Rapid expansion of geothermal energy resources underway in Western U.S.
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, U.S. electric power plants generated approximately 4 billion Megawatthours of electricity in 2006, and about 0.4% of that total came from geothermal power…
But that half percent is growing with large capital investments from investors such as Warren Buffett, Google, and others. A lot of the new investment is in the United States, where more than 80% of the country’s 3,000 geothermal megawatts lies in California.
In October, the Bureau of Land Management announced plans to offer more than 190 million acres of federal lands for geothermal leasing, potentially resulting in a tripling of U.S. geothermal power capacity by 2015.
Interior Department’s estimates of potential geothermal power production may actually be low, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). In late September, the USGS released its first assessment of geothermal resources in more than 30 years. The study found that identified geothermal resources in the West could produce 9,057 MW of power, while another 30,033 MW of power could be generated from conventional geothermal resources that have not yet been discovered. The use of Enhanced Geothermal Systems, which involves creating or expanding a geothermal resource through the high-pressure injection of a fluid, opens another 517,800 MW to potential development. For comparison, the U.S. currently has an installed geothermal power capacity of about 2,500 MW.
Raser Technologies, Inc. recently announced that it completed major construction of its Thermo geothermal plant, the first commercial geothermal power plant built in Utah in more than two decades. The 10-megawatt facility combined 50 modular, low-temperature PureCycle power units from UTC Power, United Technologies Corporation (NYSE:UTX), allowing power plant construction in just a few months.
Utah is also slated to host a new 100-megawatt geothermal power plant, to be located on lands owned by the Northwest Band of the Shoshone Nation, and many other geothermal plants are springing up across the Western U.S.
College Sustainability Report Card: Green Buildings
College Sustainability Report Card provides in-depth sustainability profiles for hundreds of colleges in all 50 U.S. States and Canada. See the results. There are several categories of sustainability used in their report card. The Green Building category 51 schools earned “A” grades in the green building category, which looks at schools’ adoption and use of high-performance green building design. Most of them have numerous LEED certified buildings on campus. The average grade for the green building category was “C+.”
Click on the green building leaders listed below to view report cards.
New “green ratings” for colleges and universities
Princeton Review has begun a green rating system for colleges and universities (534 of them). Colleges and universities are rated on a scale of 60-99. Here’s a look at a few schools that received a Green Rating of 99 this year:
College of the Atlantic (Bar Harbor, ME) — All of COA’s electricity comes from renewable hydropower; new buildings and some old are heated via renewable wood pellets. A new student residence village has composting toilets, triple-paned windows, metered showers.
Emory University (Atlanta, GA) — All new buildings constructed to LEED standards (with an emphasis on energy and water conservation); alternative transportation with a shuttle fleet that is 100% alternatively fueled; recycled waste stream (65% by 2015); and local and sustainably-grown food.
Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, GA) — Institutional programs that embrace green cleaning, solid waste recycling, drought-tolerant vegetation, and storm water capture and reuse.
University of New Hampshire (Durham, NH) — In January 2009 UNH will become the first university in the U.S. to use landfill gas as its primary (80–85%) energy source. UNH also runs an organic dairy farm and education/research center.
University of Washington (Seattle, WA) — UW purchases power that is 100 renewable. UW’s food services emphasize local organic foods and are working toward a zero-waste goal, composting postconsumer waste, and offering compostable dishware and to-go packaging.
Yale University (New Haven, CT) — Yale has one co-generation power plant and is building a second to maximize fuel efficiency. Energy conservation measures include setting thermostats higher in summer and lower in winter, using biofuels in vehicles, and giving incentives to employees to live near campus or carpool.
Location of Projected New Nuclear Power Reactors in U.S.
On the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s website, for applications that have been received by the NRC, you may select a site name to view the specific Combined License (COL) application, reactor design, safety and environmental review schedule, and public meeting dates.
Cost-benefit studies of green roofs underway in NY
Weighing the Benefits of Green Roofs (WSJ)
Throughout New York City, studies are underway to see if green roof adoption should take root. Supporters say putting vegetation on the roofs of city buildings may reduce global warming — and save money in the long run. WSJ’s Shelly Banjo reports. (Oct. 6)
GAO Reports on Viability of Carbon Capture and Storage
Federal Actions Will Greatly Affect the Viability of Carbon Capture and Storage As a Key Mitigation Option: (GAO)
DOE has achieved limited results in lowering the cost of CO2 capture from existing coal-fired power plants. A major reason is that the agency has focused on “Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle” (IGCC) technology, a promising technology for new coal-fired power plants, but one that is less useful when applied to existing coal power plants. The agency has only recently begun to shift toward an approach that also emphasizes Carbon Capture and Storage (CSS) technologies applicable to existing power plants…
Coal-fired power plants are one of the largest sources of CO2 emissions. In the United States, coal-fired power plants account for approximately one-third of total CO2 emissions. Figure 1 shows total U.S. CO2 emissions, what portions are from each sector of the economy, and sources where CCS could more readily be used.
According to the National Academy of Sciences, global temperatures have already risen 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit since the start of the 20th century—with much of this warming occurring in the last 30 years alone—and temperatures will likely rise at least another 2 degrees Fahrenheit, and potentially more than 11 degrees, over the next 100 years. This warming will cause significant changes in sea level, ecosystems, and ice cover, among other impacts. In the Arctic region, temperatures have increased almost twice as much as the global average, and the landscape is changing rapidly. Most scientists agree that the warming in recent decades has been caused primarily by human activities that have increased the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Greenhouse gases, such as CO2, have increased markedly since the Industrial Revolution, mostly from the burning of fossil fuels for energy, industrial processes, and transportation. According to the National Academy of Sciences, CO2 levels are at their highest in at least 650,000 years and continue to rise.
Stanford Energy Lecture Series: Saving energy is less expensive than buying it.
Several podcast lectures by Amory Lovins (RMI) are now available online through the Rocky Mountain Institute. You can find several different lectures, or download the slides (linked below), on the following five topics:
- Buildings: Highlights innovative buildings in a variety of climates and looks at highgly efficient “superwindows”, dimmable electronic lighting ballasts, “no-duct” displacement ventilation, and climate adaptive building designs.
- Industry: How resource productivity is becoming more important than labor productivity, Thermal integration…
◊ Innovative and distributed power systems
◊ Designing friction out of fluid-handling systems
◊ Water/energy integration
◊ Superefficient and heat-driven refrigeration
◊ Superefficient drivesystems
◊ Advanced controls
◊ Rightsizing everything (if we designed 747s this way…) - Transportation: Modes of transport, automobile and military vehicle efficiency, fuel efficiency, and innovative designs
- Implementation: Oil; Barrier-busting; Marketing efficiency; Electricity: public policy, business strategy, and negawatt markets
- Implications: Oil, Climate, Nuclear power, Distributed generation, Energy security, Nuclear proliferation, Global development
These lectures are also available as podcasts from Stanford University: itunes.stanford.edu.
The following image is taken from the “Industry” lecture.
RMI depiction of downstream energy...Saving a little energy downstream saves a lot of energy upstream!
CA greenhouse gas bill prioritizes transportation projects that limit commutes and curb urban sprawl
Schwarzenegger signs greenhouse gas bill (AP)
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed legislation Tuesday that attempts to ease greenhouse gas emissions by giving priority to transportation projects that limit commutes and curb urban sprawl.
Supporters said the legislation is needed to help implement a 2006 law that requires California to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.
The bill requires the state Air Resources Board to set regional targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from cars and light trucks and directs regional planning agencies to develop land-use strategies to meet those targets.
Cities and counties will not have to implement those plans, but they could lose transportation funding if they don’t.
“Zero-Waste Ottawa” to Benefit from Innovative, Privately Financed Waste-to-Energy Plant
The City of Ottawa and PlascoEnergy Group formed a partnership in 2006 to demonstrate a municipal waste gasification plant (pictured on the right), which was constructed in 2007 and capable of converting 75 tonnes per day of unsorted solid waste into electricity, using PlascoEnergy’s electric-plasma torch technology.
Each tonne of solid waste is converted into 1.2 MWh of electricity, 300 L potable quality water, 5-10 kg commercial grade salt, 150 kg of construction grade aggregate, 5 kg sulfur agricultural fertilizer, air emissions in compliance with environmental regulations, heavy metals recovered for safe disposal, and a two tonne reduction in greenhouse gases. The greenhouse gas reduction is the result of a displaced coal-fired electricity and diverted waste from landfills where it would produce methane, a highly potent greenhouse gas.
Based on the success of the Ottawa demonstration facility, PlascoEnergy has now proposed a full commercial scale 400 tonnes-per-day facility (150,000 tonnes of residual waste per year), which is expected to produce 21 MW of net electrical power for sale to Hydro Ottawa. Under the deal, which will be passed by a full council soon, the city of Ottawa will pay PlascoEnergy the standard waste tipping fee of $60/tonne (i.e. $8M per year for residential garbage that isn’t recycled or composted), no capital expenditures, and no operating expenditures. And because the city of Ottawa was a partner in testing the technology, it will get royalties of up to $3.5 million a year once Plasco plants are sold to other countries and cities and begine operating. As a comparison, city officials estimated that the costs of a new landfill could reach $150 million and approvals would take years. PlascoEnergy intends to finance the construction and commissioning of its own waste to energy facilities. The plant will cost about $125 million, all of which will be paid by the company.
The primary requirements to build a facility are a guaranteed waste stream, guaranteed sale of electricity and a location. Shown below is a computer generated image of a new plant proposed by PlascoEnergy for the City of Los Angeles: building exterior and landscaping design by Canadian architect Douglas Cardinal.
How Much Oil in ANWR and U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve?
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
USGS optimistically estimates 10.3 billion barrels (10,300 million barrels) of recoverable oil in ANWR, with projected ANWR peak production rates of approximately 1.3 million barrels per day (1.3 mmbpd). Assuming peak production from ANWR, this 10,300 mmb supply would last us about 22 years (10,300 mmb ANWR oil / 1.3 mmbpd = about 7,923 days = 22 years).
1.3 mmbpd peak production from ANWR would offset a fraction of the 12 mmbpd net U.S. imports (total U.S. demand is 21 mmbpd). But when would we see this oil from ANWR and how much would it affect gasoline and diesel prices at the pump?
7 to 12 years would be needed for leasing, permitting, construction, and so forth before oil from ANWR could hit the market. If Congress voted today to allow drilling in ANWR, we would probably see oil by 2017, meeting roughly 6% of total U.S. demand (1.3 mmbpd / 21 mmbpd = 6%). If U.S. demand increases by 20% in 10 years, ANWR oil would meet roughly 5% of demand.
U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve
The U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve, an emergency petroleum store maintained by the DOE, peaked at around 700 million total barrels in 2005 and 2007. At its maximum drawdown rate, the Reserve could offset roughly 4.4 mmbpd net oil imports (though U.S. net imports = 12 mmbpd) in the event of an embargo or other emergency. At its maximum drawdown rate, the Reserve would last about 159 days (700 mmb / 4.4 mmbpd = 159 days).
Drawdown capability of U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve:
- Maximum drawdown capability: 4.4 million barrels per day
- Time for oil to enter U.S. market: 13 days from Presidential decision
- Full drawdown: The President can order a full drawdown of the Reserve to counter a “severe energy supply interruption” or national energy supply shortage as determined by the President.
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NYMEX: Light, Sweet Crude Oil (CL)
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NYMEX: Natural Gas (NG)
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NYMEX: Heating Oil (HO)
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EIA: Retail Prices
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Bloomberg: Wind Energy Index
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MAC: Global Solar Energy Index