The Green Technocrat

While I have never been super obsessed with having the latest gadget, I have always been fascinated by how rapidly technology changes, and the way in which social and political issues can shape the direction in which these changes occur.  Ten years ago it would be hard to imagine the massive consumer demand for technologies designed to help users move towards a more sustainable and healthy lifestyle.  While there certainly were those who recognized the potential in this market, it has taken a while for it to really take off.  But over the last three or four years we have seen a big rise in the products targeted at consumers who are trying to lead a more sustainable lifestyle.

Earlier today Scientific American released their 2008 Green Gadget Guide.  The slideshow showcases 11 new socially concious gadgets designed.  While some of them are simply cool toys (the digital readers are pretty sweet!), in one way or anther they all aid in the reduction of either energy or toxic chemicals, or help provide basic services such as clean water, sanitation, and light to areas that need them.

Earlier today the United Nations released the most detailed report to date on the phenomenon known as “atmospheric brown clouds.”  The report concluded that a thick cloud of soot, toxic chemicals, and smog was blocking the sun in many areas of the world, including Africa, the Amazon basin, parts of North America, and above all others, Asia (big surprise).

The brown “shit cloud” as I have dubbed it (and yes I will be trademarking that one) is comprised of particles from coal-fired power plants, automobiles, toxic chemicals, and the burning of biomass to name just a few.

The cloud, which is more than a mile thick in some places spans from the Arabian Peninsula to the Yellow sea, and often drifts past Japan, and as far east as California.

According to the U.N. report the cloud can block up to 25 percent of the sunlight that should be reaching the ground.  Veerabhadran Ramanathan, a professor of climate and ocean sciences at the University of San Diego, who led the U.N.’s scientific panel said that some studies have concluded that this cloud has led to a 5% decrease in Asian rice harvests over the last 50 years.

While the cloud is reeking havoc on agriculture and human health - it is estimated that 340,000 people a year in China and India die from cardiovascular and respiratory diseases caused by the burning of fuels and biomass - it may actually be slowing the rate of global warming.  This is  because the shit cloud is blocking so much of the suns rays that it is actually reflecting a good deal of solar energy away from the earth.

It’s time’s like this that I find myself left with only one thing to say.  “Shit.”

Via: N.Y. Times

Often times we (myself included) think of solar and wind power as the technologies leading the fight in the transition to generating our country’s electricity from clean, renewable resources.  This is certainly true, and as regular readers of this blog know, I fully support the development of both these technologies on a massive scale.  But what if these energy saviors aren’t the silver bullets they are cracked up to be?  What problems could they cause?

A report released today by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), whose mission it is to ensure the reliability of the bulk power system of North America, stated that the organization is “concerned that, when viewed from a continent-wide perspective, current climate initiatives do not adequately address key reliability objectives, particularly the need for a strong and robust transmission system”.

The report concludes that unless there is a major upgrade to our current transmission system rules that enforce carbon reductions by utility providers could impair the overall reliability of the power grid, which would lead to an increase in the frequency of blackouts.

What the NERC sees as being the biggest concern is the location of electrical generation in relation to load centers (i.e. distribution hubs).  Currently many large scale coal plants are located close to these hubs because the system was designed that way.  It made a lot of sense.  As more and more reduction programs take effect and coal plants begin to shut down electrical generation will have to come from other areas.  Since most wind and solar farms are in rural areas there will be greater demands imposed upon a transmission system that was not designed for large power tranfers over long distances.“The transmission system is being used closer to its limits more of the time than at any time in the past,” said Rick Sergel, president and chief executive of the group.

According to Mr. Sergel carbon emission initiatives are the “No. 1 emerging issue” for the grid.   This may sound like the group is advocating against the implementation of renewable energy technologies, but Mr. Sergel goes on to note that there is no reason that renewable energy sources cannot generate a larger portion of our nations electricity, we simply need to invest in a transmission system that can handle it.

It should be noted that many independent power producers have built their own generations systems that serve customers in distant marketplaces.  So once again what this all boils down to is investment and dedication.  With our current economic woes investment could be a problem, but we have got to make it happen.  The clean tech world may be struggling right now, but I truly believe that it is the key to not only solving our energy problems, but our economic ones as well.  This is just one more piece of a very large and complex problem that we must solve.

Via: N.Y. Times and NERC

On Wednesday ScienceDaily reported that a Dutch sponsored researcher, Robin Gremaud, has designed a new metal alloy that efficiently absorbs hydrogen.  The alloy, which is composed of the metals magnesium, titanium, and nickel, is incredibly lightweight.  Weight has major sticking point in the implementation of mobile hydrogen storage tanks.

Hydrogen is incredibly explosive, making the safe storage of the gas a necessity if it is going to be used for transportation.  One safe method is to use a metal to absorb the gas thus forming metal hydrides.  However to date the metals used to make the tanks have been not only expensive, but also very heavy.  The added weight of these tanks greatly reduces the efficiency of hydrogen powered cars.  All three of the metals Germaud used to make the alloy are abundant in many areas of the world, and are all relatively inexpensive making his new storage tank both lightweight and economical.

In making this discovery Germaud utilized a technique called hydrogenography to measure the absorbance of hydrogen by metals.  The techniques is based on a phenomenon know as ’switchable mirrors’.  The phenomenon refers to the fact that certain materials lose their reflective capabilities when they absorb hydrogen.  By using this technique Germaud was able to analyze thousands of different combinations of the metals as opposed to testing each alloy individually.  Germaud is the first person to utilize this method for measuring hydrogen absorption.

Via: ScienceDaily

The other day I was browsing BBC Mundo and came across an interesting article about a Montana State University professor who made one hell of an interesting discovery; a diesel fuel producing fungus that grows in the Patagonia rainforest.  The article really provided me with a “trifecta of enjoyment”.  One, it was in Spanish and I’ve been making a huge effort to learn the language.  Two, it was about an interesting discovery in a field that I am fascinated with.  Three, once upon a time I was a student at MSU.

The discovery has huge implications for the bio-fuel industry.  Gary Strobel, the researcher who made the discovery, has dubbed the fungus’ output “myco-diesel”, and is publishing his findings in the November issue of Microbiology.

The fungus, whose scientific name is Gliocladium roseum, produces a variety of compounds found in crude oil that are normally associated with diesel fuel.  “These are the first organisms that have been found that make many of the ingredients of diesel,” Strobel said. “This is a major discovery.”

Whether we will be driving around with tanks full of fungal fuel remains to be seen.  Strobel notes that the road to commercialization will be a long one that is filled with many potential obstacles.  The MSU press release notes that a joint research team with researchers from MSU and Yale is being assembled to conduct further research into the matter.  One very promising aspect is that the fungus can be grown in cellulose, which happens to be the most abundant organic molecule on earth.

Strobel is calling this discovery even bigger than his 1993 discovery of the anticancer drug taxol.  So the guy helps us treat cancer and is working on solving our energy crisis.  Does anyone else feel a little insignificant?

What is it with east cost wind farm development these days?  I don’t think I have come across a single news story about east coast wind development in the last three months that didn’t involve some elements of corruption or intimidation.  Aren’t these mob tactics??

Take the case of Noble Environmental Power and First Wind, two of New York state’s largest developers of wind power.  Last Thursday the two companies agreed to follow a new, strict code of conduct that was developed by N.Y. state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.  The companies agreed to the code after coming under investigation over allegations that they “bribed and intimidated local officials to approve wind projects.”

This comes after a four month investigation into the firms that began back in July when the attorney general’s office began receiving complaints from community groups and citizens in upstate New York where the wind farms were being built. The investigation focuses on whether the wind companies used bribes to influence local officials into giving them permission to build wind towers, as well as whether companies colluded to divvy up territory in order to avoid bidding on the same pieces of land.  Opponents of the wind farms say that they have received verbal threats, and one local activist reports having her windshield smashed in.  Twice.

“We have no comment on specifics, but we want to be clear: Noble supports open and transparent development of wind projects in accordance with the highest ethical standards,” said Walt Howard, Noble’s chief executive.

In a statement released by the attorney generals office Mr. Cuomo said that he expects the Wind Industry Ethics Code to reduce the threats and abuses in communities where wind farm development is taking place. “Wind power is an exciting industry for the state that will be a cornerstone of our energy future,” said Mr. Cuomo.  “But it is important to make sure that this alternative energy sector develops in a way that maintains the public’s confidence, and that is what this new Code of Conduct does.”

A task force has been put in place to ensure that wind farm developers comply with the new code.  It hearkens back to the days when the mob took and interest in construction racketeering and exploiting unions.  It’s good to know that some things will never change.  The mob may be gone but its tactics will live on forever.  Even in the supposedly compassionate, caring world of alternative energy development.

On Monday the E.P.A. announced the winners of its annual Green Power Leadership Awards.

The three categories the E.P.A. gives awards for are:

• Green Power Partner of the Year: Recognizes Partners who distinguish themselves through their purchase, leadership, overall strategy, and impact on the green power market.
• On-site Generation: Recognizes Partners who distinguish themselves using on-site renewable energy applications, including, but not limited to, solar photovoltaic (PV) or wind energy projects.
• Green Power Purchase: Recognizes Partners who distinguish themselves through purchases of green power from a utility green-pricing program, a competitive green marketer, or a renewable energy certificate (REC) supplier.

The award for Power Partner of the Year was split between two Silicon Valley companies, Cisco and Intel, for “their voluntary efforts to address climate change by purchasing green power and helping advance the development of the nation’s green power market.” Together, the two companies combined to avoid emissions equivalent to the yearly emissions from 220,000 cars.

“These two companies have distinguished themselves through their purchases, overall strategies, and impacts on the green power markets,” said Deborah Jordan, the EPA’s Air Division director for the Pacific Southwest region. “They are leading the way for other businesses to go green.”

The On Site Generation award was split between Kohl’s and Lundberg Family Farms.  Kohl’s has been actively installing photovoltaic arrays on stores across the nation.  In total Kohl’s intends to install arrays on 133 stores.  Currently 48 stores already have active solar arrays and 52 stores are planned to be online by the end of the year.  Lundberg Family Farms has dedicated itself to purchasing enough wind power renewable energy credits (RECs) to equal its entire power use.  In addition to this they have two on-site photovoltaic arrays that generate a whopping 688,000 kWh per year.

The award for Green Power Purchase was split several ways between: The Estee Lauder Companies, city of Houston, ING, Merritt 7 Corporate Park, Oregon State University, PepsiCo, The Philadelphia Phillies, Powdr Resorts and the U.S. Air Force.

Earlier this month Google released their Clean Energy 2030 proposal to help the U.S. reduce its dependence on fossil fuels.  The plan lays out a possible path that could eliminate using coal and oil to produce electricity (cutting total fossil fuel-based electricity generation by 88%), would also cut oil use in cars by 38%, and would provide a myriad of other reduction possibilities.

At the core of Google’s proposal; the aggressive pursuit of end-use electrical energy efficiency programs.  This would involve a combination of strategies including energy efficiency targets, appliance standards, updated building codes, financial incentives, decoupling of utility profits from sales, and voluntary individual reduction programs.

In order to increase electrical output from proven renewable technologies Google cite’s studies by Navigant Consulting and Clean Edge that using Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) technology  with plant sizes of 20 square miles, and installing solar panels on 34 million roof tops would help break the cost barrier for solar technology.

It is no surprise that Google should be in the forefront of alternative energy development.  The company has long been committed to finding ways to reduce the electric demand from their enormous data centers, and has been investing heavily in green energy start-ups with the goal of producing electricity from renewable resources at a cheaper cost than coal.

“We want to make money, and we want to have an impact,” Dan W. Reicher, director for climate change and energy initiatives at Google.org, told the N. Y. Times in a recent interview.

That sounds like the Google way to me.  And you know what, I’m OK with it.

For more information on the details of their proposal click here

On Thursday the Carbon Trust, a UK based company whose mission is to “accelerate the move to a low carbon economy by working with organizations to reduce carbon emissions and develop commercial low carbon technologies”, announced that they were launching the world’s largest publicly algae-biofuel R&D project.

The Carbon Trust estimates that large scale production of algae-biofuel could replace over 18 billion gallons of fossil derived fuels by 2030.  According to their calculations this would reduce emissions by 160 million tonnes of CO2 annually, and would have a market value of over £15 billion ($25 billion).

Phase One of the program began last Thursday, and entails launching a massive effort to recruit biofuel experts to begin exploring how to produce the fuel cost effectively on a large scale.  The Carbon Trust press release laid out the two phase plan as this:

“Phase One will provide grant funding for research across areas including selection of suitable microalgae algae strains for open pond production, maximising algae oil content and biomass yield, maximising solar conversion efficiency, sustained algae cultivation, and design and engineering of mass-culture systems.  Phase Two is expected to see the construction of an open pond test and demonstration plant. This plant will provide the vital facilities necessary to continue the research conducted in Phase One and demonstrate production at commercial scale in a manner that can be replicated. To avoid any unnecessary delays in eventual commercialisation the plant is likely to be constructed overseas. This is because the majority of commercial production of algae biofuels is likely to take place in tropical and sub-tropical climates that have plentiful sunlight and temperatures that do not drop too low or vary too much.

If the program is successful, the algae derived fuels would deliver between 6 and 10 times more energy per hectare than conventional cropland biofuels, and would reduce carbon emissions by up to 80% relative to fossil fuels. Since algae can be grown on non-arable land using seawater or wastewater using algae as a biofuel feedstock would avoid many of the negative environmental, ecological and social impacts associated with first generation biofuels.

Via: Carbon Trust

There have been some surprising discoveries about the carbon sequestering power of wetland areas recently.  Aside from convenient places to drop unwanted bodies, wetlands are also great at sucking carbon out of the atmosphere.  Unfortunately they also release methane which, as I’m sure you all know by now from reading my post What Is Global Warming Potential? Click Here To Find Out…, has a global warming potential 21 times higher than carbon dioxide.  With this in mind researchers for the USGS set out earlier this year to determine whether the benefits of wetland carbon sequestering out weigh their contribution to global warming from the release of methane.

Earlier this summer the USGS embarked on a $12 million dollar experiment; to build saltwater wetlands on abandoned farmland on islands in California’s Sacramento−San Joaquin River Delta, and to then measure the amount of carbon captured.  The results have been shocking.  According to results published in an article by the ACS the wetlands have captured “an average of 3000 grams of carbon per square meter per year (g-C/m²/yr) over the past 5 years. For comparison, reforested agricultural land, eligible for carbon credits under the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, socks away carbon at a rate much less than 100 g-C/m²/yr, says Gail Chmura, a biogeochemist at McGill University (Canada).”

So if the wetlands are capable of pulling in that much carbon why the worry about their methane emissions?   In order to perform their necessary metabolic activities microbes living in oxygen poor environments (like wetlands) will use other electron acceptors such as sulphates or CO2 in these pathways.  An electron acceptor is a molecule capable of receiving an electron from another molecule.  So that much was probably obvious from the name, but what you might not know is that this process drives the majority of our metabolic activities.  In metabolism electrons move from high energy compounds (electron donors) to low energy compounds (electron acceptors).  The energy that is released in these transfers is then harnessed by the organism.  In many microorganisms (and there are a LOT of these living in wetlands) when CO2 acts an electron acceptor one of the by-products is methane.

Unfortunately it is very difficult to measure the release of methane from these organisms because individually they are releasing very, very small amounts and estimation methods for large areas (like wetlands) are fairly crude.  Scott Bridgham, an ecosystem ecologist at Oregon State University, recently coauthored a chapter in the book The First State of the Carbon Cycle Report, in which he stated that in all likely hood the climate-warming potential of methane cancels out the climate-cooling potential of carbon storage for most North American freshwater wetlands.

What makes the USGS study noteworthy is that they built saltwater wetlands, which are high in sulfates.  These sulfates make better electron acceptors than CO2, thus greatly reducing the amount of methane produced by the organisms living within these marshes.  In the same ACS article I mentioned above Gail Chumra estimates that saltwater marshes in North America sequester an average of 210 g-C/m²/yr, making them an ideal for carbon sequestering projects across the country.  Currently the USGS project is focusing on adding various nutrients to the wetlands to try to maximize carbon storage and reduce methane emissions.