City of Portland Looking at Wind Resource

Picture shown was given to the Tribune "courtesy of" Gorge Community College. That's a real live Oregon wind project sharing agricultural land.

The city of Portland has had a goal of 100% renewable power for a while. As with even homeowners looking at the carbon footprint and energy needs such a task sometimes is easier said than done.

The Portland Tribune reports several interesting facts as it relates to Portland's project.

Not mentioned in the article. The fact that electricity is likely to increase above inflation (actually being a significant driver of inflation in the U.S. economy). The fact that these initial easy to locate and grid-tie wind resources are limited in number. The fact that long-term (over a decade) this investment will save the city a great deal of money and guarantee a longtime resource that will only get more efficient.

Also worth mention is that going for wind today would be the equivalent for investing in hydro seventy five years ago. The resource is limited and the first movers to acquire, tap, an use the resource will likely own it forever.

Its a smart move for the city. Long-term without any CO2 considerations at all it makes sense just to guarantee the city a resource with a set maintenance budget as opposed to commodity pricing.

Presentations on Carbon Trading

Worth note. Many talk about the potential for carbon off-set markets to develop. The problem though is that most of the people talking about these markets don't seem to know the specifics.

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to attend the NEBC's Managing Carbon Conference in which a total session was dedicated to the basics of getting green-tag trading projects off the ground. As either a way to mitigate a carbon footprint, finance a needed technology improvement or solely to make doing the right thing more profitable. They cover it.

Worth note. Bill Edmonds of NW Natural. Being a natural gas utility that is following (voluntarily) the lead of the electrical utilities in offering carbon offsets to its customers. This is a leading move by a utility and is nationally significant.

The Powerpoint Presentations are now available online at the NEBC's website. And I recreated the links below.

Carbon Offsets - Buying, Selling and Trading
The ins and outs of carbon offsets: markets, vendors, verification, and pricing.

Moderated by Alex Schay of Carbon Solutions Northwest with a panel of experts providing presentations.

Stephanie Berner White, 3 Degrees (PPT)
Bill Edmonds, Nortwest Natural Gas (Smart Energy Program) (PPT)
Steve Gutmann, EcoSecurities (PPT)
Erica Keeley, The Climate Trust (PPT)

The Managing Carbon Conference is expected to be an annual event. This first attempt being a spectacular success. As someone who is well read on the subject from a lay person's perspective this conference filled in alot of blanks and brought my understanding forward a great deal. I also now am thinking conversantly in how a cabon offset strategy might help finance a utility scale biofuel project. This level of understanding wouldn't have happened without the conference.

Rumor: A major luxery auto maker will go CO2 neutral. I bet BMW.

U.S. House White Paper on Climate Change (i.e. Cap and Trade)

Here it is. I've heard rumblings and talk of rumblings about potential Federal action on climate. From what I heard last week at the NEBC's Managing Carbon Conference this is the lead document to look at. Where the legislation might be going.

The US House Energy and Commerce Committee's White Paper on Climate Change Legislation.

Described in the intro, this 22 page paper is defined as the next step in the legislative process to develop a Federally required cap and trade program.

I realize this far out the sausage making process that is legislation is hard to bet on. Regardless though I can't help but think that this will be the wedge issue up there with abortion and taxes this Presidential election cycle. How pragmatically well done or weakly responded to, this issue could determine which party will hold the White House come January of 09.

Solar Green Tags

Just out...Green Tag prices are dropping! Green Tags are like RECs (Renewable Energy Certificates) which are like carbon credits. Basically generating green power is worth something extra, especially to those doing nasty things to the environment...

So, for instance, if you have a grid-tied PV system, in addition to all the pride of owning the system and lowering your power bill, you can also get paid to sell the green "rights" to your juice. BEF and others have been buying green tags for $0.05/kWh. Not bad considering PGE charges $0.093/kWh of the dirty stuff. Combine this with your PV system and you add 50% to your annual savings. (By the way, if the Energy Trust helped pay for your system, you can only claim the tags for the first 5 years...then they get the cash! )

Ok, so the problem is that green tags are going down to $0.02/kWh. You can make a difference and purchase green tags. The more you buy at higher rates, the more people are encouraged to install solar and other good stuff!

Solar concentrators

Interesting new company working on solar concentrating PV. Basically a Fresnel lens (like in a lighthouse light) focuses the sunlight into an intense beam on a small PV cell. The PV cell is specially tuned for this high energy beam. The result is less silicon needed, which drives the currently high costs in PV modules. Of course, the concentrators might add some cost, too. This company is making the concentrators "track" the sun, too, which could add performance.


Seems promising, but far from market. Worse is the aesthetics. 1000 mirrors on your roof anyone? The nice thing about solar PV (like SANYO, SunPower) is that the panels look almost flat in color (blue/black). The result is that they blend in.

Mirrors? not so much. Ok, so what about commericial systems? Yes, that would be more appropriate...

The Bioprocessing Revolution

Mark Zappi has an op-ed piece that popped up on the Biobased News site. Zappi is the dean of Engineering and Director of the Bioprocessing Research Laboratory at the University of Louisiana.

A Peek into the New Industrial Revolution - Bioprocessing

Its worth reading. Spot on explanation in what I see happening as well.

An excerpt below:

The industrial revolution of the 1800’s and 1900’s was based on steel, fossil fuels, bricks, and mortar. Now these are staples in America’s industrial toolbox. However, most experts agree that the next industrial revolution that is just beginning is one that will be based on biology-based materials or biomass.

This revolution will usher in a totally new paradigm in terms of how society views both farm products and our organically rich wastes. Agriculture will diversify from producing only foodstocks to producing both crops for food and crops for chemical production, or in other words, both foodstocks and chemical crops. Chemical companies are investing tremendous monetary and intellectual capital in biotechnology that focuses on harnessing the vast chemical potential of plants. The result will surely be new relationships blossoming between the agricultural and chemicals production industries.

And then Zappi waves a big Louisiana flag around this emerging industry bringing this technological shift's significance home:

And Louisiana? I believe that our great state will continue its leadership role as a source of chemicals and fuel. Louisiana is one of the leading states when considering its capability to produce tremendous tonnage each year of biomass. Given the vast chemical production and supporting transportation infrastructure in place coupled with its highly productive agricultural capability, Louisiana should emerge as a leader in bioprocessing.

This is the first time I've come across Zappi. So far I like what I see and it's definitely worth a Google. I especially love those advocates for bioproducts who bring the new technology into context. Mark Zappi does a great job of doing that in this piece.

Getting started with BioDiesel, The Book.

I'm dialing it in after turkey day. Just throwing up something simple but relevant.

Below is a the link to the U.S. Department of Energy's Alternative Fuels and Vehicle Data Center. Probably the single best source of information about biofuels found anywhere on the planet Earth.

The BioDiesel page is where you want to go. This link will take you to an introduction to biodiesel page. Notice the PDF listed (available for download at this site) "Biodiesel Use and Handling Guidelines." This is the introductory users manual for any fleet, individual or policy influencer as it relates to biodiesel.

Consider this book the users guide for biodiesel. Or better yet, the introductory field manual for a fleet user to move towards biodiesel as informed as possible.

This website is also a great starting off point for all things knowable about biodiesel. From power point presentations to research its all there. A cornucopia of dat for those who like to drink information from a firehose.

I'm in Milwaukee, WI. I am staying in a hotel, constructed on top of the hotel, that Teddy Roosevelt was shot coming out of. Though wounded in the chest T-Rex went on to give his ninety minute speech. Starting his speech with the comment: "I don't know whether you fully understand that I have just been shot; but it takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose."

I'm a big fan of historic places and American Presidential history. As a big fan of Theodore Roosevelt this is just icing on the cake for a great trip so far.

I'm off to Wisconsin.

The folks over at Paradigm Sensors were nice enough to fly me out as a speaker later this week for the Wisconsin Clean Cities Coalition. The topics are higher blend adoption (I'm talking B99 by the way) and quality assurance.

If you are curious about this summit check out more at the Wisconsin Clean Cities Coalition website. Or better yet check out the Wisconsin Biodiesel Blog. Its always fun to look at other parts of the U.S. and their programs, efforts, and successes.

Wisconsin background info.

The Good: One of the largest soy growing states in the Union. Wisconsin has an actual Wisconsin Biodiesel Assocation putting a face on the emerging industry. There is no soy crushing in the state though a little refining. The largest user of soy in Wisconsin is for soy-sauce and there is a potential complement between biodiesel and soy-sauce manufacturing (though I don't know the facts about this).

The Could do Better: There is a Milwaukee Biodiesel Coop (though its shut right now from what I understand dealing with Fire Code upgrades). A 45 million gallon a year project just got placed on hold because the soy prices made the bank withdraw support (though I disagree with this analysis but I quote it directly). Also, the largest biodiesel user in the Milwaukee region (from what I'm told) is the city of Milwaukee fleet which has gone forward to B10.

The Needs of Wisconsin: More voluntary adopters of higher blends of biodiesel from local sources (both feedstock and refining). A focus on commercial adoption for large industrial users currently paying extremely high prices for off-road boiler fuels, diesels, and other dirtier CO2 emitters. A regulatory environment that gives biodiesel coops and B99 retail offerings on opportunity to exist.

My Goal: Get a few B99 experiments willing to go forward before I leave. A tall order for only having three days but I've seemed to get lucky in the past. My favorite question to ask when told B99 is too risky or shouldn't be done. "What vehicles do you have exiting service? Those are the ones you should field B99 on."

Being that many fleets have vehicles that are expensed and will be sold for a negligible return on the books this is an easy sell. The redder the neck and greasier the fingernails the more likely a fleet manager is to do it. Especially if they have a racing or custom background. This sales tactic is literally almost a confidence game (though for a good cause). The older the vehicle the better it runs on B99.

Also - on a technology geek note - check out Paradigm Sensors hand held biodiesel specifier. They tell me a beta is due out soon (any day now) and I can't wait to see these in the field. These handhelds will take those of us who need to receive railcars of dubious origin occasionally a tool much farther evolved than the old "pHlip" test.

Europe and Biodegradable Lubes

Lubes and Greases North America covers the emerging European standard for biodegradable and biobased lubes. If you are curious about why biobased lubes aren't tearing up the marketplace like biofuels are the standardization issues of Europe lay some of it out for you. (See page 38 for the start of the article)


As many in the US consider biobased lubes as a potential growth opportunity for the biofuel industry these off the beaten path trade information sources become more an more valuable. Usually the only sources of information about these emerging technologies are found from those making the products and of course the claims about them.


From my understanding biobased lubes stand the best market development placement as one of two things. Hydraulic fluids or heat transfer oils. Lubricating oils require some pretty noxious chemicals and heavy metals to make them function as lubricants in especially in extreme environments (such as a windmill gear box).


So in essence you would be creating hazardous waste (even though the base stock would by biobased) and you would be substantially increasing the service requirements of the equipment. Take for instance gear box applications. With full synthetic petroleum based lubes you have extremely long drain intervals. Especially for remote equipment that is expensive and energy intensive to service. The inconsistency of on road vehicle engines also make the passenger car market also a poor place for biobased lubes.


The easy to reach markets for biobased lubes is in near water applications. Interestingly enough most industrial operations near rivers and water are hydraulic in nature. Moving containers off of ships being the most prominent industrial activity. Biobased lubes being a superior hydraulic fluid in this case.


When looking at biobased lubes look at the application not the market. Common sense goes along way in examining the higher value products of the petroleum world and where biobased substitutes can easily cross over.



Special Note: Please do not confuse biobased lubes with biodegradable lubes. There is a difference. There are petroleum based synthetics that are readily biodegradable on a comparable level with biobased products. These have a much longer track record with performance levels similar to non-biodegradable counterparts. These biodegradable products also have a long track record of comparable performance along no biodegradable lubes.

I'm at a CO2 conference.

Interesting statistic. The City of Portland's recycling program reduces the equivalent of 100,000 vehicles off the road in CO2 terms.

Source: Portland Office of Sustainable Development

My rant about Hydrogen Fuel Cell Cars

USA Today covered hydrogen fuel cell cars and speculates why are they not available. Then they settle on price as the reason. This in turn spurs the rant you see below.

To put it bluntly. Fuel cell technology bores me. It bores me on so many levels. Primarily though its because at my fundamental core I feel like I'm being manipulated every time someone rattles a new fuel cell development in front of me. Like a shiny set of keys dangled in front of a drooling new born the expect me to ooooh. I've yet to be shown a reason to fall in love with hydrogen. Let alone a hydrogen car.

In short; I don't believe in the fuel cell car. I don't believe in the Loch Ness Monster. I don't believe in the existence of Sasquatch. And again - I don't believe the hydrogen automobile making it into Ford or GM showrooms. I'm not in argument that any of the above could exist. I just don't believe they do.

Here is why. Hydrogen has a business model in existence today. It would work exactly the same with the an identical distribution system, the same real estate (only larger tanks) and probably the same regulatory/safety concerns. This business model is propane.

Propane is readily available, reasonably priced, and readily usable by cars on the road. Why hasn't it taken off? It's clean right.

All the problems with propane supplanting gasoline as a motor fuel exist for hydrogen. In fact, any gasoline vehicle can easily be converted back and forth from gasoline, to propane, to gasoline so there are fewer barriers to entry. Though not a true flexible fuel, propane and natural gas will run in any gasoline engine with slight modification. So for hydrogen to be a true fuel paradigm shift it takes something other than emissions to be the motivator. It takes superior technology.

I ask all readers to think critically about what a fuel cell is and does. Think about what it would lend itself best to. It surely isn't a 500 mile round trip on one fill up. Its power generation.

The true value of fuel cell technology isn't in four wheel vehicles. Its in buildings.

For a sedan or pick-up truck to work the big breakthrough for hydrogen isn't actually getting the fuel cell to work well. Hydrogen fuel cells aren't the break through technology that we are waiting for. Its mass produced battery technology, improvements in information technology married to a vehicle, and improvements in what boils down to is essentially a hybrid power train.

I'll say it again. When you look at the hydrogen car the break through technologies have nothing to do with hydrogen. They have to do with a hybrid electric power train.

Contrast vehicle technology with commercial real estate (which doesn't need even close to as much to field this technology). Over 50% of the energy used in the US is in buildings and facilities. Large commercial structures are immense energy users with complex systems, budgets to invest for longterm payback, onsite trained facility personnel, and a complex group of systems all benefiting from combined heat, power, steam, and water.

Fuel cells, as an emerging technology, make sense for buildings and not for mobile vehicles. If for anything the cost of compressing hydrogen into a vehicles tank for a short trip doesn't make sense. The concept of putting gasoline, ethanol, diesel, or biodiesel into a vehicles tank as a source for hydrogen also doesn't make any technical sense . Especially when thousands of commercial facilities already have systems and talented people familiar with reclaiming waste streams for energy and handling emission reduction technology.

To me the only reason hydrogen car research exists is that the US DOE and EPA fund research for hydrogen cars. You also have some extensive large R and D divisions in the auto manufacturers who can throw off a whole host of valuable technologies under the same research framework though without actually delivering a sub $30K hydrogen car. If anything what hydrogen really offers is a black-ops cover for next generation hybrid vehicle technologies.

To me the hydrogen car is a monument to misdirected policy choices. Every time I read about a hydrogen car I get the same feeling I do when seeing Britney Spears motherhood status discussed. I feel like its inconsequential information put forward just for the hope it draws the right number of eye-balls to a television screen or newspaper. Its advertising disguised as news.

Green Star and the "Food vs. Fuel" Debate.

I saw this press release in the Biobased News.

Recently a UN report blasted the effect biofuels would have on food (commonly referred to as the "Food vs. Fuel debate"). From what I understand the biggest criticism being hoisted towards ethanol production's push on recent corn prices. In rebuttal, Green Star Products issues a press release citing soy as an example of a Food and Fuel opportunity.


In short = Green Star blasts ethanol from corn, points to soy as a good feedstock to be developed in farming rotations, and that algae has a huge potential future to make all these issues moot (note that Green Star also has high hopes for algae).

The coolest fact in the press release:

For each bushel (60 pounds) of soybeans produced only 10 pounds of extracted oil is used in making biodiesel. The other 50 pounds (the soy meal) is used to feed the hungry of the world as one of the best high protein foods available.

Fischer-Tropsch and Jet Fuel Research

Recently, there seems to be quite a bit of news around aviation grade biofuels. Primarily the highest profile being Virgin Atlantic Airlines and The U.S. Department of Defense (see Syntroleum).

A biofuel meeting jet fuel specifications is starting to become a holy-grail technology of sorts. On par with ethanol produced from corn-stover. There is a very simple argument that a bio-jet fuel can be classified as a paradigm shifting technology. That if perfected would allow one of the largest energy uses in the first world economies to leap frog beyond petroleum.

The big stumbling block to this paradigm shifting concept is the low tolerances required to operate a plane a mile in the sky. If you can make a jet fuel, as the logic goes, you now can make any fuel. The scale, scope and specifications required offer up aviation as the pinnacle of what a biofuel must be to truly arrive on the world stage.

Essentially its pretty simple. If there is a fuel problem while airborn, as we used to while I worked as a flightline refueler in the Air Force, the crew has the rest of their lives to figure it out. Being the solution development time in this situation is minutes instead of the typical "five years out" a DOE grant holder gets away with the stakes become a little higher.

These are the constraints of aviation fuels (commonly called either Jet-A or the military nomenclature of JP-8). A biofuel/syn fuel must operate at extremely varied altitudes and temperatures (typically -30 degrees Fahrenheit and lower). It must store well and be predictable when aging (i.e. we must be able to give it a shelf life and quality assurance system). The fuel also must have better emissions than petro-Jet A, a similar cost per Btu, and of course the basic consistency regardless of the feedstock the fuel is derived from. You also have specification constraints as well to operate in existing jet turbine engines (i.e. it must look like Jet-A to existing engines; this being expressed typically in specific gravity, cetane, ingrained water content, etc.....).

Enter good old Fischer-Tropsch as the hoped solution. With a product typically called "syn-diesel" this technology is proven but expensive. It also pulls a consistent product out of such feedstocks as coal, agricultural waste, solid waste, and just about anything with a significant Btu content. So like most issues of energy, the issue becomes who can commercially demonstrate the better iteration of a technology invented by old dead Nazis.

A story covering the basics of this ongoing endeavor of the search for a bio-aviation-fuel popped up this morning. Check it out in the Aviation International News online.