EREN Network News

August 15, 2001

News and Events

• Federal Agencies Reduced Demand During Heat Wave
• Report Questions Goals of Fuel-Efficient Vehicle Program
• USDA Commits to Using Biodiesel, Ethanol in its Fleets
• DOE Provides $5.5 Million for Energy Savings in Buildings
• DOE Funding Advances On-Site Power, Heating, and Cooling
• Solar-Powered Aircraft Set Altitude Record
• Innovative New Zealand Wind Company Fails

Site News

• California Biomass Energy Alliance

• EIA Releases Annual Energy Review 2000

News and Events

Federal Agencies Reduce Demand During Heat Wave
Federal agencies along the East Coast reduced their electrical use last week in an effort to relieve stress on the electrical grids. An intense heat wave caused record- breaking electrical demand throughout the Midwest and along the East Coast, particularly in New England. Federal facilities took action by turning off unnecessary lights and office equipment, shutting down elevators and escalators, and setting thermostats higher. See the DOE press release.

Although many utilities and electrical grid operators saw record electrical demands last week, no brownouts or rolling blackouts were reported. The New England Independent System Operator (ISO), which operates the New England power grid, broke demand records four days in a row, culminating with a record demand of 25,158 megawatts on Thursday. The ISO later thanked the public for their efforts to save energy. See the August 10th press release on the New England ISO Web site.

Report Questions Goals of Fuel-Efficient Vehicle Program
A report released Monday by the National Academies says that an affordable sedan that achieves 80 miles per gallon may not be achievable by 2004. This and other goals of the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles (PNGV) — a partnership of government and major U.S. automakers — are questioned in the latest report, which is the seventh review of the program by the National Academies.

The report notes that the PNGV has achieved significant results, including high-mileage prototype vehicles from the three major car companies as well as near-term plans to introduce vehicles that use hybrid-electric technologies. PNGV has also achieved significant progress in its work on lightweight aluminum bodies, and although fuel-cell vehicles remain a long-term goal, PNGV has achieved important research results.

However, creating an affordable sedan that uses these technologies has remained elusive to the automakers. One complicating factor is new emissions limits that are difficult to achieve with lean-burning engines without losing fuel efficiency. The report also notes that the growing popularity of sport utility vehicles, vans, and pickup trucks calls the PNGV's focus on sedans into question. It recommends that PNGV refine its charter and goals "to better reflect current societal needs and the ability…to address those needs successfully."

See the full report, especially the executive summary, on the National Academy Press Web site.

DOE lauded the report, noting that the recommendations are in line with suggestions that Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham made earlier this year. See the DOE press release.

For more information about the PNGV, see the Web site at:

USDA Commits to Using Biodiesel, Ethanol in its Fleets
The U. S. Department of Agriculture announced today that USDA agencies will use biodiesel and ethanol fuels in their fleet vehicles where practicable and reasonable in cost. The USDA's diesel fuel storage tanks will aim to use at least a 20 percent blend of biodiesel, and the agency's gasoline fueling facilities will try to use at least a 10 percent blend of ethanol. The USDA will also buy or lease alternative fuel vehicles in areas where alternative fuels are available.

The feasibility of the USDA's approach was proven at its Henry A. Wallace Agricultural Research Center in Beltsville, Maryland, which has used soy-oil-based biodiesel as a heating fuel and in all 150 of its diesel vehicles over the past two years. See the USDA press release.

The USDA released a report in July stating that boosting the use of biodiesel in the United States would increase farm income while decreasing the trade deficit. See the press release and report (PDF 26 KB), Web site of the National Biodiesel Board. Download Acrobat Reader

DOE Provides $5.5 Million for Energy Savings in Buildings
DOE announced last week its provision of $5.5 million in funds for 12 research and development projects to improve energy efficiency in buildings. The 12 projects will help develop technologies such as lamps that use light-emitting diodes (LED), improved electronic controls for fluorescent lamps, innovative heating and cooling concepts, advanced laundry appliances, and improved computer software for designing and analyzing buildings. All of the projects include cost sharing with the industry or university partner that is performing the research. See the DOE press release.

One of the projects will enhance the performance of electrochromic windows, which turn darker or lighter when a voltage is applied to them. This allows the tint of the window to be controlled with a thermostat or other electronic device. See the Electrochromic Windows Research Web site.

DOE Funding Advances On-Site Power, Heating, and Cooling
DOE announced last week the award of seven contracts to perform research, development, and testing of packaged systems that will provide on-site power, heating, and cooling for commercial and institutional buildings. The contracts, totaling $18.5 million in DOE funds, are cost-shared with the industry partners.

The use of these so-called "distributed energy resource" systems can achieve high efficiencies while reducing the load on electrical transmission and distribution systems. All of the systems being developed through the DOE contracts use absorption chillers, which are essentially air conditioners that are primarily driven by heat rather than electricity. Four of the systems will use microturbines to generate power and heat, two will use turbine generators, and one will use an engine-driven generator. See the DOE press release.

Concerns about power quality and reliability are driving many companies to install such distributed energy systems at their facilities. In fact, the General Electric Company (GE) announced early this month that it secured contracts in the first six months of 2001 for the installation of 131 megawatts of on-site power generators in California and the Pacific Northwest. That's enough power for nearly 115,000 households. The systems will use a variety of natural-gas- powered engines to drive generators to produce the power. See the GE press release.

The Consumer Energy Council of America (CECA) announced last month that distributed energy can significantly improve the electrical system in the United States. The council convened a forum of energy experts that studied distributed energy for the past year, and concluded that it can foster lower prices and improved reliability. See the CECA press release.

Solar-Powered Aircraft Set Altitude Record
The Helios, a prototype solar-powered aircraft developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), set a new altitude record of 96,500 feet on Monday — the highest a aircraft has ever flown without using a rocket. The craft lifted off from the Hawaiian island of Kauai just before 9 a.m. local time on Monday. Decreasing sunlight halted its descent at just after 4 p.m., and it gradually descended, not landing until nearly 2 a.m. on Tuesday.

The previous altitude record for sustained horizontal flight was set at 85,068 feet by the SR-71 "Blackbird" spy plane back in 1966 (of course, the Blackbird flew considerably faster than the Helios' speed of 25 miles per hour). See the press releases on theNASA's Dryden Flight Research Center Web site.

Innovative New Zealand Wind Company Fails
Vortec Energy, a New Zealand wind company with an innovative approach, closed shop in July. The company planned to use a diffuser, or shroud, surrounding its wind turbine to direct more wind into the turbine and boost its power output. As noted by Windflow Technology Ltd., another New Zealand wind company, the design was never able to capture the additional wind power that Vortec claimed it could, leading to the company's failure. Vortec gained considerable visibility by running two-page ads in energy magazines in recent months, illustrating its turbines installed on both the land and sea. See the Windflow press release.

While U.S. wind turbine companies tend to implement less radical innovations, there is one U.S. company that promises a radical new design — but not for the turbines, for the towers. Valmont Industries, Inc., a manufacturer of light poles and transmission towers, claims to have developed a new method of constructing the towers that hold wind turbines. The structure is modular for ease of shipping and is self-erecting. The company claims that its mobile Turbine Lifting Platform eliminates the need for a large crane to install the turbine. See the Valmont Web site.

Site News

California Biomass Energy Alliance
This association represents 36 biomass-fueled power plants in California. Members are the plant owners and operators whose fuels come from the forestry, agricultural and urban wood waste sectors. The Web site presents the history of biomass, its environmental benefits, facts about its use in California, and an overview of its use in the United States.

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

Energy Facts and Tips

EIA Releases Annual Energy Review 2000
DOE's Energy Information Administration (EIA) released its full Annual Energy Review 2000 early this month. The report shows both the bad and good news about renewable energy — on the one hand, renewable energy meets just seven percent of U.S. energy needs, but on the other hand, the non-hydropower renewable sources are growing rapidly. U.S. renewable energy still comes primarily from hydropower (46 percent), with wood a close second (38 percent), waste sources trailing at 8 percent, geothermal energy in fourth at 5 percent, and solar, wind, alcohol fuels, and all other sources adding up to only 3 to 4 percent.

Although solar energy is only about 1 percent of the total U.S. renewable energy production, U.S. production of photovoltaic solar cells is growing rapidly, increasing from less than 10,000 kilowatts of solar capacity in 1982 to a record 77,000 kilowatts of solar capacity produced in 2000. However, the bulk of these solar cells and panels — about 60,000 kilowatts of capacity — were exported to other countries. See the Annual Energy Review 2000 — particularly the Renewable Energy section — on the EIA Web site.

Also of interest is the Overview section, which shows trends from 1950 through 2000. The graphs show that the U.S. per capita energy consumption peaked in 1978 and 1979 and dropped in the early 1980s, but is now creeping back up to near those peak values. Meanwhile, the energy use per dollar of gross domestic product has steadily decreased since 1950, indicating that the country has consistently found ways to produce products with greater energy efficiency. See the overview.

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