Advanced Energy Perspectives

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) plan to regulate carbon emissions is just the latest challenge facing the U.S. electric power system. Technological innovation is disrupting old ways of doing business and accelerating grid modernization. Earlier this year, AEE released Advanced Energy Technologies for Greenhouse Gas Reduction, a report detailing the use, application, and benefits of 40 specific advanced energy technologies and services. This post is one in a series drawn from the technology profiles within that report.

Waste Energy Recovery (WER) describes any process in which energy that would typically be “thrown away” is captured and put to use (for this reason, WER is sometimes also called recycled energy). In broad terms, there are three types of waste energy sources suitable for recovery and conversion to electricity: waste heat, excess pressure in steam and other industrial process streams that is normally dissipated, and residual fuel value in industrial process streams (purge gases, off-gases, etc.). WER can be used to generate electricity or to produce useful thermal energy for industrial processes. The amount and type of useful energy produced depends on the nature of the process.

Energy storage was in the news this week, with new market entrants reported and storage’s value touted – but also questioned. AEE Member company Enphase announced this week that it had not only created a solar microinverter that is so technologically advanced that it “was not even possible to do when we started the company,” according to Paul Nahi, Enphase’s CEO, but is also moving into the realm of energy storage. Enphase is taking years of research and development to create an energy management system that will accompany a modular plug-and-play battery. According to Greentech Media, the system will combine grid smarts, analytics, communications, and energy storage, in addition to load management and consumer control capabilities.

Last month, EPA announced it would extend the public comment period for its proposed Clean Power Plan to December 1. This will give stakeholders and the states, many of which are engaged in public stakeholder processes themselves, an extra 45 days to draft their own comments. AEE is tracking the comment process in our 23 partner states, plus Texas and Florida. We have already submitted state comments with our partners in several states, and we submitted our own set of comments in Florida.

The public comment process is taking place in some states despite political opposition to the EPA plan from their respective governors. Fifteen governors have sent a letter to EPA arguing that the Agency has overstepped its legal authority. While the letter echoes ongoing lawsuits against EPA’s authority to regulate “beyond the fenceline” of power plants and against using 111(d) to regulate sources of pollution already regulated under section 112, some of the signatories - such as Arizona Governor Jan Brewer - are not yet parties to any of the lawsuits against EPA.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) plan to regulate carbon emissions is just the latest challenge facing the U.S. electric power system. Technological innovation is disrupting old ways of doing business and accelerating grid modernization. Earlier this year, AEE released Advanced Energy Technologies for Greenhouse Gas Reduction, a report detailing the use, application, and benefits of 40 specific advanced energy technologies and services. This post is one in a series drawn from the technology profiles within that report.

Residential energy efficiency improvements include a number of technologies and building systems that reduce energy use in homes, while still delivering the same or superior service. This includes efficient consumption of energy in appliances and other devices (e.g., lighting, Energy Star TVs, computers and refrigerators), and efficient heating and cooling equipment (e.g., natural gas condensing boilers, heat pump water heaters, and high-efficiency air conditioners). It also includes application of various building materials and systems that reduce energy demand, including efficient windows, wall and attic insulation, air sealing, building controls (e.g., programmable thermostats, use of heating and cooling zones, smart appliances that respond to price and demand signals), wrapping of hot water/steam pipes with insulation, smart power strips that shut off devices to avoid standby losses, and alternatives to air conditioning such as whole-house fans. Some water-saving technologies (e.g., faucet aerators, low-flow showerheads, efficient dishwashers) also reduce energy used for water heating.

Everybody, hold onto your hats. The moment we have been waiting for may have finally arrived – or, well, it’s not very far off. American offshore wind is on the horizon, figuratively and literally, and approaching fast.

American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) hosted its Offshore Windpower Conference and Exhibition in Atlantic City, NJ, last week, which brought together industry leaders, including Deepwater Wind, Cape Wind, and Dominion Virginia Power. Currently, there are 14 offshore wind projects under development, but none has yet to put a turbine foundation in the water. That’s all about to change.