EREN Network News

January 5, 2000

News and Events

• Wind Energy Posts Its Best Year Ever
• First Commercial Wind Plant Starts Up in Pennsylvania
• U.S. Postal Service Purchases 500 Electric Vehicles
• McDonald's Pledges to Cut Restaurant Energy Use
• New Solar Technology Promises Threefold Efficiency Boost
• Study: U.S. Market for Photovoltaics Gaining Momentum

Site News

• Clean Energy Basics

• Energy Suppliers Sail Uneventfully Into Y2K
• Voluntary Greenhouse Gas Reductions Tripled Since 1994

About this Newsletter

News and Events

Wind Energy Posts Its Best Year Ever
Global wind energy had its best year ever in 1999, according to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA). Preliminary estimates of the new wind energy capacity installed last year total 3,600 megawatts, bringing the world's wind energy capacity to roughly 13,400 megawatts. Although Germany added the most wind capacity — 1,200 megawatts — the United States showed the second-highest growth, with a surging U.S. market adding 732 megawatts. See the AWEA press release.

First Commercial Wind Plant Starts Up in Pennsylvania
While most electric utilities and power providers were busy preparing for Y2K, Connectiv Energy and Community Energy, Inc. celebrated New Year's Eve by starting up the first commercial wind plant in Pennsylvania. The two 65-kilowatt wind turbines are expected to generate 200,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity each year, and will be followed with two more turbines in spring. Customers have already been lined up to receive the wind power, including a purchase of 20,000 kilowatt-hours per month by Philadelphia's Sheraton Rittenhouse Square Hotel. See the Community Energy press release on Pennsylvania's Clean Air Council Web site.

U.S. Postal Service Purchases 500 Electric Vehicles
The U.S. Postal Service announced a record-breaking purchase of 500 electric vehicles on December 22nd. The Ford Motor Company will begin producing the vehicles in fall at a rate of 45 per month. Of the 500 vehicles, 480 will go to California, and the remainder will go to Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. The purchase — the largest electric vehicle purchase in U.S. history — will essentially double the number of electric vehicles in use by the entire U.S. federal government. See the U.S. Postal Service press release.

McDonald's Pledges to Cut Restaurant Energy Use
McDonald's Corporation announced December 21st that it will cut energy use in its U.S. restaurants, with an initial target of cutting energy by at least 10 percent compared to the restaurants' 1999 energy use. McDonald's will work with the Environmental Defense Fund and others to set firm goals by Earth Day 2000 (April 22nd). There are 12,500 McDonald's restaurants in the United States, serving more than 22 million customers each day. See the McDonald's press release.

New Solar Technology Promises Threefold Efficiency Boost
DOE's Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) announced last month that it's developing a new solar energy system that could potentially boost solar efficiency and economics by a factor of three. The "full-spectrum solar energy system" uses a roof-mounted, two-axis tracking system to concentrate the sun's light while dividing it into its visible and infrared components. The visible light is distributed through optical fibers into the building, providing a natural light source, while the infrared light is converted into electricity. The system achieves high efficiencies because the visible light is simply gathered and redistributed, rather than being converted into electricity. See the ORNL press release.

Study: U.S. Market for Photovoltaics Gaining Momentum
Consumer-friendly products and the selective use of solar power are allowing solar photovoltaic products to gain a foothold in the U.S. energy market, according to a new report by the Utility Photovoltaic Group (UPVG). The study documents the experiences of TEAM-UP, a public-private investment program to jump start the U.S. market for solar electricity. The study found that photovoltaic products are most readily adopted when they are sold as appliances, in standardized packages, rather than as a stand-alone power source. The marketing of renewable energy as "green power" is also helping the U.S. photovoltaic market. UPVG, a nonprofit association of more than 90 energy service providers, receives DOE funding to manage the TEAM-UP project. See the UPVG press release.

Site News

Clean Energy Basics
This Web site, hosted by DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), tackles the fundamentals of energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies such as solar, wind, hydropower, geothermal, bioenergy and ocean energy. It highlights the positive impact these technologies have on the environment, economy, and national security and explains why they are important to individuals and businesses. The site provides specific information about clean energy technologies for homeowners, small business owners, students, teachers, electricity providers, and inventors.

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

Energy Facts and Tips

Energy Suppliers Sail Uneventfully Into Y2K
Electric utilities throughout North America met the New Year without any significant power outages. The North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC) credited "unprecedented industry-wide cooperation" in preparing for Y2K. See the NERC press release on the Web site of the President's Council on Year 2000 Conversion.

Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson noted that energy-sector investments in Y2K preparation were essential to maintain the flow of energy. DOE estimates that the U.S. electricity, natural gas and oil industries spent $5 billion in Y2K remediation and rapid response systems. See the DOE press release.

Although the power stayed on through the Y2K transition, it's still a good idea to be prepared for possible power outages from any number of causes, and solar energy is an excellent source of emergency power. For more information, see "Surviving Disaster with Renewable Energy" on the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Web site.

NREL recently followed its own advice and installed a solar photovoltaic electric system as an emergency backup power source. See the NREL press release.

Voluntary Greenhouse Gas Reductions Tripled Since 1994
Companies' voluntary projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions avoided the equivalent of 212 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions in 1998, according to a report released yesterday by DOE's Energy Information Administration (EIA). The avoided emissions totaled about 3.2 percent of all U.S. emissions for the year, and were nearly three times the amount reported in 1994. The 1,507 emission-reduction projects were achieved by a diverse group of 187 U.S. companies. See the EIA press release, including a link to the report, on the EIA Web site.

Editor's Note: Our December 22nd article on global temperatures for 1999 mistakenly reported that it was the second warmest year on record. Last year was the second warmest on record in the United States, but on a global scale, it was the fifth warmest. See the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's press release.

About this Newsletter

To subscribe to this newsletter, please go to the Web page http://www.eren.doe.gov/newsletter/subscribe/.

The Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Network (EREN) home page is located at http://www.eren.doe.gov/.

Please contact webmaster_eere@nrel.gov if you have questions or comments about the EREN Web site.

If you have questions or comments about this newsletter, please contact the editor.