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Energy Newsbriefs

Articles for August 27, 2012

ENERGY NEWSBRIEFS is a weekly current awareness service provided by the WSU Extension Energy Program Library and written by Angela Santamaria, WSU Energy Library Manager, to assist users in tracking developments in the energy field. To view past issues or to subscribe to receive an email notification of the publication of a new issue, go to the Energy Newsbriefs home.

Please be aware that although every URL is checked for accuracy prior to the publication of Energy Newsbriefs, URLs are, for various reasons, subject to change. Further, servers sometimes fail to connect to working URLs.


BIOENERGY

"A Collaborative Approach," by Erin Voegele, was published in the July/August 2012 issue of Biodiesel Magazine. Three unrelated companies – one an oil recycler (for biodiesel feedstock), another a biodiesel producer, and the third a biodiesel distributer are cooperating to meet the demand of blended fuel in the Portland, Oregon, area.

BUILDING SCIENCE

The following two articles appeared in the June 2012 issue of ECBCS News:

  1. "Evaluation of Embodied Energy & CO2 Emissions for Building Construction" – scroll to page 11 – was authored by Tatsuo Oka, Utsunomiya University, Japan. This is an announcement of a planned project by ECBCS Annex 57 by which methods to accurately determine the embodied energy and CO2 emissions associated with building construction are to be developed. These methods will make it possible for guidelines to emerge for building designers so they can begin using alternative approaches and materials in their buildings to reduce both embodied energy and CO2 emissions.

  2. "Reliability of Energy Efficient Building Retrofitting: Probability Assessment of Performance & Cost" – scroll to page six – is an ECBCS project update written by Carl-Eric Hagentoff, Chaimers University of Technology, Sweden. The project under discussion included attention to how best to predict the success of retrofitting in terms of energy saved and performance standards met. Probability assessment is the tool employed to help determine the designs and applications most likely to result in both energy savings and uncompromised performance.

FUEL CELLS

"Clean, Efficient, and Reliable Power for the 21st Century" is a two-page, July 2012, fact sheet from the Fuel Cell Technologies Program in DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. This review of the Program includes information about fuel cell cost per kilowatt – it has decreased enough to make it competitive in certain applications.

HVAC/R (HEATING, VENTILATION, AIR CONDITIONING, AND REFRIGERATION)

"New Tool Allows Cost Comparisons of Pellets, Natural Gas and Heating Oil, by Anna Simet, appeared in a July 6, 2012 post on the Biomass Magazine blog. This life-cycle cost analysis dashboard was developed by FutureMetrics Inc. and is free to download.

INDOOR AIR QUALITY (IAQ)

"Government of Canada Radon Guideline" is a Health Canada web page announcing the updated Guideline regarding radon exposure in dwellings. The update was developed as a result of new scientific information; it was, also, subject to extensive public review.

LANDSCAPING

"Site Specific," by Nancy B. Solomon, AIA, is a four-Web-page article that may also be used for Continuing Education credit; it was carried in the July+August issue of GreenSource. In 2005, the Sustainable Sites Summit was held by the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center for landscape and siting professionals from government, academic, and business walks of life. This, ultimately, resulted in the Sustainable Sites Initiative (known as "SITES"). SITES is concerned with establishing voluntary guidelines and performance benchmarks at the national level for the development and maintenance of landscapes, regardless of whether or not buildings are associated with them.

POLICY

"Columbia River Treaty Study Results Released, is an article published in the August 2012 issue of Journal. It provides some background to the existence of the Treaty and what options are available under the original terms of the Treaty. Columbia River Treaty Review website includes related information.

"China Gives Green Light to Building Energy Reductions: Combining Energy Conservation Technologies with Green Lifestyles" – scroll to page two – was written by Yi Jiang, ECBCS Executive Committee Member for China; it was published in the June 2012 issue of ECBCS News. The results of the 25-year history of China's policies to improve energy conservation in its buildings are reviewed.

"Solar PV: State of the Art of a Booming Market and Impact of Support Schemes," by Enerdata, was published July 30, 2012. Enerdata reports that the global market boom continues unabated due to ever lower pricing – PV systems are half what they were in 2000 – and to governmental policies that strongly support the expansion of solar photovoltaics such as feed-in-tariffs used in Europe, Japan, and China, premiums in Italy, and tax credits in the United States. The boom will continue in the future, particularly if strong policies are kept in place.

The following two documents, posted on the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL) website on July 18, 2012, are part of the LBNL Clean Energy Financing Policy Brief series; the focus of the series is emerging financial models:

  1. "Using QECBs for Street Lighting Upgrades: Lighting the Way to Lower Energy Bills in San Diego" is a five-page policy brief. San Diego's use of the QECB opportunity is one example of an application of a new model.

  2. "Using Qualified Energy Conservation Bonds for Public Building Upgrades: Reducing Energy Bills in the City of Philadelphia," is a four-page policy brief. Philadelphia chose to enhance energy efficiencies in city buildings.


Past issues of Energy Newsbriefs are available here.

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© 2012 Washington State University Extension Energy Program. This publication contains material written and produced for public distribution. Permission to copy or disseminate all or part of this material is granted, provided that the copies are not made or distributed for commercial advantage, and that each is referenced by title with credit to the Washington State University Extension Energy Program. Copying, reprinting or dissemination, electronic or otherwise, for any other use requires prior written permission from the Washington State University Extension Energy Program.