Alternative Energy Newswire

Ohio Entrepreneurs Plan to Open Hydrogen Fueling Station

admin — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 13:23:26 +0000

Ohio is no stranger to hydrogen. The hydrogen-powered Buckeye Bullet 2 racecar was built by students and faculty at Ohio State University. In 2007, Wal-Mart had successfully tested hydrogen fuel cell pallet trucks in on of their Ohio stores.

And NASA has decided to build a hydrogen fueling station based upon renewable energy at the Great Lakes Science Center in downtown Cleveland. But, who else is building a hydrogen fueling station in the state of Ohio are a couple of entrepreneurs.

Chris McWhinney and Dave Erbaugh are racing with NASA to be the first to open a hydrogen fueling station in the state of Ohio. The hydrogen fueling station will be located on Dull’s Family Farm in the north part of Brookville.

The two entrepreneurs are also building a home hydrogen fueling station that will refuel two hydrogen cars plus supply power to one’s home. Though the state has public entities such as the Ohio Fuel Cell Coalition pushing the hydrogen agenda, like most U. S. states Ohio lacks H2 infrastructure.

But, with the help of government, business and small entrepreneurs, like Chris McWhinney and Dave Erbaugh, the hydrogen infrastructure may be built out more quickly than most people think. And their will be money to be made by being on the leading edge of this technology.

RENEWABLE ENERGY BUSINESS SECTOR RESPONDS TO RICK SCOTT ATTACK

admin — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 13:23:25 +0000

A group of businessmen, farmers and renewable energy advocates who met today to support Alex Sink for Governor, were abruptly met with an attack from the Rick Scott campaign.

RENEWABLE ENERGY BUSINESS SECTOR RESPONDS TO RICK SCOTT ATTACK

admin — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 13:23:17 +0000

A group of businessmen, farmers and renewable energy advocates who met today to support Alex Sink for Governor, were abruptly met with an attack from the Rick Scott campaign.

Green Collars–Where are the Jobs?

admin — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 13:23:16 +0000

What about a recently laid-off woman who now pushes a reel mower yard to yard to make money? Would lawn lady’s be a green job created, a general job lost, or would the two cancel one another for a net job gain of zero?

Clemson Mobile Facility Spreads Word of Biodiesel

admin — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 13:23:15 +0000

Researchers at Clemson University have a new mobile biofuels processing plant that will help do new research on new biomass feedstocks, like algae and fungio, while spreading the word of what biodiesel can do.

This press release from the school says its $125,000 piece of equipment from Piedmont Biofuels in North Carolina will provide the research platform and take the demonstration to the public:

“We had our initial successful run last week using waste algal and sunflower oils from Martek Biosciences in Kingstree and then used the biofuel to cycle back to a generator to achieve net-zero production,” [biosystems engineer Terry Walker said].

The plant is being developed to convert waste oils to high-grade biodiesel that can be used in many vehicles. The biodiesel is expected to cost less than regular diesel fuel, has a lower “carbon footprint” or environmental impact and can form the basis for a new industry in the state.

Walker said support for the purchase came from many sources, including Clemson Public Service Activities; the College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences and others at Clemson; Piedmont Biofuels in Pittsboro, N.C.; and SunStor Inc. in Greer.

The school will be showing off the new mobile facility at the annual biomass meeting this fall at the Pee Dee Research and Education Center on October 7th.

Ferry Could Use Biodiesel Instead of Shutting Down

admin — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 13:23:14 +0000

Some new clean air regulations in California could lead to a popular ferry shutting down. But it might not have to if the vessel uses biodiesel.

This article from the Daily Pilot says the Catalina Flyer, a 500-passenger catamaran that runs between the mainland and Santa Catalina Island could have to shut down while the owners buy and install a new engine in line with the state’s environmental law. But it doesn’t have to be that way:

Bob Black, general manager for the tour boat company, said that unless he’s able to find a catamaran to lease, he may suspend service to Avalon as early as Sept. 12.

“I’m not thrilled about having to do this, but it’s something we’ve got to do,” said Black, referring to the purchase of a pair of engines that will cost him nearly $1 million.

Even though Black said the ship’s engine is in fine shape and he doesn’t believe it is polluting the waters, the state requires all commercial vessels to be equipped with new engines that reduce emissions in compliance with the Commercial Harbor Craft Regulation.

The purpose of the law, which was adopted Nov. 15, 2007, by the California Air Resources Board, is to reduce the amount of pollution caused by diesel engines on commercial harbor craft that operate within 24 nautical miles of the California coast.

Although the new law seems like it is three years old, it didn’t actually go into effect until 2009, which is why the Catalina Flyer is having to search for a replacement boat until the new engines are bought and installed.

But later on in the article, it’s pointed out that “[a]ll diesel engines on commercial harbor craft must be fueled with California Air Resource Board diesel fuel, with a sulfur content less than or equal to 15 parts per million, or an alternative diesel fuel such as biodiesel.”

So what gives? Are Californians so opposed to biofuels (note the state’s fighting of the use of ethanol instead of MTBE as an anti-pollution additive for gasoline) that they’ll lay off workers instead of using biodiesel … which will run in any current engine that runs on diesel … that might just burn clean enough to meet regulations? I’ll need to investigate this further, and maybe, in the meantime, someone can come up with an explanation.

Ethanol Gets Iowa Football Fans Pumped Up

admin — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 13:23:13 +0000

Did you know that 60 cents of each gallon of E85 purchased stays in the state of Iowa? I didn’t know that until I participated in the Iowa Corn Fed Game Day pump rally at Riverside, Iowa to get people “pumped up” for the upcoming Iowa State versus Iowa football game. Another way to look at this is for each gallon of E85 you purchase, 85 cents stays in America; whereas if you purchase E10, only 10 cents stays in America while 90 cents heads out of our borders.

Here are two more interesting facts. Did you know that Iowa is ranked #9 in the country; yet non-ranked Iowa State has the most difficult schedule this year?

And one more…Did you know that Iowa is the leading producer of corn and ethanol in the country? Iowa boasts 40 ethanol plants that produce more than 3 billion gallons of ethanol each year saving consumers money at the pump with each mile they drive.

So where did I learn these nifty facts? From an actual corn farmer, Dick Gallagher, who was on hand to educate consumers about ethanol blended fuels as well as educate consumers about all the products that have corn in them..shirts, biodegradable plastics, carpet, tires, and more. They all use corn as one of their ingredients and whether you realize it or not, our lives would not, and could not, be the same without our corn farmers.

Speaking of our corn farmers, they are growing enough corn to meet all of our needs for food, feed and fuel, both here in America as well as overseas and they are doing it each year using less land.

But let’s hope that Iowa State doesn’t score less than Iowa but scores more than Iowa, but I digress.

Kum & Go was a sponsor of today’s pump rallies and they have been a long-time ethanol supporter. Matt Chase, with Kum & Go told me that 31 of their stores in Iowa sell E85, more than any other retailer, and all of their stations sell E10 blended fuels.

The Iowa Corn Fed Game Day promotion is sponsored by Iowa Corn Growers Association and continues all week long leading up to game day on Saturday. The game begins at 2:30 pm CST but come early. Iowa Corn will have a booth set up at Cross Family Plaza at 10:00 am where they will hosting some fun games as well as the chance to win $5,000 in free food and $2,500 in free ethanol-blended fuel. You can also sign up online at www.iacornfed.com.

And one last cool fact to leave you with….Herky the Hawk is a HUGE fan of ethanol.

California PUC decision could greatly impact its tradable REC

admin — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 13:22:58 +0000

California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) recently proposed to end a moratorium on the approval of tradable renewable-energy credits (TREC) transactions, and raise the cap for large investor-owned utilities to 40%. RECs are tradable energy commodities that represent 1 MWh of electricity generated from an eligible renewable energy resource.

At its March meeting, the CPUC authorized the use of TRECs for compliance with California’s renewable portfolio standard (RPS), subject to certain limitations. These included a cap limiting the use of TRECs for RPS compliance for the largest investor-owned utilities (Pacific Gas and Electric, Southern California Edison, and San Diego Gas and Electric) to 25% of their annual RPS compliance obligations. That cap was to remain in place until December 31, 2011, when the CPUC would consider modifying or removing it. The CPUC also imposed a price cap of $50 per TREC, which expires on the same date.

After the March decision, the three large utilities filed a joint petition, seeking modification of the usage and price caps and of the criteria used to determine whether a contract was a TREC transaction subject to the 25% cap. The Independent Energy Producers Association also filed a petition seeking modification of the criteria used to determine whether a contract was a TREC transaction.

In May, the CPUC issued a decision holding implementation of the March decision pending resolution of the petitions. At this time, the CPUC also imposed a moratorium on the approval of any contracts that would be defined as TREC transactions under the March decision.

The most recent proposed decision would lift the hold imposed in May, and end the moratorium on approval of contracts defined as TREC transactions. It would also modify the cap on TREC transactions, allowing the largest investor-owned utilities to meet up to 40% of their annual compliance obligations through TREC transactions. The decision would further modify the cap by exempting future deliveries under contracts approved prior to the effective date of the March decision from counting toward the cap. That decision would have included any future deliveries under existing contracts categorized as TREC transactions towards the 25% cap. The recent decision, however, would not alter the criteria used to determine whether a transaction was a TREC transaction.

The definition of TRECs established in the March Decision (and unchanged by the recent decision) could have a significant effect on the use of generation from renewable resources located outside of California. TRECS are generally traded apart from the energy associated with their creation. This contrasts with bundled transactions in which both renewable-energy credits and the associated power are sold together. The March decision defined bundled transactions as any transaction with a generator that had its first point of interconnection with a California balancing authority, or in which the power associated with the renewable energy credits was dynamically transferred to a California balancing authority. The March decision also recognized that some transactions with firm transmission arrangements might qualify as bundled transactions, but left that for future consideration.

The definition of bundled transactions adopted by the March decision would mean that any transactions with renewable resources that do not have their first point of interconnection with a California balancing authority, or do not transfer power to a California balancing authority, would be deemed a TREC transaction subject to the cap. This would be true even if the renewable resource delivered power to California under a firming and shaping arrangement. The more generous cap proposed by the recent decision would allow California’s largest investor-owned utilities to enter into more contracts with renewable resources located outside the state.

Stoel Rivers LLP

www.stoel.com

New Milwaukee plant opening exemplifies supply chain trend for wind industry

admin — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 13:22:57 +0000

An article by Carl Levesque, communications editor at the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA):

Another link in the wind energy supply chain has come stateside.
Avanti Wind Systems recently completed its plant outside Milwaukee, Wis., and is starting up production of its wind turbine tower ladder systems there, the company said.

Until now, Avanti has manufactured its ladder systems exclusively in China and Germany. “The factory in Wisconsin will enable us to move employment to the USA, while also allowing us to give faster and better service to our customers throughout North America,” said Kent Pedersen, general manager for Avanti Wind Systems’ U.S. operations.

The startup of the plant continues an industry trend in which the second-tier segment of the supply chain continues to migrate to the U.S., literally following the turbine manufacturers they serve and that have already set up assembly facilities here. To be sure, the Avanti plant’s advantages cited by the company show the news to be a textbook example of the wind industry’s preference for sourcing components near its market—that is, domestically—given such factors as component size, savings in transport time, and a general ability to shave dollars off logistics costs. The job-creating attributes of wind energy so often cited by industry advocates is largely the result of this preference.

Avanti’s news releases states, “The logistics also give Avanti, and consequently its customers, considerable advantages. Finished ladder systems take up a lot of space given the amount of raw aluminum involved. Moreover, the shorter transport times will reduce the amount of damage during transport, which typically occurs during the transport and handling of aluminum ladders, with the consequent major savings in transport costs. The new Wisconsin factory will manufacture ladder sections of up to six meters in length. The sections are subsequently assembled when they are installed in the towers.”

In spite of the recent industry slowdown, the second tier of the supply chain—that is, those components beyond blades, nacelles, and towers—continues to ripple with activity, largely because turbine manufacturers are seeking greater efficiencies by bringing their supply chain to the U.S., where they have already set up assembly facilities.

Europe’s Largest Onshore Wind Farm to Expand to 539 Megawatts

admin — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 13:22:48 +0000

Photo: Flickr, CC

Adding 3MW Turbines
Europe’s largest onshore wind farm, which is located in East Renfrewshire in Scotland, is about to get even bigger. ScottishPower Renewables is planning to add 75 turbines to the existing 140, increasing the capacity of the wind farm from the current 322 megawatts to 539 megawatts. Read on for more details…. Read the full story on TreeHugger