Nuclear Energy On The Rise In The Phillipines?

MANILA: The Philippine government has officially restarted its nuclear energy development program after it entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Korean government for a feasibility study on the possible revival of the mothballed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP).

In a statement, the National Power Corp. said it had signed the MOU with Korea Electric and Power Co (KEPCO) last November 25 in Cebu City.
KEPCO, according to Napocor, is the best partner for this undertaking, as it is well known for its nuclear projects.

The state-run power generation firm added that the nuclear reactor in the BNPP has a “twin sister” in South Korea, the 650-MW Kori 2, commissioned in 1983 and which has been operating since then.

“It is also expressly understood that the signing of the MOU does not give KEPCO any preferential right to future projects or plans that Napocor may undertake on the BNPP. It is clearly understood between Napocor and KEPCO that nothing in the MOU shall be construed as a commitment by the National Power to KEPCO to rehabilitate the BNPP, and that the MOU is non-exclusive,” it said.

Napocor president Froilan Tampinco and KEPCO Philippines president Kang Won Lee signed the MOU, which will be valid for three years.

The agreement will “promote bilateral cooperation in the fields of nuclear power plant operation, maintenance and rehabilitation through the exchange of data and experience, visits and joint work.”

Both parties expect to benefit from “sharing invaluable experience and knowledge to be gained from such cooperation.”

The MOU also covers the exchange of data; activities related to determine the feasibility of the rehabilitation of BNPP; exchange of visits by experts, engineers and technicians in nuclear power generation; and cooperation in nuclear power plant rehabilitation, operation and maintenance and other related business fields.

Based on the agreement, Napocor and KEPCO will conduct various studies, such as those for preparation, planning and implementation of the cooperation project; site survey for the project, subject to the safety and security regulations of Napocor; nuclear legislation, regulation and administration; studies on environmental impact of the project; human resources development related to the project.

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Farm Show Hopes to Shed Light On Cleaner Fuels

HARRISBURG, Pa., Jan. 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Department of Environmental Protection will energize the 2009 Pennsylvania Farm Show with a display that teaches visitors to make the connections between climate change, energy conservation and renewable energy.

"Pennsylvania has made tremendous progress in the past year to increase the production of clean energy, to make it easier for consumers to use energy more wisely, and to find ways to reduce greenhouse gas emission," said acting Environmental Protection Secretary John Hanger. "This engaging Farm Show display highlights how Pennsylvania's progressive energy and climate policies will protect the environment and lead to greater energy independence."

The 400,000 visitors expected to visit the Pennsylvania Farm Show will be invited to "Feel the Power of Energy Conservation" at DEP's display in the Main Hall. Guests can climb aboard a bicycle-powered electric generator to see how much easier it is to power energy-efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs than traditional incandescent lights.

A second human-powered generator in the display will give guests the ability to demonstrate that there are many energy alternatives to fossil fuels.

The DEP display also features an encore appearance of the comically drawn farm animals from last year's "What's Your Carbon Footprint?" display. Pigs, chickens, horses and goats are depicted in everyday human situations that highlight steps people can take to reduce their impact on the environment, especially by reducing energy consumption.

Pennsylvania is now working to draft a climate change mitigation plan that will provide a roadmap for economically reducing the state's greenhouse gas emissions. The effort is the result of Governor Edward G. Rendell signing the Pennsylvania Climate Change Act into law in 2008.

Last year, Governor Rendell also signed into law measures that embody the goals of his Energy Independence Strategy, including a $650 million Alternative Energy Investment Fund to spur the development of alternative and renewable energy sources and help families and small business conserve energy and use it more efficiently; as well as new biofuels mandates and incentives that will add nearly 1 billion gallons of home grown fuel alternatives to in-state supplies and spur additional economic growth.

The Governor also signed legislation putting in place one of the most aggressive electricity conservation programs in the nation that will save power consumers $500 million over the next five years and up to $800 million annually by 2013. The law, Act 129, requires utilities to implement energy conservation plans that will reduce total consumption by 3 percent and peak demand by 4.5 percent during the 100 most expensive hours of the year.

"The cleanest and cheapest unit of energy is the one never used," said Hanger. "Energy efficiency and advanced conservation technologies, coupled with creating an increasing share of electricity from clean sources such as wind and solar power, will help us reduce the potentially devastating effects of climate change and to leave a better, cleaner world to future generations."

Together, Pennsylvania's clean energy and energy conservation programs will spur as much as $3.5 billion in new, private economic development projects from alternative energy companies and will create at least 10,000 good-paying jobs in a rapidly growing industry.

The Pennsylvania Farm Show runs Jan. 10-17 at the Farm Show Complex in Harrisburg. For more information about the Farm Show, visit http://www.farmshow.state.pa.us/.

2009 Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard

Boston, United States [RenewableEnergyWorld.com]

The Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER) has released regulations expanding support for renewable energy and alternative energy technologies mandated by the Green Communities Act, the energy reform legislation that the state enacted last year.

The Green Communities Act called for changes in the state’s Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard (RPS) that would double the rate of increase in the use of new renewable energy, create a new Class II RPS to support the continued operation of older (pre-1998) renewable energy generating facilities. Principal provisions of the regulations include creating two different classes of renewable technologies under the RPS.

RPS Class I Renewables

Geothermal, hydroelectric, and marine and hydro-kinetic (including wave and tidal) energy are now eligible technologies under RPS Class I (in addition to solar and wind technologies), as is algae, as an eligible biomass fuel. In addition, liquid biofuels eligible for RPS Class I are required to meet lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions and other standards set by the Clean Energy Biofuels Act of 2008.Compliance by utilities and other electric suppliers with the RPS requirement will be by purchase of the renewable attributes of electricity generated by eligible renewable energy facilities in the form of Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) or by making an Alternative Compliance Payment (ACP). The ACP rate began at US $50 per megawatt-hour of RPS obligation in 2003 and is currently US $58.58, changing each year with the Consumer Price Index.

RPS Class II Renewables

This new class of RPS, is limited to generation that went online on or before December 31, 1997. Utilities and other electricity suppliers are required to purchase RECs from Class II facilities equal to at least 3.6 percent of sales, or to make ACPs per megawatt-hour to meet the Class II RPS obligation. The initial ACP rate is US $25 per megawatt-hour in 2009, and will be adjusted each year with the Consumer Price Index.

“By increasing our commitment to renewables, ensuring strict carbon emission standards are met before receiving state support, and creating new incentives for efficient power generation such as Combined Heat and Power, the state is taking several important steps down the clean energy highway,” said Sam Krasnow, policy advocate at Environment Northeast.

The new RPS and APS emergency regulations can be found downloaded from the state, which will be holding public hearning on the topic in the coming weeks.

State Wants to Reduce Greehouse Gas Emissions

The state wants to build a $50 million laboratory in Malta to develop and test alternative fuels and other technology to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles.

Gov. David Paterson announced the lab in a Dec. 29 letter to president-elect Barack Obama, requesting billions of dollars in federal infrastructure investments for the state. Paterson said the 80,000-square-foot lab could open within two years if the federal government gives the state $38 million to help build it.

The two-story lab would be built and operated by the state Department of Environmental Conservation. Thirty workers would staff the facility, many of whom already work for the state.
The lab would be located in the Saratoga Technology + Energy Park in Malta, 10 miles south of Saratoga Springs. The New York State Energy and Research Development Authority operates the tech park.

In his letter to Obama, Paterson said the lab is a key way “to keep the United States competitive in the field of energy research and development.”

The facility will test light- and heavy-duty vehicles and develop technology to retrofit older vehicles to cut down on their pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Scientists at the lab will research a variety of fuels, such as hydrogen fuel cells.
Proponents say the lab will benefit the area’s education sector and the area’s energy and transportation sectors.

For instance, students at Hudson Valley Community College in Troy will receive training at the facility to “help ensure that the technicians entering the work force are equipped to address the very latest in motor vehicle technologies,” said Lori Severino, spokeswoman for the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

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Arizona Schools Might Implement Geothermal Technology

by Alex Bloom - Dec. 22, 2008 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic

Some school districts in Arizona are considering geothermal energy to reduce utility costs. Earlier this month, the Cave Creek Unified School District governing board approved the drilling of a test well at its high-school campus.

K.M. Drilling, a Camp Verde firm, will drill a 250-foot test well on Jan. 10 on the campus at Cactus Shadows High School at no cost to the district. Corgan Associates, a Phoenix architecture firm, has spoken with the Paradise Valley Unified School District about a similar project.
Robert Erickson, an architect with Corgan, said that the firm has spoken with many school districts. Erickson and Don Penn, engineer with Texas-based Image Engineering Group Inc., gave a presentation to the Cave Creek governing board at its Nov. 18 meeting. The district, Erickson said, could be among the first in the state to try geothermal.

"You can lead this state out of the prehistoric age in some respects and get on board with some of these energy savings," Erickson told the board.
The system works by attaching geothermal heat pumps to a series of buried plastic pipes. The pipes circulate water in closed-loop systems. During the winter, the ground's heat warms the circulating water and transfers it to the pumps. The process is reversed in the summer, with the pumps sending heat back into the ground.
Wells can be drilled under parking lots or green areas. Multiple wells are needed for a single building.

"If we can look for energy resources that will eventually save the district money and be more energy-efficient for our schools, then it makes sense," said Casey Perkins, a member of the Cave Creek board.

Perkins said that she first would need to see a cost analysis and that the plan would need community input. She added that geothermal is not the only cost-saving measure under consideration. Penn estimated that retrofitting the science building at Cactus Shadows would cost $250,000 to $350,000.

Corgan is talking to districts around the state about geothermal energy to lower utility costs. Whiteriver Unified School District in Navajo County is taking steps to retrofit a middle school.

"We'd love to see someone else try it in the Valley and be able to collect some data from that process," said Jim Lee, Paradise Valley's assistant superintendent for support services and planning.

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Coffee For Fuel?

ScienceDaily (Dec. 15, 2008) — Researchers in Nevada are reporting that waste coffee grounds can provide a cheap, abundant, and environmentally friendly source of biodiesel fuel for powering cars and trucks.

In the new study, Mano Misra, Susanta Mohapatra, and Narasimharao Kondamudi note that the major barrier to wider use of biodiesel fuel is lack of a low-cost, high quality source, or feedstock, for producing that new energy source. Spent coffee grounds contain between 11 and 20 percent oil by weight. That's about as much as traditional biodiesel feedstocks such as rapeseed, palm, and soybean oil.

Growers produce more than 16 billion pounds of coffee around the world each year. The used or "spent" grounds remaining from production of espresso, cappuccino, and plain old-fashioned cups of java, often wind up in the trash or find use as soil conditioner. The scientists estimated, however, that spent coffee grounds can potentially add 340 million gallons of biodiesel to the world's fuel supply.

To verify it, the scientists collected spent coffee grounds from a multinational coffeehouse chain and separated the oil. They then used an inexpensive process to convert 100 percent of the oil into biodiesel.

The resulting coffee-based fuel — which actually smells like java — had a major advantage in being more stable than traditional biodiesel due to coffee's high antioxidant content, the researchers say. Solids left over from the conversion can be converted to ethanol or used as compost, the report notes. The scientists estimate that the process could make a profit of more than $8 million a year in the U.S. alone. They plan to develop a small pilot plant to produce and test the experimental fuel within the next six to eight months.

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Fuel Cells Made From Hydrogen May Be A Solution 21st Century Energy Challenges

Using hydrogen as an energy vector and in fuel cells may provide solutions to the specific energy challenges of the 21st century. Hydrogen production is currently based on the catalytic properties of “noble” metals such as platinum. For the first time, researchers at the joint Laboratoire de chimie et biologie des métaux (metal chemistry and biology, CEA-CNRS-Université Joseph Fourier, CEA's Grenoble site) have succeeded in producing hydrogen with a molecular system that doesn't require a noble metal catalyst. This outcome has important implications for the financial future of hydrogen energy.

Research to improve hydrogen production is based largely on chemical reactions observed during photosynthesis in plants. More specifically, certain micro-organisms produce hydrogen from water with the help of light. To reproduce and adapt these processes, researchers have developed molecular systems capable of both photosensitisation, which captures light energy, and catalysis, which uses the energy collected to liberate hydrogen from water.

To date, all the technological systems developed to produce or use hydrogen rely on noble metals such as...