Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Can BIO Create More Jobs?

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Continuing to build advanced biofuels production capacity can create thousands of new jobs throughout the economy, contributing to U.S. economic growth and increasing energy security. The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) today welcomed the release of a new report by Bio Economic Research Associates (bio-era™), U.S. Economic Impact of Advanced Biofuels Production: Perspectives to 2030, which analyzes how growth of an advanced biofuels industry will impact four areas critical to U.S. economic recovery, including job creation, economic output, energy security and investment opportunity.

Brent Erickson, executive vice president of BIO’s Industrial and Environmental Section, said, “The advanced biofuels industry could create 29,000 new jobs and create $5.5 billion in economic growth over the next three years, as companies continue to deploy the technology. As the advanced biofuels industry grows to the levels established in the Renewable Fuel Standard, it will create more than 800,000 new jobs throughout the economy. These new jobs will be in sectors of the economy that have experienced the highest rates of job losses over the past year, including agriculture and construction.”

The new study’s results include:

Direct job creation from advanced biofuels production could reach 29,000 by 2012, 94,000 by 2016, and 190,000 by 2022.

Total job creation, accounting for economic multiplier effects, could reach 123,000 in 2012, 383,000 in 2016, and 807,000 by 2022.

Direct economic output from the advanced biofuels industry is estimated to rise to $5.5 billion in 2012, $17.4 billion in 2016, and $37 billion by 2022.

Taking into consideration the indirect and induced economic effects, the total economic output effect for the U.S. economy is estimated to be $20.2 billion in 2012, $64.2 billion in 2016, and $148.7 billion in 2022.

Advanced biofuels production under the RFS could reduce U.S. petroleum imports by approximately $5.5 billion in 2012, $23 billion in 2016, and nearly $70 billion by 2022.
The cumulative total of avoided petroleum imports over the period 2010–2022 would exceed $350 billion.

Erickson continued, “Increasing advanced biofuel production to a modest target of 45 billion gallons by 2030, which can be achieved by maintaining the same pace of technology development, could create more than 400,000 jobs within the industry and 1.9 million new jobs throughout the economy. Further, it could provide an economic boost of $300 billion. Continued federal support can help the industry quicken the development of the necessary technology and weather the risk of oil price volatility.

“The biotechnology and advanced biofuels industry is working to make commercial production of cellulosic biofuels a reality in the near future. There are more than 30 existing and planned cellulosic biorefineries set to begin production of advanced biofuels within the next few years. Many other projects and promising technologies are on the drawing board. These pioneer cellulosic biofuel facilities will prove that the technology works and that the industry can meet and exceed the goals established in the Renewable Fuel Standard. As oil prices rise, the need for domestically produced advanced biofuels should remain a priority for U.S. policymakers and consumers.”

A map of these cellulosic biofuel facilities is available on the web at http://biofuelsandclimate.wordpress.com/about/.

The Advanced Biofuels & Climate Change Information Center presents the latest commentary and data on the environmental, greenhouse gas and other impacts of biofuel production. Drop in and add your comments, at http://biofuelsandclimate.wordpress.com/.

BIO represents more than 1,200 biotechnology companies, academic institutions, state biotechnology centers and related organizations across the United States and in more than 30 other nations. BIO members are involved in the research and development of innovative healthcare, agricultural, industrial and environmental biotechnology products. BIO also produces the BIO International Convention, the world’s largest gathering of the biotechnology industry, along with industry-leading investor and partnering meetings held around the world.

Upcoming BIO Events

BIO-Europe Spring March 16-18, 2009Milan, Italy
BIO IP Counsels' Committee Conference March 25–27, 2009Phoenix, AZ
BIO National Venture Conference March 31–April 1, 2009Boston, MA
BIO Windhover 2009 April 13-15, 2009New York, New York
BIO-LES Business Development Basics Course May 15–17, 2009Atlanta, GA
BIO-LES Advanced Business Development Course May 15–17, 2009Atlanta, GA
BIO Executive Presentation Workshop May 17, 2009Atlanta, GA
2009 BIO International Convention May 18-21, 2009Atlanta, GA
BioEquity Europe June 9-10, 2009Munich, Germany
World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology & Bioprocessing July 19-22, 2009Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Hybrid Energy Group Gets A Special Visit

DENVER, CO--(Marketwire - February 19, 2009) - Amid the hoopla at Tuesday's President Barack Obama's visit to Denver for the signing of the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, a Colorado renewable energy investment firm took pride in a job well done.
Denver-based Hybrid Energy Group (HEG) is the owner and operator of the solar array on the roof of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, which President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden toured Tuesday during the bill-signing ceremony.

"It was a spectacular event for Colorado and the renewable energy industry, and we are pleased that our solar array was the backdrop to this important moment in history," said HEG President, Woody Beardsley. "The stimulus package will double the amount of renewable energy produced over the next three years and that bodes well for clean energy projects across America."

The $720,000 museum array includes 465 solar panels generating 134,500 kilowatt hours of electricity on average -- enough to power 30-35 homes. Under the terms of a twenty-year agreement, Hybrid Energy Group owns and operates the photovoltaic array, selling the solar electricity it generates to the museum. Namaste Solar was the installer on the project.

"We structured the development and ownership of the array so that an investment in solar energy was much more attractive to the museum," said Beardsley. "By working with HEG, the museum was able to acquire renewable energy for less than if it had purchased the array on its own."

The Museum solar project is the first in a broader Community Solar Program HEG is unveiling to provide solar power to non-profit institutions and governmental entities. "Our business model is designed specifically to benefit community institutions like museums, schools, and hospitals," said Ted Ramsey, HEG's Director of Energy Services. "These are community entities that are naturally committed to the President's long-term vision of health and sustainability, so we've designed our projects to pass as much value as possible through to them as system hosts."
The company is pleased to be achieving success during the economic downturn and recently closed a second financing round. "We're bullish on renewables," said Beardsley. "From what we can tell of the Stimulus Bill, more people are going to be in a position to take advantage of solar investment opportunities than were yesterday at this time."

About Hybrid Energy

Founded in 2005 to facilitate investment in renewable energy resources, Hybrid Energy Group is in the process of expanding their Community Solar Program for commercial, governmental, and non-profit entities and expects to develop an additional Megawatt (1mW) of solar power by the end of 2009. For additional information about HEG and the Community Solar Program contact, Woody Beardsley or Ted Ramsey at 303-495-2216 or visit http://www.hybridenergygroup.com/

Wind Power On a Large Scale

ScienceDaily (Feb. 23, 2009) — Research by TU Delft shows that Dutch power stations are able to cope at any time in the future with variations in demand for electricity and supply of wind power, as long as use is made of up-to-date wind forecasts. PhD candidate Bart Ummels also demonstrates that there is no need for energy storage facilities. Ummels will receive his PhD on this topic on Thursday 26 February.

Wind is variable and can only partially be predicted. The large-scale use of wind power in the electricity system is therefore tricky. PhD candidate Bart Ummels MSc. investigated the consequences of using a substantial amount of wind power within the Dutch electricity system. He used simulation models, such as those developed by transmission system operator TenneT, to pinpoint potential problems (and solutions).

His results indicate that wind power requires greater flexibility from existing power stations. Sometimes larger reserves are needed, but more frequently power stations will have to decrease production in order to make room for wind-generated power. It is therefore essential to continually recalculate the commitment of power stations using the latest wind forecasts. This reduces potential forecast errors and enables wind power to be integrated more efficiently.

Ummels looked at wind power up to 12 GW, 8 GW of which at sea, which is enough to meet about one third of the Netherlands’ demand for electricity. Dutch power stations are able to cope at any time in the future with variations in demand for electricity and supply of wind power, as long as use is made of up-to-date, improved wind forecasts. It is TenneT’s task to integrate large-scale wind power into the electricity grid. Lex Hartman, TenneT’s Director of Corporate Development: “in a joint effort, TU Delft and TenneT further developed the simulation model that can be used to study the integration of large-scale wind power. The results show that in the Netherlands we can integrate between 4 GW and 10 GW into the grid without needing any additional measures.

Surpluses
Ummels: ‘Instead of the common question ‘What do we do when the wind isn’t blowing?’, the more relevant question is ‘Where do we put all the electricity if it is very windy at night?’. This is because, for instance, a coal-fired power station cannot simply be turned off. One solution is provided by the international trade in electricity, because other countries often can use the surplus. Moreover, a broadening of the ‘opening hours’ of the international electricity market benefits wind power. At the moment, utilities determine one day ahead how much electricity they intend to purchase or sell abroad. Wind power can be better used if the time difference between the trade and the wind forecast is smaller.’

No energy storage
Ummels’ research also demonstrates that energy storage is not required. The results indicate that the international electricity market is a promising and cheaper solution for the use of wind power.
Making power stations more flexible is also better than storage. The use of heating boilers, for instance, means that combined heat and power plants operate more flexibly, which can consequently free up capacity for wind power at night.
The use of wind power in the Dutch electricity system could lead to a reduction in production costs of EUR1.5 billion annually and a reduction in CO2 emissions of 19 million tons a year.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Harvesting Hydrogen From Wood

ScienceDaily (Feb. 17, 2009) — Tomorrow's fuel-cell vehicles may be powered by enzymes that consume cellulose from woodchips or grass and exhale hydrogen. Researchers at Virginia Tech, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), and the University of Georgia have produced hydrogen gas pure enough to power a fuel cell by mixing 14 enzymes, one coenzyme, cellulosic materials from nonfood sources, and water heated to about 90 degrees (32 degrees Celsius).

The group announced three advances from their "one pot" process: 1) a novel combination of enzymes, 2) an increased hydrogen generation rate -- to as fast as natural hydrogen fermentation, and 3) a chemical energy output greater than the chemical energy stored in sugars – the highest hydrogen yield reported from cellulosic materials. "In addition to converting the chemical energy from the sugar, the process also converts the low-temperature thermal energy into high-quality hydrogen energy – like Prometheus stealing fire," said Percival Zhang, assistant professor of biological systems engineering in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Virginia Tech.

"It is exciting because using cellulose instead of starch expands the renewable resource for producing hydrogen to include biomass," said Jonathan Mielenz, leader of the Bioconversion Science and Technology Group at ORNL.

The researchers used cellulosic materials isolated from wood chips, but crop waste or switchgrass could also be used. "If a small fraction – 2 or 3 percent – of yearly biomass production were used for sugar-to-hydrogen fuel cells for transportation, we could reach transportation fuel independence," Zhang said. (He added that the 3 percent figure is for global transportation needs. The U.S. would actually need to convert about 10 percent of biomass – which would be 1.3 billion tons of usable biomass).

The research is supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research; Zhang's DuPont Young Professor Award, and the U.S. Department of Energy

DuPage Habitat for Humanity Urges Us To Go Green

WHEATON, Ill., Feb. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- DuPage Habitat for Humanity, ComEd, and College of DuPage today announced a green partnership in the development of a $3 million Habitat for Humanity residential subdivision in DuPage County. The new homes, which will be built in the Pioneer Prairie neighborhood of suburban West Chicago, will allow 11 limited-income families to purchase attainable, sustainable homes.

ComEd is playing a central role in providing energy efficiency expertise for construction of the homes of Pioneer Prairie and the working families who will occupy them. Through an innovative new class called Sustainable Design Initiative taught at College of DuPage, architecture and construction management students will work alongside industry professionals and technical experts, like the ComEd Energy Doctor, to evaluate green building strategies for the 11 forthcoming Habitat homes - and for DuPage Habitat for Humanity in the long-term.

"ComEd is committed to helping all our customers become smart energy consumers, especially in the current economic climate. That's why we're suggesting simple steps our customers can take to shrink their carbon footprints - and their energy costs," said Anne Pramaggiore, executive vice president of Customer Operations, Regulatory, and External Affairs, ComEd.

"This creative collaboration allows ComEd to expand our energy efficiency education efforts by providing technical expertise to DuPage Habitat for Humanity and the students of Sustainable Design Initiative."

At the semester's conclusion, the students of Sustainable Design Initiative will present a plan to DuPage Habitat for Humanity detailing money-saving green solutions available to all homeowners and home developers. The plan will offer a complete cost-benefit analysis of energy efficiency recommendations for home construction, recycling, and landscaping.

Later this year, DuPage Habitat for Humanity, ComEd, and College of DuPage plan to publicize the students' findings through a series of free community events designed to inform area residents of low- and no-cost options for managing energy costs and reducing energy usage.

"This has been a great opportunity for our students to see the real-world applications of sustainable design principles," said Jane Ostergaard, Architecture Coordinator, College of DuPage. "Working with Habitat has pushed the students to look carefully at the cost benefits and consequences of the recommendations they are preparing."

In June, DuPage Habitat for Humanity will break ground on Pioneer Prairie, a three-acre residential subdivision of 11 detached, single-family homes. The neighborhood is located at the intersection of Sherman and Pomeroy streets in West Chicago. In addition to the new homes, the development will provide many benefits to local residents and the surrounding community, including new infrastructure, increased home values, and enhanced aesthetic appeal thanks to new sidewalks, parkway trees, streetscapes, and an expanded, revitalized Pioneer Park.

"DuPage Habitat offers families a hand up, not a hand out. Habitat's model for community-centered development of affordable homes offers community benefits, infrastructure improvements and now energy efficiency solutions through partnerships with local families, donors and volunteers that increase the supply of much-needed, sustainable, attainable homes in DuPage County," said Sarah Brachle, executive director of DuPage Habitat for Humanity.

DuPage Habitat for Humanity builds and sells homes to qualified hard-working, limited-income families. Families must earn sufficient income to pay their 30-year mortgages to DuPage Habitat. In addition, homeowners complete 250 "sweat equity" hours building their own home and their neighbors' homes, and participating in finance, budgeting, and home repair classes. All Habitat homeowners pay local property taxes and utilities.

The next homeowner application session will be held at 10 a.m. Feb. 28 at the DuPage County Building, located at 421 N. County Farm Road in Wheaton. The session, offered in English and Spanish, is a requirement for application to the program.

DuPage Habitat for Humanity has raised $2.5 million in philanthropic, government, and community support for the 11 Pioneer Prairie homes and five scattered-site rehabbed homes. The donors are not only funding the development of 11 new energy-efficient homes, they are creating a 30-year annuity that continues to help fund affordable home construction in DuPage County for years to come. Donors include: ComEd, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, Ambitech Engineering, Matrex Exhibits, Tyndale House Publishers, Air-Rite Heating and Cooling, Goldman Sachs, Painters and Allied Trades Union, Mark Fessler, Seyfarth Shaw LLP, and Showalter Roofing.

Supporting the development of Pioneer Prairie contributes to Exelon 2020, the comprehensive corporate strategy of ComEd's parent company, Exelon, to reduce, offset, or displace more than 15 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year by 2020.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

NASA Invests In Methane-Power With New Rocket

On January 16, 2007, at a facility on the Mojave Desert, NASA tested an engine with methane as its fuel.

With methane abundantly available in the solar system, it is considered a better fuel to use than conventional fuels such as liquid oxygen (LOX)/liquid hydrogen (LH2) and solid chemicals—what is used on the engines of the Space Shuttle.

Methane is a chemical compound with the molecular formula CH4. Although this test of the methane-powered engine is in the very early stages of development, such an engine could be key for successful exploration of the outer solar system.

NASA contractor Alliant Techsystems manufactured the main engine in the test. The engine had a thrust of 7,500 pounds. Alliant (ATK), spun off from Honeywell in 1990, is a major U.S. defense and aerospace contractor. With headquarters in Edina, Minnesota, ATK Launch Systems Group (formerly known as ATK-Thiokol) will build the Ares I launch vehicle for the new NASA Project Constellation, which replaces the Space Shuttle fleet.

XCOR Aerospace, which partnered with ATK on the methane test rocket, is a private rocket engine and spaceflight development company. It is headquartered in Mojave, California, within the Mojave Desert. Another of its activities is development of the reusable suborbital spaceplane Xerus for use with tourists and researchers.

NASA scientists and engineers are working on a LOX/methane engine for future missions in the solar system. Burning methane in the presence of oxygen (O2) produces carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H2O): CH4 + 2O2 → CO2 + 2H2O.

Methane, instead of LH2, is very advantageous because it is lighter to store (due to it being able to be stored at lower temperatures and in smaller containers, being denser than hydrogen), thus, cheaper to use. Plus, methane is much safer to use.

One of the main difficulties with using methane with oxygen is that methane needs an ignition source (some current fuels spontaneously combust with liquid oxygen, such as the fuel used in the solid rocket boosters of the Space Shuttle, which is called Ammonium Percholoate Composite Propellant, or APCP). Thus, NASA is working on a reliable ignition source that can be used in the extreme temperatures of outer space. [last two paragraphs modified 5-7-2007 per comment #1]
However, methane’s biggest plus may be that it can be made on other planets and celestial bodies. For example, on Saturn’s moon Titan, methane lakes and rivers contain abundant amounts of liquid methane. A methane-powered spacecraft, manned or unmanned, could land on Titan, explore the moon, and than gather enough methane to return to the Earth. Rather than send fuel for one round trip, only one-half the fuel would be needed for the outgoing part of the trip. The other half of the fuel could be obtained on the moon, itself.

Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune all contain methane, which opens up the possibilities of grand exploration missions to these planets with methane-powered engines.
Go to NASA’s “Methane Blast” website to view the video on the methane-powered rocket test.

How Can Hamsters Create More Energy?

ScienceDaily (Feb. 14, 2009) — Could hamsters help solve the world's energy crisis? Probably not, but a hamster wearing a power-generating jacket is doing its own small part to provide a new and renewable source of electricity.

And using the same nanotechnology, Georgia Institute of Technology researchers have also generated electrical current from a tapping finger – moving the users of BlackBerry devices, cell phones and other handhelds one step closer to powering them with their own typing.

"Using nanotechnology, we have demonstrated ways to convert even irregular biomechanical energy into electricity," said Zhong Lin Wang, a Regent's professor in the Georgia Tech School of Materials Science and Engineering. "This technology can convert any mechanical disturbance into electrical energy."

The demonstrations of harnessing biomechanical energy to produce electricity were reported February 11 in the online version of the American Chemical Society journal Nano Letters.
The study demonstrates that nanogenerators – which Wang's team has been developing since 2005 – can be driven by irregular mechanical motion, such as the vibration of vocal cords, flapping of a flag in the breeze, tapping of fingers or hamsters running on exercise wheels. Scavenging such low-frequency energy from irregular motion is significant because much biomechanical energy is variable, unlike the regular mechanical motion used to generate most large-scale electricity today.

The nanogenerator power is produced by the piezoelectric effect, a phenomenon in which certain materials – such as zinc oxide wires – produce electrical charges when they are bent and then relaxed. The wires are between 100 and 800 nanometers in diameter, and between 100 and 500 microns in length.

To make their generators, Wang's research team encapsulated single zinc oxide wires in a flexible polymer substrate, the wires anchored at each end with an electrical contact, and with a Shottky Barrier at one end to control current flow. They then attached one of these single-wire generators to the joint area of an index finger, or combined four of the single-wire devices on a "yellow jacket" worn by the hamster.

The running and scratching of the hamster – and the tapping of the finger – flexed the substrate in which the nanowires were encapsulated, producing tiny amounts of alternating electrical current. Integrating four nanogenerators on the hamster's jacket generated up to up to 0.5 nanoamps; less current was produced by the single generator on the finger.
Wang estimates that powering a handheld device such as a Bluetooth headset would require at least thousands of these single-wire generators, which could be built up in three-dimensional modules.

Beyond the finger-tapping and hamster-running, Wang believe his modules could be implanted into the body to harvest energy from such sources as muscle movements or pulsating blood vessels. In the body, they could be used to power nanodevices to measure blood pressure or other vital signs.

Because the devices produce alternating current, synchronizing the four generators on the hamster's back was vital to maximizing current production. Without the synchronization, current flow from one generator could cancel out the flow from another.

The research team – which also included Rusen Yang, Yong Qin, Cheng Li and Guang Zhu – solved that problem by using a substrate that was flexible in only one direction, forcing the generators to flex together. Still, there was substantial variation in the output from each generator. The differences result from variations in the amount of flexing and from inconsistencies in the hand-built devices.

"The nanogenerators have to be synchronized, with the output of all of them coordinated so the current adds up constructively," Wang noted. "Through engineering, we would expect this can be resolved in the future through improved design and more consistent manufacturing."

To ensure that the current measured was actually produced by the generators, the researchers took several precautions. For instance, they substituted carbon fibers – which are not piezoelectric – for the zinc oxide nanowires and measured no output electrical signal.

The research team encountered a number of obstacles related to its four-legged subjects. Wang's team first tried to outfit a rat with the power-generating jacket, but found that the creature wasn't very interested in running.

At the suggestion of Wang's daughter, Melissa, the researchers found that hamsters are more active creatures – but only after 11 p.m. They had to experiment with a jacket configuration that was tight enough to stay on and to wrinkle the nanogenerator substrate – but not so tight as to make the hamster uncomfortable.

"We believe this is the first demonstration of using a live animal to produce current with nanogenerators," Wang added. "This study shows that we really can harness human or animal motion to generate current."

The research was supported by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Air Force, and the Emory-Georgia Tech Center for Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence.

BP Solar Contract With Comverge

EAST HANOVER, N.J., Feb. 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Comverge, Inc. (Nasdaq: COMV), a leading provider of smart grid demand response and energy efficiency solutions, announced today that BP Solar has selected Comverge to develop data acquisition and deployment solutions using Comverge's recently announced Apollo(R) integrated demand response platform, advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) enabling technology, and information command center technology. The award is part of BP Solar's DOE sponsored project known as Solar America Initiative: "Reaching Grid Parity Using BP Solar Crystalline Silicon Technology".
The new contract with BP Solar calls for Comverge to integrate its advanced metering infrastructure technology utilizing its advanced PowerPortal(R) In-Home Display. Developing interfaces that provide solar production and other system information, BP Solar will have the option to integrate demand response using ZigBee(R) enabled intelligent thermostats and digital control units. Onsite systems data will be acquired and communicated offsite for performance monitoring, control, utility and customer information portals.
Robert M. Chiste, chairman, president and CEO of Comverge said, "We are pleased to be chosen by BP Solar for this important development initiative. We believe that the selection of Comverge is tangible recognition of the value of our integrated clean energy AMI enabled and solar power solutions, including our recently announced Apollo Platform(R) and PowerPortal In-Home Display." Mr. Chiste continued, "It is becoming generally recognized that, because of the uneven nature of solar and wind generation, demand response programs can act in concert with these alternative energy supplies to 'level' capacity. This relationship with BP Solar is an important step in Comverge's strategy to facilitate the integration of alternative energy solutions as part of the nation's drive toward energy independence."