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Energy Newsbriefs

Articles for June 4, 2012

ENERGY NEWSBRIEFS is a weekly current awareness service provided by the WSU Extension Energy Program Library and written by Angela Santamaria, WSU Energy Library Manager, to assist users in tracking developments in the energy field. To view past issues or to subscribe to receive an email notification of the publication of a new issue, go to the Energy Newsbriefs home.

Please be aware that although every URL is checked for accuracy prior to the publication of Energy Newsbriefs, URLs are, for various reasons, subject to change. Further, servers sometimes fail to connect to working URLs.



BIOENERGY

The following three articles were published in the April 2012 issue of Biomass Power & Thermal:
  1. "Biomass Energy Studies Underway at 10 Vt. Facilities" was written by Anna Austin, Associate Editor, Biomass Power & Thermal. Federal and state cooperation is the backbone of this effort to identify ten facilities in Vermont likely to successfully use biomass-based energy. Both public and private sector buildings were considered.

  2. "Report Shows Business Case for Purpose-Grown Biomass in Ontario" was authored by Luke Geiver, Associate Editor, Biomass Power & Thermal. A farm organization has published the report which suggests that miscanthus, in particular, could be a very successful purpose-grown energy crop.

  3. "Wash. State Energy Roadmap Could Increase Need for Biopower," by Luke Geiver, Associate Editor, Biomass Power & Thermal. A private firm active in consulting on clean energy has developed a roadmap for how the state could meet its energy goals. It includes reliance on combined heat and power (CHP) with all natural gas combustion systems for heating and powering all types of facilities and on electric vehicles to replace those using petroleum-based fuels.

BUILDINGS – includes INTERIORS

"The BIM Revolution," by Barbara Horwitz-Bennett, is a Continuing Education opportunity, but it is, also, an excellent and informative article for the reader not interested in CE credit; it was published in the April 2012 issue of ED+C (Environmental Design + Construction). The building information modeling (BIM) that is easily understood within the field of architecture is meeting the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) software familiar to those in engineering through software that combines MEP BIM in one package. The article is a discussion of this powerful combination.

"Making Green" was written by Lisa Henry, FASID, LEED AP, ASID President, and Regional Architecture and Design Director for Knoll Southwest; it was published in the April 2012 issue of Interiors & Sources. The author makes the connection between green interiors and energy savings. LEED requirements, economic opportunities, and the large stock of existing buildings ripe for green retrofits of their interiors are all discussed.

The following two articles were published in the April 2012 issue of Buildings; they were both written by Janelle Penny, Associate Editor of that journal:
  1. "The Cost of Green Buildings" reports on how the costs of green buildings compare to the costs of conventional buildings. It appears that the green buildings are less expensive. A comparison study of the two types seemed, at first, to question that, at least in the case of two of the green buildings included in the study. However, these anomalies were eliminated when higher than previously-understood levels of occupancy were factored in.

  2. "Cut the Cost of Geoexchange" takes into consideration the fact that, once installed, geoexchange HVAC systems reduce monthly heating and cooling costs, but the first costs can be quite discouraging. The article lists and describes various incentives available for the installation and offers some good advice on how to go about the application process.

RESIDENTIAL EFFICIENCY STRATEGIES

EnergySavers.gov: Stay Cool, Save Money is a website, revised (and re-named) seasonally, from the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Office of the U.S. Department of Energy. The site is now offering many tips for energy savings for the warmer months.


TRANSPORTATION

"Plug-In Electric Vehicle Handbook for Public Charging Station Hosts" is an April 2012, 20-page brochure, from NREL (National Renewable Energy Laboratory). This covers the basics about EVs and the charging stations they need. It includes information on how to choose locations for the stations and how to install and maintain them once they are in place. Also covered are ownership and payment options.


WATER

The following three articles appeared in the May 2012 issue of Water Efficiency:
  1. "Advanced Adoption," by Carol Brzozowski, is an in-depth discussion of Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) technology whose adoption is being driven by a number of factors including water policies. Other factors discussed are water leaks in old systems, real-time data on water consumption, remote service possibilities, and more.

  2. "H2O, Redux," by Lori Lovely, describes the need for water conservation and the connections between water efficiency and energy efficiency. To meet the increasing needs of a growing world population, water will need to be conserved and re-used, paid for at higher prices, and made potable only for drinking and related uses.

  3. "Pumped for Efficiency," by Dan Rafter, explores the world of water pumps and the part they could play in water and energy savings.



Past issues of Energy Newsbriefs are available here.

Generally, subscription information for the journals cited above can be found at the home page of their web sites.

© 2012 Washington State University Extension Energy Program. This publication contains material written and produced for public distribution. Permission to copy or disseminate all or part of this material is granted, provided that the copies are not made or distributed for commercial advantage, and that each is referenced by title with credit to the Washington State University Extension Energy Program. Copying, reprinting or dissemination, electronic or otherwise, for any other use requires prior written permission from the Washington State University Extension Energy Program.