Results: Calendar of Events
February 21, 2011
Can a house in cold Edmonton produce as much power as it consumes? Environmentalists are trying
By Maurice Tougas in See Magazine: It’s a cold February morning, with the temperature barely nudging -25C. Inside a Mill Creek home shared by Conrad Nobert, his wife Rechel Amores and their two young children, it’s cool but comfortable. Very comfortable, in fact, if you take into consideration their home doesn’t have a furnace.
The Nobert-Amores home looks like any other from the front, but if you go around the back — where you’ll find a garden and the three different fruit trees in the summer months — you’ll see more than 30 solar panels, some on the roof, others on movable awnings. It’s all part of the Nobert-Amores family’s efforts to make as small an imprint on the planet as humanely possible, and as a hedge against the future.
It’s what is called a net zero home, one of only two in the city, with more in the construction and planning state.
A net zero building is one that produces all of its own energy for heating, lighting , appliances, and hot water on site over the course of a year. To do this, the house might draw on the power grid during the cold winter months, but sell back to the grid during the summer or warmer winter days. The net result, if all goes well, is zero.
Whether the Nobert-Amores home — or the first Edmonton net zero home in Riverdale — has achieved actual net zero is not entirely clear. Nobert has been scrupulously gauging his energy production and use this year, and so far it looks promising. Nobert expects they might be able to achieve net zero from the period of October 2010 to October 2011.
Saving your pocket book
But even if it doesn’t achieve the net zero effect, you have to be envious of his power bill, which is about $25 a month, all of which is service charges. And, thanks to the absence of a furnace, there is no natural gas being used, resulting in a remarkable level of savings. To gauge how much, just look at your gas bill for a month like January, and imagine that entire bill, with its laundry list of incomprehensible riders and usage fees, all gone.
Raised by parents who taught him the value of conservation, Nobert is a dedicated environmentalist (he doesn’t even own a car). He and Rechel did everything you can do with their previous house, just a few doors down from their current house, like replacing windows and improving insulation.
Still, that wasn’t enough.
“I realized that it was still consuming a huge amount of energy,” says Nobert. “We don’t really have a good idea, because it just comes in from a pipe in the basement. But the amount of energy used was massive.”
Worried about climate change, and the potential for energy scarcity — one day, he warns, there will be no natural gas left — he and his wife decided to go big and go home, and the easiest way to do that was to start from scratch. Net zero, or even coming close to it, isn’t just a matter of improving insulation and using energy-efficient appliances. The net zero effort begins, literally, from the ground up.
In 2008, he “deconstructed” a house that stood on the site of his current net zero home, saving the fir and maple flooring, the brickwork and the interior doors for use in the new house.
Now with just a hole in the ground, they planned a house that would “push the envelope” of energy conservation, aiming for a net zero house. Read more
February 17, 2011
By Patti Epler in Alaska Dispatch: ConocoPhillips will likely have to shut in gas wells in its Beluga and and North Cook Inlet fields this summer since it won’t need the gas for export to Japan, a company official told a legislative committee on Tuesday.
Dan Clark, manager of Cook Inlet assets for ConocoPhillips, appeared at the request of the House Economic Development Committee, which wanted to talk about the company’s announcement last week that it would close its Nikiski liquefied natural gas plant as soon as April.
The plant has been operating for 40 years, exporting LNG to Tokyo Electric and Tokyo Gas in Japan.
ConocoPhillips, which owns the facility with Marathon Oil, had recently received a new export license from the federal government to continue shipments through 2013. But company officials said a glut of LNG on the Asian market had made continued shipments economically unviable. They decided to mothball the plant, but, as Clark said Tuesday, keep it in good shape so it can be reopened either for exports again or perhaps retrofitted as a facility that could import LNG.
Shutting in wells at the two fields will be necessary because the gas isn’t needed in the summer, Clark said. But next winter, when Southcentral Alaska generally uses all the gas it can get to keep homes heated and lights on, it may not be easy or even possible to restart the wells because of their age and other condition, he said.
The fields have been in production for more than 40 years and the company will make every effort to shut down the wells in a way that will be the least damaging. Read more
February 15, 2011
By Jennifer Gibbins for The Cordova Times: With a goal of reducing energy costs and bringing homes up to safe, healthy and energy efficient standards, 14 homes in Cordova have recently received weatherization services through the Alaska Weatherization Program.
“This program is wonderful. I could not have afforded to hire anyone to come and do this work on my home,” said Gloria Clark. “Now I can stand at the sink and do my dishes and the wind isn’t blowing right off the lake and into the house.”
Like other participants in the program, Clark’s home underwent three assessments prior to weatherization. First, a simple written application examined annual energy usage, square footage and other basic information to determine eligibility. Following that, an onsite inspection was conducted by an energy specialist with the Alaska Community Development Corp. (AKCDC), as well as a diagnostic Blower-Door test that uses specialized software to model home energy use. The AKCDC energy specialist created a customized weatherization plan for the house that was later implemented by a professional contractor team from Alaska SafeTech Industries, including targeting diagnostic goals based on weatherization,.
The plan for Clark’s home included caulking leaks throughout the home, plugging holes in the skirting, three new windows, a new Toyo stove, a fan in the bathroom and new smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. The contractor team repeated diagnostic testing prior to commencing work and upon completion, measured results against the targeted goals for each home. The level of investment varies from home to home depending on a number of factors, however, it can be as much as $8,500. Read more
February 11, 2011
From RenewableEnergyWorld.com: Wind energy, it appears, has never been so competitive. Prices for wind turbines last year dropped below €1 million ($1.36 million) per megawatt for the first time since 2005, due largely to over-capacity, greater manufacturing efficiency and increased scale, according to the market researcher Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
The group’s most recent Wind Turbine Price Index, based on confidential data provided by 28 major purchasers of wind turbines, shows that prices remain under pressure in most parts of the world. The survey includes more than 150 undisclosed turbine contracts, totaling nearly 7 GW of capacity in 28 markets around the world, with a focus on Europe and the Americas.
While the news is good for wind farm project developers hoping to save money, it’s troubling for manufacturers and component suppliers trying to make money – they have seen their margins shrink over the past couple of years. Global turbine contracts signed in late 2010 for the first six months of this year averaged €980,000 per MW, down 7 percent from €1.06 million per MW in 2009 and a peak of €1.21 million in 2008 and 2007.
All manufacturers covered by the survey showed “aggressive pricing, according to New Energy Finance, which was acquired by Bloomberg in 2009. Low-priced power-purchase-agreements in markets exposed to competitive electricity prices – rather than fixed feed-in tariffs – appear to have put additional pressure on turbine contracts. Average prices in Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States were well below €1 million per MW for contracts signed in 2010 and slated for delivery in the first half of this year.
The cost of electricity generated by wind is now at record low levels, according to the survey. “For the past few years, wind turbine costs went up due to rising demand around the world and the increasing price of steel,” Michael Liebreich, chief executive of Bloomberg New Energy Finance, said in a statement. “Behind the scenes, wind manufacturers were reducing their costs, and now we are seeing just how cheap wind energy can be when overcapacity in the supply chain works its way through to developers.”
Overall, the annual 2010 global wind market shrunk for the first time in two decades, down 7 percent from 38.6 GW in 2009 due mainly to a disappointing year in the U.S. and a slowdown in the Europe, according to figures released earlier this month by the Global Wind Energy Council. The U.S. which is traditionally one of the strongest wind markets, saw its annual installations drop by 50 percent from 10 GW in 2009 to just over 5 GW in 2010, GWEC said in a statement. Read more
February 11, 2011
Southcentral Alaska gets 90% of its electricity from natural gas and more than 50% of its heat so this has implications for our natural gas supply. It’s also an example of why diversifying our energy sources to include renewable energy would lessen the economic impact of closures like this.
By Patti Epler of Alaska Dispatch: ConocoPhillips says it will mothball its Nikiski liquefied natural gas plant as soon as April, laying off about 60 company employees and contract workers. The company told employees of its decision Wednesday rather than making a formal announcement, according to ConocoPhillips spokeswoman Natalie Lowman.
But word spread quickly through the community which has suffered other economic downturns in recent years, reaching lawmakers in session in Juneau. The closing of the plant didn’t go over well at the state Capitol, where lawmakers learned of it late Wednesday afternoon through friends, staff and constituents.
“It’s a sad day when we shut down an export facility knowing that we have 35 known (trillion cubic feet) of gas on the North Slope that’s just 800 miles away and one of the things we’re looking at is importing LNG from some foreign country,” said House Speaker Mike Chenault.
The ConocoPhillips plant is “right down the street” from the Nikiski Republican’s house and he grew up with many of the workers who will lose their jobs, he said.
“I can only imagine what their families are going through,” Chenault said from his Juneau office Wednesday evening.
The plant has been a mainstay of the Kenai Peninsula community for more than 40 years. Lowman said at its peak it shipped 64 billion cubic feet of gas a year to Asian markets, primarily Japan. But in recent years shipments have dwindled as other supplies of LNG have flooded the Pacific Rim and the company has only been sending out a single ship. Read more
February 9, 2011
By Katie Hyslop for the TheTyee.ca: When the provincial government decided all new school buildings must meet the LEED Gold standard in 2008, the motive was making B.C. the province with the first carbon-neutral government in Canada, with the added benefit of saving school districts some energy costs.
But new avenues of research into the effects of school buildings on human health and productivity are producing evidence that the government’s move towards greener schools could be producing healthier, more productive and more environmentally aware students.
A tale of a green Dickens
The new Charles Dickens Elementary School was the first in the Vancouver School District when it opened in May 2008, however the government wasn’t enforcing LEED Gold certification then, so the district had to use their own funds to reach LEED Silver status.
Some of the green features include an underground rainwater cistern for non-potable water, geothermal rods that mine the earth’s heat to warm and cool the building, and electronic sensors that monitor the number of people in the room to determine how much light and heat is required.
But while the custodial staff estimates significant energy savings in comparison to the old buildings — as much as 50 per cent less gas than previously required — there is little more than anecdotal evidence the building is producing healthier, more productive students and teachers.
“I think the air quality is definitely different, I noticed that right away from all the buildings that I’ve worked in,” says principal Kathy O’Sullivan.
“And we do have some sickness, colds and the occasional flu, which is during certain seasons, but I don’t see a high absenteeism due to illness, so I think that’s a positive thing. I do see less dust and dirt.”
Researchers in Canada and the U.S. want to turn anecdotes into hard facts by monitoring the affects of natural light, air quality, and acoustics on children’s ability to learn, and as a result are discovering many requirements of sustainable structures are meeting the educational and health needs of children far better than traditional buildings can. Read more
February 5, 2011
From the Alaska Journal of Commerce:Ormat Technologies’ summer 2010 small-bore drilling program on the southern flanks of Mount Spurr volcano, on the west side of Alaska’s Cook Inlet, has confirmed the likely existence of a geothermal source that would enable power generation for the Alaska Railbelt, Paul Thomsen, Ormat’s director of policy and business development, told the Alaska House Resources Committee Jan. 24.
Thomsen said that the purpose of the company’s drilling program is to determine whether there is an appropriate combination of underground heat, underground water and permeable rocks to enable the construction of a viable geothermal power plant.
And so far things look good.
“Results to date have been very encouraging,” Thomsen said. “The shallow water shows the mixing of geothermal fluids. The geochemistry indicates that there is a very high temperature resource — we can look at water molecules and see how hot they’ve ever been. All of this is indicating, as we thought, that this is a very hot, very good potential geothermal resource.”
Ormat picked up 15 leases on the southern flanks of Mount Spurr in the State of Alaska’s September 2008 geothermal lease sale and since then has moved ahead with a geothermal exploration program involving aerial surveys, ground surveying, surface sampling and the small-bore drilling. To date the company has invested about $5 million in its Mount Spurr project, Thomsen said. The company has drilled two slim holes to depths of about 1,000 feet — the plan is to continue with the slim-hole drilling, with core holes to depths of up to 4,000 feet in 2011, and with the possibility of drilling a full-size production well in 2012, to determine whether there is a commercially viable geothermal reservoir, he said.
Customer needed
However, the project has reached a point where Ormat needs to find a potential customer, willing to sign up to a power purchase agreement that can underpin the risk of funding the Mount Spurr work.
“As a company, we’re reaching the very tough decision of how much capital can we outlay without having a guaranteed contract to take that power, and at what price is that contract going to be at,” Thomsen said.
The project should produce 50 to 100 megawatts of power, Thomsen said. And with an expected year-round reliability of 95 percent or better, and with a constant, self-refreshing underground heat source, a geothermal power plant could contribute to meeting the Railbelt’s base-load power needs, he said. Ormat typically self finances a geothermal project until the geothermal power plant goes into operation, at which point the company refinances the project using long term debt — the relatively low project risk at that stage leads to attractive interest rates on the debt.
In the case of Mount Spurr project, the company has been using a $2 million grant from the Alaska Energy Authority, with the company matching that grant with $2.1 million of its own money. The company has been recommended for a further $2 million AEA grant, subject to further company expenditure in excess of $3 million, Thomsen said.
Infrastructure cost
However, coupled into the financing issues for the project is the question of the likely $70 million to $80 million cost of the necessary power plant support infrastructure: a 40-mile power transmission line from Mount Spurr to the nearest point on the Railbelt power grid and about 25 miles of permanent access road. Ormat anticipates holding discussions with the state and with Chugach Electric Association, the operator of the Beluga power plant where a transmission line from Mount Spurr would connect with the grid, about the appropriate mechanism for infrastructure funding, whether by private industry or by the state.
With an estimated construction cost per kilowatt hour capacity of $5,000 to $6,000, the cost of a Mount Spurr power plant would be somewhat higher than the typical $3,000 to $5,000 per kilowatt hour of a comparable plant in the Lower 48. And the costs and possible performance of the plant lead to a likely electricity cost of around 12 cents to 13 cents per kilowatt hour, a figure that is a few cents higher than the avoided cost of using current sources of Railbelt power, Thomsen said.
A reduction in geothermal royalties enacted by the state legislature in 2010 has shaved about one cent off the projected power rate, but some additional incentive, perhaps a refundable tax credit, would be needed to allow geothermal to compete on a straight cost basis, he said.
Fixed cost
But although currently more expensive to produce than, say, power a from a natural gas-fueled plant, much of the cost of geothermal energy involves the amortization of the initial cost of the plant, thus offering the enticing prospect of locking in a fixed power price over a 20-year period, while also enabling the generation of base-load power with virtually no environmental impact. And a typical geothermal power purchase agreement conveys to the power utility all of the green attributes of the power source, such as the elimination of sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides emissions, Thomsen said.
The proposed design for a Mount Spurr power plant involves bring hot geothermal water to the surface through a well, using that water to heat a secondary, low-boiling point fluid and then using the boiling of that secondary fluid to drive a turbine. The used water would be re-injected underground into the geothermal reservoir, where geothermal energy would reheat the water for re-use. And the secondary fluid would also be continuously recycled. Read more
February 4, 2011
From the U.S. Department of Energy’s EERE Office: In a move designed to encourage energy conservation, the Hawaii Electric Light Co. has begun using a lower price per kilowatt hour (kWh) when billing residential customers who use less electricity. The Hawaii Public Utilities Commission recently approved the new three-tiered rate structure, and as of January 14, the structure was in effect on Maui, the Big Island, Molokai, and Lanai. The utility company also has permission to extend the new incentives to Oahu customers. The company said that most electricity users would be in the first two tiers. The lowest tier provides the most savings, though rates vary from island to island. For example, on the Big Island, customers in the lowest tier would pay about 20% less per kWh than those whose usage puts them in the highest category. Read more
February 4, 2011
By Matthew L. Wald of the New York Times: In late 2009, the federal government gave $151 million in grants to advance 37 clean energy ideas deemed too radical or too preliminary to attract much private financing — like electricity storage that mimics photosynthesis and batteries that double or triple the energy stored per pound.
Kate Passino works with wafers at 1366 Technologies in Lexington, Mass., which has a process that helps it make cheaper solar cells.
Hector Inirio, left, and Peter Kane work in another area of the laboratory at 1366 Technologies.
Since then, six of the projects have made enough progress to attract $108 million in private venture capital financing — about four private dollars for every dollar that the taxpayers spent to get them rolling — the Department of Energy plans to announce Thursday.
While none of the projects are expected to produce commercial products for years to come, the Obama administration is emphasizing the early signs of success as it seeks to persuade a sometimes skeptical Congress to approve more money for clean energy innovation.
Success is probably 10 to 20 years away, said Arun Mujamdar, director of the program, which is called the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy.
But the private investment is “a good sign, an endorsement of some sort,” he said. “The best thing the government can do is to catalyze investment.” Read more
February 4, 2011
By SCOTT STREATER of Greenwire: Idaho, sitting atop the nation’s third-largest geothermal resource, is working to ease development restrictions on prime state-owned lands with hopes of attracting new interest and investment in what is arguably the nation’s least-known renewable energy fuel.
Four bills being floated in the state Legislature would remove a 10-year expiration clause on geothermal leases to allow companies more time to develop projects, as well as remove restrictions on geothermal lease sizes and reduce royalty fees for power producers that have scared other developers away from the state.
The legislative package, written and sponsored by the Idaho Department of Lands with the support of Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter (R) and other top-ranking lawmakers, comes as the Gem State tries to stake its claim in the renewable energy boom that is sweeping across the Interior West.
“In order to get a company to come in, it’s just nearly impossible the way our law is now,” Rep. Bert Stevenson (R) told members of the House Resources and Conservation Committee last week, according to the Times-News in Twin Falls. “We’ve got to make these changes to encourage that geothermal development.”
The changes would apply only to Idaho’s 2 million acres of state endowment lands — parcels given to the state by the federal government when Idaho joined the Union in 1890. Those tracts are intended to produce revenue to support public schools and several public university and charity funds. Read more
