Kind of a slow news week so I thought I’d share this story of a guy in my hometown of Arlington, MA who has embarked on a project to make his home the most insulated on the block (here, here, and and a news clip here).
I love people who take things to the extreme, and homeowner Alex Cheimets is certainly doing just that. Cheimets is literally wrapping the entire exterior of his two-family house in 4-6 inch thick super-insulating foam, plugging all cracks between pieces of foam, and upgrading all 58 of his windows with airtight super-efficient replacements. Cheimets is looking to dramatically cut his heating and cooling costs as well as reduce his home’s environmental impact.
I recently wrote a post about devices that harvest the kinetic energy of moving water, and noted how technologies that capture such energy are finding their way into doors, turnstiles, and dancefloors. Well, an Israeli company called Innowattech seems to have taken this concept of capturing wasted mechanical energy further than anyone else, and is pitching energy-harvesting roadways, runways, and railways.
How do they do this? Using a network of piezoelectric generators that are embedded into the surface of the roadway (or runway or railroad) which can harvest energy from weight, motion, vibration, and temperature changes. In addition, the company claims to have developed an energy storage system to attach to their piezoelectric generators.
Innowattech says one kilometer of roadway can produce up to 500 kW of electricity every hour, and the faster and heavier the vehicles, the more energy the roadways can generate - sounds perfect for the driving habits of Americans.
A lot of people expect the incoming Obama administration to fundamentally alter the way our country thinks and acts around energy and environmental issues. While a lot of change can certainly come from top-down Federal initiatives (a country-wide cap-and-trade system, nationwide renewable portfolio standard, or federal tax incentives for renewable energy or energy efficiency investments are examples), at the end of the day energy policy really is a state issue. So we certainly need Federal action and direction, but ultimately we need legislative and/or regulatory bodies in 50 states and DC to take action as well.
This week we saw New Jersey and Virginia stake large claims toward a cleaner and greener future. And as a result, it looks likely that we can expect “big splash” actions in the near future from both states that would be similar to what I recently wrote about in Hawaii. The landmark reports that came out of New Jersey and Virginia are pretty thick and comprehensive so I’ll just offer a quick highlight of each and note that they are definitely worth a gander.
I remember the first time I saw a picture of the Cadillac Escalade hybrid online - I laughed. What an obvious piece of greenwashing, I thought, that’s like a “light” cigarette. Looking at the vehicle through our typical MPG (miles per gallon) lens, the hybrid’s value is dubious, and the laughter is understandable. However, adopt a GPM (gallons per mile) view, and the picture changes a bit.
As autobloggreen writes, when looking at the amount of fuel consumed to travel 10,000 miles, “a jump from 10 MPG to 11 MPG gives the same savings as going from 33 MPG to 50 MPG. In each case, you’ve reduced your consumption by about 100 gallons.” The idea started gaining notoriety in June when two professors from Duke University conducted research which showed that the GPM metric more accurately conveys fuel economy to consumers. Recently, the New York Times named GPM as part of its “Year in Ideas 2008.”
The two professors, Richard Larrick and Jack Soll, now have a website, The MPG Illusion. The site has a really cool tool - the GPM calculator - which you can use to compare the fuel economy of vehicles.
About a year ago I attended a carbon conference in New York and I thought one of the best sessions focused on whether there were too many greenhouse gas allowances in RGGI (Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, the country’s first mandatory cap-and-trade market that goes live on January 1, 2009 - PDF overview here). One of the first questions that must be answered when designing a good cap-and-trade market is the level of the cap. Set the bar too high and it will be easy to meet which makes allowances essentially worthless (see Europe’s first attempt at cap-and-trade); set it too low and the cost of compliance could drive electricity rates much higher than anticipated.
One presentation delivered at that session was from Environment Northeast (PDF from the ENE website) which posited that weather and commodity costs caused RGGI’s cap to be set higher than perhaps it needed to be. Apparently 2005, the year that set the trajectory for the cap, had higher than normal emissions because it was both a “bad weather year” which led to higher demand and many bi-fuel generators in the northeast (that can run off either natural gas or oil) were using dirtier oil due to the huge spike in natural gas prices after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. 2006 and 2007 saw milder weather and a heavier reliance on natural gas as oil prices steadily rose — which naturally resulted in lower emissions. The concern a year ago was that RGGI would remain overallocated and, like Europe’s carbon first trading scheme, be less than successful as a result. The latest from ENE (PDF), released yesterday, shows further cause for concern as the gap between actual emissions and the cap appears to have nearly doubled.
Hydrokinetic technologies are those that capture the kinetic energy in moving water, usually from fast-moving currents or waves, to produce electricity. (Typically, the term does not refer to dammed, hydropower resources.) Some companies active in this space include Finavera, Pelamis, Ocean Power Technologies, and Verdant Power. If successful, these technologies will allow us to capture the almost unfathomable amount of energy swirling around the globe in rivers and oceans - a source of energy as vast as the sun that shines or the wind that blows. FERC just approved the first commercial hydrokinetic project in the US today.
This week the state of Hawaii announced plans to partner with Better Place to create an electric car infrastructure throughout the Aloha State. This follows the announcement from late October that an agreement with the state’s electric utilities had been reached to implement the Hawaiian Clean Energy Initiative — which among other bold moves calls for 70% of the state’s transportation and electric energy to come from clean sources by 2030. 40% of electricity would be derived from renewable sources by 2030, effectively doubling Hawaii’s currently renewable portfolio standard (RPS) of 20% by 2020.
These are certainly bold goals, but I think Hawaii has a shot at achieving them. My confidence stems primarily from the fact that the state’s plans indicate a different psychology around this new era of energy in the state.
Understandably, there has been significant debate regarding whether or not the Big 3 US automakers should be bailed out of their current financial trouble. Most observers, including myself and Tom Friedman, believe that many of the auto-industry’s problems are self-inflicted. That said, how to handle the problem is far more contentious - is a restructuring under Chapter 11 protection the best bet, or should the government actually fund/invest in these companies provided there are certain conditions?
As part of this proposed industry bailout, a few small, American companies that are focusing on hybrids and electric vehicles have asked for assistance (see here and here). Some have even purchased full-page ads in the NYTimes asking to be included. Now this post wont attempt to answer what the best method for dealing with the Big 3 is, or if the proposed bailout package is the proper vehicle to direct funding towards these small innovative companies. Rather, I’d like to focus on the rationale these companies are espousing as it relates to the role of government and its support of emerging technologies.
The Boston Sunday Globe had a great article on an uptick in interest in community wind projects here in the Bay State — highlighted by a vignette on an abbey of nuns who are choosing to site a wind turbine on their land in order to harness a “gift of creation” to serve 75% of their electricity needs.
Public perception of wind’s acceptance in Massachusetts has been driven largely by the Cape Wind project, the hotly contested 130-turbine offshore farm that would sit between Cape Cod and Nantucket. But as this article points out - community wind might be just the ticket for this densely populated region with decent wind resources, a green-leaning populace, and high electricity prices.
Welcome to EnerBlog. We’re here to cover the future of energy and the technologies and policies that will take us there, all through the prism of those within the energy industry. EnerBlog is managed and edited by Jim Hutton Johnson and Phil Martin, who also write for EnerBlog along with a team of our colleagues. We both work for EnerNOC, a leading demand response and energy management firm that is changing the energy landscape by producing and selling negawatts instead of megawatts. In our roles at EnerNOC, we work with utilities to deploy virtual power plants in place of traditional supply-side resources, giving us rare insights into the needs and desires of America’s electric utilities. We’re also familiar with electric market design and energy policy from our involvement in regulatory efforts around the country.
Sitting at the intersection of technology, markets, and policy, energy issues are fascinating but complex. Through EnerBlog, we hope to analyze developments that others can only report on, and provide a resource that doesn’t require a PhD to understand. We’re excited to have this opportunity to cover such an important and interesting topic and we hope that you’ll join us as we follow the future of energy.
