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Energy Newsbriefs

Articles for July 16, 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

"An Analysis of the Future of Natural Gas Prices and Wood Pellet Prices: Natural Gas Will Become Much More Costly than Wood Pellets" was authored by William Strauss, Ph.D., President, FutureMetrics, and published May 31, 2012, in Pellet Mill Magazine. The author maintains that as the United States begins exporting LNG to countries willing to pay higher prices than are charged today, domestic prices will, accordingly, rise.

"The Poultry Litter Landscape" was written by Luke Geiver, Associate Editor, Biomass Power & Thermal; it was published in the June 2012 issue of that same journal. Excessive amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus in the soil from agriculture are due to be reduced to protect the Chesapeake Bay watershed. This article concentrates on the waste from poultry which may be resolved by energy-producing anaerobic digestion.


BUILDINGS

The following two articles were published in the June 2012 issue of Buildings:
  1. "10 Tips for Green Certification," by Janelle Penny, Associate Editor of Buildings, offers valuable and in-depth discussion of each of the ten tips. The article ends with a very helpful examination of each of eight certifications as to origin, philosophy, certification requirements, renewal requirements, applicable building types covered by the certification, and more.
  2. "NASA Green Building Earns LEED Platinum" is an article by staff. Following federal policy to green its building stock, NASA's Sustainability Base is an excellent example of a facility with low consumption of energy and water and extensive daylighting. The building is comfortable – it responds automatically to seasonal and other external changes – and it comes close to being net-zero energy.

DATA CENTERS

The following two articles were published in the May 2012 issue of HPAC Heating/Piping/AirConditioning Engineering:
  1. "Adaptations in Data-Center Cooling" was written by Kevin Dunlap, Product Manager for Cooling at Schneider Electric. The adaptations include energy-efficient air management using equipment that includes improved components and that is subject to certain standards.

  2. "Growing IT-Solutions Provider Chooses Modular Plants for Mission-Critical Cooling," by staff, discusses the benefits of the modular approach.

ENERGY EFFICIENCY – INTERNATIONAL

Various related documents and The ACEEE 2012 International Energy Efficiency Scorecard, by Sara Hayes, Rachel Young, and Michael Sciortino (with several contributing authors) are now available. The Scorecard is a 99-page, 2012, report from ACEEE (American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy); registration (free) is required to see the document. The world's 12 largest economies are compared – the metrics used are explained in the report – and the United States is ranked ninth.


THERMAL TECHNOLOGIES

The following four articles appeared in the June 2012 issue of Industrial Heating:
  1. "Getting the Most out of Your Combustion System" was written by Brian Kelly of Elster Kromschroeder/Hauck Manufacturing Co. Heat treating needs to be energy efficient and product must be produced quickly without compromising quality. In this article, the combustion system is examined in-depth.

  2. "How to Reduce Energy Requirements for Efficient Vacuum-Furnace Operation" was jointly authored by Nicholas R. Cordisco and Reàl J. Fradette, both of Solar Manufacturing. The authors show how to reduce energy use in several areas of furnace operation: hot-zones, pumps and motors, and water cooling.

  3. "Revolutionary Backup for Molten-Metal Processes" was co-authored by Brian Bradley of Unifrax I, LLC, U.S. and Luiz Carlos Simao, Unifrax Brazil, Sao Paulo. Suggestions are offered to reduce heat losses in, and to extend the life of, the ladle refractory. The "revolutionary backup" is a Unifrax product.

  4. "Saving Energy with Your All-Metal Hot Zone" was jointly written by Ray O'Neill of Plansee USA LLC and Bernd Kleinpass of Plansee, Reutte, Austria. While most hot zones in use are insulated ones, the authors concentrate on the 20-25% of them that are all metal. They show how to reduce energy with smaller hot-zone mass, by employing a more-efficient shielding, and by adding a Plansee product to the shielding.


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.