Obama's new energy & environment cabinet members

[Kevin Harney]

I am not arguing that solar and wind are better alternatives. I am just saying we need to use them all to make the most difference. Especially, if we want to increase our use of renewable energy to 25% in a few years - as Obama's plan states.

 

[TEG]

Who wins federal dollars race? Ethanol does, by a long shot - AutoblogGreen

 

[dpeilow]

BBC NEWS | World | Americas | Obama aims for oil independence

 

[doug]

Obama Cabinet | Salon

 

[doug]

Obama's New Science Policy - Chris Mooney | January 26th | ColbertNation.com

 

[doug]

Perhaps not a good sign:

Obama Bets Big on Biofuels | Autopia from Wired.com

Plug-in hybrids and electric cars get all the love in Detroit these days, but Washington isn't giving up on biofuel. Uncle Sam is spending millions of dollars to find ways of turning everything from algae to lawn trimmings into fuel as President Obama promises to invest heavily in alternative fuels.

The departments of energy and agriculture will award $25 million to advance development of "technologies and processes" to produce so-called "next generation" biofuels that aren't refined from food crops like corn. The announcement follows an agriculture department promise to loan $80 million to Range Fuels, a Colorado company that produces ethanol from wood chips, so it can build a refinery in Georgia.

"A robust biofuels industry - focused on the next-generation of biofuels - is critical to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, reducing our addiction to foreign oil and putting Americans back to work," Energy Secretary Steven Chu said in a statement.
...

 

[TEG]

We need to teach land owners that they are better off with solar farms than with rotating "energy crops". With a field full of solar panels there is very little maintenance, and if you get paid per kWh generated, they should be happy to retire their tractors and fertilizer. I guess once you are used to growing stuff it is hard to go in another direction. We have the same problem with people used to putting liquid in their cars, not hooking up a wire.

 

[graham]

I don't think it is an education thing as much as cost. Solar panels are still way too bloody expensive. Corn certainly gives a better return short term. Probably long term as well.

 

[TEG]

Yeah, well, if we do like Germany and offer government subsidies on generated electricity it will be easy to get a loan to buy the equipment with a guaranteed payoff.

Germany Launches Its Transition To All Renewables

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]The PV industry was effectively spurred by the "100,000 roofs program," which from 1999 to 2003 produced 65,324 PV systems totaling 342 MW of capacity. The aim was to stimulate a new building-integrated PV (BIPV) market. The government initially stimulated this program by offering interest-free 10-year loans, waiving the last installment payment and guaranteeing a "feed-in" incentive of 8.5 euro cents per kilowatt-hour. With the beginning of the EEG on April 1, 2000, the PV incentive price jumped to 50.62 euro cents (US 66 cents). By the end of 2004, Germany had become the world's No. 2 PV producer and the world's No. 1 PV installer.

The amended Renewable Energy Act of 2004 assures continued activity in the German PV market. The base incentive remains 45.7 euro cents. This incentive is increased to 54-57 euro cents (US 70-75 cents), depending on the size for PV systems mounted on building roofs (the upper size limit has been eliminated). The incentive is further increased to 59-62.4 euro cents (US 77-81 cents) for PV systems integrated into building surfaces other than roofs (eg., walls).

Because the upper size limit for PV systems has been eliminated, even large ground-mounted systems are assured a revenue stream of 45.7 euro cents (US 59 cents) for 20 years plus the year of commissioning. The law also requires grid operators to give preference to renewable energy generators, and to guarantee connection to the grid even if that means upgrading their transmission facilities. They can recover their costs in the fees they charge for use of their facilities.

[/FONT]
GERMANY: Solar subsidies are victim of their own success
(An anti-problem: The demand is too great!)

 

[vfx]

More here:
http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/environment/1689-feed-tarrif-laws.html

 

[shark2k]

I believe it was late last year that Germany and other European countries seriously cut back on the awesome government funding for solar panels which resulted in a large decrease of buyers. That decrease caused a lot of panel supply to suddenly become greater than demand. I think a lot of it has to do with this economy though.

The pictures of the solar farms TEG posted looked really cool though :biggrin:

-Shark2k

 

[doug]

Steve Chu on Charlie Rose

Excerpt:

Full interview here (starting at 20:45): Charlie Rose - Barton Biggs, Steven Chu

 

[SteveF]

Dr. Chu is an impressive fellow, and gives one hope that our future will be much greener. I also was very encouraged that he believes we may be less than 5 years away from a battery for cars that would last the lifetime of the car, with much better energy density. After all, he's not just some guy in a lab or an entrepreneur looking for funding for a battery startup company - he's our Energy Secretary. I was worried from things I heard on this forum that Dr. Chu might be too focused on biofuels to the exclusion of batteries for car propulsion. After listening to this, I am much less worried about that.

Thanks for posting this, Doug.

 

[vfx]

Thanks Doug,

That made my day.

 

[vfx]

Obama appoints Jon Wellinghoff as new Energy Commission Chief. There are many changes in the works on who has how much decision power. It all favors Obama's and Jon's belief in a smart grid including V2G.

In Wellinghoff’s view, the U.S. electricity system will ultimately become more decentralized, with local solar projects generating power and automobiles serving as storage devices for utility companies. He said that in five to 10 years, if the cost of including the price of household solar installation in a mortgage is less than the money saved on utility bills, “everybody will put solar on their houses.”

And Wellington also understands that plug in hybrids, are a core climate solution. And electricity is the only alternative fuel that can lead to energy independence.

Ultimately, Wellington hopes to find ways to better manage electricity demand so renewable power sources can be integrated into the system. For instance, he is a proponent of using electric cars to send electricity back to the electrical grid as well as draw from it. Electric-car owners could sign up with a company that would amalgamate hundreds or thousands of car owners and, based on their average behavior, promise to either draw down or send back electricity to the grid. Car owners would be paid, which would help offset the cost of electric vehicles, currently priced at least $8,000 or as much as $12,000 more than non-electric versions.

 

[TEG]

That is a vision that I think makes a lot of sense.

President Obama just visited SCE which does V2G research.

I wonder how much utilities will control V2G as apposed to other entities like Better Place, AC propulsion, etc.?

WE STILL NEED CHEAPER BATTERIES WITH HIGHER CALENDAR AND CYCLE LIFE!

It would be great to see a smart grid with lots of solar and V2G storage come to be in my lifetime. It is exciting to see it start to happen, but I am sure that there will be many entities and naysayers try to slow it down or stop it.

 

[ChargeIt!]

I have no problem with the technical aspects and benefits of V2G. My problem with V2G is the negative effect on the battery w.r.t. its long-term life. Why should I let the utility (/other customers) benefit from the energy stored in my battery unless I am properly compensated for the reduction in battery life ?
It would be great though to have that energy available during the occasional power outage around here (2.5 hours about a week ago at 2am).

 

[doug]

I have no problem with the technical aspects and benefits of V2G. My problem with V2G is the negative effect on the battery w.r.t. its long-term life. Why should I let the utility (/other customers) benefit from the energy stored in my battery unless I am properly compensated for the reduction in battery life ?

The effects on battery life is a legitimate concern. However, most of the benefit of V2G technology could be realized by simply allowing the power company to control when your car is charging for the purpose of load balancing. Ideally the consumer would be able to choose different levels of service. E.g.,

• I always want my car charged as fast as possible.
• I only need my car to be charged to x level by y point in time.
• I'm willing to allow my car battery to supply power back to the grid.

If some customers are willing to allow the charging of their cars to be paused (particularly if going to be parked for a long time, or the car doesn't need much juice to make it to the next destination), taking that load off the grid can have the same net effect of getting power from the batteries of other cars.

The pricing structure should be constructed in a way that encourages customers to get the service that gives the utility the most flexibility.

Computers should be pretty good at determining the rate at which each individual car should be charging based on a given set of rules, including the consumer preferences and the status of the grid.

 

[WarpedOne]

- I always want my car charged as fast as possible.
- I only need my car to be charged to x level by y point in time.

Yes, those two features should be merged together into smart charging.

Supplying energy back to grid isn't really necessary nor helpful when there are thousands of cars capable of momentarily pausing their charging.

 

[TEG]

April '09 WIRED cover: