REDblog

What Bill Gates gets wrong

Dick Munson — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 20:05:43 +0000

Bill Gates enters the energy fray to make a case for innovation in the energy industry. That’s all well and good — we need more innovation in this country. After all, there has been no Bill Gates equivalent in the electric sector. The problem is that Gates doesn’t quite understand why.

Instead of pointing out the immense barriers to competition and recommending that we tear them down, he suggests that we throw more money at innovation while the current system, presumably, would remain in place. Wrong, wrong, wrong. That’s not going to work — Sean Casten explains why we need to change current energy regulations in a Grist blog.

The Nation: gray power is green

Dick Munson — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 21:15:35 +0000

In the latest issue of The Nation, Lisa Margonelli makes the case for increased use of “gray power” sources, especially waste heat, across the Midwest and South. Calling these regions “the Colossus of Carbon,” she cites a RED analysis revealing the immense amounts of electricity that could be generated from waste energy at manufacturing plants in places like Ohio. “All those smokestacks,” she says, “hold the potential for a lower-carbon renaissance.”

The nature of the magazine publishing this piece bears reflection. The Nation, the journalistic standard-bearer of American progressivism, is extolling the virtues of energy recycling about two weeks after Chief Executive, one of the country’s ultimate capitalist publications, has done the same. Two publications with very different views of the world are coming to similar conclusions on one issue, at least: that by generating energy more efficiently, we can fight global warming while bolstering the economy.

These two magazines aren’t the only unlikely pairs to point out the benefits of this work. The moderate-liberal New Republic has highlighted the potential of energy recycling, as has the business-friendly Forbes. So have the libertarian Lynne Kiesling and the environmental lion Al Gore. So, indeed, have apolitical science outlets ranging from Nature to Orion to American Scientist.

I recite this list not simply to advertise good writing about the issues near and dear to my heart, though there is that. My point is that energy recycling is an issue that could transcend our nation’s partisan divide and provide a path forward on finally tackling climate change. It’s not the only solution. But it’s a big one. It’s what makes the RED team get up in the morning. And I believe it’s an idea whose time has come.

Massive potential (and barriers) of energy recycling featured in Chief Executive

Dick Munson — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 03:51:12 +0000

Ron Bailey gets it. He’s a libertarian journalist who has written an excellent piece on energy recycling for the latest issue of Chief Executive magazine. From the very first paragraph, he captures a fundamental reality that now eludes most participants in the current energy debate:

Two-thirds of the energy people produce is wasted. It goes up power plant chimneys or dissipates into rivers and lakes through heat exchangers. Capturing this wasted heat would greatly reduce fuel costs and dramatically cut the emissions of carbon dioxide, which are thought to contribute to global warming. Cogeneration, or producing and using electricity and heat simultaneously, is the business opportunity being pursued by companies like Westmont, IL-based Recycled Energy Development (RED) and White Plains, NY-based Trigen Energy.

This is an idea that could change the world: simply by boosting the efficiency of the U.S. energy system, we could substantially reduce our global warming pollution while helping American businesses to become more profitable. Bailey’s piece examines this reality, with special attention to the work of RED Chairman Tom Casten. In commenting on why the current system of electric utilities is so inefficient, Casten says: “Utilities have traditionally made money on how much they invest, not how efficient they are. It’s the only industry that increases its profits when a company redecorates its president’s office.”

Read more of what Ron Bailey has to say about potential of energy recycling and the barriers it faces.

Tom Casten wins 2010 Inspiring Efficiency leadership award

Dick Munson — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 15:33:40 +0000

Our chairman Tom Casten has received another award, this time from the Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (MEEA). The award, which honored Tom’s lifelong leadership on CHP and waste energy recovery, was given out at MEEA’s 6th annual Inspiring Efficiency Awards gala.

This award reflects the increasing awareness that energy recycling has been receiving in the U.S. The potential for a more efficient energy system has always been there, but change comes gradually. With each award, with each article, with each deal, with each piece of legislation, our country gets a little closer to where it needs to be.

DOE report states CHP can improve nation’s energy security and reduce greenhouse gas emissions

Dick Munson — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 18:44:40 +0000

The U.S. Department of Energy has released a report stating, “Combined heat and power (CHP) technology holds enormous potential to improve the nation’s energy security and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.” It notes that CHP systems in 2006 represented 9 percent of the nation’s total electricity capacity and 12 percent of total power generation.

CHP supports the nation’s move to a clean energy economy and the creation of clean jobs. By adopting policies to achieve 20 percent of electricity generation from CHP by 2030, the United States could save the equivalent of nearly half the total energy current consumed by U.S. households.

Traditional energy production is costly to your health

Dick Munson — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 15:40:52 +0000

The National Research Council in October released an important report that calculates the “hidden” costs — such as health injuries from air pollution — from the production of electricity and gasoline. Since these costs don’t show up in the price of power, generators continue to pollute, and you and I get stuck with the medical bills.

The Council estimated the 2005 damages at a whopping $120 billion, and that figure doesn’t include harm from climate change or mercury pollution.

Consider the burning of coal to make electricity. The scientists found that the annual damage from the resulting sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter totaled about $62 billion. If power generators “internalized” those costs, the average price of electricity would increase 3.2 cents per kilowatt-hour. The climate-related monetary damages could add another 10 cents per kilowatt-hour.

Clean power doesn’t have those costs, but it must compete against traditional energy production that doesn’t pay its fair share. That’s why we need to change the way we regulate energy.

How to cut U.S. CO2 emissions by 20 percent — tomorrow

Dick Munson — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 19:00:04 +0000

As senators and diplomats struggle mightily on climate change legislation and treaties, consider that the U.S. could cut its total CO2 footprint by 20 percent without investing in any new infrastructure or disrupting our access to energy services.

Sean Casten writes, “The Waxman-Markey proposal to reduce CO2 emissions by 17 percent over ten years is constrained only by its ambition.”

Cutting CO2 emissions by 20 percent could be realized with our existing assets — by ramping up our nation’s gas-powered electricity generators and ramping down our coal-fired generators.

Read more about how we can shift our electricity production away from a dirty resource to a clean one.

Combined heat and power (CHP) can generate 1 million new jobs and avoid 60% of projected CO2 emissions

Dick Munson — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 18:36:14 +0000

The Oak Ridge National Laboratory released its CHP report in December 2008, but it’s worth reviewing again. CHP, it says, helps the United States enhance energy efficiency, ensure environmental quality, promote economic growth, and foster a robust energy infrastructure. Using CHP today, the U.S. already avoids more than 1.9 quadrillion British thermal units of fuel consumption and 248 million metric tons of carbon-dioxide emissions, enough to remove more than 45 million cars from the road.

In 2006, CHP produced more than 12 percent of total U.S. power generation. The report calls for high-deployment policies that would generate $234 billion in new investments and create nearly 1 million new highly-skilled, technical jobs throughout the U.S. In this scenario, more than 60 percent of the projected increase in CO2 emissions between now and 2030 would be avoided.

Tom Casten receives lifetime achievement award

Dick Munson — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 15:03:28 +0000

Last night, Tom Casten received the prestigious Platts Lifetime Achievement Award for his work creating ultra-efficient energy systems in the U.S.

“As the founder and president of several energy companies, Casten has succeeded since 1975 in simultaneously slashing power costs and greenhouse gas emissions, and as an author and the founder of numerous advocacy groups, he has precipitated policy changes that have advanced industrial energy recycling and efficiency,” Platts noted in announcing the Lifetime Achievement Award, bestowed at the 2009 Platts Global Energy Awards.

Platts, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, is the leading source for global energy and commodities information.

As an interesting aside as we look to the start of the U.N. Climate Change conference in Copenhagen, many of the systems Casten developed are similar to what Denmark has used to revolutionize their energy system and slash their greenhouse emissions over the past 30 years.

Sadly, while Denmark produces more than 50 percent of its power from energy recycling and waste heat recovery projects, the U.S. generates only 8 percent from these super-efficient processes.

Department of Energy left on the table $9 billion of shovel-ready, clean-energy projects

Dick Munson — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 16:22:02 +0000

Sean Casten, in a Grist post, explains that the Department of Energy failed to fund $9 billion of shovel-ready, clean-energy projects. No doubt it’s great news that DOE provided nine projects with a total of $150 million — and that those investments will bring forth an additional $634 million of private capital and saving 14 trillion Btus. Yet left on the table is a massive opportunity to create jobs, lower energy use, and turn the economy around. Let’s hope Congress provides more funding for such CHP, recycled energy, and district energy projects in a pending jobs bill.