Will Any Farm Do? Japan's Home Fuel Cell Offering: The Ene-Farm

Posted by The Power Generation Blog on Saturday, February 19, 2011

We've covered hydrogen fuel cell technology in the past, but our posts have been limited to more industrial-sized applications. The Bloom Box, for instance, power facilities owned by eBay and other businesses.

Now, Panasonic (in conjunction with Tokyo Gas) is looking to sell a home-oriented fuel cell. This new domestic fuel cell product is dubbed the "Ene-Farm," and it offers a 40% energy efficiency rate—the highest in the world.

The Ene-Farm is a marvel of energy efficiency. It offers a 35% energy consumption reduction and a 48% CO2 emission savings compared to drawing power off the grid. These reductions are estimated to save $600 to $715 per year on their power bills. The Ene-Farm does cost about $33,000 though. At that price, it would take about 46 years to recoup your costs, but it's not cheap saving the environment.

The units will be available starting April 1, 2011 from Tokyo Gas.

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Con Edison's Pushing Solar in the Big City

Posted by The Power Generation Blog on Friday, February 18, 2011

New York City is the largest city in America. To go along with its giant infrastructure needs, it's also the most demanding city to power. This need has forced city residents to be especially resourceful when it comes to getting enough precious power to all five boroughs.

During 2010, New York (and neighboring Westchester County) added 4.5 megawatts of renewable solar energy through power supplier Con Edison. There were 203 solar projects added to the grid in 2010, a 51% increase over the previous year's solar projects.

Overall, there are 8.5 megawatts of solar power pouring into Con Edison's grid. The solar energy is concentrated predominantly in Queens and Westchester. The energy company has been able to make so many inroads in solar energy by means of a $181 million federal funding reward from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.


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Wind Warriors Fighting Jobs and the Environment In Maine

Posted by The Power Generation Blog on Thursday, February 17, 2011

Grassroots efforts fall all along the political spectrum. Sometimes people protest bilious coal factories. Others protest windmills.

There's a recent story about a group of "wind warriors" in Freeport, Maine who are against the growing wind industry centered in rural Maine. At the Mountaintop Industrial Wind Legislative Summit, 100 "wind warriors" descended to protest the growth of wind power generation.

This quixotic quest is spurred on by a litany of complaints about wind power. There are those who don't want the noise and bother of wind-related construction projects. Others are against the noise generated by wind turbines. And some "wind warriors" don't like the impact wind turbines make on the landscape and property values.

Exactly what the "wind warriors" are protesting, though, is a green energy initiative that has already created more than $1 billion in investment in Maine. More than a third of that has gone directly to workers and local employers.

The aims of the "wind warriors" are narrow, short sighted, and selfish. You could characterize their take on wind power as among the common reactions to any building and development projects: Not In My Backyard. One so-called warrior reacted to these claims by saying, "The mountains of Maine are not in anybody’s backyard. They are, in fact, the character of the state of Maine." But what better character could there be than preserving the environment by ramping up green energy, and creating jobs and income for the local economy?
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Can China Learn From Europe's Solar Successes (And Failures)?

Posted by The Power Generation Blog on Wednesday, February 16, 2011

By pursuing a dedicated strategy for modernization, China has been emerging among the top industrialized nations in population, manufacturing, GDP, and many other indicators of economic success. Energy production is no different.

A recent story in Bloomberg laid out China's plan to make a big splash in the solar energy industry. The Chinese government is going to model its system after Europe, spending the next year studying European countries like Germany.

The chairman of the Solar Photovoltaic Committee of China’s Renewable Energy Society expressed his interest in learning from Germany. The European countries have been making great strides in solar energy, gaining more than $65 billion in investment for the year 2010.

Many European countries—and America—have tried spur growth in alternate energies like solar through incentives and other economic devices. But economic ups and downs have rendered subsidies somewhat ineffective in creating growth. China began offering solar energy subsidies in 2009, though it canceled 39 solar energy projects, as well. Hopefully, China—and the rest of the world—will be able to figure out how to properly spur solar power growth. Its learning-based approach is heartening.

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Will Regulation Help The Environment--Or Eventually Harm It?

Posted by The Power Generation Blog on Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Despite the fact that the world would cease to function without it, the industrial power generation industry has always faced a few hurdles. The latest set-back for industrial power generation has popped up in Chicago, at the Fisk Generating Station.

The Fisk Generating Station is 108 years old, so clearly it's not among the most cutting-edge or cleantech facilities in the world. Area residents have a decent claim to make when they cite high rates of asthma and respiratory issues; Midwest Generation, who owns the Fisk Generating Station, claims they've been cleaning up their act since taking over in 1999.

On the one hand, yes, the residents are right that old facilities need to be kept up to modern environmental stands. But on the other hand, shutting down a plant doesn't guarantee a better environment. Since it takes long years to build new power generation facilities, residents would only face higher energy costs. The ordinance many residents are pushing for would call for a drastic reduction in particulate matter and CO2 emissions--however, again, either the cost of cleaning up the plants would be passed onto residents, or the ownership would pursue a more profitable business elsewhere. It wouldn't necessarily result in any better living situation; in fact, higher prices and less competition may result in residents having to rely on even less savory power suppliers.

The best course of action may be to work on building investment and development interest in building more cleantech, environmentally friendly power generation options while still relying on conventional coal for the moment. Increasing regulation may help the environment in the immediate situation, but it could stifle development and innovation in the future, which would ultimately be a tragedy for everyone.

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