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Energy Newsbriefs

Articles for June 25, 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

The following three articles appeared in the May 2012 issue of Biomass Power & Thermal:

  1. "Refurbished Sugar Mill Bringing Biomass Power to Hawaii," by Anna Simet, is a brief report about the mill; it, also, mentions a new biorefinery near Honolulu.

  2. "Steam Locomotive Will Run on Torrefied Biomass," by Luke Geiver, reports on the effort to use research at the University of Minnesota for the conversion of a boiler on a 1937 steam locomotive so that it accepts torrefied woody biomass. This should result in a higher horsepower engine.

  3. "UK Pellet Equipment Manufacturer Offering Mini Mills," by Luke Geiver, is about applications (small commercial and institutional) and feedstocks.

BUILDING SCIENCE

"2012 White Paper: High-Performance Reconstructed Buildings: The 99% Solution" includes a brief description of and a link to a 64-page white paper on the subject; this white paper is a supplement to the May 2012 issue of Building Design + Construction. The term, "99% solution," refers to the enormous opportunity that the existing building stock represents for resource conservation and greenhouse gas reduction.

"Systems Integration Benefits" was jointly authored by Mike Walters, PE, Confluenc; and Paul Oswald, Environmental Systems Inc.; it was published in the May 2012 issue of Consulting-Specifying Engineer.  An intelligent building architecture (IBA) is the foundation of the integration of building systems which results in the resource efficiencies and emissions reductions that lead to sustainability.  An added benefit is that, since the involved data collection is so sophisticated, the resources and emissions savings can be demonstrated in the public areas of buildings that can show the excellent results of IBA.

"Reducing Operating Costs through Energy Retrofits," by Lance English, Southland Industries, appeared in the May 2012 issue of HPAC Heating/Piping/AirConditioning Engineering.  It shows a step-by-step plan for accomplishing an energy retrofit with excellent results.  The building used as an example in this article is a manufacturing facility.

"The Studio Is in Session," by Robert Nieminen, was published in the June 2012 issue of Interiors.  It shows the new Graduate Center at the New York School of Interior Design’s (NYSID).  It was designed in the tradition of the art studio (cum galleries), but in a cutting-edge style to match and encourage the creativity of the students at work there. Serious attention to the Center's daylighting, efficient lighting and water fixtures, and low-VOC materials resulted in LEED-Platinum certification and enables the facility, itself, to be a teaching and learning tool.


CONTROLS

"Controls" was written by Angela Lewis, P.E., LEED AP, and Project Professional at Facility Engineering Associates; it is a three-part article published in the May 2012 issue of Building Operating Management.  The author reviews how the approaches covered in the parts of the article can be used effectively in sustainable, high-performance, green buildings:

Part 1 is Energy Benchmarking Software Tools Help Reduce Energy Use.
Part 2 is Energy Dashboards: Criteria for Selection for Facility Managers.
Part 3 is Energy Analytics Crunch Large Amounts of Data to Help Reduce Energy Costs.

"Wireless Building Controls: Less Is More" was authored by Ron Rajecki Senior Editor, HPAC Heating/Piping/AirConditioning Engineering; it was published in the May 2012 issue of that journal.  Generally higher priced, wireless building controls are expected to be quite cost-competitive in the near future.  Even so, the technology can be an excellent investment now, and an on-site review of certain facilities by a specialist in building automation might be warranted.


RESIDENTIAL EFFICIENCY STRATEGIES

EnergySavers.gov: Stay Cool, 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 warmer months.


WIND

The following three articles were carried in the April 2012 issue ofWind Systems:

  1. "An Alternative Design for Speed Increasers" was written by Alexander L. Kapelevich, Founder, AKGears LLC.  This is a discussion of the traditional gear tooth design which may be superseded.  A new design allows for such flexibility that the gear tooth profile adjusts to certain defined parameters for performance and operating conditions.

  2. "Automating Wind Blade Development from Root to Tip" was co-authored by S. Ravi Shankar, Ph.D., Director of Simulation Marketing, Siemens PLM Software, and Dr. Olivier Guillermin, Director of Product and Market Strategy at VISTAGY, Inc. Performance simulation is employed in the design to prevent blade failure.  "Producibility" simulation is incorporated into an automated manufacturing process to ensure that the design is realized.

  3. "Wind Drive Train Ride-Through Performance" was written by Anders Troedson, Vice President and General Manager of Emerging Businesses, The Switch Controls and Converters, Inc.  A new drive train technology for wind turbines is described. It incorporates full-power converters with permanent magnet synchronous generators.  Field tests show improved efficiency, reliability, and drive-through performance.



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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.