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Portland to Become First City to Fully Power Government with Wind

by Zach Dundas, May 11, 2005 The city of Portland is launching a power project more low-profile than a proposed purchase of Portland General Electric, but just as bold in its own way. Portland wants to become the first major city in the world to cover all its governmental electricity needs with wind power. It’s soliciting bids from companies interested in building and running a vast wind farm big enough to power the thousands of computers and light bulbs in city offices. Those windmills wouldn’t literally pump power straight into city offices, says Jeff Cogen, chief of staff for City Commissioner Dan Saltzman. Instead, the city would cut a deal with the winning bidder to add enough new wind power to the electric grid to offset its own use. While the project doesn’t yet have a price tag, city bid rules require that it cost no more in its first year than rates PGE would charge. By making a 15- to 20-year deal, Cogen says, the city could insulate itself against future energy-price hikes. The most likely location for a city wind farm: rural Oregon, where the wind blows, the electrical infrastructure of the Columbia dams is near at hand, […]

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Missouri, Iowa Biodiesel Plants Join Growing Number of Production Facilities

Western Iowa Energy today held a groundbreaking ceremony for a large new biodiesel production facility in Wall Lake, Iowa. Earlier this week, Mid-America Biofuels, LLC, announced plans to build Missouri’s first large-scale biodiesel production plant in Mexico, Mo. Both plants signify a growing industry getting into position to meet greater demand for biodiesel, which has been stimulated by the passage of a federal tax incentive. “Biodiesel demand is growing rapidly, and we believe Missouri is the right place to produce biodiesel and fill that demand,” said Warren Stemme, St. Louis-county farmer, president of Mid-America Biofuels and member of the National Biodiesel Board (NBB). Mid-America Biofuels, LLC is a joint venture of Biofuels, LLC, a farmer-owned biodiesel business based in Jefferson City, Mo; Ray-Carroll County Grain Growers, Richmond, Mo; and MFA Oil Company, Columbia, Mo. Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) of Decatur, Ill., also entered into a letter of intent to purchase an interest in Mid-America Biofuels and provide key products and services to this joint venture. The facility will have a nameplate capacity of 30 million gallons of biodiesel production per year and will produce biodiesel made from soybean oil. “The biodiesel development effort that has culminated into the national […]

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Solar Looks Good as Investment

When you are responsible for the finances of a California city, and are investing its money, one thing is always for certain; investments will have low risk. State and local government codes restrict the type and duration of investments that cities can make, with safety of public funds the priority. However, these limitations usually result in low rates of return. But, investing in the market is not the only way to help cities make the best use of available cash. The Director of Finance for the City of San Carlos, Richard Averett, opted to review a proposal to install an RWE Schott Solar photovoltaic (PV) system on the city’s corporation yard as an investment rather than as a purchase with a payback period. The result? The city now has a 60kW system, installed by EMCOR Energy & Technologies of San Francisco, that returns its cost, plus interest and a little more than $100,000 over the life of the installation, beating out a comparable 25-year cash investment using a 4.5 percent rate of return, according to RWE. In addition, the system has returned some public recognition in the form of an award from The Public Technology Institute (PTI) at its annual […]

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New Fuel Cell Opens Way for Artificial Hearts

A Japanese research team has developed a fuel cell that runs on blood without using toxic substances, opening the way for use in artificial hearts and other organs. The biological fuel cell uses glucose, a sugar in blood, with a non-toxic substance used to draw electrons from glucose, said the team led by Matsuhiko Nishizawa, bio-engineering professor at the graduate school of state-run Tohoku University. “Since the electron mediator is based on Vitamin K3, which exists in human bodies, it excels in safety and could in the future generate power from blood as an implant-type fuel cell,” the group said in a statement. Most other bio-fuel cells under study use a metal complex, spawning concern about harm if used for implants. The newly developed cell in the size of a tiny coin is able to generate 0,2 milliwatts of electricity, enough to power a device that measures blood sugar level and transmits data elsewhere, the group said.

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