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EREN NETWORK NEWS -- December 4, 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
Honda and Toyota Deliver Fuel Cell Cars to California
Coleman Powermate Launches Fuel-Cell-Powered Generator
Nevada Utility Signs Contracts for Wind, Geothermal Power
Report Shows Large Benefits from Energy Star Program
Projects to Produce Energy from Waste are Gaining Momentum
Religious Groups Seek to Make Driving a Moral Issue
*Site News
Fuelcell Propulsion Institute
*Energy Facts and Tips
Renewable Energy Gains Ground as EIA Looks Ahead to 2025
*About this Newsletter
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NEWS AND EVENTS
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Honda and Toyota Deliver Fuel Cell Cars to California
Honda Motor Company, Ltd. and Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. both
delivered their first fuel-cell-powered cars to customers in
California on Monday.
The City of Los Angeles took delivery of a Honda FCX, a hydrogen-
fueled vehicle that seats four, has a range of up to 170 miles, and
performs much like a standard Honda Civic. Air Products and
Chemicals, Inc. will provide the hydrogen fuel and fueling
infrastructure for the city. Los Angeles is leasing the vehicle for
$500 per month and plans to lease four more in 2003. Honda plans to
lease about 30 vehicles in California and Japan in the next two
years, but has no current plans for mass-market sales of fuel cell
vehicles. See the December 2nd press release on the Honda Web site
at: <http://www.hondanews.com/forms/events/index.html?kw=fcx>.
Meanwhile, Toyota delivered two of its hydrogen-fueled Toyota FCHVs
to the University of California (UC), Irvine and UC Davis. Based on
the Highlander, a mid-sized SUV, the FCHV combines improved
aerodynamics, aluminum components, and a 109-horsepower motor to
achieve excellent acceleration and a range of up to 180 miles. Both
cars are under 30-month leases to the universities, which are
leaders in fuel-cell research. Toyota plans to deliver four more
FCHVs to the universities next year. The company has provided more
than $2 million in research grants to UC campuses over the past five
years, and plans to double that figure over the next three and a
half years. See the December 2nd press release on the Toyota Web
site at: <http://www.toyota.com/about/news/index.html#environment>.
The combined efforts of Toyota, Honda, the City of Los Angeles, the
California Fuel Cell Partnership, and state organizations like the
California Air Resources Board and South Coast Air Quality
Management Board are leading to the establishment of hydrogen
fueling infrastructure in the San Francisco Bay Area and in Los
Angeles and Orange counties. According to Toyota, these two "model
communities" will have a network of six refueling stations up and
running within the next six months. Toyota's contribution includes a
new refueling station at Toyota's national headquarters in Torrance,
40 miles northwest of the UC Irvine campus. See the Stuart Energy
press release at:
<http://www.stuartenergy.com/news/press_releases/press_dec2.html>.
A fuel-cell-powered bus already hit the streets in Southern
California in mid-November. The SunLine Transit Agency, which serves
the Palm Springs area, is operating a 50-foot "ThunderPower" bus,
built through a joint venture of Thor Industries and ISE Research.
The hydrogen-fueled bus draws on a 75-kilowatt fuel cell from UTC
Fuel Cells and is serving a route that will demand 100 miles of
travel each day. UTC is also working with the Northeast Advanced
Vehicle Consortium to develop a 200-kilowatt fuel cell power plant
for buses. See the UTC Fuel Cells press releases at:
<http://www.utcfuelcells.com/news/archive/111402.shtml> and
<http://www.utcfuelcells.com/news/archive/111102.shtml>.
The market for fuel cell vehicles has yielded good news for Ballard
Power Corporation in recent weeks. Ballard received a $1.88 million
order for its Mark 902 fuel-cell engines from an undisclosed
automotive company in late November, then signed a three-year supply
agreement with Honda on Monday. And according to a new study from
Allied Business Intelligence (ABI), the Ballard news is part of a
trend: ABI predicts a rapidly growing market that will reach 800,000
fuel cell vehicles worldwide by 2012. See the press releases from
Ballard and ABI, all in PDF format only, at:
<http://www.ballard.com/pdfs/27%20New%20Auto.PDF>,
<http://www.ballard.com/pdfs/28%20Honda.PDF>,
<http://www.alliedworld.com/pdfs/afc02pr.pdf>.
Coleman Powermate Launches Fuel-Cell-Powered Generator
Coleman Powermate, a leading producer of portable power systems and
backup power systems, took a major step toward commercializing fuel
cell systems for everyday use yesterday, as it launched a portable
power generator that draws on a fuel cell. The AirGen fuel cell
generator is built around a 1-kilowatt Nexa power module, which uses
a Ballard fuel cell. The generators are now available for online
purchase by industrial users with access to hydrogen cylinders;
Coleman Powermate plans to expand to residential and commercial
markets in the near future. The units sell for $5,995, but the first
50 sold in California will earn a $1,000 rebate, thanks in part to
the California Air Resources Board. See the new AirGen Web site at:
<http://www.airgen.com/>.
New Jersey gained a 200-kilowatt fuel cell system in late October. A
$710,000 rebate from the New Jersey Clean Energy Program and a
$200,000 rebate from the U.S. Department of Defense helped make the
installation affordable to Merck & Company, Inc., which will use it
as a supplemental power source. UTC Fuel Cells provided the system.
See the UTC Fuel Cells press release at:
<http://www.utcfuelcells.com/news/archive/103002.shtml>.
If Allied Business Intelligence (ABI) is right, we won't be
reporting such installations much longer, because there will be too
many of them! According to an ABI study released in late November,
the global generating capacity from fuel cells will grow from
today's 45 megawatts to 16,000 megawatts in 2012 -- more than
350 times today's capacity. See the ABI press release, in PDF format
only, at: <http://www.alliedworld.com/pdfs/fcm02pr2.pdf>.
Nevada Utility Signs Contracts for Wind, Geothermal Power
Nevada Power Company, the utility for most of southern Nevada,
signed six contracts last week that will add up to 227 megawatts of
renewable generating capacity to the utility's power supply. More
than half of the new generating capacity will come from wind power,
but the remainder will come from geothermal power. The contracts
include two proposed wind plants in Clark County (on the southern
tip, where Las Vegas is located) and one in White Pine County,
located in the central eastern part of the state. The geothermal
contracts are for binary power plants in Washoe, Elko, and Churchill
counties, which stretch across the northern part of the state, as
well as a flash-steam power plant in Churchill County. The contracts
are part of the utility's efforts to meet its mandatory requirement
for renewable power generation, as specified in a recently enacted
state law. See the press release from Nevada Power's parent company,
Sierra Pacific Resources, at:
<http://www.sierrapacific.com/news/releases/1038297600.html>.
Among the projects covered by the six contracts are the 40-megawatt
Steamboat IV geothermal plant, to be developed by Advanced Thermal
Systems, Inc. (ATS) and mentioned in the November 6th edition of
EREN Network News, and two geothermal facilities producing up to
60 megawatts of power, to be developed by ORMAT Nevada Inc. See the
ATS and ORMAT press releases at:
<http://www.advancedthermalsystems.com/112602.htm> and
<http://www.ormat.com/news_034.htm>.
To help the development of renewable energy resources in Nevada, the
state's Public Utilities Commission (PUC) adopted a temporary
regulation on November 20th that will allow energy providers to buy
and sell renewable energy credits. One credit will represent a
kilowatt-hour of electricity generated from renewable power sources.
Energy providers that generate more renewable power than required
can sell the excess credits to other energy providers within the
state. See the Nevada PUC announcement, in PDF format only, at:
<http://www.puc.state.nv.us/news/2002/REC%20Program.pdf>.
Nevada offers a number of tax exemptions for renewable energy
installations in the state. See the list of incentives on the Nevada
State Office of Energy Web site at:
<http://energy.state.nv.us/renewable/incentives.htm>.
DOE is also helping to develop renewable energy in Nevada. A
$3.22 million grant for renewable energy research and development
was awarded to the state in late September. The grant was
administered by DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory and
supported by DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.
The funding will support nine projects related to solar, wind,
geothermal and fuel cell applications in Nevada. See the
announcement from Governor Kenny Guinn at:
<http://gov.state.nv.us/pr/2002/9-27DOE.htm>.
Report Shows Large Benefits from Energy Star Program
A report released in late November by the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) shows that Americans have achieved
significant energy and environmental benefits through the Energy
Star program and other voluntary programs. Last year alone,
Americans saved more than 80 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity
and avoided using 10,000 megawatts of peak power, the amount of
energy required to power more than 10 million U.S. homes. Through
voluntary efforts, Americans have reduced greenhouse gas emissions
by the equivalent to 38 million metric tons of carbon, which is the
same as taking more than 25 million cars off the nation's roads.
The Energy Star Program is a joint effort of DOE and EPA. More than
750 million Energy Star-labeled products have been purchased to
date, and more than 1,600 builder partners have constructed more
than 57,000 Energy Star-labeled homes, saving homeowners more than
$15 million in energy costs each year. See the EPA press release at:
<http://www.epa.gov/epahome/headline2_112102.htm>.
The full report, a 4-MB PDF file, is also available on the EPA Web
site at: <http://www.epa.gov/cppd/pdf/cpdann01.pdf>.
According to a recent survey by Platts Research & Consulting,
63 percent of U.S. residential consumers say they have implemented
energy-efficiency measures in their homes in the past five years.
Breaking the consumers into segments, the survey found that those
interested most in saving money and in convenience were most likely
to take action to save energy. See the Platts press release at:
<http://www.platts.com/pressreleases/pressrelease2002-1024.shtml>.
But despite such findings, there is still plenty of room for
improvement. A recent study by the Southwest Energy Efficiency
Project (SWEEP), for instance, found that the efficient use of
electricity in Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and
Wyoming could reduce those states' total use of electricity by
18 percent by 2010, and 33 percent by 2020. The slower growth in
electrical load due to energy efficiency would avoid the need to
build 34 power plants (each generating 500 megawatts) over the next
18 years. This would also save 25 billion gallons of water per year
by 2010 and nearly 62 billion gallons per year by 2020. See the
SWEEP study, with links to one regional and several state-by-state
press releases, at: <http://www.swenergy.org/nml/index.html>.
Projects to Produce Energy from Waste are Gaining Momentum
A growing number of projects throughout the United States are
converting waste products into energy using clean, efficient
technologies. The projects are tackling everything from animal
wastes to cooking oil and grease, and are helping to reduce odors,
solid wastes, and greenhouse gas emissions throughout the country.
The use of anaerobic digesters to convert animal wastes into energy
is receiving growing attention. In recent months, Wisconsin's We
Energies began using an anaerobic digester to convert duck manure
into energy; Environmental Power Corporation and Vermont Public
Power Supply Authority began making plans to build anaerobic
digesters to convert dairy farm wastes into energy; and Guepard
Energy Inc. (GEI) signed a power purchase agreement with Southern
California's Imperial Irrigation District for four facilities that
will convert cattle manure and other animal wastes into energy. Each
of the GEI facilities is expected to process 400,000 pounds per day
of animal wastes. See the GEI press release at:
<http://www.guepardei.com/pr01.htm>.
See the October 10th We Energies press release by selecting "Go to
News Releases" on the We Energies Web site at:
<http://www.we-energies.com/media/>.
See the Environmental Power press release on the right-hand column
of the company's home page at:
<http://www.environmentalpower.com/index.html>.
Two Wisconsin facilities are trying less conventional energy
sources. Thanks to funding from Wisconsin's Focus on Energy program,
so-called "yellow grease" -- used cooking oil and grease -- is being
used to fire an industrial boiler in Park Falls. The project should
save nearly one million gallons of fuel oil each year. And a dairy
farm in Oshkosh is has installed a wood boiler, allowing it to burn
waste wood and bales of hay grass instead of natural gas. See the
November 26th and December 2nd announcements by selecting "press
releases" on the Focus on Energy Web site at:
<http://www.wifocusonenergy.com/page.jsp?pageId=2>.
Religious Groups Seek to Make Driving a Moral Issue
We all know that driving a fuel-efficient vehicle, taking public
transportation, joining a carpool, or walking or biking are good
things to do in terms of traffic, air pollution, and U.S. energy
security -- but does that make them the correct moral choice? That
is, is it immoral to drive an inefficient vehicle? Well, according
to a group called the Evangelical Environmental Network (EEN), the
answer is "yes." The group has launched a campaign aimed chiefly at
Christians and asking, "What Would Jesus Drive?" The group draws on
its faith to argue in favor of fuel efficiency. See the "What Would
Jesus Drive?" Web site at: <http://www.whatwouldjesusdrive.org/>.
Expanding the discussion to a wider interfaith group, EEN recently
joined with the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life (COEJL)
and other religious groups to ask the top three automakers to make
more fuel-efficient vehicles. The groups gathered signatures from
over 100 senior religious leaders from 21 states and delivered them
to Detroit on November 20th. See the COEJL press release at:
<http://www.coejl.org/news/20021119_ccc.shtml>.
Such involvement of religious groups in energy efficiency and
renewable energy is a relatively recent and growing trend. As
discussed in the August 21st edition of this newsletter, another
recent example is the installation of a solar power system on a new
Los Angeles cathedral. In addition, interfaith groups in California
and Massachusetts have called for congregations to conserve energy
and use energy efficient and renewable energy technologies. See the
article at:
<http://www.eren.doe.gov/news/news_detail.cfm?news_id=295>.
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SITE NEWS
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Fuelcell Propulsion Institute
<http://www.fuelcellpropulsion.org/index.htm>
The Institute -- a consortium of institutes and industries from
around the world -- facilitates the commercialization of fuel cell
vehicles. The Web site features information on its projects and
industry forums, including those concerning metal and coal mining,
agriculture, and railways.
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ENERGY FACTS AND TIPS
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Renewable Energy Gains Ground as EIA Looks Ahead to 2025
The latest projections for U.S. energy use from DOE's Energy
Information Administration (EIA) present a much more favorable
projection of renewable energy use than last year's report. EIA now
predicts that electricity production from renewable energy sources
will grow 2.1 percent per year through 2025; last year's report
expected only a 1.3 percent annual growth through 2020. The result
is that renewable sources will generate 495 billion kilowatt-hours
of electricity in 2025, or about 9 percent of all power generation.
The projected declines in energy intensity -- the amount of energy
used per dollar of gross domestic product -- remain the same as last
year's projections, dropping 1.5 percent per year, and the total
projected energy use remains roughly the same. But with a dropping
market share for power production from coal, natural gas demand is
projected to grow by 54 percent by 2025. To meet that demand, EIA
projects increased natural gas production in the Rocky Mountains
from unconventional sources such as coalbed methane, construction of
an Alaskan natural gas pipeline, and expanded U.S. facilities for
importing liquefied natural gas (LNG).
But despite all efforts to draw on natural gas, renewable sources,
and energy efficiency, the EIA report projects that U.S. dependence
on oil imports will increase. Imports currently provide 55 percent
of U.S. petroleum demand; by 2025, the country will depend on
imports for 68 percent of its petroleum needs. See the EIA press
release, with a link to the full report, at:
<http://www.eia.doe.gov/neic/press/press201.html>.
For comparison with last year's projections, see the November 21,
2001, edition of EREN Network News at:
<http://www.eren.doe.gov/news/archives/2001/nov21_01.html#energy>.
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ABOUT THIS NEWSLETTER
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