Canadian Oil Sands Could Lead U.S. Oil Imports This Year
By the end of this year, Canadian oil sands will probably be the leading source of crude oil imports into the US, according to a new study by IHS CERA.
Canada is already the primary source of crude oil imports into the US, and has been steadily increasing its production of crude oil from oil sands while its conventional oil production has declined.
Production from oil sands more than doubled over the past nine years, growing from 600,000 barrels per day in 2000 to 1.35 million barrels per day in 2009. Assuming that production rate is sustained this year, oil sands will produce more petroleum than conventional sources in Canada this year, and U.S. imports of petroleum from Canadian oil sands will be greater than imports from any other country. According to IHS, Canadian oil sands could provide 20%-36% of U.S. oil imports by 2030. See the IHS press release and report (PDF 558 KB).
The production of crude oil from Canadian oil sands is at issue due to its environmental impacts, including water and land use, the production of tailings, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
A 2005 study by DOE’s National Energy Technology Lab (NETL) found the production of crude oil from Canadian oil sands (actually a mix of tar-like crude bitumen and synthetic crude oil) has GHG emissions equivalent to 104 kilograms of carbon dioxide per barrel, more than four times the GHG emissions caused by producing conventional crude oil in the US.
The study also found that crude oil production in Nigeria has even higher GHG emissions-equivalent to 130 kilograms of carbon dioxide per barrel-due to the flaring of any natural gas released during production of the oil.
Overall, the mix of crude oils used in the US released the equivalent of 40 kilograms of carbon dioxide per barrel during production. The NETL study examined the life-cycle emissions of gasoline, diesel fuel, and jet fuel, and for each fuel, the emissions caused by burning the fuel were roughly 10 times greater than the emissions caused by producing the crude oil used in those fuels. See pages ES-3 and 12-13 (PDF pages 27 and 46-47) of the NETL report (PDF 3.5 MB).
EV Project Expands To LA, DC
The EV Project, under which the Electric Transportation Engineering Corporation will provide free home charging stations and installations for electric vehicles (EVs), is expanding to Los Angeles, California, and Washington, D.C.
While previously limited to Nissan Leaf EVs, the program is also broadening to include Chevrolet Volts, which are extended-range EVs. An additional 1,000 Leaf cars are included, boosting the number to 5,700 nationwide.
The expansion is funded by an additional $15 million grant from DOE, which will be matched by private funds. The EV Project began in October 2009 with a $99.8 million grant from DOE, provided through the Recovery Act. The goal is to create green jobs and cut dependence on fossil fuel by delivering and evaluating nearly 15,000 residential and commercial chargers to 13 cities in five states and the District of Columbia. See the ECOtality press release (PDF 235 KB) and The EV Project Web site.
The first buyers of the Volt will also be eligible for one of the 1,800 planned 240-volt charge stations being built through the ChargePoint America project. Sponsored by Coulomb Technologies, the $37 million project is backed by a $15 million DOE grant, provided through the Recovery Act.
ChargePoint is expected to provide 4,600 networked charging stations to homes and public locations by October 2011, adding to the existing ChargePoint Network. The ChargePoint project will collect data on vehicle use and charging patterns, which will be analyzed by Purdue University and DOE’s Idaho National Lab. Coulomb announced on June 16 that Orlando, Florida, was the first to install a ChargePoint networked charging station under the program. See the press releases from General Motors Corporation and Coulomb Technologies, as well as the Web sites for the Chevrolet Volt and ChargePoint America.
Smart EV Coming to the US in Fall 2010
Smart USA, which recently debuted its smart fortwo EV in New York, will deploy a fleet of 250 of the EVs across the US in October.
The company will target key electrification leadership cities and DOE grant areas, but has not yet released the list of cities. Smart USA is looking for partnerships and is targeting companies, municipalities, organizations, and individuals interested in making a passionate statement on conservation and environmental awareness. Daimler AG, which owns the smart fortwo brand, will begin full production of the EV in 2012 for the 2013 model year.
The vehicles are powered by a 30 kW drive motor and a 16.5 kWh lithium-ion battery. It can be fully recharged in about eight hours with a 220-volt outlet, the type used for electric clothes dryers and other appliances, and it can also be recharged with a standard 110-volt outlet. The vehicles can reach highway speeds of 60 miles per hour and offer a range of 82 miles on a single charge. The tiny car is only 8.8 feet long, 5.1 feet tall, and 5.1 feet wide. See the Daimler press release and the smart USA Web site.
DOE Awards $76 Million for Energy-Efficient Building Technologies
On June 17, DOE announced $76 million in awards for 58 projects in 24 states to support advanced energy-efficient building technology projects.
DOE made 45 awards from the Recovery Act totaling more than $68.4 million, and leveraged an additional $31.4 million from private industry.
Funds will be used for research to make buildings more energy efficient and cost-effective and to develop training programs for commercial building equipment technicians, building operators, and energy auditors.
The initiatives will prepare workers to service and operate new and existing buildings, to develop and deploy best practices resulting in fewer greenhouse gas emissions, and to establish a green workforce with technical expertise to reduce energy costs.
The projects are in six areas:
- advanced building control strategies for net-zero energy buildings;
- improved capabilities to simulate complex interactions between building elements and energy costs;
- new technologies for building envelopes and windows;
- increased efficiencies for residential and commercial heating, ventilation, and air conditioning;
- improved water heating;
- methods to reduce miscellaneous electrical loads.
For example, the University of Washington will develop detailed energy simulation models for hospital designs that use 60% less energy than typical hospitals in the Pacific Northwest. And Syntroleum Corporation of Oklahoma will investigate the use of low-cost bio-products for phase-change materials in building walls and roofs. Materials that change phase can store more energy than traditional building materials, allowing them to absorb heat on sunny winter days and release that heat during the night.
DOE also released a video that showcases the story of Greensburg, Kansas, which has recovered from a 2007 tornado to become one of the top U.S. communities in terms of sustainable energy use. Many of the town’s government buildings use cutting-edge energy-saving technologies, such as high-efficiency windows, lighting, and heating and ventilation systems. View the YouTube video.
Buildings account for about 40% of the energy used in the United States, as well as 39% of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions.
See the DOE press release, the list of awards (PDF 115 KB), and the Web site for DOE’s Building Technologies Program.
5 More States Reach Milestone for Recovery Act Weatherization
DOE announced that five more states have reached a Recovery Act milestone by completing weatherization work for more than 30% of the low-income homes they targeted.
Because Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, and Utah have met this requirement, along with a series of reporting and monitoring milestones for DOE’s Weatherization Assistance Program, they will have access to the remaining 50% of their funding for the program.
Of the 9,000+ homes completed by this group of states, Minnesota has the lion’s share, with 5,268 residences completed as of May 31. The state now gets its full $131.9 million in Recovery Act funding, intended to cover upgrades for over 16,800 homes. The states join seven others that recently marked this milestone: Idaho, Maine, Mississippi, Nevada, Ohio, Vermont, and Washington.
Since $5 billion in Recovery Act funding was allocated to accelerate weatherization in 2009, more than 108,000 homes nationally have been improved, saving families over $47 million on their energy bills, while supporting over 10,000 jobs in the first quarter of 2010.
According to a recent study by DOE’s Oak Ridge National Lab, weatherization saves recipients an average of $400 in energy costs during the first year. See the DOE press release and the Web site for DOE’s Weatherization Assistance Program.
FERC Proposes New Transmission Planning and Cost Sharing
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) took several actions on June 17 to boost effective planning and cost sharing for new transmission lines.
They approved a "Highway/Byway" method of sharing costs for new electric transmission in the Southwest Power Pool (SPP) region, which includes all or parts of Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas.
This approach, which assigns costs of high-voltage transmission regionally and lower-voltage locally, is designed to help members build a stronger transmission grid that benefits the entire region. The proposal took effect June 19. See the FERC press release and the full decision (PDF 211 KB).
And in a move hailed by the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), FERC issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) for open access transmission reforms by establishing a closer link between regional electric transmission planning and cost allocation to help ensure that needed transmission facilities are actually built.
The NOPR includes proposals to require that:
- transmission providers establish a closer link between cost allocation and regional transmission planning;
- transmission planning take into account the needs driven by state or federal laws or regulations, such as renewable energy standards;
- neighboring transmission planning regions improve their coordination of facilities that are proposed in two adjacent regions to address transmission needs more efficiently than separate facilities;
- provisions that provide an undue advantage to an incumbent developer must be removed, allowing others to build and own new transmission projects.
AWEA said the action will allow much-needed transmission lines to be built. They say grid constraints in several U.S. regions are holding up tens of thousands of megawatts of wind development. See the press releases from FERC and AWEA, as well as the full NOPR (PDF 388 KB).
FERC also released a report, two years in the making, saying that public institutions and private sector organizations nationwide should form a coalition to help states, localities, and regions develop and deploy cost-effective electric demand response programs.
Demand response refers to the ability of customers to adjust their electricity use by responding to price signals, reliability concerns, or other signals from the grid operator, and it can help avoid the need for new power plants and power lines that are intended primarily to meet peak power demands. See the FERC press release and the National Action Plan on Demand Response (PDF 3.8 MB).
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EREE Network News is a weekly publication of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE).
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