Tag Archives: Environmental Stewardship

Waste Heat to Energy Firm to Buy Landfill for $9m – Waste Management World

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Largo, Florida based GDT Tek, a specialist in the use of the use of the Organic Rankin Cycle principal to generate electricity has entered into an agreement in principal to purchase 100% of a landfill gas to energy company.

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

According to the company its system has been proven through a long-term five year installation at a San Jose, California landfill, where waste heat captured from the generator’s engine exhaust and cooling systems is used to generate electricity which is then sold to the grid.

“This acquisition once completed will allow GDT Tek to install our Phoenix units at the landfill location and increase revenue by up to 20%,” explained Bo Linton, President of GDT Tek.

See on www.waste-management-world.com

Recycling makes $en$e – Waste Management World

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For an increasing number of municipalities across Pennsylvania, recycling is as good for the pocketbook as it is for the environment.  That’s been the case in Cranberry, where modern collection methods and recycling programs have lowered collection fees for residents.

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

By limiting how much goes into landfills and boosting totals of recycled goods, municipalities such as Cranberry have become eligible for state grants – either to operate recycling programs or to expand existing ones.

The amount of waste the municipality sends to landfills was 7,619 tons last year, compared with 11,030 tons in 2004. The average amount recycled per person was 670 pounds last year, up from 115 pounds in 2004.

See on www.waste-management-world.com

The Most Important Man in Energy Storage? Try Archimedes – Forbes

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A growing number of energy storage start-ups are promoting the idea that the most economical, most expedient ways to store power revolves around harnessing the four elements of the ancient world: earth, air, water and fire.

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

Energy Cache, for instance, is developing a system that resembles a ski lift for gravel. Gravel is ferried uphill during the day by a series of buckets, and then dropped during peak power hours. The system essentially provides the drop in elevation nature left out.

An Energy Cache system could be erected at a large number of abandoned mining sites, where there is plenty of gravel and an existing grid connection,  […] Along with the physics, the company is analyzing algorithms to ensure smooth power deliver on demand for the power grid. …

See on www.forbes.com

Biofuels Suffering from High Corn Prices and Dropping Demand | The Energy Collective

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Nearly 10 percent of the nation’s ethanol plants have stopped production over the past year, the drought having pushed commodity prices so high that ethanol has become too expensive to produce.

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

The other half of this is falling demand for gasoline — a result of both the recession, and a renewed policy push for electric and hybrid vehicles and tougher fuel economy standards. […]

Globally, the combined effect of U.S. and European biofuel policy has been a massive divergence of corn crops into biofuel production, which in turn drove up the price of corn and contributed to global food insecurity. […]

Cellulosic biofuels, by relying on crops that don’t double as food, could provide a solution. But whether they can be widely commercialized without requiring high levels of water and land use remains an open question.

See on theenergycollective.com

Stanford researchers map out an alternative energy future for New York

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A study, co-authored by Stanford researcher Mark Z. Jacobson, outlines a path to statewide renewable energy conversion, and away from natural gas and imported fuel.

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

The study is the first to develop a plan to fulfill all of a state’s transportation, electric power, industry, and heating and cooling energy needs with renewable energy, and to calculate the number of new devices and jobs created, amount of land and ocean areas required, and policies needed for such an infrastructure change. It also provides new calculations of air pollution mortality and morbidity impacts and costs based on multiple years of air quality data.

To ensure grid reliability, the plan outlines several methods to match renewable energy supply with demand and to smooth out the variability of WWS resources. These include a grid management system to shift times of demand to better match with timing of power supply, and “over-sizing” peak generation capacity to minimize times when available power is less than demand.

The study’s authors are developing similar plans for other states, including California and Washington. They took no funding from any interest group, company or government agency for this study.

See on news.stanford.edu

Historic Energy Decisions in U.S. and Canada | The Energy Collective

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Renewable energy in the U.S. and Canada will rise while the consumption of fossil fuels lessens.Wishful thinking by some people to the contrary, fossil fuels are here to stay for at least the next 30-40 years. In North America this timeframe will be an era of transition as the proportion of renewable energy in the U.S. and Canada will rise while the consumption of fossil fuels lessens.

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

The increase in U.S. oil production is the result of advances in non-traditional drilling technologies, including oil hydrofracking […].  For its natural gas production, the U.S. is in the throes of a hydrofracking frenzy, producing natural gas in unprecedented amounts. […]

The U.S. trend toward energy self sufficiency represents a precarious situation for Canada’s economic wellbeing since 95 percent of Canada’s energy exports (including hydroelectric power) today go to the U.S.  […]

See on theenergycollective.com

Fracking Seen by EPA as No. 2 Emitter of Greenhouse Gases

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Natural gas and oil production is the second-biggest source of U.S. greenhouse gases, the government said, emboldening environmentalists who say tighter measures are needed to curb the emissions from hydraulic fracturing.

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

[…] the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for the first time included oil and natural- gas production. Emissions from drilling, including fracking, and leaks from transmission pipes totaled 225 million metric tons of carbon-dioxide equivalents during 2011, second only to power plants, which emitted about 10 times that amount.

The EPA report on oil and gas looked at emissions from basins, or large production areas, not individual wells. Among the top emitters were ConocoPhillips’ operations in the San Juan basin in New Mexico, and Apache Corp.’s operations in the Permian basin in Texas. Both companies are based in Houston.

See on www.bloomberg.com

EPA proposes 2013 biofuels quota, RIN verification program – Oil & Gas Journal

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The US Environmental Protection Agency proposed 2013 biofuels quotas representing a more than 1.35 billion gal increase from what it mandated for 2012. Officials from two leading petroleum trade associations immediately called the 16.55 billion gal total representing 9.63% of total projected US motor fuel production unrealistic and unreasonable.

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

“We are disturbed that EPA is mandating 14 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol when zero gallons are available for compliance as of today,” AFPM President Charles T. Drevna said on Jan. 31. […]

“[…] This stealth tax on gasoline might be the most egregious example of bad public policy, and consumers could be left to pay the price. EPA needs a serious reality check.”

“[…] it is shocking that the Agency would mandate such high biodiesel volumes this year since 140 million biodiesel credits turned out to be fraudulent,” […] it is unrealistic to assume the biodiesel industry will actually produce 1.28 billion gal of real biodiesel this year.”

See on www.ogj.com

DOE Report Shows Smart Grid Program Funds Mismanaged — Occupational Health & Safety

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The DOE inspector general said in a report that funds from $700 million smart-grid technology program have been mismanaged.

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

There are 32 projects made possible from the 2009 grant, 11 of which were reported on by Friedman.

“Our review of 11 projects, awarded $279 million in Recovery Act funding and $10 million in non-Recovery Act funding, identified weaknesses in reimbursement requests, cost-share contributions, and coordination efforts with another Department program,” Friedman said in the report to Secretary of Energy Steven Chu.

Some additional issues found by Friedman included overpayments and failures in the procedures for vetting recipient cost-share contributions

See on ohsonline.com

EU faces fresh calls to strengthen biofuel rules

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Greenpeace-backed report argues EU can meet green transport targets without relying on controversial land-based biofuels

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

NGOs are increasingly fearful that member states’ efforts to meet the targets through an increase in the use of biofuels will have a negligible impact on greenhouse gas emissions and in some cases could lead to increased emissions as companies source biofuels made from food and energy crops that are alleged to have contributed to deforestation and food price inflation.

The EU Commission has acknowledged the risk and last year proposed a new limit on the use of biofuels made from food crops that would ensure such fuels could only count towards half of the 10 per cent target for renewable fuel use.

The proposals have encountered lobbying from some member states who have argued the binding 10 per cent goal cannot be met if limits are placed on the use of biofuels made from food crops.

But the CE Delft report argues the targets can be met through greater investment in fuel efficiency measures, waste and residue-based biofuels, and electric vehicles, alongside tighter rules to phase out the use of biofuels made from land-based food or energy crops.

See on www.businessgreen.com