An Ignoble Experiment

2. Research firm credits Obama for driving EV charging surge

In an international energy efficiency ranking released by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), Germany comes in first, followed by Italy, the European Union, China, and France. The rankings include 16 of the world's largest economies -- Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, South Korea, Spain, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union -- representing more than 81 percent of global gross domestic product and 71 percent of global energy consumption.

Credit: American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy

Despite their high rankings, ACEEE says there are still substantial opportunities for improved energy efficiency in all of the economies analyzed. While some countries are still significantly outperforming others, there are substantial opportunities for improved energy efficiency in the U.S., ACEEE contends -- which ranked 13th out of 16 nations behind countries such as China, Canada, and India.

ACEEE expects the new carbon pollution standards for existing power plants proposed this June by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to be a major step in the right direction for the energy efficiency of the United States. Further, the organization says that dozens of other international best practices exist that the U.S. could implement.

"Germany is a prime example of a nation that has made energy efficiency a top priority," ACEEE Executive Director Steven Nadel said. "The United States, long considered an innovative and competitive world leader, has progressed slowly and has made limited progress since our last report, even as Germany, Italy, China, and other nations surge ahead."

In a statement, Dr. Philipp Ackermann, Minister and Deputy Chief of Mission, Chargé d'Affaires, Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany, recognized the honor as a "validation that Germany's measures are bearing fruit in its ongoing efforts to transition towards a low-carbon and energy-efficient economy" while calling out energy efficiency as the "second pillar of Germany's transformation of its energy system alongside the expansion of renewable energies."

"Every kilowatt hour of electricity that is not consumed saves on fossil fuels and the construction of power plants and grids," Ackermann said.

The ACEEE report points out the inefficiency of the U.S. economy, equating it to "a tremendous waste of energy resources and money."

The report says: "Across most metrics analyzed in this International Scorecard, in the past decade the United States has made limited progress toward greater efficiency at the national level. The overall U.S. score of 42 is less than half of the possible points and is 23 points away from the top spot. Further, the United States falls behind Canada, Australia, India, and South Korea. These scores suggest that this list of countries may have an economic advantage over the United States because using less energy to produce and transport the same economic output costs them less. Their efforts to improve efficiency likely make their economies more nimble and resilient."

Countries that use energy more efficiently use fewer resources to achieve the same goals, reducing costs, preserving resources, and gaining a competitive edge. So, going forward, how can the U.S. compete globally when it continues to waste money and energy that other industrialized nations save and can reinvest?

ACEEE outlines a number of recommendations for the United States, highlighting four major opportunities for increased energy efficiency, including passing a national energy savings target; strengthening national model building energy codes; supporting education and training in the industrial sectors; and prioritizing energy efficiency in transportation spending.

For more:
- download the scorecard

Read more about: Energy Efficiency
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This week's sponsor is Equifax.

Webinar: National Consumer Telecom and Utilities Exchange (NCTUE)
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By Barbara Vergetis Lundin

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3. DOE forges ahead with research to power 100M homes

Research and consulting firm GlobalData credits U.S. President Barack Obama as the catalyst for a surging electric vehicles (EV) charging market. The U.S. EV level 2 charging stations market is forecast to jump from $67 million in 2013 to approximately $947 million by 2020, driven by President Obama's target of one million EVs on roads by 2015, according to GlobalData.

Credit: Oregon Department of Transportation

The global market for EV level 2 charging stations will grow exponentially from an estimated $0.2 billion in 2014 to $3.5 billion by 2020, according to the research. The U.S. is currently the world's leading market -- having claimed more than a 30 percent share of the total annual installations in 2013.

The US government is providing a number of incentives to encourage EV charging station installations, with financing through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

"Treasury grants in lieu of the investment tax credit have been one of the most attractive measures for companies in the U.S. renewable energy industry. ARRA provides more than $30 billion of funds for energy initiatives, such as the smart power grid, advanced battery techniques, and energy efficiency measures," noted Sowmyavadhana Srinivasan, GlobalData's power analyst. "In 2009, the U.S. committed a total of $3.4 billion to the Smart Grid Investment Grant and Smart Grid Demonstration programs, which aim to accelerate the implementation of smart grid technologies and systems."

GlobalData expects sales from level 2 residential chargers to account for more than 70 percent of annual U.S. sales volume in 2014, while non-residential will account for the remaining 30. However, GlobalData predicts the latter will increase to more than 50 percent by 2020.

"Non-residential level 2 charger installations are expected to increase, as governments and offices invest in enhancing public charging points with this equipment," Srinivasan explained. "A number of offices have already installed these chargers and are finding that existing volumes do not meet demand. With the anticipated rise in EV purchases, more investment in the public EV charging infrastructure will be required at both a commercial and city level."

For more:
- see this report

Read more about: President Obama, electric vehicles
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By Barbara Vergetis Lundin

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4. Australia makes history by axing carbon tax

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is making available up to $31 million to establish the initial phases of the Frontier Observatory for Research in Geothermal Energy (FORGE) -- a field laboratory dedicated to cutting-edge research on enhanced geothermal systems (EGS).

The Newberry Volcano near Bend, Oregon is one of five active Energy Department EGS demonstration projects nationwide. Credit: DOE

Enhanced geothermal systems are engineered reservoirs, created beneath the Earth's surface where there is hot rock but limited pathways through which fluid can flow. During EGS development, underground fluid pathways are safely created, and their size and connectivity increased. These enhanced pathways allow fluid to circulate throughout the hot rock and carry heat to the surface to generate electricity.

Long term, EGS may enable domestic access to a geographically diverse baseload and carbon-free energy resources to the tune of 100 GW -- enough to power about 100 million homes.

"The FORGE initiative is a first-of-its-kind effort to accelerate development of this innovative geothermal technology that could help power our low carbon future," said Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Dave Danielson. "This field observatory will facilitate the development of rigorous and reproducible approaches that could drive down the cost of geothermal energy and further diversify our nation's energy portfolio."

The research and development will focus on techniques to effectively stimulate large fracture networks in various rock types, technologies for imaging and monitoring the evolution of fluid pathways, and long-term reservoir sustainability and management techniques.

The first two phases of the FORGE initiative will focus on selecting a site and an operations team, as well as preparing and fully characterizing the site. In Phase 1, $2 million will be available over one year for selected teams to perform analysis on the suitability of their proposed site and to develop plans for Phase 2. Subject to the availability of appropriations, up to $29 million in funding is planned for Phase 2, during which teams will work to fully instrument, characterize, and permit candidate sites.

Subject to availability, Phase 3 will fund full implementation of FORGE at a single site, managed by a single operations team. This phase will be guided by a collaborative research strategy and executed via annual R&D solicitations designed to improve, optimize, and drive down the costs of deploying EGS. Partners from industry, academia, and the national laboratories will have ongoing opportunities to conduct new R&D at the site in critical research areas such as reservoir characterization, reservoir creation, and reservoir sustainability.

For more:
- watch this video

Read more about: U.S. Department of Energy
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By Barbara Vergetis Lundin

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5. DOE, USDA funding bioenergy

Australia has become the first developed nation to repeal its carbon tax, which Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has said was "useless and destructive [and] damaged jobs -- which hurt families' cost of living and which didn't actually help the environment." The Australian government has estimated that the repeal would save families $550 per year.

Australia elected a new government last year with a mandate to repeal the carbon tax, which has caused an estimated $15 billion in economic impact in its first two years of implementation, according to government estimates.

"The Australia government's reversal of the carbon tax is a lesson in leadership for the modern world," said Peabody Energy Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Gregory H. Boyce. "We encourage U.S. policymakers to take the same path and reject the administration's costly proposed rules on power plants. Technology, not caps and taxes, is the key to long-term improvement in carbon emissions."

Boyce believes U.S. leaders can learn valuable lessons in rejecting "de facto carbon taxes and onerous renewable standards." The U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates that the administration's proposed U.S. carbon regulations would cost the economy $50 billion per year.

Although the coal industry may rejoice, environmentalists and others are not happy with Prime Minister Abbott and this latest development. Abbott may even go down in history, although perhaps not in the best way.

Penny Wong, leader of the Opposition in the Senate and former climate change minister, provided Chris Uhlmann of Australia's AM current affairs program, a snapshot of Abbott's time in office.

"The consistent theme over the last five years has been Tony Abbott's destructive approach to politics when it comes to climate," she said. "We need, as a nation, a serious and credible response to climate. That is where the world is moving and you know, if you look at conservative governments and conservative politicians around the world, even they are saying we need to respond to climate change. Tony Abbott's out on his own on this."

For more:
- see this article
- see the carbon tax repeal draft

Read more about: Peabody Energy
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By Barbara Vergetis Lundin

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