Articles for October 20, 2008
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.
ENGINES
"Omnivorous
Engine Has Eclectic Taste," by staff, is about a new engine that functions
equally well on different fuels because of sensors that enable the engine to
adjust to each of them. Developed at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne
National Lab, it can now run a flexible-fuel vehicle on butanol, ethanol, and
gasoline. In time, it is expected that other spark-ignited fuels will be added
to the list. This short article appears
in the October 6, 2008, issue of DOE Pulse; to see it, scroll down to
the second story at http://www.ornl.gov/info/news/pulse/pulse_v271_08.html.
ENERGY EFFICIENT STATES
"ACEEE 'Rates the States' On Employing Energy
Efficiency as the 'First Fuel' to Power Their Economies:
State Scorecard Highlights Model Policies to Win Race for Energy Independence" is an
October 6, 2008, press release from the American Council for an Energy
Efficient Economy (ACEEE). The first ten states are California, Oregon, Connecticut, Vermont, New York, and Washington; Minnesota and Massachusetts tied at
seven; Wisconsin and New Jersey are the last two on the list. See the press
release at http://www.aceee.org/press/e086pr.htm.
HVAC (HEATING,
VENTILATION, and AIR CONDITIONING)
The following two articles
appeared in the September 1, 2008, issue of HPAC Fastrack Newsletter:
1.
"Direct Gas-Fired Air-Handling Units [AHUs]," by
Vincent A. Sakraida, PE, LEED AP, explains the differences between direct- and
indirect-fired AHUs that lead to impressive advantages to the former over the
latter. Direct-fired AHUs cost less to install and are highly energy
efficient, but they do have some disadvantages, and the author describes them
as well. See this article at http://hpac.com/fastrack/direct-gas-fired-air-handling-units/.
2.
"Ground Source Heat Pumps [GSHPs] for Commercial
Buildings," by Steve Kavanaugh, illuminates the design and
installation approaches that can either doom a closed loop GSHP to be an
expensive energy guzzler or a cost effect energy miser. This article can be
viewed at http://hpac.com/fastrack/ground-source-heat-pumps/.
INDUSTRIAL
Two
Save Energy Now case studies have been published by
NREL (the National Renewable Energy Lab) with the support of DOE (the U.S.
Department of Energy) and the EPA (the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency):
1.
"Largest Producer of Steel
Products in the United States Achieves Significant Energy Savings at its
Minntac Plant" reports the recommendations of a Save Energy Now assessment
for this Minnesota plant and describes the savings that resulted when some of
those recommendations were followed. See this case study, published September
2008, at http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy08osti/42858.pdf.
2.
"Steel" gives some
background to the Save Energy Now program and shows the 14 approaches that can
yield significant energy savings in steel plants in their process heating and
steam systems. See this case study, published August 2008, at http://www1.eere.energy.gov/industry/saveenergynow/pdfs/43367.pdf.
FUEL CELLS
"Fuel
Cells + Wastewater Biogas = Green Heaven," by Diane Mettler, describes the
experience of Connecticut's FuelCell Energy in converting wastewater biogas to
energy via fuel cell technology, a clean-energy exercise that is cost competitive.
See this article in enerG, July/August 2008, at http://www.altenerg.com/issue13art02.aspx.
LIGHTING
"The $10 Million Light
Bulb," by Eric A. Taub, is an article describing the $10 million L Prize
being offered by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for developing a LED
replacement for the 60-Watt incandescent light bulb. See the article in the
New
York Times
Bits Blog, September 26, 2008, at http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/26/the-10-million-light-bulb/?pagemode=print.
"Beautiful, Efficient Fixtures Lauded in Lighting
Competition," by staff, reviews the results of the recent Lighting
for Tomorrow competition. The event was sponsored by ALA (the American
Lighting Association), PNNL (the U.S. Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest
National Lab), and the Consortium for
Energy Efficiency. There were numerous
entries in both LED (light-emitting diode) and CFL (compact fluorescent)
categories. The article includes links to photos of and information about the
winners and to the press release announcing the winners. To go directly to the
Lighting for Tomorrow website, select http://www.lightingfortomorrow.com/. See the article with the links in EERE Network News, September 24,
2008, at http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/news/archive.cfm/pubDate=%7Bd%20%272008-09-24%27%7D#11993.
SOLAR
"A
New Twist for Solar Power," by Vicky Boyd, is about the financing for a
new solar installation at Nevada's Nellis Air Force Base. The author
interviewed Mark McLanahan, Senior Vice-President of Corporate Development at
MMA Renewable Ventures LLC, who explains that a power purchase agreement
traditionally used to finance coal-fired plants was employed for this solar
system, the largest in the U.S.A. enerG, July/August 2008, at http://www.altenerg.com/issue13art01.aspx.
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.
© 2008
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
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for any other use requires prior written permission from the Washington State
University Extension Energy Program.
