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Energy Newsbriefs

Articles for January 2, 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.

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.

BUILDING SCIENCE

Microsoft Finds Quick Payback on Building IT Retrofits is an October 6, 2011, article by Matthew Wheeland, Managing Editor, GreenBiz.com, and published on the GreenBiz website. Microsoft has discovered the value in high energy savings from the installation of low-cost software that creates an energy management system from all the building systems already in place. (The white paper, to which the article refers, is Energy-Smart Buildings, a 24-page 2011 document from Acccenture for Microsoft; it includes an Executive Summary on page four.)

"Evaluation of Air Mixing and Thermal Comfort from High Sidewall Supply Air Jets," is a 38-page, September 2011, NREL (National Renewable Energy Laboratory) technical report, by El Hassan Ridouane; it includes an Executive Summary on PDF-page five (document-page iv). The application under discussion here is high-performance homes where small thermal loads may not accommodate proper mixing.

"Field Test Protocol: Standard Internal Load Generation for Unoccupied Test Homes" is a 16-page, June 2011, technical report jointly authored by X. Fang and D. Christensen, both of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and by G. Barker and E. Hancock, both of the Mountain Energy Partnership. It is close to impossible to model average behaviors of occupants in homes for several reasons explained in the document. The next best thing is to model "behaviors" of hypothetical occupants in unoccupied homes.

GREEN TECHNOLOGIES

"Best of What's New: 2011" is the December 2011 issue of Popular Science; a section, Green Tech, includes a paragraph on each of the following very interesting innovations:

Cleaner Water: "Pasteurization Technology Group Wastewater System"

Energy-Smart Outlet: "ThinkEco Modlet"

Fertilizer-Free Fields: "Big Soil Enhancers Forage Boost"

The Greenest Way to Go: "Cryomation Cryomator"

See-Through Solar: "Wysips"

Smog-Killing Coating: "PURETi"

Windmill Overhaul: "Windtronics Honeywell Wind Turbine"

INDUSTRIAL PLANTS

The following five articles were published in the November 2011 issue of Maintenance Technology:

1. "Doing More with Less to Achieve Sustainable Energy-Management Results," was written by Jane Alexander, Editor, Maintenance Technology, with Dan Brown, Cascade Energy, Inc. An energy management consulting firm based in Portland, Oregon, shares some of the approaches it uses with industrial clients from around the United States and Canada.

2. "Motor Decisions Matter: Three Steps to Savings from Motor System Efficiency," by Motor Decisions Matter staff. It all boils down to having the right motor for the job, using VFDs whenever appropriate, and having a motor management plan in place. The author offers some advice under each of those three steps.

3. "Prevent Premature Failure in Power Transmission Belts: Troubleshooting Problems," by Eric Bjork, Gates Corporation, is a very valuable article. The author lists five reasons for premature belt failure and explains how to tell which is or are the operative one(s) in specific situations in order to avoid them in the future.

4. "The Shortest Distance between Success and Failure (It's Not a Straight Line)," by Randall Noon, P.E., takes a serious look at critical equipment where random and/or frequent failure can wreak havoc with plant operation. The author emphasizes how to bring actual performance in line with an acceptable standard of performance.

5. "The True Cost of Preventable Failures" was authored by Bob Williamson, Contributing Editor, and is the focus of his regular column, "Uptime." He suggests ways of measuring the true cost of being lax about preventative maintenance (PM) without eliminating PM altogether and destroying the plant.

LIGHTING

"Advanced LED Downlighting System" is an October 2011, two-page technical brief from the PIER Buildings Program of the California Energy Commission's Public Interest Energy Research Program. It describes the system developed by the California Lighting Technology Center, Architectural Energy Corporation, Samsung Electronics, and Philips Capri Lighting. The system provides dimmable LED downlighting with a new design which counters the directional nature of LED lights and manages the heat produced by the numerous high-output lamps so that their efficiencies are not much compromised. The system design is described and its other advantages are shown.

"Tips for Evaluating New Lighting Technologies" is a four-part article by Lindsay Audin, Contributing Editor, Building Operating Management; it was published in the November 2011 issue of that trade journal:

Part 1 is Education, Analysis Help When Evaluating Lighting Technologies. Part 1 mentions the directional nature of LEDs which is, often, an advantage. [Note that the article, immediately above – "Advanced LED Downlighting System" – shows that designs are under development to counter that for applications where indirect lighting is desirable.] There is, also, discussion of the difficulty in comparing lighting efficacy – and about new metrics that aim to address that problem – and a similar problem in determining color consistency.

Part 2 is How to Take a Close Look at Claims about New Lighting Technologies. The newer Lighting Facts label from the U.S. Department of Energy is compared to the older Energy Star label. Additionally, lighting-controls vendors' claims are discussed, especially, in terms of ROI (return on investment) and payback periods.

Part 3 is How to Evaluate Cutting Edge Lighting Technologies. Part 3 may help the facilities manager make balanced and reasonable purchases when considering the purchase of a new lighting technology.

Part 4 is Consider All Factors When Evaluating LED Lifetimes. LED lighting is improving, but it is, still, relatively new. In some cases, an older, established technology will better satisfy the lighting need.

RESIDENTIAL EFFICIENCY STRATEGIES

EnergySavers.gov: Stay Warm, Save Money is a website, revised (and re-named) seasonally, from the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Office of the U.S. Department of Energy. The site is now offering many tips for energy savings for the cooler months.

ROOFING

"Roofing" is a brief Q&A piece in four-parts by Rick Cook; it was published in the November 2011 issue of Building Operating Management:

Part 1 is Important Updates in Roofing Technology. Recent changes include the increased use of rooftop photovoltaics and the new assessments of various roofing materials that have been in place long enough for collected data to yield usable information.

Part 2 is Focus on Sustainability: Effect on Roofing. Endurance is the major factor in determining whether or not a roof is sustainable.

Part 3 is How New Codes Are Affecting the Roofing Market. Mainly, codes are incrementally improving the components and practices that are associated with leakage.

Part 4 is Tips to Ensure a Successful Roofing Installation. A reputable design professional with an open bid package is recommended.

SOLAR

Four, two-page fact sheets were released in October 2011 by the SunShot Initiative (Solar Technology Program) of the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Office; the SunShot Initiative aims to help reduce solar costs for utility-scale solar dramatically by 2020:

  1. "Concentrating Solar Power" explains the basics of the CSP technology and discusses the various ways in which the SunShot Initiative is encouraging utility-scale solar with partnerships, financial and technical assistance, and national lab research.
  2. "Marketing Transformation" describes challenges and opportunities for transforming the market to a more favorable one for CSP.
  3. "Photovoltaics" shows what the Initiative is doing to encourage and support the nation's PV industry.
  4. "Systems Integration" explains the Initiative's effort to erase technical barriers to CSP in grid integration.

TAR SANDS

"Alberta's Oil Sands Heat Up," by Peter Fairley, was published in the December 2011 issue of Technology Review. It provides an overview of the supply of oil by the Canadian province of Alberta to satisfy the high demand for it from the United States. It includes technical and economic issues, contentious environmental disputes, and a great deal more.

WIND

The following three articles, focused on offshore wind installations, were carried in the October 2011 issue of Wind Systems:

  1. "Data Drives Offshore Development," by Robert Mecarini, President, Alpine Ocean Seismic Survey, Inc., draws a complex picture of offshore wind for the United States. The wind capacity is several times what is needed for power today and is located where most of the nation's population is – the Great Lakes for the Midwest and the Atlantic Ocean for the East – resulting in shorter transmission distances. However, many barriers would have to be dismantled for wind promise to be realized.
  2. "Increasing Generator Lifespan" was authored by Olaf Kleesch, Director of Global Technical Support and Engineering, Availon. ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­The author suggests wind turbine generator upgrades as a major contributor to the optimization of wind turbines for long life, performance, and reduced repair costs.
  3. "Sealing Solutions for Wind" was written by Frank Moskob, European Application Engineering Manager at Freudenberg Simrit GmbH & Co. KG. The harsh environment facing offshore wind turbines requires attention to their smallest parts. This article explains the power of sealants in several applications.

Past issues of Energy Newsbriefs are available here.

Generally, subscription information for the journals cited above can be found at the home page of their web sites.

© 2011 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.