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Tom Vani, vice chancellor for Business and Administrative Services, University of California at Santa Cruz, accepted a campuswide award on behalf of Chancellor Denice D. Denton and one for himself at the Fourth Annual Sustainability Conference.
Hosted by the Chancellor's Sustainability Action Council at UCSC, the June 19-22 conference was designed to provide campus planners and other staff with the tools and knowledge for incorporating "green" practices. Students were also active in conference sessions and planning. Participants came from University of California and California State University campuses and private and community colleges throughout the state. Also taking part were almost 100 participants and presenters, and another 40 exhibitors, from government and industry.
Cassandra Davis, cochairperson of the UCSC Student Environmental Center, presented a certificate for 10,000 kilowatt hours of American Wind Renewable Energy for the campus. The energy, to be transferred to the university's power grid, was issued to UCSC by Energy Action, a coalition of North American organizations. UCSC's Student Environmental Center won the third-place award by collecting more than 1,000 signatures for Energy Action's "Declaration of Independence from Dirty Energy."
When a typical power generator creates power, it creates and sells kilowatthours. When a Renewable e-Certified power generator creates power, it creates kilowatthours and "Green Tags" (Green e-Certified Tradable Renewable Certificates).
These are bought and sold as a fluid way for distant businesses, residences, and industries to support renewable power generators such as wind farms, photovoltaics, and biomass generators. The certificate for UCSC ensured the purchase of renewable power and its use in the electrical grid. Each certificate represents all of the environmental attributes or benefits of a specific quantity of renewable generation. (In addition, the conference purchased "Green Tags" to cover UCSC's entire energy use for the four days of the conference.)
Vani's award, from the UCSC Student Environmental Center and the Chancellor's Sustainability Action Council, cited his "outstanding contributions as a leader in campus sustainability." Conference organizer Diane Behling noted that many of the sustainability efforts on campus—from water-saving plumbing to buses using biodiesel—fall under Vani's area of Business and Administrative Services.
"When you look at all the current sustainable practices at UCSC, they really make a difference—and it's saving the campus a lot of money," said Behling, a senior facilities analyst in Capital Planning and Space Management. Source: UC Santa Cruz Currents Online, By Louise Donahue, 7/11/2005.
Avista Utilities' wind-power program is growing, and its Buck-a-Block purchase arrangement with ratepayers now provides more bang for each buck they spend. As of last week, 3,132 residential customers and 73 businesses were paying a premium to buy wind power rather than pay for the electricity generated by the company's own system, program manager Christopher Drake says. Those numbers were up from 2,17 7 residential customers and 41 business participants at the end of 2003. "We've been very pleased," Drake says.
To simplify things, Avista sells wind-generated electricity in blocks, each equivalent to 300 kilowatt-hours of power. Ratepayers paying an additional $1 a month for each block they buy, hence the Buck-a-Block name. The company says that wind power is the fastest-growing electricity-generating technology in the world, and that it passes through to suppliers the additional revenue it receives from ratepayers—without taking a profit on wind-power purchases.
Meanwhile, each $1 that subscribers to the wind-power program pay now covers the company's cost difference to buy a block of wind power compared with the utility's own powersupply costs, Drake says. Previously, each $1 that program participants paid covered the added cost for just 55 kilowatthours of electricity, rather than the 300 kWh now.
In mid-2004, Avista struck a 10-year deal to buy electricity from the Stateline Wind Energy Center, near Touchet, Wash., at reduced prices, Drake says. He says that thanks to those savings, the company is able to supply more wind power for each additional $1 that customers pay.
Avista says that in 2004, in addition to buying power from the Stateline project, it also bought some wind power from projects in California and Wyoming. Last year, Avista Utilities wind-power customers paid extra for a total of 25 million kilowatt-hours of the renewable electricity, or about 0.5 percent of the amount of power Avista supplied to all of its customers, Drake says. He says the average subscription is for $5 of wind power a month, with residential customers buying nearly 90 percent of the wind-generated electricity, and businesses buying the other 10 percent.
Residential customers who're paying $5 a month extra for wind power are almost covering the added cost of supplying the average home with wind-generated electricity while also offsetting the environmental effects of driving two vehicles, Drake says. He says the average home consumes 1,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity a month, so buying three blocks of wind power just about meets that demand. Meanwhile, buying one additional block of wind power offsets the carbondioxide emissions produced by driving a car for 1,000 miles, and two blocks would offset the emissions from two cars. Source: Northwest Business Press Inc. 6/2/2005
For accurate information on the price of solar RECs trading in the New Jersey compliance market, see the report listing the highs, lows, and averages of the solar RECs for New Jersey's RPS program. Source: Jan Pepper, Clean Power Markets, 7/11/2005.
Alcoa Inc. and Norsk Hydro ASA are shutting aluminum smelters in Germany and building new plants in Iceland, where production costs are lower, adding to the gloom in Europe's biggest economy and giving a boost to the North Atlantic island of 293,000 people.
Alcoa, the world's biggest aluminum producer, is spending $1.1 billion on a smelter in Iceland after government-owned Landsvirkjun Hf agreed to supply power for 40 years. Oslo-based Norsk Hydro, the world's No. 3 aluminum company, also is considering an Icelandic smelter, said Jon Harald Nilsen, head of the aluminum unit. ``The only place where it's possible to build more capacity in Europe is Iceland,'' Nilsen said in a June 21 interview from Oslo.
Germany, where Norsk Hydro three years ago spent $2.8 billion to buy VAW AG, the aluminum unit of E.ON AG, is being hurt by record high power prices. As many as 4,000 jobs may be at stake, according the German Aluminum Association. Power, which accounts for a third of the cost of making aluminum, is about 30 percent cheaper in Iceland than in other locations, according to Lloyd O'Carroll of BB&T Capital Markets in Richmond, Virginia. Other winners include Qatar, while companies including Alcoa are also cutting back in the U.S.
Iceland's economy grew 2.9 percent in the most recent period, while German economic growth was 1.1 percent. For all of 2005, Iceland's $14 billion economy may expand 6.6 percent, Sedlabanki, the central bank, said last month. The German economy will probably grow about 1 percent this year, the Bundesbank predicts.
Aluminum makers are moving to cheaper power-generating countries to increase production partly in anticipation of surging demand in India and China, the world's two fastest-growing major economies. Both countries consume less than 10 kilograms per person a year, compared with more than 60 kilograms per person a year in the U.S. and Germany,Bernt Reitan, president of the Alcoa's primary aluminum division, said at a conference in Reykjavik on June 14.
*Icelandic power is cheaper because the country generates so- called geothermal power tapped from hot springs. A geothermal field in Iceland's volcanic north near the Arctic Circle would offer sufficient energy to power a smelter capable of producing 250,000 metric tons a year of aluminum, Bjarni Bjarnason, Chief Executive of Landsvirkjun, said in Reykjavik on June 13.*
Expiring Contracts: Alcoa plans to cut annual costs by $1.2 billion starting at the end of next year, said Reitan. In addition to the project in Iceland, it's considering new smelters in Trinidad & Tobago and Brunei. Companies are accelerating moves to cheaper power centers as existing contracts end. Alcoa and Norsk Hydro plan to shut their joint Hamburger Aluminium-Werk GmbH smelter in Germany as a power contract expires at year-end. Alcan's agreement to participate in Oman came before power contracts run out this year at its smelters in France, Germany and the Netherlands.
"It's the first question you ask as an aluminum producer" when planning the future, Richard Evans, an executive vice president at Alcan, said in an interview in Reykjavik on June 15. "Will I have a 30-year to 40-year power contract at competitive rates?" Source: Bloomberg L.P. via George Frye, LBL. 7/5/2005.
Northern Indiana Public Service Co. stands ready to help customers who want to start "net metering" by producing their own renewable power while staying hooked up to NIPSCO's lines, according to NIPSCO officials. "It is a program we support," said NIPSCO spokesman Tom Cuddy. "It gives those qualifying customers a choice. And we provide the framework to do it safely and reliably."
Net metering is a popular means of encouraging people to use renewable energy sources such as wind generators and solar panels. It basically allows renewable energy producers to "sell" unused energy back to the utility. NIPSCO and American Electric Power are the last of Indiana's five investor owned utilities to allow net metering. ComEd in Illinois also allows net metering.
The Citizens Action Coalition, the state's largest grass-roots consumer group, has long pushed for net metering in Indiana. NIPSCO had concerns about safety and reliability when it comes to net metering, according to Ed Brann, a NIPSCO standards engineer who worked with the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission on the program.
Net metering customers will be required to install an outside disconnect switch accessible to NIPSCO repair crews. During system emergencies or other situations, the renewable energy device can be cut off from NIPSCO's system. The utility company will also require two electric meters, which it will install. One will measure power from NIPSCO going into the home. The other will measure excess power from the renewable energy device feeding back into NIPSCO's system.
A key to the net metering program is that customers are paid retail rates for power they contribute to the utility's grid. They are paid in the form of bill credits. "It functions as an earnings bank for customers," Brann said. It gives customers the opportunity to be compensated for power produced at times when the renewable energy device is at peak production but demand from the household is light. An example for a wind generator would be a windy morning when the home's residents are away at work and school.
NIPSCO has detailed written materials available for customers who inquire about net metering. Eligible customers who chose to proceed will have to sign a written agreement with NIPSCO. It is available for customers with approved wind generators, solar-powered systems, and hydro plants. Both residential customers and schools are eligible. Source: NWItimes.com, By Keith Benman, 7/10/2005
FPL Energy, LLC recently dedicated the Weatherford Wind Energy Center in Custer County, OK. The facility began operations in late April. According to FPL Energy, the center features 71 wind turbines and is expected to generate enough electricity for 44,000 homes. A planned 40.5-megawatt expansion of the center is scheduled for completion by the end of the year. FPL Energy noted that power produced at the Weatherford Wind Energy Center is purchased by Public Service Company of Oklahoma under a long-term contract. Contact: Steve Stengel, FPL Energy, phone 888-867-3050. Source: EIN Renewable Energy Today, 7/11/2005.
Idealab impresario Bill Gross couldn't wait for the dawn of the sun age. So he built a high-energy, low-cost solar concentrator that will fit on your roof. And overthrow the powers that be.
Shortly after dawn on a typical Arizona morning, a wave of photons born eight minutes earlier in the big yellow fusion reactor in the sky clears the Superstition Mountains and sweeps across Phoenix and the Valley of the Sun. On a fenced-in stretch of gravel at the edge of booming Mesa - the largest suburb in the US - the stream of newly minted light strikes what looks like a lunar lander, all bundled wires and glinting aluminum. The photons ricochet off 25 mirrors arranged in a 5- by 5-foot square and converge in a shaft of light brighter than the sun at high noon. The tightly focused stream crashes into 100 square inches of silicon suspended over mirrors, sending a spray of electrons dancing down a copper wire. A CPU revs and tiny motors whir. As one, the mirrors adjust their positions ever so slightly. And the latest attempt at keeping pace with humanity's epic appetite for energy begins another day of pulling power from the sky.
This package of precision engineering is called the Sunflower, which is what one of its early prototypes vaguely resembled, four years and 40-odd iterations ago. The yard it sits in belongs to Arizona State University's Photovoltaic Testing Lab, where devices that turn sunlight into electricity go to prove their stuff. Over the next three months, a half-dozen Sunflowers will be toasted, roasted, scorched, and drowned. They'll endure showers of fake hailstones fired from air guns, snowdrifts simulated with water-saturated foam-rubber blankets, and 25 years' worth of punishing ultraviolet radiation. If all goes well, the spoilsports at Underwriters Laboratories will crack what passes among them for a smile. A crew of solar-energy fanatics operating out of a converted Korean restaurant in Old Town Pasadena, California, will cheer. And Bill Gross will, well, beam.
In the dark, pre-PC middle decades of the past century, before nerdy kids started building motherboards, programming Linux tools, and dabbling in viruses, two surefire signs distinguished a budding geek. One was a ham radio fixation (Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak's call sign is WA6BND, celebrity hacker Kevin Mitnick's is N6NHG). The other was a fascination with solar power.
Bill Gross caught the sun bug as an undersize math and science whiz in Van Nuys, California. He entered high school during the oil shocks of the 1970s, which paralyzed the nation with high gas prices and long lines at pumps. Like a real-world Tom Swift Jr. - the heroic boy inventor in 1950s pulp fiction - Gross spent his Saturdays riding the bus to LA's Central Library, where he read everything he could find about the mysteries (and realities) of solar energy. "There had to be a way to fight back," he says, "to use math and science to allow man to harness the sun." Source: Wired, 7/11/2005.
Dubbing it "Green diesel", University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Engineering researchers have discovered a new way to make a diesel-like liquid fuel from carbohydrates commonly found in plants through a four-phase catalytic reactor in which corn and other biomass-derived carbohydrates can be converted to sulfur-free liquid alkanes resulting in an ideal additive for diesel transportation fuel. According to one of the graduate students involved in the research, George Huber, "The fuel produced contains 90 percent of the energy found in the carbohydrate and hydrogen feed. If you look at a carbohydrate source such as corn, our new process has the potential to create twice the energy as is created in using corn to make ethanol." Since, about 75 percent of the dry weight of herbaceous and woody biomass is composed of carbohydrates and the UWM proccess is compatible with a range carbohydrates, it will consume a broader range of biofeeds. "The current delivered cost of biomass is comparable or even cheaper than petroleum-based feedstock on an energy basis," Huber says. Source: July 2005 Biomass Initiative Newsletter
Spire Corporation recently announced that its Spire Solar Chicago subsidiary has installed building integrated photovoltaic panels at a new Denali National Park visitor's center in Alaska. According to Spire, the 85-watt SSC85-BIL panels, which were manufactured at the company's module manufacturing facility in Chicago and feature monochrystalline cells, are custom-sized laminates designed to fit into a window system manufactured by POZZI Windows. Contact: Stephen Hogan, Spire, phone 781-275-6000. Source: EIN Renewable Energy Today, 7/11/2005.
From the bridge of his boat, the captain looks at what makes him a pioneer of the future. On the remote Norwegian island of Utsira stands a small hydrogen plant with two wind turbines gracefully rotating in the sky. "In 50 years' time, they will be everywhere. No one will use oil any more!" Toralf Austrheim is one of about 240 people living on a windswept isle 10 nautical miles off the west coast of Norway.
Three times a day, he pilots the only ferry that connects Utsira to the mainland. On most days, the ride is bumpy and nausea-inducing, but on others, the sea is slick as oil. When Mr Austrheim returns home, he enjoys a nice cup of coffee while watching telly, all thanks to the hydrogen plant less than a mile from his doorstep.
The factory is the first of its kind to produce electricity by combining wind power and hydrogen, a completely pollution-free method. On a good windy day, which Utsira has plenty of, where speeds average 10 metres [33ft] per second, the turbines can power the whole island. Any surplus is used to break water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen. On days when the wind is weak, the stored hydrogen is used to produce electricity, either by burning it in a combustion engine or fusing it chemically with oxygen in a fuel cell, a kind of battery. The only by-product of the operation is water.
The other advantage of the £3.4m trial led by the Norwegian energy company Hydro is that it is near-autonomous. The plant is operated remotely from Germany, with a team coming only once a month to do maintenance work or to improve the system. In between visits, a local resident will walk around the plant to check if, say, the fence has been blown away or the local kids have decided to jump on the hydrogen tank.
The aim is to prove that it is possible to produce an independent and steady supply of renewable energy. For the past year, Mr Austrheim's home and nine others have received their electricity through the plant. The change of supply has not made huge changes to the islanders' daily routine. "Electricity is only electricity," says Haavar Bota, the ferry's chief officer. "It makes no difference for me." "But we have to do something about the environment," says the captain. "It's nice to be part of this project and try to do something about it."
"The light wavers sometimes, but apart from that, it's just like before," reckons Sølvi Austrheim, who is a cook at Utsira's only hotel. "People were a bit concerned that the wind turbines would make a lot of noise, but they don't."
But there have been problems. Last winter, the wind didn't blow for three days in a row - unheard of on Utsira. As the plant can only store hydrogen for two days' consumption, the homes had to get their electricity from the national grid that connects the whole country, the usual way the islanders get their power.
"[Another problem] has been to try to make all the different components work together, as it's never been done before," says Torgeir Nakken, the trial's project manager. "For instance, the fuel cell [used to create electricity with hydrogen] is a brand new technology." It has also been difficult to control the intensity of the light. "Sometimes lightbulbs flicker a lot," reckons Elling Ellingsen, a stout retired fisherman who was at Mr Austrheim's house enjoying an episode of Desperate Housewives. "My wife says they need to be changed more often, like four or five times in a month. And we have 15 lamps around the house."
Outages have happened as well. On the day we visited, two had apparently occurred. "The light just switches off and goes back up again straight away," says Mr Ellingsen. "I think it happened two, three times last month." "At the moment, this is only an attractive option for remote islands not connected to the main electricity grid," says Ray Eaton from the Department of Trade and Industry, who was visiting Utsira as part of a delegation from the International Energy Agency. The idea is to provide an alternative to diesel, which is expensive and polluting, and is used to power generators often used in remote communities.
The scheme could also be useful for countries that already use a lot of wind power, such as Denmark, to help them regulate their electricity production, because the wind does not blow at the same speed all the time. For this scheme to be extended more widely, it all boils down to money. "The economics are the main problem. In the UK, renewable energy is still significantly more expensive than conventional methods," says Mr. Eaton. Source: Gwladys Fouché / The Guardian, 7/12/2005.
Investors along Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park are pouring money into solar nanotech startups, hoping that thinking small will translate into big profits. Both inventors and investors are betting that flexible sheets of tiny solar cells used to harness the sun's strength will ultimately provide a cheaper, more efficient source of energy than the current smorgasbord of alternative and fossil fuels.
Nanosys and Nanosolar in Palo Alto — along with Konarka in Lowell, Mass. — say their research will result in thin rolls of highly efficient light-collecting plastics spread across rooftops or built into building materials. These rolls, the companies say, will be able to provide energy for prices as low as the electricity currently provided by utilities, which averages $1 per watt.
Other uses of nanotechnology foreseen by Konarka, Nanosolar and Nanosys include form-fitting plastic batteries for electronic devices like cell phones and laptops. While all three companies provide prototypes for large corporate research labs and government agencies, company representatives and investors are reticent to predict when nanotechnology-powered solar systems will be commercially available. Industry watchers, however, say that achieving mass production of these products may take five years or longer.
"We take the long view, although we're not averse to having products very quickly," said Bryan Roberts, general partner at Venrock Associates in Menlo Park, a leading Nanosys investor. "Whenever you're developing a novel technology platform, you're looking at a four- to six-year time frame rather than a three- to four-year time frame."
"The technology is maturing, and the industry is maturing. British Petroleum, Shell and the oil companies are all in this field," said David Wooley, vice president of the nonprofit Energy Foundation in San Francisco, a research group funded by major charitable trusts but not affiliated with utilities or energy producers.
Costs must be reduced: A study released by the Energy Foundation in March suggests that the United States could produce 2,900 new megawatts of solar power by 2010 — enough to power 500,000 homes — if the cost is significantly reduced.
Solar energy ranges between $4 and $5 per watt. The report suggests market expansion will require $2 to $2.50. If the price breakthrough occurs, says Wooley, the report's assumed price structure represents a $6.6 billion annual market opportunity.
The Energy Foundation report also says that solar energy could furnish much of the nation's electricity if available residential and commercial rooftops were fully utilized. According to the Energy Foundation, using available rooftop space could provide 710,000 megawatts across the United States, whose current electrical capacity is 950,000 megawatts.
"The market is obviously huge, demand is huge. Besides, (alternative energy) is imperative in the world we live in," said Bill Gurley, a general partner at Benchmark Capital in Menlo Park, an early investor in Nanosolar.
As for recent growth in solar energy, Paula Mints, a senior analyst at the technology research firm of Strategies Unlimited in Mountain View, says that 14,000 photovoltaic megawatts were sold last year, representing 54 percent growth in the industry.
High production costs are among the reasons solar energy hasn't become a major source of electricity. The black, glasslike photovoltaic cells that make up most solar panels are usually composed of crystalline silicon, which requires clean-room manufacturing facilities free of dust and airborne microbes. Silicon is also in short supply and increasingly expensive to produce, so high manufacturing costs are the main reason behind high wattage prices.
Long payback time: As a result, the cost of panel installation typically equals four to five years of expensive energy before production costs are recovered and systems begin paying for themselves. With nanotechnology, tiny solar cells can be printed onto flexible, very thin light-retaining materials, bypassing the cost of silicon production.
"Silicon is very capital-intensive. You don't need a clean room for plastic power where capital costs are one-tenth of silicon," said Raj Atluru, managing director at the venture capitalist firm of Draper Fisher Jurvetson in Menlo Park, a major investor in Konarka. Konarka, Nanosys and Nanosolar say their solar technology will reduce the time it will take consumers to recover production and installation costs to a matter of months.
In addition to being able to manufacture photovoltaic cells more quickly through printing, the companies also say that manipulating materials 100,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair will provide more light- collecting capabilities. Each printed nanostructure solar cell would act as an autonomous solar collector, and sheets of these products would have more surface area to gather light than conventional photovoltaic cells. The companies also say that the printed rolls of solar cells would be lighter, more resilient and flexible than silicon photovoltaics.
A rooftop opportunity: If the technical hurdles can be cleared, the biggest money will be found atop buildings. According to Matthew Nordan, vice president of research at New York's Lux Research, "The ultimate prize is rooftop distribution applications," in which residential and commercial buildings would generate most of their own power.
The companies envision mass production of flexible plastics that would conform to the shape and pitch of rooftops or would be imprinted onto building materials like tile and siding. "Flexibility allows you to develop new form factors. Why not integrate solar cells into, say, a Spanish tile?" said Nanosys spokesman Stephen Empedocles. Itremains unclear, however, who would install nanotechnology-based solar components if they become commercially available.
"There's no channel to the market," said Nordan, who sees a fragmented solar installation market made up of numerous contractors, which makes adoption of any technology difficult. Nordan also sees obstacles in transmitting solar energy from rooftop collection sites back to electrical grids and other buildings not wired with photovoltaics.
Distribution an obstacle: "The problem is distribution. Nanomaterials could provide a way to transmit energy as well as capture it." Until the distribution issue is solved, Nordan says, solar energy will not be able to meet its potential of supplying vast amounts of power. Analysts like Nordan and Mints say that while rooftops are the most attractive areas for investors, nanomaterial solar energy may first be implemented on mobile devices like cell phones and laptop computers.
Contracts from the military: These applications have smaller power requirements than buildings, and military research contracts at Konarka, Nanosys and Nanosolar may pave the way for commercial availability of solar batteries for communications devices. "Price is no object for the military, and they need power on the go," said Nordan. "Besides, the mobile-phone industry is driven by new features."
Shrinking solar, expanding profit: Konarka, Nanosolar and Nanosys say that nanotechnology could make the price of electricity less expensive per watt.
Source: San Francisco Chronicle, By Paul Carlstrom,7/11/2005
Renewable-energy advocates have discovered electricity in some unlikely places: Pig manure and decaying garbage. Both types of waste are dirt cheap, readily abundant and loaded with energy. That's because as waste decays, it emits methane, an odorless, flammable gas that can be burned to run a generator.
Two companies are set to start burning the gas and generating electricity under the first two methane projects promoted by the N.C. Green Power program. N.C. Green is a nonprofit that collects donations from the public and distributes the money to renewable energy projects, such as solar and hydroelectric power.
Methane Credit, with offices in Charlotte, expects to start generating power in October at the Wayne County landfill. The rotting trash will put out enough electricity to fully power about 500 homes annually, officials say.
Smithfield Foods plans to create electricity from pig droppings next month on a farm in Magnolia. The manure is expected to generate electricity for 70 homes. It takes 125 porkers to produce enough waste to power one home.
N.C. Green Power subsidizes only projects that make electricity for sale to utilities in the state, not those that make electricity for their own use. Even a small solar unit in a private residence can be rigged to send the power back to power lines instead of to appliances. And there's a market for small quantities of electricity: Utilities such as Progress Energy and Duke Power regularly buy electricity on an as-needed basis from other providers when their plants are shut down for maintenance or when demand spikes.
Companies working with N.C. Green Power sign contracts with major utilities in their area, usually for five years or more. The energy generated by the Wayne County landfill, Smithfield Foods and other N.C. Green Power projects flows out to the power grid and is distributed for general use.
N.C. Green Power "has the virtue of displacing fossil fuel or nuclear generation," said John Delafield, owner of Landmark Renovation & Building in Apex, which builds solar homes in N.C. Green Power's program.
"The promise of this is extraordinary," Delafield said. It may sound like an alchemist's fantasy of turning dross into gold, but the pioneers say that methane gas has the added benefit of eliminating pollutants — either pig waste or landfill gases that have to be burned off anyway. "We're looking for a profitable way to treat pig manure," said Garth Boyd, director of environmental technology for pork producer Smithfield Foods.
In most cases, small alternative energy projects are impractical without subsidies from N.C. Green Power. The group depends on public support, and most of its 7,000 donors are customers of Progress Energy, Duke Power and other utilities. They typically agree to donate in $4 increments on their monthly bills. In addition, businesses in the state such as GlaxoSmithKline, Eisai, IBM and Lowe's Home Improvement pay into the program. Even with the subsidies, it will take several decades for these small generators to recoup their upfront equipment costs, similar to the length of time it takes a utility to pay off a power plant.
N.C. Green Power has only five alternative energy systems online now — three solar units, a wood unit and a hydro-electric system with two dozen water mills. (There are no wind generators in the state's mix because the best spots for wind turbines in North Carolina — the breezy sea coast and the mountains — are environmentally and politically sensitive.) Utilities in North Carolina pay these private distributors the production cost: Duke Power pays about 2.5 cents per kilowatt hour and Progress Energy pays about 3.5 cents.
On top of that, N.C. Green Power pays private generators up to 18 cents per kilowatt hour, depending on the energy source. Solar gets the most — 18 cents per kilowatt hour — because it's the costliest. The subsidies are structured to relieve the private energy generators of some financial burden. "That makes it so it doesn't hurt horribly bad," said N.C. Green Power resource manager Bob Zickefoose.
The upcoming methane projects will quadruple N.C. Green Power's output this year. The system now pays for 1.5 million kilowatt hours of electricity a year, or enough to power about 125 residential homes. By year's end, it will be paying for 7.7 million kilowatt hours, enough to power about 650 homes. Progress Energy, by comparison, has 1.4 million customers in the Carolinas. The utility generated 60,275,436,000 million kilowatt hours in the Carolinas in 2004.
The Wayne County Landfill project, with a subsidy of 1.9 cents per kilowatt hour from N.C. Green Power, will pay off its $1 million debt in about a decade. The landfill's reservoir of methane gas is not unlimited. That buried garbage will eventually decay, giving the landfill about 20 years of methane-gas emissions.
Pig manure will last as long as there are pigs. N.C. Green Power is paying Smithfield Foods 3.3 cents per kilowatt hour. The company forecasts a 40-year schedule to pay off its $600,000 investment in equipment. Smithfield Foods converts a tiny portion of its manure into electricity. Most of the manure is treated and turned into organic fertilizer.
"North Carolina has a vast resource of indigenous energy supply," said Jim Voss, president of Methane Credit. "North Carolina has a massive agricultural sector. Between the pigs and the chickens, they produce a significant amount of waste." Source: The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C., 7/12/2005.
On August 17, 2005, the U.S. Department of Energy GeoPowering the West Program will be conducting a Utah Geothermal Power Generation Workshop at the Utah Department of Water Resources located at 1594 West North Temple, Salt Lake City, UT.
This meeting is designed for utility resource personnel and focuses on the key benefits and risks of including geothermal power in a utility’s resource portfolio. The event is cosponsored by the following organizations:
The highly qualified speakers bring a mix of professional experience in all aspects of geothermal energy. Attendees will:
There is no registration fee for the meeting, HOWEVER, you must register to attend. To register, contact Guy Nelson at (541) 994-4670. Source: Utah Geothermal Power Generation Workshop news release 7-13-05.
Please save the date and make plans to join us for this leading-edge forum in Santa Fe. Conference attendees will choose from policy and technical sessions on developing renewable energy throughout the Southwest. Policy sessions will include Energy Policy Best Practices, Forums for Advancing Clean Energy Policy, Voluntary Green Power Market, Re-Valuing Renewable Energy and more. Technical sessions will offer Case Studies in Integration and Interconnection, Transmission Access in the West, Renewable Energy Technology Costs and Trends, and Project Development Case Studies, to name a few. Plenary sessions will be offered on Climate Change and Western Energy Choices, and Creating Regional Renewable Markets. Historically, the Southwest Renewable Energy Conference has been held at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. In an effort to broaden the reach of the Conference, we will convene this year in New Mexico. We will return to Arizona in 2006. A limited number of rooms are available at the Conference Rate. Source: Amanda Ormond, Conference Director.
Solar energy leaders announced today that Findsolar.com will launch in September 2005 as the pre-eminent online resource linking consumers to solar professionals. Companies that install and service solar systems are encouraged to apply immediately for listing on the web site.
Findsolar.com is a joint partnership between the American Solar Energy Society, Solar Electric Power Association, Energy Matters LLC and U.S. Department of Energy. The site serves as a convenient, user-friendly means for homeowners and businesses to learn about incentives, the economics of solar energy and find qualified professionals who can install and service systems. For no charge, listed installers can receive instant email notification of sales leads that are targeted to match their company’s capabilities and geographic area. Installers that sign up will benefit from the Findsolar.com advertising campaign that kicks off in the fall.
“All professional solar energy installers should apply for a free listing immediately,” said Brad Collins, executive director of the American Solar Energy Society. “We expect significant initial consumer traffic in September and October as a result of the National Solar Homes Tour and the Solar Decathlon. By signing up now for Findsolar.com, installers are ensuring that they won’t miss out on these business leads.”
The directory encompasses solar electric, solar domestic hot water and pool/spa heating. Additional capabilities for solar space heating/cooling systems will be added later. Solar professionals and companies can be “listed” by providing a minimum amount of information. A “verify” status enhances the listing if certain criteria concerning the company’s experience and customer satisfaction are met. Manufacturers, meanwhile, are encouraged to apply for listing in the web site’s manufacturer directory.
FindSolar.com provides two innovations to the solar industry: (1) the site matches interested consumers to solar professionals, and (2) the site provides consumers, nation-wide, with a single site capable of estimating the costs and savings from a solar system in their specific geographic area. The “Solar Estimator” includes up-to-date information on local electricity rates, solar resources, and incentives. Available federal, state, local, and utility incentives are also included.
“The two most common questions we receive from the public are, ‘Where can I find solar for my home or business?’ and ‘How much will it cost?’” said Julia Judd, executive director of the Solar Electric Power Association. “By September, we’ll have a simple answer for consumers: Findsolar.com.” Source: Julia Judd, SEPA, 7/8/2005.
NREL Presents Papers/Posters on Wind Deployment Systems Model Analysts with the Energy Analysis Office and the Geographic Information Systems group recently produced two papers highlighting efforts on the Lab's Wind Deployment Systems model and its related tool, the Hydrogen Deployment Systems model.
These papers and corresponding posters were presented at the American Wind Energy Association's WindPower 2005 conference held in Denver. We will keep you posted on progress related to these two models.
Reduced Form of Detailed Modeling of Wind Transmission and Intermittency for Use in Other Models (PDF 728 KB). The Wind Deployment Systems model is a multiregional, multitime-period, Geographic Information System and linear programming model of capacity expansion in the electric sector of the United States. WinDS is designed to address the market issues related to the penetration of wind power into the electric sector. This paper presents reduced-form outputs from WinDS that can be implemented in other models with less-detailed wind power modeling capabilities. Corresponding poster (PDF 616 KB).
Modeling the Market Potential of Hydrogen from Wind and Competing Sources (PDF 677 KB). Developed from the Wind Deployment Systems model, the Hydrogen Deployment Systems model is a computer model of U.S. market expansion of hydrogen production from wind and other sources over the next 50 years. HyDS is expanded to include the production of hydrogen from three competing technologies—wind, steam methane reforming, and distributed electrolysis powered by electricity from the grid—along with storage and transportation of hydrogen. The three competing sources supply hydrogen up to the total transportation demand for fuel, but only if they can do so at the market clearing price or less. This paper presents initial results from this new model. Corresponding poster (PDF 465 KB). Source: Energy Analysis at NREL - July 2005
This month's "IREC Interconnection Newsletter" is now available. July 2005, Vol. 8, No. 7, Editors: Rusty Haynes and Steve Kalland, NCSU Solar Center. Access the "Connecting to the Grid", where you can read past e-newsletters in the "Newsletter Archives" area. Source: IREC Interconnection Newsletter, 7/8/2005.
The primary goal of this program is to develop a self-sustaining market for "emerging" renewable energy technologies in distributed generation applications in California. The Emerging Renewables Program (formerly called the "Emerging Renewables Buydown Program") was created to stimulate market demand for renewable energy systems that meet certain eligibility requirements by offering rebates to reduce (buy-down) the initial cost of the system to the customer. Source: CEC Release, 7/8/2005.
The June 2005 Evolution Markets report for:
is now available.
All above reports are hosted on the Evolutions Market Web site, in Resources - Monthly Market Updates section. Also, please note that the Greenhouse Gas price report and past issues of the Monthly Market Reports are available only to registered users of the evo.ID market data Web services. Registration is free. Source: Evolution Markets - Monthly Market Updates - June 2005.
There are 180 students participating in the Dell-Winston School Solar Car Challenge from high schools in Colorado, Texas, Minnesota, Mississippi, Indiana, California and Mexico. The California team is represented by students from Walnut High School in Walnut, Calif. The 16 students on Walnut High's "QuikSolar" team have been preparing for the competition for more than a year, applying the skills they've learned in the classroom to design and build their solar car.
Racers will use laptop computers and wireless technology to gauge solar car battery usage, monitor weather patterns, track competitors via global positioning systems and upload daily statistics. The race judges will also use the technology to track the eight teams as they travel along the course.
The last leg of the race runs from Citrus College in Glendora, Calif., to the finish at JPL on Saturday, July 16. The public is invited to watch the end of the race. A complete map of the race route is on the Internet. Source: NASA, 7/11/2005.
The following are notable changes proposed by the Bill that will affect the Biomass Research and Development Act of 2000 as well as to the Biomass Research and Development Technical Advisory Committee, Biomass Research and Development Board, and Biomass Initiative. This is not meant to be a comprehensive list of all proposed changes but ones most relevant to the readership of the Biomass Initiative Newsletter.
Defining Biomass: Terminology in the Act was more clearly defined such as coproducts, fuels, and biomass. Most notably the phrase, "production of biobased industrial products" was changed to "production of biobased fuels and coproducts". The term "biobased coproduct" means a commercial or industrial product (including chemicals, animal feed, and electric power) derived in connection with the conversion of biomass to fuel. The term "biobased fuel" means any transportation fuel produced from biomass.
An important clarification of the definition of biomass was made to exclude certain materials, specifically: incineration of municipal solid waste; recyclable post-consumer waste paper and paper products; painted, treated, or pressurized wood; wood contaminated with plastic or metals; and tires.
Finally the definition of biodiesel to ethanol was expanded to include animal wastes (poultry fats and poultry wastes), and MSW, sludges, and oils derived from wastewater and treatment of wastewater as feedstocks.
Objectives of the Initiative: The Bill proposes a revised set of objectives for the Initiative to: increase the energy security of the United States; create jobs, and enhance the economic development of the rural economy; enhance the environment and public health; and diversify markets for raw agriculture and forestry products.
Technical Areas for Research and Development Focus: The Bill proposes specific technical areas for future research and development focus, ranging from feedstock production through product diversification and analysis. Specific technical areas include:
Funding: The Bill proposes that funds authorized for the Initiative be appropriated across the above technical areas as follows:
The Bill goes on to make further clarification on the use of funds by stage of project development for each of the technical areas above:
The term "demonstration" was clarified to mean "demonstration of technology in a pilot plant of semi-works scale facility". A section on matching funds also states that a minimum 20 percent funding match shall be required for demonstration projects.
The Bill also proposes to increase the funding from $54,000,000 (currently recommended in the Act) for each of fiscal years 2002 through 2007; it proposes $200,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2007 through 2011, and such sums as are necessary for each fiscal year thereafter.
Reporting: Reporting actions were changed so that not later that two years after the date of the enactment of this Bill, and every two years thereafter, the Administrator of the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service and the Chief of the Natural Resources Conservation Service shall submit to the committees of Congress with jurisdiction over the Initiative a report describing the activities conducted by the services under this subsection.
Not later than one year after the date of enactment of the National Security and Bioenergy Investment Act of 2005, the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of Energy and shall jointly submit to Congress a report that describes the status and progress of current research and development efforts in both the Federal Government and private sector in achieving the objectives, purposes, and considerations of the actions proposed in this Bill, specifically addressing each of the technical areas; describing the actions taken to implement the improvements directed; and outlining a strategic plan for achieving the objectives, purposes, and considerations. They would extend the activities of the Biomass Initiative, provide more specific focus, and create a basis for increased research and development on the development of bioenergy and biobased products.
Conclusion: If implemented, the changes in the Bill hope to "provide the research, development, demonstration, administrative support, and market mechanisms required for widespread deployment and commercialization of biobased fuels and products, and for other purposes." Source: July 2005 Biomass Initiative Newsletter
PPM Energy, Inc., ScottishPower’s competitive U.S. energy business, has entered into agreements for sales totaling 125 MW to two California customers from the proposed 150-MW Shiloh wind farm in Solano County, Calif., according to a company news release. The customers are Pacific Gas & Electric and the Modesto Irrigation District. The Shiloh wind farm is expected to come on line in 2005, pending completion of transmission arrangements.
“In this world of $60-a-barrel foreign oil, we’re encouraged to see both far-sighted investor owned utilities like Pacific Gas & Electric Company and public entities like Modesto Irrigation District sign significant, long-term agreements for clean, economical wind energy,” said Terry Hudgens, PPM president and CEO. “We welcome our first renewable energy sale to PG&E, as well as the repeat business from MID. Both are key players in the important California marketplace.”
PG&E signed a 15-year agreement to purchase up to 75 MW of clean, renewable wind energy resources to help meet its customers’ future electricity needs. The agreement will help PG&E meet its annual goal of increasing its renewable purchases by a minimum of 1 percent of retail load. “These new wind energy resources will supply enough power to serve more than 50,000 customers and add to a generating portfolio that has one of the lowest rates of air emissions in the country,” said Fong Wan, vice president of power contracts and electric resources development at PG&E. "The utility currently supplies 31 percent of its customer load from renewable resources: 18 percent from its large hydroelectric facilities and 13percent from wind, small hydro and other renewable resources that qualify under the state’s renewables program."
MID has signed a 10-year agreement for up to 50 MW of Shiloh's output, which will help the district meet its goal of supplying 20 percent of its retail load from renewable sources by 2017. Located about 40 miles from MID's system, the wind power from Shiloh complements MID’s local hydroelectric and natural gas-fired generation. "With this agreement and a 25 MW purchase from PPM in 2004, renewable power will serve about 8 percent to 9 percent of our load,” said Roger VanHoy, MID assistant general manager for electric resources. “As an added benefit, clean wind power can replace or offset some of the energy from our local natural gas-fired plants."
The new 150-MW Shiloh wind farm is located between major customer centers in San Francisco and Sacramento, and near the operating 162-MW High Winds Energy Center, from which PPM buys all the output for supply to wholesale customers. PPM acquired the project in May from enXco, an affiliate of EDF Energies Nouvelles of France.
PPM currently controls approximately 830 MW of wind power in seven states, and has announced a total of 574 MW additional wind projects to be built in 2005. This will put a total of approximately 1,400 MW of wind energy under PPM’s control, well on target toward the company’s goal of bringing on line 2,300 MW of wind power by 2010, according to the company. Source: AWEA Wind Energy Weekly, 7/09/2005.
A commercial wind power developer wants to build a 21-turbine wind farm on 8,000 acres of nearby farmland that he says could generate electricity for everyone living in Oceana County. The 230-foot turbines proposed by Rich VanderVeen, of Mackinaw Power, would share the land in Oceana County with cherry and apple orchards and fields of asparagus, The Detroit News reported Sunday.
Michigan already has three turbines, including two run by VanderVeen in Mackinac County and a third in Traverse City, operated by a power company. They produce less than 1 percent of the state's electricity.
As of last year, wind power nationwide generated enough power to furnish electricity to 1.6 million households, the newspaper reported. And some energy experts say Michigan has considerable wind power potential. Source: Detroit Free Press, 7/10/2005.
A plateau of dry wheat fields and desert sagebrush lines the horizon at the Powers family's south-central Washington ranch. At first glance, rural Klickitat County might not appear to offer much. But a second look at the wheat, still green from late spring rains, finds it fluttering in the region's newest natural resource: wind.
Earlier this year, county officials took a bold step by creating a so-called Energy Overlay Zone, a planning tool aimed at expediting renewable energy development. Wind developers, who often face bitter battles with locals who object to massive turbine farms, say it is the first such zone in the country, and they're calling the few residents who live in Klickitat County a mighty progressive bunch.
"This is like the year before the gold rush, and they're on top of it," said Bruce Morley, chief executive officer of Wind River Power, a consortium of companies aiming to build a 300-megawatt wind farm in central Klickitat County. The project would be one of the largest in the world, creating enough electricity for roughly 100,000 homes.
"Rural areas that have these natural-resource-based economies are getting hammered right now," said Dana Peck, director of economic development for Klickitat County. Klickitat County aims to change that with a resource that's been blowing through its hills and canyons for uncounted years. That change is the Energy Overlay Zone, a sort of mapping tool that tells wind developers where they are welcome.
Addressing zoning for wind makes the county rare, said Jim Green, senior project leader for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado. Zoning allows a county to create a generic ordinance for a larger area, rather than create ordinances in a piecemeal fashion for specific sites, he said.
The Energy Overlay Zone covers more than 1,100 square miles, two-thirds of Klickitat County. Residents also had the option to opt out, and some did: Near Snowden, in the western half of the county, residents made it clear they opposed wind development in their back yards. Others couldn't wait. Even before the county approved the Energy Overlay Zone, the Powers family signed a lease with a wind developer that aims to put in a 200-megawatt wind farm.
The Powers family declined to discuss the potential windfall for them personally. Other wind projects have resulted in dividends of up to a few thousand dollars per turbine for landowners.
The added income, as well as the jobs created by wind development, make that all the more possible. The county estimates that the two wind projects already permitted will generate an additional $130,000 in property-tax revenue for the local fire department. Source: By Shannon Dininny, The Seattle Times Company, 7/10/2005
On July 8, the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin approved construction of Forward Energy’s Horicon Marsh wind project. With 200 MW of generating capacity, the project will be the state’s largest and quadruple Wisconsin’s wind power generation.
In the decision, the PSC recognized the value of the Horicon Marsh near where the project would be located. The PSC required a buffer zone of at least two miles between the wind turbines and the marsh, as proposed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In addition, it required the project developer to conduct post-construction studies to learn more about possible impacts on birds and bats in the area. The Commission also accommodated local private airstrips by requiring at least a 1,000-foot upwind clearance from the runways.
The PSC also noted economic benefits of the wind project, including the fact that wind power is a fixed-cost resource, unlike fossil fuels which have increasing and sometimes volatile costs. Once the turbines are operating, they provide electricity at a stable and affordable cost for ratepayers throughout the state. In addition, the wind project helps preserve the agricultural land use in the area, and brings financial benefits for farmers hosting wind turbines on their property, helping them maintain their farming operations.
The power produced from Forward Energy’s project will be sold directly to Wisconsin utilities, including Alliant, MG&E, Wisconsin Public Service Corp., and 40 municipal utilities through Wisconsin Public Power, Inc. Forward Energy, a subsidiary of Chicago-based Invenergy Wind, LLC, applied to the PSC to install 133 wind turbines with a total capacity of 200 MW. Wisconsin currently has 53 MW of wind power capacity. The Forward project is spread out over 32,400 acres of mostly farmland, in Fond du Lac and Dodge counties.
The PSC will issue a written order based on the July 8 verbal decision. Documents related to the application can be viewed on the PSC Web site under docket number 9300-CE-100. Source: AWEA Wind Energy Weekly, 7/09/2005.
In 2001, the state of Oklahoma consumed approximately 1,553 trillion Btu of energy. Petroleum and natural gas accounted for the majority of consumption at 38 and 35 percent respectively, while coal supplied 24 percent of the energy. Hydroelectric and biomass followed at roughly one percent each in the year 2001. Oklahoma does not obtain any of its energy from nuclear power.
Oklahoma could potentially generate an estimated 18.5 billion kWh of electricity from biomass sources. That is 110 percent of the state's residential electricity needs, or enough to supply 1,847,000 average homes with electricity. The sources of biomass fuel available are varied, but most abundant are energy crops. These fast growing trees, shrubs, and grasses account for 8,084,000 dry tons of material annually available to generate energy. Agricultural residue is also a significant source available for energy production at 3,441,000 dry tons per year, followed by mill residues at 698,000 dry tons annually. Urban residues and forest residues available to generate energy account for 185,000 and 292,000 dry tons per year respectively.
Renewable energy projects in Oklahoma are managed through the Oklahoma Chamber of Commerce. While there are no new government run biomass projects underway, many private operations are using biomass technology. For example, one facility operating in Oklahoma is the Weyerhaeuser Pulp and Paper Company. Located in Valliant, the plant converts timber residues from mills and logging to produce 37,000 kW of energy. In Oklahoma City, General Motors announced in February 2005 that it will begin using methane gas from a landfill to help power an assembly plant and reduce operating costs.
There are also financial incentives available in Oklahoma for biomass systems. Mainstay Energy is a private company that offers to buy renewable energy credits generated from various renewable energy technologies. Those interested in biomass can also take advantage of an Oklahoma law that allows owners of renewable energy systems to request a net metering capability. Then if these customers have an excess of electricity generation, they can require the utility to purchase the energy. Source: July 2005 Biomass Initiative Newsletter
The government must grasp the ‘once in a generation opportunity’ to support the growth the of domestic renewable energy sector, says the Country Land and Business Association on the release of its latest policy document: “Renewable energy - more than wind?” A new opinion poll1, commissioned by CLA, indicates that an incredible 78percent of people would prefer to use renewable energy, rather than fossil fuels, to fuel their cars and to power their homes. An overwhelming majority (84percent) would also prefer that the UK produced its own renewable energy rather than buying it in from abroad.
As the G8 climate change plans for the future sink in, the CLA argues that managing the reduction in greenhouse gases without endangering the economy is actually a wonderful opportunity to create jobs and investment for the UK - particularly in rural areas. CLA Head of Rural Economy, Oliver Harwood will be exhibiting the renewable energy policy at the annual conference of PRASEG, the Associate Parliamentary Renewable and Sustainable Energy Group on Tuesday 12 July.
The CLA policy document “Renewable energy - more than wind?” examines the opportunities presented by various UK sources of renewable energy including biomass, ground source heat, hydro, solar and wind. It offers practical recommendations for creating a thriving and broad-based renewable energy sector within the UK. Source: Country Land and Business Association, 7/11/2005.
With poster-size checks and etched plaques, Undersecretary of Agriculture Mark Rey encouraged locals to find more ways to make money from small-diameter wood and celebrated some successes in small-wood utilization at a meeting in Missoula on Friday morning.
Finding marketable uses for beetle-killed trees and glorified underbrush is a little like the futile efforts of medieval alchemists to make gold from base metals, Rey said. The only difference is the modern efforts work.
England Sawmills of North Fork, Idaho, received $250,000 to help pay for a dry kiln to expand the mill's capacity from 750,000 board feet to 9 million board feet annually. With the kiln, mill owner Gary England intends to hire an additional 25 to 30 employees.
Two smaller grants of $125,600 and $76,000 went to Big Sky Forest Products in St. Regis and Panhandle Forest Products in Cocalalla, Idaho. Those grants will help buy a post and rail processor for the Idaho plant and a small log chipper for the Montana plant.
In total, the U.S. Forest Service will present $4.4 million to 20 enterprises in 12 states as part of its 2005 Woody Biomass Utilization Program.
The recipients included Montana Community Development Corp., Porterbilt Co., Bitter Root Resource Conservation and Development Area Inc., Beaudette Consulting Engineers, Friends of the Darby Library, architect Ron LaRue, the Travelers' Rest Preservation and Heritage Association and the Forest Service.
In the past few years, the U.S. Forest Service has been pushing for marketable uses of "woody biomass" to create markets for the formerly useless material. Woody biomass includes tree parts and woody plants - including limbs, tops, and needles - that are byproducts of ecological restoration and hazardous-fuel reduction programs.
One obstacle to such forest work is that small-diameter wood and woody biomass have been more of a burden than a resource. But federal grants and research from the Forest Products Laboratory in Madison, Wis., in league with private enterprise have begun to change that dynamic.
One such company is Porterbilt of Hamilton, owned by Ron Porter. Starting in the early 1980s, Porterbilt started making deck railings for log homes along with posts and poles, once the company's staple. Two decades later, the company manufactures trusses out of trees too thin or cracked to be milled into two-by-fours.
Instead of riding the ups and downs of the seasonal agriculture industry, as post and pole outfits do, Porter's shop works steadily all year making high-end products for the log home industry. Porterbilt also built the trusses for the public library in Darby, as well as the kiosk at Travelers' Rest State Park in Lolo. And patrons of the Darby library love their "Sistine Chapel of small-diameter round wood," said Ted Almgren, a library trustee.
The library showcases innovative technology by using engineered beams and trusses made from wood thinned out of nearby national forests. The building cost nearly $900,000, but opened free of debt thanks to Forest Service grants and some aggressive fundraising. Source: Missoulian.com, 7/9/2005.
The EPA Office of Grants and Debarment Grants Administration Division has announced the Fall 2006 EPA Science To Achieve Results Fellowships For Graduate Environmental Study Grant. Source: Grants.gov, 7/11/2005.
This news item comes to you as a service of Western's Renewable Resources Program.
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