Future Energy

Figuring Out Smart Grid

Google's PowerMeter

Source: Google.org

I've been spending some time lately reading about the "smart grid" and trying to understand what it means.  The short answer seems to be that the smart grid is whatever you want it to be, with companies ranging from General Electric to Google each staking their claim to some part of this marriage of electricity transmission and IT.  I intend to write a couple of posts about it and the companies involved.  In the meantime, you might be interested in Google's recent announcement of home energy software for the delivery end of the grid.

"Google PowerMeter receives information from utility smart meters and energy management devices and provides customers with access to their home electricity consumption right on their personal iGoogle homepage. We are currently testing Google PowerMeter with a number of utilities and plan to expand our rollout later this year."

For more information, the NYTimes Green Inc. blog tells the story better than I can.

Eco-Driving Revisited

Source: Dot Earth Blog (NYTimes)

I suggested yesterday that the Obama Administration's announcement of new emissions limits and a single national fuel efficiency standard for U.S. vehicles bbeginning in 2016 was arguably the most significant environmental step taken by a U.S. government in almost 30 years.  By comparing the proposed standard with European vehicle fuel efficiency standards, Andrew Revkin presents it in a different and negative light.  As illustrated in the graph above, in 2016 the U.S. will only be matching current European fleet efficiency levels.  Not so much of an achievement after all.    

Continuing on my re-visit of yesterday's post, I combined the various eco-driving tips lists to come up with what seems to be the most popular (and practical) suggestions.  My (not very original) top five list includes:

• avoid jack-rabbit starts and braking;

• avoid idling, switching off your engine for short (and long) stops;

• maintain recommended tire pressure;

• slow down and keep your highway speed to 55 mph (90 kph);

• maintain your vehicle and its engine.

I would have to say that Ford's 10 Eco-Driving Tips for Everyone is the best of the three lists I provided yesterday.

 

 

Obama brings on eco-driving?

Source: Sustainable Energy Europe

Today, the U.S. took perhaps the most significant environmental step by a federal government since George Bush the elder ushered in the Acid Rain program for U.S. utilities with amendments to the Clean Air Act in 1990.  President Obama's Administration announced that it will put in place regulations that will require vehicles sold in the U.S. to meet stringent greenhouse gas emissions limits and a new federal standard for fuel efficeincy by 2016. 

For passenger vehicles, the standard will require average fuel efficiency of at least 35.5 miles per gallon (or 6.62 litres per 100 kilometres) but is expected to increase average auto costs by US$600 per vehicle over what already existing standards would require. 

By putting in place a single national standard for fuel efficiency, the President has met the demands of the auto makers.  By setting the standard at a level sought by California, he has brought that state and thirteen others that had wanted to implement California's proposed standard, on board.  He has provided certainty of direction for auto makers who surely knew that more efficient vehicles would be required and he has dragged the issue out of the courts and into the realm of political negotiation where it properly belongs.

Not bad for a day's work.

Looking at the news stories reporting on this morning I was reminded of the Eco-Driving movement that has emerged in recent years.  Is the U.S. on the path to becoming a nation of eco-drivers? 

If so there is a host of information on how drivers can significantly improve their fuel efficiency every day.

First of all, apparently May is eco-driving month, at least according to ecoDrivingUSA and the Auto Alliance, an industry group of 11 auto manufacturers.  ecoDrivingUSA provides Quick Tips and a detailed brochure on its Education page.

Ford tested drivers who had taken eco-driving training and found that on average they could improve their fuel economy by 24% simply by changing the way that they drove.  Ford provides 10 eco-driving tips that anyone can follow.

And finally (among the sites I am aware of - I am sure there are many others), Ecodriving, a European organization, offers workshops and simulations to teach eco-driving skills.  They also provide 17 tips for drivers.

But if you get rerally enthusiastic about improving your car's fuel efficiency, perhaps you can qualify as a hypermiler.   An article in Mother Jones explains (see This Guy can Get 59 MPG in a Plain Old Accord.  Beat That, Punk.  January/February 2007)

Dirty Brown Grease

In a world of peak oil, growing population and even faster growing demand for energy, it seems self-evident to me that we will cast in increasingly wide net in the search for new sources of energy.  If that is indeed the case, we'll see much more variety in our future fuel sources, with many niche technologies and materials emerging in the years to come.

Not too long ago I cam across a small company that epitomizes this shift to me.  Originally called Philadelphia Fry-o-Diesel, the company recently changed its name to BlackGold Biofuels, although, they remain in the same business - converting grease to biodiesel.  And not just any grease, BlackGold specializes in converting restaurant trap grease.  By their own admission, trap grease is "gross, it smells terrible ... an undesireable material". 

Source: BlackGold Biofuels

Captured in traps in commercial kitchens, the grease must be regularly pumped out for disposal before it can escape into sewer lines and clog them.  BlackGold appears to have started out with an interest in manufacturing biodeisel and has evolved to supplying its self-developed technogy to others across the U.S. who want to be in the business of converting a polluting waste into a useful energy product.

Source: BlackGold Biofuels

Sustainability doesn't get much better than this.

BlackGold appears to be a co-op based company and they are actively trying to license their technology but they do have some competition.  CNET ran a story in February about a venture sponsored by the City of San Francisco.  I've also been told that there is a company manufacturing biodiesel from trap grease here in Vancouver (Canada).  However, I haven't been able to find any information on that.

I'm Back!

Its been quite a while since I last posted to this blog - five months in fact.  All I can plead is workload and family responsibilities.  Whatever the reasons, I'm going to once again take a stab at regularly posting on energy, sustainability and occasionally, investing in sustainable energy.

When I started this blog, I was thinking a lot about investing in clean, green, sustainable, etc. energy.  Oil prices were high (WTI hit US$82.51/bbl the day of my first post) and heading higher.  Clean energy funds and renewable energy start-ups were being announced daily and there was a "sky is falling" tenor to the press commentaries on energy.

Energy prices are lower now (today, WTI is sitting at US$58.81/bbl) and many of the start-ups that were the focus of so much attention 18 months ago have slipped beneath the waves - likely never to be seen again.  What remains is a pressing need for sustainable energy to address mounting evidence of climate change and what will be the inevitable return to concerns for peak oil.

With this iteration of my blog writing efforts, I don't expect to write as much about investing in energy - there isn't as much to talk about in that regard these days and my interests have shifted a bit.  What I will try to focus on more is interesting and/or small scale technologies as well as the effects of our addiction to oil and gas and some of the solutions that appear to be emerging.  Needless to say, I will also be looking at the growing momentum for climate legislation and regulation in North America. 

Perhaps another way if putting this would be to highlight a quote from the Wall Street Journal's Environmental Capital blog.  Writing today about a CERI report concerning Canada's oil sands (see Shifting Sands, May 13), Ben Casselman concludes:

"a basic truth the bears repeating: putting a price on carbon has the potential for vast changes in the energy landscape that will take years, if not decades, to manifest."

It would be nice to play a small part in exploring those vast changes.