This week we saw a small change that may mark a major shift in thinking about energy, as well as some utility wheeling and dealing. Strap in, it’s time for Friday’s news round up!
Two weeks ago, we speculated that America’s utility merger madness may have stalled out.
Topics: News Update
As a nine-month budget impasse comes to an end this week, Pennsylvania is ready to start looking at new opportunities. The Commonwealth can look to advanced energy as one investment opportunity, which would allow Pennsylvania to take its place as a leader of the broader market transformation in energy now under way across the country. The city of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County represent leading examples of localities reaping the benefits of advanced energy, including energy efficiency. Just last week, Advanced Energy Economy Institute (AEE Institute) and Keystone Energy Efficiency Alliance, our state partner, joined with the Scott Institute for Energy Innovation at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) to convene a discussion with utility, advanced energy, and thought leaders on industrial energy efficiency in southwest Pennsylvania, including Pittsburgh, as part of CMU’s Energy Week. With industrial companies, as large energy users, prime targets for energy savings, the potential benefits of advanced energy loom large – in Pennsylvania and beyond.
Topics: State Policy
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.
Despite lower prices at the gas pump, the prospects for EVs continue to be bright, in large part due to remarkable advances in EV storage technology. Early hybrid vehicles almost exclusively featured nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) batteries. Now, lithium ion (Li-ion) has taken over the hybrid sector, and dominates the Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) and Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) markets as well. Most new production hybrids, apart from the Toyota Prius, and all PHEVs and BEVs in 2015 were shipped with Li-ion batteries. While new battery chemistries are now being tested, and could make their way into market in the coming years, the focus through the early 2020s will remain on further lowering costs and improving the energy density (and resulting vehicle range) of Li-ion batteries.
This post is one in a series featuring the complete slate of advanced energy technologies outlined in the report This Is Advanced Energy. 
Power generation from biomass (organic matter) covers a range of options. The most common technology is direct combustion, in which solid biomass is burned in a boiler to generate high-pressure steam that turns a steam turbine generator. Biomass resources used for this technology include logging and agricultural residues, forest product residues (e.g., bark, sawdust), agricultural field crop residues, and dedicated energy crops. Biomass co-firing is a similar technology in which biomass is burned along with fossil fuels, typically coal, in the same unit. Plants built with this capability can usually burn any mixture of biomass and coal, while retrofitted coal plants can co-fire up to about 2% biomass without major modifications, or up to about 15% if equipped with a separate biomass handling and feed system. Wood chips are the most common fuel for co-firing, but torrefied biomass is gaining attention. As an alternative to co-firing, old coal-fired power plants can be fully converted (repowered) to burn biomass. Gasification is an alternative to direct combustion whereby solid biomass is converted into a synthesis gas that can be co-fired with coal or used in a gas turbine.
Here at Advanced Energy Perspectives, we’ve long known that sustainability is a growing priority for major corporations. Fortune 500 companies understand that energy is a part of the cost of doing business, and now with an array new tools from advanced energy companies, it’s an operating expense that’s no longer out of their control. This week, we saw further assurance of that change in corporate structure, specifically with AEE member Microsoft.
Topics: News Update