President Obama Orders Swift Action on Appliance Efficiency Standards
DOE Awards $40M for Industrial Use of Alternative Fuels, CHP
Ausra Backs Off on Large CSP Projects, Focuses on Industries
U.S. Wind Capacity Vaults to Top Spot
Supercar Manufacturer Unveils All-Electric Powertrain
Gasoline Prices Climb Slowly, Natural Gas Stays Low
President Obama Orders Swift Action on Appliance Efficiency Standards
President Barack Obama issued a memorandum last week that instructs DOE to take all necessary steps to finalize new appliance efficiency standards as quickly as possible.
As noted by the president, the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 (EPCA) set deadlines for DOE to set energy efficiency standards for a broad class of residential and commercial products, and in 2005, DOE was sued for allegedly failing to meet the deadlines and other requirements of the EPCA.
In November 2006, DOE entered into a consent decree, under which DOE agreed to publish the final rules for 22 product categories by specific deadlines, the latest of which is June 30, 2011. In addition, the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA) directed DOE to establish energy standard for additional product categories.
Although DOE has made progress on meeting its consent decree, the agency remains subject to deadlines on 15 of the 22 product categories, as well as a number of additional product categories added by the EISA. President Obama directed DOE to focus its efforts on the five energy efficiency rules with deadlines prior to August 8, and then to prioritize its efforts, tackling first the standards that will result in the greatest savings, while still meeting all applicable deadlines.
The president announced the new memorandum on a visit to DOE, during which he spoke primarily about his economic stimulus plan. Regarding the efficiency standards, he noted that they will avoid the use of "tremendous amounts" of energy. "We'll save through these simple steps, over the next 30 years, the amount of energy produced over a two-year period by all the coal-fired power plants in America," said the president. See the presidential memorandum and the text (PDF 16 KB) and video (Windows Media File 55 MB) of President Obama's speech on the DOE Web site.
DOE Awards $40 Million for Industrial Use of Alternative Fuels, CHP
DOE announced in late January its award of nearly $40 million to support the industrial use of alternative fuels and combined heat and power (CHP) technologies.
The two separate award announcements included $30.7 million over the next four years, subject to congressional appropriations, for cost-shared research and development of industrial systems capable of using alternative fuels. The seven alternative fuel projects selected for more than $9 million in funding this year primarily involve the development of fuel injectors, nozzles, fuel-handling systems, and entire integrated systems for gas turbines, boilers, and other combustion systems.
The systems will need to handle fuels with high hydrogen content or with low energy content, such as those produced by anaerobic digesters, as well as fuels containing reactive species that can cause corrosion or generate pollutants. The systems will draw on such sources as wood waste and tire-derived fuel, and one project will use an anaerobic digester to convert cow manure into methane, which will fuel an engine connected to a generator.
