Energy Newsbriefs
Articles for February 28, 2011
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.
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NOTE TO ALL:
For the seventh consecutive year, the WSU Energy Program Library's Energy-Related Bill Tracking Tool for the 2011 Legislative session of Washington State is now available.
BIOECONOMICS
"Five Steps to a U.S. Bioeconomy," is a column by Mark Jenner, Ph.D., Biomass Rules, LLC, in the January 2011 issue of BioCycle. His list includes harnessing the potential uses of all organics, standardizing legal definitions of waste, bringing biomass policy in line with current needs but wisely and with a broad understanding of those needs, and understanding that risk-taking leads to success and to unintended consequences that may be desirable or not.
BUILDINGS
The following two articles were posted on the ED+C (Environmental Design + Construction) website on January 24, 2011:
1. "Nature Conservancy Leads by Example," by staff, describes the interesting green features of the organization’s new headquarters in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana. Rainwater does not accumulate in the parking lot or on the roof. In the former, it is guided to underground piping that gradually releases the water into a layer of sand below. In the latter, some rain nourishes the plants on the vegetative roof, and the rest of it is collected by a graywater system that cycles the water into toilet flushing.
2. "Peace through Sustainable Design" was written by Dan Young, AIA, LEED AP; Architect and Project Manager, Cuningham Group. It describes the movement in the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles to bring its facilities into line with its sustainable-focused and preservation-minded principles. The modernization of a parish hall is offered as an example of the application of those principles.
HVAC/R (HEATING, VENTILATION, AIR CONDITIONING, AND REFRIGERATION)
"Evaporative-Cooling-Enhanced Runaround-Coil Heat Recovery" was written by Mirza M. Shah, PhD, PE, FASHRAE, FASME; it was published in the January 2011 issue of HPAC (Heating/Piping/AirConditioning) Engineering. The author reviews the concerns that some have about evaporative cooling and explains how they can be handled. He explains that, though inexpensive, energy recovery can deliver dramatic energy efficiencies.
HYDROPOWER
"Hydro-Quebec Leads the Way in Introducing Electric Vehicles," by staff, was published in the January 2011 issue of Hydro Review. Hydrodam-generated power is much cleaner than that of natural gas, coal, or oil. It has become a priority to generate clean power and to use some of it as a substitute for transportation fuel as well. Hydro-Quebec is welcoming EVs with, at first, pilot programs to better understand how the vehicles can best be grid-integrated.
INDUSTRIAL PLANTS
"GM Rolling out GE Efficiency Program at 20 Plants" is a January 27, 2011, article in the Environmental Leader. Basically, a short (six-month) payback is tied to a software tool that allows lighting, air supply hoses, compressed air generators, and other equipment to be included in the schedule of the auto plant's conveyor belts.
POLICY
NREL’s Clean Energy Policy Analyses Project: 2009 U.S. State Clean Energy Data Book was produced by Rachel Gelman et al., all from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL); it is dated October 2010. The emphasis is on the connection between the states and their local clean-energy policies and the actual development and use of clean energy. Readers interested in national data connected with national policy are directed to the 2009 Renewable Energy Data Book, published August 2010 and produced by Rachel Gelman.
WASTE – RECYCLING, TREATMENT
The following two articles were published in the January 2011 issue of BioCycle:
1. "Building Organics Diversion around Treatment Plant Digester," by Nora Goldstein, Editor, BioCycle, describes the investment in anaerobic digestion made by the City of Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec. The article includes a good description of the digester tank's interior walls, a bit about financing, and some discussion of a planned expansion of this successful project.
2. "Improving Economics of Food Waste Recycling" by Dan Sullivan, Managing Editor, BioCycle, describes two programs. First, it chronicles the activities of a Green Seal-certified Marriott airport hotel in Pennsylvania. The buy-in of the hotel's employees is an essential part of the success of the recycling program. Most of the hotel's waste was found to be waste food, so the program that was developed mirrors that fact. Second, the article discusses food waste recycling by convenience stores in Pennsylvania. As with the airport Marriott, aerobic containers with biofilters are used to reduce odors and pickup frequency and to "jump start" the composting process.
THERMAL TECHNOLOGIES
The following two articles were published in the January 2011 issue of Industrial Heating:
1. "Infrared Heating: Much More than Temperature" was co-authored by Adrian Lunney and Cáthál Wilson, both of Ceramicx; Ballydehob, Co. Cork, Ireland. This clearly-written article puts infrared heating (IR) in perspective: what IR is and is not, IR applications for heating plastics and treating emissions, and other important aspects of this important, but often misunderstood, heating method.
2. "Minimizing Electrical Power Costs in Operating Vacuum Furnaces" was jointly written by Nicholas R. Cordisco and Reàl J. Fradette, both of Solar Manufacturing; Souderton. The article offers a plan to successfully cut utility bills. The plant manager has to understand the bill to determine how to accomplish the cuts. Peak power costs may or may not be a cost driver so it is necessary to determine which is the case before any intelligent action can be taken. A section on hot-zone efficiencies is, also, included. Attending to these can profitably affect overall energy consumption.
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