http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DAbP34z6Mo&feature=youtube_gdat
Credit: mrenergyczar
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Peak Oil News: 5/28/13 - Tesla, Flying Car & New Tallest Building
Website: http://MrEnergyCzar.com This is Peak Oil News. I'm your host, MrEnergyCzar. We're covering Peak Oil, Renewable Energy, Electric Cars and everything ...
Saturday, May 25, 2013
New open-source lifecycle analysis tool for oil production using field characteristics
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| Schematic chart showing included stages within OPGEE. El Houjeiri et al., Supplemental Information. Click to enlarge. |
A team from Stanford University and the California Air Resources Board (ARB) has developed a new open-source lifecycle analysis (LCA) tool for modeling the greenhouse gas emissions of oil and gas production using characteristics of specific fields and associated production pathways. The team describes the Oil Production Greenhouse Gas Emissions Estimator (OPGEE) in a paper in the ACS journal Environmental Science & Technology.
Existing transportation fuel cycle emissions models are either broad-i.e., lacking process-level detail for any particular fuel pathway-and calculate nonspecific values of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from crude oil production, or are not available for public review and auditing, the authors note.
Emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) from crude oil production vary significantly depending on production practices and crude oil qualities. The use of energy-intensive secondary and tertiary recovery technologies can have significant impacts on emissions. Other major factors are venting, flaring and fugitive (VFF) emissions, which are difficult to measure and estimate. Previous studies show that upstream, well-to-refinery gate (WTR) emissions vary by a factor of 10 from low emissions to high emissions fields. This variability highlights the importance of having the capability to assess the different types of crude oil production operations and under different conditions.
Regulatory approaches, such as the California Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) and European Fuel Quality Directive (EU FQD), seek to regulate the life cycle GHG emissions for transport fuels.
...To advance the modeling of crude oil production GHGs in a transparent manner, the Oil Production Greenhouse Gas Emissions Estimator (OPGEE) has been developed. OPGEE is built with the goals of achieving more accuracy and better transparency in the assessment of life cycle GHG emissions from crude oil production. OPGEE calculates the energy use and emissions from crude oil production using engineering fundamentals of petroleum production and processing. This allows the model to flexibly estimate emissions from a variety of oil production emissions sources.
-El-Houjeiri et al.
In their paper, Hassan El-Houjeiri and Adam Brandt from Stanford, and James Duffy from ARB, introduce OPGEE and its structure, modeling methods, and data sources, then run it in default mode and on a small set of fictional fields (based on real California fields) selected to have varying characteristics and meant to represent a variety of possible operations. These serve to anchor the sensitivity analysis. The results show the GHG emissions breakdown and the sensitivity of emissions to selected input parameters.
The functional unit of OPGEE is 1 MJ of crude petroleum delivered to the refinery entrance (a well-to-refinery, or WTR system boundary), with emissions presented as gCO2 equiv GHGs per MJ of crude at the refinery gate. This functional unit is held constant across different production processes included in OPGEE. The energy content of crude oil at the refinery gate is calculated based on API gravity (no account of effects of other crude oil characteristics such as sulfur content). OPGEE defaults to lower heating value (LHV) basis for all calculations, but model results can also be presented on higher heating value (HHV) basis.
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| Basic structure of OPGEE. Credit: ACS, El-Houjeiri et al. Click to enlarge. |
OPGEE calculations use a bottom-up engineering-based approach. OPGEE relies on dozens of calculations across all stages of oil production, processing and transport.
Data for the four fictional fields used in the paper (A, B, C, D) are derived from the online production and injection database and technical reports from the California Department of Conservation, Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR).
Field A uses steam injection to decrease crude viscosity. Field B is characterized by very high water-oil ratio (WOR), which represents an inefficient lifting process and significant energy use to manage large amounts of water at the surface (e.g., treatment and re-injection). Field C is characterized by average depth and moderate WOR. Field D is characterized by low depth, low WOR, and higher gas‚àíoil ratio (GOR). The "generic" case uses only the default parameters used to run OPGEE when no data are available.
 | WTR GHG intensity of California fields compared to OPGEE default. Field A has high GHG because of the use of energy-intensive steam injection. Field B is depleted, with WOR = 40 (e.g., it produces 40 bbl of water per bbl oil). Lifting and handling this amount of fluid is inefficient and consumes large amounts of energy. The water produced is assumed to be re-injected into the reservoir to maintain pressure, increasing the energy intensity of production. Fields C and D have relatively low GHG intensity because they do not use energy-intensive secondary and tertiary production technologies and have moderate to low WOR. Click to enlarge. Credit: ACS, El-Houjeiri et al. |
The researchers explored variation in GHG outcomes due to WOR; field depth; oil production volume; steam-oil ratio (SOR); application of a heater/treater in surface oil‚àíwater separation; and flaring rate. OPGEE found that that upstream emissions from petroleum production operations can vary from 3 gCO2/MJ to more than 30 gCO2/MJ using realistic ranges of input parameters. Significant drivers of emissions variation are steam injection rates, water handling requirements, and rates of flaring of associated gas.
Results from OPGEE show clear evidence that assuming a single value for the GHG intensity of oil production is problematic because of significant variation in emissions from different operations. This is particularly the case for regulations aiming to reduce WTW GHG intensity of fuels. Future efforts to better understand and characterize this variation are clearly required. Additional efforts will also focus on improving data availability and the data basis for model defaults.
Future work on OPGEE will address scope limitations and coverage of technologies. Coverage will expand to include oil sands operations, as well as heavy oil and other EOR technologies. Supporting technologies, such as hydraulic fracturing and stimulation, will be included to better represent modern production practices.
-El-Houjeiri et al.
The work was funded by ARB.
Resources
Hassan M. El-Houjeiri, Adam R. Brandt, and James E. Duffy (2013) Open-Source LCA Tool for Estimating Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Crude Oil Production Using Field Characteristics. Environmental Science & Technology doi: 10.1021/es304570m
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2013/05/new-open-source-lifecycle-anal
Illinois' fracking and coal rush is a national crisis
What happens in Illinois doesn't stay in Illinois -- especially when you're dealing with the national ramifications of a combined fracking and coal mining rush unparalleled in recent memory.As a sit-in movement continues at the office of Gov. Pat Quinn in Springfield, Ill., besieged southern Illinois residents who have been left out of backroom legislative negotiations over a controversial and admittedly flawed regulatory fracking bill are calling on the nation to contact Gov. Quinn and Lt. Gov. Lisa Madigan to "put a moratorium on drilling to investigate its full climate and health impacts."
Residents are also asking for concerned supporters to call members of Illinois' legislature to vote against a bill that health expert Sandra Steingraber has denounced as unscientific and unsafe.
Continue Reading...
http://www.salon.com/2013/05/25/illinoiss_fracking_and_coal_rush_is_a_
Friday, May 24, 2013
What if we never run out of oil?
by WetEV (Posted Thu, 23 May 2013 23:43:29 GMT)
AndyH wrote:
WetEV wrote:
What I found was that a large network of wind turbines could be as available as an average coal fired or nuclear power plant, at three times the cost.
Cost? Is that with or without externalities? As for the rest - the appearance of a need for traditional baseload power is either a myth or an artifact of the way one looks at the problem.
Comparing wind power to wind power, so no difference between "with or without" externalities. The more available wind power needs to be, the more it costs. Using wind power as peak reduction is far more economical than trying to use it as baseload power.
AndyH wrote:
WetEV wrote:
Geothermal is great, where there is some. But mostly, there isn't enough to matter.
Geothermal could be a significant player because of the same horizontal drilling tech used before hydraulic fracturing. I'm pretty sure it's warmer underground nearly everywhere there are humans on the planet.
Geothermal can not be a significant player, other than locally. Mean heat flow is 65 mW/m2 over continental crust.
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Belgium plans island for wind energy storage
Summary text:
Artificial atoll in North Sea will store energy generated by Belgium's network of offshore turbines.
Artificial atoll in North Sea will store energy generated by Belgium's network of offshore turbines.
Belgium has proposed an artificial island in the North Sea, storing wind energy generated by its network of offshore turbines. The island is part of a wider move to shut down its nuclear programme by 2025, in line with a number of other European states.
Nuclear accounted for 57% of Belgium's energy in 2011, and the closure of its oldest reactor was postponed last year when concerns were raised over future energy supply.
The artificial island will use pumped storage techniques to store the 2,000MW its offshore wind farms could be generating by 2020. The system will work by pumping water from a reservoir in the centre of the island, then letting it back in through hydropower turbines as and when the country's demand exceeds its supply. This will help overcome the thorny problem of wind's intermittency. While pumped storage is a proven technology, this will be the first time it's been used for offshore wind.
http://www.forumforthefuture.org/greenfutures/articles/belgium-plans-i
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
COLD FUSION is BACK with 'anomalous heat' claim
Andrea Rossi's E-Cat rig tested by boffins
Italian entrepreneur Andrea Rossi has surfaced again to restate his claim that his E-Cat low energy nuclear reaction kit puts out more energy than goes in. And so it is that the "cold fusion" debate will be re-ignited - this time with new voices in Rossi's corner....
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/05/22/e_cat_test_claims_success_yet_
Emergency Lighting Candlelier Lantern
Website: http://MrEnergyCzar.com Hi everybody, MrEnergyCzar here. This is my Candlelier with nine hour candles video. Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/MrEne...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4PjJ5Dv-k4&feature=youtube_gdat
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EPA proposes adding renewable diesel and naphtha from landfill biogas and butanol pathways to RFS
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued a proposed rulemaking for modifications to the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS2) program. The proposal also includes various changes to the E15 misfueling mitigation regulations (E15 MMR), ultra low sulfur diesel survey requirements as well as other technical amendments.
The proposed rules include various changes related to biogas, including changes related to the revised compressed natural gas (CNG)/liquefied natural gas (LNG) pathway and amendments to various associated registration, recordkeeping, and reporting provisions. It also adds new pathways for renewable diesel, renewable naphtha, and renewable electricity (used in electric vehicles) produced from landfill biogas.
EPA is also proposing to allow butanol that meets the 50% GHG emission reduction threshold to qualify as an advanced biofuel. The rulemaking also proposes a clarification regarding the definition of crop residue to include corn kernel fiber and proposes an approach to approving the volume of cellulosic biofuels produced from various cellulosic feedstocks (the issue here being the percentage of cellulose in the feedstocks).
Renewable electricity, renewable diesel and naphtha produced from landfill biogas. In the final RFS2 rule, EPA established biogas as an advanced biofuel type when derived from landfills, sewage waste treatment plants, and manure digesters. EPA also established cellulosic diesel and cellulosic naphtha as eligible cellulosic biofuels; eligible feedstocks for these biofuels included cellulosic components of separated municipal solid waste but did not include biogas from landfills.
EPA is now proposing to include renewable electricity (when used in transportation) produced from landfill biogas feedstock as well as diesel and naphta produced from landfill biogas via the Fischer-Tropsch process as approved advanced and/or biomass-based fuels.
If the Fischer-Tropsch facilities produce at least 20% of their electricity demand at the facility from certain allowed sources, EPA is proposing that the renewable diesel and naphtha produced would further qualify as cellulosic biofuels.
Renewable CNG/LNG produced from biogas from waste treatment plants and waste digesters is still classified as an advanced biofuel. However, renewable CNG/LNG produced from biogas from landfills would qualify as a cellulosic pathway.
Advanced butanol pathway. EPA is proposing a new pathway that allows butanol made from corn starch using a combination of advanced technologies to meet the 50% GHG emissions reduction needed to qualify as an advanced renewable fuel.
This pathway applies to dry mill fermentation facilities that use natural gas and biogas from an on-site thin stillage anaerobic digester for process energy with combined heat and power (CHP) producing excess electricity of at least 40% of the purchased natural gas energy of the facility (the proposed "advanced butanol pathway").
Cellulosic volumes from cellulosic feedstock. For purposes of the RFS program, cellulosic biofuel is defined as "renewable fuel derived from any cellulose, hemicellulose, or lignin that is derived from renewable biomass and that has lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions, as determined by the Administrator, that are at least 60 percent less than the baseline lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions."
However, EPA points out, no plant matter can ever consist entirely of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin; even feedstocks such as switchgrass, corn stover, and woody materials contain measurable proportions of other types of organic molecules.
Most "cellulosic" feedstocks contain approximately 80-95% cellulose, hemicellulose, or lignin. Corn kernels contain roughly 75% starch and less than 10% fiber (which includes the cellulosic components, as well as other materials), and soybeans are roughly 60% oil and protein and only about 15% fiber.
EPA is proposing allowing 100% of the volume of renewable fuel produced from specific cellulosic feedstock sources-crop residue, switchgrass, miscanthus, other grasses, wood and branches-to generate cellulosic renewable identification numbers (RINs).
EPA cites three justifications for this approach:
there can be significant variation in the amount of cellulosic content in any feedstock, which varies within a growing season, across samples, and across sites. Attempting to account for this variability would impose a significant administrative burden on producers and EPA;
the amount of the final fuel that is produced from the cellulosic portion of the feedstock is likely to be very high, particularly for fuels produced using a biochemical reaction; and
EPA has already made previous determinations in which a single RIN value was assigned to the fuel produced since it came primarily from one source even though it was also produced from incidental amounts of other sources.
The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) welcomed the opportunity for public comment on the proposed RFS2 amendments and clarifications.
We appreciate EPA moving forward as rapidly as possible with these program amendments. Companies continue to make investments, put steel in the ground, create jobs and develop technologies that reduce dependence on foreign oil and contribute to a cleaner environment. They are preparing to make additional investments with assurance that US policy is committed to energy security and production of biofuels.
Finalization of new pathways will clear the way for companies to bring innovative technologies to the marketplace. Delays can determine whether these companies succeed or fail and whether investors remain confident. We look forward to working with EPA to rapidly finalize these new rules.
-Brent Erickson, executive vice president of BIO's Industrial & Environmental Section,
Resources
USGS finds US aquifers being drawn down at accelerating rate
A new US Geological Survey study finds that US aquifers are being drawn down at an accelerating rate. Groundwater Depletion in the United States (1900-2008) comprehensively evaluates long-term cumulative depletion volumes in 40 separate aquifers (distinct underground water storage areas) in the United States, bringing together reliable information from previous references and from new analyses.
From 1900 to 2008, US aquifers decreased by more than twice the volume of water found in Lake Erie. Groundwater depletion in the US in the years 2000-2008 can also explain more than 2% of the observed global sea-level rise during that period, according to USGS.
Since 1950, the use of groundwater resources for agricultural, industrial, and municipal purposes has greatly expanded in the United States. When groundwater is withdrawn from subsurface storage faster than it is recharged by precipitation or other water sources, the result is groundwater depletion. The depletion of groundwater has many negative consequences, including land subsidence, reduced well yields, and diminished spring and stream flows.
While the rate of groundwater depletion across the country has increased markedly since about 1950, the maximum rates have occurred during the most recent period of the study (2000-2008), when the depletion rate averaged almost 25 cubic kilometers per year. For comparison, 9.2 cubic kilometers per year is the historical average calculated over the 1900-2008 timespan of the study.
One of the best known and most investigated aquifers in the US is the High Plains (or Ogallala) aquifer. It underlies more than 170,000 square miles of the Nation's midsection and represents the principal source of water for irrigation and drinking in this major agricultural area. Substantial pumping of the High Plains aquifer for irrigation since the 1940s has resulted in large water-table declines that exceed 160 feet in places.
The study shows that, since 2000, depletion of the High Plains aquifer appears to be continuing at a high rate. The depletion during the last 8 years of record (2001-2008, inclusive) is about 32% of the cumulative depletion in this aquifer during the entire 20th century. The annual rate of depletion during this recent period averaged about 10.2 cubic kilometers, roughly 2% of the volume of water in Lake Erie.
Groundwater is one of the Nation's most important natural resources. It provides drinking water in both rural and urban communities. It supports irrigation and industry, sustains the flow of streams and rivers, and maintains ecosystems. Because groundwater systems typically respond slowly to human actions, a long-term perspective is vital to manage this valuable resource in sustainable ways.
-Suzette Kimball, acting USGS Director
Sunday, May 19, 2013
SolarCity Claims to Have "Over 395 Energy Storage Pilot Projects Under ...
| Tesla Motors' battery packs are already being used in several brands of electric vehicles (Tesla, Mercedes, smart and Toyota) and have been used too, in altered form, as stationary energy storage with solar power stations provided by SolarCity. The two ... See all stories on this topic » |  InsideEVs |
http://insideevs.com/solarcity-have-over-395-energy-storage-pilot-proj
Thursday, May 16, 2013
SunPower to sell energy storage, potentially lithium ion batteries
Solar company SunPower plans to roll out its first energy storage product, possibly lithium-ion batteries, in a bid to expand its share of the rooftop solar market, company executives said on Wednesday during the company's analyst day. CEO Tom Werner told analysts that selling energy increasingly will require more comprehensive solutions, including energy storage technologies, and explained "this is a fundamental change in how solar companies compete."
Adding energy storage reflects the evolution of the company, which started off as a solar cell and panel maker before it entered the power plant development business. SunPower has carried out pilot energy storage projects in recent years and worked with different energy storage technologies, including advanced lead acid and zinc bromide batteries.
But lithium-ion batteries "will likely be the first technology to have an impact," said Jack Peurach, executive vice president of products. The emergence of electric cars plays a role in making lithium-ion battery the front runner for being paired with solar, he added.
SunPower & Flextronics Factory in Milpitas, CA
SunPower executives didn't provide details, such as the timing and battery suppliers, for its energy storage plans. But the discussion puts SunPower on a growing roster of solar energy companies that are offering or plan to offer energy storage.
SolarCity, for example, has been bundling lithium-ion batteries from Tesla Motors with its solar energy systems and applying for a California program that subsidizes energy storage installations. One Roof Energy is working with battery maker Silent Power to roll out products. Korean conglomerate Hanwha Group, which runs a solar panel manufacturing subsidiary, is an investor in both OneRoof and Silent Power. SunEdison has done a pilot project with a battery system from startup Seeo.
Energy storage will be part of SunPower's plan to expand its reach in the commercial and residential market, where it sells power purchase agreements or leases via its dealers or its own project development business. The company designs the power purchase agreements for its commercial and government customers and leases for homeowners. Power purchase agreements and leases work in similar ways: business or home owners sign a long-term contract of up to 20 years and pay a monthly fee for the solar electricity from the SunPower solar energy systems on their rooftops.
In fact, a lawsuit filed by SunPower against SolarCity and five people last year highlighted that rivalry. The lawsuit accused five former SunPower employees of stealing confidential data and brought the data with them when they went to work for SolarCity. The two companies settled on Dec. 31, 2012, and a judge dismissed the lawsuit in January, SolarCity said in its 2012 annual report. It didn't disclose the amount of the settlement.
SunPower executives didn't say whether they will sell energy storage in the United States first or in other regions. Werner said that, for now, energy storage makes financial sense only in markets that offers government incentives. That would include California, Germany and Japan.
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White House Arctic Strategy Is Clear in Drilling Goals but Not Conservation Goals
Frances Beinecke, President of NRDC, New York City
As Secretary of State John Kerry headed to the Arctic Council meetings in Kiruna, Sweden this week, he described the way melting ice is altering life in the Arctic. "Our warming planet means the Arctic's ecosystem is experiencing significant, rapid shifts with far-reaching consequences," he wrote. "All of the changes in the Arctic must change the way we approach the region."
The Arctic most definitely needs a new approach to stewardship-one that can protect its natural wonders and ensure it remains resilient in the face of global warming. Yet the National Strategy for the Arctic Region that the White House released last week in advance of the Arctic Council meetings does not deliver what the region requires right now.
Despite Shell Oil's recent drilling fiascoes in the Arctic Ocean and mounting scientific evidence that ecosystems are under stress, the administration has outlined a plan that could open the Arctic to even more harm.
The new strategy emphasizes U.S. security interests in the Arctic. That makes sense in the light of the Arctic's international significance. But then the administration's plan makes the mistake of equating security with drilling for oil in the region. In fact, the Arctic Ocean may be the least secure place on Earth to drill for oil-as Shell confirmed when its effort to drill there resulted in one failure after another last summer. Moreover, America won't ever achieve energy security by increasing our dependence on a commodity that is traded on a volatile international market. True energy security means beating our oil addiction and investing in renewable energy and efficiency measures.
Shell's drill rig, the Kulluk, ran aground near Alaska's Kodiak Island on New Year's Eve.
Instead of looking to the Arctic for more oil, the administration should freeze drilling approvals and undertake a thorough, clear-eyed review of whether offshore drilling can ever be done safely in the region. The environment is known for twenty-foot seas, gale-force winds, dense fog, and sub-freezing temperatures much of the year. Arctic waters are also packed with ice for up to eight months each year, and no technology has proven capable of cleaning up an oil spill in ice.
The disastrous BP oil spill occurred in the ice-free waters of the Gulf of Mexico-a much more accessible location with industry infrastructure readily at hand. Now imagine a similar spill in the Arctic lease sites where the closest Coast Guard base is 1,000 miles away.
A sober, factual re-evaluation of offshore drilling should lead to the conclusion that, for both environmental and security reasons, the Arctic Ocean has no place in the United States energy future.
The administration should take clear steps to protect the region's rich and vulnerable ecosystems from the full suite of development threats they face. Though Arctic Strategy mentions important conservation goals including Arctic stewardship and integrated management, it discusses them at the broadest level. The Arctic Strategy released by the Bush Administration offered more details about how the U.S. could strengthen environmental protection and address challenges like the impact of marine noise on whales. The Obama Administration's strategy on the environment, however, is remarkably devoid of substance-a marked contrast with the unambiguous call for more oil development.
It puts a welcome if ill-defined emphasis on scientific research and integrated management, but we need action to protect this most vulnerable part of our planet. We need an affirmative plan to identify biological hotspots, create protected areas in the ocean, and preserve landscapes that help wildlife become resilient in the face of climate change.
Secretary Kerry was committed to making progress this week at the Arctic Council meetings-a gathering of foreign ministers from the eight Arctic nations and several indigenous groups. As someone concerned about climate change, the oceans, and the Arctic region, Secretary Kerry is poised to help the U.S. become a leader in sound Arctic management. But the U.S. cannot urge other countries to protect the region's environment if we are not making concrete commitments to do the same in our own Arctic waters and landscapes.
Now is not the time to ignore the hazards of unbridled energy development and unchecked climate change. There is simply too much at stake in the Arctic. It is home to the world's last wild ocean, some of America's most breathtaking natural treasures, and an indigenous culture thousands of years old. The Arctic is also the air conditioner for the world-as it warms our communities suffer more extreme weather events.
If we fail to protect the Arctic in this time of rapid change, we risk losing one of the crowning jewels of America's natural heritage. We have a responsibility to preserve this spectacular and fragile region.
Photo Credit: U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class Jonathan Klingenberg
http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/fbeinecke/white_house_arctic_strateg
Huge Victory in Oregon Builds Momentum Against Coal
"Three down,three to go!" exclaimed Sierra Club Organizer Laura Stevens. "This proposalwould have meant a dozen mile-and-a-half-long, dirty, coal-dust spewing trainsthrough the Columbia River Gorge and dozens of other communities every day."
The three remainingsites coal companies have their eye on to build coal-export terminals are inBoardman, Oregon, and Longview and Cherry Point in Washington.
"The announcementcame just two days after we packed two hearing rooms in St. Helens to oppose are-zone that would facilitate coal exports, and the nearby city of Scappoose,where the council voted unanimously to pass a resolution expressing theirconcerns about the project," Stevens said.
Communities through Washingtonand Oregon continue to face the prospect of dealing with miles-long trains carryingtens of millions of tons of coal each year -- and bringing its harmful coal dustpollution with them. The coal would then be burned in energy-hungry East Asia,emitting carbon that would rival the infamous Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. The nightmarescenario has solidified communities across the Pacific Northwest, bringingtogether a coalition that includes environmental groups, hunters and anglers,farmers, business leaders, mayors and state leaders, faith leaders, and thehealth community.
"All of us locally involved in this love the Columbia River and ourenvironment here," Darrel Whipple, an organizer with the group Clean ColumbiaCounty, said in the Los Angeles Times."We have concerns about coal dust polluting the river, coal dust polluting theland. We have children and asthma patients who are at risk."
Activists in the Pacific Northwest have already won several battles.Just two months ago, Ambre Energy licked its wounds after the Oregon Departmentof State Lands tabled a decision on a dredging project for a planned facilityat Port of Morrow that would receive nearly 9 million tons of coal a year viatrain from the Powder River Basin. The state's decision to delay came two daysafter hundreds gathered at the state Capitol to demand that Big Coal stay out.
Congratulationsto everyone in the Pacific Northwest for this much-deserved victory!
-- Brian Foley
http://sierraclub.typepad.com/compass/2013/05/huge-victory-in-oregon-b
Five Things That Are Needed In New Fracking Rules
It has been a year since the BLM took its first stab at this task - and fell short of what is required. As CAP's chair and counselor John Podesta said on May 4, 2012, about that effort:
Natural gas is a key component to establishing a clean energy future in the United States, but the public must be confident that it is done safely and responsibly, and the proposed rule released today by the Department of the Interior misses the mark.
The federal rules governing the controversial well stimulation technique commonly called fracking - which haven't been updated since 1988 - should be a model of thorough, transparent and workable government oversight.
Most of the lands where they will be applied belong to all Americans, a birthright that we hold in trust for generations to come. That alone requires the Interior Department and the Obama administration to not cut corners in deference to the oil and gas industry. Unfortunately there are numerous indications that, as Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.) said last week, "The Interior Department seems to be making the rule weaker, not stronger."
The tests that the new rules should meet include the following:
- Maximum transparency. Chemicals used in fracking must be disclosed to the public to the greatest extent possible. While it is common in states that require disclosure to allow exemptions for trade secrets held by individual companies, this exception has in some cases been stretched to become a loophole. In the new federal rules there should be thorough oversight so that only truly legitimate trade secrets are protected. And even real trade secret information should be disclosed to regulators and medical professionals who may have to respond to health emergencies.
- Disclosure through a government website. The public must have access to full information on where fracking is occurring, and what substances are being used, through a government-run website, not one that is industry supported. The FracFocus website managed by an Oklahoma non-profit with industry ties has numerous flaws. It doesn't collect and publish some of the information that individual states require be disclosed, and it is very difficult for users of the site to aggregate and analyze information.
- Disclosure before drilling. The public must know before drilling begins, and not only after it is completed, what chemicals are being injected underground. Early disclosure will allow the public and nearby private landowners to assess risks to their health and to document conditions that exist before drilling begins so they can make comparisons if accidents or spills occur.
- Baseline and post-drilling water testing. The Department of the Interior should require that nearby water supplies be tested both before and after drilling.
- State of the art well construction standards. Protection of underground water supplies cannot be guaranteed without application of the highest possible industry standards for well integrity and testing of cement casings.
With the unveiling of the new rules on fracking on public lands the Interior Department under new Secretary Sally Jewell - and the Obama administration as a whole - will be laying down an important marker about how they will manage fossil fuel development on the public's lands.
Other tests lie ahead. They include whether the administration can build on the progress made during the first term in reforming oil and gas leasing so the program does a better job of cohesive planning over large landscapes and of avoiding conflicts with other resources and uses such as recreation and municipal watersheds. The administration should also make good on its promise to raise decades-old royalty rates paid by oil and gas companies, should adopt a clean resources standard for public lands to re-direct energy development more towards clean energy, and should take into account climate change impacts when doing environmental reviews of energy projects.
Finally, an administration which has been aggressive about increasing fossil fuel production from federal lands should be equally aggressive about conserving public lands that have great value for things other than commercial development. As we have shown in the past, the administration's record in that regard is insufficient, and lags far behind some of its recent predecessors.
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/05/16/2023621/five-things-that-a
Hydrogen energy the chloroplast way: solar-to-fuel with the artificial leaf
With atmospheric carbon dioxide recently hitting a record 400 parts per million, the discovery of alternative renewable energy sources has taken on added urgency. One effort is the so-called "artificial leaf," a photosynthetic system that uses light energy to split water molecules and produce hydrogen. Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab have recently published details of their new nanowire-based system that mimics the way plant chloroplasts transport charged particles.
The artificial leaf's titanium dioxide and silicon nanowires are arranged in an array that actually resembles a microscopic forest of straight pines. The key to achieving good solar-to-fuel conversion efficiency is the integration of the components - the nanowire semiconductors that absorb light, an interfacial layer, and co-catalysts for the water splitting reaction - in a structure that resembles and functions like a chloroplast.
Plants are so efficient at turning sunlight into sugars partly because of what is termed the "Z-scheme": the daisy chain of molecules that deliver a charged electron from a chloroplast to molecular energy production in the cell. The artificial leaf uses the Z-scheme, too, but with the silicon nanowires responsible for the hydrogen generation and the titanium dioxide nanowires contributing to the formation of by-product oxygen. The use of two semiconductor materials allows for a large part of the sunlight spectrum to be harnessed (the silicon works off visible light and the titanium dioxide uses UV), while the forest-like array of nanowires increases the surface area for the solar-to-fuel reactions, which are helped along by embedded catalysts.
The artificial leaf has a conversion efficiency of 0.12 percent, comparable to that of natural photosynthesis. To be commercially viable, the efficiency number will have to get into the single digit percentages, and companies like MIT spin-off Sun Catalytix have already chosen to refocus their efforts away from artificial leaf tech. Replacing the current-limiting titanium dioxide anode in the system is the Berkeley researchers' next target for improving conversion efficiency.
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http://gigaom.com/2013/05/16/hydrogen-energy-the-chloroplast-way-solar
The spigot of money starting to open up for installing solar panels
There were a record number of solar panels installed in the U.S. on rooftops and on ground-mounted systems in 2012. Now both traditional financing companies and new types of investors are starting to get in on the trend of providing the funds for the high upfront costs of installing solar panels, in exchange for making some money back several years down the road. But the potential to make money in this way has only just started.
On Thursday solar installer SolarCity announced that it has signed up Goldman Sachs, and other investors, to create a $500 million fund to support leases for solar panels for home and business owners. With that much money, SolarCity can install some 110 MW worth of solar panels.
Some banks and even companies like Google have been willing to put hundreds of millions into these types of funds. SolarCity has been able to raise $1.7 billion in funding over its lifetime to finance installations from groups like U.S. Bancorp, Google, PG&E and Credit Suisse. Other solar financing companies - and the competition is now getting fierce - include Sungevity, OneRoof Energy, Sunrun and Clean Power Finance.
It's not just banks and corporate do-gooders that want the opportunity to make a decent return - some 10 to 12 percent in some cases. Crowd-funding is starting to appear as an interesting blip on the radar. Startup Solar Mosaic says that it's now raised $1 million from its crowd-funders for its solar panel systems, which offer around a 4.5 percent annual yield. Bloomberg New Energy Finance estimates that commercial‚Äêscale solar panel systems can reach returns of 8 percent to 14 percent in states like Hawaii, Texas, New Jersey, and Massachusetts.
As big power players, upstart solar financiers and even everyday crowd-funders grow these funds and receive the returns, this market will start to expand significantly. As a boom of solar panels continues to hit the U.S., various parties can make significant money off this transition. Bloomberg New Energy Finance expects that residential solar panels could be installed on 2.4 percent of U.S. houses by 2020.
Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
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- After Solyndra: analyzing the solar industry
- The fourth quarter of 2012 in cleantech
- Cleantech and investment in 2013
http://gigaom.com/2013/05/16/the-spigot-of-money-starting-to-open-up-f
Obama Administration to Industry: Frac-As-Usual on Public Lands
Briana Mordick, Staff Scientist, San Francisco
With the release of its revised draft rules for hydraulic fracturing, BLM signaled to industry that it's business-as-usual when it comes to oil and gas drilling and fracking on public lands.
And it also signaled to the people who live, go to school, get their drinking water from, and work on or near public lands that they'll be protected by the same outdated, inadequate rules that have been on the books for more than 30 years. Which is to say, they won't really be protected at all.
The impacts are far-reaching. The rules would not only be used to oversee fracking in many of the country's last remaining wild places, but also in places that supply drinking water for millions of Americans, including private wells (when the federal government owns mineral rights below private property) and watersheds that supply drinking water for Washington, D.C., Denver, and parts of California's Monterey, Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties. And oil and gas companies have already leased an area of public land larger than the entire state of Florida.
This new proposed draft rule is largely unchanged from a version that was leaked earlier this year. As I and my colleague, Matt McFeeley, blogged then, the leaked draft was even weaker than the proposal released in 2012. The changes between the 2012 proposal and today's release include:
- Limiting the scope of the rule, so that it applies only to hydraulic fracturing and not to other forms of well stimulation, like acidizing - which can pose similar risks.
- Not requiring operators to submit the results of tools that are used to tell how effectively the steel casing and cement are isolating drinking water, called cement evaluation logs (CELs), until *after* the well is drilled and fractured, or in some cases not requiring them to even use these tools in the first place. This defeats the purpose of CELs, which are used to identify and fix any problems with the well that may endanger drinking water *before* fracturing begins.
- Allowing operators to submit generic, rather than well-specific, information to receive multiple permits to frac. This means that regulators will be making decisions to issue permits without critical information about drilling and fracturing operations, and therefore without a complete understanding of the environmental risks.
- Gutting chemical disclosure requirements by allowing industry to continue to keep the identity of some fracturing chemicals a secret from both regulators and the public, thereby preventing them from fully understanding the risks to the environment and human health.
Finally, as we feared, the scope of the draft rules remains unchanged, meaning that entire categories of regulation critical to reducing environmental risk, like well design and construction and waste water handling, will likely not be updated at all.
We will continue to analyze these new changes and the possible implications in the coming weeks.
But one thing is clear: It's business-as-usual on public lands, both for the oil and gas industry and for the American people who must live with its impacts.
http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/bmordick/obama_administration_to_ind
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
GE Gas Engines to Power Green Waste Energy's Global Alternative Energy Projects
SCHENECTADY, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--GE and Greenwich, Conn.,-based Green Waste Energy (GWE) today announced they have signed a frame agreement for GE to supply Jenbacher gas engines to power a number of AREC plants. ...
image/jpeg http://www.pheedo.com/e/91f646156e9ee81037589bc15cfb2745/GE_logo.jpg
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20130515005959/en/GE-Gas-Engines
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Peak Oil News: 5/14/13
Website: http://MrEnergyCzar.com This is Peak Oil News. I'm your host, MrEnergyCzar. We're covering Peak Oil, Renewable Energy, Electric Cars and everything ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2U7NEaaHfE&feature=youtube_gdat
Credit: mrenergyczar
US shale shifts global power balance
A sharp rise in shale oil reserves is set to turn the US into a net exporter of oil, hitting demand for supplies from the Middle East, a report says.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22524597#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_sour
USGS, DOE, and BOEM study delivers new insights on gas hydrates in Gulf of Mexico
Scientists have returned from a 15‚Äëday research expedition in the northern Gulf of Mexico with the best high-resolution seismic data and imagery yet obtained of sediments with high gas hydrate saturations.
The expedition and the data and imagery collected resulted from long-standing cooperation between the US Department of the Interior's US Geological Survey (USGS) and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the US Department of Energy (DOE). This collaboration aims to advance scientific understanding of gas hydrates, a potential future energy resource.
 |
| This high-resolution image was collected during a seismic cruise to study locations with high concentrations of gas hydrate in the northern Gulf of Mexico in April and May 2013. The data were collected at the Walker Ridge location, where 2009 drilling at the site of the well (shown in red revealed) the distribution of gas hydrates and methane gas in the sediments. The water depth at the well is 6,562 feet (2,000 meters), and the red and blue colors shown within the image correspond to sediment layers, which mostly dip westward. Sand layers with high concentrations of gas hydrate are marked, but hydrate also occurs elsewhere in this sedimentary section. Click to enlarge. Source: USGS. |
Gas hydrates are ice-like substances formed when certain gases combine with water at specific pressures and temperatures. Deposits of gas hydrates are widespread in marine sediments beneath the ocean floor and in sediments within and beneath permafrost areas, where pressure-temperature conditions keep the gas trapped in the hydrate structure. Methane is the gas most often trapped in these deposits, making gas hydrates a potentially significant source for natural gas around the world.
This expedition represents a significant milestone. The data and imagery provide insight into the entire petroleum system at each location, including the source of gas, the migration pathways for the gas, the distribution of hydrate-bearing sediments, and the traps that hold the hydrate and free gas in place. The USGS has a globally recognized research effort studying gas hydrates in settings around the world, and this project combines our unique expertise with that of other agencies to advance research on this potential future energy resource.
- USGS Energy Resources Program Coordinator Brenda Pierce
The recently completed expedition was planned jointly by USGS, DOE, and BOEM, and was executed by USGS. Using low-energy seismic sources, USGS scientists collected details about the nature of the gas hydrate reservoirs and about geologic features of the sediment between the reservoirs and the seafloor. The new data also provide information about how much gas hydrate exists in a much broader area than can be determined from using standard industry seismic data, which is typically designed to image much deeper geologic units.
The high-resolution nature of the data acquired through this interagency project will uniquely inform the BOEM effort to assess the resource potential of gas hydrates on the US Outer Continental Shelf.
-Renee Orr, Chief, Strategic Resources Office, BOEM
The data were collected at two locations in the Gulf of Mexico where the three federal agencies partnered with an industry consortium to conduct a drilling expedition in 2009. That expedition discovered gas hydrate filling between 50 and 90 percent of the available pore space between sediment grains in sandy layers in the subsurface. These reservoirs are expected to be representative of the 6,700 trillion cubic feet of gas that BOEM estimates is housed in gas hydrates in sand-rich reservoirs in the northern Gulf of Mexico.
The new data are being used to refine estimates of the nature, distribution, and concentration of gas hydrate in the vicinity of the 2009 drill sites. This will help assess how useful specialized seismic data may be to estimating hydrate saturations in deepwater sediments.
In coming years, the three agencies will continue their collaborative investigation of gas hydrates in the northern Gulf of Mexico and other locations across the world.
Largest Federal Wind Farm to Be Built by Siemens
AMARILLO, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has awarded a contract to Siemens Government Technologies, Inc. (Siemens) to construct the federal government's largest wind farm. The Pantex wind farm is expected to save an average of $2.9 million annually over the 20-year contract term. The installation will consist of five 2.3 megawatt turbines located on 1,500 acres of government-owned property east of the ...
image/jpeg http://www.pheedo.com/e/25b91936cae0ddd8eb077683f85c348f/Siemens_logo.jpg
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20130514005574/en/Largest-Federa
Logos Technologies Completes 1000 Hours of Biofuel Plant Operation
VISALIA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Logos Technologies completes more than 1000 hours of continuous operation at biofuel pilot plant in Visalia, Calif. Plant converts non‚Äêfood corn stover into ethanol on large scale. ...
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20130514005420/en/Logos-Technolo
Cree Expands CR Series LED Downlights Delivering Greater Application Coverage and a Lower Initial Price
DURHAM, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cree, Inc. introduces Cree® Full Definition CR4™ and CR6™ downlights, featuring a warm-white 2700K color temperature, dimming and better than 80 CRI. ...
image/jpeg http://www.pheedo.com/e/07eb06613098874ad60638a2deec54eb/436Cree_300.jpg
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20130514005321/en/Cree-Expands-C
Expedition Provides New Insight on Gas Hydrates in Gulf of Mexico
May 14, 2013
A joint-federal-agency 15 day research expedition in the northern Gulf of Mexico yielded innovative high-resolution seismic data and imagery that will help refine characterizations of large methane hydrate resources in the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf.
http://energy.gov/fe/articles/expedition-provides-new-insight-gas-hydr
Friday, May 10, 2013
Study concludes microbial lipids can be commercially viable source of biodiesel
Researchers from Wageningen University, The Netherlands, have concluded that "although quite some work still has to be done", microbial lipids-i.e., lipids from yeasts and fungi-have the potential to be tomorrow's source of biodiesel. Their analysis is published in the journal Biofuels, Bioproducts and Biorefining.
In the search for new transport fuels from renewable resources, biodiesel from microbial lipids comes into view. We have evaluated the lipid yield and energy use of a process for production of biodiesel from agricultural waste using lipid-accumulating yeast and fungi. We included different bioreactors for submerged and solid-state fermentation in our evaluation.
Using existing kinetic models, we predict lipid yields on substrate between 5% and 19% (w/w), depending on the culture system. According to the same models, improvement of the yield to 25-30% (w/w) is possible, for example by genetic modification of the micro-organisms. The net energy ratio of the non-optimized systems varies between 0.8 and 2.5 MJ produced per MJ used; energy use for pre-treatment and for oxygen transfer are most important. For the optimized systems, the net energy ratio increases to 2.9-5.5 MJ produced per MJ used, which can compete very well with other biofuels such as bioethanol or algal biodiesel.
-Meeuwse et al.
Resources
Meeuwse, P., Sanders, J. P.M., Tramper, J. and Rinzema, A. (2013), Lipids from yeasts and fungi: Tomorrow's source of biodiesel?. Biofuels, Bioprod. Bioref. doi: 10.1002/bbb.1410
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Shell moves forward with ultra-deepwater Stones project in Gulf of Mexico; deepest production facility in world
Royal Dutch Shell plc (Shell) made a final investment decision in the Stones ultra-deepwater project, a Gulf of Mexico oil and gas development expected to host the deepest production facility in the world. This decision sets in motion the construction and fabrication of a floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel and subsea infrastructure.
The Stones field is located in 9,500 feet (2,896 meters) of water, approximately 200 miles (320 kilometers) southwest of New Orleans, Louisiana, and was discovered in 2005. The project encompasses eight US Federal Outer Continental Shelf lease blocks in the Gulf of Mexico's Lower Tertiary geologic trend. Shell has been one of the pioneers in the Lower Tertiary, establishing first production in the play from its Perdido Development.
 |
| Location of Stones. Click to enlarge. |
The Stones development will start with two subsea production wells tied back to the FPSO vessel, followed later by six additional production wells. This first phase of development is expected to have annual peak production of 50,000 boe/d from more than 250 million boe of recoverable resources. The Stones field has significant upside potential and is estimated to contain more than 2 billion boe of oil in place, according to Shell.
This important investment demonstrates our ongoing commitment to usher in the next generation of deepwater developments, which will deliver more production growth in the Americas.
-John Hollowell, Executive Vice President for Deepwater, Shell Upstream Americas
An FPSO design was selected to develop and produce this ultra-deepwater discovery while addressing the relative lack of infrastructure, seabed complexity, and unique reservoir properties. With an FPSO, tankers will transport oil from the Stones FPSO to US refineries, and gas will be transported by pipeline. Features of the design include:
A turret with a disconnectable buoy will allow the FPSO vessel to weathervane in normal conditions and to disconnect from the well system and sail to safe areas in the event of adverse weather conditions.
A lazy wave riser configuration will be used, consisting of a steel catenary riser with buoyancy added with an arch bend to decouple the FPSO dynamic motions and subsequently increase riser performance.
The ultra-deepwater mooring system holding the FPSO on station uses a combination of polyester rope and chain.
Multiphase seafloor pumping is planned for use in a later phase to pump oil and gas from the seabed to the FPSO, increasing recoverable volumes and production rates.
The launch of the Stones development is a key milestone for Shell as it continues to grow deepwater exploration and development in the Gulf of Mexico, having made progress recently on the Mars-B development project with the arrival of the Olympus tension leg platform. Shell is also in the concept selection phase for the Appomattox and Vito discoveries in the Gulf of Mexico.
Shell holds 100% interest and will operate the Stones development.
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Tesla Lease - Elon Musk
Website: http://MrEnergyCzar.com Hi everybody, MrEnergyCzar here. This video is about Tesla's unique lease option for the Model S. Facebook: http://www.faceb...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bu8qpkmaUR0&feature=youtube_gdat
Credit: mrenergyczar
Friday, May 3, 2013
NRG Solar Cuts Ribbon on Alpine Solar Generating Facility
CARLSBAD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NRG), through its wholly owned subsidiary NRG Solar, announced that it will commemorate the opening of the Alpine Solar Generating Facility in Lancaster, Calif., at a ribbon-cutting event later this morning. The 66 megawatt (AC) Alpine solar photovoltaic facility, which started commercial operations earlier this year, is currently the largest fully operational solar plant in California. T ...
image/jpeg http://www.pheedo.com/e/3fa3f935b7a4a45bfdade3208ca745ab/NRG%28r%29_signature_p.jpg
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20130503005192/en/NRG-Solar-Cuts
Thursday, May 2, 2013
Home solar leasing business shines for SunPower
Solar leases have become a popular way for consumers to use solar electricity without paying for the expensive upfront price. Case in point: demand for SunPower's residential solar leases is far greater than the money available to finance them, company executives said Thursday.
"Our residential lease business remains strong, with demand outstripping our financial capacity in the first quarter," said Tom Werner, SunPower's CEO, during a call with analysts to discuss quarterly earnings.
The Silicon Valley company signed over 2,100 leases during the first quarter, bringing the cumulative total to over 16,200. SunPower launched the lease program in 2011. The lease sign up rate is roughly the same as in 2012, during which it signed up 11,415 of them through its network of dealers, or roughly 2,800 of them per quarter.
Homeowners who sign leases, which run 20 years, pay a monthly fee for using the solar electricity from the solar panels installed on their rooftops. They don't own the equipment and aren't responsible for its maintenance or repairs. SunPower raises money from investors to finance the leases. The investors, which include banks and companies such as Google, put up the money partly to take advantage of a federal tax credit that amounts to 30 percent of the price of all the solar energy system installed using their funds.
Since the lease business is fairly new, it hasn't been making a big impact on SunPower's financial performance though. The company's shares shot up 17 percent after its earnings announcement mainly because it delivered better financial results than expected.
The company generated $635.4 million in revenue for the first quarter, up 29 percent from the $494.1 million for the first quarter in 2012. It narrowed its losses to $54.7 million , or $0.46 per share, from $74.5 million, or $0.67 per share, year over year.
SunPower makes solar panels and develops power plants. It's building two huge projects in California. It has installed over 90 percent of the solar panels for the 250MW power plant called California Valley Solar Ranch, which is owned by NRG Solar. It recently started building two projects totaling 579MW that their owner, MidAmerican Solar, called Antelope Valley Solar Projects.
Internationally, SunPower continues to do well in Japan, a hot market that began offering fat incentives for solar energy generation after the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster in March 2011. Through mostly Toshiba and a little through Sharp, SunPower's seeing more demand for its solar panels in Japan than it had anticipated, Werner said. Sales volumes doubled from 2011 to 2012 and could double again in 2013, said Howard Wenger, the company's head of global sales and development.
Most of the company's solar panels are going to residential rooftops in Japan. Living space tends to be small (and more efficiently used) in Japan than it's the case in the United States, so SunPower's highly efficient solar panels are a good fit, its executives said. Its silicon solar panels can convert about 21 percent of the sunlight into electricity, higher than other silicon solar panels on the market today. Silicon solar panels accounted for 89 percent of the solar panels made in 2012, according to GTM Research.
SunPower has had to cut production and costs in the past two years as the global solar market saw a pricing collapse from an oversupply of solar panels.
The average wholesale prices worldwide fell 50 percent from 2011 to 2012 while demand for them grew only 5 percent during 2012, said NPD SolarBuzz. Dozens of solar panel makers around the world have filed for bankruptcy.
SunPower executives said they have beaten their cost-cutting goals.
"It's brutal to be exclusively a module manufacturer," Werner said. "As you look at SunPower, we moved from modules originally to systems a few years ago, and what we sell today is energy in the form of leases or PPA (power purchase agreements)."
Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
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- After Solyndra: analyzing the solar industry
- Green IT Q1: Cleantech Breaking Out - and Bracing for Hard Times
- Green IT Overview, Q2 2010
http://gigaom.com/2013/05/02/home-solar-leasing-business-shines-for-su
Fracking ourselves to death in Pennsylvania
More than 70 years ago, a chemical attack was launched against Washington State and Nevada. It poisoned people, animals, everything that grew, breathed air, and drank water. The Marshall Islands were also struck. This formerly pristine Pacific atoll was branded "the most contaminated place in the world." As their cancers developed, the victims of atomic testing and nuclear weapons development got a name: downwinders. What marked their tragedy was the darkness in which they were kept about what was being done to them. Proof of harm fell to them, not to the U.S. government agencies responsible.
Now, a new generation of downwinders is getting sick as an emerging industry pushes the next wonder technology -- in this case, high-volume hydraulic fracturing. Whether they live in Texas, Colorado, or Pennsylvania, their symptoms are the same: rashes, nosebleeds, severe headaches, difficulty breathing, joint pain, intestinal illnesses, memory loss, and more. "In my opinion," says Yuri Gorby of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, "what we see unfolding is a serious health crisis, one that is just beginning."
Continue Reading...
http://www.salon.com/2013/05/02/fracking_ourselves_to_death_in_pennsyl
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
127 Megawatt Utility-Scale Solar Installation Opens in Arizona with 25MW of U.S.-Made Solar Modules from KYOCERA
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Kyocera Solar Inc. today helped officially open the 127MW utility-scale AV Solar II photovoltaic solar energy installation in southwest Arizona, accompanied by LS Power and Ariz. Governor Jan Brewer. ...
image/jpeg http://www.pheedo.com/e/f32c28ac8e954f2b09a15f93716fc3c7/Rhombus_Kyocera_Logo.jpg
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20130501005942/en/127-Megawatt-U
127 Megawatt Utility-Scale Solar Installation Opens in Arizona with 25MW of U.S.-Made Solar Modules from KYOCERA
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Kyocera Solar Inc. today helped officially open the 127MW utility-scale AV Solar II photovoltaic solar energy installation in southwest Arizona, accompanied by LS Power and Ariz. Governor Jan Brewer. ...
image/jpeg http://www.pheedo.com/e/ea5fd37ebfb427a07a4a4c7c21bd3952/Rhombus_Kyocera_Logo.jpg
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20130501005942/en/127-Megawatt-U
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