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Energy Newsbriefs

Articles for September 17, 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.


DISTRIBUTED GENERATION

The following six articles were published in the August 2012 issue of Cogeneration & On-Site Power Production:
  1. "Cogeneration at US Dairies Gets a Boost from Co-Digestion," by Ed Ritchie, suggests that the strategy of adding other organic wastes, including food waste from landfills, to the traditional mix of animal manure and on-the-farm organic food waste could, in the U.S., result in higher interest in anaerobic digestion.

  2. "Cogenerated Heat Used to Dry Malt at German Producer," by staff, is a case study of a malt house that produces malt for the beer brewing industry. On-site combined heat and power (CHP) plants produce both electric and thermal energy for the malt making.

  3. "Fuel Cell CHP Plant Serves a California Office Campus" was authored by Chris Pais, Manager of Application Engineering, at FuelCell Energy. CHP (combined heat and power) already contributes to the energy supply by using, instead of losing, waste heat, and is also relatively kind to the environment with reduced emissions. Coupling CHP with fuel cells improves things even further.

  4. "Landfill Gas CHP Plant to Benefit Pennsylvanian State Prison" is the briefest of articles; it was written by Heather Johnstone, Ph.D., Chief Editor, Cogeneration & On-Site Power Production. The methane gas generates electricity and steam replacing the prison's coal-fired boilers and their pollution.

  5. "Not All Megawatts Are Created Equal" is the position of article author Thomas R. Casten, Chairman, Recycled Energy Development. He cites new research which indicates that on-site and cogenerated power is superior to centrally generated power for several reasons. With distributed energy, there are no line losses of energy and both fossil fuels and emissions are reduced; there are other benefits, as well.

  6. "Turin – Towards a Smart Energy City" was co-authored by Gian Vincenzo Fracastoro and Alberto Poggio, both of the Energy Department of the Politecnico di Torino in Torino, Italy. The northern Italian city of Turin (Torino) is known for its year-round, high levels of air pollution due to human and natural factors. But the city is, also, home to a large district heating system with a number of CHP (combined heat and power) plants and boilers. This already extensive system is to be enlarged with more CHP plants and the addition of a heat storage system of 2400 m3. This informative article takes an in-depth look at the planned expansion, which is meant to further increase energy efficiency and improve air quality.

GEOTHERMAL

"Geothermal in South America: Major Prospects for Development" was authored by Meg Cichon, Associate Editor, RenewableEnergyWorld.com; it appeared in the August 2012 issue of that journal. With expected increases in population – the author cites the number as 72% by 2035 – South American countries face the need to develop more energy sources. They contribute little to the emissions that are largely responsible for climate change. However, a number of the world's "hot spots" are located on their continent making it, ironically, very vulnerable to the more serious effects of climate change. Hydropower, it is explained, is no longer a long-term or large-scale option. It is thought that geothermal, plentiful in South America, could fill in the energy gap, but there are challenges.

MILITARY

"Interior and Defense Departments Join Forces to Promote Renewable Energy on Federal Lands" is an August 6, 2012 press release from the Department of Interior. It describes the MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) between the two federal agencies that is meant to support energy security by expanding the development of U.S. based energy resources under the Renewable Energy Partnership Plan. Developing the resources on or very near military bases will reduce the military's utility bills.

RESIDENTIAL EFFICIENCY STRATEGIES

"Fall and Winter Energy-Saving Tips" is a Web page, 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 cooler months.

SOLAR

"Sunflowers Inspire More Efficient Solar Power System" was published August 15, 2012, by the University of Wisconsin News, and carried on a Washington State University Web page. Inspired by the way sunflowers track the sun, an engineering professor has harnessed the light-absorption properties of carbon nanotubes to do the same, thus avoiding the need for energy-consuming motors in this new technology.

UTILITIES

"Risk Management's Existential Crisis" was written by David Foti, Lone Star College and Foti LLC; it was published in the August 2012 issue of Fortnightly's Spark. It is an examination of the reasons for the failure of risk management in a derivative trading environment in both financial institutions and energy companies, and an effort to suggest ways to help prevent failures in the future. First, the author reviewed in depth, or just mentioned in passing, failures in several financial institutions such as JP Morgan, MF Global, Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, Société Générale, Barings, Daiwa Bank, Sumitomo Corp., and Irish Allied Banks. Second, he discussed the power and gas industry where huge failures occurred in Enron, Duke, Aquila, El Paso, Reliant, and Amaranth. The reasons for the failures in both groups are, essentially, the same, and two ways suggested to help remedy the problem are structural in nature.

WATER

"King County Opens the Door for Heat Energy from Wastewater", by staff, was published August 3, 2012, by KUOW Radio on the KUOW.org website. King County is engaged in an effort to harness the heat in its wastewater via public-private partnerships. The heat from wastewater, at 65 degrees Fahrenheit, could be transferred to cold water in buildings; the process is, essentially, a heat pump in action. Commonly used in other countries, it has been shown to dramatically reduce energy consumption – by 75% in one building in Vancouver, Washington.

Past issues of Energy Newsbriefs are available here.

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© 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.