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EREN NETWORK NEWS -- April 24, 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
DOE, Ronald Reagan Building Buy Green Power for Earth Day
Bid on a Toyota Prius, the Top-Selling HEV, for Earth Day
Long Island Could Draw on 5,200 Megawatts of Offshore Wind
Architects Award the Top "Green" Building Projects for 2002
More Record-Breaking Solar Power Systems in California
Company Produces Bright White LED Light Source
*Site News
managEnergy
*Energy Facts and Tips
Global Temperature Hits New Record for March
*About this Newsletter
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NEWS AND EVENTS
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DOE, Ronald Reagan Building Buy Green Power for Earth Day
DOE celebrated Earth Day on Monday by buying electricity
from renewable energy sources for its headquarter buildings.
DOE is buying enough green power to provide 17 percent of
the electricity needs at its headquarters facilities in
Washington, D.C., and in Germantown, Maryland. Pepco
Energy Services will provide 6 million kilowatt-hours of green
power per year to the facilities, of which 25 percent will be
generated from wind energy and 75 percent will come from
landfill gas. The green power purchase -- enough to power
600 homes -- comes at no additional net cost to DOE. See
the DOE press release at:
<http://www.energy.gov/HQPress/releases02/aprpr/pr02068.htm>.
The DOE green power purchase was actually part of a larger
purchase arranged by the Government Services Agency
(GSA). According to GSA, it will purchase a total of
24 million kilowatt-hours of green power over 17 months, of
which half will go to DOE and half will go to the Ronald
Reagan Building and International Trade Center. GSA says
the power will cost less than a penny more per kilowatt-hour
than conventional power sources, amounting to an added
cost of about $230,000 over the 17-month period. See the
April 22nd press release on the GSA Web site at:
<http://w3.gsa.gov/web/x/publicaffairs.nsf/publicnews>.
The Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center
is home to more than 5,000 federal employees and is the
largest government building in Washington, DC. It houses
trade-related government agencies as well as a variety of
private businesses and non-governmental organizations.
See the Web site at: <http://www.itcdc.com/>.
Earth Day also marked the first day for many Georgians to
buy green power from their utility. Sixteen electric
cooperatives in Georgia started offering green power to their
customers on Monday. The cooperatives are currently
selling a total of 8 megawatts of power produced from landfill
methane gas. See the Walton Electric Membership
Corporation press release at:
<http://www.waltonemc.com/News/press98.html>.
Bid on a Toyota Prius, the Top-Selling HEV, for Earth Day
Toyota Motor Sales and eBay, the popular internet-based
auction site, have a new way for you to support Earth Day:
bid on a Toyota Prius. The high bidder takes home a low-
emissions, high-mileage hybrid electric vehicle (HEV), and
the proceeds go to the Earth Day Network. Toyota donated
the vehicle, which has an average retail value of $21,897.
Bids close on Saturday; at press time, the high bid was
$21,550. Sorry, the Prius can only be delivered within the
United States. See the eBay Web site at:
<http://members.ebay.com/ebaymotors/aboutme/priusearthday>.
According to the Earth Day Network, nearly 800 Earth Day
events occurred across the United States on Monday. See
the April 11th press release on the Earth Day Network at:
<http://www.earthday.net/pressroom/pressreleases/>.
Toyota has reason to be proud of its achievements: the
company announced on Earth Day that its cumulative global
sales of hybrid vehicles have topped 100,000. Customers in
more than 20 countries have purchased more than 89,000
Priuses, while the company's lineup in Japan has expanded
to include a hybrid electric sport utility vehicle and minivan.
Combined, the company's sales give it a 90 percent share of
the hybrid electric vehicle market. See the Toyota press
release at:
<http://www.toyota.com/about/news/index.html#environment>.
The Prius, of course, has new competition in the form of the
Honda Civic Hybrid. According to the American Council for
an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE), the new Civic Hybrid
earns the same "green score" for emissions and efficiency
as the Prius. The Honda Insight is still in first place. See the
ACEEE press release at: <http://greenercars.com/pr8.html>.
See the latest rankings at: <http://greenercars.com/gc2000.html>.
For more information on the Civic Hybrid, see the new
Honda Web site at: <http://civichybrid.honda.com/>.
Need to know more about hybrid vehicles? See the new
"Frequently Asked Questions" page on the Web site for
DOE's Hybrid Electric Vehicle Program at:
<http://www.ott.doe.gov/hev/faqs.html>.
Long Island Could Draw on 5,200 Megawatts of Offshore Wind
A study released on Earth Day suggests that offshore wind
turbines could supply much of Long Island's power needs in
the future. The Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) is acting
on the study and plans to solicit wind energy proposals by
year-end. The study, commissioned by LIPA and the New
York Energy Research and Development Authority,
determined that the best wind option for Long Island is a
314-square-mile area of shallow ocean waters located east
of Montauk Point and three to six nautical miles off Long
Island's south shore. According to the study, as much as
5,200 megawatts of wind capacity could be built there with
minimal environmental impact.
In response to the study, LIPA is holding a pre-proposal
meeting with interested wind energy developers on June 25th.
The utility anticipates additional studies to examine
environmental impacts and costs before determining the
scale of its proposed wind plant. Based on the local, state,
and federal approvals needed to construct an offshore wind
plant, LIPA estimates that at the earliest, a wind plant could
be built by 2005. See the LIPA press release at:
<http://www.lipower.org/newscenter/pr/2002/april22_02.html>.
How does Long Island's wind potential compare to its power
needs? The worst case occurred last August, when LIPA's
peak summer power demand hit a record 4,906 megawatts.
Power demand is much lower during the rest of the year: last
week's heat wave caused a new April record demand of
3,355 megawatts, compared to a peak demand of about
2,700 megawatts for a typical April day. Of course, wind
plants don't necessarily produce peak power during times of
peak energy demand -- most wind plants produce about a
third of their total capacity on average. See the LIPA press
releases at:
<http://www.lipower.org/newscenter/pr/2001/aug14_01.htm> and
<http://www.lipower.org/newscenter/pr/2002/april19_02.html>.
Architects Award the Top "Green" Building Projects for 2002
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) marked Earth Day
by awarding its Top Ten "Green" Projects for 2002. The
winners range in scale from a 950-square-foot renovated
cabin to a 125,000-square-foot office building, and from
strawbale construction to metal roofs, but all include energy
efficiency among their green features. The ten projects
comprise a panoply of energy technologies, including
daylighting, high-efficiency lighting, solar power systems,
solar heating and hot water systems, passive solar heating,
natural ventilation, natural-gas heat-pump air conditioning,
under-floor air distribution, high-efficiency pulse boilers,
geothermal heat pumps...well, you get the picture. For all the
details on these innovative projects, see the AIA press
release at: <http://www.aia.org/MEDIA/releases/042202.asp>.
Several green builders earned kudos at last month's National
Green Building Conference, organized by the National
Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and the NAHB
Research Center. During the conference, attendees selected
the Outstanding Green Product Award, which went to
TR Strong Building Systems, distributor of GFX Drainwater
Heat Recovery Systems. The units can recapture up to
60 percent of the energy from hot wastewater that goes
down the drain, using it to preheat fresh water before it
enters a hot water heater. See the March 26th press release
on the NAHB Research Center Web site at:
<http://www.nahbrc.org/press3.asp?TrackID=&CategoryID=1781>.
More Record-Breaking Solar Power Systems in California
Helped by generous financial incentives, California continues
to rack up news of large-scale solar power installations.
Berkeley-based PowerLight Corporation is responsible for
the largest two systems: a 127-kilowatt roof-integrated
system at the U.S. Postal Service's mail processing and
distribution center in Marina del Rey, and a 1.18-megawatt
system on the roof of the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin.
PowerLight claims that the jail system, dedicated on Earth
Day, is largest rooftop solar power system in the United
States. See the PowerLight press releases at:
<http://www.powerlight.com/pr/april-12-2002-usps.html> and
<http://www.powerlight.com/pr/april-22-2002-santaritajail.html>.
Santa Cruz is also in the news with its Earth Day dedication
of a 14-kilowatt solar power installation on City Hall. See the
Santa Cruz press release, in PDF format only, at:
<http://www.ci.santa-cruz.ca.us/press_release/solardedic.pdf>.
In Lincoln, California, a new housing development will
feature at least 50 rooftop solar power systems, thanks to an
agreement between AstroPower, Inc. and Premiere Homes.
AstroPower's 2.4-kilowatt system will be a standard feature
in the new homes, and buyers will have the options of
adding a battery storage system and expanding the system
to 3.2 kilowatts. The companies plan to build 250 homes that
include solar power by 2003. See the AstroPower press
release at:
<http://www.astropower.com/press_releases.htm>.
The Mt. Tam Racquet Club in Larkspur, California, is also
joining the solar power ranks. The club plans to meet most of
its power needs by installing a 150-kilowatt solar power
system on its roof. The system will use solar panels
manufactured by BP Solar. See the press release on the
BP Solar Web site at:
<http://www.bpsolar.com/DisplayNews.cfm?id=34>.
Company Produces Bright White LED Light Source
Lumileds Lighting, a manufacturer of high-power light-
emitting diodes (LEDs) for lighting applications, announced
in mid-April that it has achieved a record brightness from a
white LED, producing 120 lumens of light from a 5-watt LED
source. The new device produces four times more light than
the company's previous white-light LED, and the company
claims it is the brightest white LED produced to date. For
comparison, a 60-watt incandescent bulb produces about
900 lumens of light, so eight of the new white LEDs could be
combined together to replace one bulb. That wouldn't save
much energy -- using about 40 watts, where a compact
fluorescent bulb would use less than 20 watts -- but it shows
that it is possible to produce white-light LEDs at a brightness
practical for use in lighting. See the Lumileds press release at:
<http://www.lumileds.com/newsandevents/releases/press04-14-02.htm>.
As solid-state devices, LEDs have long been recognized as
efficient light sources with extremely long lifetimes, but were
limited in brightness and in color choices. A breakthrough in
LED technology in recent years led to the development of
brighter LEDs and new colors like red and yellow, allowing
them to be used in new applications, such as traffic lights.
These new LED traffic lights have caught on quickly -- in
March, for instance, the California Energy Commission
(CEC) reported that more than one-third of the traffic
intersections in the state now feature LED traffic lights. See
the March 14th press release on the CEC Web site at:
<http://www.energy.ca.gov/releases/>.
Despite the success of LEDs for traffic lights, the white-light
LED -- a light that could be used for room lighting or reading
-- has remained the elusive holy grail of LED lighting, which
is why the Lumileds announcement is significant.
Researchers at DOE's Sandia National Laboratories
announced in mid-April that they are also pursuing the white
LED goal. The Sandia team expects to eventually produce a
white LED that uses half the energy of compact fluorescent
lights, which would be one-quarter the energy use of the
current Lumileds product. See the Sandia press release at:
<http://www.sandia.gov/media/NewsRel/NR2002/LEDS2.htm>.
The Sandia team has also established a new Solid State
Lighting Web site, located at: <http://lighting.sandia.gov/>.
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's Lighting Research Center
(LRC) also has a Solid-State Lighting Program and provides
extensive information on LED technologies. See the LRC
Web site at: <http://www.lrc.rpi.edu/solidstate/leds.htm>.
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SITE NEWS
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managEnergy
<http://www.managenergy.net/>
The European Commission has established the
managEnergy initiative to encourage the intelligent use of
energy in European Union member states and other
European countries. The managEnergy Web site features
case studies and reports of successful energy efficiency and
renewable energy projects, as well as event information.
For this and other recent additions to the EREN Web site,
see: <http://www.eren.doe.gov/new/whats-new.html>.
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ENERGY FACTS AND TIPS
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Global Temperature Hits New Record for March
March 2002 was the warmest March on record, placing 2002
in a dead heat with 1998 in the competition for the warmest
year on record, according to new data from the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). March
global temperatures averaged 1.39 degrees Fahrenheit
above the 122-year average. The period from January
through March was 1.3 degrees Fahrenheit above the long
term, tying with 1998, which is the warmest year on record
thus far. See NOAA's National Climatic Data Center Web
site at:
<http://lwf.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/research/2002/mar/global.html>.
Meanwhile, NOAA continues to predict an El Nino event,
which tends to elevate global temperatures. NOAA is not yet
able to predict the intensity of the event, but expects that the
United States will feel its effects by mid-summer. See the
NOAA press release at:
<http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories/s886.htm>.
In the United States, March was actually cooler than normal,
although anyone on the East Coast could tell you that April
appears to be compensating for that shortfall. The East and
parts of the Midwest experienced record-breaking
temperatures this past week. As noted in the Long Island
story above, LIPA experienced record demand for April due
to last week's heat wave.
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