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. 

Siouxland ethanol plant on U.S. Highway 20, west of Jackson, Nebraska.

First generation biofuels are liquid transportation fuels produced from existing food crops. In the United States, these are ethanol, derived mainly from corn via fermentation, and biodiesel, produced mainly from soybeans via transesterification. Both of these fuel pathways are well integrated into the agricultural economy, producing a range of co-products such as high-protein animal feed. These two fuels have well-developed production technologies and supply chains, and incremental improvements have increased yields and reduced costs. In particular, the ethanol yield (measured in gallons per bushel) has steadily increased over the years, and the energy inputs (typically electricity and natural gas) required to produce a gallon of ethanol have fallen by more than one third in the past 20 years. Other innovations, such as using field crop residues and other sources of biomass in place of natural gas, have further increased the “energy yield” of corn ethanol (the energy produced as ethanol compared to the fossil fuel inputs to the process). Small amounts of biodiesel are also made from waste cooking oil collected from commercial food establishments.

This post was originally published in Up For Debate on Bloomberg Government. 

While much attention is focused on legal challenges to EPA’s Clean Power Plan, profound change is brewing far from D.C. Across the nation, state regulators and electric utilities are remaking the regulatory frameworks and business models that have governed our electricity system for decades. This rethinking of the regulatory compact between the public and investor-owned utilities will ultimately transform the way we generate, manage, consume and pay for electricity. At the same time, it will enable rapid grid modernization and fuel a homegrown industry that is already larger than the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry.

It’s no secret that electric vehicles (EVs) are changing the transportation industry. Although they make up a small share of the total vehicles on the market, EVs are pushing innovation, technology, and sales. Last week, EVs got a huge boost from Tesla’s announcement of the Model 3, the affordable EV with a 215-mile range. Tesla’s taking on the world, but is the world prepared for a future driven by EVs?

Two months after the Supreme Court voted to stay enforcement of the Clean Power Plan (CPP), utilities across the country are preparing for compliance undeterred, spurred on by the inevitability of a lower-carbon, advanced energy future. In fact, many utilities are moving in that direction already. And for the rest, given that their investment decisions are made on a time horizon much longer than the Supreme Court’s stay, ignoring the CPP would be neither prudent nor practical. Judging by their public statements, utilities are baking the CPP into their future plans.

This post is one in a series of feature stories on trends shaping advanced energy markets in the U.S. and around the world, drawn from Advanced Energy Now 2016 Market Report, which was prepared for AEE by Navigant Research.

Colin Powell speaks at this week's EnergySmart conference in Washington, D.C.

The amount of demand response (DR) capability in North America has grown considerably in the past five years, both at utilities and in competitive markets such as the PJM Interconnection (PJM) in the U.S. Northeast. Traditionally, however, DR has generally been relegated to a role as a last-called resource, deployed only at times of maximum stress on the grid. But not for long. We are embarking on a new era of DR, led by companies like EnerNOC.