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Mon, 2011-07-11 15:31 — mdmcdonald
This collaboratory is focused on discussions about Sustainable Energy.

This mission of this collaboratory is to focus on discussions about Sustainable Energy.

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Kathy Gilbeaux Katie Rast Maeryn Obley mdmcdonald
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sustainable-energy@m.resiliencesystem.org

DOE Publishes Protocols to Determine Energy Efficiency Savings

Sun, 2013-06-23 23:03 — Kathy Gilbeaux

energymanagertoday.com - by Linda Hardesty
May 17, 2013

The Department of Energy has published a new series of protocols for determining savings from energy efficiency upgrades in homes, commercial buildings, and industrial facilities.

Developed in collaboration with leading technical experts under the Uniform Methods Project (UMP), these protocols offer a straightforward approach for calculating energy savings made possible from common residential and commercial efficiency measures in utility-based energy efficiency programs.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

The Uniform Methods Project: Methods for Determining Energy Efficiency Savings for Specific Measures
http://www1.eere.energy.gov/office_eere/de_ump.html

The Uniform Methods Project: Methods for Determining Energy Efficiency Savings for Specific Measures (381 page .PDF file)
http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy13osti/53827.pdf

Advanced Energy Legislation Tracker

Thu, 2013-06-20 23:25 — Kathy Gilbeaux

      

aeltracker.org

The Center for the New Energy Economy (Center) and the Advanced Energy Economy (AEE) are proud to create the Advanced Energy Legislation Tracker (Tracker). The Tracker is a database of advanced energy legislation introduced in all 50 states in the 2013 legislative session.  Currently, the database contains approximately 2,100 bills[i], each of which is classified into one of the ten categories outlined in the chart above.

[i] The Tracker database currently includes all legislation introduced between March 1, 2013 and May 7, 2013. The Center is in the process of adding legislation that has been introduced since then.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Renewable Energy Group Forms To Boost Wind Power Industry In Michigan

Tue, 2013-06-18 18:10 — Kathy Gilbeaux

 

detroit.cbslocal.com - by Matt Roush - May 6, 2013

CHICAGO — At Monday’s American Wind Energy Association conference in Chicago, leaders of the newly-formed Michigan Energy and Technology Center (METC) announced their multi-faceted plan to generate economic activity in the Great Lakes State.

METC is a consortium comprised of officials from Michigan State University, the Grand Rapids sustainable energy construction firm Rockford Berge, Consumers Energy and other Michigan-based clean technology and services companies. Their mission is to accelerate the global market growth for clean technology and services.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Small in Size, Big on Power: New Microbatteries a Boost for Electronics

Tue, 2013-06-18 15:21 — Kathy Gilbeaux

The graphic illustrates a high power battery technology from the University of Illinois.  Ions flow between three-dimensional micro-electrodes in a lithium ion battery.  Image - Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology

submitted by Albert Gomez

news.illinois.edu - by Liz Ahlberg - April 16, 2013

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Though they be but little, they are fierce. The most powerful batteries on the planet are only a few millimeters in size, yet they pack such a punch that a driver could use a cellphone powered by these batteries to jump-start a dead car battery – and then recharge the phone in the blink of an eye.

Developed by researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the new microbatteries out-power even the best supercapacitors and could drive new applications in radio communications and compact electronics.

Led by William P. King, the Bliss Professor of mechanical science and engineering, the researchers published their results in the April 16 issue of Nature Communications.

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EISA Projects Cut 7.1 Trillion Btu Per Year

Fri, 2013-05-17 23:35 — Maeryn Obley

energymanagementtoday.com - May 13th, 2013

As they try to comply with the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, federal agencies have so far implemented efficiency projects that save around 7.1 trillion Btu of energy and 4.4 billion gallons of water each year, according to government figures.

These projects have so far cost just over $2 billion, according to the latest figures from the Federal Energy Management Program’s EISA 432 Compliance Tracking System.

As of May 9, 2013, comprehensive energy evaluations have been completed on 5,044 of the 6,937 EISA “covered facilities” – those sites that make up at least 75 percent of an agency’s total facility energy use and designate an energy manager responsible for implementing parts of the Act.

(VIEW COMPLETE ARTICLE)

The Incredible Shrinking Cost of Solar Energy Drives Mega-Projects around the World

Wed, 2013-05-15 16:49 — Maeryn Obley

Graph of All-in Module Cost

Image: Graph of All-in Module Cost

juancole.com - May 3rd, 2013 - Juan Cole

Rob Wile uses a graph to point out the obvious, the dramatic fall in the cost of solar power generation. In many countries– Italy, Spain, Germany, Portugal — and in parts of the US such as the Southwest, solar is at grid parity. That means it is as inexpensive to build a solar plant as a gas or coal one.

(VIEW COMPLETE ARTICLE)

World’s Biggest Solar PV Projects Under Way In SoCal

Fri, 2013-05-10 19:15 — Maeryn Obley

SunPower’s Oasis Power Plant product consists of scalable 1.5-megawatt power blocks that employ the company’s single-axis tracking panels. (image via SunPower)

Image: SunPower’s Oasis Power Plant product consists of scalable 1.5-megawatt power blocks that employ the company’s single-axis tracking panels. (image via SunPower)

earthtechling.com - April 29th 2013 - Pete Danko

What will become the world’s largest solar photovoltaic development is now in “major construction” mode in California’s Antelope Valley, about 60 miles north of Los Angeles.

The solar manufacturer and developer SunPower and the utility company MidAmerican announced this new status late last week, coinciding with a big community event at the 3,230-acre site, where preliminary work began in January.

The development consists of Antelope Valley Solar Project 1, a 309-MW plant that will straddle the Kern-Los Angeles county line; and AVSP 2, a 270-MW plant that will be entirely in Kern County.

(VIEW COMPLETE ARTICLE)

The Key to Running the World on Solar and Wind Power

Thu, 2013-05-02 13:43 — Maeryn Obley

Chart of energy density per energy type

Image: Chart of energy density per energy type

energytrendsinsider.com - April 30th, 2013 - Robert Rapier

Perhaps the biggest shortcoming of solar and wind power is their intermittency. In locations like Hawaii, where I live, wind and solar power are already competitive on price. My fossil-fuel supplied electricity typically costs above 40 cents a kilowatt-hour, and wind and solar power can compete with that. But since they can’t supply power that is available on demand (firm power) they must be backed up by power sources that can provide power when the sun isn’t shining and the wind isn’t blowing.

(VIEW COMPLETE ARTICLE)

EPA on Keystone XL: Significant Climate Impacts from Tar Sands Pipeline

Thu, 2013-05-02 11:00 — Kathy Gilbeaux

blogs.scientificamerican.com - by David Biello - April 23, 2013

In a draft assessment of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, consultants for the U.S. State Department judged that building it would have no significant impact on greenhouse gas emissions. Why? Because the analysts assumed the tar sands oil would find a way out with or without the new pipeline.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency does not agree.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

EPA Comment Letter: Department of State's Draft Supplemental EIS for the Keystone XL Project (April 22, 2013)       (7 Page .PDF report)

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires federal agencies to integrate environmental values into their decision making processes by considering the environmental impacts of their proposed actions and reasonable alternatives to those actions.

Irreparable Safety Issues: All US Nuclear Reactors Should Be Replaced, Band-Aids Won’t Help

Fri, 2013-04-12 15:10 — Kathy Gilbeaux

      

An aerial view of the Limerick Generating Station, a nuclear power plant in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. (AFP Photo / Stan Honda)

submitted by Albert Gomez

rt.com - April 9, 2013
nytimes.com - by Matthew L. Wald - April 8, 2013

All 104 nuclear reactors currently operational in the US have irreparable safety issues and should be taken out of commission and replaced, former chairman of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Gregory B. Jaczko said.

The comments, made during the Carnegie International Nuclear Policy Conference, are “highly unusual” for a current or former member of the safety commission, according to The New York Times. Asked why he had suddenly decided to make the remarks, Jaczko implied that he had only recently arrived at these conclusions following the serious aftermath of Japan’s tsunami-stricken Fukushima Daichii nuclear facility.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE - RT.COM)

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE - NYTIMES.COM)

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