Advanced Energy Perspectives

This post is one in a series featuring the complete slate of advanced energy technologies outlined in the report This Is Advanced Energy.  

Image courtesy of Waste Management.

Landfill gas (LFG) is a form of biogas produced by decomposition of organic waste in landfills. This gas is a roughly 50:50 mixture of methane and carbon dioxide, with smaller amounts of nitrogen and other compounds. LFG is produced naturally in all landfills, and can be captured and used for productive purposes instead of being vented or flared. In order to capture LFG, perforated tubes are inserted into the landfill. With existing landfills, the collection system must be added, but with new landfills the system can be installed as part of normal operations. After being extracted from the landfill using vacuum pumps, the LFG is compressed, dried, cleaned of certain contaminants, and used to power a gas turbine, a gas engine, such as GE’s Jenbacher landfill gas engine, or in some cases a boiler or steam turbine. As a rough rule-of-thumb, 1 million tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) in a landfill will produce enough LFG to produce 1 MW of electricity for about 20 years. LFG can also be used in combined heat and power systems (CHP), or used directly as an industrial process fuel if a suitable site exists near a landfill. With addition purification, LFG can be upgraded to a pipeline-quality substitute for natural gas, including compressed natural gas (CNG) for vehicles.

This post is one in a series featuring the complete slate of advanced energy technologies outlined in the report This Is Advanced Energy. 

Utilities across the country run energy efficiency programs that provide rebates, loans, information, and services to residential, commercial, and industrial customers to help them reduce their energy use and save money. Energy efficiency improvements provided through utility programs include technologies and building systems that reduce energy use while still delivering the same or superior service, such as lighting, appliances, behavioral energy efficiency, heating and cooling equipment, and building materials and systems. Many utility programs also offer services, such as energy audits, to help customers identify and understand potential savings. While these programs are administered by utilities, the services are typically delivered by private sector companies such as Lime Energy and CLEAResult. Thanks to energy efficiency improvements, energy consumption by the average U.S. home has decreased over time, dropping 21% from 1980 to 2009 even as the size of homes has grown and the number of electronic devices has proliferated.

This post is one in a series featuring the complete slate of advanced energy technologies outlined in the report This Is Advanced Energy. 

Image courtesy of AEE member Philips. 

Energy Service Companies (ESCOs) reduce customers’ energy use and costs by implementing comprehensive energy efficiency solutions. This typically involves retrofitting existing buildings with energy efficient equipment such as high-efficiency lighting, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning, and energy management and control systems. In addition, ESCOs often provide equipment and services related to onsite power generation, such as combined heat and power and distributed solar, and may also offer energy procurement services. ESCOs typically handle all aspects of a project, including financing, design, installation, maintenance, and monitoring. ESCOs pioneered the use of a business model called energy savings performance contracting or guaranteed energy savings contracting. With performance contracts, the energy cost savings are used to pay for the capital improvements of the project over time, with the ESCO assuming the risk. Performance contracts therefore eliminate one of the key barriers to energy efficiency deployment: raising capital.

This post is one in a series featuring the complete slate of advanced energy technologies outlined in the report This Is Advanced Energy. 

Voltage and Volt-Ampere Reactive (VAR) Optimization (VVO) is a smart grid-enabled utility application. VVO controls the flow of power on the distribution system to increase efficiency and reliability, reduce distribution energy losses, and accommodate new power flows, such as those originating from distributed generation. By providing more precise voltage control, VVO reduces total energy consumption without compromising service quality.

This post is one in a series featuring the complete slate of advanced energy technologies outlined in the report This Is Advanced Energy. 

Credit: SunPower

Solar photovoltaic (PV) power systems convert sunlight directly into electricity. PV modules (panels) produce direct current (DC), which is converted to grid-compatible alternating current (AC) through an inverter. Utility-scale PV installations are typically connected to the transmission grid, and range from about 1 MW to several hundred MW. Since PV can make use of diffuse or direct sunlight it can be installed anywhere. The majority of large solar farms use ground- mounted at-plate PV panels, which can be installed at a fixed-tilt or can use single-axis or dual-axis tracking systems that follow the sun. Tracking increases electricity production over the course of the day, but also increases costs. Concentrating PV (CPV) is a variation on at plate PV that uses arrays of lenses mounted in front of small PV cells to concentrate the sunlight reaching the cells. CPV requires dual-axis tracking and is more efficient, but more expensive, than regular at plate PV, so it is best suited to very sunny locations.