Dear Readers; America's Biggest Challenge,
Action by the U.S. Senate this week is a good example of why Green
Energy News was created six years ago. In a one-two knock-out punch,
the Senate killed efforts to raise Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE)
standards to 36 miles per gallon, AND efforts to require that 20 percent
of all electricity in the U.S. be generated from renewables by 2020.
Like kicking a sick animal, opponents in the Senate will also try to
eliminate a lesser plan to require 10 percent renewable capacity by
then.
In the U.S. we have few tools to bring about major change in our
country. The markets, the vote, free speech and a free press are among
them. Certainly and hopefully, those who voted AGAINST cleaner air and
water, new job and technology creation, and efforts to mitigate global
warming (the effects of which their grandchildren will see) will be
targeted for removal when their term is up.
But it is the other tools that Green Energy News believes can be
used effectively to bring about change. And that is why Green Energy
News was created.
This effort, this business, has been paid for entirely with my own
funds since 1996. I've received no outside funding and I am not a
wealthy person. Now is the time to expand the work, the usefulness of
Green Energy News on the Internet and beyond. This expansion requires
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And America's Biggest Challenge? Some may say it's the war on
terrorism. In the longer term, however, America's Biggest Challenge is
to find a cure for its addiction to the burning of fossil fuels.
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Bruce Mulliken
Editor and Publisher
Green Energy News Inc.
http://www.nrglink.com
ENERGIES... week of March 10, 2002
READY TO GO. At the same time the U.S. Senate was discussing energy
policy, Electric Fuel was demonstrating its zinc-air fuel cell bus
outside the Capitol. Of the two Senators aboard, one, Sen. Harry Reid
(D) of Nevada voted in favor of raising CAFE standards. The other Sen.
John Ensign (R) also Nevada, didn't quite get it and voted against
increasing the standard. Electric Fuel's technology could be used to
raise national fuel economy, provide clean air and create new jobs and
industry.
The zinc-air bus ran like any other electric vehicle - quiet and
vibration free. And of course there was no plume of exhaust gases. To
refuel, to reenergize the bus, 18 fuel cell modules are removed and
replaced with fresh, regenerated ones. The process takes a few minutes.
Spent fuel cell packs are then refurbished with fresh zinc fuel and
oxidized zinc is recycled.
The Electric-Fuel bus has been proven to operate for an entire
8-hour day in a revenue producing, stop and go, fare-collecting schedule
- without a change of fuel cell modules. In a full cycle,
well-to-wheels analysis, the technology is as energy efficient as diesel
power.
The zinc-air technology is in the same family tree with primary
batteries. In a primary battery a sacrificial anode is removed and
replaced. When a fresh anode is installed a primary battery is fully
charged. When fresh zinc is installed in a zinc-air fuel cell it is also
fully charged.
The zinc-air technology uses the earliest definition of a fuel cell
- a device that produces a continuous electric current directly from the
oxidation of a common fuel. In this case the fuel is
replaceable/recyclable zinc. (Other metals can also be used.) Hydrogen
was included in the popular definition of a fuel cell after NASA used
hydrogen fuel cells in the Apollo moon program. Hydrogen was probably
chosen as fuel cell fuel at the time for its energy density as compared
to its weight. Hydrogen was also already on board the spacecraft as
rocket fuel.
This zinc-air technology is considered ready for full
commercialization. Electric-Fuel was in Washington seeking funding from
Congress to build a small fleet of buses and a zinc fuel regeneration
facility. Visit Electric Fuel at http://www.electric-fuel.com/ .
NEW CLEAN FUEL. Far from the polluted air of Washington, D.C. (the
city has some of the filthiest skies in the nation) NKK Corporation has
been given permission by the Japanese government to begin testing a
dimethyl ether (DME) fueled truck on the streets of Japan.
Seen as a replacement for diesel fuel, DME is a gas at room
temperature and a liquid when compressed to about 88 pounds per square
inch or 6 atmospheres. When used in diesel engines no soot is formed
because there are no carbon-carbon molecular bonds. It has a cetane
rating appropriate for use in diesels.
The NKK vehicle to be tested is a commercially available 2-ton
diesel truck converted to DME use with the addition of a NKK developed
DME fuel supply unit and an off-the-shelf propane (LPG) fuel tank.
That's it. There were no modifications to the diesel engine.
DME, which can be made from biomass feedstock, household waste or
natural gas or even coal, is seen a possible multi-use fuel that could
be used in cars, trucks, gas turbines, even fuel cells. Visit the NKK
DME page at http://www.nkk.co.jp/en/environment/dme/main.html
A STATE WANTS RENEWABLES. In study of 650 respondents, 90 percent
of Massachusetts residents support the concept of the increasing use of
renewable energy - despite a lack of knowledge about it. Fifty-one
percent said they would be willing to pay more for the renewables and of
those 57 percent said they would pay up to $10 per month extra.
After being told that renewable energy had some drawbacks, such as
higher cost, 88 still thought renewables should be expanded. And finally
a strong majority of 70% said they would be willing to pay more for
renewables if the extra cost could be deducted from income taxes as a
charitable donation.
The study was sponsored by the Massachusetts Technology
Collaborative and performed by Opinion Dynamics Corporation. Visit the
Collaborative at http://www.mtpc.org/ .
SOLAR INTERNET TO THE AMAZON. The Solar Electric Light Fund will
work with the Amazon Association to bring solar powered Internet access
to the Xixuau-Xiparina Ecological Reserve in the Amazon rainforest.
In addition to using solar energy to power a satellite dish,
computers and lighting, the energy will be used for refrigeration and
water pumping.
The solar energized Internet connection will be used for distance
learning, e-commerce for locally made crafts, telemedicine, and
coordination of visits by eco-tourists. Visit the Solar Electric Light
Fund at http://www.self.org/ .
WORLD WIND WATCH. So confident that wind power will increase
globally, Gamesa has decided to spin off its aviation division. By
exiting its airplane parts business, Gamesa will be in a better
financial position to grow and explore new markets in wind energy. The
company too, has begun investments in solar energy. Visit Gamesa at
http://www.gamesa.es.
Another Spanish wind turbine maker, Made Technologias Renovables, a
division of Spanish energy group Endesa, has signed an agreement to sell
fifty turbines (of unknown capacity) to China. The turbines will be used
in a wind farm planned for Bejing Guanting.
The Wind Energy Institute has been created at the University of
California at Davis. The consortium will bring together UC Davis
engineers, wind energy companies, utilities, environmentalists, state
and federal government officials for the purpose of bringing more wind
power to California. The first projects will be to collect wind
generation data from California wind farms now on paper and post it on
the Internet, set up a training program for wind energy technicians and
map California wind resources. California now has about 1700 megawatts
installed wind generation capacity.
A correction: Last week this publication reported the production tax
credit (PTC) for wind and other renewables in the U.S. had been extended
for 5 years. This was incorrect. The PTC, at this point, has been
extended for 2 years. The five-year extension may be included in a
broader energy bill still being debated in the U.S. Congress.
NEW! NEW! NEW! ... NewsLinks ...
--- World Resources Institute (WRI) Welcomes Major Reductions of BP's
Carbon Emissions http://www.wri.org/ (click Newsroom) (3/11/02)
--- American Honda Invests in Flexcar http://www.flexcar.com/ (click
Company, Press) (3/12/02)
--- U.S. Energy Systems & EIC Electricity SA Form Joint Venture & Invest
in Green District Projects http://www.usenergysystems.com/ (click Press
Releases) (3/12/02)
--- Alliance to Save Energy (ASE) - Senate Defeats Increases in Fuel
Economy Standards http://www.ase.org/ (3/13/02)
--- DTE Energy Technologies Releases energy|now Systems Operations
Center (tm) For Distributed Generation Monitoring
http://www.dtetech.com/ (3/13/02)
--- American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) - Wind Gets Boost from New
Corporate Players http://www.awea.org/ (3/13/02)
--- American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE) - Senate
Fumbles Fuel Economy: Advantage OPEC http://www.aceee.org/ (click Press
and Media) (3/14/02)
--- Metropolitan Transportation Commission ( MTA - San Francisco) -
Regional Transportation Plan Revisited http://www.mtc.ca.gov/ (3/15/02)
Send ENERGIES to a friend or colleague. Visit Green Energy News on
the web at http://www.nrglink.com/ . For ENERGIES paid and free trial
subscriptions please visit the web site. Copyright Green Energy News
Inc. 3/16/02 vol.6 no.50
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