| The voluntary purchase of power from renewable energy sources has increased by a factor of 10 over the past five years, according to a DOE report released Monday. The amount of renewable energy capacity supported through such "green power" purchases topped 2,200 megawatts by the end of 2004, up from only 167 megawatts in 2000. The report also documents a growing interest among utilities and their customers: about 600 utilities were offering green power programs in 34 states in 2004, and more than 330,000 utility customers were participating in such programs, a fivefold increase since 1999. Meanwhile, the premiums charged by these programs have been dropping an average of 8 percent per year since 2000. See the DOE report (PDF 2.5 MB). Download Adobe Reader. The DOE report notes that non-residential customers are leading the growth in green power purchases. That trend is confirmed by EPA's Green Power Partnership, which now includes 600 partner organizations buying more than 3 billion kilowatt-hours of green power each year. That represents a doubling over the past six months. The partnership includes Fortune 500 companies, universities, trade associations, and local, state, and federal government agencies, and has grown from only 21 founding partners in 2001. Among the leading green power buyers are Johnson & Johnson; Safeway, Inc.; Advanced Micro Devices; and Whole Foods Market. DOE and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the news during the Tenth National Green Power Marketing Conference, which concludes today in Austin, Texas. See the announcements on the Green Power Partnership Web site. DOE, EPA, and the Center for Resource Solutions (CRS) also used the occasion to honor people and organizations that have helped establish the green power market. Green Power Partner of the Year Awards were presented to HSBC North America, Johnson & Johnson, the U.S. Air Force, and WhiteWave Foods Company for their green power purchases. The highest honor in market development, Green Power Pioneer, was presented to Blair Swezey of DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory, one of the co-authors of the new DOE report. In addition, Austin Energy's top-selling GreenChoice Program was named Green Power Program of the Year for the second consecutive year. GreenChoice supports four Texas wind facilities and allows customers to lock in a fixed rate for 10 years, a popular feature in today's volatile energy market. Because of its GreenChoice program, Austin Energy was also awarded the 2005 Wind Power Pioneer Award in a separate awards ceremony in Kansas City, Missouri, on Tuesday. See the awards announcement from the green power conference (PDF 59 KB) and the DOE press release. DOE announced last week that it published a final rule setting new energy efficiency standards for 15 types of residential appliances and commercial equipment. The standards were established as part of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Seven of the new standards apply to lighting equipment, including medium-base compact fluorescent lamps; fluorescent lamp ballasts; ballasts for mercury vapor lamps; torchieres; ceiling fans and ceiling fan light kits; illuminated exit signs; and traffic signal and pedestrian crossing light modules. Five standards apply to commercial equipment only, including pre-rinse spray valves; package air conditioning and heating equipment; refrigerators, freezers, and refrigerator-freezers; automatic ice makers; and clothes washers. The remaining three standards pertain to low-voltage dry-type distribution transformers, unit heaters, and dehumidifiers. See the DOE press release. DOE is continuing its work to increase the transparency and speed of the appliance standards process, which is managed by the Appliances and Commercial Equipment Standards Program, a part of DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. DOE announced last week that scientists and engineers at 12 DOE national laboratories won 29 of the 100 awards given out this year by R&D Magazine. The prestigious "R&D 100" awards honor the most outstanding technology developments of the year that have commercial potential. Of the 12 DOE awards, 3 relate directly to energy efficiency and renewable energy. DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) helped develop a method of detecting impurities and defects in silicon boules, the single-crystal ingots from which solar cells are made. NREL also helped to develop an energy-modeling program called Targeted Residential Energy Analysis Tools (TREAT), which identifies the most cost-effective energy efficiency upgrades for both single-family and multifamily homes. The third award went to DOE's Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), which worked with SEMCO Inc. to develop a rooftop air conditioner that can independently control humidity and temperature while delivering any specified percentage of outdoor air into commercial and institutional buildings. See the press releases from DOE, NREL, ORNL, and SEMCO. Some award-winning technologies not funded by DOE were also related to energy efficiency and renewable energy. Genencor International won an R&D 100 Award for developing a new blend of enzymes that allow granular starch to be converted to glucose without an energy-intensive cooking step. Converting starch to glucose is a key part of the ethanol production process, and the new enzyme blend not only simplifies that process, but also increases ethanol yield by about 10 percent. Other related award-winning technologies include inexpensive membranes to separate hydrogen from hot gases, novel polymers that may boost the performance of polymer lithium batteries, and a hand-held device powered by a micro-fuel cell. See the Genencor press release, and for the complete list of winners, see the R&D Magazine Web site. Plans are proceeding to build wind power projects in California and Washington that will each exceed 200 megawatts. In southern California, enXco plans to build a 205.5-megawatt wind facility, called the Pacific Wind Project, by 2007 or 2008. Last week, San Diego Gas and Electric Company (SDG&E) announced its agreement to buy power from the project. In Washington State, Puget Sound Energy (PSE) will own the 229-megawatt Wild Horse Wind Power Project when Horizon Wind Energy finishes construction in late 2006. PSE bought the development rights for the project from Horizon (formerly called Zilkha Renewable Energy) early this month. The project earned approval from Governor Christine Gregoire in July. Currently, the largest U.S. wind power plant is the 300-megawatt Stateline Wind Energy Center in Washington, but projects larger than 200 megawatts remain a rarity. See the press release from SDG&E and PSE and the Wild Horse Wind Power Project page on the Horizon Wind Energy Web site. DaimlerChrysler announced on October 11th that its commercial buses unit has received a contract for 500 hybrid-electric buses from New York City transport services. New York City Transit has ordered 216 Orion VII hybrid-electric buses and Metropolitan Transportation Authority has ordered 284 hybrid buses. According to DaimlerChrysler, the order is the largest ever for hybrid buses, and follows previous orders for the city that totaled 325 hybrid buses. The company also sold 56 hybrid buses to the San Francisco Municipal Railway in August. The Orion VII hybrid bus is propelled by a single electric motor, powered by an energy storage system and a generator, which in turn is driven by a diesel engine. BAE Systems developed the hybrid system. See the press releases from DaimlerChrysler and BAE Systems. Hybrid vehicles will soon be appearing in a popular form of transit in the city: the taxicab. The New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission authorized the use of hybrid vehicles for taxicabs on October 16th. A city law passed last year required the commission to approve at least one hybrid vehicle, and the commission didn't hold back: only the two-door Honda Insight was excluded from the approved list. See the commission's announcement and the full rule (PDF 114 KB). Download Adobe Reader. The Tokyo Auto Show, Japan's premiere auto show, is now open to the public, allowing Japanese automakers to display their latest and craziest concepts in vehicles. This year's show has a heavy emphasis on fuel cell and hybrid vehicles.  |  The new Honda FCX fuel-cell concept will leave you wondering where the fuel cell is.
Credit: Honda | Honda debuted its latest FCX concept, a fuel-cell-powered sedan featuring an 80-kilowatt front motor and two 25-kilowatt rear in-wheel motors mounted in a low-slung vehicle. A 100-kilowatt fuel cell stack is tucked into a center tunnel running up the middle of the car and features vertical gas flow, an innovative process in which oxygen and hydrogen flow downward through the stack. This allows gravity to help discharge water from the stack, improving performance and allowing "ultra-low-temperature start-up performance on par with that of a gasoline engine," according to Honda. In addition, a "newly developed hydrogen absorption material" extends the vehicle's cruising range to 350 miles. The vehicle is matched with Honda's Home Energy Station, a system that converts natural gas into hydrogen to fuel the vehicle and power a 5-kilowatt fuel cell, which provides power and hot water to the home. See the Honda press release and FCX Web site. Toyota displayed a hybrid Estima minivan and a boxy new concept fuel cell vehicle, called the "Fine-X," which features four in-wheel motors. Toyota's Lexus division brought the GS450h, a rear-wheel-drive hybrid sedan featuring a V6 engine, a high-output electric motor, and an electrically controlled, six-speed automatic transmission. Ford Motor Company was represented by Mazda, which displayed the Premacy Hydrogen RE (rotary engine) Hybrid concept. Based on the Mazda5 minivan, the vehicle combines an electric motor with a rotary engine that can run on hydrogen or gasoline. In the concept vehicle, a tank filled with compressed hydrogen gas has replaced the third row of seats. Mazda also brought the Senku concept car, a hybrid sports car with a direct injection gasoline rotary engine and a motor, both mounted in the center of the car. Nissan debuted an egg-shaped three-seat electric vehicle called the Pivo, with a cabin that can be rotated completely around, thanks to drive-by-wire technologies. And carrying the spirit of the show to the two-wheeled world, Yamaha Motor Company, Ltd. introduced four concept vehicles: a hybrid scooter, two electric motorcycles, and a motorcycle powered with a methanol fuel cell. See the press releases from Toyota, Lexus, Ford, Nissan, and Yamaha. |
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