Power brokers, pt. 2: Ralph Masiello, innovation director at KEMA (

From the December 2009 issue of Discover magazine.

KEMA - A global, leading authority in energy consulting and testing & certification.

Ralph Masiello's "bright idea": Store renewable energy so we can use it when we need it.

One of the main problems with the electrical infrastructure is that there is really no way to store electrical power - "every time somebody in the house turned the light on or off, ultimately the source of electricity - the generation plant - had to wiggle up or down."

But we have finally reached the point that we can put storage on the grid, handling fluctuations and the imbalance between demand and supply.

Right now, plants have to pay someone to send excess energy to, sometimes dropping the price of electricity to -$20/megawatt hour, an expenditure that is passed on to the consumer.

However, batteries are too limited, and Masiello suggests figuring it out as a fuel problem. He calls for a smart grid that only releases energy when asked for, storing it otherwise.

There are some legal and industrial hurdles, but in the long run, it would mean cheaper electricity, and power generated by wind and solar, not coal.

Copper Indium Gallium Selenide - not just for solar cells anymore

The heat conversion properties of Copper Indium Gallium Selenide (CIGS for short) have long been one of the primary elements of photovoltaic cells.

But according to Discover magazine, the alloy is being put to different uses. They can also be used for, say, converting the heat from factories into the electricity used to run the factories. This doesn't mean that said factories will suddenly become the industrial equivalent of a perpetual motion machine, but it could cut down on outside fuel costs and reduce dependence on ubiquitous and dirty coal-powered electrical plants.

Research is also going into vehicles. CIGS can be used to convert heat from car engines into the electricity needed for radio, AC and other non-locomotive functions of a vehicle, seriously reducing the draw on batteries and saving consumers money and the hassle of needing a jump if the heat-generated power can be stored efficiently.

It isn't quite comic book science fiction Halo technology, but it's step toward fuel efficiency and keeping dirty car batteries out of landfills.

The 2009 Millenium Report

A rundown courtesy of ENN:

Millennium Project Report Issued on the Future of the World

A major report issued by the United Nations Millenium Project has just been released. It finds that half the world appears vulnerable to social instability and violence due to increasing and potentially prolonged unemployment from the recession as well as several longer-term issues: decreasing water, food, and energy supplies

per person; the cumulative effects of climate change; and increasing migrations due to political, environmental, and economic conditions. It also finds some good in the global financial crisis, which may be helping humanity to move from its often selfish, self-centered adolescence to a more globally responsible adulthood.

After 13 years of the Millennium Project’s global futures research, it is increasingly clear that the world has the resources to address its challenges. Coherence and direction has been lacking. But recent meetings of the U.S. and China, as well as of NATO and Russia, and the birth of the G-20 plus the continued work of the G-8 promise to improve global strategic collaboration. It remains to be seen if this spirit of cooperation can continue and if decisions will be made on the scale necessary to really address the global challenges discussed in this report.

Major Findings include:

• The vast majority of the world is living in peace, conflicts actually decreased over the past decade, cross-cultural dialogues are flourishing, and intra-state conflicts are increasingly being settled by international interventions.

• The world is beginning to wake up to the enormity of the threat of transnational organized crime.

• Freedom House’s 2009 survey found that democracy and freedom have declined for the third year in a row, and press freedoms declined for the seventh year in a row. It estimates that only 17% of the world’s population lives in 70 countries with a free press, while 42% lives in 64 countries that have no free press.

• Although government and business leaders are beginning to respond more seriously to the global environmental situation, it continues to get worse. Each day, the oceans absorb 30 million tons of CO2, increasing their acidity. The number of dead zones—areas with too little oxygen to support life—has doubled every decade since the 1960s. The oceans are warming about 50% faster than the IPCC reported in 2007. The amount of ice flowing out of Greenland during the summer of 2008 was nearly three times more than that lost during the previous year. Arctic summer ice could be gone by 2030, as could many of the major Himalayan, European, and Andean glaciers. Over 36 million hectares of primary forest are lost every year. Human consumption is 30% larger than nature’s capacity to regenerate, and demand on the planet has more than doubled over the past 45 years. This growth continues as, for example, more cars are expected to be produced in China in 2009 than in the U.S. or Japan.

• World energy demand could nearly double by 2030, with China and India accounting for over half of the increase. China uses more coal than the U.S., EU, and Japan combined, but it now has a policy to close an old coal plant
  
  for each new cleaner burning plant that turns coal into a gas before burning it. Without major policy and technological changes, fossil fuels will meet 80% of primary energy demand by 2030. If so, then large-scale carbon capture, storage, and/or reuse should become a top priority to reduce global climate change.

• In March 2009 an asteroid missed Earth by 77,000 kilometers, 80% closer to the planet than our moon is. If it had hit Earth, it would have wiped out all life on 800 square kilometers. No one knew it was coming. The time between its discovery and close approach was very short.

• Nearly 25% of humanity is connected to the Internet. There are more people using the Internet in China than the total population of the U.S. Mobile phones are becoming handheld computers. Humanity, the built environment, and ubiquitous computing seem destined to become so interconnected that collective intelligences with “just-in-time knowledge”� will emerge for improving civilization. With an increasingly educated world and the majority of humanity connected to the Internet over the next 20 years, new forms of political power may emerge, growing beyond the control of traditional hierarchical structures.

• The world’s population is 6.8 billion. It is expected to grow to 9.2 billion by 2050, but it could shrink by 2100, creating a world with many elderly people. Nearly all the population increases will be in developing countries; hence, today’s first world will be tomorrow’s elderly world.

• Infectious diseases are the second leading cause of death worldwide. About half the people in the world are at risk of several endemic diseases. More than 42 million people are living with HIV/AIDS, and 74% of these infected people live in sub-Saharan Africa. For the first time in 40 years, WHO declared a pandemic: the H1N1 influenza (swine flu) rapidly infected 60,000 people in nearly half the countries of the world, resulting in 263 deaths between April and June 2009.

The Millennium Project also explored future possible outcomes using its Real-Time Delphi online software. The RTD is a relatively new and efficient method for collecting and synthesizing expert opinions. According to the report, the value of futures research is less in forecasting accuracy than in focusing attention, planning, and opening minds to consider new possibilities and in changing the policy agenda. The goal is not to know the future precisely (how could that be possible?) but to understand a range of possibilities that lead to better decisions.

For More on this important report: http://www.millennium-project.org/millennium/sof2009.html

Fuel from a corn's ear

With food prices going up and gas prices coming down, using the cobs rather than the edible bits of corn seems the way to go in the ethanol market.

From the Houston Chronicle:

A shift from corn to the cob

The pressure’s on ethanol producers to make fuel by using waste instead of food crops, and a company thinks it has found a way in South Texas

By BRETT CLANTON
HOUSTON CHRONICLE

July 24, 2009, 8:11AM

Brett Coomer Chronicle

Salton Willems helps gather corncobs left from harvest Wednesday in Santa Rosa, near Harlingen. The cobs, already stripped of kernels, are used for conversion into ethanol. 

SANTA ROSA — The high-stakes race to make a better renewable fuel took a small step forward this week in a secluded cornfield near the Mexican border.

In tiny Santa Rosa, a few miles northwest of Harlingen, the nation's largest ethanol producer was secretly testing farm equipment that only a few years ago might have seemed absurd.

The machine collects corncobs, naked of kernels and typically left in the field after a harvest, for eventual conversion into ethanol.

The testing by Sioux Falls, S.D.-based Poet is part of a larger project that could help usher in a new era for ethanol, which today in the U.S. is produced mostly from corn. The privately held firm aims to be among the first in the country to produce ethanol on a large scale from nonfood sources — in its case, corncobs — at a plant it is building in Emmetsburg, Iowa. That plant is set to begin production in 2011.

Company officials say, however, that at this point they are less concerned about bringing that project to fruition than about external challenges they fear could hurt demand for ethanol and hobble development of next-generation biofuels.

“Our biggest question right now is, ‘Is there going to be a market for what's produced?'” said Michael Roth, Poet's biomass program director, who was in South Texas on Wednesday to oversee field testing.

The U.S. Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 requires greater use of ethanol and other biofuels in coming years, growing to 36 billion gallons in 2022 — about 25 percent of the 140 billion gallons of gasoline U.S. drivers consume annually.

More than half of the federal biofuel mandate, known as the Renewable Fuel Standard, calls for fuels made from nonfood crops and agricultural waste. But there are doubts the industry is ready to meet production targets that call for phasing in next-generation biofuels through 2022, starting with 100 million gallons next year.

Larry Russo, with the office of biomass programs at the U.S. Department of Energy, called next year's goal “extremely challenging.”

In the U.S., ethanol is blended with gasoline to reduce dependence on oil and improve air quality in densely populated areas, including Houston and Dallas. Boosted by government subsidies, the industry has grown rapidly in recent years.

But ethanol producers have struggled recently amid volatile corn and oil prices and weaker demand for transportation fuels in the recession. Many producers have cut output and idled plants, while several filed for bankruptcy protection.

About 11 percent of the nation's 12.5 billion gallons of corn ethanol production capacity is temporarily shut down, said Matt Hartwig, spokesman for the Renewable Fuels Association, an ethanol trade group. But he noted that improving economics for the fuel have helped some plants come back online recently.

Moving the ‘blend wall'

The ethanol industry is asking the Environmental Protection Agency for permission to increase the federally set ceiling for the amount of ethanol that can be blended with gasoline. It says raising the “blend wall” — now at 10 percent — would be a catalyst for development of what's called cellulosic ethanol, made from agricultural waste and nonfood crops.

“That blend wall is holding up cellulosic ethanol,” Poet CEO Jeff Broin said.

But critics fear higher blend levels could harm engines, drive corn prices higher and give the biofuels industry less incentive to move away from corn-based fuel and into next-generation fuels.

“They're going to hold cellulosic ethanol hostage so they can expand their market,” said Nathanael Greene, director of renewable energy policy for the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group that opposes increases to the blend wall.

The EPA is expected to rule by December.

Meanwhile, Poet and other biofuel companies are continuing research.

Broin said Poet can now produce cellulosic ethanol from corncobs for about $1 per gallon more than corn ethanol and hopes to make the costs equal within seven years.

At the same time, the company is working on an efficient way to collect corncobs.

That's why, for the last two summers, it has quietly dispatched crews to South Texas to test a variety of cob-gathering machines. The remote location protects the design of equipment not yet on the market, while giving Poet a chance to practice where hot weather makes corn ready for picking in the summer, months ahead of the harvest in the Midwest.

It can be a slow process. This week, one test machine that scooped up discarded cobs, stripped them of husky residue and shot them into a storage tank pulled by a tractor nearly overheated in the midday sun. That led to more tinkering.

But better now than later, Roth said. “If the collection method isn't going to work the way a farmer thinks it should work, then it's no good.”

Taking into account the fight over the "blend wall," however perhaps the cobs would best be used in so-called "grassoline" and skip the ethanol altogether.

Toyota Center goes green thanks to Rice student

Carin Giga, a Rice MBA grad student, is interning at the Toyota Center this summer as part of the Environmental Defense Fund's 10-week Climate Corps program. Not only is this good for the environment but for the companies as well, saving $40,000 per 50,000 square feet of office space annually.

The Houston Chronicle ran an interview with Ms. Giga Saturday.

Among some of the strategies:

- Reuse water for mechanical equipment that uses it or use it for irrigation

- Encourage employees to turn off computers and lights when leaving for the day.

- Make use of daylight rather than artificial illumination.

- Make use of occupancy sensors so lights are only on when someone is present and turn themselves off immediately upon exit.

- Kick the thermostat up a mere one or two degrees (or down in colder weather).

- Turn climate control off in unoccupied areas.

Much of this seems like common sense but apparently it takes an MBA candidate to implement such policies.

It's begun

The House of Representatives narrowly passed an energy and climate change bill designed to revamp the nation's industrial economy.

But it barely passed by a vote of 219-212, which does not bode well for the fate of the bill in the senate where it is expected to undergo changes and rewrites. Even with Democrats holding the majority vote, 44 of them voted against the bill, although only three Texas dems voted against it.

Going back to what I said about pawns of the petroleum industry, Texas Republicans called the bill a "'monstrosity' that would result in 'epic job losses' and 'largest tax increase in history'," according to an article in the June 27th Houston Chronicle. To those and their ilk, I refer them to yesterday's column about cap-and-trade that distinguishes between cost and price.

Rep. Gene Green, D-Houston, on the other hand stated that the result "is a reasonable first step to protecting our energy infrasructure and keeping good-paying jobs here at home." This seems more consistent with the projections of non-partisan experts.

Only time, of course, will tell. But here's to hoping the Democrats and the experts are right.

Cap and trade

In a June 26th column in the Houston Chronicle, Fred Krupp, president of the Environmental Defense Fund and Andrew M. Liveris, CEO and Chairman of the Board of the Dow Chemical Company lay out the benefits of such a policy.

Cap-and-trade is a free market way of ensuring environmentally and economically sound ways of reducing our dependence on carbon-emitting fuels while allowing companies to continue their business almost as usual. Companies are given carbon credits.

The column explains it thus:

"Companies that are under their emission targets can sell their allowances on a new carbon market. Companies that cannot meet their targets can buy extra allowances from the same carbon market. Cap-and-trade uses the efficiency of the marketplace to drive innovation, creating new carbon-reducing technologies at the lowest possible cost."

When acid rain became a true menace in the '80s, the Clean Air Act was instituted and "the cap-and-trade approach reduced emissions faster, and more cheaply, than anyone predicted. Under cap and trade, government doesn’t pick winners and losers — private markets do that job."

The tag team columnists go on to say, "This is how it should be."

For those who argue that this could be crippling to the economy, especially in its current state, the pair clarify:

"Opponents claim that this bill will result in higher energy costs. They are confusing price with cost. Although this legislation will lead to modestly higher energy prices, this, in turn, will lead to greater energy efficiency and new, cleaner energy technologies. This will, in all likelihood, result in lower overall energy costs. A true win, win, win — lower energy costs, greater energy security and fewer carbon emissions!"

Not only that, but the policy has the potential of creating new jobs in the lagging manufacturing industry.

"A single wind turbine, for example, contains 250 tons of steel and 8,000 parts, from ball bearings and electronic controls to gearboxes. Jobs manufacturing those parts can be created right here in America, especially in our manufacturing heartland, the Midwest. Ohio has lost more than 213,000 manufacturing jobs since 2000. For Michigan, the figure is almost 497,000 jobs lost. One way to jump-start our economy is with a cap-and-trade bill."

Another win, making it a win, win, win, WIN situation.

And keep in mind, one of the co-authors is the head of Dow Chemical, a company not exactly renowned for its environmental and social responsibility.

Wake up, America!

Thomas Friedman has it right on (almost)

In his June 24th column, three time Pulitzer winner Thomas Friedman of the New York Times suggests that the "Green Revolution" in Iran could be best supported by a Green Revolution in the western world, particularly the US.

His column, titled The Green Revolution(s), states simply and directly that the student- and reformer-led revolution in the divided country would have the best support from the west if we would only lessen our dependence on foreign oil.

Despite our protestations of the treatment of his people, Jews, foreigners and anyone else not falling into the conservative Islamic line, the theologically backed Ahmadinejad's arrogant anti-western stance is only fueled by the fact that we need Iranian oil more than the Iranians need anything from us.

He proposes a $1 "Freedom Tax" on gasoline (with "rebates for the poor and elderly") that would have a three-fold effect:

"It would stimulate more investment in renewable energy now; it would stimulate more consumer demand for the energy-efficient vehicles that the reborn General Motors and Chrysler are supposed to make; and, it would reduce our oil imports in a way that would surely affect the global price and weaken every petro-dictator," he writes.

This is all well and good but there is one Leviathan-sized caveat that I can see: the current economy.

If Obama - who, in my humble opinion is doing the best he can with the huge pile of dinosaur dung that the Bush administration left him - even so much as proposed such a tax, the lynch mobs in front of the White House would not be far behind.

Some auto manufacturers are offering incentives and deals on hybrids and fuel effiecient vehicles (as well as not so efficient) and at this point, that's really all they can do.

While I agree with Friedman's assessment that reducing our dependency on foreign oil would pull the rug out from under said "petro-dictators", such a proposed tax is utterly unfeasible in this beleaguered economy.

Not everyone makes the kind of money a prize-winning NYT columnist pulls down.

It's like I've always said:

Idealism is great but usually falls only within the demesne of the weak and the rich. Those living paycheck to paycheck, the un- and underemployed simply cannot afford such lofty Utopian goals. Not now. But they (we as I'm among the jobless currently) CAN do something: use public transportation, walk to the corner store, use our bikes for short trips and do anything else to reduce our carbon footprint.

That said, Ahmadinejad is the truly evil one and, to quote Cpl. Maxwell Klinger of M*A*S*H, may the fleas of a thousand camels nest in his armpits.

And may the ghost of Neda Agha-Soltan haunt him in both this life and the next.

Aw shucks, it seems it ain't ethanol after all

The Discover "100 Best Science Stories of the Year" issue is out and the #1 story spotlights alternatives to petroleum-powered transportation.

Titled "The Post-Oil Era Begins," the article breaks down the ups and downs of ethanol and other bio-fuels as petroleum substitutes. Unfortunately, the article is not online as of yet, which is rare for the magazine.

Essentially, while ethanol has doubled since 2006, but recent studies have shown that it is "much more costly, both economically and environmentally, than people thought." That, combined with lowering petroleum prices, has made ethanol "significantly less competitive in the energy marketplace." ["The Post-oil era begins." Discover. Jan., 2009. p. 19.]

Another down-side is that most other bio-fuel plants are nowhere near reaching noteworthy production of alternative fuel.

Further, scientists have realized that increased ethanol production could actually increase emissions by up to 100% because farmers would begin using more land that once absorbed carbon. Not only that, ethanol consumes 186 times the amount of water per mile traveled than petroleum.

The seeming solution?

Hybrids and Plug-in Hybrid vehicles. Toyota sold nearly 200,000 of their Prius model last year. The upcoming Chevy Volt is touted to run 40 miles on nothing but electricity before the combustion engine kicks in.

The main hurdle to an EV America is infrastructure. If people are willing to charge their vehicles during off-peak hours at a low rate (which would entail a longer recharge time), no additional electrical plants will be required. However, this means asking Americans to show deference and perhaps suffer some inconvenience. The innovators and early adopters in the field most likely have no problems with such minor trivialities, but what happens when EV becomes the norm?

Do we build more power plants? If so, certainly not coal, and nuclear power still puts a lot of people on edge.

If not, what do we face? A nation-wide black-out and no way to travel in the manner many have grown accustomed?

I think I smell a Road Warrior-esque plot approaching. I can see it now - Snake Pliskenn in: Escape from the Alamo.

T. Boone Pickens on Meet the Press

Be there.

Air cars

No, they're not flying vehicles, they're powered by compressed air. Developed in Europe and India, ZPM (Zero Pollution Motors) will be bringing the car to states as early as next year. At this point, models are generally 2-seaters, but there is a four seat model in the works. A spokesman for ZPM stated that the car could go near 1000 miles at nearly 100 mph, before refueling. Pretty impressive and although it does require some form of liquid fuel, it can be adapted to run on ethanol or other bio-fuels.

In the city, gas would probably not even be used. The car runs entirely on compressed air under 35 mph and can be refueled in a matter of minutes.

But why do they have to look so stupid? Can't they put that tech in the body of a '69 GTO?

It's a dilemma

With oil dipping to around $70 a barrel, gas is becoming more affordable and gives Americans less of an excuse to conserve. I'm not bashing drivers; people have families to support and sometimes public and eco-friendly transportation just isn't an option due to location and/or distance. People can make it to work. This is a good thing.

Another upside of lower gas prices is the extra money in people's pockets, money that can be used to stimulate the sorry market economy in its current state. This is a good thing, as well.

In order to halt the slide, OPEC is planning a million barrel a day reduction to drive prices back up to a more profitable level.

This is a good thing because it will force government and researchers to continue concentrating on alternate fuels and other forms of energy.

Without higher priced oil, it is entirely possible that research into alternatives may slow down.

That would be a bad, bad thing.

"There's plenty of room at the bottom"

The phrase was uttered by physicist Richard Feynman in 1959.

Nanotechnology offers plenty of ways to make alternate energy sources even more efficient. For example, one technology could raise typical solar panel energy conversion rates by over 60%.

For a somewhat more comprehensive look at various ways that this tiny tech can improve alternate energy sources visit NEN: Nano Energy Now.

That is all.

Saturday morning TV

Falling asleep with the TV on Friday night often leads to waking up to infomercials Saturday morning.

Today, one of these interminable commercials disguised as informative television was for a chain of car dealerships here in Texas that deal almost exclusively with American vehicles. This morning they were hawking Ford cars and trucks.

With some segment of the population becoming more eco-aware, many manufacturers and dealerships tout high gas mileage as a selling point.

Ford, you have a ways to go.

The smooth-talking, spiffy-suited salesman pointed out that the Ford line of Focus sedans get a whopping 28 miles to the gallon (according to Kelly Blue Book, they actually get 22-24 MPG city and 35 MPG highway). Kellys rates the Honda Civic at 40 city/45 hwy.

After the parade of boxy but roundish passenger cars came the SUVs. Now, Kellys rates the Escape at 34 MPG city. Not bad for one of these large, usually unnecessary vehicles. However, that number drops to 30-31 hwy. It almost seems like one would be better off towing your Focus through the city where the Escape gets better mileage then using the smaller car for out of town travel. But then, the weight of the car would reduce the mileage of the truck, and then what do you do with the truck? Silly, no?

And to drive a final nail into our environment's coffin, one can purchase a brand new Ford F-150 for no money down and only $399 a month. So, with the dealership's apparently very liberal credit policy, almost anyone can own a behemoth work truck that gets an abysmal 13/17 MPG.

Of course, all of these vehicles have practical function in most cases, but does anyone really need a 3.5 ton work truck for tooling around town?

Well, do you?

Gas prices and our motivation

According to the US Energy Information Administration, the national average price of gas was around $3.85 as of September 15th. While that may be slightly higher (about 15 cents) than two weeks ago, it is down by 50-70 cents in some places. The $130/barrel summer we just experienced took its toll on many a motorist.

Everyday the news contained a shocked motorist complaining about the prices and how they have to pay them anyway because, after all, they got kids ta feed. As a result, more stories surfaced about alternate transportation and fuel sources.

Perhaps it is the pending election and Ike certainly garnered much media attention, but the stories about hopeful technology for the future seem to have gone the way of stories about high gas prices. They are still there in print media; The Daily Texan ran a front page piece about a new library at Loyola University with sustainable climate control on Tuesday. Blinds automatically bock out heat-causing UV rays while an automated system maintains precise temperature control, thus minimizing waste and environmental impact.

But are these stories featured on on ADD stricken broadcast media?

And are people as willing to look for different means of transportation now that the price of gas is more "managable"? Well, if a certain professor is any indication, the answer is no.

Ahhh, how quickly they forget.

Welcome to A Cooler World

The world is hot. And not in a good way.

Ecologically fragile species are dying out, glaciers are shrinking and experts predict that there is the possibility that within a decade arctic ice may be non-existent during the summer.

This blog will explore the implications of climate change and new technologies designed to minimize it.

But this is not a blog for the doom and gloom crowd out there. There will be some humorous asides to take the seriousness out of the preaching that invariably comes with such subject matter.

As an introduction, here is a link to a column I wrote last year.

Yes, it's "An Ode to Molly Ivins" but the content addresses the current administration's blatant and purposeful ignorance of man's effects on the planet.