Washington State UniversityWorld Class. Face to Face.
WSU Energy Program
 

Weekly Energy Newsbriefs

Articles for September 21, 2009


ENERGY NEWSBRIEFS is a weekly current awareness service provided by the Washington State University 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 Energy Newsbriefs archives at http://www.energy.wsu.edu/library/newsbriefs.cfm.


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.


(URBAN) AGRICULTURE

There is some increasing interest in supplying urban populations with locally grown food either through rooftop farming or vertical farming:

  1. "Raising The Root: Some City Dwellers Are Hoping Rooftop Farming Will Bear Fruit" is an article by Robin Shulman, Staff Writer, Washington Post. This article shows the small movement of rooftop farming. While food plants are often grown on the roofs for just their gardeners' consumption, this article focuses on rooftop farms that have been functioning as small businesses (in at least one case, for decades). These farmers sell their harvested vegetables to local grocery stores, restaurants, and the like. See this three-web-page article in the Washington Post, September 12, 2009, at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/11/AR2009091103836.html?sub=AR.


  2. Vertical Farm Project – Agriculture for the 21st Century is a website providing extensive information about urban agriculture focusing on buildings dedicated to growing crops ("farmscrapers") in cities. No farmscrapers are reported to have been built but several designs, including pyramids, featured on this site may be of interest. See this website at http://www.verticalfarm.com/



BUILDING COMMISSIONING

Building Commissioning: A Golden Opportunity for Reducing Energy Costs and Greenhouse-Gas Emissions, by Evan Mills, Ph.D., Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBL), is a 65-PDF-page, July 21, 2009, report prepared for the Public Interest Energy Research (PIER) of the California Energy Commission. This is an assessment of the value of building commissioning. On PDF-page-eight (document-page-two), the author states:

These findings demonstrate that commissioning is arguably the single-most cost-effective
strategy for reducing energy, costs, and greenhouse gas emissions in buildings today.

To go directly to the entire 65-PDF-document, select http://cx.lbl.gov/documents/2009-assessment/LBNL-Cx-Cost-Benefit.pdf. To see an LBL web page, providing a summary of the assessment with links to other pertinent information including the entire PDF, go to http://cx.lbl.gov/2009-assessment.html .


COGENERATION

"Preparing to Go Out on the Town: Modular CHP for Urban Settings," by Anders Ahnger, Wärtsilä Corporation, Helsinki, Finland, reports on a new idea: a two-storey, potentially expandable, CHP (combined heat and power) plant with a small footprint. See this article at http://www.cospp.com/display_article/367737/122/CRTIS/none/none/1/Preparing-to-go-out-on-the-town:-modular-CHP-for-urban-settings/.


ENERGY MANAGEMENT

"Spokane Saves with Power Management Software," by Judith Van Dongen and Meara Hall, both of WSU Spokane, describes an energy management solution for PCs that can, in principle, be used in commercial and government buildings as well as in academia. See this article in WSU Today, August 21, 2009, at http://www.wsutoday.wsu.edu/pages/publications.asp?Action=Detail&PublicationID=15287.


GREEN BUILDINGS

"The Biggest Opportunity to Reduce Energy Consumption and CO2 Emissions" was written by Jamie Qualk, Vice President of Sustainable Solutions Group, SSRCx, LLC. The biggest opportunity is with existing buildings which, of course, constitute the vast majority of buildings in the nation. The author includes important suggestions as to how to make the most out of this opportunity. View this article (originally published in the Tennessean on August 11, 2009) on the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) website at http://www.usgbc.org/News/USGBCInTheNewsDetails.aspx?ID=4175.

"Leased Space or Owner Occupied? Look to Energy Star," written by Alyssa Quarforth and identified as a report prepared by Energy Star, is a three-part article appearing in the September 2009, issue of Building Operating Management:


RECOVERY ACT

"DOE Delivers More than $354 Million for Energy Projects in 22 States" is an article, by staff, that includes a general description of the part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 that includes the EECBG (Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant) program. It, further, explains, in detail, how much money each of the 22 states (listed alphabetically) has received and how each will use its funding. See this article in EERE Network News, September 14, 2009, at http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/news/progress_alerts.cfm/pa_id=238.


TRANSPORTATION

"Fast Talk: City Transit Authority" is a group of short interviews by Kate Rockwood who talks to transportation trendsetters. They offer innovative approaches to transportation in urban areas. There is talk about pedestrian throughways, bicycles, mass transit, and the Daimler's Car2go. Read any or all of the six interviews in Fast Company, September 2009:


Past issues of Energy Newsbriefs are available at http://www.energy.wsu.edu/library/newsbriefs.cfm.

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

© 2009 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.