Green Tech

DENVER--The Democratic Party has boasted that its convention here will be "the most environmentally-sustainable" gathering in the party's history, complete with a director of sustainability, low-power lighting in some areas, and calculations of carbon footprints.

Some of the goals include diverting 85 percent of waste that would normally go to a landfill, finding hundreds of people to sort waste into recycling-compost-landfill containers, and devising what The Wall Street Journal described as "lean 'n' green" catering guidelines that say food described thusly must not be fried and shall contain three of the following colors: red, green, yellow, blue/purple, and white.

That was the claim. And it has worked to a large extent: a troika of trash containers (again, recycling, compost, and landfill) dot the convention complex, even in areas that aren't officially part of the event. Drinking straws are made from corn and biodegradable. Room keys for hotels are made of wood. Delegates are buying carbon offsets.

But reality doesn't always match expectations. Bikes aren't permitted inside the convention's security perimeter, so golf carts and other vehicles are used. The wooden card keys proved buggy, and some were replaced with more-reliable plastic. Fried mini-donuts were prominently on sale inside the Pepsi Center. Party VIPs and celebrities told their decidedly non-green town cars and GMC Yukon XL mega-SUVs--rented from limo provider A Class Above Transportation--to idle, with engines and air conditioning on, in the nearby pickup area. (What self-respecting conference-goer wants to climb into a GMC Yukon when it's a toasty 93 degrees in the shade?)

Plus, a gathering of tens of thousands of people (and perhaps 70,000 for Barack Obama's Thursday acceptance speech) generate a whopping amount of trash. Even if it's sorted, recycling Obama-Biden signs takes energy, as does trucking in what the Journal reported to be 900 volunteers to monitor waste cans and perform the trash-separation, thereby taking them away from tasks that might be more productive.

Let us stipulate that the Democratic Party, perhaps because it was good marketing or perhaps because it was a sound principle, made an effort to promote recycling here. But whopping huge mounds of trash remain unavoidable--and the presence of idling SUVs--show that the concept remains more of a slogan than reality. (Then again, probably the only way to hold a "green" convention is to do it entirely over the Internet.)

These and the other photos were taken at the Democratic convention near the Pepsi Center. When you have tens of thousands of people, huge mounds of trash are inevitable.

(Credit: Declan McCullagh/CNET News)

(Credit: Declan McCullagh/CNET News)

(Credit: Declan McCullagh/CNET News)

(Credit: Declan McCullagh/CNET News)

(Credit: Declan McCullagh/CNET News)

(Credit: Declan McCullagh/CNET News)

General Electric's wind energy division is trying to find a "Goldilocks" turbine design, one that's not too big and not too small.

Like other wind manufacturers, GE is benefiting from booming demand for wind turbines in Europe and in the U.S., even with the possibility of a renewable-energy tax credit lapsing later this year.

A fan blade for a GE aircraft engine made of carbon under development at GE's Niskayuna, N.Y., lab. GE is translating work done on materials for engines to turbine blades.

(Credit: Martin LaMonica/CNET News)

Still, the rapid expansion is being throttled by high prices of steel and other commodities, making wind power more expensive.

So instead of making bigger and bigger machines, manufacturers are trying to squeeze more energy from conventionally sized wind turbines.

That will be done by using alternative materials, better electronics, and shaping turbine blades to better capture the wind, said Stephane Renou, who manages research and development for General Electric's wind technology platform.

"The optimal point is changing...and going bigger is not the answer," Renou said. "Turbines in the two or three megawatt zone are the most efficient and the best cost per kilowatt."

A 2 megawatt or 3 megawatt wind turbine is still large. The tower on a 2.5 megawatt machine can stand nearly 330 feet high.

But making 5 megawatt or 6 megawatt turbines, as some off-shore turbine makers are doing, also means more raw materials, notably steel, which drives up the cost. The logistics of delivering and assembling these massive components can add to costs as well.

To get more power from the same footprint, GE is looking at a variety of technologies, said Renou, who oversees development at four GE wind research centers around the world.

"I see a lot more technology going into each of the components, especially the blades," he said. "The blades will look more funky and twisted to get better performance."

By adding more carbon composite to turbine blades, GE can add 16 feet to their length, which translates into a significant boost of energy.

Although it's four times more expensive than fiberglass, carbon also gives blades more flexibility, allowing them to operate at higher wind speeds.

GE is also working on electronics controls to optimize performance and sound level of entire wind farms, Renou said.

A 2.5 megawatt turbine--a size GE intends to stick with.

(Credit: GE)

Limits in transmission line capacity are a barrier to both wind and solar energy. Wind farms and solar plants are typically best placed in remote areas, far from the areas on the coast where demand for electricity is highest.

One of GE's research teams is developing software for modeling how to best place turbines in a wind farm while another is working on the electronic controls to get wind power fed into the grid most effectively.

Overall, Renou said that wind technology is developing quickly and is getting more competitive on a price-per-watt basis with natural gas generators, which themselves are going up in price.

But perhaps just as significant, having a range of materials and technologies to work with gives GE more flexibility in how to assemble a turbine. Supply chain disruptions have contributed to product shortages and project delays.

"We're working on supply-chain flexibility by providing different technology options," Renou said. "It's all about having options at this point. We will structure things to have all the raw materials at the right costs."

One area that GE's wind labs is not pursuing aggressively is energy storage. A handful of companies and utilities are looking at truck-sized batteries or underground compressed-air storage to incorporate renewable energy more reliably.

But Renou said that storage attached to wind turbines is not likely to happen in the next two years. Instead, beefed-up transmission lines, along with smarter power-grid management, could push wind to make up 10 percent of power generation, up from less than 1 percent now.

"The grid is a fantastic source of energy storage. Wind variability can be handled by the grid and grid management," he said. "It's more about policy and grid development."

Update at 3:22 p.m. PT: Text of first caption corrected.

Nanosolar, a maker of thin-film solar panels, said that it has raised $300 million to accelerate production of solar-power facilities in Berlin and San Jose, Calif.

The round of funding, which was completed this spring but announced Wednesday by Nanosolar CEO Martin Roscheisen on the company's blog, brings the total money the six-year-old company has raised to half of a billion dollars. Nanosolar is one of the darlings of the clean-tech investing craze.

Palo Alto, Calif.-based Nanosolar's strategic investors include power company AES Corp., equity firm the Carlyle Group, and electric utility company EDF--the three of which formed AES Solar as part of the deal, Roscheisen said. Those alliances will presumably help Nanosolar develop utility-scale solar power that would be cost efficient.

Other investors were hedge fund Lone Pine Capital, the Skoll Foundation, and eBay founder Pierre Omidyar's fund, he said.

"The new capital will allow us to accelerate production expansion for our 430 megawatt San Jose factory and our 620 megawatt Berlin factory," Roscheisen wrote.

He did not say when the facilities will be complete. But he said that the funding will help the company meet demand for the thin-film solar technology it introduced in December. Nanosolar is one of several companies betting on a photovoltaic-alternative known as copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS), which purportedly convert more sunlight into energy than other types of thin-film materials.

"The alliance for solar utility power is the outcome of a year long effort on behalf of our strategic partners examining the solar industry, investigating virtually every solar company on the planet, and conducting one of the most thorough due diligence efforts," he wrote.

A New Jersey company said on Tuesday it will invest $20 million over three years to develop an underground compressed-air storage system for wind turbines and other power sources, a sign of growing confidence in the technology.

Energy Storage and Power is a joint ventured formed by energy developer PSEG Global and Michael Nakhamkin, who designed the only compressed air-storage facility in the U.S.

With Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES), air is pumped into underground formations, such as depleted natural gas wells or salt caverns, using a natural gas-powered machine. The pressured air is released later to drive a turbine to make electricity.

A diagram of a compressed air storage facility. Click on the image to see a photo gallery of different grid energy storage technologies.

(Credit: CAES Development Company)

The system allows for several hours or even days of stored energy, which allows power producers to deliver electricity during peak hours when the demand for electricity--and price--is highest.

The two CAES plants in operation right now--one in McIntosh, Ala., and the other in Huntorf, Germany--use several hours of storage to generate electricity during the middle of the day.

Energy Storage and Power said that it intends to develop equipment for storing renewable power resources at a large scale. Utilities are already using more wind and solar, but energy storage means that they can be used more broadly since electricity can be "dispatched" as needed.

"We have learned a lot since building the McIntosh plant in Alabama, and I believe the time is right technically, environmentally, and economically for a large-scale deployment of Energy Storage and Power's CAES technology," Nakhamkin said in a statement.

It's not the only commercial company pursuing compressed-air storage of wind energy.

General Compression is designing a wind turbine that has a compressor built into the nacelle, the housing at the top of a wind turbine tower. The company hopes to test a machine with utilities in the next few years.

With the growing use of renewable energy on the power grid and a push toward energy efficiency, energy storage is getting serious attention from investors and utilities.

Lithium-ion battery company A123 is working with utility AES on grid-tied energy storage devices. These 1- or 2-megawatt devices can be used to stabilize the grid's frequency and store enough power for less than an hour.

One advantage of CAES technology is that it can be used for longer periods. The Iowa Stored Energy Park plans to use a natural gas compressor in conjunction with a wind farm that it expects to go online in 2011.

Updated at 12:51 p.m. PT with corrected reference to peak demand time.

What will it take for hydrogen-powered cars, which emit only water vapor as exhaust, to enter American highways in large numbers? Filling stations are a good start.

The Hydrogen Road Tour was a coast-to-coast caravan of hydrogen-powered cars organized to educate consumers and policy-makers on the promise of the technology. The two-week event, which traveled from Portland, Maine to Los Angeles, was sponsored by trade associations and the U.S. Departments of Transportation and Energy.

The first stop after leaving Portland was Billerica, Mass., where there was a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the state's first hydrogen fueling station. Click on the embedded video image to check out the scene.

The hydrogen filling station is located at the corporate headquarters of Nuvera Fuel Cells, which has developed a system to convert natural gas to hydrogen. The company will be the main customer of the hydrogen, which it will use for its product development and research.

During the event, I spoke to the CEO of Nuvera about what's needed to make hydrogen cars for the masses.

I also took a ride in a bi-fuel car that runs on hydrogen and gasoline from BMW, which it calls a transition technology on the way to widespread fuel-cell vehicles.

There are only a handful of hydrogen refueling stations in the U.S. which will be built around large cities. Fuel cell vehicle advocates say those fueling stations will bring more hydrogen cars and cleaner ways to produce hydrogen.

Clean-tech venture capitalist Nancy Floyd spoke at the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday, saying Barack Obama's energy proposals would make the U.S. economy more competitive.

The speech by Floyd, founder and managing director at Nth Power, is a sign that clean energy and the environment are high-profile issues in this year's presidential campaign. Indeed, Hilary Clinton used her speech to tout "green collar" jobs.

Nancy Floyd, managing director of clean-tech venture capital firm Nth Power.

(Credit: Martin LaMonica/CNET News)

Floyd has been doing energy investing for decades and often called on policy-makers to support the domestic renewable energy business.

In her talk, she took the same tack, arguing that Spain, China, Germany and other countries are taking the lead in the green technology field because of "smart, stable, forward-looking energy policies."

She said that the Obama energy plan, which he detailed in a speech in Michigan earlier this month, has the elements to support entrepreneurship in the field and address pressing environmental problems. An excerpt:

Green technology is where the computer industry was in 1984, the year the Macintosh computer was introduced. Think about how far we've come since then. That's how far-reaching and how transformational green technology will be. Thousands of new companies. Millions of new jobs. In fact, investments in wind and solar technologies have already created 2.4 million jobs.

Obama's proposals call for giving U.S. consumers a tax credit for purchasing fuel-efficient vehicles, a renewable energy mandate for electricity utilities, and a cap-and-trade system to regulate carbon emissions.

Floyd appears to represent many of her fellow clean-tech investors political leanings this year. A poll by Earth2Tech found that a majority of clean-tech venture capitalists support Obama.

q&a Commercial buildings consume nearly one fifth of the nation's energy. But that could change dramatically if by 2025 all new office and retail buildings generate as much energy as they use.

That's the goal of the U.S. Department of Energy's Zero-Net Energy Commercial Building Initiative, announced earlier this month. The Energy Department also is partnering with national labs and companies to advance technologies for office and retail buildings to offset their energy use.

The efforts support the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, which calls for spending up to $200 million per year by 2013 to accelerate the development of high-performance green buildings. To start, the Department of Energy is giving $100,000 for green-building prizes to the California Clean Tech Open "start-up in a box" competition.

We chatted about the green-building goals last week by telephone with David Rodgers, deputy assistant secretary for energy efficiency in the Energy Department's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. That office is in transition as Assistant Secretary Andy Karsner, a green-tech advocate appointed by President Bush, is leaving at the end of August.

Q: What are some highlights of the department's net-zero building program?
David Rodgers: We've been doing research on competitive technologies, such as solid-state lighting and advanced air conditioning. We've been working at a very advanced level to integrate those technologies into commercial building design and to make sure competitive technologies are working at maximum efficiency.

This program allows us to elevate the level of our work but also include multiple partners at national universities, national laboratories, and companies such as United Technologies or Johnson Controls.

Here's a sampling of green-tech news with quick commentary:
• Solazyme adds $45 million - Private Equity Hub
  Algae-grower Solazyme is taking a different path to algae production than most to make renewable diesel, specialty chemicals, and food oils.
• Google ups investment into wind start-up Makani - Cleantech Group
  Makani Power makes kites designed to make electricity from high-altitude wind.
• Sunrise Solar introduces solar sunroof - press release
  From the company that does solar car parks is a solar sunroof for a car.

The takeoff a three-day solar-power plane flight. Click on image to see a video.
(Credit: BBC)
• Solar plane makes record flight - BBC News
  A solar-power plane goes for three days using stored energy in a solar-powered battery.
• 10 things to know about Biden and energy - Earth2Tech
  Good summary by Katie Fehrenbacher of Biden's energy-related policy positions.
• Bacteria power: Future for clean energy lies in 'Big Bang' of evolution - Science Daily
  More research in mimicking photosynthesis to make fuels, this time with ancient bacteria.
• From rustbelt to greenbelt - Green Wombat Fortune.com
  Solar helps bring manufacturing back to the Midwest U.S.
• India's Suzlon Energy encounters headwinds at home - WSJ.com
  Word that some wind turbines are having technical problems.
• Where cell phones go to die - Technology Review
  Cool photo gallery showing the inside of a cell phone recycling operation.

M2E Power, a company formed last year to charge electronic gadgets with human motion, has reported back that its system actually works.

Next year it expects to release a charger that can harvest enough motion from walking to replenish cell phones or other small gadgets, like GPS devices.

It says that six hours of cumulative motion can add 30 to 60 minutes of talk time to a cell phone.

M2E Power's charger, powered by human motion.

(Credit: M2E Power)

The idea is to place the charger inside a purse or backpack and let it charge in the background, said Regan Rowe, director of business development at the company. When fully charged, M2E Power's device stores enough to recharge a phone at a speed comparable to an AC outlet.

Inside is a lithium ion battery and a series of coils and magnets. When it moves, an electromagnetic field forms around the coils to generate electricity.

The technology, developed in part at Boise State University, optimizes that field to match the slow frequency of human motion and draw a usable current.

The charger unit can be charged by an AC wall socket as well. M2E Power has had discussions with cell phone manufacturers to build the generator directly into a phone.

"Handset manufacturers are under pressure to deal with electronic waste issues and show they are looking for more sustainable practices," Rowe said. "We've seen a lot of interest in this as the wave of the future."

But because those products take a few years to design and develop, it will likely take at least two years before a self-powered cell phone is commercially available, Rowe said.

The company is also testing how much charge it can draw from the vibration of vehicles, Rowe said. The amount of charge a generator can make varies a great deal with the amount of motion.

"Someone with an old pick-up truck with no shocks will have a glorious time with M2E technology, but someone with a Mercedes will have to spend more time" charging, she said.

Long term, the company is looking at placing self-charging devices in hybrid and electric cars. Putting a self-charging device near windshield wipers or door locks could significantly cut down on a hybrid car's electrical load and extend its driving range, Rowe said.

The company also has military grants to explore the use of self-powering devices such as night goggles.

• Duke's Rogers: China besting U.S. on green tech - Triangle Business Journal:
  Duke Energy CEO's recent trip to China convinces him China is blowing past the U.S. in green energy.
• Economist Energy Debate - Economist.com
  The discussion focuses on how to transition to a low-carbon economy most effectively with a majority of voters saying we have the technology available now. Good to see an intelligent discussion of the right topic.

A solar-powered parking meter from Siemens.
(Credit: Martin LaMonica/CNET News)
• 100 MPG Competition Sparks Innovation - Gas 2.0
  I can't wait to see what comes out of this, particularly because the intention is practical cars.
• Miami's Bus Shelters Go Solar - EcoLocalizer
  Solar-powered bus shelters. Reminds me of the solar-powered parking meters I saw in Italy this summer.
• Planktos Seeks New Business Ideas - Greentech Media
  Here's a shocker: carbon sequestration through man-created algae blooms is an immature business model. This is an area that needs additional research and oversight.
• Presidential Problem: Americans Want Their Energy Clean AND Cheap - Environmental Capital - WSJ.com
  NBC/ WSJ poll finds Americans greatly prefer wind and solar energy to stepped-up off-shore drilling. But high gas prices are a problem and clean energy costs more. So why are our policies to promote renewable energy in danger of lapsing?
• Five Inconvenient Greentech Truths - Greentech Media
  Kanellos does a good job injecting some reality in the "clean tech revolution."
• Creating Realistic Expectations for Renewable Energy - Renewable Energy World
  With all the attention in renewable energy comes some scam artists preying on consumer and some businesses making overblown claims.
• Suniva Enters Customer Agreement with Titan Energy Systems Valued at More Than USD$480 Million - Press release
  Atlanta-based Suniva, less than a year old, lands another big contract to supply silicon solar cells.
• Lighting Science Group and Office for Visual Interaction, Inc. Awarded New York City Lights Prototyping and Engineering Contract: Financial News - Press release
  Putting efficient LED lamps on municipal lighting makes a lot of sense.