Clean Energy Transition

7th November 2007 the mainstream 10:30pm ITV news in the UK discusses the "peak oil" documentary Crude Awakening, hears the IEA warning of much higher oil prices, shows how many countries have already peaked

This is the third in a series of three blog entries that attempts to explain electricity markets: why regulation was necessary at one time, why it may not be now, and what it means to be an electricity consumer in the wake of deregulation. Part 1 provides the background. Part 2 explains how deregulation works from a consumer’s perspective. Part 3 describes the choices available to deregulated market participants and the near-term outlook for deregulation at the time of this writing (November 2007).

Neuwing Energy Ventures, a New York-based marketer of energy-efficiency certificates, would perform an initial assessment of IBM customers' sprawling data centers -- the massive, air-conditioned facilities that store information and route anything from eBay purchases to e-mail. IBM would identify potential energy savings areas for its clients, and Neuwing would grant the IT firms certificates for the total megawatt-hours no longer needed to cool or operate the data center equipment. Each certificate would equal 1 megawatt-hour (MWh) per annum, said Rich Lechner, IBM's vice president for IT optimization. Clients could sell the certificates to utilities subject to state renewable portfolio standards, as well as sell to other companies that aim to reduce their carbon footprint through energy savings. The value of the energy efficiency certificates, historically in the $2-$10 range, is determined by the supply and demand for those certificates in each trading market.

The first is that Senator Clinton released her energy plan. You can find it on the energy page of her campaign site, or download it directly here (16 page, 90KB PDF).

The demand-driven surge in commodity prices of all kinds — whether oil, metals or grains — means blockbuster profits have been matched by soaring costs, particularly for new projects using cutting-edge technologies. Meanwhile, aging plants and fields are proving less reliable, making core businesses less profitable even as oil prices hit new highs.

Are we already talking about a new generation of renewable energy sources, or at least a new generation of capturing energy sources?

Thanks to the efforts of more than 35 manufacturers, a wide range of computer products now include internal power supplies that are at least 80% efficient, that is, less than 20% of the power fed into them is lost as heat

The company's Power-Pipe technology is basically copper tubing that wraps around a residential drain pipe.

The company claims the system will pay for itself in two to five years, it can be used in new and old homes, and it can reduce home energy consumption by 5 to 10 per cent. Not bad when you consider the hot water portion only accounts for 20 to 30 per cent of total home energy use.

Algae require only sunlight, water and carbon dioxide to grow. They can quadruple in biomass in just one day. And, what's more, they suck up harmful pollutants such as nitrogen from waste water and carbon dioxide from power plants as they grow.  Some strains of algae contain over 50% oil and an average acre of algae grown today for food and pharmaceutical industries can yield around 19,000 litres of biodiesel, compared to just 265 litres for one acre of soya beans or 1,600 litres of ethanol for an acre of corn.

What should China do to satisfy its insatiable thirst for energy? Go back to their amazing energy efficiency policies of the 1980s and early 1990s.

SDG&E says that nearly 80,000 of its customers lost power, but by October 27th, power had been restored to all but 6,700 customers. Over the weekend, the utility expected to restore power to 97% of those affected, leaving only 2,400 without power

On Monday, October 22nd, the state's electrical grid operator—the California Independent Systems Operator (ISO)—declared an emergency when the Santiago Fire in Orange County caused two more high-voltage transmission lines to trip off-line. To avoid reduce stress on the power grid, the California ISO asked two utilities—Southern California Edison (SCE)and the San Diego Gas and Electric Company (SDG&E)—to reduce their electrical load by a total of 500 megawatts.

gives the utility more than 1 gigawatt of wind energy under contract

Anyone thinking that "going green" will be simple and quickly profitable, even after the low-hanging fruit of highly-attractive projects is exhausted, ought to read this article

the current price of a REC is too low to encourage the construction of more renewable power projects.

the new international forum links up the EU Commission and seven member states (France, Germany, the UK, Italy, the Netherlands, Ireland and Portugal) with eleven US and Canadian regional states (the likes of New York, Maine, California and British Columbia) to exchange information and best practices about their efforts to create carbon markets through a cap-and-trade system. The bad news: where are the other 20 EU member states? And what about other federal governments such as the US, Russia, China or India?