The Obama administration's greenhouse gas ruling Monday was meant to send a warning to industry, the U.S. Congress, and the world: with or without a law, Washington will tackle global warming in a serious way.
The Environmental Protection Agency issued a final ruling that greenhouse gases endanger human health, allowing it to put limits on emissions even if U.S. lawmakers fail to pass a law to achieve the same objective.
These are the ramifications of the long-expected decision:
• Timing: as the EPA made its announcement, negotiators from nearly 200 countries met in Copenhagen to work toward a political agreement to address climate change.
The timing was no coincidence: the EPA announcement was aimed at an international audience as much as a domestic one.
The U.S. position at the talks is undermined by not having a domestic law in place to curb emissions, but the EPA ruling should reassure other nations that Washington will force businesses to reduce their greenhouse gas pollution one way or another.
Obama's message to world leaders: the United States is a serious partner in Copenhagen and on the climate change issue as a whole.
• Pressure: The House of Representatives has passed a bill that would cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions but the Senate has not. As lawmakers go back and forth on whether such rules would be good or bad for industry and the country, the EPA ruling will now be firmly in the back of their minds.
Obama's message to lawmakers: hurry up and agree on a law, or the administration will take the reins and accomplish this goal without you.
• Risk: Though the White House has given the green light to the EPA finding, officials near Obama would prefer not to talk about it that much. Why? The president still firmly prefers a legislative solution to the problem of regulating carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions.
By making the threat that regulation will result if a law fails, Obama risks having to actually follow through.
Politically it will be more palatable for the president to tell Americans--especially in coal-producing states that will be hard hit by emissions curbs--that rules governing climate change were approved by their elected representatives rather than imposed by the executive branch.
If the economy does not recover soon, the short-term costs to industry of regulation could create long-term costs for Obama, whose fellow Democrats could lose seats in Congress.
Practically, EPA regulation could also get tied up in a series of legal challenges from businesses and environmental groups. A law would be less messy and potentially more efficient at cutting emissions quickly.
• Certainty: Companies often say certainty is crucial for business planning. Even those that are opposed to climate legislation or EPA regulation- and there are many--would prefer knowing what's coming to not knowing, even if the ramifications are costly.
With the EPA's announcement, pending legislation in Congress, and the U.S. position in Copenhagen all spelled out, industry can now assume that, one way or another, the United States will aim to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions roughly 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020.
For those that have not already started, making investments to cut industrial emissions and reduce carbon pollution would make sense...now.
This analysis was written by Jeff Mason.
Story Copyright (c) 2009 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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The Department of Energy is making $100 million in government stimulus money available to researchers with ideas for radically different energy technologies.
The DOE on Monday announced the second portion of the ARPA-E program and said that "concept papers" for three research areas--fuels, capturing carbon dioxide from coal plants, and long-range electric vehicle batteries--are due by the middle of next January. Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Commerce Secretary Gary Locke unveiled the green-tech research program in conjunction with the start of international climate treaty talks in Copenhagen, which got under way Monday.
One area that the DOE's ARPA-E program is offering research money for is making liquid fuels from microorganisms without biomass or oil. Start-up Joule Biotechnologies is a company that is already pursuing that path using sunlight, CO2, and genetically engineered microorganisms.
(Credit: Joule Biotechnologies)The research areas reflect the priorities of the administration for jump-starting innovation in the energy industry for both environmental and economic reasons. The three projects topics are called:
• Innovative Materials & Processes for Advanced Carbon Capture Technologies (IMPACCT). This program will seek to fund research in materials and catalysts to separate carbon dioxide from other flue gases at coal-fired power plants. With about half of the electricity in the U.S. made from burning coal, developing more energy-efficient and cost-effective technologies for carbon capture and sequestration is getting significant federal backing. On Friday the Department of Energy announced that $3.18 billion of stimulus money will be spent on accelerating the development of three carbon capture projects in the U.S.
• Batteries for Electrical Energy Storage in Transportation (BEEST) is a project aimed at developing battery technology that will extend the range beyond today's existing lightweight electric vehicles. There are a number of electric vehicles coming to market in the next year, such as the Nissan Leaf, but the driving range is limited to about 100 miles because of the limitations in battery energy density.
• The Electrofuels program at ARPA-E is seeking to fund research for methods of making liquid transportation fuels directly from carbon dioxide and sunlight. The program specifies that it is looking for methods that use biological processes using microorganisms, an area of research that could yield a 10 times efficiency improvement over traditional biofuels.
The first grant awards for DARPA-E, totaling $151 million, also went to research projects in liquid fuels and carbon capture but also included energy storage, LED lighting, and solar photovoltaics.
Making a city "smarter" starts with networked hardware, says IBM. That is, fire trucks, waste water lines, and buildings.
The city of Chesapeake, Va., has contracted with IBM to modernize the city's public works and utilities infrastructure, touching everything from its water system to its fire department. The deal is part of IBM's "smarter city" campaign of wooing municipalities that are investing in their infrastructure.
Rather than simply rewire power lines or rebuild broken bridges, cities should invest in technologies to improve efficiency and safety, said Bill Sawyer, IBM's vice president of IBM Maximo Operations.
In practice, that typically means bringing physical assets--trucks, buildings, utility lines, and the like--under control of a consolidated software system, Sawyer explained. By putting a networked sensor onto a fire truck, for example, the maintenance department can get data on its condition and save money on its maintenance schedule.
Now under (software) management: heavy equipment for clearing debris after storms.
(Credit: IBM )Data is collected from various end points and consolidated in the Maximo asset management application, which IBM bought in 2006 and has integrated with its Tivoli IT management system.
"There's an abundance of stimulus money, not only in the U.S. but all over the world," Sawyer said. "Rather than just rebuilding that bridge [in Minnesota that collapsed in 2007], you can embed sensors in the bridge to improve the ability to do preventive maintenance."
In one part of the project, Chesapeake's public utilities plan to put sensors and water meters at different points of the distribution networks, including water treatment plants and at end customers. By tracking usage of water, the city hopes better conserve water and lower its spending.
In the next phase of the project, the city plans to equip a number of its assets, such as water lines, with GPS equipment. That will allow city departments get a consolidated visual view of where the city's resources.
Simply knowing where physical assets are located allows city departments to run more efficiently and do more sophisticated applications. So when a town's public works department dispatches somebody for street repair, it can decide to do maintenance on the water lines as well, Sawyer said.
For citizens, the modernized infrastructure will help ensure consistent services and reduce waste, he said.
(Credit:
Easy Energy)
Outdoorsy types are sure to love mobile solar chargers, but what about those who rarely see sunlight? (No, we're not referring to "Twilight.")
Easy Energy will launch the YoGen, a mobile charger that solely relies on hand power. The pocket-size charger lets you generates energy by repeatedly pulling a ripcord, similar to the way a lawnmower is started.
YoGen Max generates energy through a foot pedal.
(Credit: Easy Energy)The Las Vegas-based company created this product as a part of its mission to "satisfy the enormous worldwide demand for practical, compact, 'green energy producing' manpowered chargers." Easy Energy is also in the process of launching YoGen Max, a laptop charger that lets you generate energy by continually pressing a foot pedal.
Similar technology can be credited to Baylis, a company that created a wind-up MP3 player in 2008.
Preorders can be placed at the YoGen store and will ship within the next month. The $40 charger is available in black or clear, but you'll have to choose between Apple and Mini-USB tips or LG, Sony Ericsson, Nokia and Micro-USB tips.
When it comes to the U.S. biofuels strategy, it's no longer just about ethanol.
The Department of Energy and Department of Agriculture announced on Friday that $564 million in stimulus act funding would be used toward constructing biorefineries to make liquid fuels from plants. Out of the 19 projects receiving funding, nearly half focus on the development of "drop-in" replacements for gasoline, diesel, or jet fuel. The rest focus on technologies for making ethanol or chemicals from sources other than corn. (Click this PDF for a full list of recipient projects).
Green crude from algae
(Credit: Sapphire Energy)In one example, San Diego-based Sapphire Energy, which counts Bill Gates as an investor, received a $54.5 million loan guarantee to build a pilot facility to convert algae into "green crude" that can replace jet fuel and diesel.
These fuels are the chemical equivalents of petroleum-based gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel so they can fit into the existing distribution fuels infrastructure, backers say.
The Energy Department-funded projects, which will be matched with private money for a total of $1.3 billion, are meant to test a number of biofuels techniques at demonstration scale. Chemical and energy company UOP, for example, received a total of $31.7 million to make a renewable diesel and jet fuel from wood wastes by treating biofeedstocks with hydrogen during its process.
Different methods to produce ethanol will also be tested through the Energy Department program. In the 2007 Energy Act, the federal government set an aggressive goal for production of advanced biofuels made from plants other than corn, such as agricultural residue and wood.
Algenol Biofuels received almost $59 million in total to produce ethanol from seawater algae and carbon dioxide in Freeport, Texas. Cellulosic-ethanol company ZeaChem, meanwhile, received $25 million from the Energy Department to supplement a planned project to make ethanol from poplar trees in Oregon using a microbe that breaks down wood. And waste-to-fuel companies BlueFire Ethanol and Enerkem received grants for their gasification-based systems for converting municipal solid waste into ethanol.
In a statement, Energy Secretary Steven Chu said advanced biofuels are a key part of the country's goal to create a cleaner, more sustainable transportation system and generate jobs.
In a statement, the Biotechnology Industry Organization said the government funding will help innovative companies attract capital from private sources to commercialize their technology.
Coca-Cola said Thursday that it will eliminate a major greenhouse gas in its new vending machines and coolers, raising the bar for climate-friendly refrigeration in the food and beverage industry.
Coke's Chief Executive Muhtar Kent said that the company, which sells everything from soda and juice drinks to water, will replace hydrofluorocarbon, also known as HFC, in its new vending machines and coolers by 2015.
While Coke's 10 million vending machines, coolers and other refrigeration equipment around the world keep its drinks chilled, they also are the biggest contributor to the company's carbon footprint.
The sticker on this Coca-Cola vending machine reads: "This Cooler is from the Future. Wait, that's Now. This cooler is an HFC-free pioneer, reducing direct green house gas emissions by 99% and energy consumption by up to 40%."
(Credit: Coca-Cola)Together the refrigeration systems emit 15 million metric tons of greenhouse gases each year--about 40 percent of the company's total.
Greenhouse gases from hydrofluorocarbons are partly blamed for global climate change and are expected to make up 28 percent to 45 percent of carbon emissions by 2050.
That has prompted the food and beverage industry to find other ways to cool products and cut their environmental impact. Earlier this year Pepsico launched a pilot program for greener vending machines with carbon-dioxide cooling.
Coke executives said that carbon dioxide is the company's preferred replacement, followed by hydrocarbon refrigeration.
While carbon dioxide is a global-warming gas, proponents point to its lower environmental impact--more than 1,400 times less than conventional refrigerants.
To ramp up the transition to greener machines, Coke and its bottling partners will buy 150,000 units of HFC-free equipment in 2010, doubling the company's current pace for buying the systems.
"Our hope is that our initial investments will trigger adoption by other companies in the food and beverage industry," Kent said in a conference call with reporters.
He added that wider adoption will help drive the cost of the replacement technology down.
Coke has invested $50 million in research for climate friendly replacements. The company expects the move to greener equipment to cut its emissions by nearly 53 million metric tons--the equivalent of taking 11 million cars off the road for a year--over the 10-year life-span of the equipment.
Even as businesses like Coke take their own initiative, regulations on HFC are needed eventually, Gerd Leipold, former executive director of Greenpeace International said Thursday. The environmental activist group helped jump start Coke's move to greener refrigeration several years ago.
Leipold expects some regulations to come forward from the U.N. climate talks being held this month in Copenhagen and from environmental trendsetter California.
Shares of Coke closed down 1.19 percent at $57.27 each on Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange.
Story Copyright (c) 2009 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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California regulators on Thursday approved an ambitious project to beam solar energy from space starting in 2016.
Under a power purchase agreement approved by the California Public Utilities Commission, utility Pacific Gas & Electric will purchase electricity from technology provider Solaren if it successfully deploys its space-based solar collectors, which would be the first of its kind.
PG&E has contracted to buy 1,700 gigawatt hours per year for 15 years from Solar for its space-based solar arrays, which will have a generating capacity of 200 megawatts. That's smaller than a full scale nuclear or natural gas plant but enough to supply thousands of homes. The anticipated date of operation is June, 2016.
(Credit:
PG&E)
Space-based solar, an idea that has been around for decades, is being pursued by companies and researchers around the world. Its key advantage over land-based solar or wind power is that can generate renewable energy around the clock. The California Public Utilities Commission gave the go-ahead to the project in an effort to meet the state's aggressive renewable energy goals.
Solaren's plan calls for using satellites equipped with solar photovoltaic panels and mirrors to generate electricity, which is transmitted via microwaves to a ground receiver station in Fresno County, Calif. The receiver then converts the radio frequency energy to electricity and it is fed into the power grid.
Based in Southern California, Solaren is run by veterans from aerospace companies. Engineers have designed a relatively lightweight system around a Mylar mirror that's 1 kilometer in diameter to concentrate light onto the solar panels to squeeze more electricity from them, according to an article in Grist.
A PG&E representative on Thursday said that the utility will only pay Solaren if it delivers the power. The cost of the electricity is competitive with land-based renewable energy sources, he added.
"If this works, it would be a real game changer. But for our customers, there's really no or little risk, so it's worth supporting something that has credible people behind it with years of experience who think they can make it work," said Jonathan Marshall from PG&E.
When announcing the PG&E deal in April, Solaren CEO Gary Spirnak said the company plans to run pilot tests before an actual launch, drawing on company employees' experience in aerospace.
"Once in geosynchronous orbit, a series of SSP (space solar power) pilot plant system tests will validate the satellites and ground receive station functions and verify performance, safety and key parameters to ensure successful operations. When we complete these steps, we will then be ready to deliver power to PG&E in 2016," Sprinak said.
The Panasonic TC-P50V10 plasma flat-panel HDTV.
(Credit: Panasonic)Panasonic plans to invest $1 billion by 2012 to develop green technologies for the home that would include energy-monitoring systems, marking a major shift in the company's focus.
Panasonic President Fumio Ohtsubo said in an interview with the Bloomberg news service this week that growing consumer interest in more efficient products has led Panasonic to decide to develop new core businesses.
"Our growth is not enough . So we want to change our fighting ring from our current categories to a different field," Ohtsubo told Bloomberg.
The company plans to offer home energy management systems, as well as develop existing interests in lithium ion batteries for electric cars, solar panels, and smart appliances.
Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean that the world's leading plasma-TV manufacturer is getting rid of its star product.
As one of its green product ideas, Ohtsubo told Bloomberg about a system in development that would allow people to monitor the electricity generation of their solar panels and the electricity use of their home appliances through their television sets.
One can't help but wonder if Panasonic's interest in a new core business was in any way influenced by the U.S. Department of Energy's decision to curb Energy Star seals for supersized televisions. Very large televisions could fall out of favor if an increasingly energy-conscious public relies on the Energy Star seal when deciding which products to purchase for their home.
It also remains to be seen if this means Panasonic is going to abandon its plasma TVs in favor of the increasingly popular LCD and LED-based LCD televisions. Panasonic already does make LCD televisions, in addition to plasmas.
Google Earth and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced Wednesday that Google is developing a tool to map out disturbing scenarios of how California can be affected by climate change.
The project comes out of a collaboration with the California Natural Resources Agency, Schwarzenegger, and the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), an organization funded by the California Energy Commission and Google.org.
"There is a serious bottleneck in delivering relevant information, much of which is map-based, to decisionmakers in a manner that allows them to turn climate change research results into effective climate change adaptation decisions and policies," according to a statement from SEI.
The CalAdapt Google Earth tool, which will allow individuals to view how their specific community would be changed, will not be ready for public use until September 2010. But on Wednesday, Google.org released two related videos narrated by Schwarzenegger. Both the three-minute video (see below) and seven-minute video demonstrate the kind of data the Google Earth CalAdapt tool will make more palatable. The extended version additionally highlights Schwarzenegger's concerns and political initiatives.
CalAdapt visually demonstrates the effects of climate change as determined by the current scientific data available to the state of California. It includes past data regarding temperature change and water shortages. It includes data modeling what will happen if, for example, the Sierra snow pack disappears at the various rates predicted. It also includes data on which parts of the state's shoreline would be most effected due to storms and rising sea levels.
Certainly, it's a teaching tool to show average folks what scientists believe will happen to the California climate in the coming years. But it also happens to dovetail into Schwarzenegger's executive order that the state develop a "Climate Adaptation Strategy" on everything from agriculture to commercial land development.
It's not the first time, organizations have turned to the Google Earth platform to give the public a tool for avoiding land misuse or harrowing legal battles.
In April Google Earth released the Path to Green Energy tool. Those layers, developed in conjunction with the Natural Resources Defense Council and the National Audubon Society, show which lands in the greater western U.S. are prohibited from commercial development, awaiting approval for inclusion into the federal wilderness system, or considered natural habitats for endangered species among other categories.
It's intended to be a preemptive offering to commercial developers who may rather shy away from the hassle of an environmental fight if there are adequate lands available for their needs elsewhere.
(Credit:
SmartSynch)
SmartSynch announced Wednesday night that it has a plan for allowing universal communications between appliances, smart grids, and utilities, regardless of which communication protocol is used.
In May 2008, the Jackson, Miss.-company garnered $20 million in a funding round led by Credit Suisse to develop its communications devices and software for smart meters.
What has emerged is the GridRouter, an Internet Protocol-based universal router with an open platform that can communicate with public and private networks whether they be using WiMax, municipal Wi-Fi, or a proprietary network system.
The GridRouter device could become a darling of utilities by enabling them to connect existing proprietary networks to the GridRouter without having to upgrade their entire system, and using existing off-the-self IT management tools to do it.
The company's public relations team has been telling the press that "SmartSynch sees this product doing for the smart grid what Cisco did for the Internet."
While such grid and appliance interoperability claims might only catch the eye of industry wonks, average consumers should also perk up their ears and listen. Progress on that front could mean the difference between paying a premium for a smart-grid-enabled appliance, or having it come standard on most mass-produced appliances within the next half-dozen years.
SmartSynch's upgradable GridRouter is built to allow utilities to add multiple communications technologies from difference companies and make them all interoperable.
(Credit: SmartSynch)Currently, companies and organizations are jockeying to back what they hope will be the standard of choice for smart-grid interaction when it comes to software and communications tools. The Wi-Fi Alliance announced in November, for instance, that it has a smart-grid task force reviewing how its standards might be modified to become the best choice for smart grids. Google's PowerMeter, while using its existing Web-based portal to provide a platform for smart-grid home data, has partnered with AlertMe, which uses ZigBee instead of Wi-Fi for home devices to communicate with a central hub and smart meter.
Appliance manufacturers like GE and Whirlpool have publicly expressed enthusiasm about incorporating smart technology into their products.
GE announced in July that it's testing Tendril as possible smart appliance software and started several pilot projects in places like Masdar City and Hawaii.
But there has also been some hesitation. Whirlpool said it would like to phase out all "dumb" appliances by 2015, but won't do so until a clear standard communications winner emerges.
Who could blame them? No one wants to be the one left with noncompliant technology once clear winners begin to emerge. But because of this, standardization squabbles could become a hold-up in the smart-grid evolution.
If SmartSynch's GridRouter can provide an easy an out-of-the-box solution to syncing everyone up, as the company claims, it could be the grease needed to quicken the smart-grid build-out.
