Texas Energy Efficiency Study

It makes good economic sense to be as efficient as possible with power usage. We just completed installation of a new central heating and cooling system in our home. With the technological improvements since our previous unit was built, we should save about 40% on our electricity usage with the new unit. It will pay for itself in less than 10 years at that rate.

Electricity study embraces energy efficiency for state

Thermo-electric Exhaust Conversion

A 10% improvement in fuel economy is a big deal.

Researchers work to convert car exhaust into energy

By Margaret Harding, Associated Press
WARREN, Mich. — The stinky, steaming air that escapes from a car's tailpipe could help us use less gas.

Researchers are competing to meet a challenge from the U.S. Department of Energy: Improve fuel economy 10% by...(complete article here).

Charging for Wind Infrastructure

OK. So, the majority of Texans are willing to pay an extra $4/month for new transmission infrastructure. Let me ask you -- when was the last time anyone felt like they had a say in what was charged on their electric bill? We just get mad and pay it anyway.

Poll: Majority of Texans open to $4 charge for wind farms

By JANET ELLIOTT
Copyright 2008
Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau

AUSTIN — A majority of Texans would be willing to pay $4 more on their monthly electric bills to create a network of power lines from wind farms, according to a recent poll.

The survey, commissioned by a group of wind generation companies, is being released in advance of state utility regulators' debate over how much new transmission to require for wind-generated electricity. The Public Utility Commission is...(complete article here).

Windpower Electrical Infrastructure for Texas

Texas leads the nation in windpower generation. The problem is that the wind is in West Texas and the population centers are in East Texas. It will take massive investment in infrastructure in order to effeciently and effectively move that power from its source to the point of need. Texas is developing the model that will help pave the way for other states to follow.

Texas mulls power lines needed for more wind farms

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Wind-power supporters called on Texas regulators at a hearing on Wednesday to "aim high" and approve plans for nearly 25,000 megawatts of wind generation while others urged caution before companies invest billions to build new transmission.

Members of the Texas Public Utility Commission are struggling to decide how much new transmission should be built to...(complete article here).

Wind Power and the Texas Grid

Infrastructure again. The new energy economy requires its own infrastructure -- whether we're talking wind, ethanol, biodiesel or solar -- it requires infrastructure investment.

Wind power experts say Texas grid needs work

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Problems integrating a rising amount of wind-generated electricity into the Texas wholesale power market may slow short-term development, but won't deter long-term prospects for local wind generators, industry sources said on Thursday.

Strong spring wind production in West Texas has been...(complete article here).

The Cost of Infrastructure in the New Energy Economy

It takes infrastructure to make it all work. Otherwise the wind generators are just throwing money to the wind.

Texas sees higher costs to reap wind power

HOUSTON (Reuters) - The price tag to build new power lines to bring plentiful wind power to Texas' biggest cities could range from $3 billion to $9 billion, the state's electric grid operator said in a report filed with regulators on Wednesday.

Following legislation passed in 2005, the Texas Public Utility Commission began working to speed up construction of high-voltage transmission lines to tap into abundant supplies of renewable power.

Texas leads the nation by...(complete article here).

New Natural Gas Fired Electrical Generation Plant

Natural gas is a great fuel for electrical generation because of its efficiency and clean burning properties.

Panda Energy To Build 500 MW Power Plant In Texas

Dallas TX (SPX) Mar 17, 2008Panda Energy announced that it intends to build, own and operate a 500-megawatt combined-cycle power plant in an industrial-zoned area of the city of Sherman, Texas. The highly efficient natural gas-fueled generating station will be able to supply the power needs of approximately 400,000 homes in North Texas and is expected to bring more than $248,000,000 into the area's economy over the next 10 years.

The Panda Sherman generating station will...(complete article here).

California Grid for Wind Energy

This is a critical piece of the puzzle. Our electricity transmission infrastructure will have to be enhanced to handle the new sources of energy coming on line.

Work begins on California wind transmission lines

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Construction on the biggest U.S. transmission project largely for wind energy has begun, utility Southern California Edison said on Friday.

The Tehachapi Renewal Transmission Project aims to take wind power produced in a remote area called Tehachapi in Southern California to power customers all over the state through the state power grid.

If the full project is finished by 2013 as planned, it will be capable of carrying...(complete article here).

Methane From Manure in California

Methane -- natural gas.

California cows start passing gas to the grid

By Nichola Groom

RIVERDALE, California (Reuters) - Imagine a vat of liquid cow manure covering the area of five football fields and 33 feet deep. Meet California's most alternative new energy.

On a dairy farm in the Golden State's agricultural heartland, utility PG&E Corp began on Tuesday producing natural gas derived from manure, in what...(complete article here).

Complexity of Managing the Grid

This article discusses the complexity of providing adequate electrical power.

Wind power woes not sole issue in near blackouts

By TOM FOWLER
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

Texas' near miss with rolling blackouts Tuesday night may appear at first blush to be a sign of the failings of wind power — more than 80 percent of the state's wind turbine energy went offline when a North Texas cold front stilled the air.

But the state's grid operators say a...(complete article here).

Wind-Power to Battery

This is a major issue with wind power generation.

Xcel Energy Launches Groundbreaking Wind-to-Battery Project

Minneapolis MN (SPX) Feb 29, 2008

Xcel Energy soon will begin testing a cutting-edge technology to store wind energy in batteries. It will be the first use of the technology in the United States for direct wind energy storage.

Integrating variable wind and solar power production with the needs of the power grid is an ongoing issue for the utility industry. Xcel Energy will begin testing a...(complete article here).

Picturing Fusion

Nuclear fusion -- the "holy grail" of the quest for energy. From MIT....

New 'snapshots' aid quest for fusion energy

Anne Trafton, News Office
February 28, 2008

Physicists at MIT and the University of Rochester have devised a new way to take "snapshots" of the high-energy, high-temperature reactions seen as key to achieving the long-held dream of controlled nuclear fusion.

The work, which is reported in the Feb. 28 issue of Science, could one day help scientists harness nuclear fusion as an energy source. It could also shed light on basic questions about the physics of stars.

Nuclear fusion--the process by which atomic particles clump together to form a heavier nucleus--releases...(complete article here).

Batteries: Future Fortunes

Batteries. Where fortunes will be made....

Cracking The Battery Barrier

Melanie Lindner, 02.28.08, 12:30 PM ET

Wouldn't it be great if you didn't have to worry about your cellphone losing its charge? How about your laptop, MP3 player, even your car?

While the global battery market is enormous--some $55 billion, according to...(complete article here).

Transmission Capacity Limits Wind Power

Transmission capacity. How do we get it from where it is produced to where it is needed?

Wind energy confronts shortage of transmission lines

By Paul Davidson, USA TODAY

As wind farms sprout across the country, they're kicking up a new quandary: how to zap the electricity to homes and businesses that need it.

The USA's wind-power boom, especially in rural parts of Texas, the Midwest and California, is poised to outstrip the capacity of high-voltage lines to...(complete story here).

Streaming Power

A whole new twist on hydro-electric power is calling.

Oceans of electricity beckon

Researchers eager to tap Gulf Stream to create power

By BRIAN SKOLOFF
Associated Press

DANIA BEACH, FLA. — Just 15 miles off Florida's coast, the world's most powerful sustained ocean current — the mighty Gulf Stream — rushes by at nearly 8.5 billion gallons per second. And it never stops.

To scientists, it represents a tantalizing possibility: a new, plentiful and uninterrupted source of clean energy.

Florida Atlantic University researchers say...(complete article here).

CO2 Absorbing Crystals

This technology sounds interesting until you read that it may double the cost of generating electricity.

New crystals can absorb carbon dioxide

UCLA researchers develop a substance that could capture the gas in smokestacks and tailpipes to help stem climate change.

By Alan Zarembo, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
February 16, 2008

UCLA scientists have synthesized a new class of sponge-like crystals that can soak up carbon dioxide, the primary greenhouse gas in industrial emissions.The crystals --(complete article here).

Lower Electric Bills?

Some good news for consumers.

Texans likely to see lower electric bills this year

Added capacity, milder weather among factors shaping predictions


By TOM FOWLER
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

A 42-inch natural gas pipeline in Weld County, Colo., could have as much to do with Texans' electric bills this year as the threat of hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico.

The steady rise in U.S. power prices already had been projected to slow down in 2008 thanks to...(complete article here).

Carbon: For Your Plate, Your Car, and Your Life

I love this headline:

Texas is biggest carbon polluter


By APRIL CASTRO, Associated Press Writer
28 minutes ago

AUSTIN, Texas - Everything's big in Texas — big pickup trucks, big SUVs and the state's big carbon footprint, too.

Texans' fondness for large, manly vehicles has helped make the Lone Star State the biggest carbon polluter in the nation.

The headquarters state of America's oil industry spewed 670 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in 2003, enough that Texas would rank seventh in the world if it were its own country, according to the most recent figures from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The amount is more than that of California and Pennsylvania — the second- and third-ranking states — combined.

A multitude of factors contribute to the carbon output, among them...(complete article here).

The article fails to mention that Texas is #1 in wind-generated electricity, was the only state with cooler-than-average temperatures during 2007, provides a big chunk of the oil and gas (and refined gasoline as well as petroleum-derived chemicals) for the rest of the nation, and in spite of the author's contention otherwise, many of the pickup trucks and SUV's are in rural areas that need the capacity for hauling things like oilfield equipment so the rest of the country can keep using petroleum products, seed and fertilizer to plant cotton, wheat, soybeans, grain sorghum, and other crops that keep folks fed and clothed, and that pull trailers of livestock that usually provide the main course for their meals. Narrow minds with narrow agendas often fail to see the big picture.

Space-based Solar Power

World power demands will only increase as economies in lesser developed countries gain traction. China and India alone will increase world power demands significantly.

China, the US, and space solar power

by Taylor Dinerman
Monday, October 22, 2007

Now that the National Security Space Office’s (NSSO) space solar power study has been released and shows that the technology is well within America’s grasp, a set of decisions have to be made concerning how the US government should proceed. The idea that the government should fund a series of demonstration projects, as the study recommends, is a good place to start. Another aspect should be to study the impact that this technology will have on the political and economic future of the world.

The biggest factor in world affairs in the next twenty or so years is the rise of China to true great power status. Leaving aside the political vulnerabilities inherent in any communist regime, the greatest danger to China’s future prosperity is its huge need for energy, especially electricity. According to...(complete article here).

Space is the only source of reliable solar power. Availability of land-based solar is dependent on cloudless days. That isn't an issue in space.

Wind Power Variability

Variability of power production is a major issue in wind generated electricity.

Methods for Regulating Wind Power's VariabilityUnder Development by Electrical Engineer

October 16, 2007

AUSTIN, Texas—As Texas' electric grid operator prepares to add power lines for carrying future wind-generated energy, an electrical engineer at The University of Texas at Austin is developing improved methods for determining the extent to which power from a wind farm can displace a conventional power plant, and how best to regulate varying wind power.

"The cost of wind energy has become competitive with that of energy from fossil fuels because of technology improvements," said Assistant Professor Surya Santoso. "Unfortunately, electric power generated from wind energy is intermittent and variable. That means we need to have better measurements of wind power plants' output as we integrate wind energy into existing power systems. We also need to develop a way of managing wind power so it can be more readily called upon when needed."

Texas has outstripped California since 2006 as...(complete article here).