ASERTTI News
Mark Your Calendars: 2010
Energy Outlook Conference, February 1-4. 2010
ASERTTI and NASEO will host the 2010 Energy
Outlook Conference in Washington, DC from February
1-4 at the Fairmont Hotel. Please
click here to visit the event website for more
information. Online registration will be available
soon.
Fossil Fuels' Hidden Cost
Is in Billions, Study Says
As reported in the New York Times, burning fossil
fuels costs the United States about $120 billion a
year in health costs, mostly because of thousands of
premature deaths from air pollution, according to a
study released Monday by the National Academy of
Sciences. According to the study, which was ordered
by Congress, the damages are caused almost equally
by coal and oil. The study lends support to
arguments that society should pay extra for energy
from sources like the wind and the sun, because
their indirect costs are extremely small. But it
also found that renewable motor fuel, in the form of
ethanol from corn, was slightly worse than gasoline
in its environmental impact. For more on the
study's findings, please
click here to read the full story.
2009 Solar Decathlon Winners
Announced
The U.S. Department of Energy announced the
winners of the 2009 Department of Energy Solar
Competition on the National Mall in Washington,
D.C. Team Germany, the student team from Darmstadt,
Germany, won top honors by designing, building, and
operating the most attractive and efficient
solar-powered home. The University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign took second place followed by Team
California in third place. For more on the
individual contest winners, please
click here to read the full story.
ASERTTI Partners with
NASEO and EPA's CHP Partnership to Host WWTF Webinar
On Tuesday, September 22, 2009 ASERTTI, in
conjunction with the National Association of State
Energy Officials (NASEO) and the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency's (EPA) Combined Heat and Power
(CHP) Partnership Program, co-sponsored a 90 minute
webinar on the energy efficiency opportunities
available for wastewater treatment facilities (WWTF)
utilizing the generated biogas from the wastewater
treatment process through anaerobic digesters.
Presenters included Neeharika Naik-Dhungel from
EPA's CHP Partnership Program and John Cuttica and
Cliff Haefke from the Midwest CHP Application
Center. Participants were provided with an overview
on the basics of anaerobic digesters; strategies
utilizing generated biogas; concepts and benefits of
CHP; ideas for incorporating biogas/CHP projects in
state energy programs; and examples of successfully
operating biogas/CHP systems in WWTFs. Please
click here to access the Webinar summary,
presentations and the audio, on the Midwest CHP
Application Center website.
Popping the Cork on
Biofuel Agriculture: Scientists identify enzyme that
could help grow biofuel crops in harsh environments
Scientists at ASERTTI member, Brookhaven National
Laboratory, have identified a novel enzyme
responsible for the formation of suberin — the
woody, waxy, cell-wall substance found in cork.
While effective at keeping wine inside a bottle,
suberin's most important function in plants is to
control water and nutrient transportation and keep
pathogens out. Adjusting the permeability of plant
tissues by genetically manipulating the expression
of this enzyme could lead to easier agricultural
production of crops used for biofuels. Please
click here for the full story.
Ten-year Update: Emissions and
Economic Analysis of Geothermal Heat Pumps in
Wisconsin
ASERTTI member, Energy Center of Wisconsin,
recently released a study of the economic and
emissions savings of geothermal heat pumps shows
significant cost savings in commercial applications
and longer-term savings in residential applications.
The study took updated information on costs,
technology and incentive factors into account in
assessing Wisconsin's geothermal market. The Energy
Center's 2009 study was funded by Alliant Energy.
Please
click here for a link to the study.
EPRI Wins $1.3 Million in
Federal Grants for Water Quality Trading Program
ASERTTI member, the Electric Power Research
Institute (EPRI) announced receipt of $1.3 million
in federal grants from the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA) to launch a regional water
quality trading program in the Ohio River Basin.
Water quality trading employs a market-based
approach designed to enable facilities facing high
pollution control costs to buy reduction credits
from another facility or entity with lower pollution
control costs. The goal is to achieve the same or
even better water quality improvements more
efficiently and at lower costs. The project will
focus on nitrogen and phosphorus discharges from
sources within the Basin and is expected to result
in cost-effective water quality improvements
throughout the region which includes portions of
Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, New York, Ohio,
Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia. For more
information, please
click here to read the full story.
LIPA, EPRI and NYIT Partner
to Research Solar Carports that Charge Electric,
Hybrid Cars
New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) and
ASERTTI members, Long Island Power Authority (LIPA)
and Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) are
partners on a project that will study the use of
solar carports, located on NYIT's Old Westbury
campus and Central Islip site, in charging electric
and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. Each NYIT
location currently has a solar carport installation,
constructed by EmPower CES, that generates up to 10
kilowatts of electric power and can charge several
vehicles at the same time. The systems qualified for
a LIPA solar rebate of approximately $90,000. This
project will help LIPA understand the impact of
electric vehicle technology on the electric system
and investigate solar power as one potential
technology to charge the vehicles without drawing
power from the grid. The project will also
investigate the ramifications of vehicle to grid
(V2G) charging and its impact on the LIPA
distribution grid. V2G charging is when a vehicle
battery is used to support the grid by putting power
into it rather than drawing power from it. Please
click here for the full story. |
