Stanford Launches $100 Million Energy Institute
Stanford announced on Monday the creation of a new $100 million energy research institute. The Precourt Institute for Energy will research a wide range of technologies, from solar and wind, to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
“We need to work on technologies that meet what I call the Tom Friedman test — new technology that meets the China price, that you can sell to China as an alternative to burning coal,” Stanford President John Hennessy said. “That’s the Holy Grail in this, and that’s the kind of problem we want to focus on.”
Lynn Orr, who is the director of the new institute, noted that seed funding to push forward new research and innovation in energy will now be available. “Stanford faculty and students are brimming with ideas that, with some initial support, can be brought to the point that external support can be obtained,” he explained.
Cellulosic Ethanol Test Plant Opens; Future of Ethanol Lies With This Technology
The largest ethanol producer in the world, Poet, has announced the opening of an $8 million cellulosic ethanol plant in Scotland, South Dakota. This biorefinery is a pilot plant that is a precursor to a $200 million commercial-scale plant scheduled to open in 2011 in Iowa.
The Scotland Plant will generate ethanol from plant waste, like corn cobs, that would normally be discarded. Although it currently costs about a $1 more per gallon to make fuel from corn cobs than kernels, Poet aims to eventually make cellulosic ethanol competitive with food-based ethanol.
With heightened criticism being levied upon ethanol lately, it will be important for the industry to produce evidence in the near future that biofuels can actually reduce greenhouse gas emissions, decrease oil consumption, and not materially damage global food supplies. While it remains to be seen if this is possible, cellulosic technologies are likely that industry’s best bet.
Oil Rich Gulf States Focusing on Renewable Energy
The NYT notes in an article about the Gulf Oil states taking the lead in renewable energy that:
They are aggressively pouring billions of dollars made in the oil fields into new green technologies. They are establishing billion-dollar clean-technology investment funds. And they are putting millions of dollars behind research projects at universities from California to Boston to London, and setting up green research parks at home.
The crown prince of Abu Dhabi, the wealthiest of the seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates, announced last January that he would invest $15 billion in renewable energy. That is the same amount that President-elect Obama has proposed investing – in the entire United States – “to catalyze private sector efforts to build a clean energy future.”
[L]eaders in politics, business and research from across the globe will flock to [Abu Dhabi] for three days starting Monday for the second World Future Energy Summit, which just one year after its inception here has become something of a Davos gathering on renewable energy.
Not a Drop to Drink… But Plenty to Use For Drilling and Mining
Foreshadowing the impending conflicts of the 21st century, a battle is heating up in the American West between water and oil interests. On the one side are those in favor of exploiting the massive oil shale reserves under the Rocky Mountains. These reserves are one of the biggest remaining oil resources in the world– containing three times as much oil as that remaining in Saudi Arabia.
Although oil shale extraction is extremely costly, energy intensive, and polluting, it is the massive amount of water that it consumes that is really bringing out the political opposition. Opponents worry that the Colorado River, which is already being taxed to its limits, can not support the enormous draw that would be required for wide scale shale mining in the region. READ MORE
EPA Will Consider Limiting Rocket Fuel in Drinking Water
Last year the EPA proposed not setting a national standard for perchlorate in drinking water. However, dangerous levels of perchlorate, which is a toxic component of rocket fuel, have been found in at least 395 locations in 35 states.
Nonetheless, the EPA previously held:
“that in over 99% of public drinking water systems, perchlorate was not at levels of public health concern. Therefore, based on the Safe Water Drinking Act criteria, the Agency determined there is not a ‘meaningful opportunity for health risk reduction’ through a national drinking water regulation.” READ MORE
Obama: Upgrade Energy, Efficiency, Health Care, Education, Technology, Science, Accountability and Transparency
Part 1:
Part 2:
President-elect Obama expanded on his ambitious proposals today.
Obama’s Change.gov concludes that:
“The plan will save or create 3 million jobs by doubling the production of alternative energy; weatherizing 75% of federal buildings and two million American homes…” computerizing America’s medical records; updating thousands of schools, community colleges, and public universities; expanding broadband; and investing in science, research, and technology.” READ MORE
Six Major Coal Energy Projects Cancelled
Bright Green Blog notes that energy giant Dynegy has announced that it is abandoning plans to construct six coal-fired power plants. The plants were to be part of a joint venture with LS Power to build coal plants in Arkansas, Georgia, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, and Texas.
Dynergy CEO explains the change in plans as: READ MORE
Illinois Politicians Encourage Resurrection of FutureGen ‘Clean’ Coal Project
Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin met with energy secretary nominee Steven Chu on Wednesday to discuss the stalled FutureGen “clean” coal project. As a quick refresher, the FutureGen project was intended to be a “public-private partnership to build the world’s first near zero-emissions coal-fueled power plant. The 275-megawatt plant would be intended to prove the feasibility of producing electricity and hydrogen from coal while capturing and permanently storing carbon dioxide underground.”
However, the Bush Administration shelved the project, which upset local Illinois politicians, since FutureGen was to be located in their state. One such politician was the esteemed Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who said Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman “deceived the people of East Central Illinois who spent time and resources competing for the project.” READ MORE
Oil Falls and Gas Shoots up
Despite the precipitous drop in oil on Wednesday, the average nationwide price of regular gasoline at the pump increased 3.9 cents to $1.727 per gallon. According to AAA, this was the biggest single day price increase since September.
This comes on the heels of recent price spikes in California.
According to the Energy Department, fuel consumption in the U.S. is down nearly 3% from this time last year.
Re Price of Oil: ‘You’d be an idiot not to take advantage of that’
A massive drop in oil today intensified the current situation where the short-term price of oil is dramatically lower than the long-term. Crude oil for February delivery fell 12% today to around $43 a barrel. This is in contrast to the futures price for February of next year, which is 41% higher. This price phenomenon is known as “contango.”
As we mentioned this morning, this has created a situation where traders are buying up oil today to store on rented supertankers, in order to re-sell it in the future. Although massive amounts of oil is being hoarded, there is still global storage capacity remaining. READ MORE
Russian Flow of Natural Gas via Ukraine Shut Off Completely
The Russia-Ukraine natural gas dispute has escalated significantly with Russia cutting off basically the entire flow of natural gas on that pipeline on Wednesday. As a result, Europe, which depends on Russia for 25% of its natural gas supplies may see serious shortages as soon as next week. The countries particularly dependent on these supplies include Bulgaria, Romania, Greece, and Turkey. However, western countries, including France and Germany may also face shortages.
Although Russian energy monopoly Gazprom says that it is increasing its deliveries to the EU via other routes, traditionally 80% of the gas is delivered through Ukraine. Consequently, there may not be enough alternative pipeline capacity to make up for the massive shortfall. Currently, Russian gas supplies to Europe are half of normal.
Unfortunately for the EU, it doesn’t have a whole lot of leverage in this situation. They are truly dependent on Russia (and Ukraine) for a large portion of their natural gas supplies, and are stuck in the dead of winter with greatly diminished gas. They have few alternatives and Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, whose country currently holds the EU presidency, seems unlikely to convince Russia to change its ways.
Is Trend Towards Residential Renewable Energy Production a Good Thing?
With state and federal governments implementing policies to support residential renewable energy production (such as this program in San Diego), Green Inc. takes a quick survey of the current state of private energy production, and questions whether it is even worth it:
“Buying a small wind turbine to power a home can be costly – in the range of $12,000 to $70,000 (including installation fees), according to Ron Stimmel, the small wind expert at the American Wind Energy Association.
“Altogether, says Mr. Stimmel, some kind of financial incentive for residential small wind is available in about 17 states, though in some cases the incentives are offered through utilities rather than directly by the state itself. (In Colorado, for example, a handful of utilities are offering rebates, which go up to $10,000.) READ MORE
Geothermal Plant in Hawaii Accidentally Strikes Liquid Hot Magma
Although this event occurred in 2005 at Ormat Technology’s Puna Geothermal Plant on the Big Island of Hawaii, scientists only recently released a full analysis of the nature of this discovery and the events surrounding it.
Basically, engineers at the Puna Plant, which opened in 1993 and produces 30 MW of commercial power, were drilling a standard injection hole into the earth when, at a depth of 2488 m, they hit a pool of dacite magma. At this point, the magma flowed 5.5 m up the wellbore (which is 26 cm diameter) where it cooled and solidified. Engineers attempted to drill more holes in that vicinity– all of which also struck magma. READ MORE
Farm Lobby’s Straw-Man Threat May Become Real
Despite the multitude of news articles and opinion pieces in recent months published in opposition to a livestock emissions fee from the EPA, that agency has never proposed such a fee and (at least under this administration) says that it lacks the authority to even do so.
From Factcheck.org:
“This one is a case study in how lobbyists sometimes justify their own salaries by loudly fighting against hypothetical but non-existent threats from Washington.
“The source of this hokum is a misleading news release put out by the American Farm Bureau Federation on Nov. 20. The highly inaccurate headline read: “AFBF Opposes EPA-Proposed Tax on Livestock.” In truth, however, the Environmental Protection Agency hasn’t proposed any tax on livestock. In fact, the Farm Bureau’s own documentation admitted as much. READ MORE
Commission Recommends Raising U.S. Gas Tax
A failing economy may accomplish what environmental and geopolitical necessity could not– which is, cause the government to increase the national gas tax. A congressionally sponsored commission is set to recommend that the national gas tax should be raised by 10 cents per gallon in order to cover the massive shortfall the national Highway Trust Fund is facing.
The current lack of funds, which are used to reduce congestion, improve roads, and expand transit, is a result of two problems. First, the high gas prices in the beginning of 2008 and the failing economy in the end of the year, caused drivers to substantially cut-back on their driving habits. As a result, between October 2007 and September 2008, the Highway Trust Fund took in $3 billion less than it did the prior year. Second, even when Americans were driving a lot, the revenues raised by the gas tax were insufficient to properly maintain and upgrade our transportation infrastructure. READ MORE
