DOE to Invest $34 Million in Enzymes for Cellulosic Ethanol Production:

DOE announced on February 26 its selection of four projects to develop improved enzymes for breaking down cellulosic biomass material into sugars, which can then be fermented into ethanol. The DSM Innovation Center, Genencor, Novozymes, Inc., and Verenium Corporation were all chosen by DOE for their proven ability to reduce the cost of ethanol by improving the performance of the enzymes. Among the many partners on the projects are four DOE national laboratories: Los Alamos National Laboratory, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and Sandia National Laboratories. For all four projects, DOE intends to invest up to $33.8 million over the next four years, subject to congressional appropriations, and when combined with the cost sharing from industry, up to $70 million will be invested in the effort.

Cellulosic ethanol is produced from a wide variety of non-edible plant materials, including corn stover, cereal straws, sawdust, paper pulp, and switchgrass. Cellulosic ethanol could be produced in every region of the country using locally grown materials, while producing a fuel that creates less greenhouse gases than corn-based ethanol. Within the last year, DOE has announced that it will invest $1 billion in biofuels research and development, $114 million in small-scale cellulosic refineries, $405 million in bioenergy centers, and $385 million in commercial-scale cellulosic refineries. See the DOE press release and DOE’s Biomass Program Web site.

DOE and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) also announced the latest members of the Biomass Research and Development Technical Advisory Committee in mid-January. The Committee was founded as part of the Biomass Research and Development Act of 2000 and assists DOE and USDA in meeting national goals that support energy security and rural economies. The chosen committee members, of which six are new and seven are reappointed, will serve three year terms. See the DOE press release and the Biomass Research and Development Initiative Web site.

Arizona Utility to Buy Power from a 280-Megawatt Solar Power Plant:

Arizona Public Service Company (APS) is planning to draw power from a 280-megawatt concentrating solar power (CSP) plant to be built near Gila Bend, Arizona, about 70 miles southwest of Phoenix. Called the Solana Generating System, the new facility will be built by Abengoa Solar and is expected to begin producing power in 2011. It will be among the largest solar power plants in the world, producing enough power at full capacity to serve 70,000 households, and it will also have the ability to store energy, allowing power production to continue into the evening. The facility will use miles of parabolic trough-shaped mirrors to capture the sun’s heat and focus it upon a length of “absorber” tubing. A fluid passed through the tubing collects the sun’s heat, and the hot fluid is used to boil water to steam, which then spins a turbine to produce electricity.

APS will buy all the power produced by the facility in its first 30 years, costing the utility a total of about $4 billion, while providing an estimated $1 billion in economic benefits to the state of Arizona. The plant’s builder, Abengoa Solar, has built a demonstration solar trough plant in Spain and is building two 50-megawatt solar trough plants there. In addition, the company is currently operating the world’s first commercial solar power tower plant, which uses a field of flat mirrors to focus sunlight onto a thermal collector at the top of a tall tower. The facility, called PS10, produces 11 megawatts of power, and Abengoa Solar is currently building PS20, which will produce 20 megawatts of power. See the press releases from APS and Abengoa Solar and Abengoa Solar’s Power Tower Web page.

As the Abengoa Solar experience suggests, CSP is experiencing a resurgence in the United States and throughout the world. On February 23, dedication ceremonies were held for Nevada Solar One, a 64-megawatt solar trough plant near Boulder City that started producing power last year. The facility is the largest CSP plant to be built in the world since 1991. A number of new CSP plants are also planned for southern California, including the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System, a power tower facility that will reach 400 megawatts in three phases of construction. The California Energy Commission (CEC) is currently reviewing the Ivanpah application. With more CSP plants on the way, Ausra, Inc. announced in December 2007 that it will build a manufacturing facility in Las Vegas, Nevada, for CSP components such as mirrors, absorber tubes, and towers, and in January, Schott Solar announced plans to build a $100 million manufacturing plant in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to produce both absorber tubes and solar photovoltaic modules. The Ausra facility will begin production in April, while the Schott Solar facility should be completed next year. See the Nevada Solar One press release, the CEC Web page on the Ivanpah facility, and the press releases from Ausra and Schott.

Shall we do a little extrapolation? You have a part of the world that includes about 364.999 sunny days/year, a few bazillion square miles of desert, dramatically falling solar electricity costs, rising population, rising fossil fuel costs, rising CO2 emissions costs, and rising urgency to move electrons without consuming or drawing large amounts of ever scarcer fresh water.

Any guesses about how the solar energy future of the US Southwest might play out?

New York Launches Clean Energy Workforce Training Initiative:

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) unveiled a $6-million clean energy workforce training initiative on February 25. NYSERDA will invest more than $4 million in a range of clean energy sectors including solar photovoltaic systems, small wind turbines, and biogas energy systems. An additional $2 million is included in the Governor’s Executive Budget for developing the solar workforce through programs at community colleges across New York State. The intent of the new efforts is to help develop a workforce that can design, install, and maintain renewable energy systems to ensure the successful implementation and promotion of renewable energy technologies in New York State. New York has already invested nearly $1 million to develop seven accredited solar training centers and continuing education programs across the state. See the NYSERDA press release and the pamphlet about New York’s Solar Electric Practitioner Training Centers (PDF 311 KB).

As noted in the NYSERDA press release, the agency is also seeking to establish a Wind Energy Research and Testing Center in New York. Although still in the preliminary stages of discussion and planning, the center would catalyze and support research in such topics as advanced materials, power electronics, turbine design, wind forecasting, and environmental impact assessment. The proposed Center would also provide resources to test new products while helping to provide a highly skilled workforce to meet the needs of the quickly growing wind power industry.

And yes, I think the wind research center would be just peachy in Rochester, given our proximity to wind farms in Western NY and Lake Ontario and Lak Erie, both of which will be used to site offshore wind farms eventually.

Boxer: EPA Docs Show “An Agency in Crisis”:

Hoping to further ratchet up pressure on EPA Adminstrator Stephen Johnson, Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) has now released additional transcriptions of internal agency documents her EPW committee staff was able to view. David Roberts has posted some initial thoughts on the highlighted contents– including a plea from EPA staff to Johnson indicating that if he couldn’t grant the waiver at least temporarily, “…you will face a pretty big personal decision about whether you are able to stay in the job under those circumstances.”

Even more interesting to us, from a legal perspective, is the following excerpt from that same set of talking points, which is played out repeatedly in the 27 pages of documents transcribed and released by Boxer (added emphasis ours):

[It is obvious] that there is no legal or technical justification for denying this. The law is very specific about what you are allowed to consider, and even if you adopt the alternative interpretations that have been suggested by the automakers, you still wind up in the same place.

Please go read it all, my fellow Americans, and see just how absurd the Bush administration is in their attempts to stop any progress whatsoever on environmental issues.

New fuel surcharge at US Airways:

Today, US Airways announced a change to our baggage policy. Beginning May 5, 2008, we’ll charge $25 for a second checked bag. The new fee applies to travel on or after May 5 for tickets purchased on or after February 26, 2008.

We’re making these changes to offset record fuel prices and rising airline related expenses. We simply must make changes to the way we do business to provide all of you with the high level of service that you’ve come to expect from US Airways. Also, we’re doing all we can to keep fares low. With this policy change, we’re able to give you the choice to avoid the fee and pack fewer items. With fewer bags to process, we save both money and fuel and can pass that savings on to you.

This is from an e-mailed notice my wife received today.

Once again: No major industry is at the mercy of oil prices to the extent airlines are. The actions a large company or industry can take in response to a shock to the system, including a persistently much higher price of a key resource, is to use less of that resource through conservation or substitution. Airlines have long squeezed their fuel requirements as part of normal cost cutting measures, which have increased lately in the form of flying smaller planes on some routes. So they’ve already all but exhausted that possibility. As for switching to alternatives, there aren’t any. The race to for biofuels is on, but that’s likely at least 10 years away from being used widely enough in the airline business to have a significant impact. And in the mean time, oil prices will soar and dip, with an overall rising trend.