Unfortunately, there’s very little evidence that cleaner energy technology will take hold without mandates and incentives. Suppliers and consumers are comfortable with the status-quo of fossil fuel dependency when the alternative would mean a large upfront cost. The near-sighted vision prevails that places more importance on next quarter’s bottom line over long-term cost savings with an investment in more efficient operations and energy choice.
Where the true cost of energy is factored in, including environmental impacts, then there is progress. Slapping fines on emissions or taxing high-emission fuels provides the necessary incentive to make better choices for the long term.
It’s hard to fathom how the U.S. Chamber of Commerce can make claims that mandates and incentives “distort the market,” when they provide an across-the-board incentive for more efficient operations and provide real business opportunity for countless suppliers and service companies. When all companies share the burden, then the move to more efficient operations stands to stimulate the markets while driving down operations cost.
It’s the nature of shared burdens that makes good business sense here, as no one company or region is singled out with higher burdens, thus evening the playing field for all to make the necessary changes. In businesses where change would harm operations, they can choose to pay fines or transfer their impact through such mechanisms as cap and trade. The choice is up to the business, with options that stand to benefit all.
While in the U.S. the states have set standards for a certain percentage of renewable energy by a specific date (20% by 2020 in Colorado where I live), it makes the most sense to have a national standard. The push for energy companies to buy energy from consumers greatly stimulates the local market with solar and wind installers working with home owners and driving down the cost of these alternatives due the increasing demand.
Mandates and incentives on energy have far-reaching positive impacts — mitigating global warming, saving individuals and corporations money by reducing energy costs, and increasing global security by reducing the reliance on foreign oil. Let’s bring on more mandates and incentives for quicker green rewards.
A new version of EnergyPlus Energy Simulation Software has been released. The software is created by the U.S. Department of Energy and is used to model heating, cooling, lighting, ventilating, and other energy flows as well as water in buildings.
This product also interfaces OpenStudio, a product that links to Google SketchUp software which is used for 3D building design.
The $3.4Billion in grants for smart grid technology that were awarded yesterday are the single largest one-day award from the stimulus bill. There are 100 companies involved in the projects that are within 49 states, excluding Alaska. The funds will go into the accounts of awardees within 60 days, and the projects are projected to take between 12 and 36 months.
The largest technology element of this award is for smart meters, paying for 18 million smart meters in homes to allow homeowners to better manager their energy use. There are 700 automated substations included, which will allow utilities to quickly restore power in the event of emergencies. And there will be 200,000 smart transformers.
Details on the 100 grants that were awarded can be found in this PDF Document, including coverage maps.
In the article ‘Building an Oasis in the Desert‘ in the Fall 2009 edition of ArcNews Online, the work of CH2M Hill company is presented. It describes the use of geographic information system (GIS) technology that is being used to develop the Masdar City project located in UAE.
From the article – “”GIS is imperative in managing the overall spatial information necessary for designing, building, and operating Masdar City,” says Derek Gliddon, GIS manager, Property Development Unit, Masdar. Staff members at the City of Masdar use GIS to model building information throughout the life cycle of the project. For the city to meet its challenging goals, CH2M HILL carefully considered the geography of the area: sun angles, wind patterns, street widths, and building density and height. The orientation of buildings on a diagonal grid to provide maximum natural shading was modeled in ArcGIS.”
ApacheSim enables calculation of building energy for a number of different parameters based on thermal performance. Driven by real weather data, it simulates thermal performance as modelled and is available from Integrated Environmental Solutions (IES) in th UK.
“ApacheSim also enables you to perform carbon emissions calculations for compliance with UK Building Regs Part L and Part J. ApacheSim is based on first-principles models of heat transfer processes and is driven by real weather data.”
The word sustainability is used by many people today. Many companies and individuals are promoting a ‘green’ future and even governments are now tackling the energy equation, from production through to consumption. Some are even developing new policies based on sustainable strategies.
This past week the German Ministry of Environment, for example, indicated that it could achieve a 43% decrease in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, the date set by the Europeans as having special significance. Living in Berlin, Germany, I see the change in energy action all around me. It is in the agricultural fields as greater numbers of wind turbines are spinning around, it is atop the houses with growing numbers of buildings adorned in blue shiny panels.
A trip to a German building and home show is perhaps the single most evident place to find the move to energy efficiency and sustainability in action. Almost everything within the show has an energy angle, pointing out the energy saved, heating gained or lower cost of electrical consumption. The building materials are rated, the construction methods altered to meet energy requirements, and the techniques for construction improved, often made more light-weight and durable.
In simple terms, energy sustainability means that production and consumption match – net zero gain. Yet, we all know that a growing population around the globe is consuming energy at a rapid rate, and not likely to reduce this pattern any time soon. The struggle to meet sustainability either means changing energy types, thereby pursuing those that are more capable of producing more energy per unit than others, or working on the consumption part of the equation and reducing global energy use.
When I consider all that I see around me in terms of a country, which happens to be a leader in terms of the net zero energy pursuit, it really causes me to wonder. The initiatives and their magnitude are large. The country already has some 13,000 turbines spinning in the wind. They seem to be common when traveling now. In some areas, solar panels are on so many roofs that it is near impossible not to see them.
What’s going on here? Germany has half the sun of San Diego, yet 40,000 people work in the German solar industry, which is growing as research continues. A new ‘Hybrid’ power plant north of Berlin recently opened, it combines energy sources into one integrated energy supply – a reflection of the future in its own right.
At the same time, nuclear energy is making a comeback of sorts, evident to the north in Scandinavia mostly, but more often talked about in Germany as well.
The changes are happening. I see them, they are everywhere. Not only are they happening, but they are being measured. The ‘Renewable BootPrint’ as I’ll call it, is the measurement of environmental indicators under the influence of sustainable energy policies involving renewable sources that provides a wealth of maps, data and otherwise important indication of the real changes happening. See them here.
I realised a while back that my mind is way beyond the climate change debate. The obvious is obvious to me. The pursuit of sustainable energy, en force, is a veritable gold mine of activity in research, education, sales, scientific study and exports. By simply pursuing it, with a vengeance, climate change will be significantly mitigated, significantly – although I am not sure about net zero given population growth.
Energy Sustainability is looking more like something that runs through the entire economy. Something that is dynamic and connects different people and objects locally, but whose relationship changes instantly at times, and slower at others. It seems like it is more readily measured now than before, and monitoring it will get easier, not harder – if we clue into it and make the effort, assigning the resources and focusing on the job of doing.
The part that is not yet understood as well, is how people will behave while living in a society where objects around them ‘think’ with energy mindsets.
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Jeff Thurston is editor of V1 Energy Magazine and V1 Magazine. He is based in Berlin and responsible for Europe, Middle East and Africa for Vector1 Media.
GENI is an ambitous strategy that would connect global energy grids together. The website provides a wide range of maps and information about global energy grids on a country-by-country basis. Renewable resources figure prominently into the overall strategy.
A key value to this website lies in the fact that it enables everyone to see and understand energy grids.
From GENI – “GENI’s mission is to conduct research and to educate world leaders and the public about the critical viability of the interconnection of electric power networks between nations and continents, with an emphasis on tapping abundant renewable energy resources, what we call ‘the GENI Initiative.’ Our research shows that linking renewables between all nations will mollify conflicts, grow economies and increase the quality of life and health for all. This is a strategy rooted in the highest priority of the World Game simulation developed by Dr. Buckminster Fuller three decades ago.”
Many people do not know that satellite imagery and laser technologies can play a major role in the development and operation of energy infrastructure. These technologies can capture large quantities of data suitable for constructing 3D models of plant infrastructure, monitoring vegetation and possible leakage as well as providing information suitable for topographic analysis – slopes and elevations of the landscape.
Whether a pipeline is being constructed, solar panels are being oriented and situated or wind establishments are being initiated, satellite imagery and laser technologies play a significant role. In fact, the production of agricultural crops for bioenergy and the monitoring of wave activity can all be obtained through these innovative technologies.
Today, there is a growing presence of satellites surrounding the planet. These satellites are owned and operated by both private industry and government related agencies. Whereas older satellites were reliable and some of them continue to operate, newer satellites are capable of providing higher resolution imagery, often below 10 meters and sometimes as low as 1 meter or better.
This capability has changed the picture for energy company’s considering the use of satellite imagery and related services. With higher resolution and increased frequency or re-visitation times, it is becoming much more practical to monitor and create useful information for energy planning and operations than previously.
Many companies realise the benefits that satellit eimagery provides and some of these advantages extend beyond the apparent picture within the image itself. For instance, most imagery can be further analysed to provide detailed interpretive information. Many people point to this characteristic as being the heart or value of imagery. Careful analysis and processing can provide 3D information about the terrain and other factors.
Laser instrumentation has great value for the energy industry and is used in many different ways. Those company’s operating gas plants and other infrastructure invariably find that those assets are not fully and efficiently managed. Laser technologies enable this infrastructure to be measured and objects to be determined. This has immense operational value since these objects can then be integrated with current and future planning, perhaps maintenance as well, into one stream lined and integrated system.
Essentially then the objective is to use new technologies like satellite imagery and laser technologies as a means to enable digital energy work flows that cut across planning, construction, operation and maintenance. High need for participation within regulatory frameworks and an increased need for sharing information means that these technologies can be used to enable communication initiatives too.
Keep an eye on these technologies. They are penetrating the energy industry in direct and indirect ways as energy is discussed from a broader context linking to ‘green’ plans and environmental factors at the same time.
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Jeff Thurston is editor at V1 Energy Magazine and V1 Magazine for Vector1 Media in Europe, Middle East and Africa. He is based in Berlin.
The Alternative Energy Design Toolkit originated in Australia and it’s purpose is to enable better energy design. The website includes educational materials fo running the models and explains how to connect to the most appropriate model for evaluating a design.
The motivation behind the work is discussed and the thoughts behind the development of the toolkit are also expressed.
There’s growing sentiment in the United States that countries across the world are getting the jump on renewable energy innovation. Thomas L. Friedman of the New York Times has written repeatedly of the need to go green, and he warns in a recent column that China’s decision to go green should be seen as, “The New Sputnik“. There’s also a recent column in the San Francisco Chronicle that extols that the “U.S. Must Take the Lead In Renewable Energy.” While the sense of urgency is compelling in light of energy’s role in climate change, what else is at stake regarding this new global competition for renewable energy dominance?
Economics of Innovation
America has long been on the global forefront of innovation, leading the way in developing automobiles, electricity, computers, and information technology. While a great deal of early renewable energy innovation took place here in the 1970’s during that oil crisis, the world has largely passed us by in developing renewable energy technologies and harnessing clean power.
There’s a pride of innovation here as well as the distinct potential for China’s large-scale renewable production efforts to make it become the number one global economy. America has largely gone from a producing to a consuming nation, which works when the technology that we buy is owned by U.S. companies, but manufactured elsewhere. Without American companies innovating in the renewable energy sector we stand to suffer a large economic impact as global change continues to force us to go green.
Energy Independence
The fossil fuel dependence in the United States is largely blamed as the impetus for our involvement in the conflicts in the Middle East. This dependence on foreign oil leads to dramatic economic imbalances when oil prices spike, harming the viability of a number of oil-dependent businesses.
The global security implications of this dependence has spurred the U.S. military to make sweeping commitments to renewable energy to power their bases. It’s interesting that the Pentagon has embraced renewable energy far in advance of our political leaders.
Without more federal leadership in the shift to go green, Americans will be surpassed by other countries, regions and companies. Energy technology is the next great emerging market, and no country can afford to lag in innovation.
