CSS Energy Group items 2 Nov 09

[Lance Christie]

TO:               Canyonlands Sustainable Solutions

FROM:   Richard Lance Christie, Relocalization Network HUB Coordinator

RE:              News items of primary interest to energy working group, 2 Nov 09 edition

(1) In Salt Lake County, a private firm has arranged to build photovoltaic power arrays on the roofs of 50 county-owned buildings.  The photovoltaic power panel arrays will be connected to the Rocky Mountain Electric grid.  Power from them will offset billed power use from the grid, and when they generate a surplus of electricity over what the county building is using, the excess photovoltaic power will be sold to the utility.  The panel installation is being paid for with private capital.  When the panels are installed, the company will sell the panels to Salt Lake County on an installment payment plan based on the electrical bill savings resulting from the renewable power source generated on the county building roof.  The net impact on the Salt Lake City taxpayer will be zero dollars out of pocket.  After a number of years, the taxpayers will own the photovoltaic arrays outright, having purchased them from electric bill savings, after which the tax outlay to provide the county buildings with electricity from the utility will drop by the amount of grid electricity replaced by panel output, plus any excess electricity sold back to the utility.

(2)  The exhaustion of fossil energy resources is not unforeseen.  In the February 1973 issue of Organic Gardening and Farming Robert Rodale editorialized “The amazing expansion of our energy needs is starting to strain our reserves of fuel.  About 90% of the energy we use comes from fossil fuels - coal, oil, and gas.”  Rodale cited transportation as the biggest consumer of energy, consuming 25 percent of the total at that time.  Rodale observed, “A good garden can yield plenty of storable energy with a moderate amount of work.”  In the last 35 years, U.S. energy consumption has increased 34 percent and our energy imports by 137 percent.  Transportation now consumes almost 30 percent of the total national energy budget.

(3) My answer to a question: “Do you need (or is it preferable to have) a moist climate in order to viably grow algae as a bio-fuel source?”  Answer:  No.  The most successful demonstration project to date for bio-diesel production by a strain of brown algae was conducted outside Missoula, Montana, by the University of Montana.  In all biofuel applications I know of, the algae grows in an aquatic medium: open ponds or, in the case of the demonstration project which captures carbon dioxide from coal combustion for conversion to biodiesel by algae, in water cylinders with a transparent face to admit sunlight.  You have to have water available to grow the algae in, but the aridity of the climate is not a direct issue.  Areas with high insolation energy from the sun striking the earth's surface will grow more algae faster than areas with low insolation.  Growing algae in a sunny desert like ours that has water available for filling ponds and/or tanks (and note that once the ponds or tanks are filled, you don't need more water except to replace evaporative loss - the algae do not "consume" water in the process of metabolizing sugars or oils out of combining solar energy and carbon dioxide to form carbohydrates through photosynthesis.

Treated sewage plant effluent water would be an ideal source of water for biofuel algae.  The algae would find it tasty, and consumers are not yet over their squeamishness about re-using such water in a culinary system.

(4) Kent Alcorn of American Solar: (A) Kent has sold the American Solar business in Grand County to Kevin Hansen, who holds a Master Electrician license as well as a general contractor’s license in Utah.  Hansen is a veteran of Fairchild Semiconductor in California.
(B) Kent looked on Google re electric power in Utah.  He found out that Pacificorp owned Mid-America Electric Holdings, which owns both Wyoming coal reserves and a large interest in Burlington Northern Railroad which hauls Wyoming coal to power plants.  Berkshire-Hathaway, Warren Buffet’s holding company, has acquired Pacificorp, and now owns Mid-America Electric Holdings outright, as well as owning more shares of Burlington Northern Railroad independent of those acquired with Pacificorp.  Buffet has said he opposes cap-and-trade regulation of carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants.  Analysts say that Berkshire Hathaway takes $126 per year in profits out of the pockets of each Utah electric ratepayer.
( C) When Rocky Mountain Power held their last allocation to buy renewable power from distributed solar power providers, which was capped at 123 kilowatts, the cap was reached by applicants 23 minutes after the application period opened at midnight and all subsequent offers to sell renewable power to Rocky Mountain Power were rejected.

(5) In 2008 the Rocky Mountain Power Blue Sky program ranked third in the nation in the number of the utility’s customers buying renewable power and in total sales volume, according to a national assessment by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory.  Blue Sky customers bought 490 million kilowatt hours of Green-e Energy Certified renewable energy in 2008.

(6) In 2002, Peter Buckner bought an all-electric Toyota Rav4EV for his daily commute across the San Francisco Bay Bridge.  He then invested in 24 photovoltaic cell panels on his 1,000 square-foot roof with solar exposure.  The array cost him about $20,000 after rebates, and it took three days to install it and the conduit into the garage, where he plugs in the Rav4EV to recharge.  The array powers the house as well as the car.  During the day the excess electricity generated, even in the foggy San Francisco Bay area, turns the electric meter backwards.  In 2008, the net cost for electricity paid to PG&E by Buckner for house (with wife and two daughters) and electric car recharging was $300.

(7)  Governor Huntsman's Utah Renewable Energy Zone (UREZ) Task Force was made up of twenty members, appointed by Governor Jon M. Huntsman, Jr., representing utilities; renewable energy generation developers; environmental organizations; federal, state and local government representatives; and energy advocate representatives.  It’s draft report was released in November 2008.
This task force recognizes the Governor’s commitment to renewable energy resources as a component of Utah’s energy portfolio and clean energy policy. Dr. Dianne R. Nielson, Energy Advisor, and Dr. Rick Allis, Director of Utah Geological Survey, co-chair the UREZ Task Force.
Utah is one of twelve states participating in the National Governors’ Association Center for Best Practices Securing a Clean Energy Future initiative, which is providing funding for the UREZ Task Force project.
Purpose: To promote the development of renewable energy resources to meet the goal of 20% of Utah’s electricity by 2025.
Specific objectives of the UREZ Task Force:
Phase I -
* Identify renewable energy zones (REZs)
* Identify information or procedures to recognize areas with cumulative potential for larger amounts of renewable energy production
* Generate information to identify renewable energy resource areas within and outside REZs
* Support renewable energy development
Phase II -
* Identify policies or market mechanisms that would facilitate transmission planning and permitting for renewable energy projects
* Quantify cost-effective generation potential
* Identify necessary transmission to bring resources to market
Other Renewable Energy Zone Reports
* Other States' Renewable Energy Transmission Initiatives
* Western Governors' Association Renewable Energy Zone Initiative (pdf)
http://www.geology.utah.gov/sep/renewable_energy/urez/index.htm

FINALLY:
If you play with this map, you can see that Grand County has potential for both wind and solar energy as well as transmission lines.
http://dagrc.utah.gov/urez/