Phantom Power

I have written in the past about vampire power, which is synonymous with phantom power.  It basically means things that you think are turned off are actually using electricity.  Check out this interactive page at CBC that highlights some of the common offenders.

Great News!!! We're Getting More Nuclear Plants!!

I'm not serious about the headline but the reality is the Obama administration is planning to offer loan guarantees to fund the construction of nuclear plants.  If the plants are going to be such a boon and savior why do they need the guarantees?  Probably because they are only able to get funding if the federal government guranatees it.  I'm sure there exists a minimum price that consumers will pay for the power too.  To make the deal even sweeter the government will find a cheap/free way for the companies to get rid of the waste.  What an awesome deal for the taxpayer.  We subsidize the construction, guarantee a minimum return, take out the garbage and let somebody else enjoy the profit. 

The problem lies in the business as usual approach to policy that supports private profits and shifts all the risk to the public.  It seems like nothing can be done without a government guarantee or subsidy.  If that is the case maybe we need to revisit the "free market" concept and decide if we want it free or just pretend.

Green Power

Yesterday, the Canadian province of Ontario announced a deal with a Korean consortium led by Samsung to produce renewable electricity and manufacture the equipment.  The idea is to create new generating capacity and build an industrial infrastructure for the production of renewable energy equipment.  Sounds like a good idea but only time will tell if the investment materializes and the power is produced.  According to the reports 16,000 jobswill be created.  Also a positive goal but I am always skeptical of these job creation announcements because you never really know how they calculate that number.  It could be a positive development for a North American renewable energy industry as we may see the establishment of a major industrial hub for the production of the equipment.  I'm sure the government is hoping to create something akin to what Detroit is (was) for the automotive industry.  On the surface it is a positive but the true costs of the  job subsidies that always come with these large projects and the cost of renewable electricity subsidies will determine if this works. 

Brownfields to Renewable Energy Sites

I found a couple of links about converting brownfields to sites for renewable energy via an article on Slashdot. The first is an article about the idea from The Daily Climate and the second is a list of brownfield sites from the EPA.

Despite the fact that we have thousands of these contaminated sites this sounds look a good idea. It puts recycling to work in a whole new way. It looks like Detroit could become the green capital of the U.S.A. the way it was the automotive capital since it has lots of industrial sites that could be repurposed. It is such a simple idea that makes so much sense I'm surprised it hasn't already been going on. I look forward to seeing how this develops.

U.S. Electricity Mix

The source of electricity across the U.S. vary greatly. If a minimum standard for renewable sources is to be set we need to examine what is currently on line. Check out the map and dataset available at ManyEyes and see where your state fits. Biggest surprise to me was Vermont with 72% nuclear. Maybe it has one plant and has a low total generation that skews the number a bit.

Alternative Energy Funding

I recently read about developments in venture capital funding in cleantech. According to VentureBeat, the funding for cleantech dropped dramatically compared to the first quarter last year, with the exception of energy storage (i.e. batteries). The NY Times has reported that venture capital is shifting to efficiency projects over alternative fuels.

My perspective on this is that automotive battery technology is preparing for real production. However, we might not be able to generate enough clean electricity for electric vehicles so we need efficiency across the board to provide that electricity. Basically, the new supply will come from conservation but it will be used by electric vehicles.

Smart Grid

Smart grid technology is coming and it will change everything about electricity. Earlier this week an announcement was made in Miami about smart grid deployment. This project is a combined effort of GE, Cisco and Florida Power and Light. The U.S. Department of Energy has a document introducing the technology.

I think the smart grid will revolutionize the electricity market the way the Internet changed communications. We just have to learn the lessons from the development of the Internet to get it right from the start.

Carbon Dioxide News

I found a couple of articles yesterday about carbon dioxide that I though were interesting. The first is about a company that is converting CO2 into liquid fuel. The article goes into the process and the problem with similar claims and the difficult science behind developing this technology. The second is about the recent desire for a cap-and-trade program on CO2 emissions and how there might be unintended consequences if the price drops and it becomes cheaper to pollute.

It looks like our desire to maintain the status quo while trying to minimize the damage is going to lead us further astray. Without any real attempt at conservation, building a renewable energy infrastructure or distributed generation program I think it will be difficult to get away from the cheap power from coal. Cap-and-trade, while a good idea, will only facilitate the continued pollution because we have no alternatives. Carbon capture is too expensive to be viable right now and nobody really know the long-term impact of burying CO2. Experimental technology converting CO2 to other fuels or for other uses is a great idea and I hope it is feasible. I'm just nervous that it will not help us actually reduce our emissions and change our consumption culture. We need to link ourselves to the production of what we consume and the waste we generate to fully understand the impact we have. Then we can work on a comprehensive solution.

Nuclear Stimulus

As this "stimulus" bill drags on it becomes more like a giant spending bill with special projects. Here is an example of the backlash being triggered.

SpeakUp Now Against Another Bailout: Exclude Nuclear from Economic Stimulus Package The US Senate is currently debating the economic stimulus package. Spending money wisely to create jobs that will come online quickly should be the sole criterion for allocating this money. But when it comes to nuclear power plants, it’s expensive money. Too expensive. Tell your Senator to EXCLUDE NUCLEAR from the stimulus package.
Exelon Needs Tax-payer Money A new provision slipped into the economic stimulus bill could allow up to $50 billion more in taxpayer-backed loan guarantees for the construction of new nuclear reactors, including Exelon’s proposed project in Victoria County. This Exelon project is voracious. It eats tax dollars and guzzles all our water. How much? According to the Nuclear Energy Institute, it costs about $1.5 million per job created by nuclear power. That’s a lot of money to create one job. You and I will be paying that bill if the nuclear industry receives this bailout. Is this the best use of money to create jobs in Victoria? One job at the Exelon nuclear plant will consume 34 million gallons of water per year. In stark contrast, at VISD, Victoria’s largest employer, one job consumes just seven gallons of water.	1. Contact Your Senator SENATOR KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON 202-224-5922 Click here to contact Senator Hutchison. SENATOR JOHN CORNYN 202-224-2934 Click here to contact Senator Cornyn 2. Sign our online petition.
Take Action Now Please call or write your senators and tell them to be sure to exclude nuclear energy from the stimulus package. If you were to get your friends, co-workers, and neighbors to write their senators that would really help, too. Here are some talking points: Nuclear jobs in Victoria County are wasteful of precious taxpayer dollars. Nuclear jobs in Victoria County come at the expense of the last remaining water in the Guadalupe River Basin—this is the wrong place. The Nuclear Industry Institute admits it takes $1.5 million dollars to create one job in the nuclear industry. Allowing the nuclear industry to access stimulus money won’t create jobs in Victoria County for many years. Wall Street will not fund new nuclear plants because the economics don’t make sense. Why should taxpayers? Nuclear is too expensive for Victoria. Thank you for speaking up.

This is from the TSEPA, a group of citizens concerned about a nuclear plant in their area. Take some time and support them by writing your Senator and Representative.

The Next Generation

Power generation is a vital component to our economy. We cannot address many environmental issues without addressing the generation mix. Finally, electrical infrastructure is need of replacement in many parts of North America. What's next?

In my opinion, nuclear is not the answer. A recent report highlights that many nuclear projects are not viable commercially unless they have government support. I realize that these days nothing looks viable without government support but many critics of alternative/renewable energy say that without tax credits they are not competitive. Neither is nuclear. The only one that is cost-effective is coal but that will only last until emissions are priced in cap-and-trade system.

Conservation is the key to all of it. Using less energy is the best way to relieve capacity constraints on generation. After that renewable energy needs to be combined with a distributed generation network. Until those elements are seriously considered little will change.

This is Reality

This is reality is about clean coal technology or lack thereof. It will be interesting to see how the incoming Obama administration deals with clean coal and the newly approved mountain top mining.

Should Some Places be Off Limits?

Solar panels and windmills are going to become a significant part of our landscape. In a Spanish city they put solar panels on mausoleums in a cemetery. Should there be places that are off-limits for renewable energy development? Should we use criteria for renewable development like we do for natural resource extraction?

These are tough questions that we need to answer. I think we need to change the paradigm in which we evaluate everything we do. As a society we need to determine whether we will change our consumption driven economic model. Based on what we are seeing unfold in the daily "bailouts" and "stimulus" it looks like business as usual will continue for some time. Whether that is good or bad remains to be seen,

How much does coal cost?

I found a video of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. discussion coal via TreeHugger. He discusses subsidies for coal production and the numerous economic externalities that exist from coal extraction and use.

The problem is nobody, to my knowledge, has put a price on an economic externality. Further, I find many people discuss subsidies to coal and oil but I have never heard how much. I think if we can quantify these costs, rather than discuss them in abstracts, people would see how much it really costs to power our lives. If every tonne of coal used costs the taxpayer a defined amount of money people can relate. Then we can move to eliminate subsidies, level the competitive landscape and see which source becomes the winner on merit.

I can hear people telling me dream on...

Energyville

Energyville is an online, simulation game where you plan the energy policy for your city. You select the energy mix for a city that has a mass transit, residential and commercial buildings and a few other things you would expect in a modern city. You choose from solar, wind, biomass etc and are rated on your impact on the economy, security and the environment. I played the scenario once and found that I couldn't power my city without petroleum. The game is sponsored by Chevron and it says "Game is not to scale and events are conjectured" so take that as you will. I think it is a useful excrecise for people who have absolutely no understanding or knowledge of energy policy and urban energy issues. Take a look and try it out. A good way to kill a few minutes during the work day.

Power from the Sky

Retailing in North America has come to be dominated by the chains with large stores. To improve there green credentials and their bottom line they are looking to the sky for power. Solar power is probably the next big thing in retailing and with good reason. These places are huge and they have the roof space for solar panels. Combine solar power with efficiency and conservation in the store and it would lead to a serious reduction in power consumption and GHG emissions.

Hopefully they are able to achieve the scale needed to make an impact. The rollouts are slow and they are probably having a tough time getting supplies as the solar market has been booming.

Plasma TVs vs PHEV

Plasma TVs Draw More Juice from Grid than Plug-In Vehicles

Probably one of the reasons we will have a tough time becoming "sustainable" is our never ending supply of gadgets. Plasma TVs might be great but is it really worth it if it uses more electricity than a car? I doubt it. We need to start valuing everything in a larger scale to see if what we want matches the resources around us and the usefulness of it.

Solar Thermal Power

This video has an interview with a representative of Ausra, a company in the business of solar thermal electricity generation. Sounds like a technology that can really have an impact.

Homemade Electric Power

If you're going to have a homemade electric car you'll need a way to charge those batteries. How about your own "water wheel". I found one via Make and the homepage for it has many designs and documents the process of making it. The one I find the most fascinating is the Pressure Wheel that manages to increase the water pressure to generate electricity. All you need is a stream and away you go.

I really like these DIY solutions with instructions. Even if you don't have the opportunity or resources to make them work for you they are always inspiring and a lot of fun.

Can Renewable Energy Change Everything?

There is a growing interest in the economics of renewable energy as well as the environmental benefits. New investment products for the renewable sector are being launched and coverage of the solar and wind companies in the stock market is increasing. The world operates on electricity and according to an article in the Economist, global electricity use could double by 2050. With rising prices of fossil fuels, heightened environmental awareness and growing demand for energy renewable energy is at the point where they can become viable economically. This article also discusses the potential economic boom and the impacts. A very interesting read.

Parasitic Power

I have written about vampire power in the past but parasitic power is a phrase I just noticed yesterday. Vampire power is the electricity use that is drawn from all the things around the house that are "off" but waiting for you to activate them i.e. television. I interpret parasitic power as a way to generate electricity on the back of another process. Industry has used this for some time where they will use "waste" from one process and generate power with it. I found a small wind generator that runs from the air blowing out of the air conditioner and that is where I saw the phrase used. An excellent idea and I love seeing projects like this being built out there. This one could be used to provide power outside the house for something else. There are probably many other areas where parasitic power generation could be deployed we just have to be creative.