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EREN NETWORK NEWS -- December 18, 2002
A weekly newsletter from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE)
Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Network (EREN).
<http://www.eren.doe.gov/>
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Featuring:
*News and Events
Tucson Electric Power Activates 2.4-Megawatt Solar Array
NHTSA Proposes Increased Fuel Efficiency for Light Trucks
Toyota Advances Fuel Efficiency While Cutting Energy Use
Nissan Unveils Fuel Cell Vehicle; John Deere in Development
New Biodiesel Facility Begins Operation in Iowa
DOE Awards $4.4 Million for Energy-Saving Technologies
Ocean Power Corporation Declares Chapter 11 Bankruptcy
*Site News
New and Renewable Energy Centre
*Energy Facts and Tips
Multi-Colored LEDs Offer Energy Savings for the Holidays
*About this Newsletter
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NEWS AND EVENTS
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Editor's Note: Last week's EREN Network News was delayed due to
computer problems that were beyond our control. If you failed to
receive last week's issue, see the online version in our archive at:
<http://www.eren.doe.gov/news/>.
The EREN Network News will be taking the next two weeks off for the
holidays. We'll return with a New Year's bundle of clean energy news
on January 8th. Until then, we wish all our readers a joyous,
peaceful, and energy-efficient holiday season!
Tucson Electric Power Activates 2.4-Megawatt Solar Array
The Western Hemisphere's largest solar photovoltaic power system is
now pumping out power near Springerville, Arizona. Tucson Electric
Power (TEP) continues to follow through on its plans to expand the
Springerville Generating Station Solar System, which now has a peak
generating capacity of 2.4 megawatts. TEP plans to expand the system
to 4 megawatts by 2004. Currently, the world's largest photovoltaic
system is a 3.3-megawatt installation in Serre, Italy, although
larger systems are now being planned throughout the world. See the
December 10th press release from TEP at:
<http://www.tucsonelectric.com/Company/News/PressReleases/index.asp>.
The TEP installation is rivaling another solar power system being
built in Arizona by APS. As reported in the November 6th edition of
the EREN Network News, the utility hopes to expand the Prescott
Airport Solar Power Plant to 5 megawatts within the next five years.
See the EREN Network News article at:
<http://www.eren.doe.gov/news/news_detail.cfm?news_id=391>.
Spire Corporation is providing much smaller solar power systems to
12 homes in the Chicago metropolitan area. The company's Spire Solar
Chicago operation will install 1.2-kilowatt systems on single-family
homes in an affordable housing development in southeastern Chicago.
The systems should provide about one-quarter of the electricity
needs for the energy-efficient homes. See the Spire press release
at: <http://www.spirecorp.com/Spire/news/PV383.htm>.
NHTSA Proposes Increased Fuel Efficiency for Light Trucks
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), part of
the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), proposed new fuel
economy standards for light trucks last week. The new standards will
first take effect during model year 2005 and become gradually more
restrictive until model year 2007. Over those three years, light
truck fuel efficiency standards will increase from today's
20.7 mile-per-gallon (mpg) requirement to 22.2 mpg, an increase of
more than 7 percent, which will save an estimated 2.5 billion
gallons of gasoline. The corporate average fuel economy (CAFE)
standard was last increased in 1996; a final rule establishing the
new standards will be issued by April 2003. See the DOT press
release at: <http://www.dot.gov/affairs/nhtsa7502.htm>.
"Light trucks" refer to pickups, vans, and sport utility vehicles
(SUVs) with a gross vehicle weight rating of 8,500 pounds or less --
some heavy pickups and SUVs exceed this vehicle weight rating and
are exempt from the standard. In submissions to the NHTSA in
May 2002, the three major U.S. automakers said they expected to
increase light-truck fuel efficiency by 2007, with General Motors
Corporation aiming to achieve 19.1 to 20.8 mpg, Ford Motor Company
targeting 22.0 mpg, and DaimlerChrysler shooting for 22.2 mpg. When
the new CAFE standards are in place, manufacturers that fail to meet
the standards will be subject to civil penalties. See the "Notice of
Proposed Rulemaking" on the NHTSA Web site at:
<http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/rules/rulings/>.
Toyota Advances Fuel Efficiency While Cutting Energy Use
Toyota Motor North America announced last week that it is not only
improving fuel efficiency in its vehicles, but also increasing
energy efficiency in its factories. According to the Toyota North
America Environmental Report, the company has improved fuel
efficiency by 4 to 8 percent in nine vehicle configurations from
model year 2001 to 2002. Since last year, Toyota has also reduced
energy consumption per unit of production at its North American
plants by 7 percent. See the December 11th press release on the
Toyota Web site at:
<http://www.toyota.com/about/news/index.html#environment>.
Toyota aims to cut its energy use per unit of production to
15 percent below its 2000 levels by 2005. To achieve its goals, the
company is reducing its use of compressed air, developing waste-heat
recovery systems for use in its painting shops, and installing high-
efficiency lighting systems and controls. See the Toyota North
America Environmental Report at:
<http://www.toyota.com/about/environment/news/enviroreport.html>.
Toyota continues to experience strong demand for its hybrid-electric
vehicle, the Prius, in the United States. As of November, U.S. sales
of the Prius had reached 18,329 for the year, up more than 32 percent
from last year's year-to-date sales figures. See the December 3rd
press release on the Toyota North American Pressroom Web site at:
<http://pressroom.toyota.com>.
Nissan Unveils Fuel Cell Vehicle; John Deere in Development
Nissan Motor Company Ltd. unveiled its first fuel cell vehicle in
Japan last week. UTC Fuel Cells, a unit of United Technologies
Corporation, provided the 75-kilowatt fuel-cell power plant that
powers the hydrogen-fueled vehicle. Called the X-TRAIL FCV (for
"Fuel Cell Vehicle"), the prototype vehicle will undergo public road
testing in Japan. See the UTC Fuel Cells press release and
accompanying photo at:
<http://www.utcfuelcells.com/news/archive/121002.shtml> and
<http://www.utcfuelcells.com/news/images/xtrail_500w.jpg>.
Deere & Company, maker of John Deere equipment for agriculture and
industry, will soon join the fuel cell club. The company announced
last week that it is developing a fuel-cell-powered version of its
Pro-Gator Utility Vehicle, which is used primarily for hauling
supplies and equipment around golf courses and other facilities that
feature a large amount of turf. John Deere is working with
Hydrogenic Corporation, a Canadian fuel cell manufacturer, to
develop the vehicle. See the December 11th press release on the
Deere & Company Web site at:
<http://www.deere.com/en_US/compinfo/press_center/index.html>.
DOE is supporting fuel cell vehicles through its FreedomCAR program.
Its latest contribution is the new Advanced Powertrain Research
Facility, located at DOE's Argonne National Laboratory (ANL). The
new test facility, unveiled in November, includes state-of-the-art
performance and emissions measurement equipment for testing advanced
engines, fuel cells, electric drives, and energy storage devices.
The facility is capable of testing vehicles fueled with gasoline,
diesel fuel, natural gas, and hydrogen. See the ANL press release
at: <http://www.anl.gov/OPA/news02/news021115.htm>.
Fuel cell vehicles are also advancing in California, thanks to a
public-private partnership called, appropriately, the California
Fuel Cell Partnership (CaFCP). The CaFCP just released its goals for
2003, which include introducing fuel cell vehicles into fleets,
adding additional hydrogen fueling stations, and operating up to
60 fuel cell vehicles. See the CaFCP press release at:
<http://www.cafcp.org/releases/2002_12-11_2002goals.html>.
New Biodiesel Facility Begins Operation in Iowa
A new facility with the capacity to produce 12 million gallons of
Biodiesel per year started operating in Ralston, Iowa, in early
December. The West Central Soy plant is owned and operated by a
farmers' cooperative and produces the biodiesel from soybeans.
According to the National Biodiesel Board, the new facility is one
of 18 dedicated biodiesel plants in the United States, with more
than a dozen others in the planning stages.
The National Biodiesel Board also noted recently that tests on
biodiesel by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) show a
47 percent reduction in particulate emissions compared to diesel
fuel. The test also showed that the emissions benefits from using
B20, a 20 percent blend of biodiesel with 80 percent diesel fuel,
are greater than would be expected from the pure biodiesel results.
As summarized by Steve Howell, technical director of the National
Biodiesel Board, "Using B20 in 100 vehicles will actually reduce
more pollution overall than using B100 (pure biodiesel) in
20 vehicles." See the press releases and the draft EPA report on the
National Biodiesel Board Web site at: <http://www.biodiesel.org/>.
One biodiesel manufacturer that is aggressively pursuing new
facilities and outlets is Southern States Power Company, Inc. The
company is currently planning to develop biodiesel production
facilities in Riverside, California, and Phoenix, Arizona. The
Riverside facility, if built, is expected to produce about
35 million gallons of biodiesel per year. The company is also
working with U.S. Fuel Partners LLC to distribute and sell biodiesel
in Colorado. See the recent press releases on the Southern States
Web site at: <http://www.sspowerco.net/press.cfm>.
DOE Awards $4.4 Million for Energy-Saving Technologies
DOE awarded a total of $4.4 million on December 11th to 18
organizations for the development of energy-saving products and
industrial processes. DOE selected the awardees from 200 proposals
submitted to two programs: the National Industrial Competitiveness
through Energy, Environment and Economics (NICE3) initiative and the
Inventions and Innovation (I&I) program.
The NICE3 initiative awarded more than $2.5 million to five
organizations. The awardees will develop the use of near-infrared
sensors for testing veneer wood strength before it dries, thereby
saving energy costs and reducing wastes; examine a technology that
allows better control of presses to form parts from sheet metal,
avoiding unnecessary sheet-metal wastes; scale-up a manufacturing
process for a novel type of rechargeable battery; demonstrate a new
process for converting biomass to pulp; and examine acid-catalyzed
hydrolysis, which is used to break down biomass into simpler
chemicals.
The I&I program awarded 13 organizations up to $200,000 each to
develop a wide variety of energy-related inventions. The awardees
will examine a wide range of technologies, including ways to convert
wastes into useful products, new processes for making ethanol and
fuel gas, high-efficiency dehumidifiers for air conditioners, and
advanced processing technologies for making "smart" electrochromic
windows. See the DOE press release at:
<http://www.energy.gov/HQPress/releases02/decpr/pr02256.htm>.
See also the full list of awardees, in PDF format only, at:
<http://www.energy.gov/HQPress/releases02/decpr/awardees.pdf>.
For more information on these DOE programs, see the NICE3 and I&I
home pages at: <http://www.oit.doe.gov/nice3/> and
<http://www.oit.doe.gov/inventions/>.
Ocean Power Corporation Declares Chapter 11 Bankruptcy
Ocean Power Corporation, a U.S. company with a focus on Stirling
heat engines, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last week. Formed in
1992 to develop modular power plants and seawater desalination
units, Ocean Power has since made a large number of acquisitions and
business arrangements related to such varied advanced energy
technologies as fuel cells, wind turbines, solar dish concentrators,
and external combustion engines, also known as heat engines. The
company aimed to produce integrated units that would generate both
pure water and power.
In 2001, Ocean Power began working with EPRIsolutions, a subsidiary
of the Electric Power Research Institute, to study a Stirling heat
engine that would produce 3 kilowatts of electricity and 9 kilowatts
of heat. In May 2002, the company announced an agreement with a
private real estate management company for the sale of 10,000 such
units, with delivery and installation planned for 2005. The
announcement was covered in the May 29th edition of the EREN Network
News.
In last week's announcement, Ocean Power noted that it has tried to
stem severe cash flow shortages over the past year through workforce
and overhead reductions. Prior to filing Chapter 11, the company
terminated essentially all of its employees, and now intends to sell
off all nearly all its assets. See the Ocean Power press releases at:
<http://www.powerco.com/Corporate/PressReleases/prindex.html>.
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SITE NEWS
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New and Renewable Energy Centre
<http://www.global-renewables.com/>
The NaREC portal features international resources on renewable
energy, including news, community forums, directories, sub-portals,
and events. NaREC, based in the United Kingdom, strives to create
strong partnerships between academic and industrial research centers
in offshore engineering, power generation, and renewable energy.
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ENERGY FACTS AND TIPS
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Multi-Colored LEDs Offer Energy Savings for the Holidays
If you've been procrastinating on hanging up your holiday lights, we
have good news: new LED (light-emitting diode) holiday lights are
now available in a wider variety of colors and shapes! You may
remember that as of last December, only red, green, and yellow bulbs
were available, and the fashion-conscious among us probably found
them to be, well, somewhat lacking in aesthetic appeal. This year's
models offer a much wider range of choices, including two new colors
-- white and blue -- and a variety of shapes, such as multi-faceted,
mini-light, globe, and the good-old flame-tip shape. The bulbs use
only one-tenth the electricity used by mini-lights, and one-
hundredth the electricity used by traditional C-7 bulbs. In
addition, they are very rugged, never get hot, last a long time, and
are easy to maintain. And for those who like to cover a lot of
distance with their lights, up to 20 strings of LED lights can be
connected together without overloading a typical U.S. household's
electrical circuit.
The Energy Ideas Clearinghouse recently updated last year's fact
sheet on holiday lights with the latest information on the LED
bulbs. The clearinghouse even found that LED lights will pay for
themselves over five years of use. See the latest "Holiday Lights"
fact sheet, in PDF format only, on the Energy Ideas Clearinghouse
Web site at:
<http://www.energyideas.org/documents/02_122EIC_holiday_fct.pdf>.
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ABOUT THIS NEWSLETTER
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