L.A. targets 35% renewables, feed-in-tariff part of the mix

While renewables policy in the U.S. continues stagnant and uncertain, certain U.S. cities and states are forging ahead in their green power objectives. Los Angeles, for instance, declared reaching the 20% renewables milepost in January 2011, with the aide of short-term power-purchase agreements, up from 5% in 2005. Most of it is derived from wind, followed by hydroelectric, geothermal/biofueld, and a small amount of solar.

To catch up in the solar front in the sun-bathed city, in 2008, L.A. launched the largest municipal solar project, Solar L.A., which aims to feed the city with 1.3 gigawatts of solar power by 2020 or about 10% of its needs. L.A.'s city council has preliminarily approved the $1.6 billion purchase of power for 25 years from a solar generation site owned by an Amerindian tribe in the neighboring state of Nevada, estimated to cover 4% of its needs.

Maintaining, let alone reaching its next goal of 33% by 2020, is not without significant challenges and critics, however. Its feed-in-tariff, allowing for some non-utility energy production, may become an important part of the mix for reaching this goal in Los Angeles. Palo Alto, a Silicon Valley town, also adopted a feed-in tariff, though its a smaller program (4 MW cap for 2012-13).

Feed-in tariffs have bolstered small- and mid-scale energy production in countries like Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Canada. China kicked off its own program in 2011.  Japan accelerated its FiT kickoff this year, as part of its Fukushima incident response, aiming for 20 gigawatts of new wind and solar production by 2014.

Germany targets 100% renewables by 2050; Denmark tops 40%; U.S. lags at 6%

Germany's electric grid is already 25% powered by renewables, while the U.S. which can boast a much greater resource of wind and solar, among other renewable sources, lags at 6%. Those hoping for a decisive, post-election win, post-Sandy stance by the U.S. administration on renewables and climate change were likely disappointed at Mr. Obama's recent press conference. At the state level, Texas has gone from negligible renewables to, on good days, feeding a quarter of its load with wind power; and California has seen a rapid drive into utility-scale solar in the last few years.

Germany, on the other hand, has committed to reach 100% renewable power by 2050 like Denmark, which continues its leadership position having topped the 40% mark. Portugal and Spain have shown rapid increase in renewables, as well, but uncertainty reigns in the current economic crisis.




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World Bank Issues Alarming Climate Change Report

On the 333rd consecutive globally warm month, a new report for the World Bank by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Climate Analytics bears the decise title "Turn Down the Heat: Why a 4 degrees C Warmer World Must be Avoided."

It focuses on the measured rise and projections of CO2 concentrations and Emissions, rising global mean temperature, increasing ocean heat storage, rising sea levels, increasing loss of ice in areas like Greenland, the Artic, and Antartica, ocean acidification, heat waves and extreme temperatures, droughts and aridity impacts on agriculture and other human welface impacts, and warns of culmination of extreme event synchronization as may have been witnessed with "superstorm" Sandy in the Northeastern U.S.

Bank President Jim Yong Kim sums up the report with this blunt headline in the UK Guardian: "The latest predictions on climate change should shock us into action. A world four degrees warmer could be too hot to handle, but the exciting prospect of low-carbon living could stop it happening."

Energy efficiency, conservation, and research to lower the costs of renewable and cleaner sources of power are important aspects of the Smarter Grid efforts of citizenry and the power, automobile, building management, industrial and large commercial and other sectors.

According the report, "we’re on track for a 4°C warmer world marked by extreme heat-waves, declining global food stocks, loss of ecosystems and biodiversity, and life-threatening sea level rise.” Can we continue the power-hungry information age without risking these massive global adverse effects? Human ingenuity can meet the challenge.

3.000 people protest Keystone XL pipeline and
demand U.S. administration live up to its campaign slogan

Distributed Energy Storage, Microgrids and the "Enernet"

Distributed energy storage is a term for warehousing energy closer to where it is consumed.  Storage can be electric vehicle batteries, flywheels, thermal like molten-salt batteries, among several technologies being explored.  At the very least, DES can compensate for variations typical of renewable sources like wind and solar that are susceptible to moving clouds and changing windspeeds and directions. It can also assist with brief service interruptions as a "UPS" or backup power for entire facilities or at least its more critical loads. DES can be a part of a net-zero or net-positive energy plan for a facility (in California, for example, buildings will need to be self-sufficient by 2030).

Essentially, distributed energy generation and storage can combine to create not only self-sufficient buildings, but an entire campus or communities. These power islands, or microgrids, can run completely isolated from the convensional grid, or they may have bridges that allow it to interconnect at designated times. A grid composed of generally-independent microgrids, a power internet or "enernet," would minimize the specter of regional blackouts and encourage greater integration of renewables. Advantages include fewer line losses (energy wasted as heat or unused magnetic fields), a lower demand on transmission infrastructure, reduced need for new generation, and the ability to rely on more localized sources of power generation. University, military, hospital, and other segments are increasing adoption of this paradigm.

Utilizing the flexible and cost-effective Power Analytics Corporation (formerly EDSA) platform and a number of distributed power sources, including a fuel cell generation from wastewater treatment plant's methane, University of California at San Diego developed a microgrid that has garnered much attention. 

When considering power islands, actual islands come to mind. The island of Alcatraz, for instance, has developed a microgrid that has improved its reliability and sustainability, particularly poignant as islands are most at risk from the rising sea levels. 

Kaiser Permanente hospitals, Apple, AT&T nd others have turned to Bloom Energy for on-site power generation that utilizes fuel cells that efficiently convert a fuel like natural gas into DC and AC with minimal carbon emissions.  With enough generation, it is possible to use the power grid as a backup for maintenance or trouble with the gas supply or Bloom's "power servers."

As microgrids gain momentum, the international professional body of electrical engineers (IEEE), continues to develop standards to aide this important development toward a smarter grid.  Denmark stands out as a leader in the development of microgrids and the integration of non-utility distributed generation and demand response through in-home display technology, but the developing world may have the most to gain.

Smart Cities, Healthy Cities: City as a Health Ecosystem

Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers argues that, though individual actions are crucial, success has much to do with the genetics and environment. If you have not read this interesting work, you can read an excerpt (First Chapter) in the NY Times website, which praises the work of Dr. Stewart Wolf. Upon realizing the low incidence of heart disease of a community of Italian immigrants, Dr. Wolf eventually discovered that aspects of their community were the biggest contributing factors, rather than genetics, diet, exercise and other commonly discussed health parameters. When we think of Smart Cities, we cannot avoid thinking about how healthy they are to live in. Inevitably, we must consider the Objective environment. For instance, how healthy is the air, the water, the available food choice? Does the city facilitate physical fitness or a more sedentary lifestyle? However, Dr. Wolf's work suggests the more intangiable, Subjective or internal life of citizens can lead to Objectively different health outcomes, as well. In other words, cities are not just places to sleep, eat, commute, work but also places to contemplate, to learn, to commune, and to play. No city that overlooks the quality of the subjective reality of its citizens, their happiness, and the intersubjective aspect, their sense of connectedness with those around them, can call itself a smart city.

Is the Electric Car Resurrected? MotorTrend: Tesla Model S is Car of the Year

For the first time in its 64-year history, the Motor Trend magazine award has been awarded to a non-gasoline powered vehicle.  The unanymous vote confirmed that Silicone Valley's Tesla Motors Model S is first and foremost a spectacular ride: it just so happens to be fully electric.

Critics of the oil and gas industry have charged it with the murder of the electric vehicle and public transportation in the States in the 70's.  Has the Detroit outsider ressurrected the EV? The Model S has a US$90,000 price tag and a waiting list, since it only makes a few hundred a year, though Tesla Motors claims to be near the mass-production turning point. Either way, “The mere fact the Tesla Model S exists at all is a testament to innovation and entrepreneurship, the very qualities that once made the American automobile industry the largest, richest, and most powerful in the world,” the magazine said.  "America can still make things. Great things."

Several utilities have used stimulus grants for grid modernization for piloting electric vehicle charging technology.  Thus far, the vehicles remain costly, but the possibility of eventual wide-adoption mean utilities must be prepared to handle the challenge and promise of millions of plug-in electric vehicles.  The power industry hopes that electric vehicle charging can be shifted away from times of peak demand which it struggles to keep up with.  In fact, the hope is that the energy storage of millions of vehicles could act as a distributed power plant for such peak times, whereby owners can be rewarded for allowing the utility to draw power from them.  During off-peak times, the valleys could be filled with smart charging that spreads out the charging loads through the night, rather than all at once. 

Others have envisioned battery swapping stations that can replace gasoline pumps.  Imagine driving up to such a station to swap your low-charge battery for a fully-charged battery.  This would require industry standards, but would be much quicker for the driver than waiting to charge up.  Big data techniques could be applied to monitor battery residual life and hence cost.  Additionally, such battery stations could act as distributed energy storage facilities. Storaging energy closer to where it is consumed helps to compensate for variations typical of renewable sources like wind and solar that are susceptible to moving clouds and changing windspeeds and directions. 

As the industry experiments with the technology for wide-spread adoption, the paradigm shift EV-enthusiasts have been waiting for could be here. Read more on WIRED magazine as it praises the Model S and commends it for another industry first: over-the-air software updates akin to mobile phones and wireless network smart grid devices.

Revenue Decoupling: Under-Rated Policy, Significant Impact

Utility revenue-decoupling breaks the link between sales and net revenue, which motivates utilities to sell as much electricity as it can produce cost-effectively. Though utilities have been increasing energy conservation efforts, some charge that the objective has been limited to reducing "just enough" so that demand is high enough to use up cost-effective generation but low enough to avoid costly purchases from other utilities, use of expensive generation, or affecting system stability.

Usage-decoupled rates can stabilize financial health, for example minimizing storm outage-related revenue losses and making revenues more predictable.  Most importantly, the more that utilities promote grid energy efficiency (i.e. utilities that sell less power) the more they profit.

Only five states had decoupled electric rates by 2004: California, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Rhode Island and Vermont. The federal government's US$3bn fund motivated ten other states to join the list and invest in efficiency initiatives. Utilities have more than doubled efficiency investments between 2008 and 2011 to about $8bn. 22 states now decouple their gas rates, as well.

The U.S. still ranks 9th in efficiency among the largest power consuming regions in the world, behind regions like China and Europe, though ahead of Brazil, Canada, and Russia. Policies like revenue-decoupling could aide the country in catching up in energy efficiency and renewable generation leadership, as grid generation accounts for half of States' carbon emissions.  The negawatt remains one of the biggest social and business opportunities of the decade, as it has been for a disappointing decade upon decade.

Will this time be different?

Can this policy have unintended consequences?

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