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EREN NETWORK NEWS -- May 15, 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
Farm Bill Boosts Bioenergy Production, Renewable Energy Use
Cargill Dow, Ashland to Produce Biobased Solvent
GE Buys Enron Wind; Vestas Receives Large U.S. Wind Order
New Jersey State Government Buys Green Power
Six Green Tag Providers Earn Green-e Certification
Rosebud Sioux to Build First Tribal Utility-Scale Turbine
EPA Recognizes Nearly 300 Commuter Choice Leaders
*Energy Facts and Tips
EPA Examines Greenhouse Gas Emissions by Sector, Strength
*About this Newsletter
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NEWS AND EVENTS
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Farm Bill Boosts Bioenergy Production, Renewable Energy Use
President Bush signed the Farm Bill on Monday, ushering in
a variety of programs to encourage the production of energy
products on farms while providing incentives for farmers to
increase their energy efficiency and their use of renewable
energy resources. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman
noted that the bill -- officially called the Farm Security and
Rural Investment Act of 2002 -- provides " a renewed
commitment to renewable fuels programs." See the
U.S. Department of Agriculture press release at:
<http://www.usda.gov/news/releases/2002/05/0189.htm>.
Title IX of the bill specifically addresses energy, providing
$204 million in subsidies over the next four years for
producers of fuel-grade ethanol and biodiesel. It also
provides $5 million to educate consumers about biodiesel
and $6 million to establish a new program to encourage the
purchase of biobased products by federal agencies. The
new program will include an effort to establish voluntary
labeling of biobased products.
The bill encourages farmers to be energy efficient and to use
renewable energy systems, including wind energy systems
and anaerobic digesters, by providing $115 million over the
next five years for low-interest loans, loan guarantees, and
grants. It also extends the Biomass Research and Development
Initiative through 2006, providing $75 million to continue the
Initiative. See the Farm Bill summary on the U.S. Senate
Web site at:
<http://www.senate.gov/~agriculture/Briefs/2001FarmBill/conframe.htm>.
For more details, including the complete text of the bill, see
the link from the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture,
Nutrition & Forestry Web site at:
<http://www.senate.gov/~agriculture/>.
The Biomass Research and Development Initiative is a
multi-agency effort to coordinate and accelerate all federal
biobased products and bioenergy research and
development. See the Initiative's Web site at:
<http://www.bioproducts-bioenergy.gov/>.
Cargill Dow, Ashland to Produce Biobased Solvent
The biobased chemical industry took a large step forward in
late April, when Cargill Dow LLC announced that it has
signed a five-year agreement with Ashland Specialty
Chemical Company to produce a biobased solvent.
Biobased chemicals are produced from organic matter
available on a renewable basis -- in this case, the solvent will
be produced from corn. Biobased chemical production can
potentially consume far less fossil fuels than conventional
chemical production processes.
Ashland will derive its ethyl lactate solvent from ethanol and
a Cargill Dow polymer intermediate called lactide. Cargill
Dow's lactide production, in turn, will draw on the company's
new plant that produces lactic acid from corn. The
electronics-grade solvent has many applications in the
semiconductor industry.
Since launching its new plant in April, Cargill Dow has also
moved ahead on its NatureWorks products, which are
produced from lactic acid. The company has demonstrated
the superior flame resistance of its NatureWorks fiber, while
a leading Italian supermarket is preparing to use NatureWorks
materials to produce containers and film wrapping for its
food products. By mid-summer, the supermarket plans to
distribute fresh food and pasta in the corn-based packaging.
See the Cargill Dow press releases at:
<http://www.cargilldow.com/news.asp>.
GE Buys Enron Wind; Vestas Receives Large U.S. Wind Order
It's finally official: the company formerly known as Enron
Wind Corporation is now called GE Wind Energy, a General
Electric (GE) company. GE Power Systems announced the
acquisition on May 10th. GE has not yet chosen the
headquarters location for the new company, which is
currently based in Tehachapi, California. See the GE Wind
Energy Web site at: <www.gewindenergy.com>.
The U.S. market for wind turbines appears strong: Vestas -
American Wind Technology, Inc. (the U.S. subsidiary of
Vestas Wind Systems A/S) received an order on May 5th for
62 of its 660-kilowatt wind turbines for a project near Palm
Springs, California. Cannon Power Corporation placed the
order -- worth more than $24 million -- for its Cabazon Wind
Project. See the Vestas press release at:
<http://www.vestas.com/nyheder/presse/2002/UK/fond20020506_UK.html>.
Other encouraging news for the wind industry includes a
report from E Source Green Energy Service, part of Platts
Research and Consulting, that concludes that wind power
can be easily integrated into newly developing wholesale
power markets. That's good, since the global wind power
market is expected to more than double over the next five
years, to more than 60,000 megawatts of capacity. And all of
this news is creating intense interest in this year's
WINDPOWER 2002 conference, which starts June 2nd in
Portland, Oregon. See the April 25th press release from
Platts at:
<http://plattsweb1.platts.com/pressreleases/index.shtml>.
See also the following press releases from the American
Wind Energy Association:
<http://www.awea.org/news/news020402gwc.html> and
<http://www.awea.org/news/news020509wp2.html>.
New Jersey State Government Buys Green Power
The State of New Jersey made a commitment to renewable
energy early this month when it signed an agreement to
purchase enough green power to meet 12 percent of the
state government's electricity needs. Over the next 15 months,
the state will buy 113 million kilowatt-hours of Green Mountain
Energy Company's "Enviro Blend," of which 50 percent is
produced at large hydroelectric facilities and 50 percent
comes from other renewable energy sources.
Green Mountain Energy Company has achieved a number of
milestones recently, including the installation of a 58-kilowatt
solar array in Dallas, Texas, and a 25-kilowatt solar array in
Kirtland, Ohio. The company will receive an additional boost
in September, when the Northeast Ohio Public Energy
Council (NOPEC) will begin offering the company's green
power product to the 60,000 small business customers
within its 100 member communities. See the Green
Mountain Energy Company press releases at:
<http://www.prnewswire.com/micro/greenm>.
Formed in November 2000, NOPEC is a public entity that
aggregates the buying power of its member communities to
purchase electricity and natural gas at low rates. See the
NOPEC Web site at: <http://www.nopecinfo.org/>.
Six Green Tag Providers Earn Green-e Certification
Is green power not available in your area? Feeling left out?
Well, cheer up: the Center for Resource Solutions has just
awarded its "Green-e" certification to six providers of "green
tags," also known as tradable renewable credits. Buying a
green tag allows you to increase the production of electricity
from renewable energy, thereby offsetting the emissions
caused by your own energy use. Of the six Green-e-certified
products, five are available nationwide and one is available
only in the Northeast. See the Green-e press release at:
<http://www.green-e.org/media_ed/trc.6.announce.html>.
For more information about Green-e certification of tradable
renewable credits, see the April 10th edition of EREN
Network News at:
<http://www.eren.doe.gov/newsletter/archives/2002/apr10_02.html>.
Rosebud Sioux to Build First Tribal Utility-Scale Turbine
The Rosebud Sioux Tribal Council announced last week that
it will build the first Native American-owned utility-scale
turbine on its tribal lands in South Dakota. The Rosebud
Sioux Tribe Wind Farm will initially consist of one 750-kilowatt
NEG Micon turbine, which will produce enough energy over
the course of one year to power 200 homes. The construction
is made possible through a new agreement with NativeEnergy,
which will sell -- you guessed it -- green tags for the project
through its WindBuilders program. See the NativeEnergy
press release at:
<http://www.nativeenergy.com/news050702.html>.
Meanwhile, a much larger wind project on the Blackfeet
Indian Reservation in Montana has fallen through. DOE's
Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) was considering
buying the entire output of a 66-megawatt wind plant that
was proposed by SeaWest WindPower, Inc. But BPA
recently halted work on its Environmental Impact Statement
for the project, citing high energy costs. BPA will continue its
avian studies at the site for potential use by the tribe or the
wind developer. See the BPA Environment, Fish, and
Wildlife Web site at:
<http://www.efw.bpa.gov/cgi-bin/PSA/NEPA/SUMMARIES/blackfeet>.
Although the halt of the Blackfeet project is disappointing,
tribal lands hold countless opportunities for renewable
energy development, and DOE is working to encourage such
development. DOE's Tribal Energy Program provides
financial and technical assistance to tribes for feasibility
studies and shares the cost of implementing sustainable
renewable energy installations on tribal lands. This program
promotes tribal energy self-sufficiency and fosters
employment and economic development on America's tribal
lands. See the program's new Web site on EREN at:
<http://www.eren.doe.gov/power/tech_access/tribalenergy/>.
EPA Recognizes Nearly 300 Commuter Choice Leaders
Companies that encourage alternatives to solo commuting in
a car -- alternatives like public transit, compressed work
schedules, and carpooling or vanpooling -- help their
workers save energy while reducing traffic and the air
pollution it generates. In recognition of these benefits, the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department
of Transportation sponsor the Commuter Choice Leadership
Initiative, a business-government partnership to encourage
smart alternatives to the everyday commute. Yesterday,
EPA Administrator Christie Whitman joined Mary Peters,
Federal Highway Administrator, in recognizing the nearly
300 companies participating in the partnership. See the EPA
press release at: <http://www.epa.gov/epahome/headline_051402.htm>.
Such alternatives appear to be working: according to the
American Public Transportation Association (APTA), the use
of public transportation in the United States grew twice as
fast as car use in 2001. Public transportation ridership
increased 2 percent to a record 9.5 billion rides in 2001.
APTA attributed much of the growth to cities that were
investing in transit system expansions, such as Los Angeles,
Denver, and Washington, D.C. See the APTA press release
at: <http://www.apta.com/news/releases/2001ridership.htm>.
Las Vegas, Nevada, may soon join those cities: the
gambling town is embarking on the largest monorail system
in the United States. With funding coming entirely from the
private sector, the Las Vegas Monorail will run along the
east side of the Las Vegas Strip, linking seven stations over
four miles. A fleet of nine 4-car trains is expected to begin
operating in early 2004. The system is expected to carry
19 million passengers in its first year of operation. See the
Las Vegas Monorail Company Web site at:
<http://www.lvnvmonorail.com/>.
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ENERGY FACTS AND TIPS
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EPA Examines Greenhouse Gas Emissions by Sector, Strength
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its
final inventory of greenhouse gas emissions and sinks for
1990 through 2000 last month. The final report verifies the
conclusions of the draft report, released in February, which
found a 2.5 percent increase in emissions in 2000. For more
details, see the February 27th edition of EREN Network
News at:
<http://www.eren.doe.gov/newsletter/archives/2002/feb27_02.html>.
While the final report is no surprise, of greater interest is two
re-analyses of the report by the EPA. The first, "Emissions
by Economic Sector," divides the emissions into more
intuitive groupings. This report shows electricity generation
as the major source of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions,
contributing 34 percent of the total in 2000. Transportation
comes in second at 27 percent, and industry ranks third at
19 percent. Commercial buildings and agriculture contribute
just 5 percent and 8 percent, respectively. And contributions
from U.S. households -- not counting their electricity use, but
including the effects of the waste they generate -- add up to
about 8 percent of the total.
Rearranging the data to include electricity generation in each
of the sectors (based on their electricity consumption) shuffles
the order, placing industry just ahead of transportation,
followed by residences, commercial buildings, and
agriculture.
All of these analyses depend on counting the emissions of
various greenhouse gases, such as methane, and applying a
conversion factor that accounts for their strength as a
greenhouse gas relative to carbon dioxide. The results are
reported as simply "carbon dioxide equivalents." But here's a
problem: scientists are tweaking and adjusting those
conversion factors, which are known as Global Warming
Potential (GWP) values. The most recent assessment report
from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, for
instance, changed the GWP for methane from 21 to 23. In
other words, methane is now considered 23 times more
powerful than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas.
The EPA's "Greenhouse Gases and Global Warming
Potential Values" summarizes at these changes and asks an
important question: do the changes revise our view of
U.S. greenhouse gas emissions? The answer, thankfully, is
no.
See all of these reports on the EPA Global Warming Site at:
<http://www.epa.gov/globalwarming/publications/emissions/index.html>.
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ABOUT THIS NEWSLETTER
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