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Clean-tech jobs on the increase, and they’re not just for geeks and experts

Melissa Segrest — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 17:51:42 +0000

Roof-mounted solar panels on Hall's Warehouse in South Plainfield New Jersey. (Photo: Business Wire)

The latest generation of workers in clean technology jobs aren’t all engineers, tech experts and scientists. They aren’t all in Silicon Valley – some are from Detroit or Gary, Ind.

They may come from community colleges or be fresh out of high school.

Even with the aching economy, venture capital is flowing to clean technologies at a rate rivaling biotech and software investments. The Federal government is pushing for smarter, sustainable and alternative forms of power, transportation and energy efficiency.

Around the world – in Europe, India, Japan and, especially, China – clean technology is a growing job market.

Unlike the high-tech bubble in California, these industries are spread out. Along with the financial analysts and system designers, there are jobs for laborers with new skills – biofuel boiler operators, insulation workers for green buildings or solar energy system installers.

Those are some details from a recently released study of jobs in clean technology industries. Clean Edge, a research and publishing company focused on the clean-tech sector since 2000, looked for the first time at the various jobs associated with these fields, as well as the top areas in the country where the jobs are emerging.

“This is a dispersed revolution, not concentrated in one place, like Silicon Valley during the dot.com boom,” said Ron Pernick, an author of the report and co-founder/managing director of Clean Edge. “It’s in dozens of nodes and places all over the globe. And it’s not just one type of profession, but with all levels of education” and a significant range of jobs.

Wind power has more than 400,000 direct and indirect jobs around the globe.

Clean energy jobs are growing faster than other job sectors, according to Pew research cited in the report. In the solar photo-voltaic field alone, there are more than 200,000 jobs (direct and indirect) worldwide. The wind power area, Clean Edge reports, has more than 400,000 direct and indirect jobs around the globe.

What is clean tech? Companies that in some way use or produce renewable materials and energy sources, reduce use of natural resources (or improve efficiency), and limit or stop pollution and toxic waste, the report said.

Among the 36 jobs sampled:

A boiler operator in a biofuel/biomaterial company could receive (with some years of related experience) a median annual salary of $61,000 with either a high school or associate’s degree.
A building maintenance engineer for a “green” building (also with mid-level experience) might be looking at a median pay level of $43,300, again with a high school or associate’s degree.
At higher levels, in entry-level jobs that call for a bachelor’s degree, a solar energy system designer ‘s median pay is $42,600, while a smart-grid software engineer’s median income is $65,500.

(The job/salary information was determined both by Clean Edge and PayScale, a compensation data publisher. A national median means that half of those doing each job are paid more than the median, and half are paid less.)

Even at entry level, a high school grad or someone with an associate’s degree would need to have some specialized training for the tech jobs. On Clean Edge’s job listings, “those energy efficiency jobs, and solar installation jobs, all of these jobs, at the end of the day, on the manufacturing side, on the installation jobs, they are technical jobs,” Pernick said.

While it is true the San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose metropolitan area is still number one in the study’s clean-tech job activity list Detroit/Ann Arbor, Mich. is 14^th on the list of 15.

“Detroit is a great example, and they’re having a difficult time as you know,” said Pernick. In Wixom, Mich., a former Ford plant closed in 2007 is a 320-acre facility that has been purchased by Xtreme Power (wind and solar power systems) and Clairvoyant Energy (solar panel manufacturing). They are planning to reopen the plant in 2011 and could potentially employ thousands, the report said.

In West Branch, Iowa, a hydraulic pump maker laid off 130 workers in 2003. Now wind turbines are being built by 130 employees there, and more hires are planned. In Newton, Iowa, an old Maytag plant for home appliances had laid off 1,800 people in 2007. Now, TPI Composites are making wind turbine blades there and have hired 325 people since 2008, the report says. They are aiming at 500 employees by 2020.

And it’s not just new companies on the clean-tech bandwagon: Big firms such as Siemens have 5,500 working in their wind-business division, and BP has more than 2,200 solar employees.

Of all the clean-tech businesses in the world, four are in the U.S., three are in China and three in the European Union, the report said.. The largest is Vestas Wind Systems in Denmark, with 21,100 employees.

Pressure for more efficient sources of industry coincides with large numbers of retiring employees. The result, according to Pernick, can be found in the example of California’s Pacific Gas & Electric. PG&E “is a company reinventing itself. . . . They need to build out their energy intelligence and clean energy integration because of other forces. But as they’re facing a huge shift in their existing labor pool, they are going to hire people trained in those new arenas.”

But will Americans who don’t like the idea of public funding for new ventures object to stimulus money for clean tech businesses?

“The government has a history of highly subsidized and deregulated energy sources. Coal, nuclear, oil – they’re all highly subsidy-dependent and regulatory dependent. Time has changed, they don’t create a lot of jobs in those industries (non-renewable), they are not providing energy independence,” Pernick said.

That said, Clean Edge’s report offers five models for publicly financing clean-tech jobs. Some have interesting precedents in American history. The Green Bank (officially the Clean Energy Development Administration) proposal is moving through the U.S. House and Senate and receiving bipartisan support. The bank could fund lots of renewable energy, energy efficiency and pollution reducing businesses and leverage lots of private investment as well. In the 19^th century, the report says, the government supported private enterprise – the building out of America’s railroads.

Another blast from the past for clean tech support could be a form of “Victory Bonds,” similar to the War Bonds sold to support World War II efforts, the study said. The World Bank and a Scandinavian bank helped raise more than $350 million for “green bonds” in 2008.

Another public-financing idea is the production of more Federal bonds that offer bondholders a tax credit (to some extent) in lieu of interest payments. The report also speaks about Federal loan guarantees and city-administered loan funds — where homeowners could borrow money to be more energy efficient (solar energy cells on their roofs, for example), then repay the loans over a long time via property taxes or utility bills.

Clean-tech companies and financing options are spread across the country, so there will be competition. However, “there are so many players . . . you can try to put together a great package to attract a company (in New York, for example) and they just may end up in Texas or Colorado or Oregon. There’s no way to divine who’s going to get the deal.

“The good news is they (cities) have a chance to get it, and the bad is that there’s a lot of competition,” Pernick said.

Thinking of going solar? The sweet spot is now

bill — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 18:28:37 +0000

By Bill Sullivan
Green Right Now

If you’ve ever thought about going solar to take a bite out of your utility bills, you may want to take another look: A perfect storm of events, policies and programs currently makes solar more affordable than ever.

The problem: He who hesitates may miss the best deals.

“People say, ‘It’s too good to be true,’” says John Berger, CEO of Standard Renewable Energy of Houston. “And, you’re right, it is. That’s why it’s not going to last.”

In theory, solar has always been an attractive source of alternative energy. It’s clean. It’s green. What’s not to like about harnessing power from the sun to climate-control your home, keep the lights on, and maybe even run a few appliances?

For the average person, the issue has been cost. Until recently,going solar on any kind of useful scale has been expensive, asking buyers to pony up big bucks, then wait 20 years or more to recoup their investment through monthly utility savings.

Here’s what has happened to change all that:

Since the middle of 2008, the price of solar panels has dropped about 40 percent. Credit increased production of polysilicon and the opening of more panel-producing plants, particularly in China.
The global economic slowdown: Installations in Europe – long a hotbed for solar power – are expected to be off 26 percent from last year, according to consulting firm Emerging Media Research. More supply + less demand = lower prices.
More generous government subsidies: In 2008, homeowners could get a 30 percent tax credit on solar installations, but the credit was limited to $2,000. That ceiling was removed on January 1.
And, yes, even many of your old-guard utilities are helping make solar more affordable. For the moment, at least, rebates from your regular utility can further slash your bottom line.

Put it all together, and going green by way of the sun isn’t only for those enjoying deep pockets. With so many moving parts, however, the current opportunity may be fleeting.

According to SRE’s Berger, the decline in materials cost will almost certainly lead to reduced government incentives. (If it’s already cheap – or cheaper – why subsidize?) At the same time, utilities have begun backing away from rebates. (In Northern California, Pacific Gas and Electric is cutting its rebate program by 29 percent; Phoenix’s Salt River Project trimmed 10 percent from its homeowners rebate in June.)

“Any incentives you can get from your local utility, or the state, or the federal government, you need to wrap them up now,” Berger says. “We’re already faced with incentives getting cut because of the price decline. We anticipate more by the end of the year, and we expect a whole lot more next year.”

For now, those with the resources to invest can enjoy big bargains.

About a year ago, Greg Hare of Magnolia, Texas, priced a system for his 7,000-square foot house and garage at about $100,000. He decided to wait. Over time, the drop in panel prices trimmed about $23,000 from that bill, and the beefed-up tax credit nearly doubled his savings. Ultimately, Hare took advantage of the situation and opted for a larger system, installing 64 panels rather than the originally-planned 42.

For those with more modest means, Berger estimates that a typical homeowner can cut 20 percent off his bill with a post-tax credit investment of $15,000 or less.

As prices become affordable to a wider range of potential customers, the long-term implications may be more significant than the current run of attractive short-term deals. Regarded by detractors as an environmentally friendly but largely impractical solution, solar appears to be in the process of becoming a real and viable industry.

When you think silicon, you think of computers. Yet, in 2008, more silicon went into solar panels than microchips, says Mike Splinter, CEO of Applied Materials, a Silicon Valley company that makes the machines that manufacture microchips.

“We are seeing the industrialization of the solar business,” he told The New York Times. “In the last 12 months, it has brought us a $1.3 billion business. It is hard to build a billion-dollar business.”

Where does your local utility fit in this picture? That depends largely on where you live and who controls the market.

In Austin, Texas, municipally-owned Austin Energy offers an aggressive rebate program, featured prominently on its website. Similarly, San Antonio’s CPS Energy touts the new kids on the energy block. In those cities, you can go solar and get considerable help in doing so.

In Colorado, on the other hand, the state’s largest utility (Xcel) tried passing a surcharge on homes and businesses using rooftop solar power. The initiative quickly crumbled in the face of public outcry and pressure from the governor’s office. (Environment Colorado is now lobbying the state to increase subsidies for residential solar power.)

“Typically, the municipal utilities are the ones more embracing of it,” Berger says. “The industrial utilities…hate it with a passion.”

Still, even seemingly-entrenched industrial power companies may have to reassess their position. According to data compiled by Credit Suisse Securities, wholesale power demand in the United States was down 15.3 percent in the second quarter of 2009 compared to a similar period a year ago.

Experts attribute much of that to the economic slowdown, but concede that conservation efforts and a move to alternative energy sources have played a part. If that’s the case, utilities that have dominated their markets may be forced to seek a different kind of role in a changing landscape.

Already, John Berger senses a change in the perception of the power of the sun.

“A lot of the utilities thought this was a social do-gooders business,” he says. “I’ve had some execs ask me that. ‘It’s really nice, what you’re doing for the planet, John.’ And I’ve always told them that I wanted to make one thing clear: We’re here to make money and help people basically get off the debt you keep putting on their backs.

“That wasn’t taken seriously until this year. A lot of it is being taken seriously now.”

Windy arguments: AWEA faces down critics

BKessler — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 22:44:55 +0000

By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now

We’re used to windy debates in Washington. Now the debates about wind have blown in gale force.

It’s been a while coming. At first, wind power seemed hard to argue against. It is emissions-free, technologically proven, shovel-ready, local and works well on the gusty plains of the US – with one key roadblock, there are some kinks to work out in getting it from there to here on the unprepared national grid system. The plan for many was straightforward: Fix the grid, keep building turbines, replace fossil-fuel dependent energy with renewal wind, and keep adding to an already robust wind sector job force of some 80,000.

Texas wind turbines (Photo: Texas State Energy Conservation Office.)

The Department of Energy jumped on board the trend toward wind, announcing in 2008 that wind energy could supply 20 percent of US electricity needs by 2030.

Then the naysayers caught up. This month, a conservative group called the Institute for Energy Research (IER) presented a study of wind in Denmark that suggested that Danish wind generation, held up as a model of renewable energy, causes more problems than it solves.

The study, Wind Energy, The Case of Denmark, reported that:

Denmark only supplies about 5 percent of its electricity needs with wind power – not 20 percent as is widely understood.

Ebbs in wind power mean that Denmark has to network with neighboring countries to import power, which means its wind power system does not reduce carbon emissions.

National subsidies make Danish electricity “the most expensive in the European Union” and its wind jobs have been so generously supported by government subsidies that they haven’t substantially contributed to the economy.

Wait a minute, cried the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA). Sensing that oil-interests were lurking behind what it saw as a collection of “misleading” and “outright false claims,” the AWEA released a counter report.

The non-profit advocacy group’s response, outlined in a fact sheet called Wind Power in Denmark and the U.S., reports that Denmark does indeed:

Produce 20 percent of its electricity needs from wind power. In 2008, it produced nearly 3,200 megawatts of wind power, enough to power roughly 1 million US homes. (“How does the IER twist these numbers to claim that Denmark only produces 5 percent of its electricity from wind?” asks the AWEA blog. “By not counting any electricity that ever flows across the country’s borders, even if an equal amount of electricity is then transferred back to Denmark.”

Wind power generated in Denmark does reduce carbon emissions, because it “displaces the most expensive fuel source, commonly natural gas, but also coal and oil. Wind energy can also be used to reduce the output at hydroelectric dams, where water can be stored to later displace fossil fuels.”

The Danish wind power industry employs nearly 30,000 people in the Scandinavian nation because Denmark also builds turbines and their components.

Government subsidies, the report adds, are not exclusive to the wind industry. In the US, subsidies support an array of energy programs and power utilities, and from 2002 to 2007, the fossil fuel energy sources received five times what renewable energy source did, according to the GAO.

The AWEA, not wanting to leave any pillar of the IER report standing, also pointed out (in its blog) that the price of Danish electricity grew in the 1980s, before the country developed its extensive network of wind turbines.

The IER report appealed to fears that new electricity generation will raise rates.

But, as the AWEA and others advocating wind note, the US has relied mainly on fossil fuels for decades. That infrastructure is in place and to many, it looks more affordable — until one factors in the potential spike in fossil fuels as the Earth’s reserves are depleted.

The AWEA is concerned that entrenched interests in the US could cause the nation to miss an important turn in the road toward sustainable energy generation.

With its great land mass, strong wind potential (it enjoys more land with higher average wind speeds than the European nations who are ahead in wind development), the US could seize the day in wind technology.

The advocacy group wants the companies it represents to be free to develop the wind farms and grid infrastructure that can carry wind power from the high plains to the urban centers where it is most needed.

The wind industry “represents a once-in-a generation opportunity for the U.S. job market as the global wind industry builds out its supply chain and decides where to locate factories,” notes the AWEA report.

Want to read more about the oil-connected sources behind the opposition to wind? See this Natural Resources Defense Council blog and this article from Facing South, the online magazine for the Institute for Southern Studies.

For a non-partisan look at the history and potential of wind power, see the WorldWatch Institute’s recent report Going to Work for Wind Power.

Counterintuitive Idea of the Week: EarthSure’s buried solar panels

BKessler — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 17:11:51 +0000

Green Right Now Reports

Looking to improve the cost efficiency and aesthetics of solar power, a New Jersey company, EarthSure, has decided that solar panels should be buried in the earth.

No they’re not trying to win the “renewal energy miscalculation” award, they have developed a way to funnel solar light to the buried panels, which would gather solar power from the transported light (like solar tubes). The new operation would be unseen, and would not require that rooftops be converted into glassy conversation pieces.

Homeowner’s associations listen up:

“No unsightly above-ground solar panels need to be used anymore. This is an enhancement not only in economics and in the green movement, but a great technological improvement in the area of design and construction as well,” the company reports in a news release.

More importantly, says Ray Saluccio, the founder and CEO of EarthSure, burying the “Subterranean Solar” panels (also dubbed “Subsolar” panels) would take them out of the elements. And by placing them in sealed underground containers — essentially entombing them in prefabricated pressurized casings — they would be far better protected than a rooftop installation would be, he says.

With solar rooftop panels, “you have a leaking issue, you have an installation issue, you have the elements. I don’t know of any harsher atmosphere than somebody’s roof,” Saluccio says.

The Woodbridge, N.J., entrepreneur, who operates a commercial garbage collection company using automated sweepers, has not yet obtained funding to build a prototype. He says he has received a lot of positive feedback from colleges and others interested in exploring his model and he believes that his new buried energy generators will generate interest among forward-thinking builders and architects.

The SubSolar system (patent pending) would have just a small rooftop presence, employing a solar collection disk that’s about three feet in diameter to capture and magnify the sun’s rays, which would be transferred via fiber optics to the underground storage panels.

Company tests show that the light can be transferred successfully, and while some is lost to diffusion, the Subsolar system can make up for that loss with collection efficiencies. Unlike a flat panel roof solar installation that can only capture a portion of the day’s sunlight (when the angle of the light hitting the panel is right) the Subsolar’s smaller mounted collection disk tracks the sun, collecting rays all day long, Saluccio says.

Furthermore, the underground chambers would keep the panels cool and dry, making them more productive and longer lasting, he says. Rooftop solar panels, by comparison, get baked in the sun and can be harmed by storms.

Will it all work? Time will tell. One thing’s for sure. It’s an idea that’s out of sight.

Waxman-Markey may or may not raise electricity bills, but not much, we think

BKessler — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 08:05:30 +0000

By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now

Talk about a hot and windy debate as Washington grapples with the first big bill to try to power up a new clean energy economy. Studies and accusations are whipping around like wind propellers as the constituencies of fossil fuels and new energy square off.

While this seems like a flurry of much ado — is it possible that the American Clean Energy and Security Act wouldn’t pass?

Still, there’s much at stake. As we know from last year’s blockbuster stimulus bill, no one really reads all the copy, so there could be a lot of caveats, crumbs and sneaky insertions embedded into the 1,000-plus page act, also known as the Waxman-Markey bill.

One hot button issue (funny how the political cliches fit this climate change topic) has been whether the bill will drive up electricity costs. Stands to reason that re-jiggering how we get power and the sort of power we use will come with costs. It also seems reasonable to expect that over time, clean energy, coming as it does from ongoing natural phenomena like the wind and the sun, would have cost efficiencies compared with crude oil, which must be siphoned from the earth and shipped around.

In my earlier blog, I asked who really knows how much these changes will affect household electrical bills; I mean really, how can we tell? It’s such a tar pit of variables.

Apparently, The Pew Center on Global Climate Change does think it has a handle on this issue. At least they’re trying harder than most to decipher the variables and forecast the future. For their take see their “Eight Myths About the Waxman-Markey Clean Energy Bill.”

Myth #2 deals with energy costs and Pew seems to conclude that this switch to clean energy might (maybe) cost US households somewhere around $100 a year over the next few decades.

They also agree with our “who knows” thesis, saying essentially that: “Given the limitations of economic modeling, no analysis should be assumed to give a correct answer.”

They also note, a bit illogically, that even though we can’t count on any given economic analysis, if a group does undertake such an analysis (which might not be worth much) they definitely should “faithfully represent what is actually required by the bill”.

Right. Let the wrangling recommence.

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Windpower wins public approval, poll shows

BKessler — Tue, 05 May 2009 14:10:34 +0000

From Green Right Now Reports:

Public support for wind energy is strong and crosses party lines, according to a poll being released today by the American Wind Energy Association at the opening of WINDPOWER 2009, an industry conference being held this week in Chicago.

The poll shows that 75 percent of American voters support a Renewable Energy Standard (RES) that would require utilities to generate at least 25 percent of their electricity from renewable energy sources by 2025.

The support was bipartisan with 86 percent of Democrats favoring the RES, 62 percent of Republicans favoring it, and 71 percent of Independents.

The support spanned the country with supporters overwhelmingly favoring such a standard in the Northeast, Midwest and West (with 75 to 84 percent support), and 71 percent supporting the proposal in the South.

“The American people support a RES because it will create jobs and reduce carbon emissions,” said AWEA CEO Denise Bode. “Our job now is to make sure that Members of Congress follow their constituents.”

Renewable energy comes mainly from wind, solar and geothermal power, with other technologies, using ocean waves, also emerging.

The AWEA conference in the Windy City is expected to attract more than 18,000 people with more than 1,200 companies exhibiting. A full dais of officals will address the conference, including Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar; Governors Chet Culver of Iowa, Jim Doyle of WIsconsin, Jennifer Granholm of Michigan, Pat Quinn of Illinois and Ted Strickland of Ohio.

The poll was conducted by Garin Hart Yang Research Group, which surveyed 801 people April 29-May 1.

No math needed: A look at global warming by the numbers

Laura May — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 14:52:59 +0000

By Laura Elizabeth May
Green Right Now

One degree Fahrenheit.

On average, that’s how much the Earth’s temperature has increased over the past century, according to a report by the EPA. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has predicted that during the 21st century the global temperature will increase by 2-6° C.

To the average person, one degree might not seem like a problem. But to scientists studying the climate, it is cause for concern. At this rate of warming, climate changes would occur faster than any of the climate changes over the past 10,000 years.

The warming of a few degrees would lead to more frequent droughts and heat waves; it can also cause an increase in rainfall and change the strength of storms. While some areas of land might benefit from the increased rainfall, others will be devastated by lack of rain.

Lately, some scientists have revised their projections on when global warming will spell the end of the Arctic ice cap. Now, some feel that the ice could be gone within five years, which could trigger a “tipping point” with the oceans warming and rising, and the Earth’s ability to reflect sunlight greatly impaired. In a recent Newsweek interview, Department of Energy Secretary Stephen Chu defined “tipping point” as the point where “no matter what humans do, it’s out of our control.”

Some scientists suggest that the rise in ocean temperatures has led to the increased intensity of hurricanes. There is no way to definitively prove that this is directly related to the rise in global temperatures. However, in 2005 the Science journal released a study regarding hurricane strength and the connection to global warming. The study showed as the storms were becoming more intense, the global temperature was also increasing. The study is quick to point out that Hurricane Katrina and other damaging hurricanes can not be blamed on global warming. However, there appears to be a connection emerging.

Solar thermal turns up the heat in renewables market

Catherine Girardeau — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 18:21:14 +0000

By Catherine Girardeau
Green Right Now

Renewable energy companies are no doubt pleased that the proposed economic stimulus plan being considered by Congress could double the nation’s clean energy capacity — enough to power six million American homes.

The White House agenda calls for even more progress: The administration wants incentives to increase private sector spending in renewable energy; a cap-and-trade system that would make heavy industries like coal-burning power plants pay for carbon pollution and a declared goal that America reduce greenhouse gases 80 percent by 2050.

It’s shaping up to be a perfect storm for companies that can figure out how to generate renewable energy, including solar thermal companies which intend to compete with wind and direct solar as large-scale energy providers, despite the cool economy.

“You’ve got all the market drivers. You’ve got climate change, you’ve got the broader awareness of policy makers that we’ve got to do something, you’ve got countries seeking energy independence,” said Keely Wachs, senior director of corporate communications at Oakland, CA-based BrightSource Energy.

“The Energy Information Administration predicts that electricity demand will double by 2030,” Wachs said. “Is it best for us to meet that demand with fossil fuels, or should we meet that demand with clean energy?”

Solar thermal, also called “Concentrating Solar Power (CSP)”, uses sunlight to produce steam, which is then used to generate electricity. Solar thermal systems concentrate the sunlight, in much the same way that a magnifying glass does, to harness its heat. The sunlight heats water, which makes steam, which drives an electricity-generation engine.

By contrast, photo-voltaic (PV) systems convert sunlight (photons) into heat energy (electrons) to generate electricity directly.

Purveyors of solar thermal energy are not making solar arrays you can put on your roof. Solar thermal is large-scale, and solar thermal companies are positioning themselves to make a much bigger impact by selling solar energy to industrial users and utilities.

Why solar thermal?

For one, solar thermal plants are cheaper to build on a large scale. Steel and glass are the main ingredients of a solar thermal system, whereas photovoltaic (PV) systems require specialized and more expensive materials like poly-silicone. Solar thermal is also more efficient than PV systems. PV systems can typically utilize about 20% of the sunlight that hits them, whereas BrightSource claims its solar thermal systems can turn 60% of the available sunlight into energy.

Jet biofuels take off; expert predicts public flights by 2012

BKessler — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 17:55:11 +0000

By Julie Bonnin
Green Right Now

The first commercial air test flights using biofuels took to the sky earlier this month: First Air New Zealand, then Continental Airlines gave us a glimpse of a greener way to fly with a biofuel test flight on Jan. 7 at Bush Continental Airport in Houston.

Next up: Japanese Airline, JAL has announced a demonstration flight using a Boeing 747-300 powered by biofuel set for Jan. 30 in Tokyo.

Jennifer Holmgren is General Manager of Renewable Energy & Chemicals for Honeywell’s UOP, a refining technology developer which partnered with Continental on its landmark project. One week later, she was a keynote speaker at Petrotech 2009, an international oil and gas conference hosted by the Indian government, on the topic of emerging technologies (the conference ends Thursday).

We asked Holmgren to elaborate on the development of biofuels for commercial airlines.

Q. What factors are coming together for these test flights to be happening at this particular time?

A. The aviation industry is motivated to find a solution and diversify its fuel supply. We are all eager to prove that a sustainable biofuels solution exists and could make an impact to commercial aviation as soon as 2012. Today the technology to convert biological resources to fuel exists, and technology to cultivate and process various sustainable feed stocks is nearer than many think.

Q. How long until sustainable raw materials will be available in a quantity that makes biofuel viable for commercial aviation?

A. We believe that sources like jatropha and camelina (non-edible, oilseed crops that require little to no irrigation and can be grown in areas food crops won’t grow) will be available in commercial scale quantities within the next three years. Technology to produce algae in commercial scale quantities is a little farther out – more like eight to 10 years. Events like the Continental flight help to keep motivation and momentum around developing these technologies and are gathering the data that will be needed for aircraft certification.

Q. As your business and others wait for those markets to turn, what kinds of things will you be trying to accomplish in the intervening years?

UOP is working to develop a complete portfolio of technology for renewable energy and chemicals. We have already introduced and licensed a process to produce green diesel fuel and are also leveraging a joint venture with the Canadian business Ensyn to offer technology and equipment to convert second-generation biomass like forest and agricultural wastes into oil for power generation, heating fuel. The joint venture will also accelerate research and development for technology that will convert this pyrolysis oil into transportation fuels like diesel, gasoline and jet fuel.

Q. You have said production levels (for biomass jet fuel) could reach hundreds of millions of gallons per year by 2012. What are some of the ways companies will ensure that overall environmental impact of production and delivery is minimal?

A. The UOP renewable jet fuel process is modeled after traditional hydroprocessing technology that has been used in refineries for more than 50 years to produce transportation fuels. Emissions from the renewable process are comparable to the tradition petroleum-based process. The key to realizing greenhouse gas emission reductions is the use of sustainable second-generation feedstock sources. The source for the fuel must be cultivated and harvested in manners that do not tax valuable food, land or water resources.

Green Hawaii, state will serve as clean energy testing ground

BKessler — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 15:39:50 +0000

By Barbara Kessler

And the greenest state could soon be… No, not California. Not Washington, or Oregon, or Colorado.

It’s Hawaii!

Or at least it could be. Maybe. The islanders have plantation-sized plans for moving off fossil fuels and into clean energy. Their goal: Meet 70 percent of Hawaii’s energy needs with clean energy sources like solar and wind power by 2030. That’s a bigger reach than any other state has taken, or feels able to take.

Across the country, 24 states have set firm goals for adding renewable power to their energy portfolio. Another four states have non-binding goals for their Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS), as they’re called.
Most of these look to increase the amount of renewable energy to 10 to 30 percent of the total used by the state by 2015 or 2020.

Hawaii is leap-frogging those benchmarks as part of the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative, a partnership between the state and the federal government to make Hawaii a model of clean energy usage. Announced early this year, the partnership was in the news again this week as Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, urged the project forward.

“It’s not going to be easy, but we must do it, because of all the 50 states in the union, our state is the most vulnerable,” Inouye told the AP this week. “We have no fossil fuels, so we have to manufacture our own energy.”

By vulnerable, he was referring to more than Hawaii’s isolation. If global warming continues apace, the seas are expected to rise not just by inches but by a couple feet over this century, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

The IPCC recently revised upward its estimations of how soon melting Arctic ice will forcing those rising sea levels, which are expected to inundate coasts from Florida to Hawaii to Indonesia.

In addition, the state’s electricity provider, Hawaiian Electric Co., is promising to not build any new coal plants – another rare move — that jumps it ahead on the green-meter by skipping lengthy debates about whether the coal plants can be converted affordably to “clean coal.”

Hawaii hopes to convert existing fossil fuel generators once used to process coal into biofuel producing machinery, using local crops to make biofuels.

Hawaii’s Renewable Portfolio Standards are detailed on the website of the state’s Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism. The program calls for development of biomass, geothermal and hydropower, as well as ocean thermal energy conversion, solar energy, wave power generation and wind power. The model project is expected to reduce Hawaii’s demand for oil by 72 percent, according to the US Department of Energy.

Hawaii, with its pounding surf, sunny climate and agriculture has access to a panoply of renewable energy options, and federal officials believe tests there will assist those stateside in moving to cleaner methods. The government has pledged to provide advisors to help start private-sector projects in Hawaii, but press releases do not say how many federal dollars have been appropriated for the partnership.

Eco-Jobs on the Rise Around World

Nima Kapadia — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 13:39:39 +0000

By Nima Kapadia

Jobs in renewable energy are increasing worldwide and causing the coal industry to distribute pink slips, according to a Worldwatch Institute study.

The report, written by Worldwatch senior researcher Michael Renner, estimates that 2.3 million people are working in renewable energy jobs – either directly or indirectly. From that number:

1 million work in biofuels
794,000 work in solar power
39,000 work in hydropower
25,000 work in geothermal

Renner expects the numbers to increase substantially in the next decade.

“Government officials now have another reason to put the full weight of their support behind renewables,” Renner said in a statement. “In addition to protecting our planet and phasing out an increasingly limited resource, renewable energy also supports job creation.”

The report, released earlier this month, names countries that are increasing their numbers of renewable-energy jobs. Germany, for example, has 259,000 such jobs. Spain follows with 89,000 direct and 99,000 indirect jobs.

Consequently, the coal industry has felt the effects. Coal generates 40 percent of the world’s electricity, according to the World Coal Institute. Despite a one-third increase in coal production, the number of jobs have decreased by half throughout China, Britain and the U.S.

Worldwatch is an independent research organization that focuses on critical global issues, particularly those related to sustainability. Read more about the report on Worldwatch Institute’s Web site.

Nation’s Largest Net-Zero Energy, Residential Community Planned For Colorado

Tom Kessler — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 13:00:35 +0000

By Tom Kessler

Colorado developers have announced what they say is the country’s largest net-zero energy, master-planned community in Arvada, Colo., a suburb of Denver. Geos Neighborhood, which will begin infrastructure construction this fall, will feature 250 residences and can generate enough renewable energy to supply 100 percent of the annual energy needs of the entire community, the developers say.

The community will rely mainly on on-site solar and geothermal systems designed to supply its energy needs. Geos also will employ a “groundbreaking checkerboard placement pattern” of the homes that maximizes solar efficiency, as well as advanced storm water recycling, rain permeable surfaces to mitigate run off and heat recovery ventilators.

Geos Neighborhood ’s developers say they expect to offer sustainable living at accessible price points — homes will begin in the $200,000s, ranging up to around $500,000 for the biggest models replete with options. The homes will range from 860 square feet to 3,683 square feet and include single-family homes, townhomes, paired homes, row homes, multi-level condos and co-housing.

“It’s great that there are multimillion dollar homes out there with every eco bell and whistle imaginable,” said project developer Norbert Klebl in a news release. “Our goal with the Geos Neighborhood is to deliver these same opportunities to more than just the select few by designing a lifestyle community that is financially accessible to many more people.”

Groundbreaking is slated for this fall. More information about Geos Neighborhood and its features are available online.