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Renewable Energy with a Focus in Jefferson County:
What new technology exists and any incentives for communities and residents to use renewable energyEvery Member Material -January 2008
Committee Members: Sally Berriman, Sigrid Higdon, Barbara Howe, Karen Knutson,
Joanne Norte, Linda Porter, Helen Rogers and Sandra Schuster
Renewable energy resources are naturally replenished in a relatively short period of time. They include biomass, hydropower, geothermal energy, wind energy and solar energy. There are many reasons to consider methods to provide for our nation’s energy needs with sources that are renewable. The most compelling reasons are the finite stores of oil and coal, international competition for fossil fuels, national security, the cost of current energy sources, cleaner air and global warming as caused by the emission of carbon into the atmosphere. While there are some people who dispute the validity of environmental problems created by fossil fuels, scientists overwhelmingly agree. Scientists also are mostly in agreement that we don’t have 30 years to solve the carbon-caused global warming. We may have reached the tipping point where global warming cannot be reversed, but might be stabilized, if we act now.
In 2005, about 6% of all energy consumed, and about 9% of total electricity production was from renewable energy sources. “Energy Efficiency” and “Renewable Energy” are the “twin pillars” of sustainable energy policy. Both resources must be developed aggressively if we are to stabilize and reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Efficiency is essential to slowing the energy demand growth so that rising clean energy supplies can make deep cuts in fossil fuel use. If energy use grows too fast, renewable energy development will chase a receding target (DOE).
The alternative energy that we need to consider includes two areas: the energy we use to heat, cool, and light our homes and businesses and the energy we use to run vehicles. Alternative transportation fuels are fuels that are renewable while others, such as propane and natural gas, are non-renewable. Almost all transportation relies on oil, much of it imported from other countries.
With less than 5% of the world’s population, the U.S. consumes about 25% of the world’s energy resources and creates about 25% of the world’s carbon emissions. Homes use one-fifth of the energy consumed in the U.S. 90% of Colorado’s electrical energy generation is from coal, 5% from natural gas and 5% from hydroelectric. 43% of residential heating is from natural gas and 17% from electricity. Colorado is expecting another 1.5 million people to occupy the Front Range in the next 20 years.
Renewable energy and energy efficiency protect consumers from price volatility and runaway fossil fuel prices in the short term, generate more local jobs and spending, preserve the natural environment, air quality and limited water supplies and provide greater energy security over the long term. Colorado voters passed a milestone in 2004 when they approved Amendment 37 establishing a renewable energy standard for the state’s investor owned utilities. Nevertheless, the leadership for a renewable future is just beginning to coalesce in Colorado and there are opposing trends. For example, there is a proposal from the coal industry to construct three large coal-fired generating stations. The Energy Policy Act of 2007 is a favorable sign that more renewables are on the horizon, but the whole question of energy policy is in flux--A MOVING TARGET. Our future depends on choices made today.
Source: U.S. Department of Energy, Rocky Mountain Institute, American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy.
TYPES OF RENEWABLE ENERGY CURRENTLY AVAILABLE
The United States currently relies heavily on coal, oil and natural gas for its energy. These fossil fuels are nonrenewable; that is, they draw on finite resources that will eventually dwindle, becoming too expensive or too environmentally damaging to retrieve. In contrast, renewable energy resources, such as wind and solar energy, are constantly replenished and will never run out.
Solar: Most renewable energy comes either directly or indirectly from the sun. Sunlight, or solar energy, can be used directly for heating and lighting homes and other buildings, for generating electricity and for hot water heating, solar cooling and a variety of commercial and industrial uses.
Wind: The sun also drives the winds, whose energy is captured with wind turbines. Then, the winds and the sun’s heat cause water to evaporate. When the water vapor turns into rain or snow and flows downhill into rivers or streams, its energy can be captured using hydropower.
Biomass: Along with the rain and snow, sunlight causes plants to grow. The organic matter that makes up plants is known as biomass. Biomass can be used to produce electricity, transportation fuels or chemicals. The use of biomass for any of these purposes is called biomass energy.
Hydrogen: Hydrogen also can be found in many organic compounds, as well as water. It’s the most abundant element on the Earth. But it doesn’t occur naturally as a gas. It’s always combined with other elements, such as with oxygen to make water. Once separated from another element, hydrogen can be burned as a fuel or converted into electricity.
Geothermal: Not all renewable energy resources come from the sun. Geothermal energy taps the Earth’s internal heat for a variety of uses, including electric power production and the heating and cooling of buildings.
Ocean: The ocean can produce thermal energy from the sun’s heat and mechanical energy from the tides and waves. And the energy of the ocean’s tides comes from the gravitational pull of the moon and the sun upon the earth. NREL does not conduct research in ocean thermal energy or ocean mechanical energy. See the U.S. Department of Energy’s Consumer Guide web site for basic information on ocean energy.
Hydropower: Flowing water creates energy that can be captured and turned into electricity. This is called hydroelectric power or hydropower. NREL does not perform any research in hydroelectric power technologies. For more information see Hydropower Basics from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Wind and Hydropower Technologies Program.
Source: http://www.nrel.gov/learning/basics
GOLDEN CITY COUNCIL INITIATIVES (CITIZEN-DRIVEN)The Golden City Council convened in late 2006 to consider their goals regarding sustainability. After discussion, the city council adopted a sustainability goal to involve the Golden community in developing a sustainability policy.
The Golden City Council has made sustainability its top priority for 2007. As part of that endeavor, citizens were asked to engage in a broader community-wide effort to establish and implement sustainability goals through several working groups. The community working groups began meeting to study each of the goal areas in March 2007 and, in July 2007, made recommendations for consideration by the city council. A final evaluations report was produced by Natural Capitalism Solutions, an independent outside third party.
On August 23, 2007, The Golden City Council formally adopted the working groups’ revised sustainability goals with Resolution 1793. City Council also ranked its Top 13 Sustainable Recommendations for city staff to review for cost and work-load requirements, in addition to further analysis of creating a sustainability board and hiring a sustainability director. The remaining recommendations made by the working groups will be reviewed over time.
BUILDING
Review current city building codes, fees, Homeowners’ Associations (HOA) restrictions and zoning regulations to identify code/regulations/fees that discourage/prohibit/preclude the use of sustainability practices and add/change/repeal regulations to promote sustainable practices where beneficial.
Effective January 2008, adopt the US Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver Standards for all new and remodeled commercial/non-residential buildings.
ECONOMIC HEALTH
Direct staff to identify existing resources, partnerships, and relationships that are integral to a Sustainable Business Cluster.
Direct staff to research the costs of placing some wind generators or solar panels in downtown Golden and putting hot water or photovoltaic collectors on the Recreation Center.
EDUCATION AND COMMUNICATION
City Council frequently and strongly endorsed the importance of education and communication to the success of the Golden Sustainability Initiative. However, no specific programmatic recommendations were referred for staff review.
ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND RENEWABLE ENERGY
The City should establish an incentive program that will encourage residents and businesses to invest in energy efficiency improvements and renewable energy technologies. These incentives would be in the form of either fee reductions, fee waivers, tax reductions, grants or other direct dollar savings for certain progressive activities.
The City should promote increased use of energy efficient lighting (such as compact fluorescent lights [CFLs] and light-emitting diode [LED] holiday lights). This initiative would involve some combination of education, publicity, and (optionally) incentives. One aspect of promoting increased use of CFLs would include making it relatively easy for users to recycle the used bulbs at the end of their life cycle.
SOLID WASTE AND RECYCLING
The city should implement a Single Stream Recycling (SSR) system: consumers place all types of recycling materials into one bin (to be sorted at the plant) to achieve a higher participation of recycling and increase current level of recycled materials in the residential communities. Golden should develop an event-recycling program that applies to all events held in the city. Currently, there is no recycling at Buffalo Bill Day, the Wild West Car Show or other Chamber of Commerce sponsored events
Golden should select a single Solid Waste (SW) hauler who will provide exclusive SW service to all of Golden’s residents.
TRANSPORTATION
Creating a viable pedestrian transportation network will provide significant reductions in vehicle traffic. Golden must implement many additions, changes and upgrades to create pedestrian transit options for residents, students and employees within the city to meet this recommendation.
Golden must have a complete, contiguous bicycle transit network accommodating residents, students and employees. Only well-funded, serious and concerted effort will provide a cycling network that will be a preferred choice over car transit.
Alternative transit methods developed with an eye to reducing vehicle miles traveled must provide similar levels of convenience and access to locations across Golden and to neighboring cities. Shuttles, buses, ride-sharing, taxis and other public transit options should be added and/or coordinated together to provide an integrated, effective and convenient level of access for citizens to achieve a reduction in individual car travel. Golden’s public transit system must connect the city’s workers, residents and students with primary RTD terminals as well as intra-Golden destination points.
WATER
Encourage water-conserving landscape practices through efficient irrigation, water-smart gardening practices and xeriscaping. Concurrently, the city is engaged in an internal effort to reduce its energy consumption by 25%.
Source: www.CityofGolden.net
Hot Topics
Sustainability Initiative
Contact: Mark Heller (email: mark@gura.com) or phone: 303-279-4162
INCENTIVES CURRENTLY AVAILABLE TO CITIZENS OF JEFFERSON COUNTY
Alternative, Renewable and Energy Conservation Initiatives in Jefferson County
Biomass Utilization and catastrophic Red Zone Fire Mitigation Projects: working with private industry to create the infrastructure that will reduce the barriers to new bio-energy markets due to logistical concern over long-term biomass supply availability. The County seeks to develop economically viable market outlets for forest thinning biomass through the creation of new businesses and public-private sector partnerships while simultaneously reducing the risk of catastrophic fires and associated costs and damages.
Forest Restoration-Working Partnerships Grant
USDA award for forest service working partnerships involving the use of woody biomass. Small trees, tree limbs, and other woody plants that are byproducts of forest improvements, ecological restoration, and hazardous reduction treatment activities are considered woody biomass.
Energy Efficiency Improvement, Water Conservation, Reduction of Fossil Fuel Use in Facilities
The Governor’s Energy Office, Colorado’s lead state agency on energy-efficiency issues, is providing education, technical and financial assistance. Programs include Rebuild Colorado, computer recycling, waste management and more.
Improved Transportation Efficiency, Reduction of Greenhouse Gases and Other Air Pollutants
Fleet Mix: 8 of 39 sedan vehicles are hybrid (Prius)
Bio-Diesel: Currently B20 (20% bio-diesel, 80% regular diesel) is being implemented on a trial basis by the fleet. During the winter, the fleet will use B10 (10% bio-diesel) to reduce the potential for the fuel to gel in equipment.
Expand the Current County Facilities Recycling Program
In addition to the significant amount of paper already being recycled, Jefferson County is exploring expanding the program to include certain types of plastic and aluminum.
Community Stewardship Opportunities
Compact Florescent Light Bulbs Recycling Demonstration Project: Staff is exploring an option that would establish a collection program in Jefferson County between local governing bodies. The Hazardous Waste Collection Facility Authority and/or retail entities would collect and properly dispose of compact florescent light bulbs, which contain small amounts of mercury.
Building for Tomorrow Planning and Evaluation Project
The Flexible Energy Communities Initiative sponsored by the Governor’s Energy Office helps design schools, office buildings, libraries and other public buildings that economically and aesthetically adapt to a renewable energy future.
Source: (Document from Nanette Neelan, Deputy County Administrator for Jefferson County)
RENEWABLE SOURCES THAT MAY BE AVAILABLE IN THE FUTURE
Solar Technology: recent advances include “thin film” photovoltaic technology, a high-tech coating that converts any surface covered with the film in to a solar-electric power source.
Wind Power: One of the newest trends in wind power is the construction of offshore wind farms, clusters of electricity-generating turbines erected in open-water areas with strong winds. Europe now has 17 wind farms spinning offshore
National Interest Corridors: In these, large sections of the Midwest could become wind farms that supply power for distant metropolises.
Automobiles: A car being built by a southern California company will go 120 miles before it needs a charge and will hIt a top speed of 80 miles an hour. It will cost $32,000 (approximately), and its lithium battery will last more than 100,000 miles before it needs to be replaced.
Heat Pumps: Tapping into the ground offers another option to regulate household heating and cooling. Ground-source heat pumps, also called geo-exchange systems, use the relatively constant temperature of the underground to keep homes at comfortable temperatures.
Fuel Cells: A fuel cell is an electro-chemical device that is used to convert the energy contained in fuel, such as oxygen and hydrogen, directly into electrical energy. Fuel cells are somewhat like continuous batteries when they are supplied with fuel. Since there is no burning, combustion or moving parts these cells are long-lasting, safe, efficient and silent. They are used in space ships and are being tested at some power plants.
Batteries: The Department of Energy (DOE) labs will focus a lot of emphasis on energy storage-like batteries.
Lighting: In the near future DOE will show off a solid-state light that surpasses the florescent compact light.
Nuclear Fusion: Fusion is the oldest form of energy generation currently being used. The sun generates fusion and is the original source of energy.
Nuclear Fission: The need to create clean energy is fueling the nuclear industry to push for more plants in the U.S. The problem of waste disposal and accidental discharges makes this controversial.
Hydroelectricity: A company has come up with a hydroelectric turbine for generating electricity from municipal water plants. In some systems, ocean tides or current from a river turn a turbine which in turn generates electricity. Water is denser than air and tides more predictable than wind, so the potential to generate electricity from tides is enormous.
Ethanol: Ethanol is a liquid alcohol that consists of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. It can be produced from any biological feedstock (i.e. cereal grain) that contains sugar or starch that converts into sugar.
Bio-diesel: One of the biggest advantages of bio-diesel compared to many other alternative transportation fuels is that it can be used in existing diesel engines without modification and can be blended in at any ratio with petroleum diesel. Most concern is that it would displace croplands currently used for food crops. However, algae can be used and alcohol can be produced from industrial hemp (not marijuana) which Henry Ford himself advocated.
Gasification: Gasification systems use extreme heat in a low-oxygen environment to convert agricultural waste or any biomass into a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide that can be burned in a boiler or can replace natural gas in a turbine.
Hydrogen Fuel: Hydrogen as a fuel has received widespread attention lately. Hydrogen is proclaimed to be good for clean air and able to free the U.S. of dependence on ail. There are many problems using hydrogen as a fuel, the first and most obvious is that hydrogen gas is extremely explosive.
Source: http://www.unh.edu/p2/biodiesel/article_alge.html
http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/earth/4213775.html
http://peswiki.com/index.php/Directory:Biodiesel_from_Algai_Oil
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004
http://ec.europa.eu/energy
http://www.renewableenergyaccess.com
http://www.uspirg.org
http://re.pembina.org
