Solar Thermal Gains Momentum

Joanna Schroeder

When many of us think of solar energy the first thing that comes to mind is a solar panel. But there are other solar technologies that can generate renewable energy. Solar thermal hot water and space heating systems are gaining in popularity here in the U.S. and have already become widespread in countries such as China. A solar thermal system uses the sun to directly heat water and air that circulates in their processess, buildings, offices and homes.

“Business owners are sometimes concerned that solar thermal may not provide enough energy for their needs,” said Nigel Cotton, OEM Team Leader for the International Copper Association and founder of Solarthermalworld.org. “But there are many ways to combine solar thermal with other types of renewable energy that will allow it to provide more energy while continuing to refrain from adding carbon emissions to the environment.”

One way to stretch the sun further is to combine solar thermal with geothermal pumps.  Geothermal heat pumps bring heat up from under the ground to combine with the heat of the solar thermal system.  In addition, the geothermal exchanger can serve as a storage tank for excess heat from the solar thermal system. These kinds of innovations in solar thermal systems can be used in settings where hot water is either essential or secondary to the operations of the organization or home.

The technology is already being tested successfully at Brown University located in Providence, Rhode Island.  They are testing a hybrid system of solar thermal and PV to provide heat for the building and hot water for its swimming pool.  Combining the two energy sources have helped each successful technology become even more powerful.

Cotton added, “Solar thermal is an extremely versatile technology. Combination systems are the next step in the application of solar thermal as a leading renewable energy technology.”

Electricity, Energy, Geothermal, Solar

EnergyTrends 2012 Renewable Energy Grades

Joanna Schroeder

Did you know that California, Colorado and Massachusetts are the top three states in the U.S. for renewable energy? You can learn all this and more from a new data analysis by EnergyTrends.org, a project of Lexington Institute. The organization has assigned grades to each U.S. state based on its use and development of renewable energy.

The grading system considers both the amount of energy generated from renewable sources as well as the growth rate over a three-year period. It also takes into account savings achieved in electricity use, renewable energy state incentive programs and other factors. States were given extra bonus points for grid-connected renewable installations, dynamic pricing for power utility consumers and integrated of electric vehicles.

“Renewable energy is really still in its infancy here in the United States,” said Lexington Executive Vice President Don Soifer. “So we felt it essential to grade based on a growth model, with plenty of room to reflect future improvements in the integration of renewable. We worked to create a new resource that will be useful for everyone from schools to elected officials to keep track of their state’s critical patterns for energy consumption and generation.”

The scoring is based on data from 2003-2010, the most recent year for which confirmed information is available. Resources included the Department of Energy as well as other state-specific energy information. Data used also included per-capita consumption of energy from various fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas and gasoline, as well as renewable sources. All states are ranked in each category, along with indicators for important trends and summaries of important recent developments.

So what grade does my current state, Iowa, receive? A “C”.  It looks like Iowa has some work to do….

bioenergy, Education, Energy

Growth Energy Announces New Communications Team

Joanna Schroeder

Two new team members have been added to Growth Energy’s communications team. Michael Frohlich joins Growth Energy as its new press secretary and will serve as the primary spokesperson and media contact for the organization. Michael Lewan joins the organization as its new public affairs associate and will be responsible for general outreach and strategic communication initiatives. Together, the two bring multiple years of communications experience to the organization.

“We are thrilled to have these two talented communicators join our growing team,” said Growth Energy CEO Tom Buis. “Both will provide valuable services to our membership’s needs and our overall operations, bringing with them a wealth of knowledge and experience, as well as a strong sense of understanding of our industry and a commitment to achieving our goals. They both are great additions to the Growth Energy team.”

Frohlich and Lewan will join a team focused on working with media and other key audiences to create awareness and educate the public about the benefits of ethanol.

Company Announcement, Ethanol, Growth Energy

Sweet Sorghum Produces Renewable Diesel

Joanna Schroeder

Ceres’ sweet sorghum hybrids have been successfully processed into renewable diesel by Amyris.  The pilot-scale project was part of a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and Amyris presented a summary of results during the 34th Symposium on Biotechnology for Fuels and Chemicals held in New Orleans, Louisiana.

The project evaluated both sugars and biomass from sweet sorghum hybrids grown in Alabama, Florida, Hawaii, Louisiana, and Tennessee.  Once harvested, the sorghum juice was extracted from its stems and concentrated into sugar syrup.  Next, the syrup was processed by Amyris at its California pilot facility using its yeast fermentation system that converts sugars into Biofene.  From there, the Biofene can be processed into renewable fuels and chemicals.

“We believe that sweet sorghum could be an important and complementary source of fermentable sugars as the U.S. expands the production of renewable biofuels and biochemicals through the use of non-food crops outside of prime cropland,” said Spencer Swayze, Ceres director of business development.

Spencer believes that with free sugars in sweet sorghum readily accessible larger quantities of low-cost sugars could become available.  Ceres says that sweet sorghum has a number of advantages:  it’s fast growing, requires less fertilizer than sugarcane, can be grown in drier climates and produces large amounts of fermentable sugars and biomass.

Todd Pray, Amyris director of product management said, “The results from these evaluations confirmed that the Amyris No Compromise renewable diesel production process performs well across different sugar sources. Ceres’ sweet sorghum hybrids produced sugars that yielded comparable levels of farnesene as sugarcane and other sugar sources Amyris has utilized.”

Biodiesel, biomass

Ag Secretary Urges Oil Companies to Accept E15

Cindy Zimmerman

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack today urged petroleum companies to increase adoption of 15% ethanol blended gasoline (E15) to help decrease reliance on foreign oil.

“The availability of E15 will increase America’s energy security and spur additional job creation,” Vilsack said. “The Obama Administration has an ‘all-of-the-above’ to promoting domestic energy security, and increasing the percentage of ethanol to be blended with gasoline will help boost economic growth while lessening the nation’s dependence on foreign oil.”

Vilsack sent out comments in a news release today, shortly after the American Petroleum Institute held a press conference call charging that EPA approval of E15 “could result in serious safety and environmental problems for consumers” due to incompatible gasoline station equipment.

USDA notes that in order to enable widespread use of E15, the Obama Administration has set a goal to help fueling station owners install 10,000 blender pumps over the next 5 years. In addition, both through the Recovery Act and the 2008 Farm Bill, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and U.S. Department of Agriculture have provided grants, loans and loan guarantees to spur American ingenuity on the next generation of biofuels. Before it can be sold, manufacturers must first take additional measures to help ensure retail stations and other gasoline distributors understand and implement labeling rules and other E15-related requirements.

Ethanol, Ethanol News, USDA

Ethanol Groups Respond to Oil Gripes About E15

Cindy Zimmerman

The ethanol industry responded today to complaints made by the American Petroleum Institute about the Environmental Protection Agency’s approval of E15 for commercial use.

In a conference call with reporters, API Downstream Group Director Bob Greco presented a “new analysis” of EPA’s regulations which claims “an estimated half of all gasoline station equipment is not compatible with E15” and said that this could result in serious safety and environmental problems for consumers.”

American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) Senior Vice President Ron Lamberty said it was not surprising to see the oil industry attach E15. “But it is surprising to see them going after pumps and tanks, because most of that equipment has been tested – for decades – using at least 15% ethanol,” Lamberty said. “Underwriters Laboratories (UL) listing for petroleum equipment requires that they pass dozens of tests using fuel that contains 15% ethanol and their listing for tanks and piping defines “alcohol-gasoline mixtures” as any level of ethanol or methanol up to and including 100%.”

Lamberty, who owns and operates a Sioux Falls convenience store, added that the pumps at his station are warrantied for E15, and his tanks and lines are compatible with gasoline ethanol blends. “My biggest infrastructure problem with E15 is that the API-member oil company that supplies my station won’t let me sell it,” he said.

The Renewable Fuels Association noted that the industry is working with all stakeholders to address any safety issues regarding E15, including a website dedicated to E15 information (www.E15fuel.org), a misfueling mitigation plan to help retailers avoid confusion, and an E15 Retailer Handbook for gas station owners seeking to offer E15.

ACE, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Oil

Economics of Energy & The Environment

Joanna Schroeder

Ok everybody. It’s time to go back to school. Who has the time you think? Who has the money?  Who has a college campus near you? These are no longer valid excuses – the time is now to become energy literate.  There is a FREE online course called Economics of Energy & The Environment being taught by Dr. Ben Ho, Assistant Professor of Economics – Vassar College.  Ho believes that energy use and its impact on the environment will be two of the most important issues of the 21st century. I agree.

Ho explains that the large role of energy in geo-political relationships combined with the fact that a majority of greenhouse gas emissions believed to cause global climate change come from energy. This means the energy sector must change. This also means great opportunities for those who accept the mission of clean energy.

The class is designed as a primer for those interested in clean energy and its relationship with the environment.  Potential entrepreneurs, investors, managers and policy makers will all find the class beneficial. In addition, all of you folks running and working for energy companies (solar, geothermal, wind, biofuels, etc.) could learn a lot as well as those of us just interested and passionate about renewable energy. Topics will include environmental economics, energy economics, environmental ethics, oil sector, the electricity sector, alternative energy, sustainability, climate change, and climate policy.

I’ve checked it out and I’m going to take the class this summer, at my own pace. Everything is done online so you can hit the “Internet” when you have an hour or two of spare time and take as long as you need to complete the course. Dr. Ho answers questions so while it is not “real-time” per se, you can still get the one-on-one attention you may desire of the esteemed professor.

So, let’s take a DomesticFuel challenge and beef up our energy knowledge (a recent survey said most people were energy illiterate) and take the course. Write comments on the site as you go along. It would be great to get a good dialogue on the topics going. I will pull out some nuggets from each lesson as I take the course over the next few months and share them with you.  Ready…Set….Learn…my readers!

Education, Energy, Environment

Ball State Completes A Hot Geothermal Project

Joanna Schroeder

It’s been while since I’ve written about geothermal so I thought I’d bring you this neat story from Ball State.  The university created the country’s largest ground-source, closed-loop district geothermal energy system. The project began in the Spring of 2012 when water heated by the Earth began flowing through a geothermal district heating and cooling system.

This portion of the project will enable Ball State to reduce the load on four of its aging coal-fired boilers. This is just the first phase. When the entire project is complete, the boilers will be shut down and one result will be the reduction of campus carbon emissions by nearly half.  At full capacity, the geothermal system will heat and cool 47 buildings with an estimated energy savings of $2 million per year.

So how was the geothermal system put into place? Nearly 3,600 boreholes will be drilled in borehole fields around campus.  During Phase 1, 1,800 boreholes were drilled an an equal number will be drilled during Phase 2. An eyesore you think? No! Once construction is complete they will not be seen and the campus will remain as beautiful as it was before the project begun.

Ball State says that this project has national implications: ground-source geothermal energy can be used in every state. The geothermal project was dedicated as part of an ongoing sustainability initiative and educational series, the Greening of the Campus IX: Building Pedagogy. The conference allows a diverse group of people to share information and ideas on environmental issues.  With the success of the geothermal project, I’m curious to see what neat energy projects Ball State comes up with next.

Electricity, Energy, Geothermal

Project Converts Poultry Waste to Energy

Joanna Schroeder

An new collaboration is looking at whether poultry waste can be converted to energy and other byproducts using an advanced fixed-bed gasifier (AFBG). The lead is the Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC) at the University of North Dakota along with DenYon Energy and the U.S. Department of Energy. The technology has been licensed by the EERC Foundation to DenYon Energy for commercialization in the poultry industry.

The project will kick off with several weeks of pilot-scale tests to assess efficiency and performance of the system. Both poultry litter and other waste materials from the industry will be tested as fuel. Ultimately, the test will be able to identify and barriers and challenges that need to be overcome to bring the technology to commercial scale.

“We are trying to achieve a complete solution for the poultry industry with this distributed energy technology,” said Nikhil Patel, Research Scientist, Project Manager, and inventor of the technology. “A distributed-scale energy and by-product recovery process is an emerging need in the poultry industry. This project can lead to environmental and economic sustainability by helping a major food processing industry eliminate waste and become more energy self-reliant.”

If the technology proves successful, poultry farms around the globe could use their own waste, a traditional liability, to supply lower-cost energy to their operations while simultaneously reducing disposal challenges, a huge opportunity. The technology converts the poultry litter to syngas and from there the syngas can be used to create electricity and heat needed during the production process. It is estimated that a farm generating 3000 tons a year of waste could produce about 280 kilowatts of power, enough to supply all the electricity needed for one year for nearly 150 average sized homes.

biogas, Electricity, Energy

U.S. Leads The Way in Ethanol Exports

Joanna Schroeder

The United States has taken the lead in ethanol exports over Brazil according to the new study, “U.S. & Brazil Ethanol Outlook to 2022,” published by Hart Energy. The report predicts that the U.S. will retain this position into 2022 and beyond. Another major finding is that Hart Energy does not believe the U.S. ethanol industry can meet two major policy goals: Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) and California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS). The reason is that these production goals do not meet the realities of commercialization and availability. However, the report maintains that changes in policy are imperative for production goals to be met over the next several years.

“Much of the focus has been on the ‘blend wall,’ biodiesel, and cellulosic biofuels targets of the RFS program in the public forum,” said Tammy Klein, assistant vice president of Hart Energy. “But what’s so striking to us is that Brazilian ethanol is needed to meet targets under those programs — and our forecast shows it will not be available at critical points in the study period.”

Klein added that Brazilian ethanol will also be in high demand in other parts of the world, especially Europe. Ethanol is a key part of the strategy for increasing octane and meeting renewable fuel targets worldwide.  Yet the report forecasts wide fluctuations in Brazilian ethanol exports and estimates that the county won’t meet its peak levels of 2008 until 2019.

The study examines public policies, market developments, economics as well as addresses numerous factors affecting the ethanol industry, including a forecast for crude oil, gasoline, ethanol feedstocks and ethanol production, supply, demand, and Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs). The Outlook contends renewable fuel mandates in the U.S. will also create opportunities for increased production of corn-based ethanol and biodiesel.

Maelle Soares Pinto, director of Hart Energy’s Global Biofuels Center concluded, “The good news is the U.S. ethanol industry has been able to move forward despite the ‘blend wall’ and open new export markets around the world. The constraints we are seeing with Brazilian ethanol could open up opportunities for the U.S. ethanol industry, and this will be a key subject of study for us this year.”

Hart Energy will host a webinar on the study findings on Tuesday, May 15, 2012. More information on these findings and methodology is available by visiting the Global Biofuels Center.

biofuels, Ethanol, Research