Do solar and wind cause power plants to release more pollution?

One claim against solar and wind power is that they cause fossil fuel power plants to release significantly more emissions as they cycle electric production up and down to balance the load of electricity on the grid. A new study from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory essentially calls that concern hogwash and dispels the myth — again. The new study, Phase 2 of the Western Wind and Solar Integration Study, finds that when emissions related to cycling of power plants for wind and solar power are compared to the emissions without renewable energy, wind and solar offer significant reductions in overall emissions. However, the study also finds that sulfur dioxide emissions reductions from wind and solar are five percent less than expected due to the cycling of fossil-fueled generators.

Will Oregon test project bring offshore wind to the West Coast?

The Department of the Interior completed its second offshore wind lease auction for acreage off the coast of Virginia in early September, and the nation's first grid-connected offshore wind turbine, a small prototype created by the University of Maine, started spinning off the Northeast coast this spring. Last week, an early sign of movement toward offshore wind energy development on the West Coast appeared in the Federal Register. The Interior Department issued a public notice that Seattle-based Principle Power Inc. has requested a commercial wind lease for a demonstration project in a 15-square-mile area of ocean near Coos Bay, Oregon. At 30 megawatts, the proposed development is a demonstration facility, substantially smaller than the utility-scale projects planned on the East Coast.

More than half of all planned U.S. solar spending occurs in California

Power industry project spending remains consistently strong throughout the U.S., and Industrial Info is tracking more than $41.1 billion in capital and maintenance power projects that have begun or are scheduled to begin throughout the country in 2013. On a geographic basis, California, with more than $8.7 billion in planned power project starts, leads the U.S. in terms of value, and dominating spending in the state are utility-scale solar projects, which account for $5.5 billion in project spending -- more than half of all planned U.S. solar spending in 2013.

California utilities hit out against battery-stored solar power

A dispute over solar battery storage is rumbling in California between the state’s three largest utilities and their own customers. PG&E Corp., Sempra Energy, and Edison International have each announced their intention to introduce measures designed to ensure that only verifiable solar energy, produced by consumers‘ rooftop installations, is fed back into the grid, according to a recent Bloomberg report. In response, various solar energy associations and campaigners have voiced their concerns, claiming that once again the solar industry is being unfairly maligned and treated with mistrust. The battery storage issue opens an as-yet-untouched can of worms. As battery costs fall, customers have been tempted to install solar systems with batteries attached in order to store excess energy that can be used as a backup source of power, or a means to pump that excess energy to the grid in return for lower bills. However, the three utility companies argue that such storage systems could, in theory, be used fraudulently. Consumers with solar panels could fill their batteries directly with power sourced from the grid, and then send it back under a false "clean" label.

Geothermal industry looks to raise its game

Is geothermal energy destined to be a niche player as solar and wind gain big-time status in the United States? Leaders in the industry, meeting in Las Vegas this week, rejected that notion, but conceded they’ll have to do some educating, lobbying, innovating, and cost cutting if geothermal is to fully join the renewables revolution. For example, Gradient Resources CEO Craig Mataczynski said the industry needs to work on both sides of that equation, driving down the cost of drilling, but also improving the drilling success rate. Louis E. Capuano of Capuano Engineering said that geothermal drilling was by its nature more difficult than the far-cheaper and more-common gas and oil drilling -- geothermal busts through hard rock, he said, while gas and oil are like “going through a snow bank.” But Capuano added that the geothermal industry could learn a thing or two from its fossil fuel brethren, especially with the use of horizontal drilling techniques that might allow a wider area of exploration with fewer holes in the ground.

Study says ethanol has negligible impact on gas prices

A pair of researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of California, Davis, is disputing claims that have found ethanol has significantly lowered the price of gasoline at the pump. In a study, the two researchers say previous work incorrectly used “crack ratios,” or a comparison of the price of gasoline with the price of oil, to determine that ethanol has lowered the price of gasoline by more than $1 per gallon on average. Ethanol, they say, has only a negligible impact on what consumers pay at the gas station. Widely cited work by researchers from Iowa State University and the University of Wisconsin over the past few years has found that ethanol reduced the 2010 price of gasoline by 89 cents a gallon on average and by $1.09 a gallon in 2011. That work relied largely on crack ratios to come to its conclusions.

UCLA engineers develop more efficient pathway to converting sugars into biofuels

Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles have created a new synthetic metabolic pathway for breaking down glucose that they say could lead to a 50 percent increase in the production of biofuels. The pathway developed by the chemical engineers is intended to replace the natural metabolic pathway known as glycolysis, a series of chemical reactions that nearly all organisms use to convert sugars into the molecular precursors that cells need. Glycolysis is currently used in biorefinies to convert sugars derived from plant biomass into biofuels, but the loss of two carbon atoms for every six that are input is seen as a major gap in the efficiency of the process. The team suggests this new pathway could be used in biofuel production using photosynthetic microbes.

Clean Energy Fuels distributing “waste” natural gas

Clean Energy Fuels Corp. has announced that it will be the first company to commercially distribute a renewable natural gas vehicle fuel, called Redeem, made from waste streams such as landfills, large dairies, and sewage plants, directly to fleets around the country. In addition, natural gas fleets will be able to purchase Redeem at the 35 public Clean Energy stations throughout California.

Palo Alto requires homes to be pre-wired for electric cars

The Palo Alto City Council recently passed a new ordinance that changed the building code to include a residential EV charging requirement. According to Building Green, “Palo Alto officials say it is more difficult and costly to add wiring for an electric-car charging station after a house is built than to prewire a new home.” When the necessary wiring is included at the time of construction, “The cost is often under $200 for a new home, or four times less than what it runs to install a charger at an existing home,” Palo Alto Mayor Greg Scharff told the San Jose Mercury News. The ordinance, which stipulates that new residences be ready to accommodate 240-Volt Level 2 charging stations, is part of a city-wide effort to streamline the permitting process for installing a charger at a residential or commercial building.

California governor signs bills to tackle state's water crisis

California Governor Jerry Brown on Tuesday signed more than a dozen bills aimed at improving access to water in the state, where drought is common and tension is high over the competing needs of residents, agriculture, and the environment. The new laws attempt to address some of the most immediate concerns, including the difficulty faced by small communities when local groundwater becomes polluted or is over-pumped. The measures also reflect growing interest in California in finding ways to safely recycle wastewater so that it can be used again for drinking and cooking.

LA Times won’t print letters denying humans cause global warming

Environmentalists are cheering the Los Angeles Times for a pair of editor’s notes explaining why the paper won’t print letters that deny humans are causing climate change. Times letters editor Paul Thornton briefly mentioned the policy in an October 5 note about letters on one of the ObamaCare controversies, noting “letters that have an untrue basis (for example, ones that say there's no sign humans have caused climate change) do not get printed.” Thornton expanded on it Tuesday evening in a note that responds to criticism from readers and conservative bloggers about the climate policy. He writes that the paper gets plenty of letters from people who deny global warming and that many of them claim it’s a “scheme by liberals to curtail personal freedom.” “Simply put, I do my best to keep errors of fact off the letters page; when one does run, a correction is published. Saying ‘there's no sign humans have caused climate change’ is not stating an opinion, it's asserting a factual inaccuracy,” Thornton writes. Thornton adds that he relies on scientists who “undertake tedious research and rigorous peer review,” and that they have provided “ample evidence.”