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12 Views
21:44:00 12/01/10
Your Take on China's Energy Use
[LESS INFO] 12 VIEWS | ADDED 21:44:00 12/01/10
We went to Union Station in Washington to ask people about the recent International Energy Agency report predicting that China will account for about one-third of the world's energy use in 25 years. We also invited them to submit questions to our panel opf experts who will be discussing the report Alison Nadle of Coral, Springs, FL, says she's not surprised considering China's population, but she believes the U.S. will face rising energy costs as a result. She wants to ask our panel of experts if there are any plans for joint efforts to reduce energy use in China and the U.S. She believes China's per capita energy use figures are not a concern because so many people in rural areas there have no access to electricity. Piper Holloway of Oxon Hill, MD, is surprised at the extent of China's energy use. She believes that the United States should help bring the number down because it will affect all of us. She wants to know the details of China's energy use and its strategies for reducing it. She believes that Americans should use this as a signal to cut their own energy use, and that if children are taught now, it will catch on by the time they're adults. Chris Thomas of Washington says the U.S. should reach out to China to get it to develop more renewable energy to reduce its energy use. Johnny Cruz of Silver Spring, MD, believes China's energy use will result in more outsourcing of U.S. jobs. He wants to know if there is any way the U.S. can tell China to reduce its energy use. Rob Davies of Stamford, CT, says Americans need to be prepared and should use models to project prices over the next few decades so consumers will know what to expect. He doesn't believe the U.S. has much to learn from China's lower per-capita energy use because China has less business infrastructure. He believes it should be a concern for Americans because the per capita use of developing countries will increase as they develop more technology and infrastructure.
1 Views
21:38:13 12/01/10
What Do You Think About CCS Technology?
[LESS INFO] 1 VIEWS | ADDED 21:38:13 12/01/10
This week, energyNOW.com headed to Reagan National Airport to ask people what they think of carbon capture and storage technology, where carbon dioxide is removed from the emissions of coal-fired power plants and pumped underground, where it will be stored in rock formations. John Mayer-Splain of Springfield, VA, says it sounds like a complex subject that might merit study and research. Diane Poole of Macon, MO, says if it works, it's worthwhile to pursue, but she has doubts. James Lindsey of North Carolina says if it's proven safe and efficient, it should move forward. He believes using green energy, such as solar, is another good method of reducing CO2 emissions. Sharon Telleen of Chicago says funding for CCS technology should be prioritized within the whole scope of renewable energy to determine which areas will give the government the best return on its investment. She believes the government needs to work together with industry to fund research. She says her neighbors who use water from rain barrels and solar panels are doing their part to cut emissions. Brittany Parmeter of Cazadero, CA, believes CCS technology is useless. Noel Armas of Miami says Americans should drive more electric cars and hybrids to reduce carbon emissions.
6 Views
16:00:00 11/28/10
Algae to Fuel
[LESS INFO] 6 VIEWS | ADDED 16:00:00 11/28/10
Where will the next generation of motor fuels come from? It could be as close as your fish tank - or a nearby pond. In "Algae to Fuel," Chief Correspondent Tyler Suiters heads to a place where tourists focus on America's past, and students look to the future.
In Colonial Williamsburg, students at the College of William & Mary are harvesting algae, or pond scum, for conversion into fuel. Algae be may unsightly in home aquariums, but in the wild, they're actually quite efficient at removing nutrients that pollute the water and metabolizing them as as oil. Tyler talks to William & Mary students, professors and a government official to learn how the program got started and where it's headed. The project has gotten attention not only from the U.S. Department of Energy, but from Norwegian energy firm Statoil. Those funding streams have helped the project take off. Now researchers are trying to determine how to develop it on a scale that could put a dent in America's petroleum use.
2 Views
15:55:00 11/28/10
Electric Vehicles, Gloria Reuben and Algal Fuel, 11.28.10
[LESS INFO] 2 VIEWS | ADDED 15:55:00 11/28/10
This week on energyNOW - In "Charging the Road," correspondent Lee Patrick Sullivan studies the new revolution in electric vehicles, and how advocates are working to make sure it doesn't die out like the last one in the late 1990s and early 2000s. "Energy Then" shows you the first solar car - produced in 1960. It took hours to charge and topped out at 20 mph. On "The Mix," filmmaker Bjorn Lomborg, actress Gloria Reuben and Center for American Progress Senior Fellow Daniel Weiss discuss Lomborg's new film, "Cool It" and whether it treats the topic of climate change properly and proposes appropriate solutions. This week's "Hot Zone" goes around the world in 80 days - more or less - in the first all-electric vehicle race, with a major milepost at the upcoming UN climate talks in Cancun. And in "Algae to Fuel," chief correspondent Tyler Suiters heads to a place where the focus is on America's past to look at what many consider to be a revolutionary concept in fuel production.
5 Views
15:31:00 11/28/10
What Algae Research Means to the DOE
[LESS INFO] 5 VIEWS | ADDED 15:31:00 11/28/10
Joyce Yang, Technology Manager at U.S. Department of Energy talks to Tyler Suiters about the College of William & Mary's algal fuel research program and the state of that science as well. Yang says The DOE is funding the W%M program because algae fuel has two or three benefits that can make it a promising technology that has developed greatly since its start. She says the department is focused on end use, but it believes that programs like the one at the college are aimed at producing domestic fuel in an environmentally responsible way. She says the program's combination of public and private financing is also crucial because many different entities need to be involved to deliver the best solution possible. She says the DOE is neutral right now on whether wild algae or bioengineered algae will produce a better product because it wants to encourage as many new technologies as possible and that each gets and opportunity to succeed. She says energy intensity -- the amount of energy it takes to produce fuel from algae -- is one of the big issues with algal biofuel research in general. Yang says researchers must also develop robust production systems and hone in on the cost and projections of technology improvement before the industry will take off. Yang says it's interesting that much of the research in algal fuel involves the ocean and sea water, where life developed in the first place. Now it may be the place we turn for the next developments in energy. She says scientists are learning to leverage resources that people have not been able to use for traditional agriculture for new and constructive purposes.
5 Views
15:05:00 11/28/10
Real-World Solutions for Algae Fuel
[LESS INFO] 5 VIEWS | ADDED 15:05:00 11/28/10
Dennis Manos, Vice Provost for Research and Graduate/Professional Studies at the College of William and Mary, tells Tyler Suiters about how the school secured private funding for its school's algae to fuel project. The Norwegian energy company Statoil was brought on board after a group of college officials convinced the college's other private partners that the project was worthwhile. Statoil has a lot of influence over the project and can say which elements it likes and will pay for. It also approves of new partners. Manos says that's necessary because Statoil is the commercial entity that will eventually sell whatever product comes form this research. The algal fuel research project is also set to receive a Department of Energy grant that will pay for fundamental science issues and take the research in directions that the initial funding could not, such as removing metals and other contaminants from water and other applications for the algae besides producing fuel. Manos says the college changed its charter to include that aspect after running it by Statoil, in anticipation of receiving the DOE funding.
3 Views
15:04:00 11/28/10
Algae to Fuel Research at the College of William & Mary
[LESS INFO] 3 VIEWS | ADDED 15:04:00 11/28/10
Karl Kuschner of the College of William & Mary, who leads the school's algal fuel research project, explains how the program got its start and the focus of its research. Blackrock Energy, a local firm in the Williamsburg, Va., area, wanted to start an algae research program, so it started a consortium of companies that were interested, and also secured funding from the Norwegian energy company Statoil. They teamed with several other universities that are interested in the same research, and also with the Smithsonian Institution. Kuschner says as a neighbor of the Chesapeake Bay, William & Mary is interested in the research because it is environmentally friendly and because algae have a carbon-neutral fuel cycle. That helps the bay, because the algae can use nutrients that are considered pollution in the bay's ecosystem. Statoil funded the project for its first year and then renewed for another years starting in May of 2010. Although there are some 100 universities conducting algal research, Kuschner does not feel there is so much competition that the schools won't share information. He says his program's advantage is that it works with wild algae, not a certain species in a bioreactor. He says the process he's using does not use any energy, aside from the energy required to harvest the algae. Kuschner believes the technology is scalable, but in order to go to a commercial scale, it would probably have to use algae grown in the ocean, which can be a harsh, unpredictable environment. That's an engineering problem that other researchers are trying to solve. His team is solving the scientific problems of scaling, such as what types of nutrients, or how much water or carbon-dioxide is needed as the scale gets larger.
4 Views
15:02:30 11/28/10
The Science of Algae Fuel Research
[LESS INFO] 4 VIEWS | ADDED 15:02:30 11/28/10
Emmett Duffy of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science explains the science of algal fuel research. Duffy and students from the College of William and Mary are cultivating natural algae on a pond. He says the algae are efficient and removing nutrient pollution from water. The students aim to repackage those nutrients and bring them back to soils, and produce fuel in the process. Duffy says the large quantities of biomass that algae produce can be converted to biodiesel, fermented into ethanol or digested into natural gas. He says the algae are also taking organic material out of the water that can be used as an organic fertilizer. He says the program has not yet researched how much energy goes into the fuel production, but he believes it's relatively better than other biofuel processes. Duffy says wild algae had an advantage over genetically modified algae is that they will grow anywhere, and that their fuel production is tied to reducing pollution in the water, which can't happen with algae in a bioreactor. The wild algae also don't have to be fertilized. They can use the nutrients that are already in the water. He says the general approach to producing algae has been used on a larger scale, but it has yet to produce fuel. The challenge, he says is finding out the most appropriate fuel to come from this biomass.
2 Views
20:59:00 11/23/10
The Mix: "Cool It," the right attitude toward climate change?
[LESS INFO] 2 VIEWS | ADDED 20:59:00 11/23/10
Our Mix panelists, filmmaker Bjorn Lomborg, actress Gloria Reuben and Daniel Weiss, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, debate whether Lomborg's new film, "Cool It!" is proposes appropriate solutions for climate change. Lomborg says global warming is a real problem, but the worst-case scenarios being presented in many media are exaggerated, and that the people who are shouting the loudest about the problem are getting the most attention. He believes this had led to bad policy decisions. The best solution, he says, is to make large investments in renewable energy so that it becomes inexpensive and people will want to use it. He says ratifying the Kyoto Protocol would have been a colossal waste of money for the United States. While he advocates what he calls a "low carbon tax," he does not believe cap-and-trade is a sensible way to spur innovation. He also believes that Chinese development of clean energy technology is not a threat to the U.S and other western countries because the Chinese are selling that technology to the West. Reuben says there should be a balance of awareness and acceptance of the problem. She believes the comprehensive climate and energy legislation that stalled in Congress this year would have put the United States on the right path. She says the results of de-regulation in the financial industry have become apparent in the current economic crisis, and she believes the results of de-regulation in environment and energy could be just as bad. Weiss says a better title for the film would be, "Don't Worry, Be Oblivious." He argues that the people who are shouting the loudest are climate science deniers, who have been able to shout out reasonable policy choices. He believes waiting for renewable energy to become more affordable on its own is not good for the environment and the U.S. economy. He also says the dirtier forms of power, such as coal and petroleum, need to be made more expensive because they have been made artificially cheap over the years.
1 Views
18:11:06 11/22/10
Is CCS The Only Way To Move Forward? Biggers Says No
[LESS INFO] 1 VIEWS | ADDED 18:11:06 11/22/10
energyNOW! talks to Jeff Biggers, Author of "Reckoning at Eagle Creek" about his concerns about carbon capture and storage, which is a process that takes carbon from coal fired power plants and injects it deep underground.
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16:00:00 11/21/10
When it Comes to 'Clean Power,' Let the Buyer Beware!
[LESS INFO] 2 VIEWS | ADDED 16:00:00 11/21/10
Michael Wara, environmental law professor at Stanford University, talks with correspondent Daniel Goldstein about what people should expect when they sign up to buy renewable energy. Wara says the electrons that come out of your power socket are the same as those used by people who aren't paying for renewable power. He says what you're paying for is a renewable energy certificate, or REC. They pay for the so-called "green attributes" in addition to the power that everyone pays for. Those REC's don't necessarily pay for construction of more wind farms or solar panels. He believes oversight is an issue. He says companies that sell RECs are trying, but questions whether the RECs are properly accounted for. He says the onus is on consumers to make sure they know what they're actually buying. But he alleges companies are often selling the same RECs twice - once to the consumer and once to a compliance buyer, or a utility that has to comply with a renewable portfolio standard. Wara says consumers should make sure they know where the REC is coming from - such as a wind farm or a biomass plant - and if that source actually counts as renewable energy in their part of the country. He says they also need to make sure the REC has actually been retired and is not sold twice. He says there's very little government oversight over the different kinds of RECs people buy and some industry resistance to creating it. Consumers often don't know what they're getting when they sign up to buy renewable power, and that's where more government oversight could help.
3 Views
16:00:00 11/21/10
Plugged-In: The Lame Duck, Gulf Oil Spill Report and the Greenpoint Settlement
[LESS INFO] 3 VIEWS | ADDED 16:00:00 11/21/10
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16:00:00 11/21/10
Sparking a Change
[LESS INFO] 0 VIEWS | ADDED 16:00:00 11/21/10
When people think of Detroit, they think of the "Big Three" - Ford, General Motors and Chrysler. But now those companies are barely recognizable from their heyday. And with plug-in electric vehicles ready to hit the market in force, a new generation of automotive entrepreneurs it looking to fill the void. In "Sparking a Change," Correspondent Lee Patrick Sullivan looks into how the "Little Three" electric vehicle manufacturers - brands like Tesla, Smith and Think Automotive - are trying to bring back the independent automaker spirit of 1930s and 40s Detroit, when the industry was awash with small auto companies. Lee Patrick talks with auto workers who lost their jobs in the recession, but are finding new ones with the EV revolution gearing up. He also looks at how the manufacturing innovations that came with this new vehicle technology are bringing the entire auto industry into the 21st century, and why the makers of the autos we know today are working with these new companies to make the vehicles we'll buy tomorrow. These companies are trying to carve out a niche of their own for electric vehicles in the U.S. auto market. Can they compete with the Big Three?
3 Views
16:00:00 11/21/10
Grey Areas In Your Green Power
[LESS INFO] 3 VIEWS | ADDED 16:00:00 11/21/10
What do power customers who sign up for "green power" from their utilities actually get? In "Grey Ares in Green Power," correspondent Dan Goldstein gets to the bottom of it. You may have seen advertisements for these special plans in your utility bill, or you may already be a customer. But if you think you're actually getting a direct stream of clean energy electrons delivered to your home, think again - you may not be getting green power at all, despite paying a premium for it up front. Dan talks to college students in California who though they were buying renewable energy for their school, but found out they were really buying renewable energy certificates, or RECs. He also talks to their professor, who learned that the renewable power those RECs funded wasn't really traceable. We also visit the owner of an organic market who that advertises 100 percent of its electricity comes from wind power. Find out what he tells his customers when they ask if that's true. And Dan interviews the regulators who run REC programs and are responsible for making sure they money really goes toward generating green power.
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14:28:00 11/21/10
Grey Areas in Green Power, Carbon Capture and Storage, The 'Little Three' - 11.21.10
[LESS INFO] 3 VIEWS | ADDED 14:28:00 11/21/10
This week on Energy Now: Daniel Goldstein investigates what power customers who sign up for "green power" from their utilities are actually getting. Despite paying a premium for it up front, they may not get what they believe they're buying. Plugged-In brings you the goings-on in Washington as Congress returns for the lame duck session, a new report with new criticisms of BP management that led to the Gulf oil spill, and a settlement in one of the nation's oldest and largest oil contamination cases. Our Mix Panel discusses the opportunities and challenges of carbon capture and storage -- a technology that reduces the carbon output of coal-fired power plants. The Hot Zone tells you about new hope for bats and wind turbines to coexist. And Lee Patrick Sullivan looks at how brands like Tesla, Smith and Think Automotive are trying to carve out a niche of their own for electric vehicles in the U.S. auto market.
5 Views
14:22:00 11/21/10
Building a Smith Electric Truck, a Tour
[LESS INFO] 5 VIEWS | ADDED 14:22:00 11/21/10
Joe Smith, an assembly line worker for Smith Electric, gives correspondent Lee Patrick Sullivan a tour of their EV truck plant. He takes Lee Patrick through the steps of assembly, following the truck from chassis to the full build. Smith Electric doesn't use the assembly line method common to bigger manufacturers, rather they use a team build where the workers follow the truck through the process, enhancing the craftsmanship of the vehicle. Lee Patrick learns about how quality control at Smith Electric creates a unique sense of ownership for the workers. Smith discusses the sense of pride he gets from manufacturing environmentally friendly EV trucks.
11/21/10