IEO2007: Liquid Fuels

The International Energy Outlook 2007 (IEO2007) presents an assessment by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) of the outlook for international energy markets through 2030. Selected excerpt's regarding total energy consumption and liquids are given in the remainder of this post. Other topics will be reviewed later.

In its reference case World marketed energy consumption is projected to increase by 57 percent from 2004 to 2030. Total energy demand in the non-OECD countries increases by 95 percent, compared with an increase of 24 percent in the OECD countries.

The IEO2007 reference case projects increased world consumption of marketed energy from all sources over the 2004 to 2030 projection period (left). Fossil fuels (petroleum and other liquid fuels, natural gas, and coal)

Liquids remain the dominant energy source, given their importance in the transportation and industrial end-use sectors; however, their share of the world energy market in this year’s outlook is lessened in the projection, as other fuels replace liquids where possible outside those sectors.

World consumption of petroleum and other liquid fuels, grows from 83 million barrels oil equivalent per day in 2004 to 97 million in 2015 and 118 million in 2030. liquids production is projected to increase by 14 million barrels per day from 2004 to 2015 and by an additional 20 million barrels per day from 2015 to 2030. OPEC producers are expected to provide more than one-half of the additional production in 2015 (8 million barrels per day) and more than two-thirds in 2030 (23 million barrels per day). Non-OPEC production in 2030 is projected to be 12 million barrels per day higher than in 2004, representing 35 percent of the increase in total world production over the 2004 total. The estimates of production increases are based on current proved reserves and a country-by-country assessment of ultimately recoverable petroleum, as well as the potential for unconventional liquids production.

In IEO2007, the projected increase in OPEC production (excluding Angola) is about 22 million barrels per day over the same period. There are several regions where production is restrained through 2015 in the reference case. For instance, in the key resource-rich countries of Mexico and Venezuela, expected investment levels are lower than those assumed in the IEO2006 reference case. In both countries, liquids production is projected not to expand (and, in Mexico, to decline) until after 2015, when economic decisions on investment allow production to improve. Also, North Sea production is projected to decline more rapidly than in last year’s outlook.

World production of unconventional liquids (including biofuels, coal-to-liquids, and gas-to-liquids), (left) which totaled only 2.6 million barrels per day in 2004, is projected to increase to 10.5 million barrels per day and account for 9 percent of total world liquids supply in 2030, on an oil equivalent basis, in the IEO2007 reference case.

The world oil prices in the IEO2007 reference case—and in the high world oil price case—also are projected to make previously uneconomical, unconventional resources available.

Reserve estimates for oil, natural gas, and coal are difficult to develop. EIA develops estimates of reserves for the United States but not for foreign countries. As a convenience to the public, EIA makes available global reserve estimates from the Oil & Gas Journal, World Oil, and BP’s Statistical Review of World Energy, shown below.

Since 2000, the largest net increase in estimated proved oil reserves has been made in Canada, with the addition of 174 billion barrels of Canadian oil sands as a conventional reserve. Iranian oil reserves have increased by 46.6 billion barrels, or 52 percent, since 2000. Kazakhstan has had the third-largest increase, 24.6 billion barrels, since 2000.

You may be disapointed in some of these projections, but I believe that they are as good as any available and if you wish to alter the course of energy consumption you must take steps such as energy conservation by using less energy and switching to energy sources that are more environmentally friendly.

Southern California Edison Proposes Clean Hydrogen Power Generation to Reduce GHG Emissions

According to a press release dated May 17, Edison International’s (NYSE:EIX) electricity utility, Southern California Edison (SCE), has requested approval to build and test a commercial 600 MW power plant to determine the feasibility of a new combination of several advanced “clean” coal technologies in an effort to advance these emerging approaches to low-carbon generation.

Their proposal consist of:

• A gasifier that combines coal and steam with a controlled amount of oxygen under high pressures to produce hydrogen and carbon monoxide.
• Converting the carbon monoxide to additional hydrogen and carbon dioxide in the shift conversion.
• Further processing the gasses to remove sulfur, mercury, and carbon dioxide.
• Sequestering the carbon in a depleted oil formation, enabling enhanced oil recovery, or in a deep saline formation.
• Producing a mostly hydrogen fuel, emitting only 10 percent of the carbon released by an integrated gasification combined-cycle coal project without carbon capture.
• The hydrogen is fed to gas turbines where electricity is generated.
• Exhaust heat from the gas turbines is used to create steam and drive additional turbines.
• The use of these technologies in a full-scale, 600-megawatt (MW) commercial generating facility.

The advanced technologies in SCE’s proposed study, an approach the utility calls Clean Hydrogen Power Generation (CHPG), are being considered or tested in clean coal projects elsewhere. The SCE plan would be the first assessment of a full-scale, 600-MW facility using all of them. One of the main differences between this process and others is that the carbon monoxide is converted to additional hydrogen enabling the gas turbines to only burn hydrogen.

SCE is seeking authorization to commit $52 million of revenues it collects from customer rates during a two-year period to an advanced technology feasibility study. If approved, this would represent less than a quarter of one percent of current customer rates.

SCE also is the nation’s leading purchaser of renewable energy, buying and delivering approximately 13 billion kWh in 2006 from wind, solar, biomass, biogas, geothermal, and small hydro suppliers – 16.7% of the power it delivered to customers. An equivalent amount of generation using fossil fuels would produce 7 million tons of GHG emissions. SCE purchases one-sixth of all U.S. renewable energy used to generate electricity for retail sale, including more than 90% of all the U.S. solar generation.

The above article was adapted from the press release referred to in the first paragraph.

Chevron, Fuel Cell Energy to Turn Wasetewater Sludge and Kitchen Grease into Renewable Power

Chevron Energy Solutions, a Chevron (NYSE: CVX) subsidiary, today announced that it has begun engineering and construction of a system at the City of Rialto’s (California) wastewater treatment facility that will transform wastewater sludge and kitchen grease from local restaurants into clean, renewable power.

The new system will provide a beneficial use for the thousands of gallons of fats, oils and grease (FOG) that are washed daily from restaurant grills and pans, which is collected by grease hauling companies. At the Rialto facility, a FOG-receiving station will provide an effective disposal alternative to landfills, where FOG is often disposed, creating methane - a greenhouse gas - as it decomposes, releasing it directly into the atmosphere. It also will provide a revenue stream to the city through “tipping fees” paid by grease haulers for each disposal.

The system includes a 900-kilowatt fuel cell power plant, manufactured by FuelCell Energy (NasdaqNM: FCEL), that will generate electricity without combustion using methane, a biogas produced on site from the digesters that treat the wastewater sludge and FOG. Three 300-kilowatt Direct FuelCell® units will convert the methane into hydrogen and then use the hydrogen to generate power electrochemically, without combustion. The residual waste heat from the fuel cells will be used to warm the digesters to stimulate further methane production.

The environmentally friendly system will increase municipal revenues, reduce landfill wastes and lower greenhouse emissions by nearly 5.5 million tons annually, while decreasing the city’s energy costs by about $800,000 a year.

The project, which will cost $15.1 million, is eligible for a $4.05 million rebate on the fuel cell plant cost from California’s Self-Generation Incentive Program. The remaining cost will be self-funded through energy cost savings and FOG station revenues, without any impact on local taxpayers.

New Japanese Company Formed to Manufacture Lithium-Ion Batteries

GS Yuasa Corporation, Mitsubishi Corporation (MC), and Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC) have begun collaboration on establishing a joint venture to manufacture large capacity and high performance Lithium-ion batteries that can be used in electric vehicles (EV). The three partners aim to complete the details and set up the new company sometime within half a year.

The batteries that will be produced by the new company are based on the "LIM series" of Large Lithium-ion batteries manufactured by GS Yuasa (currently the only mass producer of Large Lithium-ion batteries in Japan) with improved cell-structure and electrode materials to improve the energy density and power density of the new batteries. These batteries will have ten times the capacity of those for hybrid electric vehicles, and are the perfect choice for EVs. MMC plans to install the batteries to its next generation EV "i MiEV" (i Mitsubishi innovative Electric Vehicle), which it aims to introduce to the market by 2010. The batteries can also be supplied to EVs manufactured by other auto-makers and to industrial applications for energy storage use.

The new batteries are capable of high-speed energy input and output to meet the needs of high-speed charge specifications under consideration by electrical power companies and potentially for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV). They hope that their product will become the de facto standard for large lithium-ion batteries; the new company plans on increasing their production capacity and line-up of products in response to the expanding market.

GS Yuasa possesses advanced technologies for large lithium-ion batteries and is planning on widening their applications; MC intends to enter the battery manufacturing business and create other related businesses; and MMC is working to increase the use of electric vehicles.

GS Yuasa is expected to own a 51% share of the new company, with MC and MMC owing 34% and 15% respectively. During the first stage of development, 3 billion yen (US$3.3 million) will be invested to install automated mass production lines within a 7000m² facility at GS Yuasa's Kyoto's head office plant, capable of manufacturing 200,000 cells per year. Operations are slated to commence by 2009.

Supplying the World's Energy Needs with Light and Water

A leading chemist says that a better understanding of photosynthesis could lead to cheap ways to store solar energy as chemical fuel.

By Kevin Bullis

Unleashing energy: Daniel Nocera, professor of chemistry at MIT, says that basic research into the chemical processes of photosynthesis could lead to a society powered by water and sunlight.

While researchers and technologists around the world scramble to find cleaner sources of energy, some chemists are turning to nature's own elegant solution: photosynthesis. In photosynthesis, green plants use the energy in sunlight to break down water and carbon dioxide. By manipulating electrons and hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon atoms in a series of complex chemical reactions, the process ultimately produces the cellulose and lignin that form the structure of the plant, as well as stored energy in the form of sugar. Understanding how this process works, thinks Daniel Nocera, professor of chemistry at MIT, could lead to ways to produce and store solar energy in forms that are practical for powering cars and providing electricity even when the sun isn't shining.

What's needed are breakthroughs in our understanding of the fundamental chemical processes that make photosynthesis possible, according to Nocera, a recognized photosynthesis expert. He is studying the principles behind photosynthesis and applying what he learns to making catalysts that use solar energy to create hydrogen gas for fuel cells. Nocera's goal: a world powered by light and water.

Technology Review: What's the biggest challenge related to energy right now?

Daniel Nocera: The real challenge with energy is the scaling problem. We're going to have this huge energy need, and when you start looking at all the numbers, there's only one supply that has scale, and it's the sun. But it's still a research problem. Technologies all follow lines; then there's a discovery and a new line that's better. We're on a very predictable line now in solar. Most things you hear about are incremental advances.

TR: You're studying photosynthesis to get ideas for how to convert sunlight into a chemical fuel--hydrogen--for use when the sun isn't shining or in powering fuel-cell vehicles.

DN: You can use the electricity directly when the sun is out, in places that have sun. [But] you need storage. There's absolutely no way around it. I am distilling the essence of photosynthesis down to be able to use it.

TR: Why is photosynthesis attractive in finding a source of clean energy?

DN: [Photosynthesis] does three things. It captures sunlight, and [second,] it converts it into a wireless current--leaves are buzzing with electricity. And third, it does storage. It stores the converted light energy in chemical energy. And it uses that chemical energy for its life process, and then it stores a little.

It turns out [that] photosynthesis is one of the most efficient machines in the world for energy conversion. But it's not great for storing energy because that's not what [a plant] was built to do. It was built to live and grow and reproduce.

And so that's the approach we take. Can we now do what the leaf is doing artificially, which is the capture, conversion, and storage in chemical bonds? But my device doesn't have to live: it can take a lot more of that energy and put it into chemical bonds.

Nuclear for Oil Sands?

It appears that Canada may be going to nuclear power to replace natural gas for oil-sands projects, as is indicated in this item from World Nuclear News:

Energy Alberta is searching for communities to host the province's largest power station to provide emission-free power for oil sands projects. The company plans to build a C$6.2 billion ($5.6 billion) 2200 MWe twin Candu reactor plant in northern Alberta, and is looking at the town of Whitecourt among others. ...

The costs of natural gas can account for up to 60% of operating costs at an oil sands facility, and the associated greenhouse gas emissions are a further barrier to economic oil extraction. Nuclear could be a way of providing the necessary power. ...

The company is planning to submit an application to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission on 15 June, according to reports. A decision on the location of the plant is expected by 15 September.

Short-Term Energy Outlook

The May 8 Short-Term Energy Outlook, by the EIA, had some points that help explain the high prices of gasoline, the major point being that gasoline inventories are down now and it will take until the end of summer for inventories to catch-up creating a situation where supply is very tight causing high prices.

• Continuing problems for refineries in the United States and abroad, combined with strong global gasoline demand, have raised our projected average summer gasoline price by 14 cents per gallon from our last Outlook. Retail regular grade motor gasoline prices are now projected to average $2.95 per gallon this summer compared with the $2.84 per gallon average of last summer. During the summer season, the average monthly gasoline pump price is projected to peak at $3.01 per gallon in May and again in August, compared with $2.98 per gallon last July. ...
• World oil markets are projected to tighten this summer due to continued growth in oil demand and production restraint by members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Despite the recent increases in world oil prices, global oil consumption is projected to grow by 1.4 million barrels per day (bbl/d) in 2007 and by 1.6 million bbl/d in 2008. About one-half of the projected growth will come from China and the United States ....
• For 2007, U.S. crude oil production is projected to average 5.15 million bbl/d ... With the startup of new deepwater production from the Atlantis platform later this year and from the Thunderhorse platform late next year total domestic crude oil production is projected to average 5.34 million bbl/d in 2008.

Better Catalysts for Fuel Cells

Nanoparticles with a completely new shape may lead to cheaper catalysts that could make many experimental-energy technologies more practical.

By Kevin Bullis

Nano geometry: This 24-sided platinum nanoparticle could lead to cheaper alternative energy.

New nanoparticles with a totally original shape, made by researchers at Georgia Tech, in Atlanta, and Xiamen University, in China, and described in the current issue of Science, could lead to cheaper catalysts for making and using alternative fuels. The 24-sided platinum nanoparticles have surfaces that show up to four times greater catalytic activity compared with commercial catalysts.

If researchers can make even smaller nanoparticles with this same efficient shape, it could significantly reduce the amount of platinum used. Reducing the amount of this expensive metal--it currently sells for about $1,300 per ounce--would make applications such as fuel cells more affordable. Reducing the cost of platinum catalysts could also be critical in other applications, such as synthesizing alternative fuels and converting waste materials like carbon dioxide into useful products. (See "Making Gasoline from Carbon Dioxide.")

The new work is important, says Francesco Stellacci, professor of materials science and engineering at MIT, because it involves platinum, which he says is "by far the most interesting metal" for catalysis. The work could also advance the basic understanding of how changing the shape of particles affects catalysis, he says.

To make the nanoparticles, the Georgia Tech and Xiamen researchers began with relatively large platinum particles scattered on a carbon surface. They then applied an oscillating voltage, which induces alternating chemical reactions that determine where platinum atoms will accumulate and where they won't. For example, at positive voltages, oxygen atoms can infiltrate some areas of these nanoparticles, dislodging platinum atoms. At the same time, a layer of platinum oxide forms on other parts of the nanoparticle, protecting them. The resulting 24-sided shapes, called tetrahexahedra, were the first such shapes formed artificially in metals, says Zhong Lin Wang, professor of materials science and engineering at Georgia Tech.

The multifaceted shape made by the researchers has many high-energy areas in which more atoms are unstable and reactive than in conventional platinum nanoparticles. The researchers showed that these surfaces, compared with the surfaces of commercial platinum nanoparticles, catalyzed reactions at a much higher rate.

The current work is only a step toward the goal of making cheaper catalysts. Alexis Bell, professor of chemical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, says that while the work is interesting because it addresses one of the particular challenges of creating catalysts--controlling the surface structure--the new nanoparticles are in fact not small enough. Existing commercial platinum catalysts can be less than five nanometers wide. The Georgia Tech and Xiamen researchers made particles between 50 and 200 nanometers. Being larger, the new type of nanoparticles have a larger proportion of the expensive platinum locked beneath the surface, where it can't serve to catalyze reactions. As a result, for now, the new nanoparticles are actually worse catalysts than are commercial catalysts available today.

According to Wang, the goal is ultimately to use the new nanoparticles and the methods for making them to help find ways of transforming much cheaper materials into useful catalysts. If that can be done, some technologies limited to the lab bench today could be applied to meeting growing worldwide energy needs.

Indeed, notes Daniel Feldheim, professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of Colorado at Boulder, in a commentary accompanying the Science article, researchers have long known that changing particle shape and size can make even seemingly inert materials such as gold into valuable catalysts. The methods used by the Georgia Tech and Xiamen researchers, Feldheim says, provide a new level of control that could lead to improved mixed-metal and metal-oxide catalysts, which are cheaper than precious metals such as platinum.

A Spark of Hope for Fusion

A new device clears an obstacle to a type of fusion power plant.

By Kevin Bullis

Fusion future? Sandia researcher Bill Fowler tests circuits on a device designed to produce large electrical impulses rapidly and repeatedly. Groups of such devices could be used to initiate nuclear fusion. Each element of the system features a pair of large capacitors and a switch arranged in a configuration that minimizes current-slowing magnetic fields.

A new device could bring high-yield nuclear fusion for generating electricity a step closer to reality, according to researchers at Sandia National Laboratories, in Albuquerque, NM. The technology, developed by Sandia researchers in collaboration with the Institute of High Current Electronics, in Tomsk, Russia, can deliver very brief bursts of extremely large amounts of electricity and do it every 10 seconds thousands of times in a row. The researchers still need to use the device to produce a continuous series of miniature nuclear explosions that could heat water and drive turbines in a fusion power plant.

The Sandia device stores energy in a group of large capacitors and releases it very quickly, in just 100 nanoseconds. A new kind of physical arrangement of these capacitors prevents magnetic fields from forming and slowing electrical current, a major problem with previous devices. But while acknowledging that the technology is an important advance for delivering pulses of power, several experts say a power plant based on such technology faces significant hurdles, not the least of which is building the plant sturdy enough to withstand the strong explosions going off every 10 seconds.

While scientists have long known how to produce fusion--it's the heart of the hydrogen bomb--they've yet to find a way to harness that power in a power plant. Currently, the favored path to high-yield fusion that produces more energy than it consumes involves creating an ultrahot plasma and containing it within a magnetic field. An experimental machine designed to demonstrate such a concept is being built by a large international consortium in the south of France, and it's scheduled to be completed in about 10 years. (See "International Fusion Research.") But even if the project is successful, commercial-scale fusion power plants will still be decades away, as researchers will need to find ways to economically harvest the energy released by the fusion reactions.

Meanwhile, researchers have been routinely creating small amounts of fusion in the lab using a different technique, called inertial confinement. Here fusion starts when a small pellet of fuel is compressed by a burst of energy, which can be from different sources, including lasers. At Sandia, inertial confinement is now done with the Z machine, which uses electricity to create a burst of x-rays that compress the pellet. While such machines are good for helping to simulate nuclear weapons, they produce only a modest amount of fusion, releasing only a small part of the energy in the fuel.

Method for Cheaper Quantum Dots

Research by Michael Wong (left) and Rice University scientists at Rice's Center for Biological and Environmental Nanotechnology (CBEN), today revealed a breakthrough method for producing molecular specks of semiconductors called quantum dots, a discovery that could clear the way for better, cheaper solar energy panels.

Quantum dots interact with light in unique ways, to give off different-colored light or to create electrons and holes, due partly to their tiny size, partly to their shape and partly to the material they're made of. Rice scientists have developed a new chemical method for making four-legged cadmium selenide quantum dots, which previous research has shown to be particularly effective at converting sunlight into electrical energy.

Quantum dots are "megamolecules" of semiconducting materials that are smaller than living cells. Prior research by others has shown that four-legged quantum dots, which are called tetrapods, are many times more efficient at converting sunlight into electricity than regular quantum dots. But, principal investigator Michael Wong, assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering said the problem is that there is still no good way of producing tetrapods. Current methods lead to a lot of particles with uneven-length arms, crooked arms, and even missing arms. Even in the best recipe, 30 percent of the prepared particles are not tetrapods, he said.

CBEN's formula produces same-sized particles, in which more than 90 percent are tetrapods. The essence of the new recipe is to use cetyltrimethylammonium bromide instead of the standard alkylphosphonic acid compounds. Cetyltrimethylammonium bromide happens to be safer – it's used in some shampoos, for example – and it's much cheaper than alkylphosphonic acids. For producers looking to eventually ramp up tetrapod production, this means cheaper raw materials and less purification steps, Wong said.

The research, by Wong and his graduate student Subashini Asokan with CBEN Director Vicki Colvin and graduate student Karl Krueger appears this week in the journal Small.

Energy and Water from Beer Waste

On a somewhat lighter note, from Physorg.com, Australian beer maker Foster's is going to generate clean energy and clean water from brewery waste water by using a fuel cell in which bacteria consume the sugar, starch and alcohol in the waste.

The fuel cell is expected to produce 2 kilowatts of power — enough to power a household — and the technology would eventually be applied in other breweries and wineries owned by Foster's. The cell should be operating at the brewery by September."Brewery waste water is a particularly good source because it is very biodegradable ... and is highly concentrated, which does help in improving the performance of the cell," said Prof. Jurg Keller, the university's wastewater expert. .

The 660-gallon fuel cell will be 250 times bigger than a prototype that has been operating at Australia's University of Queensland laboratory for three months.

The experimental technology was unveiled Wednesday by scientists at the university, which was given a $115,000 state government grant to install the microbial fuel cell at the brewery.

The Case for Burying Charcoal

Research shows that pyrolysis is the most climate-friendly way to consume biomass.

By Tyler Hamilton

Carbon capture: Heating biomass such as wood pellets (right) in an oxygen-free environment produces char (left) and byproducts such as methane that can be burned. Research shows that turning biomass into char and burying the char is a good way to avoid releasing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

Several states in this country and a number of Scandinavian countries are trying to supplant some coal-burning by burning biomass such as wood pellets and agricultural residue. Unlike coal, biomass is carbon-neutral, releasing only the carbon dioxide that the plants had absorbed in the first place.

But a new research paper published online in the journal Biomass and Bioenergy argues that the battle against global warming may be better served by instead heating the biomass in an oxygen-starved process called pyrolysis, extracting methane, hydrogen, and other byproducts for combustion, and burying the resulting carbon-rich char.

Even if this approach would mean burning more coal--which emits more carbon dioxide than other fossil-fuel sources--it would yield a net reduction in carbon emissions, according to the analysis by Malcolm Fowles, a professor of technology management at the Open University, in the United Kingdom. Burning one ton of wood pellets emits 357 kilograms less carbon than burning coal with the same energy content. But turning those wood pellets into char would save 372 kilograms of carbon emissions. That is because 300 kilograms of carbon could be buried as char, and the burning of byproducts would produce 72 kilograms less carbon emissions than burning an equivalent amount of coal.

Such an approach could carry an extra benefit. Burying char--known as black-carbon sequestration--enhances soils, helping future crops and trees grow even faster, thus absorbing more carbon dioxide in the future. Researchers believe that the char, an inert and highly porous material, plays a key role in helping soil retain water and nutrients, and in sustaining microorganisms that maintain soil fertility.

Johannes Lehmann, an associate professor of crops and soil sciences at Cornell University and an expert on char sequestration, agrees in principle with Fowles's analysis but believes that much more research in this relatively new area of study is needed. "It heads in the right direction," he says.

Interest in the approach is gathering momentum. On April 29, more than 100 corporate and academic researchers will gather in New South Wales, Australia, to attend the first international conference on black-carbon sequestration and the role pyrolysis can play to offset greenhouse-gas emissions.

Lehmann estimates that as much as 9.5 billion tons of carbon--more than currently emitted globally through the burning of fossil fuels--could be sequestered annually by the end of this century through the sequestration of char. "Bioenergy through pyrolysis in combination with biochar sequestration is a technology to obtain energy and improve the environment in multiple ways at the same time," writes Lehmann in a research paper to be published soon in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment.

Making Gasoline from Carbon Dioxide

A solar-powered reaction turns a greenhouse gas into a valuable raw material.

By Kevin Bullis

Solar splitter: An amber-colored semiconductor (gallium phosphide), together with metal contacts, is part of a new device that uses solar energy to split carbon dioxide to make carbon monoxide.

Chemists have shown that it is possible to use solar energy, paired with the right catalyst, to convert carbon dioxide into a raw material for making a wide range of products, including plastics and gasoline.

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), recently demonstrated that light absorbed and converted into electricity by a silicon electrode can help drive a reaction that converts carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide and oxygen. Carbon monoxide is a valuable commodity chemical that is widely used to make plastics and other products, says Clifford Kubiak, professor of chemistry at UCSD. It is also a key ingredient in a process for making synthetic fuels, including syngas (a mixture largely of carbon monoxide and hydrogen), methanol, and gasoline.

The work is part of a growing effort to find practical uses for carbon dioxide, a leading greenhouse gas, says Philip Jessop, professor of chemistry at Queen's University, in Ontario, Canada. Converting carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide is difficult to do, which Jessop says makes the UCSD work impressive and exciting.

At least at first, such a process will not make a significant impact on reducing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere--that would take quite large-scale operations, Kubiak says. But "any chemical process that you can develop that uses CO₂ as a feedstock, rather than having it be an end product, is probably worth doing." He adds that "if chemical manufacturers are going to make millions of pounds of plastics anyway, why not make them from greenhouse gases rather than making tons of greenhouse gases in the process?"

The system may also be part of a solution to a continuing problem with solar energy. For solar panels to be useful when the sun isn't shining, the electricity they produce has to be stored. A potentially practical way of doing that is by converting the electrical energy into chemical energy. One popular approach is to use solar cells to produce hydrogen, which could then be used in fuel cells. But hydrogen gas is much more difficult to transport and store than are liquid fuels, such as gasoline, which contain far more energy by volume than hydrogen does. The UCSD system shows that it is possible to use solar energy to make carbon monoxide that then, together with hydrogen, can be converted into gasoline. Currently, carbon monoxide is made from natural gas and coal. But carbon dioxide is a more attractive raw material in part because it's very cheap--indeed, it's something industrial companies will pay to get off their hands, Jessop says. "There are very few chemicals which are cheaper than free, and carbon dioxide is one of them," he says.

GM's New Fuel-Cell Car

The flexible electric car platform is innovative, but the fuel-cell version is freighted with hydrogen's flaws.

By Kevin Bullis

The volt returns (top): This schematic (top image) of a new version of GM's Chevrolet Volt concept car is similar to an earlier version announced in January. There are three main differences: 1) the battery pack (blue box) is half as long, in part to make room for one of two hydrogen storage tanks; 2) a gas-powered generator is replaced by a fuel cell; and 3) this version also includes rear-wheel-mounted motors.

Hydrogen hope (bottom): A fuel cell (between wheels) and a battery pack (blue box at center) work together to power one electric motor for the front wheels and two more mounted in the rear wheels. The battery pack can be recharged by being plugged in or by drawing electricity from the fuel cell, generated using hydrogen from one of two storage tanks (foreground).

Last week General Motors (GM) unveiled a hydrogen-fuel-cell-powered version of its Chevrolet Volt concept, a family of electric cars that get a portion of their energy from being plugged into the electrical grid. The first version, announced in January, married plug-in electric drive to a gasoline or ethanol generator that can recharge the battery.

But swapping out the generator for a fuel cell may be a step backward. That is in part because producing the hydrogen needed to power the fuel-cell version could increase rather than decrease energy demand, and it may not make sense economically.

"The possibility that this vehicle would be built successfully as a commercial vehicle seems to me rather unlikely," says Joseph Romm, who managed energy-efficiency programs at the Department of Energy during the Clinton administration. "If you're going to the trouble of building a plug-in and therefore have an electric drive train and a battery capable of storing a charge, then you could have a cheap gasoline engine along with you, or an expensive fuel cell." Consumers will likely opt for the cheaper version, Romm notes.

Still, the Volt is part of a promising trend toward automotive electrification--which could decrease petroleum use and reduce carbon emissions. It is part of GM's response to an anticipated future in which both petroleum and carbon-dioxide emissions will carry a heavy price, driving consumers to buy vehicles that run on alternative, low-carbon power sources.

The new Volt, announced in Shanghai, replaces the generator with a fuel cell and cuts the battery pack in half, in part to make room for storing hydrogen. The lithium-ion battery pack can be recharged by plugging it in. The fuel cell kicks in immediately when the car is started and provides power at a constant rate at which it is most efficient. If more power is needed, such as for acceleration or high speeds, the battery provides a boost of power, much like what happens in today's gas-electric hybrid vehicles. When less power is needed, such as when the vehicle is stopped or at low speeds, the battery stores energy to be used later.

By allowing the fuel cell to run at a constant rate, the batteries improve efficiency, cutting down on hydrogen consumption. The battery further improves efficiency by storing energy generated during braking. Compared with earlier prototypes, the new concept also uses a more advanced fuel-cell design (thinner stainless-steel parts were substituted for thick composite parts) and the vehicle is lighter, making it possible to have a 300-mile range using half the hydrogen.

The car emits no harmful emissions from the tailpipe. But because hydrogen fuel today is primarily made from fossil fuels this means the carbon-dioxide emissions are simply happening someplace else, Romm notes. He says that using renewable energy to charge up the battery in the gas-generator version of the Volt makes more sense than using it to make hydrogen. That's because it's more efficient to charge a battery than to make hydrogen, compress it, and then convert it back into electricity using a fuel cell.

Lanza Tech Bacteria Produce Ethanol from Carbon Monoxide

A New Zealand company, LanzaTech, based in Auckland, announced that it had developed a fermentation process in which bacteria consume carbon monoxide and produce ethanol. Khosla Ventures has invested $3.5 million in the company to establish a pilot plant and perform the engineering work to prepare for commercial-scale ethanol production.

LanzaTech's innovation lies in using a bacterium to produce ethanol not from a carbohydrate, but from a gas, carbon monoxide. Carbon monoxide is a waste product of a number of industrial processes, including the production of steel.

This technology could produce 50 billion gallons of ethanol from the world's steel mills alone, turning the liability of carbon emissions into valuable fuels worth over $50 billion per year at very low costs and adding substantial value to the steel industry. The technology will also be a key contributor to the cellulosic biofuels business as it can convert syngas produced through gasification into ethanol.

"We have proven in our laboratories that the carbon monoxide in industrial waste gases such as those generated during steel manufacture can be processed by bacterial fermentation to produce ethanol. Garnering the financial and strategic support of Khosla Ventures is a significant validation of our approach, and we welcome Khosla Ventures Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. Doug Cameron, to our Board of Directors," said Dr. Sean Simpson, Chief Scientist and Founder of LanzaTech.

Their bacterium is described as seven nongenetically modified, non-pathogenic bacteria, isolated from natural environments that produce novel bioproducts via small scale fermentation.

LanzaTech New Zealand Ltd. is a privately held company, founded in 2005, whose mission is to enable industries that produce high volumes of carbon monoxide containing flue gases to become the lowest cost, highest volume producers of fuel ethanol.

Tidal Turbines Help Light Up Manhattan

Turbines are being submerged in the East River to generate electricity from rapid tidal currents.

By Peter Fairley

Power ebb: Verdant Power is installing six of these underwater turbines in New York’s East River. Each can capture up to 35 kilowatts of power from the river’s tidal currents.

Working from barges and tugboats off New York City's Roosevelt Island, engineers are battling northeasters and this month's heavy spring tides to install the first major tidal-power project in the United States. The project involves a set of six submerged turbines that are designed to capture energy from the East River's tidal currents. The three-bladed turbines, which are five meters in diameter and resemble wind turbines, are made by Verdant Power of Arlington, VA.

Thanks to lessons learned by wind turbine designers, tidal power is already economically competitive, producing electricity at prices similar to wind power, according to feasibility studies by the Electric Power Research Institute, an industry R&D consortium. And it offers a big advantage over wind and other renewables: a precisely predictable source of energy. As a result, developers in the United States have laid claim to the best sites up and down the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. In the past four years the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in Washington, DC, has issued preliminary permits for tidal installations at 25 sites, and it is considering another 31 applications.

Current-harvesting turbines represent a sharp break from the first wave of tidal power, so-called "barrages" in which impoundments installed across estuaries or bays created hydroelectric reservoirs refilled twice daily by rising tides. The La Rance barrage in Normandy has produced up to 240 megawatts of power--as much as many natural-gas-fired power plants--since 1966. Halifax utility Nova Scotia Power has been generating up to 20 megawatts of power since 1984 at a tidal barrage in the Bay of Fundy, whose funnel-shaped inlet produces the world's largest tides--16 meters at its head.

But these constructions have fallen out of favor because of their outsize impact on ocean ecosystems. James Taylor, general manager of environmental planning and monitoring for Nova Scotia Power, notes that commercial-scale installations planned for the Bay of Fundy in the 1980s would have altered tides as far away as Boston. "It would be a pretty hard thing to get permitted today," says Taylor.

Hence the attraction of in-flow turbines such as Verdant's. "The whole point of doing kinetic hydro is to have a very small environmental footprint," says Dean Corren, Verdant's director of technology development, who designed the tidal turbines in the early 1980s while conducting energy research at New York University.

Corren's team installed its first two turbines in the East River in December. One has been delivering a maximum of 35 kilowatts of power to New York City, swiveling to generate power as the river swells with the high tides and empties with the low. The other turbine delivers performance data that Corren says will be crucial to refining the blades and gearbox, generator, and control system to optimize power generation.

This month Verdant added four more 35-kilowatt turbines. Corren says Verdant is now working on a next-generation design that will be cheaper to mass-produce, in anticipation of installing a farm of at least 100 turbines at the East River site.

Greener Shopping Bags?

Consumers may find that the virtues of biodegradable plastics are really a mixed bag.

By Peter Fairley

Disappearing act: Novamont’s plant in Terni, Italy, turns out a polymer used in plastic bags. The polymer is a biodegradable blend of petroleum-based polyester and plant starch.

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors' vote last month to institute the first ban on polyethylene shopping bags in the United States may reduce the volume of plastic in landfills, but, despite many advocates' hopes, it is unlikely to dramatically reduce dependence on imported oil. That's because most biodegradable plastic bags (which San Francisco officials hope will take polyethylene's place) rely on a petroleum-based form of polyester.

San Francisco's ban will, however, create an important new market for biodegradable plastics that could bring plastics based on renewable feedstocks into the market. The best hope may be Metabolix, based in Cambridge, MA, which last year completed a $95 million initial public offering and signed a joint venture with agribusiness giant Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) to develop its corn sugar-based biodegradable polymer.

Standard polyethylene bags have multiplied (San Franciscans alone use 181 million a year) because they are cheap and easy to use. They also produce less pollution in their manufacture than paper bags do. Until recently, biodegradable plastic bags have cost at least three times more and fallen short on performance, but the picture has changed over the past decade. "Today you've got some products that work from a functionality standpoint--the price gap has come way down," says Keith Edwards, biopolymers business manager in North America for German plastics and chemicals giant BASF.

Most biodegradable plastic bags are produced by blending plant starch with petroleum-based polyesters, which improves the bag's strength and processibility with conventional film equipment. Leading producers are BASF and Italian polymers firm Novamont. Edwards estimates that biodegradable bags from these polymers could cost three to four cents more than the one-to-two-cents-per-bag cost of polyethylene. But he's betting that San Francisco consumers will demand them thanks to San Francisco's curbside organic-waste recycling program.

San Francisco's environmental officials are making the same bet. Currently, the program collects about 300 tons of food per day, contributing to a 67 percent recycling rate for its municipal waste overall. But that number must rise significantly if the city is to meet a self-imposed goal to recycle 75 percent of its waste by 2010.

BASF recently boosted capacity for its biodegradable resin from 8,000 metric tons to 14,000 metric tons per year. Overall, the company expects annual production of biodegradable and bio-based polymers to triple or quadruple by 2010 from an estimated 50,000 tons produced worldwide in 2005. Meanwhile, Novamont plans to scale up a process for producing its biodegradable form of polyester from vegetable oils; it could begin within the next two years.

A New Biofuel: Propane

Propane chemically derived from corn could be used in heating and transportation.

By Katherine Bourzac

Biofuel alternative: MIT researchers are developing an efficient process for making propane from corn or sugarcane.

MIT researchers say they have developed an efficient chemical process for making propane from corn or sugarcane. They are incorporating a startup this week to commercialize the biopropane process, which they hope will find a place in the existing $21 billion U.S. market for the fuel.

While much of the attention on biofuels has focused on ethanol, the process developed by the MIT researchers produces propane, says Andrew Peterson, one of the graduate students who demonstrated the reactions. Propane is used in the United States for residential heating and some industrial processes, and to a limited extent as a liquid transportation fuel. "We're making a demonstrated fuel" for which a market and an infrastructure already exist, says Peterson, who works in the lab of chemical-engineering professor Jefferson Tester and has founded the startup C₃ BioEnergy, based in Cambridge, MA, to commercialize the technology.

Propane, which is currently made from petroleum, has a higher energy density than ethanol, and although it is often used in its gaseous form, it's the cleanest-burning liquid fuel.

The C₃ BioEnergy process depends on supercritical water--water at a very high temperature and pressure--which facilitates the reactions that turn a biological compound into propane. Peterson wouldn't reveal the starting compound, but he says that it is a product of the fermentation of the sugars found in corn or sugarcane. The reaction is driven by heat, requiring no catalysts. At supercritical temperature and pressure, Peterson says, "water does bizarre things. It becomes like a nonpolar solvent" and mixes with the organic compounds. Once the reaction has taken place, the solution is kept under high pressure and cooled to room temperature so that the propane comes out of the solution and floats to the top. "We've demonstrated that we can make propane," says Peterson. "Now we're trying to optimize the reaction rate and get it to a scalable stage."

Peterson says the biopropane conversion has a good energy balance: not much fossil fuel needs to be burned during production. The reaction does not require the input of a large amount of energy because the heat that's key to the biopropane conversion is recoverable using a heat exchanger, a device that transfers heat in and out of a fluid.

"All biofuel reactions involve removing oxygen from the starting compound," says George Huber, assistant professor of chemical engineering at the University of Massachusetts, in Amherst. There are a number of strategies for doing this, including reactions that rely on biological catalysts. But, says Huber, "supercritical fluids are a very promising way to make biofuels. You can do it in a very small reactor in a very short time, so you can do it very economically."

Other academic labs are developing processes that use high-temperature, high-pressure fluids to make biofuels. Douglas Elliott, at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, in Richland, WA, is using near-supercritical conditions in combination with a catalyst to treat wastewater and unprocessed biomass. Under these conditions, organic compounds can be made into a mixture of methane (the main component in natural gas) and carbon dioxide. "We've gone all the way from small-batch reactors to treating a few gallons of wastewater per hour," says Elliott, who is working with a company on commercializing the technology for water treatment. "We're still in the lab with biomass."

Huber and Elliott say the MIT biopropane process is novel. "I've never seen anyone make propane with supercritical fluids," says Huber.

In some countries, including Australia, propane is more widely used as a transportation fuel. In the United States, "you would have to modify engines to use it," says Huber. "Biopropane could be used where we already use propane."

BP, DuPont Update Progress on Biobutanol Plans

At the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) annual conference BP and Dupont speakers reported that biobutanol has proven to perform similarly to unleaded gasoline on key parameters, based on ongoing laboratory-based engine testing and limited fleet testing.

In 2006, the companies announced their joint strategy to deliver advanced biofuels that help meet increasing global demand for renewable transportation fuels, leveraging DuPont’s advanced biotechnology capabilities and BP’s fuel marketing and technology expertise. The first product targeted for introduction will be biobutanol.

“Biobutanol addresses market demand for fuels that can be produced from domestic renewable resources in high volume and at reasonable cost; fuels that can be used in existing vehicles and existing infrastructure; fuels that offer good value to consumers; and fuels that meet the evolving demands of vehicles,” said Frank Gerry, BP Biofuels program manager.

Gerry spoke about results of tests that confirm biobutanol is a desirable fuel component. According to Gerry, biobutanol formulations that meet key characteristics of a “good” fuel include high energy density, controlled volatility, sufficient octane and low levels of impurities. He described early phase testing data that indicate that biobutanol fuel blends at a nominal 10 volume percent level perform very similarly to unleaded gasoline fuel. Additionally, the energy density of biobutanol is closer to unleaded gasoline:

Bioethanol = 21.1-21.7 MJ/L (megajoules per liter)
Biobutanol = 26.9-27.0 MJ/L
Gasoline = 32.2-32.9 MJ/L

In an earlier statement DuPont said biobutanol improves blend flexibility, allowing higher biofuels blends with gasoline; it improves fuel efficiency (better miles per gallon) compared to incumbent biofuels; it is suitable for transport in pipelines, unlike existing biofuels thus avoiding the need for additional large-scale supply infrastructure and, it enhances ethanol-gasoline blends by lowering the vapor pressure when co-blended with these fuels. Biobutanol is targeted for introduction later this year in the United Kingdom. Additional global capacity will be introduced as market conditions dictate.

ConocoPhillips-Tyson Foods to Produce Next Generation Renewable Diesel

Condensed from press release:

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) and Tyson Foods, Inc. (NYSE:TSN) announced a strategic alliance to produce and market the next generation of renewable diesel fuel. The alliance plans to use beef, pork and poultry by-product fat to create a transportation fuel which will contribute to America’s energy security and help to address climate change concerns.

Using a proprietary thermal depolymerization production technology, the animal fats will be processed with hydrocarbon feedstocks to produce a high-quality diesel fuel that meets all federal standards for ultra-low-sulfur diesel. The addition of animal fat also improves the fuel’s ignition properties, while the processing step improves its storage stability and handling characteristics.

Tyson will make capital improvements this summer in order to begin pre-processing animal fat from some of its North American rendering facilities later in the year. ConocoPhillips also will begin the necessary capital expenditures to enable it to produce the fuel in several of its refineries. The finished product will be renewable diesel fuel mixtures that meet all federal standards for ultra-low-sulfur diesel. Production is expected to ramp up over time to as much as 175 million gallons per year of renewable diesel.

Investments made by ConocoPhillips and Tyson will allow for the processing and handling of fat and enhance the ability of the United States to produce energy from a variety of sources, including domestically-produced vegetable oils.

The processing technology was developed at ConocoPhillips, culminating in a successful test at the company’s Whitegate Refinery in Cork, Ireland. ConocoPhillips began commercial production of renewable diesel using soybean oil in Ireland late last year.

This alliance is expected to be a positive step for Tyson’s long term financial performance. “Production is expected to begin in late calendar year 2007, ramping up through spring 2009.” Bond said. “Once at full production, we currently project between $0.04 and $0.16 cents per share in additional annual earnings. However, this will be driven by factors such as the prices of wholesale diesel and animal fat.”

175 mgy is only a moderately sized renewable fuel capacity, but it does represent a new technology which may have larger applications than just this alliance. By any other name it still is a form of biodiesel. It probably is applicable to all slaughtering operations, which is a larger market. If Conoco has used the process using soybean oil, could it have wider applications on a wide variety of oils? It makes sense for Tyson, as a means of disposing of its waste fats. It seems like a pretty small endeavor for Conoco, even with a larger market, but they are probably anxious to improve their image by doing anything green.

Solar Cells That Work All Day

On the surface of a new photovoltaic prototype, microscopic nanotube towers perform best when they catch light on their sides.

By David Talbot

3-D solar: Jud Ready, a senior research engineer at the Georgia Tech Research Institute, holds up a prototype photovoltaic material that is efficient at generating electricity when sunlight strikes it from many different angles. The surface is covered with thousands of microscopic tower structures that are 100 micrometers tall, 40 micrometers wide, and spaced 10 micrometers apart.

Solar cells generally crank out the most power at noon, when the sun is at its highest point and can strike the cell at a 90-degree angle. Before and after noon, efficiencies drop off. But researchers Georgia Tech Research Institute have come up with a prototype that does the opposite. Their solar cell, whose surface consists of hundreds of thousands of 100-micrometer-high towers, catches light at many angles and actually works best in the morning and afternoon.

"It may be intuitive: when the light goes straight down, the only interaction is with the tops of towers and the 'streets' below," says Jud Ready, senior research engineer at the institute's Electro-Optical Systems Laboratory. "But at an angle, the light has an opportunity to reflect off the sides of the towers." When the sun is at a 90-degree angle, the prototype delivers only 3.5 percent efficiency. But it delivers better efficiencies at many other angles and is actually at its peak efficiency--7 percent--when light comes in at a 45-degree angle. That means the device operates at relatively high efficiencies during much of the day and has two efficiency peaks: one before noon, and one after noon.

While those efficiencies are too low for commercialization, Ready is working on optimizing the size and spacing of his towers as well as their chemical composition. As a first application, his sights are set on powering spacecraft and satellites, which could benefit from solar cells that don't require a mechanical means of moving the orientation of the cell to keep it facing the sun. "Anytime you have anything mechanical, it breaks," says Ready. "In space, that is fabulously difficult to try and repair."

Construction of the towers begins with a foundation of silicon wafers coated with a patterned layer of iron. The iron-coated areas become a seedbed for carbon nanotubes, which are grown using standard chemical vapor deposition; the carbon--separated from hydrocarbon gases in a furnace--assembles into nanotubes on the iron areas. The finished towers, each made of arrays of nanotubes, are 100 micrometers tall, 40 micrometers wide, and 10 micrometers apart.

Once the carbon-nanotube towers are complete, they are coated with cadmium-telluride and cadmium-sulfide semiconductors, which do the work of electron generation. Finally, a thin coating of indium tin oxide is deposited to serve as an electrode. In the finished cells, as with some other nanosolar approaches, the nanotubes serve both as a scaffold for the photovoltaic material and also as a conductor to help move electrons to the electrodes. (See "Cheap Nano Solar Cells.") In Ready's technology, each square centimeter of the finished solar cell contains 40,000 towers, and each tower consists of millions of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes.

Ready says that over the next two years, he will scale up the prototypes and test them to ensure that they can survive a rocket launch and the harsh environment of space. He is also trying to make the technology work with semiconductors other than cadmium telluride, which is considered too toxic for widespread commercial use. If all goes well, some version of the technology could be commercialized in five to ten years, Ready says.

Russia Commences Construction of Floating Nuclear Power Plants

SEVERODVINSK (northern Russia), April 15 - Russia has launched the construction of floating nuclear power plants said Sergei Kiriyenko, the head of Russia's nuclear power agency.

Kiriyenko said the first floating nuclear power plant, to be named after the great Russian scientist Mikhail Lomonosov, will have a capacity of 70 megawatts of electricity and about 300 megawatts of thermal power.

Floating nuclear power plants can operate without fuel reload for 12-15 years and have enhanced radiation protection.

Floating NPPs are expected to be widely used in regions that experience a shortage of energy and also in the implementation of projects requiring standalone and uninterrupted energy supply in the absence of a development power system.

Source: RIA Noesti via Peak Oil News & Message Boards

Structures Designed with Reticular Chemistry Store Voluminous Amounts of Gases

A press release from UCLA outlines how chemists at UCLA have designed and developed a class of materials for the storage of very large quantities of gases which could be used in alternative energy technologies.

The research, to be published on April 13 in the journal Science, demonstrates how the design principles of reticular chemistry have been used to create three-dimensional covalent organic frameworks, which are entirely constructed from strong covalent bonds and have high thermal stability, high surface areas and extremely low densities.

Led by Omar Yaghi, UCLA professor of chemistry and biochemistry, the team has developed reticular chemistry, which describes a new class of materials in which components can be changed nearly at will. Reticular chemistry is the chemistry of linking molecular building blocks by strong bonds into predetermined structures. The principles of reticular chemistry and the ability to construct chemical structures from these molecular building blocks has led to the creation of new classes of materials of exceptional variety.

The covalent organic frameworks, or COFs (pronounced "coffs"), one of these new classes of materials, are the first crystalline porous organic networks. The image shows the crystal structure of COF-108, which is synthesized from light elements (H,B,C,O) and is the lowest-density crystal ever produced (0.17 g/cm3).

Yaghi and his colleagues believe that because of their functional flexibility and their extremely light weight and high porosity, COFs are uniquely suited to store hydrogen for use as a fuel, to use methane as an alternative fuel, and to capture and store carbon dioxide from power plant smokestacks before it reaches the atmosphere.

Geothermal Power not Just for the Western US

Jefferson Tester, the H.P. Meissner Professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT headed an MIT-led study of the potential for ramping up geothermal energy within the United States. Tester was part of the 18-member panel that prepared the 400-plus page study, "The Future of Geothermal Energy," (PDF 14.1MB) for the U.S. Department of Energy.

I have summarized some of the main points from an article (page 3) in MIT TechTalk.

• Geothermal resources are available nationwide, although the highest-grade sites are in western states.
• Geothermal energy using enhanced geothermal system (EGS) technology would greatly increase the fraction of the U.S. geothermal resource that could be recovered commercially.
• The United States, generating 300 megawatts, is already the biggest producer of geothermal.
• If geothermal is going to be anything more than a minor curiosity, it has to reach at least the level of hydro and nuclear power, or 100,000 megawatts out of 1 million--one-tenth of total capacity," he said.
• The study found that geothermal could supply a substantial portion of the electricity the United States will need in the future, probably at competitive prices and with minimal environmental impact.
• The process involves drilling to as deep as 30,000 feet, pumping water under pressure into fractures to break apart underground rock formations and freeing up reservoirs.
• Seismic activity is a risk, he said. "The big challenge is to show you can do it not only in California, but also in the Midwest and ultimately on the East Coast, where you have to go deeper."
• Among geothermal's advantages are its below-ground, out-of-sight nature, making it easier to site, and its high capacity and because, unike solar or wind, it runs a the time.
• Environmental impacts are "markedly lower than conventional fossil-fuel and nuclear power plants."
• Meeting water requirements for geothermal plants may be an issue, particularly in arid regions.

Parabolic Trough Technology

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has created a new website, "TroughNet." Currently parabolic trough solar technology offers the lowest cost solar electric option for large power plant applications. TroughNet is a technical resource that offers:

• information about the various components of a solar trough,
• the power cycles that can be used with solar troughs,
• the status of thermal energy storage that could be applied to solar trough power plants,
• research and development being conducted and
• a market and economic assessment.

I hope that you find this site useful in pursuing your interests in renewable energy.

EU Could use Biogas to Replace all Imports from Russia by 2020

You may have seen this on the news, but Biopact has a good article on the story.

The biogas sector has ... been scaled up to become an industry that produces quantities large enough to be fed into the main natural gas grid. More and more, dedicated biogas crops (such as specially bred biogas maize, exotic grass species such as Sudan grass and sorghum, or new hybrid grass types) are being utilized as single substrate feedstocks for large digester complexes, and biogas upgrading to natural gas standards is becoming more common. ...

Some studies in fact estimate that by 2020 the EU could replace all gas imports from Russia and produce some 500 billion cubic meters (17.6 trillion cubic feet) of gas equivalent biogas per year.

Malaysian Company Claims it will Produce 1.7 billion gallons per day of Ethanol

Biopact reports fresh news about that 'mysterious' energy crop called Nypa fruticans (also known as 'nipah' or 'mangrove palm'): Pioneer Bio Industries Corp Sdn Bhd (PBIC) claims it will be able to produce a startling 6.48 billion liters (1.7 billion gallons) of nipah palm ethanol per year when its planned refineries in Malaysia's North-Western Perak State begin operations in 2009. This amount is roughly equal to 780,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. ...

Ethanol can be obtained from fermenting the sugar-rich sap that can be tapped continuously from the trees' inflorescence. Nipah has a very high sugar-rich sap yield. According to one study, the palm can produce 6,480-15,600 liters of ethanol per hectare, compared to 3,350-6,700 liters/hectare from sugarcane. ... more

I always thought that tropical and semitropical countries had great potential to produce large quantities of ethanol at low cost and improve their economies at the same time. This is another proof that this is happening.

Peak Oil Will Change You Lifestyle

The Evansville Courier & Press has an editorial on peak oil, "Peak oil crisis will require fundamental cultural change" that deals with the "will change your lifestyle" part of The Energy Blog's motto. It does not deal with the date of peak oil or the technology, but suggests some changes in lifestyle that will help us get through this period.

A congressional report firmly recommends that we "better prepare for a peak in oil." and "clearly states that there is no U.S. policy to deal with global peak oil." The editorial goes on to state the following regarding these issues.

Oil, for all its dirty, nasty attributes, is the best thing since man discovered fire. ...

Humans have for all practical purposes found, drilled, pumped and refined half of the crude oil on the planet — the easiest half: 900 billion barrels — so far this century. What's left are declining fields with hard-to-extract heavy (sour) crude, oil shale and tar sands. These will require ever more energy to extract and will approach a negative net energy result. ...

Conservation is only a feeble start. For a society to survive intact, philosophies have to change. The car mentality has to go, and the sooner the better.

We have to stop urban sprawl and let the land around our cities be used, as it once was, for growing food for its region; use light rail for distance transportation and trolleys, bikes and pedestrian walkways for local transportation.

We must localize communities around centers of food production and local-needs manufacturing. We must learn to live with less.

All of these would use less energy and could allow a world closer to what we know today to continue for a significantly longer time than would doing nothing.

Technology will not fix this. No amount of high-tech know-how, drilling techniques or "Googling" will save us from ourselves.

In reality, we all will have to learn to live a different life under different conditions. It's not going to be easy or fun.

In reality, we all will have to learn to live a different life under different conditions. It's not going to be easy or fun.

Peak oil will be the issue of our generation. There is not going to be a heroic Hollywood ending or Hail Mary pass to save us on this one. This is an issue that should not be seen as a liberal, tree-hugging, doomsdayer's obsession. This is a global geological fact that needs to be considered in every aspect of our lives.

Climate Change Report: Human Generated Warming Already Having Impacts

A report, by the UN Intergovermental Panel on Climate Change, titled, "Climate Change 2007: Climate Change Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability," warns that human-generated warming is already making oceans more acidic and parched regions even drier and the risk of massive floods will increase significantly along the coasts because of rising seas and more intense storms.

An international global warming conference approved the report on Friday. The final report is reported to be the clearest and most comprehensive scientific statement to date on the impact of global warming mainly caused by man-induced carbon dioxide pollution. All continents and most oceans show that many natural systems are being affected by regional climate changes, particularly temperature increases.

Some Key findings of the report include:

• 75-250 million people across Africa could face water shortages by 2020
• Globally, the potential for food production is projected to increase with increases in local average temperature over a range of 1-3°C, but above this it is projected to decrease.
• Crop yields increase could increase by 20% in East and Southeast Asia, but decrease by up to 30% in Central and South Asia
• Agriculture fed by rainfall could drop by 50% in some African countries by 2020
• 20-30% of all plant and animal species at increased risk of extinction if temperatures rise between 1.5-2.5C
• Glaciers and snow cover expected to decline, reducing water availability in countries supplied by melt water
• The world will face heightened threats of flooding, severe storms and the erosion of coastlines.
• Coasts are projected to be exposed to increasing risks, due to climate change causing sea-level rise; the effect will be exacerbated by increasing human-induced pressures on coastal areas.

Khosla Ventures Investments

VC Ratings blog provides a list of 26 renewable energy startups that Vinod Khosla's - Khosla Ventures' has invested in. He is well known for his investments in biofuel related companies, but the list reveals a much broader scope. Many, if not most, of these companies have a long way to go before they pay off, and some will not make it, but it interesting to see what he is doing. Here are the categories he uses and the specific companies (except for 5 that he labeled as stealth) that he has invested in.

• Cellulosic - Mascoma, Celunol, Range Fuels, 1 stealth startup
• Future Fuels - LS9, Gevo, Amyris Biotechnologies, Coskata Energy
• Efficiency - Transonic Combustion, GroupIV Semiconductor, 1 stealth startup
• Homes - Living Homes, Global Homes
• Natural Gas - Great Point Energy
• Solar - Stion, Ausra
• Tools - Nanostellar, Codon Devices, Praj
• Water - 2 stealth startup
• Plastic - Segetis, 1 stealth startup
• Corn/Sugar Fuels - Altra, Cilion, Hawaii Bio

New Engine Design Increase Mileage at Low Cost

An article in The MIT Technology Review describes a new engine design developed by Daniel Cohn, a senior research scientist and his colleagues at MIT, that could significantly improve fuel efficiency for cars and SUVs, at a fraction of the cost of today's hybrid technology.

The engine combines an engine with a higher compression ratio than normal with a turbocharger and direct injection of a small amount of ethanol the combustion chamber at just the right moment. MIT researchers estimate that an engine equipped with the new technology would have fuel economies that rivals hybrids but would only cost about $1,000 to $1,500 more than a conventional engine rather than the $3,000 to $5,000 additional costs for a hybrid. A vehicle that used an engine of this type would operate around 25 percent more efficiently than a vehicle with a conventional engine. Ethanol would be stored in its own small tank having to be refilled only once every few months.

Good Day Sunshine

One of the largest solar energy plants in the world went on line in Portugal this winter.

By Katherine Bourzac

One of the largest solar power plants in the world went on line this winter in the sunny pastures of Serpa, a town in southern Portugal. The plant is owned by General Electric and operated by PowerLight of Berkeley, CA. At its peak, around noon on a sunny day, the solar park can generate 11 megawatts of electricity--enough to power 8,000 homes.

New Syngas Reactor to be Tested at Pulp Mill

Diversified Energy Corporation and Evergreen Pulp, Inc have announced that they formed a partnership and submitted a proposal to pursue an advanced gasification project based on a molten-metals reactor technology,called HydroMax®. funded by the state of California.

HydroMax is an advanced gasification system that offers significant benefits compared to conventional techniques.The process offers several critical advantages to industrial-scale customers, including a compact size for simple integration, biomass feedstock flexibility, synthetic gas (syngas) output variability, limited emissions output, and attractive economics. By leveraging proven processes from the metals and mining industries, the HydroMax technique intends to break the status-quo paradigm by delivering gasification systems at up to 50% the cost of traditional systems, with 80+% efficiency, and demonstrating high availability.

Utilizing an iron/tin molten metal based reactor, the HydroMax system produces both carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen (H2) in separate and distinct streams from the reactor. Using two distinct steps (shown as Step A and Step B), the HydroMax process begins with a molten iron/tin (FeSn) bath heated to 1300° C. In Step A, steam is injected into the bath which is then thermo-chemically split resulting in H2 gas (released) and oxidized iron. After the Fe is oxidized, steam injection ceases and a carbon source (coal, petroleum coke, tires, biomass, etc) is injected into the reactor (Step B). Carbon has a high affinity to oxygen and reduces the oxidation of Fe to its pure form and produces a CO-rich syngas which is released for use.

For applications requiring hydrogen, a traditional gasifier must first produce syngas, then use portions of this syngas to produce hydrogen. For fuels synthesis, the syngas and hydrogen must then be combined in the correct ratio dependent upon the particular fuel desired.

The proposed project would gasify fine wood residue to create a syngas of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, which it would burn in place of natural gas.This syngas will be pumped into the burners of a process heating facility, offsetting the natural gas currently being used. The mill already produces about 95 percent of its own electricity and most of its overall energy from sawmill waste. But despite that, the energy-intensive pulp-making process still draws about 300 therms of gas each day through the Pacific Gas and Electric Co. pipeline.

"We would be completely free of fossil fuel,” said Evergreen Senior Resource Manager Rex Bohn.

Evergreen Pulp, Inc is the largest unbleached kraft pulp mill in the U.S. The proposed project for the state of California will place a single demonstration-scale reactor at the mill.

World's Larges Fuel Cell Power Plant to be Built in S Korea

As reported in the Korean Times, POSCO, the worlds 3rd largest steelmaker, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Pohang City and North Kyongsang Province to build a 100 megawatt (MW) per year fuel cell power plant by 2010 in Pohang. The project is part of Kyongsang Province's efforts to make the region an "energy cluster"along the eastern coast, and POSCO to become the adopter of cleaner technology.

In its first phase, POSCO Power, the companies electric power business affiliate, plans to run a 50MW plant by the second half of 2008, and fully operate the 100MW plant in three years.

POSCO Power will be investing a total of 225 billion won by 2011, which includes a 65 billion won ($69 million) investment in the construction of the plant and 120 billion won ($127 million) in research and development.

In February, POSCO signed a license and distribution agreement with FuelCell Energy (Nasdaq:FCEL) to sell DFC® power plants in South Korea. The company will eventually manufacture non-fuel cell stack equipment (the "balance of plant" portion) for plants sold around the globe. Fuel cell stack modules manufactured by FuelCell Energy in Connecticut will be shipped to customers in Asia for installation with POSCO Power balance of plants.

On March 7 FCEL announced that POSCO Power, has purchased a 2.4 megawatt (MW) power plant for installation at a site in South Korea to be announced later.

The two Direct FuelCell(®) (DFC®) units making up the order are slated for delivery to South Korea by the end of 2007, and are scheduled to be commissioned early in 2008. Upon installation, the 2.4 megawatt (MW) power plant will become the world's largest, surpassing, FuelCell Energy's 1.5 MW power plant at the 1,044-room Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina in California.

South Korea's Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy (MOCIE) has created significant incentives to promote the use of alternative energy. Fuel cells were among the sources MOCIE most vigorously supported, creating subsidies that currently range from $0.23 to $0.28 per kilowatt-hour of electricity generated.

FCEL produces fuel cells, ranging in size from 300 kilowatts (kW) to 2.4 MW. FuelCell Energy’s products are called Direct FuelCells because unlike most other fuel cell technologies, Direct FuelCells can use hydrocarbon fuels without the need to first create hydrogen in an external fuel processor. The fuel cells are molten carbonate fuel cells (MCFC)

In its simplest electrochemical terms, an MCFC forms carbonate (CO3 2–) ions at its cathode by combining oxygen, carbon dioxide and two electrons. The carbonate ions migrate to the anode through a carbonate electrolyte. Arriving at the anode, the carbonate ion reacts with hydrogen to produce water, carbon dioxide and two electrons

Hydrogen is made available to the anode by extracting it from a common fuel (such as by steam-reforming natural gas). This fuel cell can also use CO (present in the reformed gas) as fuel. The oxygen needed in the electrochemical reactions is supplied from air, and carbon dioxide is made available by recycling it through the anode exhaust

The DFC® architecture has the unique ability to generate electricity directly from a hydrocarbon fuel source without the need for external conversion and provision of hydrogen that’s required with other types of fuel-cell technologies. Both the reformation and the fuel-cell anode reactions occur inside the anode compartment. Any hydrocarbon fuel – such as natural gas or biomass gases – is introduced into the anode compartment along with steam. Unused fuel from the fuel cell is oxidized with fresh air and is introduced to the cathode side. The overall fuel-cell reaction is simple natural-gas conversion with air to water and CO2.

MCFCs operate at an optimal temperature that avoids the use of precious-metal electrodes required by lower-temperature fuel cells, such as polymer-electrolyte and phosphoric-acid designs, and the more expensive metals and ceramic materials required by higher-temperature solid-oxide fuel cells.The electrolyte is a mixture of lithium and potassium/sodium carbonate salts that melts between 450 and 510 °C

FuelCell Energy had a goal of reducing the cost of it 2.4 MW power plant to $3,200-3,500/kilowatt (kW) by the end of 2006.

As of January 1 FCEL had 50 MW of installed capacity at 50 installations and 25 MW of backlog. Since then it has been selected for six installations in Connecticut totaling 68 MW of capacity with a value of over $200 million. All but one of these will be CHP projects using the ~ 650 F waste heat from the plants.
These projects would allow them to reduce their costs significantly, due to the scale of manufacturing. Field installations are now running at an average of 93% availability.

Thanks to Marco for the tip.

If this is really a 100 MW per year plant, it is not such a big deal, but that is not the usual terminology. If the Korean plant is the 2.4 MW plant announced on March 7 by FCEL it is still the largest, but I don't understand the conversion factor.