Energy efficiency blob by Peter Millar
Source: Environmental Leader.com
Solar panel makers are generating millions of pounds of polluted sludge and contaminated water, hazardous waste that is not always reported, an investigation from Associated Press found.
Solar hazardous waste has increased over the past five years alongside the industry’s growth. As of the close of 2012, there was more than 6.4 GW of solar electric capacity installed in the US alone.
Continue reading Solar Panel Makers Fail to Report Waste
Source: SustainableBusiness.com News
In February, Germany will begin offering incentives for people to tie energy storage systems to their solar arrays.
The three-year subsidy program is for relatively small solar systems, less than 30 kilowatts, that send electricity to the grid. Grants of $1080 will be available for each kilowatt hour of energy storage added. The program is capped at $67 million.
This new, if temporary addition to Germany’s feed-in law is meant to reduce peaks in electricity production and take pressure off the grid.
Storing excess energy in batteris can reduce peaks in electricity production up to 40% and grid capacity by 66%, according to Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems.
Continue reading Germany’s Feed-In Law Adds Energy Storage, Huge Project Slated for California
Source: High Country News.com – The Goat Blog
You want to cut carbon to the levels recommended by the International Panel on Climate Change? Then you’ll need 100,000 Megawatts of new renewable power integrated into the electrical grid. And in order to get that, you’ll need a lot — try 25,000 miles — of new high voltage transmission lines.
That was the message Gary Graham, of Western Resource Advocates, was pushing at a recent conference on clean energy and transmission in Denver, Colo. Graham wasn’t alone. One speaker and panelist after another, from former Colo. Gov. Bill Ritter to the National Resource Defense Council’s Carl Zichella, repeated the message in various forms: We must expand, upgrade and rethink our current electrical grid in order to put solar and wind on par with coal and natural gas in our energy mix.
While the entire national grid needs attention, our distinct piece of that grid — the Western Interconnect — is perhaps the most challenging. Its 100,000 miles of high voltage transmission lines were mostly built to ship power from big coal and hydroelectric plants (generators) to population centers (loads). Now, the capacity in those power lines is, for the most part, already reserved. And the lines don’t necessarily stretch into the areas where big wind and solar potential exists.
Continue reading Transmission: The missing link in the renewables revolution
Source: Energy Manager Today.com
The consumption of water and energy is connected in many ways. As such, when one focuses on saving water there is often a reduction in energy consumption and vice versa. This is true whether we are looking at personal usage or industrial usage.
Consider, for example, the water used for a long, hot shower. Shortening the duration of the shower will save on the quantity of water as well as the energy associated in heating the water. Additional water conservation activities such as running a clothes washer or a dishwasher only when full, save both water and energy.
On an industrial scale we see similar effects. For the most part, in paper mills water is delivered to mills from local rivers. The incoming water temperature varies seasonally, but suffice it to say river water in Maine and Minnesota (where our mills are located) is cold. Yet most of the water we use within the mills is hot. And it takes energy to heat that water. Therefore any initiatives that mills undertake to conserve water will typically result in energy savings as well.
Continue reading Consider the Connection between Water Usage and Energy Savings
Source: Fuel Fix.com
Energy-efficient lighting may have looked ugly and harsh in years past, but that may be changing with the emergence of the LED light bulb.
LED bulbs, based on the same kinds of low-emitting diodes used to light cell phones, TVs and other devices, are a low-energy alternative to incandescent bulbs that provide similar light quality that people actually like, according to a recent New York Times story.
The bulbs consume far less energy than incandescent versions and will last more than a decade — as long as 15 years or more, by some estimates. But that has made them more expensive than traditional bulbs, according to the Times.
Continue reading LED light bulbs catching on as an alternative
Source: The Telegraph.com
By: Gwynne Dyer
Which of the following statements is true? The United States of America now has a 100-year supply of natural gas, thanks to the miracle of shale gas. By 2017, it will once again be the world’s biggest oil producer. By 2035, it will be entirely “energy-independent”, and free in particular from its reliance on Middle Eastern oil. Unless you’ve been dead for the past couple of years, you’ve been hearing lots of enthusiastic forecasts like this, but not one of them is true. They are generally accompanied by sweeping predictions about geopolitics that are equally misleading, at least insofar as they depend on assumptions about cheap and plentiful supplies of shale gas and other forms of “unconventional” oil and gas.
For example, we are assured that the US, no longer dependent on Arab oil, will break its habit of intervening militarily in the Middle East, since what happens there will no longer matter to Washington. But this new era of cheap and plentiful energy from fossil fuels will also result, alas, in sky-high greenhouse gas emissions and runaway global warming. These statements are also untrue, at least in the formulation given above, since they are based on quite mistaken assumptions.
Source: U.S. Department of Energy
Homeowners in a section of western Massachusetts can now get a “energy performance score” (EPS) showing their homes’ levels of energy efficiency expressed in a single number. The program, Home MPG, provides owners with a miles-per-gallon type of energy rating, which helps them in making informed decisions about improving building energy efficiency. It also gives users an EPS scorecard showing both before and after making improvements to illustrate energy savings associated with possible upgrades.
The initiative is funded by an Energy Department grant and operated by the utility-backed Mass Save program. It covers all homes in Belchertown, East Longmeadow, Hampden, Longmeadow, Monson, Palmer, Springfield, and Wilbraham that are eligible for home energy assessments sponsored by the Mass Save. In addition to the no-cost energy assessment, efficiency recommendations, and financial incentives already offered through Mass Save, Home MPG also thermal images for some homeowners highlighting energy saving opportunities as well as an online system that allows homeowners to view their EPS and recommended improvements. Mass Save is sponsored by Massachusetts’ gas and electric utilities and energy efficiency service providers working closely with the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources.
See the EPS Web page.
Source: U.S. Dept. of Energy, Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy
Under the auspices of California’s largest state-wide joint powers authority, 14 California counties and 126 cities launched on September 18 the nation’s largest Property-Assessed Clean Energy Programs (PACE) initiative. PACE provides a financing tool to help commercial property owners reduce their buildings’ energy and water use.
The CaliforniaFIRST program allows commercial property owners to use municipal bonds to finance upgrades, including those for energy efficiency and renewable energy. The owners repay the funds through a special assessment on their annual property tax bills. Through a public-private partnership, private capital will be used to supply the upfront funding for the work. This financing mechanism was pioneered by the City of Berkeley, California, for its residential owners in 2008. Since then, commercial PACE programs have been launched in San Francisco, Los Angeles County, and Washington, D.C.
See the CaliforniaFIRST news Web page and the Energy Department PACE Web page.