California's Wonderful Solar Subisdies

As mentioned recently, China announced massive subsidies to encourage the purchase and installation of solar panels, and the usage of solar-powered electricity. Now, the Golden State has decided to dole out liberal subsidies, too. Catch the link, or read below:

The state of California pays $3.30 a watt for solar panels to power common areas – i.e., parking lots and hallways – and $4.00 a watt for solar panels to provide power to individual apartments, says Richard Raeke, director of project finance at Borrego Solar.

The subsidies can be determined by square footage if the complex is on a centralized master power meter. If 20 percent of a complex's electrical load gets consumed by the common areas, 20 percent of the rebate is at the $3.30 rate and the rest goes at $4.00.

We're really looking at 40 to 60 percent of the cost," he said.

By contrast, standard homeowners get $1.55 a watt in California.

[...]

The state has also created a solar subsidy for low-income individual homes that range from $7 to $5.75. At $7 a watt, the subsidy would cover more than the
cost of installing a solar system now, which can be put in for just under $7 a watt. Nonetheless, the building must be occupied by residents with federal income tax liability ranging from $2,000 to zero.

California set aside $108 million for the Multifamily Affordable Solar Housing (MASH) program as part of its comprehensive solar initiative. The state's public utility commission fleshed out the program in November 2007. However, it only began accepting applications somewhat recently. The money will be spent over the next four years.

- Brewskie

"Pond Scum" to Power Venice

It's known as "Serenissima," "Queen of the Adriatic," "City of Water" and as I call it, "the City of Slime;" but now Venice has an energetic plan to power its town, and deal with its plaguing algae problem. Read below, or be lazy... and check out the link:

Italy recently announced a 200 million euro eco-friendly project to harvest the prolific seaweed that lines Venice’s canals and transform it into emissions-free energy. The idea is to set up a power plant fuelled by algae, the first facility of its kind in Italy. The plant, to be built in collaboration with renewable energy services company Enalg, will be operative in two years and will produce 40 megawatts of electricity, equivalent to half of the energy required by the entire city centre of Venice.

The algae will be cultivated in laboratories and put in plastic cylinders where water, carbon dioxide, and sunshine can trigger photosynthesis. The resulting biomass will be treated further to produce a fuel to turn turbines. The carbon dioxide produced in the process will be fed back to the algae, resulting in zero emissions from the plant. “Venice could represent the beginning of a global revolution of energy and renewable resources. Our goals are to achieve the energetic self-sufficiency for the seaport and to reduce CO2 emissions, including those one produced by the docked ships”, says the president of the seaport of Venice Authority, Paolo Costa.

- Brewskie

Major Breakthrough for Algae Growth to Benefit Biofuels

Bionavitas recently announced a new technology, Light Immersion Technology (LIT), that ignites Algae into rampant growth. Algae is the warlord biofuel and it's easy to grow; a major hurdle is getting it to grow in meaningful quantities, because as it grows, it becomes denser and blocks out needed sunlight to aid scalable growth.

Bionvavitas' new Light Immersion Technology is geared to solving just this. Read below:

Algae, shown to have the potential for solving the reliance on fossil fuels for energy production, are widely recognized as an important source for biodiesel production. Harnessing the power of the sun or an artificial light source by immersing it in the culture, Light Immersion Technology effectively produces an order of magnitude more algae biomass than existing growth methods, thereby increasing yields and reducing the cost to make algae-based biofuels price competitive with petroleum products.

Algae are the ultimate feedstock for biofuel production, promising yields that are hundreds of times greater than those of traditional land-based oil crops such as soy beans or rapeseed (canola oil). The dramatic yields depend upon the efficient use of solar energy not possible using previously existing technologies. Before Bionavitas made its Light Immersion Technology available to the public, nearly every large scale approach to algae growth has been challenged by a simple fact of nature: as algae grow, they become so dense they block the light needed for continued growth.

This “self-shading” phenomenon results in a layer that limits the amount of algae per acre that can be grown and harvested. The Light Immersion Technology developed by Bionavitas fundamentally changes this equation by enabling the algae growth layer in open ponds to be up to a meter deep. This represents a 10 to 12 time increase in yield over previous methods that produced only 3-5 centimeters of growth.

Bringing light to algae...

At the core of Light Immersion Technology is an innovative approach at bringing light to the algae culture in both open ponds and closed bioreactors through a system of light rods which extend deep into the algae culture. By distributing light below the surface “shade” layer and releasing the light in controlled locations, algae cultures can grow denser. In external canal systems, the rods distribute light from the sun into the culture. This abundant and free energy source is ideal for generating large amounts of algae for use as biofuels.

In closed bioreactors, the rods evenly distribute more readily absorbed red and blue spectrum light from high efficiency LEDs. While the LEDs increase the cost of production, algae grown in these systems are used for higher value markets such as nutraceuticals.

- Brewskie

The World's Biggest "Death Star" Wannabe

This will be the world's biggest laser, a composition of 192 lasers meant to create nuclear fusion - an emulation of the sun - ... and it's running. It's all going down at the National Ignition Facility (NIF). If all goes according to plan - within two, maybe three years - mean streamin' beams will give birth to fusion reactions, that... churn out more energy than is required to create them. A dream of humankind.

Check into it (source):

The National Ignition Facility (NIF), at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), comprises 192 lasers that fire imultaneously at precisely the same point in space: a sphere of fuel two millimeters in diameter. They are designed to deliver 1.8 megajoules of energy in a few billionths of a second. That's enough to compress the fuel to a speck 50 micrometers across and heat it up to three million degrees Celsius. The lasers, which were fired together for the first time last month, have so far produced pulses of 1.1 megajoules. "Depending on how you count it, it's between 60 and 100 times more energetic than any laser system that's ever been built," says Edward Moses, the principle associate director for NIF and Photon Science at LLNL. Eventually, the fusion reactions produced by each pulse are expected to generate at least 10 times the energy delivered by the lasers, a
significant net gain that could be useful for generating power.

The $3.5 billion facility, which has been in development for 15 years, was funded primarily as a way to better understand nuclear weapons, after a ban on testing in the 1990s. NIF will produce tiny thermonuclear explosions that give scientists insight into what happens when a nuclear bomb goes off. That data can, in turn, be used to verify computer simulations that help determine whether the United States' nuclear stockpile will continue to work as the weapons age. The data could also provide insight into the processes that power the sun and other stars, and answer other scientific questions. Finally, NIF could serve as a proof-of-concept design for a fusion power plant.

To generate fusion, 192 laser beams are generated, amplified, converted from infrared to ultraviolet light, and then aimed at a small gold canister the size of a pencil eraser. Inside that canister is a sphere containing the fuel: two isotopes of hydrogen called deuterium and tritium. The lasers are positioned all around the sphere to create the temperatures and pressures needed to ignite a fusion reaction. If all goes as planned, some of the hydrogen atoms should fuse, producing helium and releasing energy. This should, in turn, cause more fusion reactions until the fuel runs out. The whole process will take just a few billionths of a second.

[...]

The current facility isn't built to generate electricity. But Moses says that with the right funding, a power plant using fusion from a system like the one at NIF could be running in a decade. In contrast, power plants based on the Z machine at Sandia or the ITER system in France are decades away.

Other experts, however, are more skeptical. "If NIF is successfully, they'll still be a very long way from turning this into a practical energy source," says Ian Hutchinson, professor and head of nuclear science and engineering at MIT. For example, he says, a power plant would require the lasers to fire much more frequently than the NIF lasers--5 to 10 times a second, rather than once every couple of days, as is possible now. (Each burst would release energy equivalent to about five kilowatt-hours of electricity: by comparison, an average nuclear power plant generates 12.4 billion kilowatt hours a year, while an average house requires about 1,000 kilowatt-hours per month.)

In contrast, ITER will use magnetic confinement of hot plasma to produce fusion, a system that produces a continuous stream of energy that could be more suited to generating electricity than the very short bursts of energy produced by NIF, he says.

Groovy.

- Brewskie

Spain: Wild Wind Rockstar

This from Ecogeek on Spain going "Gone with the Wind..."

Last week, during a spell of particularly strong wind gusts, Spain set a world record by having 40 percent of their energy requirement generated by wind power. The high winds in the northwest of the country generated a whopping 11,180 MW during the strongest gust.

Spain's Wind Energy Association said that the turbines were working at 69 percent of their potential during the strong winds, which means even fiercer winds could crush this record.

While the U.S. is still number one in wind power, we only get 1 percent of our energy from the resource. Spain, ranked third in the world, has been incredibly ambitious in their wind plans. They hope to be generating 20,000 MW from wind by 2010 up from the 16,000 MW they're currently producing. Beyond just wind, Spain hopes to have renewable energy sources making up 30 percent of their energy demand within the next year.

- Brewskie

U.S. Lags in Solar PV

Gotta do some bad news occasionally to "keep it real." While America has been kicking ass and taking names as the world's new "wind king," sadly, it can't say the same for solar. Here's some sobering statistics from Ecogeek:

• The world’s demand for PV power grew about 110% last year. The world now demands just under 6 GW of PV power. Spain’s share of that 6 GW is 2.46 GW. Our share? A measly 0.36 GW.

• In the last year, China and Taiwan’s market share of solar cell production has risen from 35% to 44%. Meanwhile, our own market share – which was about 45%
  in the mid-90’s – has dropped to about 10%.

• Of the top ten largest PV production plants in the world, guess how many are in the US? Zero, that’s how many.

And eyeball down to the chart and you'll see where where America at. The good news is it's ahead of other industrial powers, Japan and South Korea, but getting lambasted by Germany and Spain - plus, Taiwan and China are burying its star-spangled ass in the PV production department. America is the country that invented PV, for Pete's sake!!

Some other bits from Ecogeek:

So why are we lagging behind? Some might claim that sunny countries like Spain have an easier time capitalizing on sunlight. I would have a hard time believing that Spain has that much more sunlight than the entire Southwest, though.

Others would point out that PV just isn’t our weapon of choice when it comes to utility-scale solar electricity production, compared to solar thermal technologies. As long as you have ample land resources and workable land usage laws, solar thermal can deliver lower cost per watt. So maybe we’re just more of a solar thermal country than a solar PV country.

Really, though, it boils down to policy. European countries like Spain, Germany and Italy are no sunnier than the US, but their policies are. They have been pouring funds into subsidies for renewable power generation – that’s why so many GW were installed. And you know what? Now that the fixed costs are taken care of, these countries have energy-producing assets that run on free fuel. What could be a sounder investment in today’s economic climate?

Ecogeek does make a point on America's embracement of solar thermal. A deal for 1.3 gigawatts of solar thermal projects was recently inked for California. Also, it wasn't that long ago when America lagged in the wind department; now we're the king in wind-produced energy (though Germany still leads in wind energy generated per capita). Like wind, the U.S. has splendid solar potential. Let's get crackin'.

- Brewskie

Brazil Wants U.S. to Lift Ethanol Tarrifs

Flush with freshly discovered oil, already the world's largest exporter of ethanol, up and coming superstar, Brazil, wants the U.S. to lift its 53 cent a gallon tariff that safeguards its worthless corn-based ethanol:

Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Friday implored American businessmen to help convince the United States to lift the 53-cent-per-gallon import tariff it places on his country's ethanol fuel.

Speaking at a Wall Street Journal-sponsored investor forum Monday, Silva defended the gasoline alternative as a cheap and easy way to end dependence on foreign oil and help reduce global poverty.

[...]

But Silva, who met with President Barack Obama on Saturday, has made little progress persuading the U.S. to reduce the tariffs, which are in place to protect American farmers who make ethanol from corn. Brazil makes ethanol from sugar, in a process that is much more efficient and costs less.

"One thing that leaves me perplexed, is in the same world where we invest in environmental policy capable of avoiding global warming ... many countries still don't place any tariff on polluting fuels while they place absurd tariffs on ethanol," Silva said, pointing out the ethanol burns relatively cleanly compared to gasoline.

During the presidential elections, Obama supported subsidies for the Midwest-based ethanol industry.

That support is widely considered a factor in his victory at the Iowa cauceses which boosted his early prospects during the primary. It also contributed to his victory in the general elections against John McCain, who opposed the subsidies.

In Brazil, all gasoline is blended with 25 percent ethanol and so-called "flex-fuel" cars can run on either the gasoline-alcohol mix or pure ethanol available at about 35,000 filling stations across Brazil.

About 23 percent of Brazil's automotive fleet is now "flex-fuel."

Added note: oil from their super deep finds (20,000 feet below sea and ocean floor) should start squirting by May 1. Mark it on your calenders.

- Brewskie

Forecasts in Geothermal

After scrolling past a boring introduction, you should find some good forecasts for geothermal, truly a good industry with a promising future.

Geothermal Energy Forecast

Global geothermal energy capacity will grow 89% between now and 2015, according to the most recent information available from GlobalData. Capacity will surge from 11,0007 MW at the end of 2008 to over 20,800 MW in the next six years.
Here's the chart:

And in case you're interested, here's how the market share shakes out by
region:

Asia-Pacific, 47.6%

North America, 42.3%

Europe, 10.0%

South America, <0.10%>

[...]

Geothermal Energy Investment Forecast

Like most other market sectors, geothermal stocks have lost significant value over the past year. Here's the visual:

Losing 50% of your value in two years is no joke. But indicators are pointing to a rebound in the geothermal sector that will coincide with growth in geothermal capacity. It only makes sense, right?

The recently-passed stimulus did its part to ensure investing in geothermal energy remains attractive. The bill extends the production tax credit (PTC) until 2013, allowing project developers to recoup 30% of a new plant's cost. The stimulus creates a cash grant program to support the industry as well.

It's a win-win according to Geothermal Energy Association executive director Karl Gawell:

"We estimate that the geothermal power industry has doubled its workforce in the US in the past two years, and the economic stimulus bill provides a framework of support that will continue if not accelerate growth in this industry adding tens of thousands of new jobs with even greater positive effects across the economy."

Federal incentives will lure private capital to the sector, allowing financing to go through for new projects. Banks will be more likely to lend given a 30% credit that gives stability to and reduces payback times.

For some info. on current and upcoming geothermal projects, check out this post at Peak Oil Debunked, an always excellent blog.

- Brewskie

Mr. Burns' Fly Trap

This lamp shade isn't a disco ball, but a fly and moth trap that burns from what it feeds on:

this "carnivorous lamp," which appears to be designed to catch flies, feed on them and use energy generated through that to power LEDs.

Flies and moths are naturally attracted to light. This lamp shade has holes based on the form of the pitcher plant enabling access for the insects but no escape. Eventually they expire and fall into the microbial fuel cell underneath. This generates the electricity to power a series of LEDs located at the bottom of the shade. These are activated when the house lights are turned off.

And if you delight in powering your lifestyle from the incarnation of pests, check out these carnivorous gizmos on Material Beliefs' website - one being a mousetrap coffee table "that lives off the dead." Yeah... just what you want in an artsy coffee shop.

Burn, baby, burn.

- Brewskie

Silly and Beige: Enough Anti-Matter to Juice a Light Bulb

According to this columnist, we should consider anti-matter as a source of energy. It's the most expensive substance known to man - $25 million per gram - but 2.2 pounds of the stuff would be the equivalent to 345 million gallons of gasoline. Our collection so far from the high-tech CERN particle accelerator... yup, enough to fire a light bulb for a few minutes.

Geesh... we can do that with a "flock" of hamsters running on wheels. What do these physicists get their fancy degrees for anyway?

- Brewskie