; and the premiers of British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 15% below 2005 levels by 2020. The plan sets a lowest common denominator for the states and provinces, which can each exceed the requirements of the plan. See the WCI Web site and press release (PDF 149 KB).
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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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