The Energy Blog

Theories as to the causes of global warming are abundant.  An article on the Inquirer.net reports on how methane released from wetlands turned the Earth into a hothouse 55 million years ago, according to research released Wednesday that could shed light on a worrying aspect of today's climate-change crisis.

The study has relevance because of the gigatons of methane locked in the Siberian permafrost today.

Co-author Andrew Scott of Royal Holloway University of London is cautious about making parallels.

A study published last April in the US journal Science attributed the methane to a tectonic rather than biological source -- massive volcanic eruptions in Greenland and the British Islands.

Interesting reading for those concerned.

From the Inquirer.net via Peak Oil News and Message Boards.

Peak-oil - The Turning Point

Peak Oil - The Turning Point, a poster, is available as a pdf download from the Department of Energy.  It is an interesting commentary on peak oil, including a very brief explanation of Hubbert's theory and the various predictions of when the peak might occur. They also have several other posters available, here, that trace the origin of oil and gas, the means to get it to market, the U.S. and global disposition of oil and gas, as well as unconventional sources of oil.

Thanks to vox mundi on Peak oil and Message Boards

The latest on the Volt

A September 29 article in the Wall Street Journal reported that the Chevrolet Volt, General Motors Corp.'s electric-plug-in concept car, will be built at the Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant, begining production in 2010, according to a tentative contract agreement reached between GM and the United Auto Workers union.

This is the most definitive report I have seen on a production schedule for the Volt.

Miasolé Raises $50 million, Has Started Production

Thin-film solar-cell maker Miasole, the Santa Clara, CA, USA start-up which makes CIGS (Copper Indium Gallium Selenium) solar cells, has raised $50 million more in venture capital in a fourth round of financing.

According to Venture Beat, the company says it has started shipping its cells to its first two customers, . . . both in China. The company assembles its solar modules in Shanghai.

Another Venture Beat article reported:

Miasolé is one of a handful of players producing solar technology based on CIGS materials. These companies, which include Nanosolar, HelioVolt and Konarka (and Honda) are all racing to be first to market. Nanosolar made waves in June, when it announced that it would build the world's largest solar cell factory.

In an interview with VentureWire in May, [Chief Executive David] Pearce said Miasolé was in the process of building a production facility with 50 megawatts of capacity….So far, Miasolé has raised at least $58 million from investors including Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, VantagePoint Venture Partners, Firelake Strategic Technology Fund, Garage Technology Ventures and Nippon Kouatsu Electric Co. Pearce would not comment on new investors in the round.

In March DOE announced that it had funded Miasole, subject to negotiations. DOE funding for the first year of the project is expected to be $5,800,000, with approximately $20,000,000 available over three years if the team meets its goals. With the addition of the most recent $50 million this brings the total raised by Miasole to over $100 million, I don't know whether this is included in the $58 million total above.

FPL, PG&E and Ausra Commit to Develop 1,500 MW of Solar Power

Thursday, in association with leading utilities FPL Group, Inc.(NYSE: FPL) and PG&E Corp. (NYSE: PCG), Ausra, Inc., a solar thermal power technology company, presented a formal commitment at the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting for a clean energy future through the development of 1,500 megawatts of solar thermal power plants which they claim will produce electricity at a price comparable with conventional fossil-fuel power plants.

As part of this announcement, PG&E Corp. committed to purchasing an additional 1,000 megawatts of solar thermal power over the next five years. Separately, FPL Group committed to develop 500 megawatts of solar thermal power plants. Collectively these commitments will generate about as much electric power as all the photovoltaic solar panels installed worldwide in 2006.

Solar thermal power plants generate electricity by driving steam turbines with sunshine. Solar concentrators boil water with focused sunlight, generating high-pressure steam which drives conventional turbine generators. Energy storage systems can store heat from the sun to allow solar electric power to be generated on demand, day and night.

One of the major differences between Ausra's system and other solar thermal power plants is that they use low cost flat mirrors rather than solar troughs. A previous post on Ausra gives further details about how their system differs from others resulting in a lower cost of electricity.

"FPL Group has evaluated Ausra’s new solar thermal technology, and we view this breakthrough technology as a promising option to make solar energy an economically sound addition to our power generation going forward.” said Lewis Hay, chairman and CEO of FPL Group, parent company of Florida Power & Light.

FPL Group is the nation’s leader in wind and solar energy today. 

EnerDel Lithium-ion Battery for Plug-ins will cost $1,500

According to Michael Kanellos of cnet NEWS.com:

EnerDel says it will come out with a lithium-ion battery for plug-in hybrids that will cost $1,500, a development that could go a long way to making these cars palatable in terms of price.

The Indianapolis-based company, which recently received a $6.5 million grant from the United States Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC), hopes to deliver the battery to car manufacturers for their 2010 lineups, according to Charles Gassenheimer, vice chairman of the company. The 2010 model cars will start coming out in September 2009, he said. ...

Competitor Altair Nanotechnologies uses a similar chemistry.

EnerDel, a subsidiary of Ener1, Inc. (OTCBB: ENEI) was one of five battery companies that received awards from The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). They received a $2.5 million contract over two years for plug-in hybrid vehicle (PHEV) research. The award is for the development of cells for 10- and 40-mile range PHEVs using nano-phase lithium titanate coupled with a high voltage Nickel-Manganese cathode material. The total DOE/industry cost share will be $2.5 million and the DOE will fund its share of $1.25 million.

This comes on top of a 18-month contract, valued at $6.5 million, that was awarded on September 18, that was the second of a three-phase USABC program and requires a 50 percent cost share. EnerDel successfully completed Phase I in June. EnerDel's Phase II contract involves development focused on scaling up to a production caliber cell, extensive lifetime testing and evaluation, as well as demonstrating the technology in battery modules.

Poet Becomes Largest Ethanol Producer in World, May be first to Produce Cellulosic Ethanol

On September 14 POET Biorefining, formerly the Broin Companies, opened their 21st ethanol production facility, a 65 million gallon per year plant that brings Poet's total capacity to 1.1 billion gallons per year of corn ethanol, making POET the largest producer of ethanol in the world.

The facility, the 27th (including administrative facilites) constructed by POET since they were founded 20 years ago, is equipped with technology that decreases its environmental footprint. That technology includes POET’s patent-pending BPX™ process that eliminates the need for heat in the cooking process of producing ethanol, reducing energy usage by 8-15 percent in comparison with conventional plants. It will also be outfitted with a regenerative thermal oxidizer that eliminates up to 99.9 percent of air emissions.

The BPX process is a patent-pending raw starch hydrolysis process that converts starch to sugar, which then ferments to ethanol without heat. The process not only reduces energy costs, but also releases additional starch content for conversion to ethanol, increases protein content and quality of co-products, increases co-product flowability, potentially increases plant throughput and significantly decreases plant emissions.

POET Biorefining - Portland, IN will utilize 22 million bushels of corn from the area to produce 65 million gallons of ethanol and 178,000 tons of Dakota Gold Enhanced Nutrition Distillers Products™ per year. The $105 million facility will provide around 40 jobs with an annual payroll of about $2 million.

NRG to Build First Nuclear Plants in Thirty Years

On Monday NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) and South Texas Project Nuclear Operating Company (STPNOC) filed the first application for a Combined Construction and Operating License (COLA) with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)in nearly 30 years. NRG proposes to build and operate two new nuclear units at the South Texas Project (STP) nuclear power station site. The total rated capacity of the new units, STP 3 and 4, will equal or exceed 2,700 megawatts (MWs).

NRG has chosen Advanced Boiling Water Reactor (ABWR) technology for the new units to be built at the STP site. The 12,220-acre site and 7,000-acre cooling reservoir were originally designed for four units. The two new units will be built adjacent to the currently operating STP units 1 and 2. ABWR technology is certified by the NRC and has an impressive construction and operational track record. This includes setting world records for construction time and bringing the units in on budget.

Four ABWR units have been successfully commissioned in Japan, with another three units under construction in Taiwan and Japan. The Tokyo Electric Power Company, Inc. has more than a decade of experience in ABWR operations and has provided their expertise to supporting STP’s planned two-unit expansion.

Note

Sorry for not posting the last week.  I could not acess either my blogging software or my email and I have been busier than usual on other projects.  The issues are now resolved, I still don't know what was causing the problem.

So I will start posting again later today.  Some of the news related items, that I think are important, may be a little old, but I hope they are of interest to you as they are to me, after all, this blog is a way for me to keep informed on what is going on in The Energy Revolution.

Evergreen Solar Breaks Ground on Manufacturing Plant in Massachusetts

Evergreen Solar, Inc. (Nasdaq: ESLR), the Marlborro, MA manufacturer of String Ribbon(TM) solar power products announced on September 13 that it had broken ground for its new $165 million, 70 Megawatt (MW), facility in Devens, MA where it will expand production its solar products. This will bring their worldwide production capacity to 170 MW with plans to increase it to 300 MW by 2010.

Its press release states:

The new manufacturing plant will increase Evergreen Solar's production capacity in Massachusetts to 75 MW including 5 MW at it headquarters. In addition it has 90 MW of production capacity at EverQ in Germany, an equal partnership of Evergreen, Q-Cells AG (XETRA: QCE.DE) ( the worlds second largest producer of solar cells in 2005) and Renewable Energy Corporation ASA (OSEAX: REC.OL) (REC) (Q-cells has a long term silicon supply agreement with REC). The Devens facility keeps Evergreen on schedule to increase its production to 300 MW by 2010

Richard M. Feldt, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, noted that the new factory will use the Company's revolutionary Quad furnace technology with its state of the art automated ribbon cutting feature. This innovative wafer production process provides substantial opportunity to further increase yield, cell efficiency and labor productivity as well as to reduce the Company's already industry-leading silicon consumption.

Ford Focus Econetic Launched at Frankfort Motor Show

Ford of Europe is offering its customers ultra-low CO2 alternatives for selected car lines with the launch of a new range of Ford ECOnetic models at the 2007 Frankfurt Motor Show.

These cars will use a combination of the latest common-rail diesel powertrains together with other carefully-selected features engineered to reduce CO2 emissions to the absolute minimum.

The first to be launched by the end of 2007 will be the new Ford Focus ECOnetic, which promises to deliver best-in-class CO2 emissions for conventional powertrain technology at just 115g/km.

"Although all models in our current European portfolio are highly competitive in terms of CO2, we do know that more and more car buyers seek the lowest possible emissions as a key reason for purchase, and that they have an increasing range of such vehicles to choose from in the market," said John Fleming, Ford of Europe President and CEO.

Novozymes Colloborating with Brazil to Develop Enzymes for Producing Ethanol from Bagasse

Novozymes has concluded a development agreement with CTC, the Brazilian sugar cane industry’s technical center. Under this agreement Novozymes will contribute enzyme technology for developing bioethanol from bagasse.

The agreement with CTC (Centro de Tecnologia Canavieira) is a research collaboration with a view to developing bioethanol from bagasse – a residual product of sugar production from sugar cane. The development work will take place in a close collaboration between CTC and Novozymes in Brazil, aided by Novozymes’ R&D centers in the US and Denmark. This future process will enable higher ethanol yield in the production process from sugar cane and will thereby optimize the process economy and energy balance and will also reduce the land use and emission of green house gases further.

Compact Linear Fresnel Reflector Solar Power System Lower Cost Than Parabolic Trough Sytems, Ready Now

On Sept 10, Ausra Inc., the developer of utility-scale solar thermal power technology, announced that it has secured more than $40 million in funding from Silicon Valley venture capital firms Khosla Ventures and Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers (KPCB).

Ausra's power plants drive steam turbines with sunshine. Locally manufactured solar concentrators made of steel and glass focus sunlight to boil water, generating high-pressure steam that drives conventional turbine generators. New thermal energy storage systems using pressurized water and low cost materials will provide for on-demand generation day and night. Ausra's core technology, the Compact Linear Fresnel Reflector (CLFR) solar steam generation system, was originally conceived in the early 1990s by founder David Mills while at Sydney University. Mills later worked with Graham Morrison to develop the idea between 1995 and 2001.

Austra's innovation is that it uses commodity flat mirrors that sit low to the ground. The refectors concentrate sunlight on water-filled pipes that hang over the mirrors. As the water is heated up to 545 degrees fahrenheit (285 celsius) the resulting steam drives a standard turbine.

"We had been working on a wide range of alternatives and kept finding that simpler, cheaper approaches outperformed higher-temperature, more sophisticated designs," says Ausra Chairman David Mills.

American Electric Power to Install Six MW of NAS® Battery Storage

Installations will boost reliability, integrate wind generation, prepare for future; new batteries a step toward AEP’s goal of 1,000 megawatts of advanced storage

American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP) annouced that it is expanding its use of large-scale battery technology on its electricity grid by installing six megawatts of sodium sulfur (NAS®) batteries for storage of electricity to enhance reliability, allow for continued load growth, provide support for weak sub-transmission systems, avoid equipment overload and to offset intermittent wind power.

AEP will be adding stationary sodium sulfur (NAS®) battery technology in its West Virginia and Ohio service territories next year. The company will also work with wind developers to identify a third location for NAS battery deployment next year, using the storage capability to help offset the intermittent nature of wind generation.

AEP has placed an order for the three new NAS batteries with NGK Insulators Ltd. of Japan, the manufacturer and co-developer, along with the Tokyo Electric Power Co., of the technology. AEP anticipates delivery in spring 2008.

According to the New York Times:

The cost is very high, $27 million for six megawatts of capacity, or about $4,500 a kilowatt, including the price of substation improvements. Building a gas turbine of that size to meet peak needs would cost substantially less. But the battery system would be able to store power made from wind, a form of generation that does not produce any carbon dioxide. . . .

The batteries can each deliver one megawatt of power — enough to run a medium-size shopping center — for a little more than seven hours. Replenished nightly, they give back about 80 percent of the electricity put into them. Each is the size of a double-decker bus, and installation is not permanent; they can be moved to another site as the need arises.

AquaBuOY 2.0 Deployed Off Oregon Coast

Finavera Renewables Inc. (TSX-V: FVR.V) announced that it has successfully completed a major milestone in its wave energy development program with the deployment and commissioning of the AquaBuOY 2.0 wave energy converter off the coast of Newport, Oregon. This marks the first installation of a wave energy converter of this scale off the west coast of North America and moves the Company closer to achieving its goal of commercial electricity generation from ocean waves by 2010.

The AquaBuOY is a floating buoy structure that converts the kinetic energy of the vertical motion of oncoming waves into clean electricity.

The AquaBuOY 2.0 is situated approximately two and a half miles off the coast of Newport, Oregon. Over the next several weeks, Finavera Renewables will test and analyze the performance of the half-size prototype's components and monitor its hydraulic power output. During this phase, all onboard diagnostic equipment will be powered by an onboard Pelton turbine as well as solar panels and small wind turbines installed on the device. Data is being streamed live via wireless and satellite technology for analysis. This test data will be used for the design of a larger version, for commercial deployment, with a capacity of 250 kW, scheduled for construction in 2008. The current project does not generate power, rather the company wants to study the pressure output of the device.

i MiEV SPORT Electric Vehicle

Mitsubishi Motors Corporation introduced the i MiEV SPORT at the 40th Tokyo Motor Show. Based on the i MiEV, the i MiEV SPORT maximizes the sporty possibilities of the zero-emissions electric vehicle. The high power and environmental performance of its electric motors is claimed to make it an exhilarating drive that delivers superior environmental performance.

Characteristics

	The i MiEV SPORT is intendded to enhance the "driving" image of Mitsubishi's electric vehicles. The car features Mitsubishi Motors' unique in-wheel motors in the front plus S-AWC (Super All Wheel Control) — the company's vehicle dynamics control system — to achieve high maneuverability as well as high levels of both environmental and running performance.

Design

Geometry, metallic materials and body are designed to epitomize the futuristic electric vehicle. Interior lighting, has been carefully thought out, with the use of many blue LEDs suggestive of nature, creating a sophisticated, cutting-edge atmosphere. The interior is sporty and dynamic as a result of the substantial use of mesh materials, while the space, with various natural elements, fosters feelings of both security and comfort.

Maxwell to Develop Capacitors for Mercedes

Ultracapacitors' Rapid Charge/Discharge Capabilities Boost Acceleration and Increase Braking Energy Recuperation Efficiency, Reducing Fuel Consumption and Emissions

Maxwell Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: MXWL) announced today that it has been awarded a contract by Mercedes Car Group to design and produce ultracapacitors for an advanced engineering hybrid-electric drive train program incorporating a braking energy recuperation system that enables it to increase fuel efficiency and reduce emissions.

David Schramm, Maxwell's president and chief executive officer, said that the contract provides for funding from Mercedes to develop a new BOOSTCAP(R) ultracapacitor cell specifically designed to meet the energy storage and power delivery requirements of one of Mercedes' torque assist and recuperative braking systems. . . . more

New Opel Flextreme Concept Car Includes Pair of Segways

Rüsselsheim/Frankfurt - Opel Flextreme is the name of the concept vehicle that marks a milestone in the development of the electric car: with its completely new, environmentally friendly E-Flex electric propulsion concept most commuters in Europe could travel everyday without producing any CO2 emissions. The car only needs to be charged for a relatively short time through the mains outlet after traveling 55 kilometers. If required however, the Flextreme can travel up to 715 km without stopping to recharge or refuel thanks to its small turbo-diesel engine. According to the European test cycle (ECE R101), this unit’s emissions are expected to be less than 40 g CO2/km. With the dynamic IAA monocab coupé concept, Opel also highlights others innovative solutions – including the electric personal transporters under the FlexLoad® load floor.

The Opel Flextreme uses GM’s E-Flex architecture and represents the company’s strategy to develop vehicles that reduce CO2 emissions and the automobile’s dependency on oil, thereby supporting global diversification of the energy mix. This also includes using the mains electricity network as an energy source. At the concept’s heart is an electric motor that takes its power from a large lithium-ion battery. The difference to conventional hybrid propulsion systems is that the E-Flex system’s 1.3-liter diesel engine is not connected to the wheels. It is purely on board to produce additional electricity to charge the battery and provide a greater operating range. It always operates in the optimum rpm range and its cylinder pressure-based closed loop technology controls the combustion process, further reducing the vehicle’s emissions.

China aims high in renewable energy usage

China will increase the portion of renewable resources to 15 percent in its total energy consumption in 2020 in a bid to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and pursue sustained economic growth, according to a national plan published on Tuesday.

China's renewable energy usage will total 600 million tons of coal equivalent by 2020, compared with 166 million tons in 2005 which accounted for 7.5 percent of the country's total energy consumption.

The plan would cost China two trillion yuan (US$266.7 billion) during the 2006-2020 period, said Chen Deming, vice minister in charge of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). . . . more here and here

Windspire 1 kW Vertical Axis Wind Turbine

Mariah Power’s Windspire is a neat looking 1kW vertical axis wind turbine that provides an aesthetically pleasing wind power option. It is appropriate for rural, urban, and residential environments alike, and at 30 feet and producing only 25 db, it conforms to typical residential and urban zoning restrictions.

Windspire is a low-cost, easy-to-install wind power device that provides a safe and attractive method for harnessing power from the wind. At only 30 feet tall and 2 feet wide,the moving rotor section is a full 10 feet off the ground, well out of the way of people.

It is distinguished by its propeller-free design, silent operation, producing only about 25 dB, taken 5 feet from the base; rugged construction, simple installation and affordable pricing. Windspire spins at about the same speed as the wind. This makes it virtually silent, clearly visible, and very safe for both people and birds.

At $3,995.00 it comes complete with:

1. The rotor ("turbine")
2. The generator
3. The inverter
4. The pole and pole stand
5. Wiring down to ground level
6. The installation kit - everything you need to install the turbine
7. Owner's and Installation Manuals
8. A 5-year warranty Rugged yet simple construction means durability - the Windspire is rated for winds up to 100 mph.

Volvo Introduces Plug-in Concept

Volvo Cars is introducing the Volvo ReCharge Concept, a serial plug-in hybrid  with four electric wheel motors based on the Volvo C30, at the Frankfort Auto Show, September 13 - 23, 2007.

The car can be driven about 62 miles (100 kilometres) on battery power before the car's four-cylinder Flexifuel engine kicks in to power the car and recharge the battery.

The September 6 press release goes on to say:

"A certain proportion of electrical vehicles will be necessary to meet the CO2 emission demands of the future. Since the Volvo ReCharge Concept combines an excellent battery range with a backup combustion engine, it is a very interesting concept," said Magnus Jonsson, Senior Vice President Research and Development at Volvo Cars.

When driving on electric power only, operating costs are expected to be about 80 percent lower than that of a comparable petrol-powered car. When driving beyond the 100 km battery range, fuel consumption may vary from 0 to 5.5 litres per 100 km depending on the distance driven using the engine.

"This plug-in hybrid car, when used as intended, should have about 66 percent lower emissions of carbon dioxide compared with the best hybrid cars available on the market today. Emissions may be even lower if most of the electricity in intended markets comes from CO2-friendly sources such as biogas, hydropower and nuclear power," said Jonsson.

Glitner Places Big Bet on Geothermal

Iceland's Glitnir Bank (OMX15: GLB, U.S. citizens cannot buy stock) which opened its first U.S. office in New York September 6, said it plans to invest $1 billion in U.S. geothermal energy projects over the next five years in order to exploit some of the $40 billion market that they predict will develop over the next 25 years.

An extensive U.S. Geothermal Energy Market Report has been prepared and published by Glitner to back up their investment decision.

I recommend saving a copy of this report if you have any interest in renewable energy, as it has extensive charts and graphs on the whole industry, perhaps with a bias toward geothermal, although I find it quite objective. It is quite current with data through May of this year. Although geothermal cannot meet nearly the potential of some other renewable sources, a 10-11% share of renewable technologies is much larger share than expected by some and a very worthwhile resource that is has quite mature technology. This does not include any implementation of enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) which, although not proven, offers the potential to allow the use of geothermal energy over a much wider geographical area.

The report’s main findings:

• The U.S. with total installed capacity of some 2,800 MW and annual electricity generation of approximately 16,000 GWh. It will continue to be at the forefront of the world’s geothermal development and currently has projects underway that, when completed, will boost U.S. installed capacity by a further 2,500 MW. Given an overall estimated resource base of up to 30,000 MW for hydrothermal, and an even greater potential for direct use of geothermal energy, the opportunities for the industry are tremendous. These figures do not include any exploitation of hot dry rock or deep geothermal/EGS.
• The biggest potential for geothermal energy applications in electricity production is in the Western States, primarily in California, Nevada, Idaho and Oregon. In California, geothermal could provide about 20 percent of today’s electricity needs. In Nevada this could be even 60 percent and 17 percent of the electricity in Idaho could come from geothermal.In Hawaii, the potential of geothermal power is particularly interesting, as it could provide around 30% of the islands’ electricity needs, decreasing the state’s dependence on fossil fuels. Most of the current development is taking place in Nevada and California.
• Glitnir estimates the investment requirement to service current projects to be some USD 9.5 billion. A total Investment of USD 16.9 billion will be required to develop available resources over the next 8 years with a further USD 22.5 billion during the following 10 years. We forecast that the total investment needed to develop the resources available is in the region of USD 39.4 billion until 2025.
• Sales of geothermal powered electricity could increase from currently USD 1.8 billion to USD 11.0 billion, without taking into consideration the vast opportunities for the development of geothermal direct use applications, e.g. geothermal heat pumps.
• The geothermal industry in the U.S. is still very fragmented, consisting of relatively few big companies and many small ones. Some of the smaller companies lack the financial strength to fully develop projects that in many cases could be profitable. Therefore Glitnir believes there will be considerable consolidation in the industry in the next few years.
• For successful development of the geothermal industry it will be necessary to increase the capacity of drilling equipment and related human resources. As the industry is recovering from a decline that took place in the late 1980s and is to some degree competing with the oil industry for human resources, it is crucial to train and educate people to work within the sector.

Applied Materials Aquires HCT and Introduces Integrated Thin Film Production Line

Applied Materials, Inc. (Nasdaq: AMAT) is making its mark on the solar PV industry with recent acquisition of HCT Shaping Systems and the announcement of the introduction of its Applied SunFab^™ Thin Film production line. By applying their four decades of thin film on silicon experience to the manufacturing of solar modules, the company claims that the total volume of solar panels manufactured each year can be vastly increased. At the same time, their products are aimed at reducing the cost per watt of energy produced, to become more competitive with current electricity generation.

HCT Shaping Systems SA (HCT) is the world’s leading supplier of precision wafering systems for manufacturing crystalline silicon (c-Si) substrates for the solar industry. The acquisition of HCT expands Applied’s portfolio of solutions for helping solar customers reduce the costs of manufacturing photovoltaic (PV) cells to make solar energy more competitive with grid electricity.

“This acquisition, combined with our strong production technology and global support infrastructure, will enable us to bring crystalline silicon solar manufacturing to a new level of efficiency and help drive down the cost-per-watt of solar power,” said Mike Splinter, president and CEO of Applied Materials. “HCT’s technology is critical to our roadmap since it complements our high-throughput deposition systems and will enable customers to scale up production and reduce costs.”

Applied SunFab^™ is the world’s first and only integrated production line for manufacturing thin film silicon solar modules using 5.7 square meter (m²) glass panels. These ultra-large substrates, sized at 2.2m x 2.6m, are four times bigger than today’s largest thin film solar production panels. This line defines a new standard for the industry that can be replicated by customers around the globe to rapidly establish solar panel manufacturing capacity and achieve the lowest production cost per watt to drive down the cost of solar electricity.

CCS Technology Should be a Priority

Dow Jones - Developing commercially viable carbon capture and storage, or CCS, technology should be a major priority for companies and governments all over the world because renewable energy sources will not be able to replace oil and gas quickly enough, a senior executive at Royal Dutch Shell PLC said Tuesday.

At the Offshore Europe conference in Aberdeen.Malcolm Brinded, Executive Director of Exploration and Production for Royal Dutch Shell, said:

"Without CCS, fossil fuel use would have to be cut by more than half,"

"Nuclear would have to grow twice as fast ... thousands more wind turbines would be needed. And a new vehicle fleet would have to run largely on biofuels and electricity, with petrol and diesel fuel almost completely phased out," he said.

Brinded said cap-and-trade systems, like the European Union's Emission Trading Scheme, are the best way to encourage the development of low carbon technologies in the long term.

Robert Olsen, Director of Production at ExxonMobil Corp. (XOM), disagreed that cap and trade is the way forward.

GM Considering Leasing Batteries for Volt

According to an article in Drive by Richard Blackbuon of The Sydney Morning Herald on September 5, GM is considering leasing batteries to customers, rather than asking a prohibitive price for the new technology. The leasing plan would result in customers paying a weekly rental, offset by the huge fuel savings.

"It looks as if it is going to cost a lot more to buy a car like this, however the fuel economy is enormous," Nick Reilly, the president of General Motors Asia Pacific, said.

"People won't buy a full car. They will buy a car and rent or lease the battery and the cost of leasing the battery will be the same as, or less than, the cost they're paying today for petrol. So the motoring costs of an electric vehicle don't necessarily have to be much higher than the cost of today's vehicles," he said.

Mr Reilly said the leasing approach could speed up the adoption of hybrid vehicles. "Before we were saying it will be an awfully long time before we can get the costs down so people can afford it, but actually if you offset the fuel costs, people can afford it," he said.

This certainly sounds like the way that GM could get the Volt to market the soonest, without having to worry as much about the life of the battery.

Laddermill Energy Kites Demonstrated

Dutch ex-astronaut and Physicist Dr Wubbo Ockels successfully demonstrated his Laddermill in a field near the university city of Groningen, The Netherlands, on August 29th. His radio-controlled high-flying energy kite, created 10.5kW of electrical energy. The experiment was carried out along the northern coastline of The Netherlands where there's usually more than enough wind to raise the gigantic kites. The Laddermill is designed to capture the energy contained in the airspace at altitudes as high as 10 km.

Description of the principle of operation of the Laddermill as it appears on the Laddermill website:

The Laddermill consists of a series of wings or kites all connected to a cable that forms a huge loop. Like the wings of an airplane will the wind cause an upward lift force to the wings. By changing the attitude of the wing (angle of attack with respect to the wind) can the lift force be made larger or smaller. The wings on one side of the cable loop are all placed such that they produce the maximum lift force, while the wings on the other side of the loop will give a much smaller lift that in fact is just sufficient to support their own weight and the weight of the cable. The result is a large difference in force between the two ends at the ground. When the cable loop is guided around a wheel on the ground the force difference will drive the wheel. By connecting the wheel to a generator electricity will be produced. The wind energy aloft has thus been transferred to electricity on the ground.

EEStor Update #8

FOXNews.com has a Sept. 2 article on Austin-based EEStor, a reclusive ultracapacitor startup, that has generated lots of interest, but little substance.  If the company can deliver on its promises, the auto industry could see a paradigm shift in how vehicles are powered, making engines unnecessary.  The article contains little, if any, new information about the company, but does a good job of summarizing the known information which can be boiled down to these points:

• Investments of about $4 million by ZENN Motor and a $3 million investment by the venture capital group Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, who have made extensive amounts of due diligence" on EEStor's innovation, indicate that there is likely to be a great deal of truth about EEStor's claims.
• Patent No. 7,033,406 reveals some information about their device.
• EEStor's founders have a track record. Richard D. Weir and Carl Nelson worked on disk-storage technology at IBM Corp. in the 1990s before forming EEStor in 2001.
• EEStor claims an improvement of more than 400-fold over conventional capacitors, while increasing a capacitor's retention ability.
• EEStor's is a parallel plate capacitor with thousands of wafer-thin metal sheets, like a series of foil-and-paper gum wrappers stacked on top of each other.
• EEStor has created breakthrough technology in a novel formulation of a nonconductive material (dielectric) for use between the metal sheets, using a chemical compound called barium titanate. The question is whether the company can mass-produce it.
• ZENN still expects to receive shipments later this year for use in ZENN Motor's short-range, low-speed vehicles.

More posts on EEStor can be found here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here,

Oilsands Project to Use Bituman Instead of Natural Gas to Produce Steam

An article in Toronto's Financial Post highlighted the cost overruns and delays at the Long Lake oilsands project and the fact that the project would still be highly profitable.

But it was a paragraph near the end of the article that perked my interest.  It has been a question of mine as to why oil sands projects use natural gas instead of burning some of their own output.  I presumed the answer might be that natural gas was less expensive anfd easier to use. It appears the cost of natural gas has now reached that point that is now preferable to use a portion of the bitumen.

The project will be the first oilsands development to practically eliminate the use of natural gas to generate steam, instead using OPTI's patented process to turn the heaviest portion of each barrel of bitumen into a synthetic fuel. The companies have said the process could offer an operating cost an article advantage of as much as $9 a barrel.

Global Warming Causing Severe Thunderstorms and Tornadoes

An article in LIveScience reports on results of a study by NASA, using a model they created, that is one of the first that I have seen that attempts to quantify the one of of the results of global warming.

Global warming will make severe thunderstorms and tornadoes a more common feature of U.S. weather, NASA scientists said today (Aug. 30).  . . .

Researchers ran the model for a future climate scenario where carbon dioxide levels were double their current level and the Earth's surface was 5 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than it is now. The model's projections showed that continents warm more than oceans (a result which is expected because water needs to absorb more heat than land to raise its temperature) and that lightning occurs at a higher altitude where storms are usually more vigorous. 

These effects would combine to cause more continental storms to be of the strongest kind we see today, though there would be fewer storms overall.

These conclusions are particularly bad news for the storm-prone portions of the central and eastern United States, where strong winds are a major source of weather-related casualties.

The western United States won't catch a break either—while it is expected to get drier, the storms that do form are likely to have more lightning, which could then trigger more wildfires.

Honda Aims to Produce New Hybrid Design

From an article in the Sept 3 edition of Newsweek:

(Honda) is working on a new high-profile hybrid—a Prius fighter that analysts expect will have the highest mileage on the road when it arrives in 2009. Code-named the "Global Small Hybrid," Honda's new gas-electric model won't be a version of anything else in its lineup. Instead, Honda execs say it will be a five-passenger, small family car priced under $22,000. This time Honda won't make the mistake of wrapping its hybrid in the sheet metal of its everyday cars: instead, analysts expect the new Honda will have the larva styling the Prius pioneered—which now embodies the green-car look. Honda will also outdo the $23,000, 60mpg Prius on price and mileage in hopes of attracting 100,000 buyers a year—three times what the hybrid Civic sells.

New Hydrogen from Aluminium-Water Reaction Develeoped at Purdue

It seems that there are a never ending number of processes for producing and storing hydrogen. This one, from Purdue University, stands out as one of the most promising.  It potentially can create hydrogen on demand in a container small enough to be placed in a vehicle.  It does produce byproducts that must be recycled, but there are standard, economical methods to do this. While referred to as a pollution-free energy source, that refers to the only to the process of producing hydrogen, some pollution would from the recycling process.

Researchers at Purdue University have further developed a technology that could represent a pollution-free energy source.

Aluminum is well known for a large negative free energy for the formation of its oxide. Hence, Al has the thermodynamic ability to split water. As such, were it not for its passivating oxide, Al would be a contender as a safe, economically viable material for energy storage, transport, and the generation of hydrogen.

The technology produces hydrogen by adding water to an alloy of aluminum and gallium. When water is added to the alloy, the aluminum splits water by attracting oxygen, liberating hydrogen in the process. The Purdue researchers are developing a method to create particles of the alloy that could be placed in a tank to react with water and produce hydrogen on demand.

The gallium is a critical component because it hinders the formation of an aluminum oxide skin normally created on aluminum's surface after bonding with oxygen, a process called oxidation. This skin usually acts as a barrier and prevents oxygen from reacting with aluminum. Reducing the skin's protective properties allows the reaction to continue until all of the aluminum is used to generate hydrogen, said Jerry Woodall, a distinguished professor of electrical and computer engineering at Purdue who invented the process.

Ford to Use Fuel Cell to Reduce Exhast from Paint Fumes and Produce Electricity

In a rather unique application of fuel cells, Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) will use a Fuel Cell Energy(NasdaqGM: FCEL) fuel cell to reduce the paint fumes emanating from automotive painting operations at its Oakville, Ontario facility by converting the fumes into 300 kilowatts (kW) of green electricity.

The PRIME NEWSWIRE release goes on to say:

The Direct FuelCell(r) (DFC(r)) unit can transform the Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) that emanate from enamel base paints and clear coat finishes used in manufacturing into fuel used by the fuel cells.

"By using the end-products of enamel and clear coat operations, we are eliminating the exhaust of thousands of tons of nitrous and sulfur oxides as well as CO2 -- a major greenhouse gas,'' said Andrew Skok, Executive Director, Strategic Marketing for FuelCell Energy. ``As this application shows, the fuel flexibility of our DFC300MA opens up an entirely new, very large market for us.''

The DFC300MA unit is expected to be started up early in 2008 and over time, Ford and Detroit Edison, which jointly own the rights to the paint fume clean up and separation technology, could roll the system out to Ford's other plants, or license it to other manufacturers whose operations include similar uses of paint compounds.

The DFC power plant is being funded by Industry Canada, and the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development and Trade to assist in deploying alternative energy sources. The unit deployment in Oakville will be supported through the combined efforts of FuelCell Energy and its distribution partner, Enbridge, Inc. (NYSE:ENB ). Installation and integration of the power plant with Ford's manufacturing facility will be managed by Arencibia Associates of Coopersburg, PA.