utility - The Environment Report

Interview: Concentrating Solar Thermal

(Photo courtesy of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory)

Whenever solar power is mentioned,
critics are quick to note – when there’s
no sun, there’s no power. Lester Graham
talked with the author of a report who
says one type of solar power can store
energy:

Transcript

Lester Graham: Concentrating solar thermal, or CST, can store power. Basically, mirrors are used to concentrate solar rays, heat up water, generate power. The heated water can be stored as heat in tanks – like coffee in a thermos – and produce electricity when needed. Britt Staley is with the World Resources Institute. She’s the lead author of a new report on concentrating solar thermal. So, you found, if it’s done right, CST could be built instead of coal-burning power plants. How practical is that?

Britt Childs Staley: We think that concentrating solar thermal is a very exciting renewable energy technology precisely because of this potential for storage. If you incorporate thermal energy storage, or fossil fuel backup, with your concentrating solar thermal, you can actually use the power of the sun around the clock.

Graham: Now, the CST plants are expensive – they’re more expensive than building a coal-burning power plant. So, why build them if that’s the case?

Staley: With climate change as a major concern in the US and around the world, we are going to need to reduce our dependency on coal in the power sector. And currently, as you said, concentrating solar thermal power is more expensive than coal, but in this report we’ve identified several policy interventions that could help reduce costs. For example, a price on carbon such as the cap-and-trade mechanism in the current Waxman-Markey Bill, and then some solar-specific policy interventions would help as well.

Graham: Now, when you say ‘policy interventions’, really you’re talking about government subsidies, right?

Staley: Yes. Support for R-and-D, for deployment such as the investment tax credit that’s currently in place.

Graham: Obviously, the most sunny places would be the best location for a concentrating solar thermal plant.

Staley: Mm-hmm.

Graham: And the most sunny places are often in arid places, such as the US Southwest. So, they’re the driest places, and CST relies heavily on water. So, in the long term, what’s the solution?

Staley: There are several alternative cooling technologies that are available and that can cut water by up to 95% to 98% in places where that is a concern.

Graham: Is this completely experimental, or have we seen this done anywhere in the world successfully?

Staley: It’s absolutely been done successfully. Here in the US, we have some of the longest operating CST plants. And Spain is another good example of where CST deployment has been particularly successful to date.

Graham: How long would it take to build one of these, and how soon could they contribute, and how likely is it to happen, given the cost?

Staley: A lot of the plants that we see on the drawing board right now are expected to be in operation in the next 2 to 5 years. With climate change concerns, with climate change legislation working its way through the House and Senate, coal plant investments are not particularly attractive right now. And investors are very wary of putting their money into something that’s going to be significantly more expensive in the coming years. Concentrating solar thermal, on the other hand, is a zero-emissions power resource. Also, it has zero fuel costs.

Graham: Britt Staley is the lead author of a report on concentrating solar thermal power plants. She’s an associate researcher with the World Resources Institute’s Climate Policy Team. Thanks very much for talking with us.

Staley: Thank you.

Graham: I’m Lester Graham.

Grappling With the Grid

Net metering is when people use rooftop solar or wind power to generate electricity, and then sell the extra back to the power companies (Photo courtesy of Sandia National Laboratories)

As a climate change bill works its way

through Congress, businesses are bracing

for change to cleaner energy. Lester Graham

reports some homeowners are thinking about

generating their own clean electricity:

Transcript

As a climate change bill works its way

through Congress, businesses are bracing

for change to cleaner energy. Lester Graham

reports some homeowners are thinking about

generating their own clean electricity:

People like the idea of using rooftop solar or wind power to generate the electricity and selling extra back to the power companies. It’s called net metering.

But some state regulations don’t allow it.

James Rose is the Senior Policy Analyst for the Network for New Energy Choices. He says these days more states are smoothing the way for net metering.

“It started out looking like a very big patchwork quilt – where some states are doing well, other states aren’t doing well, other states aren’t doing anything – to more of a regional mosaic, now where we see, like, the northeastern states in the United States to really improve their net metering. States out West such as Colorado and California are leading the way.”

Some power companies block net metering where they can.

But Rose says as lawmakers watch neighboring states implement net metering, and then embrace the idea for their own states.

For The Environment Report, I’m Lester Graham.

Climate Change and Civil Rights

A climate change bill will mean more expensive energy until the nation can transition from fossil fuels like coal and oil to renewable energy such as biofuels, wind, and solar. (Source: Atmoneytota at Wikimedia Commons)

Eventually a climate change bill will work its way through Congress and President Obama has indicated he’ll sign it. But a civil rights group says a climate change bill will hurt the working poor. Lester Graham reports:

Transcript

A climate change bill will mean more expensive energy until the nation can switch from fossil fuels like coal and oil to renewable energy such as biofuels, wind and solar.

Roy Innis is the Chairman of the civil rights group Congress of Racial Equality. He says higher energy costs will hit the working poor hardest.

Democrats say they’ll get tax rebates to offset the higher costs. Innis doesn’t like the idea.

“We don’t want energy welfare. This is our new civil rights battle: how to have abundant and available, reliable energy at a reasonable cost.”

And Innis says we have that now with fossil fuels.

The Obama Administration says climate change legislation will eventually lead to cheaper energy for everyone and reduce the cause of global warming —which, in the end, could cost people a lot more.

For The Environment Report, I’m Lester Graham.

Is There Hope for Hydrogen?

Plug Power does sell these dishwasher-sized fuel cells for your home, but in places like India (Photo courtesy of Plug Power)

Researchers and start-up companies are looking for new ways to power the country. There’s been a lot of hope for hydrogen. But as Mark Brush reports there have been some bumps for companies on the road to the new hydrogen economy:

Transcript

There has been a lot of excitement about hydrogen fuel cells for awhile now.

Ten years ago we talked to a rep at a company called Plug Power. He was excited about selling a dishwasher-sized fuel cells that could power and heat your home.

“The only barrier to fuel cells is that people don’t know about them.”

Turns out, that wasn’t the only barrier.

It’s expensive to make these things, and the units weren’t as efficient at heating as they hoped they would be.

But the company is still around, and they are still hopeful about fuel cells for your home.

Andy Marsh is the president of Plug Power.

“So the industry hasn’t moved ahead as rapidly as we would like. It sometimes takes many more years to makes some progress than you had originally hoped.”

Marsh says his company is selling fuel cells in places like India, but he says fuel cells for our homes in the US are probably still three to five years away.

For The Environment Report, I’m Mark Brush.

Saving Energy: Simple Changes, Big Impact

Jack Brown is an Outreach Technician for Community Resource Project, helping to spread the word about weatherization services that families may be eligible for. In his 23 years at Community Resource, Brown says he’s assessed about 5,000 homes. (Photo by Amy Standen)
Utility bills at this Natomas, California house often hit $500 a month. Small changes, like door weather strips, will reduce utility bills by as much as 20% (Photo by Amy Standen)
From left to right, Natomas residents Aniya Randle, TinaMarie Dunn,Devyn Wiggins, Shyra Randle, and Ajay Cummins (Photo by Amy Standen)

Solar panels and wind turbines get most of the buzz, but it’s far easier and cheaper to save energy than it is to make more of it. Now, President Obama’s economic stimulus package
is pouring billions into energy-efficiency programs. As Amy Standen reports, it’s shining a new spotlight on some of the simpler ways we can all reduce our energy use:

Transcript

Solar panels and wind turbines get most of the buzz, but it’s far easier and cheaper to save
energy than it is to make more of it. Now, President Obama’s economic stimulus package
is pouring billions into energy-efficiency programs. As Amy Standen reports, it’s shining
a new spotlight on some of the simpler ways we can all reduce our energy use:

Sure, I’ve thought about buying solar panels to put on my roof. There’s a perfect spot on
the south-facing slope – maybe we could power the whole house. But there are some
easier things we could do first – like insulate the attic or weather strip the doors. And yet,
somehow I never quite get around to them.

Why is that? Well James Sweeney directs the Precourt Energy Efficiency Center at
Stanford, and he has a theory.

“Energy efficiency turns out to have low salience to people.”

Which is to say, it’s maybe… a little bit boring?

“It’s very boring.”

But if your eyes start to glaze over at the mere mention of the word “efficiency,” consider
the compact fluorescent light bulb.

“The easiest thing everyone can do is change their lighting.”

If everyone in the U.S. traded in their old incandescent light bulbs for compact
fluorescents, we’d cut electricity use by about 2%.

Which, maybe, doesn’t sound so impressive – until you consider the fact that all the solar
and all the wind power combined in the entire country amounts to point .4% of our total
energy use. That’s 0.4.

“The cleanest energy is the energy you don’t need in the first place.”

That fact has not been lost on the Obama White House. The American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act is pouring approximately 20 billion dollars into efficiency projects.

Five billion of that will fund what’s called the Weatherization Assistance Program, which
helps low-income families weatherproof their homes. To qualify, a family of four must
make less than $44 thousand dollars a year.

(sound of someone giving directions – “Take 25 and go to El Paso Road”)

That stimulus cash funds local non-profits like Community Resource Project, in
Sacramento, California. Since January, Community Resource’s budget has tripled, from
1.3 to 4.5 million dollars a year. They’re buying new trucks, hiring at all levels, and
going to more and more homes.

(sound of knocking at a door)

Like this one – a five-bedroom stucco ranch house in a newer suburban development
outside of Sacramento.

(sound of door opening)

“Hello, how are you doing?”

At the door is TinaMarie Dunn, a family friend who’s showing us around today. She
gives a squeeze to two-year old Anaya, one of ten children who live here.

“Look Anaya, say cheese!” (Anaya: Cheese!)

Dunn says utility bills here can hit $500 dollars a month. She says the house just doesn’t
work right.

“When the heat is on, downstairs is hot, downstairs is cold. When the air’s on, the
upstairs is cold, the downstairs is hot.”

Community Resource’s Dana Gonzalez walks into the kitchen, and pauses to take a look
around.

Standen: “So when you walked in, what was the first thing you saw?”

Gonzalez: “It’s funny. You see this door shoe and you see, actually the bottom rubber
is gone.”

He points to a two-inch gap under the front door.

“And if you put your hand here, you can actually feel the air. Anytime they kick on
their heat and cool, that’s definitely affecting their house, and in the long run, affects
their bill.”

Community Resource will spend about $1500 here, aiming to cut monthly utility bills by
as much as 20%.

They’ll weather strip the doors, patch up holes in the walls, install CFL bulbs. We’re not
talking solar panels or radiant heating – just small, mostly inexpensive adjustments that
cumulatively, have a huge impact.

The White House says these efficiency projects will create thousands of jobs, but there’s
also concern that the huge cash infusion is a recipe for fraud and mismanagement.

Department of Energy officials have called for extra vigilance in the disbursement of
weatherization cash. But, they say, the benefits, both environmental and economic, far
outweigh the risks.

For The Environment Report, I’m Amy Standen.

Saving With a Smart Grid

With a smart grid system, your house can talk back to you and the power station (Source: Jdorwin at Wikimedia Commons)

The government is spending billions of taxpayer dollars on a new “smart grid.” Mark Brush reports the new grid could eventually save you money on your energy bills:

Transcript

The government is spending billions of taxpayer dollars on a new “smart grid.” Mark Brush reports the new grid could eventually save you money on your energy bills:

Right now – power just goes from point A to point B.

But with a smart
grid system, your house can talk back to you and the power station.

The
meter could tell you how much it costs to heat your water, for instance.

And the power company will be able to talk to you if they’re having a
problem.

So, if they’re headed for a blackout, they can text message you
or e-mail you and ask you to shut off your A/C.

Jesse Berst is the founding editor of Smart Grid News dot com. It’s a trade publication.

He says, if electric grids are updated across the country, it would cut
down on pollution and save money.

“And that means there’s billions, tens of billions of dollars of power
plants and lines that we wouldn’t have to build over the next couple of
decades.”

Upgrading the system won’t be easy.

Each state has regulatory agencies that oversee thousands of electric
suppliers.

So there will have to be a lot of coordination.

For The Environment Report, I’m Mark Brush.

Google’s Power Meter

Google's new smart meter technology will eventually let consumers see how much energy each appliance (like a fridge) in their home uses, in order to help them find ways to reduce their monthly bill. (Photo by M. Minderhoud, Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

There’s 11-billion dollars in the new economic stimulus plan for upgrades to the electric grid and so-called smart meters. These smart meters hook up to your home and give the utility company real-time feedback on how much energy you’re using. Rebecca Williams reports Google is working on a way to let you see that information:

Transcript

Google’s system is called PowerMeter. It’s in beta testing right now but the idea is: if you get a smart meter, you’ll be able to see exactly how much energy your TV, fridge and computer use.

The system will hook into the info utility companies draw from your home. Then, you can log into your secure i-Google website, for free. And get real-time feedback so you can figure out how to spend less on your power bill.

Kirsten Cahill is a program manager at Google. She says they’ve been testing the PowerMeter around the office:

“I think people are surprised about things like their oven; how much the oven uses or the microwave. Things that you using every day that are actually, you know, pretty huge energy users.”

It’ll probably be a year or more before the Google system is open to everybody.

For the Environment Report, I’m Rebecca Williams.

Hard Times and Heating Homes

31% of low-income people said they kept their home so cold it felt unsafe. 20% said they had their electricity or gas shut off for some amount of time. (Photo by Gerald Downing, courtesy of FEMA)

Now that the price of oil has
dropped, the cost of heating your home
won’t be as high as experts were predicting
this summer. But millions of Americans
are still struggling to pay their heating
bills. Rebecca Williams reports in some
rare cases having your heat shut off can
mean being evicted from your home. And,
in the worst case, it can even mean losing
your children:

Transcript

Demetria Salinas has three kids. Money is tight and she’s worried about
getting through the winter.

“I’m kinda nervous because I mean what if we don’t have enough to pay the
bills, then what do we do?”

She says she tries to save on heat by putting extra sweaters on her kids, and
turning the furnace off.

“Put the gas on for a little bit and turn it off, and when it gets a little bit
colder, put it back on. But it does definitely mean layering up, even in the
house.”

She says that’s hard on her kids.

Many parents are in these impossible situations. The National Energy
Assistance Director’s Association has found low-income people often have
to choose between paying their heating bills and feeding their kids.

31% said they kept their home so cold it felt unsafe. 20% of low income
people said they had their electricity or gas shut off for some amount of
time.

Phil Thompson works for Capital Area Community Services in Lansing,
Michigan. His agency helps people pay their bills and talks with utility
companies to buy people more time. He says usually utilities won’t shut
heat off in the coldest days of winter.

“Most utility companies are sympathetic to the situation of not having heat
in the wintertime. There’s always those horror stories of a senior or
handicapped individual who froze because their utility was turned off.
They’re going to do everything they can to keep that from happening.”

But Thompson says he sees a lot of people get their heat shut off in the
spring, and it can still get cold then.

Now, in some states, if the heat is shut off – even for just a little while – you
can be evicted.

“In some cases where there’s small children it’s very possible that Child
Protective Services would get involved and possibly remove the kids from
the household when there’s no utilities.”

That’s right – the state can take kids away if the utilities are shut off.

We talked with foster care workers in several states, and they all said that
this is rare. They said they do everything they can to keep families together,
and they can sometimes help pay heating bills. But they also said a home
with no heat is often a sign that something else is wrong.

Andrea Yocum is an investigator with Child Protective Services north of
Detroit.

“Typically there’s other reasons why they’re removed for example, if the
family’s just not willing to pay their bills because they’re using the money
for other things like drugs or alcohol.”

But Yocum says sometimes it’s just not the family’s fault.

“I have had families that were evicted as a result of their landlord not paying
their bills, and utilities turned off the same because the landlord’s not taking
care of what’s happening within the home.”

If families are evicted, it can be temporary, maybe just a couple days until
the heat’s back on. But for families living in poverty, having the heat turned
off again can happen as soon as the next bill is late.

There is some good news this year. There’s federal money that states use to
help people pay their heating bills. Because fuel prices were expected to go
up, Congress doubled that pot of money this year. Most states are reporting
they’re in a better position to help people now.

But winter is just beginning and they’re already getting a lot more people
asking for help with their heating bills than in the past.

For The Environment Report, I’m Rebecca Williams.

Interview: Swapping an Suv for a Prius

Micky Maynard in her Prius (Photo courtesy of Micky Maynard)

Micky Maynard is a reporter
for the New York Times. She’s been keeping a
diary of giving up her Lexus SUV for a hybrid
gas-electric car. She’s taken her readers on
a ride through her reasoning for switching
and her on-road experiences. The Environment
Report’s Lester Graham took a ride with Maynard
in her Barcelona Red Toyota Prius:

Transcript

Micky Maynard: “Okay, so, to start it, you push this button. You see
the little ‘ready’ button, and you hear a little sound, and that’s
essentially the battery starting the car. And, off you go.”

Lester Graham: “I recall, when I was younger, I went from a pretty
powerful car to a little car, and the one thing I really noticed was
that it felt like I was driving a toy. What’s the difference between
driving the Lexus and driving this one?”

Maynard: “A difference is that in the Lexus, or in a SUV, you’re sitting
up above the ground. This car, you’re right back down on the road.
And it took a lot of adjusting. I was driving from Detroit to Chicago,
and I heard this ‘thump, thump, thump,’ and I thought I had a flat
tire, but it was just the road surface. Because I was used to sitting
up high, I never would have noticed the road bed before.”

Graham: “I know that some newby Prius drivers that when they
come to a stop, like we are now, there’s almost no sound
sometimes.”

Maynard: (laughs) “That’s right. In fact, my postman was telling me
hybrid cars will come up behind him, and he says, ‘they’re sneaky
little cars.’ He said, ‘you can’t hear them.’ (laughs)

Graham: “What’s it like going on to the on-ramp on the interstate?”

Maynard: “I haven’t had any trouble yet, because I generally try to
give myself enough space between myself and the person behind
me. You know, when you’re in a luxury car, a Lexus, you hit the
pedal and you get all this acceleration. This car’s quite peppy, but it
doesn’t have that rrrrrrrrrrrr that you get in a V8 or a V6. And that is
something to get used to.”

Graham: “I keep hearing from Prius owners that the consumption
meter really changes how they drive. How has the feedback from
the car affected how you drive?”

Maynard: “It affects how I drive tremendously. There’s a
consumption screen in the car, and it will show you exactly the kind
of miles-per-gallon you’re getting. So, if you don’t floor it, you can
get 100 miles-a-gallon – at least that’s what the car’s telling you. And
you have another meter that shows you what you’re averaging over
your trip. My pride and joy was driving a long trip and getting over
50 miles-a-gallon. And you kind of feel this little shot of pride when
you see the 50 or the 47.”

Graham: “So, you’re encouraged to take it easy just so you can be
rewarded with the feedback?”

Maynard: “And I don’t want people to think that Prius owners are all
out there going 17 miles-per-hour. We’re not. What’s going on is
we’re trying to drive smoothly, we’re trying to drive in a steady
fashion. Although they tell you that you get better gas mileage in
town, driving around city streets, I’ve actually gotten fantastic gas
mileage just driving steadily on the highway. You do keep the
consumption meter up on the screen, and you do watch it. Now, I
did have one reader write in and say, ‘stop watching the screen and
watch the road,’ and I assured her that I absolutely do watch the
road. But you do sort of glance over and kind of check how you’re
doing.”

Small Car Trend to Stay?

Since gas prices have dropped, some buyers are showing more interest in big vehicles. (Photo courtesy of the US Department of State)

When gas prices went up, car
companies cut their production plans for
making big vehicles, and made new plans
for more fuel efficient cars. The question
now is, with gas prices falling, will those
plans change again? As Dustin Dwyer
reports, the experts say probably not:

Transcript

It’s not as easy to make money on a small car as it is on an SUV.

Small cars are cheaper, and they have lower profit margins. But as gas prices went up earlier this year, auto
executives insisted they’d find a way to make money on small vehicles.

Since gas prices have dropped though, some buyers are showing more interest in big vehicles.

Michael Robinet tracks the auto industry for the firm CSM Worldwide. He says the long term trend still
points to smaller vehicles.

“There may be a ratcheting down by some consumers in terms of the size of vehicles that they’re looking
for, irrespective of where fuel prices go in the future.”

Robinet says the bad economy is forcing many people to downsize. And the federal government has new
rules that mandate cleaner cars, so Robinet says getting smaller will be the big trend for years to come.

For The Environment Report, I’m Dustin Dwyer.

Tag: utility

Interview: Concentrating Solar Thermal

Transcript

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Grappling With the Grid

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Climate Change and Civil Rights

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Is There Hope for Hydrogen?

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Saving Energy: Simple Changes, Big Impact

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Google’s Power Meter

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Hard Times and Heating Homes

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Interview: Swapping an Suv for a Prius

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