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Energy Newsbriefs

Articles for September 10, 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.


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

The following three articles were published in the August 2012 issue of HPAC Heating/Piping/AirConditioning Engineering:

  1. "Enhancing Air-Cooled-Chiller Performance With VFDs" was written by Eddie Rodriguez, Chiller Product Manager, Daikin McQuay. It describes how variable frequency drives reduce energy consumption during off-peak hours and, to a lesser but still signification degree, reduces the size of the power draw that compressors normally take to start up.

  2. "IEQ: What Building Owners Need to Know" was authored by Ron Burton, Codes and Standards Consultant for BOMA International and President of PTW Advisors LLC. It is a discussion of the intersection of indoor environmental quality (IEQ) and energy savings in HVAC/R and other facility systems.

  3. "Natural-Gas-Engine-Driven Heat Pumps" is a two-Web-page article by Martin J. McDonough, President, and Stephen Lafaille Product-Development Engineer, both of Ilios Dynamics/Tecogen Inc. The authors explain the Carnot cycle to show the superiority of heat pumps over traditional heating which combusts fossil fuels. Natural gas, they note, has the added benefit of heat recovery.

INDUSTRIAL

"Back to the Basics of Sustainability -- Houses of Bark and Energy of Sunshine," by staff, was posted August 2, 2012, on Energy.Gov, a U.S. Department of Energy website. A small manufacturer of shingles made of poplar bark used in residential dwellings has reached net-zero electricity for both his manufacturing facility and its industrial processes.

"Unlock Opportunities to Improve Oversized Pump Efficiency" was written by Tony Simon, Energy Systems Engineer, Washington State University Energy Program; it was published in the August 2012 issue of Pumps & Systems. This informative case study tracks the effort to find opportunities to reduce energy consumption in a large pulp and paper mill's six pumping systems.

POLICY – INTERNATIONAL

"The Great German Energy Experiment" was written by David Talbot, Chief Correspondent, Technology Review; it was published in the July/August 2012 issue of that journal. The author relays the question many, inside and outside Germany, are asking: Can a major industrial nation get along on renewables alone? The approach Germany is taking is heavily subsidizing renewables and closing nuclear plants which supplied, in 2010, 23% of the country's power.

Greenest City 2020 is a website featuring the plans and activities that flesh out the sustainability vision of the Canadian city of Vancouver, British Columbia. The site includes links to in-depth documents on economics, climate, buildings, transportation, and much more. Each subject is approached with a challenging goal and a spelling out of the actions and strategies that will lead to the goal.

Two ACEEE reports follow; they are related to one another and were recently released:

  1. Third Parties in the Implementation of Building Energy Codes in China, by Shui Bin, ACEEE, is the 26-page Report I121, published March 21, 2012, from ACEEE (American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy) and the Institute for Market Transformation. It is briefly explained on the ACEEE website in a three-paragraph description which is followed by a link to the full document; (free) registration is required to view the report.

  2. Building Energy Efficiency Policies in China: Status Report, by Shui Bin, ACEEE, and Li Jun, CIRED (France), is the 87-page Research Report E129, published in May 2012, from ACEEE (American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy). It is briefly explained on the ACEEE website in a three-paragraph description which is followed by a link to the full document; (free) registration is required to view the report.

SOLAR

"Researchers Develop Method to Create Photovoltaic Solar Cells from Any Materials" is a blog entry written by Antonio Pasolini and published on July 31st, 2012, by EnergyRefuge.com. The new technology, SFPV (screening-engineered field-effect photovoltaics), applies an electric field to plentiful, non-toxic, semiconductor materials. Unlike rarer and more expensive semiconductors (some types of silicon, cadmium telluride, and copper indium gallium selenide), these plentiful semiconductors do not accept the necessary changes to their properties by chemical means but they will function as solar cells if an electric field is applied to them. Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory and at the University of California Berkeley have announced that they have developed the technology.

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.

© 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.