Director of New Energy Institute Named At The University of Texas at Austin

Maybe this will get the ball truly rolling on alternative energy research and ways to reduce Texas' carbon footprint.

From the University of Texas website:

July 14, 2009

AUSTIN, Texas — Dr. Raymond Lee Orbach, the U.S. Department of Energy's first undersecretary for science, has been appointed director of The University of Texas at Austin's Energy Institute, a multi-disciplinary institute that combines the strengths of the university's schools and colleges to advance solutions to today's energy-related challenges.

Dr. Raymond Lee Orbach

The Energy Institute is developing multi-disciplinary research programs and educational materials to overcome the scientific and technological barriers to a secure and sustainable energy future, while helping policy leaders make the informed decisions required to reach this goal.

Orbach, whose appointment begins Aug. 1, also will have joint appointments as a professor with tenure in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Cockrell School of Engineering; the Department of Physics, the College of Natural Sciences; and the Jackson School of Geosciences.

The Energy Institute will integrate the most advanced expertise from across the university's schools and colleges, including the Cockrell School of Engineering, Jackson School of Geosciences, College of Natural Sciences, McCombs School of Business, School of Law, LBJ School of Public Affairs, School of Architecture and the College of Liberal Arts, as well as expertise from the private sector.

"I am delighted that Ray Orbach has agreed to serve as the director of our Energy Institute at The University of Texas at Austin," said Steven Leslie, provost of the university. "He is a world leader of energy research and policy and he will be instrumental in organizing research efforts of our faculty in areas of critical importance to our state's and nation's energy needs."

"It is with great enthusiasm that I look forward to becoming a part of The University of Texas at Austin," said Orbach. "The superb quality of the faculty and students, its supportive relationship with the State of Texas, and its national and international renown make this an opportunity of enormous promise. I am delighted to be a part of the university's faculty, and I look forward to working with the campus, the city of Austin, the Texas legislature and our nation's leaders to solve the technical and policy issues facing our planet's energy future."

Orbach said he sees the Energy Institute as a unifying collaborator to help The University of Texas at Austin mobilize its faculty and academic resources, as well as talent from other universities in The University of Texas System, to make "transformational changes in energy production and usage" of fossil fuel, renewable and nuclear energy resources. He said these changes would address threats to the economic future of Texas, the nation and the world.

Orbach said the energy resource issues to be addressed initially would include:

• Fossil fuel production and use operating in a carbon-constrained environment. The lack of economical technology, combined with an absence of a legal and policy framework, could put Texas' energy resources at risk.
• New concepts and technologies in wind and solar energy for the development of electrical energy storage for these resources.
• Recycling spent fuel from carbon-free nuclear energy. The university has the opportunity to recreate a robust radio-chemistry program to extract the energy contained in spent fuel and to substantially reduce its toxicity and heat load for subsequent storage.

"These three areas combine to form the nexus of the future of energy production and use in the State of Texas requiring game-changing transformational research and development," said Orbach. "With success in this endeavor, our state will enjoy an economy and quality of life in the future comparable to that which it has enjoyed in the past."

Orbach was sworn in as the Department of Energy's first undersecretary for science in June 2006. He was the chief scientist of the Department of Energy, and adviser to Secretary Samuel W. Bodman on science policy as well as all scientific aspects of the Department of Energy, including basic and applied research ranging from nuclear energy, to environmental cleanup of Cold War legacy sites, to defense programs. Orbach was responsible for planning, coordinating and overseeing the Energy Department's research and development programs and its 17 national laboratories, as well as the department's scientific and engineering education activities.

Orbach also was responsible for the department's implementation of the president's American Competitiveness Initiative, designed to help drive continued U.S. economic growth. He led the department's efforts to transfer technologies from Department of Energy national laboratories and facilities to the global marketplace.

From the time of his Senate confirmation in 2002, Orbach also was the 14th director of the Office of Science at the Department of Energy. He managed an organization that was the third largest federal sponsor of basic research in the United States, the primary supporter of the physical sciences in the country and one of the premier science organizations in the world.

From 1982 to 1992, Orbach was the provost of the College of Letters and Science at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and from 1992 to 2002, he was chancellor of the University of California (UC), Riverside. Under his leadership, UC Riverside doubled in size, achieved national and international recognition in research and led the University of California in diversity and educational opportunity. In addition to his administrative duties at UC Riverside, Orbach sustained a research program, worked with postdoctoral, graduate and undergraduate students in his laboratory and taught the freshman physics course each year.

Orbach received his bachelor of science degree in physics from the California Institute of Technology in 1956. He received his Ph.D. degree in physics from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1960 and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He began his academic career as a postdoctoral fellow at Oxford University in 1960 and became an assistant professor of applied physics at Harvard University in 1961. He joined the faculty of UCLA two years later as an associate professor and became a professor in 1966.

Orbach's research in theoretical and experimental physics has resulted in the publication of more than 240 scientific articles. He has received numerous honors as a scholar, including two Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowships, a National Science Foundation Senior Postdoctoral Fellowship at Oxford University, a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship at Tel Aviv University, the Joliot Curie Professorship at the Ecole Superieure de Physique et Chimie Industrielle de la Ville de Paris, the Lorentz Professorship at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands, the 1991-1992 Andrew Lawson Memorial Lecturer at University of California, Riverside, the 2004 Arnold O. Beckman Lecturer in Science and Innovation at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the Outstanding Alumni Award from the California Institute of Technology in 2005.

Orbach is a fellow of the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has held numerous visiting professorships at universities around the world and is a member of 20 scientific, professional and civic boards.

For more information, contact: Robert D. Meckel, Office of Public Affairs, 512-475-7847.

You go, old dude!

Via Environmental News:

QUITO (Reuters) - Lonesome George, the last remaining giant tortoise of his kind, may soon be a father to the delight of conservationists.

Unhatched eggs have been found in his "bachelor" pen in the Galapagos Islands, his keepers said on Tuesday.

For decades, the last known Pinta island tortoise had shown little interest in reproducing. But at age 90, George is said to be in his sexual prime.

Galapagos tortoises were among the species Charles Darwin observed to formulate his theory of evolution in the 19th century.

Story continues.

EU, US take measures to protect ecomonies from threats of non-emission stadard bearing developing countries

From Environmental News:

European nations are wary about a perceived trend in France and the United States to use international competition as a reason to back off on Carbon reduction pledges. They are concerned that carbon tariffs could be used to fend off competition from countries which have not committed to reducing emissions, in effect triggering a green trade war.

So far, France has been the only European Union member state to openly rally for the introduction of border measures to secure the competitiveness of European industry against emerging economies. It put the measure on the table in 2008 when the EU was immersed in discussions on a revision of its emissions trading scheme (EU ETS).

Since agreement was reached on the EU revised directive in December 2008, carbon tariffs largely disappeared from debates until the US floated the idea in a draft climate bill. In the EU, meanwhile, France is having difficulty finding allies to rally around the cause.

The EU is dealing with the competitiveness issue differently. It is granting free emissions "permits" to industries which might be tempted to relocate to areas with less stringent regulations, an effect dubbed 'carbon leakage'.

In a measure opposed by President Obama, the US House of Representatives inserted a provision in its draft climate bill that allows the US to impose a 'border adjustment' after 2020 on certain products from countries which do not limit their global warming emissions. The move was seen as a pre-emptive measure to tackle American firms' loss of competitiveness in the face of cheaper products flooding from countries without a carbon premium.

Obama has said: "At a time when the economy worldwide is still deep in recession and we've seen a significant drop in global trade, I think we have to be very careful about sending any protectionist signals".

Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), also criticised the draft legislation, warning that it would allow developing countries to tax US exports in return.

As EU environment ministers met informally last week to discuss Europe's position for international negotiations, the Swedish EU Presidency warned that hints of protective measures would block progress towards a global deal, which it said was already too slow.

Astronaut laments loss of polar ice, glaciers

Bob Thirsk, an astronaut two months into his six months stint on the International Space Station has noticed some changes on our globe.

From Reuters and Yahoo!News:

"A Canadian astronaut aboard the International Space Station said on Sunday it looks like Earth's ice caps have melted a bit since he was last in orbit 12 years ago.

...He is mostly in awe when he looks out the window, particularly at the sliver of atmosphere wrapped around the planet.

"'It's a very thin veil of atmosphere around the Earth that keeps us alive,' Thirsk said during an in-flight news conference. 'Most of the time when I look out the window I'm in awe. But there are some effects of the human destruction of the Earth as well.'

'This is probably just a perception, but I just have the feeling that the glaciers are melting, the snow capping the mountains is less than it was 12 years ago when I saw it last time,' Thrisk said. 'That saddens me a little bit.'"

No, Bob, that is not just a perception, but I'm sure the denialists appreciate your political neutrality.

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.

Congress votes in favor of natural gas research

Yes, Mr. T. Boone Pickens' natural gas company stands much to gain, but in the long run, in the face of the increasing rarity of petroleum both domestic and foreign, the actions of Congress are welcome.

It has already been a great week for natural gas and the Pickens Plan.

Yesterday, another piece of legislation promoting the research and development of natural gas-powered vehicles—H.R. 1622—was passed by the House of Representatives. As CQ Today noted in the coverage of the bill, “Oilman T. Boone Pickens has been crusading for a switch to greater use of natural gas vehicles, as a centerpiece of his campaign to reduce dependence on foreign oil. His plan has been winning growing support from members of Congress, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.”

The bill, sponsored by Rep. John Sullivan of Oklahoma (one of the original co-sponsors of the NAT GAS Act), provides $30 million per year for natural gas vehicle research from 2010 to 2014 and directs the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Agency to focus research on commercial vehicles. The legislation also charges those agencies with developing procedures and national standards for the vehicles and for natural gas fueling stations. A special thank you goes out to Representative Sullivan for being a leader in the nation’s fight to reduce our reliance on foreign oil.

The vote? It was overwhelmingly in favor of the bill, 393 to 35. It was a huge victory. It’s further evidence of the fact that Members of Congress are recognizing the tremendous benefits of natural gas: it’s clean, it’s abundant and, most importantly, it’s American. Army, you’re really making a difference by reaching out to your elected officials.

This was a great achievement but we need you to keep up the momentum to get the NAT GAS Act—H.R. 1835 and S. 1408—passed by both chambers of Congress and signed by President Obama into law this year. Take a minute to send your Member of Congress an email asking them to become a co-sponsor of the NAT GAS Act. Click here to send an email today.

-- From Team Pickens

Delivery companies doing their part

From Environmental News:

FedEx increased its North America hybrid truck fleet by 50 percent with today’s announcement of 92 additional retrofitted delivery trucks.

The shipping giant now boasts 264 hybrid trucks, which it says is the largest hybrid package delivery fleet in North America. The repurposed vehicles are 44 percent more fuel-efficient that standard FedEx delivery trucks and produce 96 percent fewer particulates and 75 percent fewer smog-causing emissions.

The company turned to Freightliner Custom Chassis Corp. and Eaton Corp. for the delivery truck retrofits performed on 2000 and 2001 model year delivery trucks, which had been driven between 300,000 and 500,000 miles. The retrofitted trucks will be largely deployed in the Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco metropolitan areas.

Not to be outdone, UPS has made similar strides (also from Environmental News):

Did you know that UPS trucks have a “No Left Turn”� policy on deliveries? The company has taken another step toward energy conservation by ordering 500 more hybrid and compressed natural gas (CNG) delivery vehicles.

UPS calls its trucks the Green Fleet, and is expanding from 50 hybrid electric trucks to 250 (the largest commercial order of such trucks by any company). The CNG-run fleet will increase from 800 to 1,100 as well.

The purchase means the largest private alternative fuel fleet in the U.S. will grow 30 percent more in 2009. This will save 176,000 gallons of fuel annually and 1,786 metric tons of carbon emissions each year—the equivalent of removing almost 100 conventional UPS trucks from the road for a year.

Many UPS stores also offer reuse/recycling for shipping products, including packing peanuts and cardboard boxes. Use Earth 911’s recycling locator to see if your local store participates.