geoharvey

Technology:

¶   Researchers at Murdoch University, in Perth, Western Australia, have found a way to make water-based sodium based batteries, similar to lithium batteries. [Climate Spectator]
… Media seems to have been slow picking this up, and my web searches did not catch it early on. Murdoch University issued a news release on August 8, in which they say that though the technology is probably too bulky for portable devices, it should work fine for utility-scale energy storage. [Murdoch University News Release]

Japan:

¶   Two agencies regulating nuclear power in Japan have been closed. The Fukushima Disaster revealed, and was to a large extent caused by, their monumental failures. [The Japan Times]

¶   The new Japanese Nuclear Regulatory Agency has opened up shop. [Power Engineering]

¶   The Japanese government’s pledge to abandon nuclear has loopholes. [Asahi Shimbun]

World:

¶   China’s first goal for 2015 was 5 GW of solar capacity. That turned out to be unrealistic, because they  are installing 7 GW in 2012 alone. They have increased the goal for 2015 three times so far, and it is now 21 GW.  But that may be wrong because it looks like they might have 40 GW in 2015. If that happens, they may increase their 2020 goal from 50 GW to 100 GW. [OilPrice.com]

¶   The Australian Capital Territory is setting a goal to get 90% of its power from renewable energy by 2020. [Climate Spectator]

US:

¶   A study by a “think tank” says closing Indian Point would cost billions to the economy of New York. Critics say the study did not consider all the facts. Its author is a highly experienced economist who has worked as a consultant to the power industry for thirty years. [The Journal News | LoHud.com]

¶   The desert Southwest can provide power all over the country, but there have to be more and better transmission lines to do it. [Washington Post]

¶   The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity says the EPA will shut down 204 coal generating plants in 25 states. They believe this is not good. [L.A. Biz]

Technology:

A group of Japanese companies is beginning testing of a plant that will produce hydrogen from sewage. [International Environmental Technology]

Japan:

¶   Japan is now third among nations for solar power capacity. Since the nation started pursuing renewable energy aggressively, over 99% of all projects approved were solar. [OilPrice.com]

¶   The questions of whether to recycle spent fuel and how to dispose of it are unanswered problems for Japan. [The Japan Times]

World:

¶   The EU is planning to limit the use of food-based biofuels.  [Hydrocarbon Processing]

¶   Iran has the potential to produce 20 gigawatts of wind power, and is getting around sanctions to install turbines. [Green Prophet]

US:

¶   More than 300 public interest groups sent a letter to the U.S. Senate Friday opposing S.3512, the Coal Ash Recycling and Oversight Act of 2012. This bill would remove responsibility for coal ash management from the federal government and hand it to the states. [Environment News Service]

¶   The “No More Solyndros Act,” and has been passed by the US House of Representatives, would prevent the DOE from making loan guarantees for renewable power. Subsidies continue for fossil fuel and nuclear power. [GreenerIdeal]

¶   A number of studies indicate USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack and the Renewable Fuel Association are wrong to claim ethanol reduced gasoline prices by $0.89/gal in 2010 and $1.09/gal in 2011. [Global Warming]

¶   Seabrook’s scram on Friday was because of a bad computer card (punch card maybe?). Since the reactor was scheduled to be shut down for refueling on Sunday, refueling began early. [Foster’s Daily Democrat]

Japan:

¶   Japan went through summer with nearly no power from nuclear plants, and the lights stayed on, contrary to predictions of pro-nuclear alarmists. [Wall Street Journal]

¶   For the first time since the Fukushima Disaster, a case of thyroid cancer has been reported in one of the children there. The government says the cancer was not caused by the disaster. [The Japan Daily Press]

World:

¶   Britain and France want assurances from Japan that they will not be stuck with Japanese nuclear waste they are reprocessing, as Japan turns away from nuclear power. [Asahi Shimbun]

¶   The government of Denmark had set a goal of 200 megawatts of solar capacity by 2020. The country has already met that goal. [Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark]

¶   Ontario’s Atikokan generating plant has stopped burning coal, and is switching from coal to biomass. [NewNewsleger.com]

US:

¶   The State of Pennsylvania is giving $20 million in financial incentives for use of natural gas, which Governor Corbett wants to support. The governor’s position is that support incentives for solar are too expensive and not good for the taxpayers. [Examiner.com]

¶   New York State will not renew the Power Purchase Agreement with Indian Point when it expires. [Power Engineering]

¶   A security worker at Indian Point is suing the owner and operators, claiming the owner’s emphasis on profit has left the plant without proper security. In mock attacks to test security, the terrorist side wins half the time. [The Daily Voice]

¶   It will be months before San Onofre restarts, if it does. [MarketWatch]

¶   Members of the NRC testified before a senate committee, giving an update on the NRC’s review of the Fukushima Disaster. [Power Engineering]
… NRC Chairman Allison Macfarlane’s testimony is given here. [Power Engineering]

¶   Release of a small amount of radioactive steam exposed nearly 50 workers at Peach Bottom. According to reports, no one received significant exposure, no radiation escaped the containment  building, and the level of radiation in the building quickly returned to normal. [Yorkdispatch.com]

Technology:

¶   Bioplastics are seen as a way to sequester carbon and reduce costs at the same time. [Green Energy News]

Japan:

¶   TEPCO is bringing in outside experts to monitor reforms. Part of the purpose is to help convince Japanese people to allow Kashiwazaki-Kariwa reactors to restart. [Reuters]

¶   The Science Council of Japan is calling for a new review of nuclear waste disposal. It began the process on 2010, but wants to start over in a way that engages the public. [The Daily Yomiuri]

¶   Debris removal at Fukushima Daiichi is moving along very slowly. [The Daily Yomiuri]

¶   Tests sponsored by the government of Fukushima Prefecture indicate that about 0.5% of the children have thyroid abnormalities. [Asahi Shimbun]
… (Though the article above does not say so, the result it gives contrasts sharply with reports from large-scale private tests, some of which indicate abnormalities in a third to half the children. [Arnie Gundersen speech given earlier this year])

World:

¶   IKEA will soon be selling  a thin-film solar system along with a homeowner service package, which includes a full site survey, installation, fitting and a guarantee. [Energy Live News]

¶   Masdar, the state-owned, Abu Dhabi, green energy company, says it will install 41 gigawatts of solar power in Saudi Arabia by 2030. [OilPrice.com]

US:

¶   Entergy is suing the State of Vermont over a new tax on electrical generation introduced this year. [vtdigger.org]

¶   Based on an MIT study, Principal Solar, Inc., a solar holding company, predicts solar grid parity in the US by 2014, in a paper called “Investing in the Power of the Sun: The Capitalist Case for Solar Energy.”

Technology:

¶   Solar modules made by Kyocera and installed in a French village twenty years ago are still operating at 91.7% of their original output. [Wall Street Journal] (This link is broken – the story can be found at global.kyocera.com/news/2012/0903_skok.html )

Japan:

¶   The Japanese government is postponing announcing an energy policy because of lack of consensus. [The Japan Times]

¶   The new Japanese safety standards will address problems from extreme events. [The Indian Express]

World:

¶   Mining companies are increasingly turning to renewable sources for their energy. One reason to do this is to cut carbon emissions. [OilPrice.com]

¶   The German solar market is changing the way it does business, but growth rapid continues. [Your Industry News]

¶   The UK government is cutting subsidies for large solar projects. [Energy Efficiency News]

US:

¶   Climate change is making it harder to produce electricity from all large-scale conventional sources. [Washington Post]

¶   New US solar installations are predicted to approach 4 gigawatts in 2012. [Digitimes] (This is about double what was installed last year, and four times what was installed in 2010)

¶   The US Chamber of Commerce and others have filed briefs supporting Entergy in its suit against Vermont over Vermont Yankee. [Brattleboro Reformer]

¶   Vermont towns are studying how to tax large renewable energy installations. [North Adams Transcript]

¶   Entergy is asking New York state regulators not to allow an electric cable to be put across the bottom of the Hudson River, because of the effect it would have on sturgeon. The power line would bring power from Canada that could replace the power lost if Indian Point closes. Entergy’s Indian Point plant is accused of killing sturgeon by heating the river. [New York Post]

Japan:

¶   Reporting on the announcement of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) on the future of nuclear power in that country is quite varied as to what it means. Some media report that the country will be nuclear free by the 2030s, and others say the goal is 15% reliance by 2030. The actual bottom line appears to be that the DPJ is proposing that no new nuclear plants will be built, existing plants will be decommissioned at age 40, and no plants will be allowed to restart unless they are declared safe, including seismic study. [The Japan Daily Press] and [Economic Times]

¶   TEPCO is planning to hire experts to persuade reluctant residents and government that Kashiwazaki Kariwa, the largest nuclear plant in the world, was safe to restart. [GMA News]

World:

¶   Spain’s oldest nuclear plant will be retired in July of 2013. It will be 42 years old. [Expatica Spain]

¶   A study by a company specializing in waste management and biomass says 107 new gasification plants should be built in the UK by 2030. [Hub 4]

US:

¶   A new bill before the California Legislature would make it possible for renters and home owners to form energy groups generating up to 20 megawatts of renewable power. [JD Supra]

¶   The NRC sent mid-cycle grades on nuclear power plants. Of 103 reactors graded, 62 met all safety requirements, 34 had minor issues to resolve, 6 had what was at called a “degraded level of performance,” and 1 reactor, Browns Ferry, was at a lower, unnamed level below “degraded.” One reactor, Fort Calhoun, which has not run for over a year, did not receive a grade because it has special problems and is getting continuous NRC oversight. [Power Engineering]
… Two things worth noting: First, embattled Vermont Yankee was one of the 62 that met all NRC safety requirements. Second, the 34 reactors with minor issues include one at Crystal River and two at San Onofre, all of which are being evaluated to see whether they are broken beyond repair. [see reports of Sept 1 and August 31]

¶   The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the U.S. Forest Service, and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management have released the draft environmental documents needed for a transmission line to carry power from renewable resources in parts of the Tehachapi Mountains and Mojave Desert. The transmission capacity will be 1.1 gigawatts. [North American Windpower]

¶   The National Academies is conducting the study on the Fukushima Disaster, mandated by Congress, for the NRC. The committee formed to address the issue is expected to deliver a report in April of 2014, but has been told it may take five years for key details to be understood, as the buildings will be too unsafe to enter before that time has passed. [Platts]

¶   The NRC has directed its staff to revise the Waste Confidence Rule within 24 months. The old rule has been struck down by the courts, and the NRC will not issue new licenses until it is revised. [Power Engineering]
… The license for Indian Point Unit 2 expires in September of 2013, which makes the situation interesting.  [see report of August 10]

Technology:

¶   Hybrid solar cells, which combine both organic and inorganic semiconductors, have long been researched, but do not have much power output. Now, researchers at Vanderbilt University have found that the addition of a protein extracted from spinach provides a large increase in power. [NBCNews.com]

¶   Robots might save the cost of solar electricity by adjusting solar panels to face the sun. In a large solar array, it can be less costly than giving each panel an independent tracking system. [Forbes]

Japan:

¶   The Japanese Government estimates ending nuclear power in that country by 2030 will require investing ¥50 trillion ($638 billion) on other power sources.  That is about $37.5 billion per year. [The Japan Times]
… The average residential electric bill will increase would be from about $124 to $259 per month, according to the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry, which is the most vocal supporter of nuclear power in the Japanese government. [Wall Street Journal]

World:

¶   A small fuel cell CHP system is up and running in Güssing, Austria. [Cogeneration & On-site Power Production Magazine]

¶   Levels of methane in the atmosphere are declining, despite increases in drilling activity. It is believed that better controls may be the cause. [Environmental Expert]

US:

¶   The State of New York says the Indian Point nuclear plant is unnecessary. The Independent Systems Operator was reported to have drawn the opposite conclusion (see August 28 Energy News), but a close reading of their conclusions, and the fact that they are constrained not to base those conclusions on expectations of new power sources, shows they may agree with the state. [newjerseynewsroom.com]

¶   The Electricity Reliability Council of Texas sees solar as a solution to brownouts and blackouts that peak demand has caused during hot times in recent summers. [Austinist]

¶   The Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources has adopted the final Massachusetts Renewable Portfolio Standard Class I regulations. It is defining classifications of waste and implementing changes on eligibility and use. [Waste Management World]

¶   US utility, Direct Energy, is offering its customers the option of buying electricity that is 100% renewably produced. [NewNet]

¶   A group of young Republicans, Young Conservatives for Energy Reform, is trying to change the party’s stands on energy, decreasing dependency on fossil fuels for the sake of both security and prosperity. [Inside Climate News]

¶   A new utility in Georgia will build a solar farm to replace a closing coal plant, if the laws giving a monopoly on electrical generation to the coal plant owner can be changed. [Revmodo]

Japan:

¶   The energy and environment committee of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan has proposed abandoning nuclear for generating electricity by the early 2050s, rather than a target of 2030. The proposal includes closing all reactors more than forty years old, restarting only those reactors that have passed strict safety requirements, and building no new reactors. [Asahi Shimbun]

¶   The governments of both Osaka Prefecture and the city of Osaka have formally asked the central government to close the only two reactors running in Japan. Among other things, they criticized the central government for failing to fulfill its obligations on safety. [The Japan Daily Press]

¶   The government is proposing that it promote four specific underdeveloped renewable power sources: offshore wind, tidal and wave energy, geothermal, and biomass.  Combined, these sources produce about 1% of the electricity generated today, and the goal is to increase that to 10% by 2030. [Power Engineering]

¶   The Japanese Environment Ministry has chosen a national forest in Tochigi Prefecture (between Fukushima and Tokyo) as a site for nuclear waste disposal. [The Daily Yomiuri]

World:

¶   Chempolis, a Finnish company, is setting up a biorefinery in India. The company says biorefining can cut Indian oil imports by 25%. [Utility Products]

¶   A third of farmers polled by Barclays said they were planning on investing in renewable energy production over the next two years. Renewable generating is seen as a way of diversifying. [FarmersWeekly]

¶   In Northern Ireland, the green economy is producing more jobs than automotive, financial services, and telecommunications combined. [H&V News]

US:

¶   Ocean Power Technologies is setting up the first commercially licensed grid-connected wave-energy generator in the US. [New York Times]

¶   The political positions of US presidential candidates are very different, and there may be no more glaring difference than their positions on coal. Obama has supported environmental limits. Though he had also done so as governor, Romney now supports relaxation of them. [Resource Investing News]

Technology:

Elon Musk, founder of Tesla, sees a future when solar power supplies the energy for automotive transportation. [TheGreenWebsite.co.uk]

Japan:

¶   Two components of the new Japanese energy policy are that no new nuclear reactors will be built there, and the reactors will not continue to run after they reach a retirement age of forty years. [publics.bg] 

World:

¶   The Metsamor nuclear power plant, in Armenia, is of great concern to the country’s neighbors. It is rated as one of the oldest and least reliable reactors of Soviet design, and it sits in an active earthquake zone. [News.Az]

¶   With a large house, a heated pool, and a number of heated outbuildings, Scottish businessman Paul Basford was facing utility bills of £23,000 ($36,550) per year. Since he decided to use renewable resources, he has been selling power worth a multiple of that. [Brechin Advertiser]

US:

¶   As a new coal-fired generating plant comes online in Indiana, its customers can expect a rate hike of 40% to 100%. [Care2.com]

¶   A community solar bill, designed to add two gigawatts of  renewable power in California, was killed in committee.  The bill would have enabled cooperatives to buy power from shared solar, wind, biomass, geothermal and small hydro power systems. It was killed after intense lobbying by large utilities. [CleanTechnica]

¶   The Prairie Island Indian Community is petitioning the federal government for a deeper look at the risks of on-site storage because outdoor casks holding spent fuel rods likely will remain in place for decades longer than ever intended. Storage casks have leaked in the past, and long-term storage increases the chances of leakage. [Equities.com]

Japan:

¶   Officials in the government of Japan say that the new energy plan due out this month will initially aim to reduce dependence on nuclear power to 15%, with review every five years, and an ultimate target of eliminating nuclear power altogether. [The Japan Times]

World:

¶   Energy storage is an important issue for heavy reliance on renewable power. Since excess energy can be used to make hydrogen, which can be stored and used as fuel, Germany is doing a lot of research in hydrogen technology. [Hydrogen Fuel News]

¶   The Indian government may auction a third of the solar projects planned by 2017 during the current financial year. The hope is find sufficient investments to double the nation’s sun-powered capacity while reducing government subsidies. Solar power is important as an environmentally clean answer for power shortages. [Chicago Daily Herald]

¶   Greenpeace is urging Indian telephone companies to use solar power for cell towers, rather than diesel. [Utility Products]

¶   The Indian State of Odisha state has stopped operations at six mines belonging to Coal India, the world’s largest coal mining company, after their environmental clearances expired. [Reuters]

¶   Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is being accused of being directly responsible for a recent coal allocation scam. In the scam, five blocks of coal, worth $3.3 billion, were allocated without auction. [Oneindia]

US:

¶   After a long environmental fight, two coal-burning generating plants in Chicago were shut down in the last week. [Chicago Tribune]
… Three more coal plants will be closed this week in West Virginia. First Energy, which owns them, will also close coal plants soon in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. The closures are happening because of emissions, particularly of mercury. [WTRF]

¶   A biomass plant being built in Gainsville, Georgia, will produce 100 MW of electricity, enough for 70,000 local homes. It will be fueled by $30 million worth of locally purchased wood scraps each year. It will provide 700 jobs, and $5.5 million each year in tax revenues.  [Gainsville Sun]

Not Energy, but Interesting:

Lamboo, Inc., a company based in Illinois that manufactures engineered bamboo for structural and industrial applications, has designed a ship tender built of renewable material, the world’s first to be made of laminated bamboo. [Galesburg Register-Mail]

Japan:

¶   The Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry is promoting development of low-cost, high-efficiency technologies to convert electricity generated by renewable energy sources into hydrogen. Hydrogen can be stored, transported, used as a fuel, or used as a feedstock for fuels or chemicals. As a fuel or fuel feedstock, it can be used with solar or wind for load leveling.  [The Denki Shimbun]

World:

¶   Italy now has more electricity supplied by solar than by wind.  Over 25% of all electricity generated in Italy is from renewable power. [Wind-Works.org]

¶   Moray Offshore Renewables Ltd has submitted plans for what would be the largest wind farm on Earth, in the Moray Firth.  At a cost of £4.5 billion, it would power a million homes in 2020. Donald Trump is objecting loudly. [Edinburgh Evening News]

¶   Cracks found in the Doel Unit 3 reactor have caused inspections of the reactors built by Rotterdam Drydock Company because they are assumed to be manufacturing flaws. Nuclear Physicist Nils Bøhmer, general director of Bellona Foundation, believes the cracks are a result of the radioactivity in nuclear reactors, are an indication of age, and will occur in all reactors, in time. [Bellona]

US:

¶   The NRC has denied a license for the Calvert Cliffs 3 reactor. The reason is that the reactor is owned by a French company, and US law requires a majority share be US owned. [The Associated Press]

¶   The US corn crop has been hit badly enough by the drought that it is severely impacting the ability to make ethanol for gasoline. [EIA – Today in Energy]

¶   Coal is becoming less important in western states of the US, and carbon emissions are being reduced, as old coal plants are being replaced by natural gas and renewable power sources. [Denver Post]

¶   US Insurance companies are being advised, in a Forbes editorial, to rethink rates based on increasingly bad weather accompanying global warming, and encouraged customers to adopt climate-change mitigation plans. [Forbes]

¶   A cost benefit analysis is underway for reactors at San Onofre. [KPBS]

Technology:

¶   A more energy-efficient and precise way to manufacture thin-film photovoltaic cells is to give up conventional heating systems for manufacture and use microwave ovens instead. [Nanotechnology News]

Japan:

¶   The Onagawa nuclear plant was much closer to the epicenter of the earthquake that caused the disaster than Fukushima Daiichi was. Even so, it did not have a meltdown. The person behind this is an engineer who believes that the three most important inventions in human history are alcohol, the board game “go”, and nuclear power, in that order. He prevented the meltdowns because he did not trust bureaucrats, and believed their safety standards are insufficient. [OregonLive.com]

World:

¶   Radiation from Fukushima could be deadly in Uganda. Used cars from the exclusion zone are being sold there. Radioactive material are said to be present in potentially lethal amounts on the dashboards and bodies. [Daily Monitor]

¶   Palestinians living on the West Bank are trying to break their dependence on Israel for energy. One result is a new solar-powered vehicle. [Arab American News]

¶   Conventional power generation, mostly coal and nuclear, has left 60,000 villages in India without electricity. Now, renewable sources can provide them with power more reliable than the grid, and they can do it at lower cost and faster. [Power Engineering]

US:

¶   The National Renewable Energy Laboratory is testing microgrids, which are being called the ultimate in energy democracy. [CleanTechnica]

¶   The most heavily discussed matter in the energy news right now is the question of whether ethanol should be added to gasoline, when it comes from food stocks and a drought is going on. The accompanying article is an example. [Baltimore Sun]
… But we must ask the question: How renewable is the gasoline/ethanol mix?

Economics:

¶   Probable reasons are cited for GE’s stated belief that new nuclear reactors are too expensive to be feasible. [Green Chip Stocks]

Technology:

¶   Gas Technology Institute, a developer of fuel technology, announced a new system producing gasoline and diesel fuel from non-food renewable materials. [Science Daily]

Japan:

¶   An old movie that examined the risks of nuclear is drawing new audiences: “Ashita ga Kieru: Doshite Genpatsu?” (Tomorrow is disappearing: Why the nuclear plant?). [Asahi Shimbun]

World:

¶   China asked the US to remove some stimulus measures for the renewable-energy industry, saying they’re against World Trade Organization rules. [Bloomberg]

US:

¶   Xcel’s Colorado Community Solar Gardens Developer Initiative was sold out in thirty minutes.  In fact, it was oversubscribed by 200%. [Triple Pundit]

¶   A third of the workers at San Onofre are being laid off, leading to speculation that the plant will not be brought back online. [Los Angeles Times]

¶   The lawsuit brought by three environmental groups against the NRC over Seabrook is based on a requirement that the NRC consider alternatives to nuclear power, and such alternatives exist in the area. [New Hampshire Business Review]

¶   During the first half of 2012, nearly all new electric plants were powered by natural gas and renewable power.  The new plants tended to be of much smaller size than what was usually built in the past, and many new plants were peaking generators, which deliver power at times of peak demand. [Power Engineering]

Technology:

¶   Researchers have developed a way to have solar components track the sun passively, with no moving parts and no use of electricity. [Energy Matters]

Japan:

¶   Newly released video shows TEPCO made plans to abandon Fukushima Daiichi as the disaster was unfolding. Previously, TEPCO officials had denied this. [The Daily Yomiuri]

World:

¶   Between August 8 and August 18, there were ten events at nuclear plants. Eight reactors had unplanned shutdowns, at least one of which is probably permanent, there was a fire at a nuclear facility in the UK, and a large leak of radioactive water was found at Fukushima Daiichi. [DigitalJournal.com]

US:

¶   In southern California, temperatures went up, but electricity demand went down. San Onofre’s idled reactors are being largely replaced by conservation. [MENAFN.com]

¶   Installed capacity of solar electric generation in the US increased almost 100% in 2011. Among utilities and other commercial operations it rose 145% and 132% respectively. In the same time, residential installations rose 25%. [SmartPlanet.com]

¶   At the large sinkhole in Louisiana, a metal casing has been driven into the ground, and crews are almost ready to begin their work of drilling an observational well. Meanwhile, natural gas continues to bubble up, and no one is clear on where it is coming from. [The Advocate]