*News and Events
FedEx Introduces New Hybrid Electric Delivery Vehicles
Three GM SUVs to Feature “Displacement on Demand” in 2005
Students on Cross-Country Trip in Vegetable-Oil-Fueled Bus
St. Paul Cogeneration Starts Up a 25-MW Wood-Fired CHP Plant
DynaMotive to Build Several BioOil Production Facilities
POWER-GEN to Launch Renewable Energy Conference with ACRE
*Site News
Utah Wind
*Energy Connections
IEA Launches Database of Renewable Energy Policies
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NEWS AND EVENTS
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FedEx Introduces New Hybrid Electric Delivery Vehicles
FedEx Express, a subsidiary of FedEx Corporation, unveiled a fuel-efficient hybrid-electric-diesel delivery vehicle last week that could become a standard delivery truck for the FedEx Express fleet. The FedEx OptiFleet E700 hybrid electric vehicle increases fuel efficiency by 50 percent while decreasing particulate emissions by 90 percent and reducing smog-causing emissions by 75 percent. Thus far, FedEx Express has agreed to purchase 20 OptiFleet E700s that will be deployed in four U.S. cities within the next year. FedEx expects to order more trucks as needed, and could potentially replace the company’s 30,000 medium-duty delivery trucks with hybrid electrics over the next decade.
Eaton Corporation produced the hybrid electric powertrain for the vehicle, combining a four-cylinder engine with a motor and a Lithium-ion battery pack. FedEx worked with Environmental Defense to produce the truck.
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Three GM SUVs to Feature “Displacement on Demand” in 2005
While many automakers are investigating hybrid-electric technologies as a fuel-saving measure, a number of other technologies are being gradually introduced into the automotive market that can also contribute significantly to fuel economy. General Motors Corporation (GM), for instance, is making its new “Displacement on Demand” technology a standard feature on its Vortec 5300 V-8 engine, which is an option on the GMC Envoy XL, Envoy XUV, and Chevrolet TrailBlazer EXT. The feature achieves an 8 percent increase in overall fuel economy by using only 4 cylinders when the engine is operating under a light load. The control system accomplishes this feat by closing the intake and exhaust valves for the other four cylinders. GM expects to introduce the system on V-6 engines in some mid-size cars in 2006, and hopes to sell more than two million vehicles with the feature by 2008. See the GM press release at: [sorry this link is no longer available]
Aluminum bodies are another energy-saving innovation, and the new 2004 Jaguar XJ features an aluminum body that cuts 200 pounds off of its weight. The aluminum parts are joined by self-pierce rivets and epoxy adhesive, a process adapted from the aerospace industry. See the Ford Motor Company press release at: [sorry this link is no longer available]
Aluminum bodies are nothing new for Audi; in the past decade, the company has produced 250,000 of its A2 and A8 models with aluminum bodies. According to Audi, the aluminum bodies “achieve a noticeable reduction in fuel consumption and…improve comfort, performance and safety at the same time.” Click on Press Releases: [sorry this link is no longer available]
Automakers are also investigating “drive-by-wire” technologies for steering, throttle, shifting, and braking, replacing heavy mechanical linkages with lighter electronic controls. The 2004 Toyota Prius, for instance, will use such “by-wire” technologies to control the car’s throttle and shifting. See the Prius press release on the Toyota
Students on Cross-Country Trip in Vegetable-Oil-Fueled Bus
They’re done with finals, and now 15 students of Middlebury College in Vermont are heading across the country in a bus. Along the way, the students will be stopping at many a fast-food restaurant to fill up their tank — and no, we’re not speaking metaphorically. The students modified their bus to run on either vegetable oil or biodiesel and are taking it on a 3,000-mile cross-country trip. Being serious students, they plan to monitor the vegetable-oil operation along the way for aspects of fuel quality, fuel sourcing, range, acceleration, emissions, and long-range feasibility. But they’re not that serious — they’ll be hitting a lot of prime rock-climbing sites on the way to their destination in Conway, Washington. If on schedule, they should now be somewhere between Red River Gorge, Kentucky, and Winnetka, Illinois. See the “Project Bio Bus” press release and Web site at: [sorry this link is no longer available]
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St. Paul Cogeneration Starts Up a 25-MW Wood-Fired CHP Plant
St. Paul, Minnesota, is now drawing on wood waste to heat and cool most of its downtown buildings while also generating electricity, thanks to a new facility owned and operated by St. Paul Cogeneration, LLC. The new combined heat and power (CHP) plant is projected to burn 280,000 tons of wood waste each year, feeding 25 megawatts (MW) of power into the Minnesota power grid. The heat from the plant will meet 80 percent of the annual energy needs for District Energy St. Paul, Inc., a company that provides district heating and cooling services to the majority of buildings in downtown St. Paul. Cinergy Solutions, Inc. designed and built the innovative plant, which achieves a unique combination of renewable energy, CHP, and district heating technologies.
http://www.cinergy-solutions.com/news_releases/2003/050603.htm
A similar facility in North Carolina is launching a three-month pilot program to divert waste wood from a nearby landfill. Green Power Energy Holdings Corporation owns and operates a CHP plant in Kenansville that can burn biomass, alternative fuels, or coal, producing 38 megawatts of power while generating steam for a nearby textile mill. Under the pilot program, Green Power will be responsible for diverting construction and demolition waste from the landfill for use at its plant. If the trial is successful, the company intends to enter into a long-term contract with the New Hanover County landfill. See the Green Power press release at: [sorry this link is no longer available]
CHP, or cogeneration, is a highly efficient method of producing power, since the excess heat from the process is put to use in buildings or factories. Although often used in large power plants, CHP is also being implemented in a number of smaller facilities. In April, for instance, Hess Microgen installed two 200-kilowatt generators in a
California supermarket, meeting most of the market’s power needs while providing hot water, space heating, and the heat for a 110-ton absorption chiller. Also in April, the Chino Valley Medical Center in Chino, California, added three 260-kilowatt CHP systems that will meet 75 percent of the hospital’s energy needs. Encorp Inc. provided the
controls and switchgear for the systems. And in Sturtevant, Wisconsin, SC Johnson broke ground in April on a 3.2-megawatt CHP system that will be powered with landfill methane, providing heat and power to its Waxdale manufacturing plant. Northern Power Systems is building and installing the system. See the press releases from Hess Microgen, Encorp, SC Johnson, and, in PDF format, Northern Power at: [sorry this link is no longer available]
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DynaMotive to Build Several BioOil Production Facilities
DynaMotive Energy Systems, a Canadian company, announced Monday that it will build a plant this year to convert 100 tons per day of biomass into nearly 16,000 gallons of an alternative-fuel product called BioOil. DynaMotive produces BioOil by heating biomass materials under controlled conditions, a process called fast pyrolysis. The company has signed an agreement with Ramsay Machine Works Ltd., and the two companies will collaborate with UMA Engineering to build at least one modular plant this year, with an option to build more plants by 2004. DynaMotive has successfully converted a variety of forestry and agricultural residues into BioOil, a clean-burning fuel that can be used in boilers, gas turbines, and some diesel engines. See the DynaMotive press release at:
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DynaMotive also entered into an agreement last week to develop a 2.5-megawatt combined heat and power (CHP) plant in Ontario, Canada. The plant will be fueled with wood residue from a wood flooring plant operated by Erie Flooring and Wood Products. DynaMotive will provide a fast pyrolysis facility to convert the wood residue into BioOil, and the Magellan Aerospace division of Orenda Industrial will provide the power generation equipment. Erie flooring will use the heat and power for its operations, and excess power may be sold into Ontario’s green power market. [sorry this link is no longer available]
POWER-GEN to Launch Renewable Energy Conference with ACRE
Those in the electric power industry know POWER-GEN as the largest power-industry conference in the world. This year’s event takes place in Las Vegas, Nevada, and is expected to draw 20,000 power professionals from 75 countries. With that in mind, renewable energy is about to achieve a new level of stature, as the hosts of POWER-GEN are preparing to launch a new conference with a renewable energy focus, called POWER-GEN Renewable Energy. PennWell Corporation announced in mid-May its partnership with the American Council for Renewable Energy (ACRE) to create the new international conference and exhibition, which will be held in Las Vegas, Nevada, on March 1st through 3rd, 2004. See the PennWell press release and Web site at: http://pgre04.events.pennnet.com/content.cfm?NavId=719
http://pgre04.events.pennnet.com
ACRE, formed in late 2001 to foster public awareness of renewable energy, is holding its second annual conference in early July. The conference, titled “Renewable Energy in America: Building a National Strategy on State & Local Successes” will take place in Washington, D.C., on July 8th and 9th. See the ACRE Web site at:
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If that’s not enough to fill your calendar, the American Solar Energy Society’s annual conference, called SOLAR 2003, is coming up in late June. Sponsored in part by DOE, the conference will be held in Austin, Texas, from June 21st through the 26th. [sorry this link is no longer available]
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SITE NEWS
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Utah Wind
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The Utah Wind Web site, developed by the
Utah Energy Office, features
wind information for Utah residents and companies. The site includes a
resource map, landowner information, workshop information, and
information on its program to loan out anemometers (devices to measure
wind speeds), a service sponsored by DOE’s Wind Powering America
Initiative.
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ENERGY CONNECTIONS
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IEA Launches Database of Renewable Energy Policies
Have you ever wondered what sort of renewable energy policies are in place in other industrialized countries? Now you can find out easily, thanks to a new Web-based database compiled by the International Energy Agency (IEA). The agency’s new “Renewable Energy Policies & Measures Database” contains 130 detailed entries on legislation
designed to encourage the development and deployment of renewable energy technologies. Visitors can search for information according to country, policy type, and type of renewable energy. Search the database at:
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Created in 1974, the IEA is an intergovernmental energy research and policy forum for 26 industrialized countries. See the IEA Web site at: http://www.iea.org
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| Kevin Eber is the Editor of EREE Network News, a weekly publication of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). |
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