================================================= EREN NETWORK NEWS -- March 27, 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/> =================================================
Featuring: *News and Events Ford: Fuel-Cell-Powered Focus Available for Fleets in 2004 Hybrid Electric Honda Civic Hits Dealerships This Week Tally of Highly Energy-Efficient U.S. Buildings Reaches 729 California Offers $30 Million for Clean Energy in Industry California Supports Research on Efficient Server Farms Long Island Faces Power Shortage, Promotes Solar Energy DOE Awards $8.3 Million for Home Weatherization *Energy Facts and Tips Report Examines Air Pollution From Top 100 Power Companies *About this Newsletter ---------------------------------------------------------------------- NEWS AND EVENTS ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Ford: Fuel-Cell-Powered Focus Available for Fleets in 2004 Ford Motor Company expects a fuel-cell-powered version of its Ford Focus sedan to be commercially available for use in company fleets by 2004. The Focus FCV combines high- pressure hydrogen gas storage with a Ballard Mark 900 fuel cell to achieve a peak power output of 90 horsepower and a peak torque of 140 foot-pounds. The vehicle has a top speed of greater than 80 miles per hour and a range of 100 miles. See Ford's "TH!NK Mobility" Web site at: <http://www.thinkmobility.com/tech_gallery.asp?PRODCODE=FOCUSFCV>. Ford is expected to unveil a prototype of the Focus FCV later this week at the New York International Automobile Show (NYIAS). See the NYIAS Web site at: <http://www.autoshowny.com/>. Volkswagen is developing its own fuel-cell car based on the European version of the Jetta, called the Bora. Volkswagen's Bora HY.POWER prototype uses a 75-kilowatt motor to achieve the equivalent power output of a 102-horsepower engine. Rather than using batteries, the Volkswagen vehicle draws on two 15-kilowatt ultracapacitors to provide a power boost when accelerating or going uphill. The company announced last month that the prototype successfully passed a mid-winter long-range test drive that included a 6,578-foot mountain pass. See the Volkswagen press release at: <http://dealer.vw.com/vwpress/fullStoryA.html?release_id=5504>. Hybrid Electric Honda Civic Hits Dealerships This Week American Honda Motor Company announced last week that the new Civic Hybrid is expected to begin arriving at dealerships this week. The manual 5-speed version of the sedan, which combines a gasoline engine with an electric motor and a battery pack, has earned a fuel economy rating of 46 miles per gallon (mpg) in the city and 51 mpg on the highway. The vehicle will also be available with a continuously variable transmission (CVT), which has earned city/highway fuel economy ratings of 48/47 mpg. Honda expects to sell 2,000 Civic Hybrids per month and will make the vehicle available at all of its U.S. dealerships. The manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP) for the Civic Hybrid is $19,550 for the manual transmission and $20,550 for the CVT version. See the Honda press release at: <http://www.hondacars.com/news/press.html?y=2002&r=802>. If you want to find other high-mileage cars that achieve low air emissions, you're in luck: the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE) released the 2002 version of its "Green Book," an environmental guide to cars and trucks, last month. Although the full "Green Book" is only available for a fee, the highlights are available online for free at: <http://www.greenercars.com/bestof.html>. Tally of Highly Energy-Efficient U.S. Buildings Reaches 729 The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced last week that 729 buildings throughout the United States have earned the EPA/DOE Energy Star. These office and school buildings use about 40 percent less energy than average U.S. buildings. The EPA estimates that the buildings have saved $134 million in energy costs since 1999, avoiding the emission of 1.9 billion pounds of carbon dioxide, the chief greenhouse gas. Among the Energy Star buildings are 122 owned and occupied by large commercial institutions, 204 owned by commercial real estate organizations and leased to commercial tenants, 287 public schools and 116 federal government facilities. See the press release and the full list of buildings at the Energy Star News Room on the EPA Web site at: <http://www.epa.gov/nrgystar/news.html>. Energy-efficient homes earned the limelight on Monday, as 15 homebuilders were lauded at the National Green Building Conference in Seattle, Washington. The winners of the "EnergyValue Housing Awards" were honored for using such technologies as high-efficiency windows, insulated basement walls, solar water heating, and geothermal heat pumps in the homes that they built. The National Green Building Conference was sponsored in part by DOE and its National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). See the NREL press release at: <http://www.nrel.gov/hot-stuff/press/1002_home_builders.html>. Want to learn more about new building technologies? Check out the new Web site for the Partnership for Advanced Technology in Housing (PATH), a public-private partnership, at: <http://www.pathnet.org/>. Many of the PATH technologies relate to energy efficiency. A related Web site, called ToolBase, provides detailed results of PATH field projects and PATH's "Technology Inventory." See the ToolBase Web site at: <http://www.toolbase.org/secondaryT.asp?TrackID=&CategoryID=1381> and <http://www.toolbase.org/secondaryT.asp?TrackID=&CategoryID=1382>. California Offers $30 Million for Clean Energy in Industry The California Power Authority, a new state agency created during last summer's electricity crisis, announced last week the availability of $30 million for low-interest financing for manufacturing companies using or producing clean energy products. The power authority defines clean energy as renewable energy, energy efficiency, or "clean" distributed generation. The low-cost loans will go either to manufacturers that purchase and install such technologies, or to manufacturers who want to establish or expand facilities to produce such technologies. The announcement marks the first substantive program announced by the authority. See the press release on the California Power Authority Web site at: <http://www.capowerauthority.ca.gov/MediaRelease/main.asp>. California Supports Research on Efficient Server Farms The California Energy Commission (CEC) announced early this month its award of $500,000 to DOE's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) for research into energy-efficient Internet server farms. Internet servers are the workhorses of the Internet, "serving up" the files that make up Web pages. Server farms, also called server hotels or data centers, are facilities that house a large number of these servers. Many server farms are located in California, and although their energy consumption is often overstated, they still represent a significant electrical load. In fact, about 17 percent of the nation's server farms are located in the San Francisco Bay and Silicon Valley areas, drawing about 80 megawatts of electrical power. Although the initial LBNL work will focus on data collection, the researchers intend to eventually develop a computer industry "roadmap" that will lead to more efficient server farms in the future. See the March 1st press release on the CEC Web site at: <http://www.energy.ca.gov/releases/>. Readers may recall a recent report on server farms produced by Platts, a provider of energy market information and market services. The press release for that report was headlined, "Utilities struggling to provide electricity to power- hungry data centers, according to Platts" -- a conclusion that was questioned in this newsletter. Platts has since decided that the original press release was not representative of the true content of its report. To address that problem, the company has issued a second press release, headlined "Data center power 'catastrophe' never materialized; utilities prepare for next wave of development, according to Platts study." The new press release cites a server farm in Austin, Texas, that was expected to require 100 megawatts, but ended up drawing only 6 megawatts of power. See the new press release at: <http://www.platts.com/pressreleases/pressrelease2002-0206b.shtml>. See also the original story, published in the January 23rd edition of the EREN Network News, at: <http://www.eren.doe.gov/newsletter/archives/2002/jan23_02.html>. Long Island Faces Power Shortage, Promotes Solar Energy New York Governor George Pataki and the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) kicked off a new and improved program to encourage solar energy use in late February. The second phase of LIPA's Solar Pioneer Program now offers rebates of $6 per watt for solar power systems up to 10 kilowatts in capacity, thus doubling both the rebate and the size limitation for the program. The rebates are available to both commercial and residential customers of LIPA and are good for systems installed and operating by July 31, 2002. After that, new systems can still earn a rebate of $4 per watt. To launch the program, 30 lucky families were selected to receive the free installation of a 300-watt solar power system on their homes. LIPA also awarded a $300,000 rebate check to Scotto Brothers Enterprises for their use of a geothermal heat pump system for heating and cooling a new 145-room hotel in Woodbury. The system uses variable-frequency motors for maximum efficiency, and is controlled by a building energy management system. These combined technologies will save 425,000 kilowatt-hours each year while cutting the hotel's peak energy demand by 86 kilowatts. They will also avoid about 350 tons per year of greenhouse gas emissions. See the LIPA press release at: <http://www.lipower.org/newscenter/pr/2002/feb28_02_a.htm>. Such energy-saving technologies may be critical for Long Island this summer, as LIPA expects power supplies to remain tight. LIPA Chairman Richard M. Kessel warned in mid-March that LIPA customers will "need to conserve as much as possible to get Long Island through extreme heat waves." See the LIPA press release at: <http://www.lipower.org/newscenter/pr/2002/mar12_02.html>. DOE Awards $8.3 Million for Home Weatherization DOE awarded a total of $8.3 million in weatherization assistance funds to Iowa and West Virginia over the past week. The funds will be used to improve the energy efficiency of low-income homes in the two states. DOE awarded more than $5 million to Iowa and more than $3.2 million to West Virginia. See the DOE press releases at: <http://www.energy.gov/HQPress/releases02/marpr/pr02044.htm> and <http://www.energy.gov/HQPress/releases02/marpr/pr02050.htm>. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ENERGY FACTS AND TIPS ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Report Examines Air Pollution From Top 100 Power Companies A report released last week by CERES, a national coalition of environmental and investor groups, tallies the air pollution caused by the 100 largest electric power companies in the United States. The report finds that fewer than 20 of these companies account for half of the carbon dioxide, mercury, nitrous oxides, and sulfur dioxide emissions produced by all the companies combined. Leading the list for total emissions are American Electric Power, Southern Company, and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). See the CERES press release at: <http://www.ceres.org/events_news/press_emissions.htm>. For those who prefer more refined analyses, the report also ranks the companies by total emissions per megawatt hour, emissions from fossil plants per megawatt hour, and emissions from coal plants per megawatt hour. For total emissions, Associated Electric Cooperative produces the most nitrous oxides per megawatt-hour, Buckeye Power produces the most sulfur dioxide per megawatt-hour, and Basin Electric Power Cooperative produces the most carbon dioxide per megawatt-hour. See the full report, especially the Executive Summary, on the CERES Web site at: <http://www.ceres.org/publications/main.htm>. Coincidentally, the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) just released a report that examines TVA's plans to reduce air emissions. Although the report notes that TVA plans to reduce its emissions while increasing its generating capacity, it also finds that TVA's programs to reduce electricity demand are currently falling short. The report recommends an expansion of demand-side management programs at the utility. See the GAO report, available in Adobe PDF format only, at: <http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d02301.pdf>. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ABOUT THIS NEWSLETTER ---------------------------------------------------------------------- You can subscribe to this newsletter using the online form at: <http://www.eren.doe.gov/newsletter/subscribe/>. This Web page also allows you to update your email address or unsubscribe to this newsletter. The Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Network (EREN) home page is located at <http://www.eren.doe.gov/>. If you have questions or comments about this newsletter, please contact the editor, Kevin Eber, at [EMAIL PROTECTED] ------------------------ Yahoo! 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