*News and Events
Coming Soon: “Made With Renewable Energy” Labels on Products
Aeronaut’s Goal: Around the World on Solar Power
Seattle-Area Utility Pursues Wind Power, Energy Efficiency
California Plant Begins Continuous Production of Biodiesel
Canadian Company Continues to Advance BioOil Technology
Two DOE-Funded Reports Show Promise for LED Lighting
*Energy Connections
EPA’s Voluntary Programs Reduced Greenhouse Gases in 2002
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NEWS AND EVENTS
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Coming Soon: “Made With Renewable Energy” Labels on Products
The Center for Resource Solutions (CRS) — the people that brought you the “Green-e” certification for green power products — announced in early November that it will launch a new “Made With Renewable Energy” label for products in 2004. The label will feature the distinctive Green-e logo and will be available to companies that buy a “significant” amount of certified renewable energy for their buildings and factories. According to CRS, a number of companies have already applied for the label, including White Wave (a maker of soy milk products), the Interface Fabrics Group, Choice Organic Teas, and Lundberg Family Farms, a producer of rice.
This Thanksgiving, shoppers in much of the eastern United States had the opportunity to buy turkey that had been raised using 100 percent wind energy. Plainville Turkey Farms in New York State is buying its wind power from Community Energy, Inc. (CEI) and is now labeling six of its turkey products with the NewWind Energy logo. Consumers in the mid-Atlantic region can even shop at wind-powered groceries, since Whole Foods Market, Inc., is now buying wind power to meet 10 percent of the electricity needs at its 24 locations there. The company will
buy six million kilowatt-hours of wind power each year from CEI. [sorry this link is no longer available]
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The “Made With Renewable Energy” label might eventually appear on a wide variety of products, thanks to a recent record purchase by the corporate members of the Green Power Market Development Group. Sterling Planet, Inc. announced in late November that it will provide a total of 795 million kilowatt-hours of renewable energy certificates
over the next several years to select members of the group, including Alcoa Inc., Delphi Corporation, DuPont, Interface, Pitney Bowes, and Staples. Sterling Planet’s Green America renewable energy certificates are Green-e certified. [sorry this link is no longer available]
Aeronaut’s Goal: Around the World on Solar Power
A team of aeronauts — the first to circumnavigate the globe in a hot-air balloon without stopping — now aims to repeat the feat in a solar-powered aircraft. Dr. Bertrand Piccard announced on Friday that he will team with Brian Jones, his former balloon co-pilot, and Andre Borschberg, an engineer and jet pilot, to accomplish the task. To
develop a solar-powered airplane capable of flying continuously, the Piccard team will receive scientific assistance from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne. A team of 30 experts from several departments of that institute has been investigating the feasibility of the solar-powered aircraft, called the “Solar Impulse,” since March.
As envisioned by the team, the Solar Impulse aircraft will have an extremely long wingspan, advanced aerodynamics, and a revolutionary structure in order to capture and store sufficient solar energy during the day to be able to maintain itself in flight during the night. Piccard’s plans call for the design and construction of a prototype
aircraft over the next two years, followed by initial test flights in 2006. The team expects to achieve its first overnight flight in 2007, but they have not yet set a date for their flight around the world.
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The closest thing yet to the Solar Impulse was the Helios, an unmanned solar-powered aircraft developed by AeroVironment, Inc. for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The Helios was designed to use a fuel cell to maintain flight overnight, but it crashed in June before accomplishing that goal. The crash investigation is still underway. Meanwhile, NASA is investigating the use of ground-based lasers to power an aircraft that has solar cells mounted on the bottom of its wings. See the Helios project page and the laser-powered aircraft press release on NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center Web site at:
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Seattle-Area Utility Pursues Wind Power, Energy Efficiency
Puget Sound Energy (PSE), the utility serving the Seattle area, issued a request for proposals for 150 megawatts of wind power in late November. PSE seeks to buy wind power either through long-term power purchase contracts or through ownership of a wind power plant. PSE is holding a pre-bid conference this afternoon, with responses due by January 9th. The utility expects one or more wind power projects to be in place by the end of 2005. See the PSE press release and the request for proposals:
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PSE also plans to expand its energy efficiency programs and has proposed higher targets for 2004 and 2005. Over the next two years, the utility plans to avoid 39.2 average megawatts of electrical load, while saving more than 5 million therms of natural gas. The utility has proposed a wide range of programs for its residential, commercial,
and industrial customers, ranging from consumer rebates to business grants. PSE also intends to launch pilot programs for heat-pump maintenance, lighting retrofits in multi-family housing, duct system enhancements in mobile homes, and ventilation system maintenance for commercial customers. The PSE plan is subject to regulatory approval. See the PSE press release at:
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While it plans to increase its use of wind power and energy efficiency, PSE is decreasing its reliance on hydroelectric power. The utility announced last week that it will no longer pursue a new operating license for its 92-year-old White River Hydropower Station, because meeting current environmental standards at the facility would
be cost prohibitive. PSE will shut down the 70-megawatt station in January. Meanwhile, the utility continues to pursue a new license for the Baker River Project, a 175-megawatt installation consisting of powerhouses on two dams near Concrete, Washington. The project’s 50-year license expires in April 2006. See the PSE press release and hydropower licensing Web page at:
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California Plant Begins Continuous Production of Biodiesel
Green Star Products, Inc. announced in November that it had completed initial product test runs at its new biodiesel production plant in Bakersfield, California. The plant will be the first in the United States to use a continuous-flow process to produce biodiesel. Other U.S. plants produce biodiesel fuel in batches; continuous production processes can potentially produce greater volumes of product at lower costs.
The company tested both recycled and virgin vegetable oil for its initial production of biodiesel, and was able to deliver product to U.S. Hondo Chemical, which is using biodiesel in its off-road vehicles. Although the Bakersfield Biodiesel Plant is currently capable of producing 2.5 million gallons of biodiesel per year, the company claims that the plant could be expanded to produce 35 million gallons per year, which would be more than twice the national
production of biodiesel in 2002. See the Green Star Products press release at: [sorry this link is no longer available]
The U.S. Navy will also become a biodiesel producer in the near
future, according to the National Biodiesel Board (NBB). The Naval
Base Ventura County in Port Hueneme, California, plans to recycle the
Navy’s used cooking oil into biodiesel fuel. The demonstration plant
will be able to produce one million gallons of biodiesel each year.
The NBB has also noted a number of biodiesel developments in Colorado,
including the first retail pumps in Boulder and Denver and the use of
biodiesel in the buses for 12 Denver-area school districts, funded
through a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. And
with a $3.8-million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the
NBB will now be working even harder to educate the public about
biodiesel. See the NBB press releases at:
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Canadian Company Continues to Advance BioOil Technology
DynaMotive Energy Systems Corporation, a Canadian company, continues to advance its production process for a biomass-derived fuel called BioOil. DynaMotive can convert a variety of biomass materials, such as wood residues, into BioOil using a process called “fast pyrolysis,” which exposes the materials to high temperatures in the absence of oxygen. In early November, DynaMotive announced that it had fabricated a system that will produce BioOil from wood residues and use it to produce 12,000 pounds of steam per hour and 2.5 megawatts of electricity. The combined heat and power system can also be fueled with conventional fuels. DynaMotive expects to finish testing the system in early 2004, when it will be installed at Erie Flooring and Wood Products in West Lorne, Ontario.
DynaMotive plans to produce a similar system for Freymond Lumber, Ltd., in Bancroft, Ontario. DynaMotive and its development partners expect to launch the project in 2004 and complete it in 2005. The company also announced yesterday that it is fabricating another production plant that will be capable of converting 200 tons of wet biomass into BioOil each day — twice the capacity of the Erie Flooring plant. Although the location of the new plant won’t be
announced until next year, it’s noteworthy that DynaMotive is working with the Municipality of Greenstone in northwestern Ontario to develop BioOil plants in the Greenstone area. See the November and December
press releases on the DynaMotive Web site at:
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Two DOE-Funded Reports Show Promise for LED Lighting
Two new reports on solid-state lighting — lighting using light-emitting diodes (LEDs) or organic LEDs (OLEDs) — find that the United States is already achieving significant energy savings from the technology, and the promise for the future is, well, bright. The DOE-funded reports, prepared by Navigant Consulting, conclude that LEDs have already saved more than 8 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity in the United States. If LED manufacturers achieve their cost and performance goals, the technology will cut future use of energy for lighting by 30 percent. LEDs have already made significant headway in traffic light
s, exit signs, and taillights. The report finds that with accelerated investment in the technology, it could achieve energy savings by 2025 that would be equal to the power produced by 40 large power plants. See the press release from Navigant Consulting at:
s, exit signs, and taillights. The report finds that with accelerated investment in the technology, it could achieve energy savings by 2025 that would be equal to the power produced by 40 large power plants. See the press release from Navigant Consulting at:
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The full reports are available on the Web site for DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory. See the reports — a 661-kilobyte file and a 413-kilobyte file — in PDF format only at:
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What’s another market for LED lights? You guessed it: holiday lighting! LED lights not only use about one-tenth the energy used by the current favorite, mini-lights, but also last much longer and are cool, so they won’t catch anything on fire. See the “Holiday Lights” fact sheet — a 751-kilobyte PDF file — on the Western Area Power Administration’s Energy Services Web site at:
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ENERGY CONNECTIONS
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EPA’s Voluntary Programs Reduced Greenhouse Gases in 2002
Voluntary programs administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) succeeded in avoiding 43 million metric tons of U.S. carbon emissions in 2002, according to an EPA report released in November. The report notes the achievements of the DOE/EPA Energy Star program, which currently labels more than 18,000 energy-efficient products in about 35 product categories, while more than 3,000 builders have constructed about 110,000 Energy Star-qualified homes. According to the EPA report, the Energy Star program is saving $33 billion in energy bills each year. See the press release under “November News Highlights” on the EPA Web site at:
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The full report is available as a 1.37-megabyte PDF file on the EPA Web site at: [sorry this link is no longer available]
Last week, DOE proposed new guidelines for the voluntary reporting of greenhouse gas emissions. The guidelines are intended to improve the accuracy, verifiability, and completeness of the greenhouse gas emissions data. DOE will hold a workshop in Washington, D.C., on January 15th, 2004, to discuss the proposed guidelines. See the
announcement, including links to the guidelines and the DOE press release, on the DOE Office of Policy and International Affairs Web site at: [sorry this link is no longer available]
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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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