As Oil Concerns Mount, the Profits Roll In
Friday, May 2nd, 2008
Against the backdrop of consumer protests and rising tensions, Royal Dutch Shell and British Petroleum (BP), two of the world’s largest oil producers, announced record profits for their first-quarter earnings this past Tuesday. With oil currently priced at an unprecedented $120/barrel, the announcements underscored the clear division between consumer concerns and what many activists and environmentalists perceive as corporate exploitation. While company executives were no doubt basking in the good news, commercial truckers in both the U.S. and Europe staged vehement demonstrations, bringing traffic to a halt in some cities. Given the strife, BP’s 63% profit growth seems obscene, not to mention unlikely to hasten the move to clean and sustainable alternatives, and considerable handouts in the form of government subsidies further abet this inequity. According to the Center for American Progress, the big five oil companies - BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobile, and Royal Dutch Shell - received $1.3 billion in tax breaks last year despite $123 billion in profits.
Isn’t it time for such double-dipping to end? While these write-offs are a drop in the bucket compared to company earnings, they could go a long way to easing the burden on the average driver. H.R. 5351, recently passed in the House and now before the Senate, intends to set limits on tax credits for oil companies while at the same time increasing subsidies for renewables. Such subsidies are intended to spur growth in emerging industries seeking a foothold in a competitive market; needless to say, oil companies don’t fall into this category. Recent legislative developments are cause for guarded optimism, however; a similar proposal nearly became law back in December, falling one vote short of overcoming a tortuous fillibuster by conservative Senators that had killed previous reform bills. Notably, Republican presidential candidate John McCain didn’t show up for the vote, though a campaign spokesman has stated that “would not have supported breaking the fillibuster”.
The passage of H.R. 5351 is a necessity if we are to tip the balance away from fossil fuels. Click here and here to read more about oil subsidies.
Posted in Energy, Legislation, Transportation | Permalink
Storing Solar Energy May Not Be Such a Problem After All
Sunday, April 20th, 2008
An article in this week’s Science Times offers an intriguing glimpse of the potential of solar thermal, a form of renewable energy generation that, while not nearly as hyped as PV solar, may ultimately be more feasible for large-scale energy production.
One of the biggest issues with photovoltaic (PV) technology (i.e. - solar panels) has been how to store the energy once it’s generated to meet demand during times of low production, such as at night or on cloudy days. Solar thermal systems avoid this problem because they rely on generating energy from the sun’s heat, which can be more easily stored than the sunlight-generated energy of PV systems. At the core of solar thermal is a surprisingly simple concept: the sun’s rays are used to boil water, which then generates steam to power turbines. The energy is then stored in tanks of molten salt, which can reach about 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit without becoming too pressurized. This allows the energy to be stored for hours, even days, until it is needed. Most current systems achieve this by focusing a field of hundreds to thousands of specially designed lenses on a large water tank or pipe system, then pumping the resulting heat through a closed loop consisting of hot and cold salt tanks, a steam generator and a turbine.
“Nevada Solar One”, the 64 MW Acciona power plant which opened in Boulder City last year and was featured on this very blog just last month, is one such system. The largest solar power plant to be built around the world in the past sixteen years, Nevada Solar One can produce enough energy to power 15,000 households. Now other visionary companies are experimenting with variations of this basic design to further improve efficiency.
Proponents of solar thermal boast other benefits, as well, including greater potential at higher latitudes and other places that don’t get much sun and its greater affordability; solar thermal systems based on a parabolic trough design produce energy at a rate that is 50-75% cheaper than its PV equivalent. As these technologies develop further, different niches may emerge for each. While PV panels may ultimately become the industry standard for individual home-owners and relatively small, off-the-grid systems, solar thermal’s double-barreled promise of storage and price make it a strong candidate for that clean, large-scale power source we’ve all been clamoring for.
Posted in Energy, Technology | Permalink
Water: The Unseen Cost
Saturday, April 19th, 2008
Water is heavily utilized in all forms of electricity generation. In fact the cooling needs of nuclear plants use much more water than even a hydro-electric dam. When you conserve energy you save $$, carbon emissions, and water. Win, win, win…. I like it.
Check out a great article on CNet here.
Posted in Energy, Water | Permalink
Feed-In Tariffs Aid the Growth of Green Industries
Friday, April 11th, 2008
How has Germany, a country not especially known for its suntans, become the world leader in solar power? Despite its geographical limitations, the land that brought us Volkswagon and Octoberfest may now be paving the way for a PV revolution. In 2006, they accounted for 968 megawatts of solar-generated electricity, 86% of Europe’s entire output, especially impressive considering that Europe was the largest regional market for photovoltaics that year. As a consequence, Germany has already reached the EU’s benchmark of 12.5% renewably generated electricity for its member nations. And all this has been accomplished in a relatively short period of time.
Most of the development of Germany’s solar industry has occurred since 1990, when the “Act on the Sale of Electricity to the Grid” was passed. An updated version, the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) went into effect in 2000. This law, touted by environmental advocates as the best of its kind, relies on generous “feed-in tariffs” to catalyze economic growth. These tariffs establish fixed prices above those currently on the market, essentially guaranteeing profits and creating an otherwise stable environment for investment. Utilities are required to purchase renewable energy at these rates, passing the extra costs on to their customers in the form of higher electric bills, an increase of about 5% a month for the average German household. The hope is that this controlled growth will pay off down the line as the industry is gradually weaned off of these tariffs, which decrease by about 5% a year from initial rates three times higher than retail cost. As technology improves and rates come back to market levels, electric bills will continue to come down, as well.
The effects of this policy have also filtered into other green industries. Germany has become the third largest manufacturer of solar panels behind China and Japan, and analysts are expecting employment in Germany’s renewable sector to nearly triple in the next two decades (from 250,000 to 710,000 by 2030), matching their vaunted automobile industry.
Ultimately, the success of this policy will depend on how quickly the solar industry can stand on its own feet. The German government is currently considering tweaking the EEG to cut feed-in tariffs further — 9.2% next year and 7-8% in following years — and extending it to other renewable industries such as wind power. At the moment these tariffs operate on a 20-year fixed rate contract, though this could change as well.
Whatever the result, this policy seems to be working so far. California has recently approved its own feed-in tariffs and other states are likely to follow. Critics contend that such subsidy programs are not efficient, but conventional energy industries are also heavily subsidized. At the very least, Germany has provided the rest of the world with an innovative model for financing renewable energy. Washington should take note.
Posted in Energy, Legislation, Photovoltaics, Renewables | Permalink
13 Best Energy Ideas
Thursday, April 3rd, 2008 Yes magazine shares 13 ideas, energy policies and technologies that can get us on the path toward a sustainable future (plus a few that won’t).
Posted in Energy, Energy Efficiency, Politics, Renewables | Permalink
Acciona Unveils New CSP Power Plant
Friday, March 21st, 2008
Las Vegas is known for many things, but cutting-edge solar technology has never been one of them. Until recently, that is. Just a few miles outside of Las Vegas sits a prototype 64MW power plant called “Nevada Solar One“. Though its official opening was held on February 22, the plant has been up and running since last June and can generate enough energy to power more than 14,000 homes. In effect, Nevada Solar One uses a combination of solar and steam to operate; this technology, known as “concentrating solar power” (CSP), generates electricity by using the sun’s rays to boil water and the resulting steam to power turbines. If successful, CSP could revolutionize the energy industry.
The brainchild of Acciona SA, a Spanish conglomerate that specializes in civil engineering, construction and infrastructures, Nevada Solar One uses parabolic mirrors to focus sunlight on a tube of fluid above them. Other CSP plants, including an 11MW facility that opened in Spain last year, utilize different designs. The plant in Spain uses a dense array of smaller mirrors to focus light on a water tower at its center. Other variations use long, flat mirrors or devices that look like satellite dishes. Some even continue to provide power after the sun sets by storing energy in molten salt. CSP is also more cost-effective than traditional solar installation, in that it doesn’t rely on pricey and energy-intensive silicon panels.
CSP’s future clearly seems sunny. According to the SEIA, another 11,000MW worth of CSP plants are supposedly in the pipeline thanks to generous federal tax breaks that offset up to 45% of initial costs. If all goes according to plan, viable solar power may be right around the corner.
Posted in Energy, Energy Efficiency, Global Warming, Renewables, Technology | Permalink
Solar One in Eyebeam’s FEEDBACK Exhibition
Tuesday, March 11th, 2008
Eyebeam’s expansive new exhibition, FEEDBACK, surveys artists, designers, architects and engineers on the topic of sustainability, and presents their responses—19 projects varying from public art projects and industrial design to DIY energy solutions and software tools—to inspire discussion and action on this pervasive (and increasingly commodified) subject.
As the culmination of Eyebeam’s Beyond Light Bulbs programming series, the show highlights the concerns, interests and work of Eyebeam’s Sustainability Research Group, with work by individuals, collectives, students, local community groups and the Eco-Vis Challenge winners. Free, artist-run workshops are integral to the exhibition’s design and are scheduled Saturdays throughout the show’s duration. See Solar One in the FEEDBACK exhibition today at Eyebeam: 540 W. 21st St.
Posted in Art, Education, Energy, S1 in the News | Permalink
Energy Audit at Manhattan Comprehensive H.S.
Monday, March 10th, 2008
On Friday, March 7th, Solar One and the Community Environmental Center (CEC) teamed up to provide Manhattan Comprehensive Night and Day School with an energy audit of their school building. Students followed auditors around the school as they performed their analysis, learning how to quantify the energy use throughout the building.
Posted in Education, Energy, Energy Efficiency, Green Building, Solar One | Permalink
FutureGen Already Past? (Clean Coal - The Sequel)
Friday, March 7th, 2008 Back in December, we posted a report about what was billed to be the world’s first zero-emissions coal-burning power plant - FutureGen - slated for operation by 2012 in Mattoon, Illinois (Click here to read the original post). FutureGen was intended to be the first large-scale energy production facility to utilize a new technology known as Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS), a process by which carbon dioxide and the other impurities that result from the burning of coal are pumped and stored underground in porous rock strata and saline aquifers, thereby keeping harmful emissions from accumulating in the atmosphere.
Despite the apparently noble intent of this project, our initial report voiced some reservations. First, that CCS had not been adequately tested, with regard to both its large-scale feasibility and its lack of environmental impact (especially on groundwater and subterranean rock/mineral formations). Second, that massive cost overruns and delays were becoming an increasing burden to the project before ground had even been broken.
It now seems that those reservations may have been more than idle speculation. The Economist reported last month that FutureGen is, according to DOE parlance, being “restructured”. In their typically blunt fashion, the eminent policy journal translates this to mean “starting from scratch” (See “Up In Smoke”; Jan. 31, 2008). The DOE is now requesting more information on CCS from the private sector with an eye towards building several smaller plants based on the technology in place of Mattoon’s grand enterprise. This reconsideration was based partly on a March 2007 report issued by MIT suggesting the need for more extensive investigations into CCS and the adoption of less cumbersome federal legislation. The new plan pushes back the completion of the first wave of CCS power plants to 2015 and promises to “at least double the amount” of impurities sequestered. No one yet knows if Mattoon or a reincarnated FutureGen Alliance will be involved.
Posted in Energy, Global Warming, Legislation, Politics, Pollution, Technology | Permalink
American solar company claims that its technology can power 90% of U.S. grid and cars
Friday, March 7th, 2008
According to WIRED Magazine’s online technology blog:
“The solar power plant company, Ausra, has released a paper claiming that solar thermal electric technology can provide 90% of US grid electricity, with enough left over to power a fleet of plug-in hybrids. The company estimates that change over would eliminate 40% of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions with a land footprint of 9600 square miles . . .
The key to the scenario, however, is developing the ability to store energy for 16 hours to create a stable power source through cloudy periods and the night, a feat which has so-far eluded engineers.”
To read the full article on wired.com, click here.
To Read Ausra’s paper, click here.
Posted in Energy, Energy Efficiency, Photovoltaics | Permalink
