Presidential Report Provides Roadmap for Transforming U.S. Energy System
The US should prepare a federal energy policy and update it regularly, according to a report released on November 29 by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST).
Accelerating the Pace of Change in Energy Technologies Through an Integrated Federal Energy Policy provides a roadmap for the federal role in transforming the U.S. energy system within one to two decades.
The report recommends significantly increasing federal investments in energy-related research and development from the current $5 billion per year to about $16 billion per year.
It calls for regular strategic Quadrennial Reviews of energy policy similar to the quadrennial reviews of the U.S. Department of Defense. The first one is targeted for early 2015. Reviewers would include presidentially appointed experts from academia, NGOs and industry.
It also recommends the president engage the private sector, consumer representatives, and Congress in exploring options for new revenue streams that could support development of more efficient energy technologies.
Accelerating the Pace of Change responds in part to a fall 2009 request by Secretary of Energy Steven Chu to review the nation’s current approach to energy-related innovation and to recommend ways to accelerate the transformation of the U.S energy system.
PCAST concludes the transformation is being slowed both by the large number of federal policies that affect development, implementation, and use of energy technologies and by the lack of coordination among the many departments and agencies with responsibilities under those policies.
To facilitate planning, the Executive Office of the President would lead the Quadrennial Energy Reviews, and DOE would provide a secretariat. A main focus would be on promoting widespread use of new technologies that have proven worthy of scale-up, PCAST said. See the White House press release and the PCAST Web site which includes an executive summary and the full report.
DOE Supercomputers Pursue Breakthroughs in Clean Energy
DOE announced on November 30 the largest ever awards of its supercomputing time to 57 innovative research projects that are using computer simulations to perform experiments in areas including biofuels and climate change.
Using two world-leading supercomputers with a computational capacity roughly equal to 135,000 laptops with quad-core processors, the research could speed development of more efficient solar cells or foster improvements in biofuel production. The projects span both academic and commercial research, including partnerships with companies such as General Electric and Boeing to use sophisticated computer modeling in pursuit of innovations such as better wind turbines.
DOE is awarding time on two of the world’s fastest and most powerful supercomputers: the Cray XT5 ("Jaguar") at DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the IBM Blue Gene/P ("Intrepid") at DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory. The awards include nearly 1.7 billion processor hours, the largest total ever.
Granted under DOE’s Innovative and Novel Computational Impact on Theory and Experiment (INCITE) program, many projects aim to advance renewable energy solutions and to understand the environmental impacts of energy use. The program, open to all scientists, is supported by DOE’s Office of Science and is managed by the DOE Leadership Computing Facilities at Argonne and Oak Ridge National Lab.
The INCITE program researches the roles of ocean, atmosphere, land, and ice in climate change; advancement of materials for lithium air batteries, solar cells, and superconductors; improving combustion in fuel-efficient, near-zero-emissions systems; and development of fusion energy systems.
In a project headed by Oak Ridge, both the Jaguar and Intrepid supercomputers will be used to demonstrate a working prototype of a rechargeable lithium-air battery that could store 10 times the energy of a lithium-ion battery of the same weight. A simulation headed by DOE’s Lawrence Berkeley National Lab is aimed at better understanding how hydrogen and hydrogen compounds could be used as a practical fuel for producing power and heat. See the DOE press release and the full list of INCITE award selections .
EPA Finalizes 2011 Renewable Fuel Standards
The U.S. EPA finalized the 2011 percentage standards for the four categories of fuel under the agency’s renewable fuel standard program, known as RFS2. The four fuel categories are cellulosic biofuel, biomass-based diesel, advanced biofuel, and renewable fuel.
Based on an analysis of expected market availability, EPA set a 2011 cellulosic volume that is lower than the statutory target. Overall, EPA says it remains optimistic that commercial availability of cellulosic biofuel will continue to grow.
The Energy Independence and Security Act amended the Clean Air Act to greatly increase the volume of renewable fuels required each year, reaching a level of 36 billion gallons in 2022. To achieve these volumes, EPA calculates percentage-based standards for the following year. Based on the standards, each producer and importer of gasoline and diesel determines the minimum volume of renewable fuel that it must ensure is used in its transportation fuel.
The final 2011 overall volume and standards are: cellulosic biofuel, 6.6 million gallons (0.003%); biomass-based diesel, 800 million gallons (0.69%); advanced biofuel, 1.35 billion gallons (0.78%); and renewable fuel, 13.95 billion gallons (8.01%). See the EPA press release and RFS Web page.
DOE Offers $21 Million in Commercial Building Energy Assistance
DOE announced that 24 projects are receiving a total of $21 million in technical assistance to reduce the energy used in their commercial buildings.
The initiative, supported with Recovery Act funds, will connect commercial building owners and operators with multidisciplinary teams including researchers at DOE’s national labs and private sector building experts. The teams will design, construct, measure, and test low-energy building plans, and will accelerate deployment of cost-effective energy-saving measures in U.S. commercial buildings.
Through DOE’s Commercial Building Partnerships, teams comprised of private sector technical experts and personnel from national labs will guide projects to achieve 30% measured energy savings in existing buildings and 50% energy savings in new construction projects. About half of the two dozen projects focus on energy efficiency upgrades for existing buildings.
The three-year projects will provide comprehensive business and technical case studies for broad publication, including actual energy performance data from the completed projects, to spur wider adoption of energy-efficient building practices. Projects are funded with a public/private cost-sharing agreement – building owners and operators contribute at least 20%.
Three DOE national laboratories-Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, NREL, and Pacific Northwest National Lab-will manage the effort and provide technical assistance for the projects. Each project will receive technical assistance valued at between $200,000 and $1.2 million, depending on the scope and nature of the plan.
Among those selected projects are the Cascadia Center for Sustainable Design and Construction, Seattle, Washington; the College of Architecture + Planning at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah; and the Shy Brothers Farm, Westport, Massachusetts. See the DOE progress alert and Web sites for DOE’s Commercial Building Initiative, and Building Technology Program.
Team Drives Electric Car the Length of Americas
A team from London’s Imperial College finished a 16,155-mile trip on November 16, after driving their all-electric car from Alaska to the tip of South America.
The Racing Green Endurance journey took 140 days and passed through 14 countries, using the Pan-American Highway before ending at Ushuaia, the world’s most southern city.
The vehicle has a top speed of 118 mph, with a range of 242 miles before needing an eight-hour charge. Radical Sportscars provided the team with chassis and engineering support, while Thundersky supplied the 56-kWh battery pack.
The project, which runs alongside the wider Imperial Racing Green initiative, attempted to raise awareness about low-carbon vehicle technologies and about how they could help to counter the effects of climate change. The team devoted half of their journey speaking to communities, media, and students. See the Imperial College press release.
Emerging Economies Show Leadership in Clean Energy
Five countries with some of the world’s largest developing economies are demonstrating leadership with their plans to cut greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, according to a World Wildlife Fund (WWF) report.
The report, which examined the GHG emissions trends and climate action plans for Brazil, China, India, Mexico, and South Africa, found that all five countries have reasonably strong renewable energy policies and plans to reduce GHG emissions. In particular, China, India, and South Africa have all implemented comprehensive policies to advance renewable energy.
While Brazil is largely focused on reducing deforestation, China has committed to draw on renewable energy for 15% of its energy needs by 2020, and in 2009, it became the largest manufacturer of renewable energy products. China has also committed to achieving a 20% reduction in energy intensity this year, relative to 2005 levels, and a 40%-45% reduction by 2020.
India is making progress on solar and wind energy development under its national action plan on climate change. India may exceed its target of drawing on renewable energy for 10% of its power needs by 2012. Mexico is integrating its climate change mitigation and adaptation plans and has committed to reducing GHG emissions by 50% by 2050, relative to 2000 levels, while South Africa is pursuing an economy-wide approach to low-carbon development, working towards achieving a 34% reduction in GHG emissions by 2020. See the WWF press release and report .
The WWF report was issued as delegates gathered in Cancun, Mexico, for the international conference on climate change. The United Nations Climate Change Conference includes the 16th conference of the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the sixth meeting of the parties to the Kyoto Protocol. The conference runs from November 29 to December 10. For the latest news from the conference, see the UNFCCC Web site.
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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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