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GLOBE-Net (August 19, 2009) – Nexterra Systems Corp., a Vancouver-based supplier of biomass gasification solutions, and ANDRITZ, an Austrian market leader for customized plants, process technologies, have formed a strategic alliance to market drying solutions fuelled by renewable biomass energy from municipal wastewater treatment plants.
The combination of Nexterra gasification technologies with Andritz biosolids dryers will enable municipal wastewater treatment facilities to reduce fuel costs, eliminate dependence on fossil fuels, lower their greenhouse gas emissions and deploy a sustainable solution for biosolids management.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), there are more than 16,000 wastewater treatment facilities in the United States operated by municipalities, each of which produces biological sludge or “biosolids” as a residual product from the wastewater treatment process.
Traditional biosolids management methods include spreading dried sludge on lands or trucking it to landfills. Many municipalities wish to discontinue these practices due to health concerns, rising fuel and management costs, greenhouse gas emissions from transportation, and diminishing landfill capacity. They are looking for biosolids management solutions that will enable them to reduce energy costs and carbon emissions.
During the first phase of their strategic relationship, ANDRITZ and Nexterra will target facilities where existing biosolids dryers can be retrofitted with Nexterra’s biomass gasification technology, and will use biomass fuel to replace natural gas as a heating source. The companies plan also to offer technology solutions for greenfield sites that combine ANDRITZ biosolids dryers and Nexterra gasifiers.
“This strategic relationship with ANDRITZ provides us with a partner who has a deep understanding and presence within the wastewater treatment market, which we see as a very significant market opportunity for our gasification technology,” said Jonathan Rhone, President and CEO of Nexterra. “Our vision is to offer municipalities a seamless range of renewable energy solutions for drying biosolids, and eventually for power generation with gas engines.”
Nexterra is developing a biomass to combined heat and power solutions (CHP) with General Electric, to be sized at 2 – 10 MW, that combine Nexterra’s gasification technology and gas conditioning equipment with high efficiency gas engines. This will enable municipalities to self-generate renewable heat and power on-site.
Additional details can be found at: http://www.nexterra.ca/Andritz
How many tomatoes can a power plant grow, if a power plant could grow plants? Great Northern Hydroponics, has installed a GE Energy designed, 12-megawatt commercial power plant at a 55-acre tomato greenhouse complex in Kingsville, Ontario. It’s a combined heat and power (CHP) project that runs the greenhouse, sending surplus power to the Ontario grid. Waste heat from the generators keeps the tomatoes warm, and C02, pulled from a treated exhaust gas stream, feeds them.
Via: Energy Business Review : “GE Energy Inaugurates First North American Greenhouse Cogeneration Facility“
From the article:
Powered by four of GE Energy’s Jenbacher gas engines cogeneration modules, the onsite power plant is one among the seven natural gas-fired combined heat and power (CHP) projects approved by the Ontario Power Authority in 2006.
The plant generates sufficient electricity to Ontario’s transmission grid that can serve around 12,000 to 15,000 Canadian homes annually. Under a 20-year contract with the Ontario Power Authority, surplus of power generated from the plant is sold to the local grid.
The power plant, in order to support greenhouse operations, also treats the gas engines’ exhaust, enabling carbon from the exhaust to be recycled and applied as a special fertilizer to enhance greenhouse crop production. CHP plants consume less fuel compared to separate systems to produce the same amount of power. As a result, cogeneration can help to reduce regional industrial emissions associated with energy production.
GE Energy’s Jenbacher gas engine business has developed the special CO2 fertilization/cogeneration system.
DDACE Power Systems, GE’s Jenbacher engine distributor for eastern Canada has supplied greenhouse cogeneration system. The engineering services for the North American reference plant were provided by H.H. Angus and Associated of Toronto.
The supply chains of many manufacturing sectors went global when oil was cheap; today, improving energy efficiency is a top concern for executives. This interactive shows numerous opportunities to dramatically reduce energy costs in supply chains.
August 2009 • Tobias A. Meyer
Source: Climate Change Special Initiative
Supply chains have become increasingly global over the latter half of the century, as the globalization of trade was fueled by cheap oil. Today, the transportation of goods consumes 15 million barrels of oil a day—roughly one-fifth of total production.
Increasing the energy efficiency of supply chains
Explore levers for potential energy-efficiency gains in each stage of the supply chain.
In an ongoing study of energy efficiency in supply chains, McKinsey looked at numerous opportunities to reduce the amount of oil used to get goods from a manufacturer’s dock to a retailer’s shelf. These opportunities are available not only to manufacturers but to wholesalers, distributors, carriers, and third-party businesses. We’ve grouped these opportunities into six levers to illustrate possible next steps. Of course, the players in a chain operate independently from one another, so achieving all of these gains would require coordinated efforts and investments—a considerable challenge.
Finally, we examine potential gains in supply chain energy efficiency under three scenarios, based on low, medium, and high oil prices and electricity costs. In any scenario, however, companies would do well to set up energy-efficient supply chains, as their benefits greatly outweigh any downsides.
About the Author
Tobias Meyer is an associate principal in McKinsey’s Frankfurt office.
You’d be hard pressed to find anyone in this country who believes Canada needs more ice. But the distributors of a new green energy technology are trying to show consumers that’s exactly what we do need.
Behind a fence in the back of the Mountain Equipment Co-Op store parking lot in Burlington, Ont., six large blocks of ice, each the size of a playpen, sit in steel boxes melting slowly in the afternoon heat.
It’s the first Canadian installation of Ice Bear, the air conditioner’s answer to the hybrid car. It uses 95 per cent less electricity in peak hours than a conventional air conditioning unit.
“We see Canada as a terrific market,” said Greg Tropsa, Executive Vice President of Ice Energy, the company that developed and manufactures the Ice Bear. “We’ve got great prospects, especially now with the legislation that’s trying to get more green energy in the market.”
Toronto-based Transformative Technologies Inc. is partnering with Ice Energy to market and distribute the Ice Bear in Canada. “I think of all the effort it takes to build new natural-gas-fired facilities or fossil fuel power,” said James Alden, TTI’s president. “It’s clear Ice Bear is a great solution.”
And it’s getting attention. Gathered in the noonday sun in Burlington’s MEC parking lot are reps from Hydro One, London Hydro and Hydro Ottawa, among others. As the sweating lid is unscrewed from one of the 5-tonne units to reveal the melting ice inside, one of them quips, “Where’s the beer?”
Unlike your standard brew cooler, however, the big block of ice inside the Ice Bear is not what cools the building’s air. Not directly, at least.
During off-peak hours when electricity rates are at their lowest, the Ice Bear acts like a normal air conditioner and uses its compressor to cool refrigerant that in turn cools the air blowing into a building. What also happens overnight is the unit re-freezes water that had melted off the huge 200 kilograms cubes of ice. During the day when electricity rates are at their highest, the Ice Bear turns off its compressor and uses the ice to cool the refrigerant.
The result is an air conditioning system that uses about 300 watts – the equivalent of five or six light bulbs – rather than a traditional system that uses 6,000 watts.
For a store the size of this MEC, that could mean savings of roughly $400 a year, according to Ice Energy’s figures. Businesses also earn the goodwill of customers who like the use of green technologies in their stores.
“We’ve been getting a lot of feedback,” said Alicia Cairns, the manager of the Burlington MEC location. “The biggest things we hear about, are the solar panels and the Ice Bear system.”
But at a price tag of $8,500, businesses may ask themselves just how much a green image is worth.
While Ice Energy has done a few commercial installations, the company’s target market is utility providers. The technology allows utilities to reduce emissions and lower transmission costs. And in the hottest months when demand for energy goes into overload, instead of spending millions to rewire their distribution systems utilities can shift that demand to off-peak periods, Mr. Tropsa said. In the U.S., more than 20 utilities have already had trials of the Ice Bear units.
Canadians may not be far behind. London Hydro is “very seriously” considering investing in the technology, said its Conservation Program Manager, Hans Schreff.
“Our biggest problem here is the summer with air conditioning. It’s a very focused approach to solving that problem,” Mr. Schreff said. “It attacks peak energy, which helps us lower costs.”
With the Green Energy Act passed by the Ontario government in May, which is designed to increase the province’s dedication to renewable energy, utilities are being asked to consider more green technologies, said Tom Semler, Manager of Conservation and Demand at Hydro One.
“We’re going to get bigger targets for conservation,” he said. “These units could have a big impact for us.”
Ice Energy has yet to be profitable, but with the interest in the units Mr. Tropsa expects that could change within the next two years.
“You’re looking for [energy] storage, and what could be cheaper than water?” Mr. Tropsa said. “It’s a feel-good business, but it’s a potential money-maker too.”
June 18, 2009
Two new reports on the impacts of moving to a low-carbon economy show putting money toward energy efficiency, building retrofits and renewable energy projects can create 1.7 million new jobs, significantly more than the same investment in fossil fuel industries.
The reports were released today in tandem by four groups: Green for All, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst’s Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) worked together on the “Green Prosperity” study, while PERI also worked with the Center for American Progress on the “Economic Benefits” report.
Together, the reports show the economic, environmental and social impacts of investing about $150 billion per year in energy efficiency and clean energy technologies; that number includes funding from the federal stimulus package signed into law in February as well as the proposals in the Waxman-Markey climate bill that is currently making its way through Congress.
Importantly, Ellis-Lampkin and Peter Lehner, the executive director of the NRDC, both highlighted the fact that these job-growth estimates are net gains, factoring in jobs displaced in the fossil fuel industries as the economy shifts to renewables. The loss of existing jobs is a regular criticism of green-collar jobs proposals.
Retrofits, Public Transit, and the Smart Grid
There are three prongs to where these investments should occur. The biggest and most immediately beneficial is energy efficiency retrofits for existing buildings: Those projects make up 40 percent of the funding in the $150 billion annual project.
“Retrofits right now is a known technology,” Pollin said, one that “creates fast returns with low risk, creates a lot of jobs in a construction industry that is flat on its back.”
Making homes, schools and workplaces more energy efficient offers a significant boon to residents and business owners: Ellis-Lampkin estimates that boosting energy efficiency will decrease the cost of living for low-income households by 3 to 4 percent per year as energy bills shrink. From the “Economic Benefits” report:
An average-sized single-family home in the United States would require an investment of as little as $2,500 in energy-efficiency retrofits to produce a cost savings in the range of 30 percent per year. This would involve caulking to plug air leaks in the house and adding insulation to attics and basement ceilings. For an additional $2,500, further energy savings are available through replacing windows with air leaks and installing energy efficient appliances.
Similarly, public transportation investments will allow municipalities to get more for their dollar: Pollin said that every mile traveled on public transit produces half the greenhouse gases than in a private vehicle, and costs about half the amount to travel the same distance in a private vehicle.
The final leg of the investment project is smart grid technology, which the reports’ authors suggest investments of about $44 billion per year to meet the growing demand for energy across the country.
“In the immediate term, energy efficiency is going to be the best investment,” Pollin said. “Then, for the next decade we’re going to see the creation of the clean energy economy.”
“This is not a question of whether the private sector spends the money, it’s a question of if we spend it smart or stupid,” said Peter Lehner, executive director of the Natural Resources Defense Council. “If we spend it well it will have tremendous impacts throughout the economy.”
Because I have recently focused much of my research on the Water and Wastewater sector in Canada, I have created another blog to share this specific information with a broader community. The new blog, called Water in the Works, is hosted by wordpress at waterintheworks.wordpress.com . Stop in sometime and say hi 
Michelle
JUNE 2009
Source: McKinsey Global Institute
Any projection of global energy demand must deal with the various uncertainties that could have a critical impact on the path of demand growth in both the short- and the longterm. Most important among these variables are GDP growth, regulation, and technology breakthroughs.
This interactive graphic, based on research from the McKinsey Global Institute, calculates energy and oil demand in 2010, 2015, and 2020, using key variables, such as energy productivity and GDP growth. As the graphic illustrates, GDP is the most important factor affecting short-term demand for both oil and energy. In the longterm, higher fuel efficiency standards can slow the growth of oil demand. At the same time, capturing opportunities in energy productivity can dramatically reduce the growth of demand in energy. Electric vehicles—a key technological breakthrough—will not begin to seriously penetrate sales share until 2015 at the earliest, limiting their impact on the 2020 stock of more than 1 billion light vehicles globally.
Exploring growth scenarios for global energy and oil demand
Examine the growth of global energy and petroleum demand in this interactive graphic.
Link Water, Energy and Climate in Global Talks, Business Urges
Istanbul, 19 March 2009 – Business leaders from some of the world’s biggest companies today called for water, energy and climate change to be linked in global negotiations, such as the international climate talks due to culminate in Copenhagen in December.
The business leaders were speaking at the launch of a report by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development at the 5th World Water Forum in Istanbul. The forum is expected to produce a ministerial statement calling for proactive policies on water issues.
“Water is everybody’s business. It is used to generate energy, and energy is used to provide water. Climate change will affect the use and availability of both. It is important that we get the policies right,” said Björn Stigson, president of the WBCSD.
“The World Water Forum in Istanbul has done a lot to focus attention on water, energy and climate change. But there is still a significant gap in addressing all three together at a global level. We must link them in the climate negotiations to have any real hope of finding a solution.”
The report, Water, Energy and Climate Change: A contribution from the business community ( 1.8 MB), says water, energy and climate change are inextricably linked.
“Water plays a central role in many of the world’s most pressing issues, among them climate change, energy security and the need to spur economic growth. The time has passed for commitment alone – we must act,” said Steve R. Loranger, CEO of ITT Corporation and co-chair of the WBCSD Water Project.
The paper lists five important policy recommendations from business to climate negotiators and policy-makers. These are:
- Provide reliable climate change risk data, models and analysis tools.
- Integrate water and energy efficiency in measurement tools and policy.
- Bring water issues into the mainstream, and ensure that water authorities and institutions have staff trained to deliver common management practices, education and awareness raising.
- Integrate and value ecosystem services (the benefits that nature provides to society, such as water and forest products) into cross-border decision-making.
- Encourage best practice through innovation, appropriate solutions and community engagement.
It also includes 25 case studies showing how business is already linking water, energy and climate across their operations.
Promoting renewables is focus of new agency
Via: World Business Council for Social Development
The International Herald Tribune, May 19, 2009 Tuesday – In Sharm el Sheik, Egypt, delegates from 79 countries will meet next month to choose a home, a director and a preliminary work program for the International Renewable Energy Agency, which was set up this year to lead a global drive to accelerate and expand the development of renewable energy resources.
The agency grew out of a conference in Bonn on Jan. 26, which was sponsored by the German government, with support from Denmark and Spain. Of the 192 United Nations member states invited, 125 sent delegations and 75 European and emerging countries signed on to the final agreement establishing the agency, also known as Irena.
Membership includes leading European economies like Germany and France; emerging economies like India; major energy producers like Norway and Nigeria; hostile neighbors like Eritrea and Ethiopia, or Israel and Syria; and poor states like Liberia and Burkina Faso.
The United States has not yet joined the agency because of lingering commercial concerns, but is likely to do so, Hermann Scheer, a member of the Bundestag, the lower house of the German Parliament, said during an interview. Major countries like China, Britain and Brazil have not yet joined, either.
Very few countries ”have adequate and comprehensive programs for renewable energy, ” Mr. Scheer said, ”The others do not, and they need them urgently.”
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