EREN Network News

October 20, 1999

News and Events

• Solar Electric Power Plant Started Up in California
• Steel Industry Cogeneration Plant Wins National Award
• DOE Awards $800,000 for Industrialized Housing Efficiency
• New Lighting Standards to Create Huge Energy Savings
• Honda Joins California Fuel Cell Partnership

Site News

• Buy Energy Efficient

Energy Facts and Tips

• Automotive Fuel Economy Hits a 20-Year Low
• It's Time to Prepare for Winter

About this Newsletter

News and Events

Solar Electric Power Plant Started Up in California
GPU Solar, Inc., announced the start up on Tuesday of what it claims to be the first independent commercial solar power plant directly resulting from customer choice for electricity. The 132-kilowatt photovoltaic power plant, called Solar 2000, was built at the Real Goods Institute for Solar Living in Mendocino, California. Owned and operated by GPU Solar, the plant will provide power to GreenMountain.com, which will sell the electricity as part of its premium-priced "green power" product. For more information, see the GPU Solar press release.

The market for green power -- electricity from renewable energy -- has steadily grown in California since the state restructured its electricity market in early 1998. For more information about green power, see the Green Power Network on EREN.

Steel Industry Cogeneration Plant Wins National Award
Two employees at U.S. Steel's Gary Works, in Gary, Indiana, received a national award for their work on the installation of a 161-megawatt cogeneration plant at the facility. Cogeneration plants achieve high efficiencies by producing electricity while also producing heat for industrial processes. The Gary Works facility converts the excess heat from coke oven and blast furnace gasses into electricity. In June 1999, the facility produced more than 53 percent of the electricity used at Gary Works, which is the largest integrated steel facility in North America. The project's success earned this year's Project Excellence Award from the Association of Iron and Steel Engineers. Primary Energy, a subsidiary of NiSource Inc., designed, constructed, and owns the facility, and U.S. Steel operates and maintains it. For more information, see the NiSource press release.

Cogeneration -- also referred to as combined heat and power -- has the potential to meet many energy needs of industries and could even make some industries into net generators of electricity. To encourage this technology, DOE has established the Combined Heat and Power Challenge, which aims to double the U.S. generating capacity from cogeneration by 2010. For more information, see the Combined Heat and Power Challenge Web site.

DOE Awards $800,000 for Industrialized Housing Efficiency
DOE announced Monday the award of $800,000 to eight partners to help increase the energy efficiency of factory- built housing. The Florida Solar Energy Center of the University of Central Florida is the principal contractor, receiving $524,000 for research, development, technical assistance and testing services for energy-efficient industrialized housing in the South. The aim is to reduce energy use by 50 percent in factory-built homes. For more information, see the DOE press release.

The award is part of DOE's Building America program, which works with more than 80 partners in the housing industry to develop and build affordable homes that use up to 50 percent less energy than conventional U.S. homes. Over the last 10 years, Building America partners have helped design, build, and test more than 100,000 industrialized houses nationwide. For more information, see the Building America Web site on EREN.

New Lighting Standards to Create Huge Energy Savings
DOE announced last week that energy efficiency advocates and lighting ballast manufacturers had agreed to new standards that will largely phase out magnetic ballasts for fluorescent lights. Ballasts are an essential component of fluorescent fixtures, increasing the frequency of the electricity to the higher levels need to light the fluorescent tube. Magnetic ballasts use more energy than newer solid- state electronic ballasts. Through the agreement, DOE will pursue rules for new standards to go into effect on April 1, 2005, at which time all ballasts for the commercial and industrial "new construction or renovation" market must be energy-efficient electronic ballasts. The standards are expected to avoid up to 72 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions over the following 30 years. For more information, see the DOE press release.

The announcement is timely, as tomorrow marks the 120th anniversary of Edison's invention of the incandescent light bulb. For more information, see the Web site for the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village (home of the reconstructed Menlo Park laboratory).

Honda Joins California Fuel Cell Partnership
American Honda Motor Co. announced earlier this month that it has joined the California Fuel Cell Partnership to help demonstrate the future potential of fuel-cell vehicles. The Partnership was established in April and also includes auto makers DaimlerChrysler, Ford Motor Company and Volkswagen; energy providers ARCO, Shell and Texaco; fuel-cell maker Ballard Power Systems and the State of California. Honda has announced plans to make a fuel-cell vehicle available by the year 2003 and is currently developing both hydrogen-fueled and methanol-fueled prototype models. For more information, see the Honda press release.

See the California Fuel Cell Partnership Web site for more information.

In related news, Ballard announced that it received a $2.6 million order for fuel cells from Honda R&D Co., Ltd., of Saitama, Japan. Ballard also announced that its affiliate, dbb fuel cell engines inc., has produced a prototype fuel-cell- powered bus that the company plans to produce commercially in 2002. For more information, see the Ballard Web site.

Site News

Buy Energy Efficient
Sponsored by the Consumer Federation of America Foundation, a nonprofit research and education organization, the site provides information about the economic, environmental and health benefits of buying energy-efficient products for the home. It gives tips on what to look for when purchasing new home appliances and heating and cooling equipment and provides answers to frequently asked questions about energy-efficient products.

For this and other recent additions see the EREN Web site.

Energy Facts and Tips

Automotive Fuel Economy Hits a 20-Year Low
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently reported that the fuel economy of model year 1999 cars and light trucks has fallen to an average of 23.8 miles per gallon (mpg), the lowest since 1980. Although passenger cars are achieving 28.1 mpg, this average is brought down by sport utility vehicles, vans, and pickup trucks, which average only 20.3 mpg. Passenger cars must meet so-called corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards by averaging at least 27.5 mpg for all models sold by any one company, but light trucks have a lower standard of only 20.6 mpg. See the report, "Light-Duty Automotive Technology and Fuel Economy Trends Through 1999," on the EPA Web site.

Last week, President Clinton signed into law the appropriations act for the Department of Transportation (DOT) and related agencies. The act included a provision that prohibits the DOT from re-examining CAFE standards. "I am very disturbed by this limitation on my Administration's ability to address this critical issue," said the President in a statement. "...For this reason, we will soon invite the leaders of the auto industry to the White House to try to find a way to address this issue notwithstanding the limitation in this bill." The President's statement can be found by searching the White House Web site.

It's Time to Prepare for Winter
If you live in a cold climate, and you haven't prepared for winter yet, now is a good time to do it. Some summer cooling options, like whole-house fans and roof-mounted swamp coolers, have the potential to allow energy to leak through your roof. Be sure to cover and insulate these for the winter. Now is also a good time to replace any furnace filters and have your furnace checked by a professional. If you have storm windows, be sure they're in place, plus any other weatherization options such as weather stripping and insulating. The weather gurus are calling for a cold winter, so be prepared now! If you need more suggestions, try the Energy Savers Web site on EREN.

You can also order the companion booklet on this Web site. The booklet, produced by DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in partnership with Owens Corning, recently reached a milestone when its total circulation hit one million copies. For more information, see the NREL press release.

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