2008 a Record Year at 8300 MW of New Wind Power

By Sandy Hamilton | Published: January 29, 2009

The U.S. wind energy industry shattered all previous records in 2008 by installing 8,358 MW of new generating capacity (enough to serve over 2 million homes), the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) reported today.

The massive growth in 2008 swelled the nation’s total wind power generating capacity by 50% and channeled an investment of some $17 billion into the economy, positioning wind power as one of the leading sources of new power generation in the country today.

“The U.S. wind energy industry’s performance in 2008 confirms that wind is an economic and job creation dynamo, ready to deliver on the President’s call to double renewable energy production in three years. At the same time, it is clear that the economic and financial downturn have begun to take a serious toll on new wind development” said AWEA CEO Denise Bode.

The new wind projects completed in 2008 account for about 42% of the entire new power-producing capacity added nationally last year and will avoid nearly 44 million tons of carbon emissions, the equivalent of taking over 7 million cars off of the road.

The top five states in terms of capacity installed are now:

  • Texas, with 7,116 MW
  • Iowa, with 2,790 MW
  • California, with 2,517 MW
  • Minnesota, with 1,752 MW
  • Washington, with 1,375 MW

Wind turbine and turbine component manufacturers announced, added or expanded 70 new facilities in the past two years, including over 55 in 2008 alone. Those new manufacturing facilities created 13,000 new direct jobs in 2008.

Posted in Renewable Energy | Leave a comment

DESC Selects NuEnergen as Demand Response Provider

By admin | Published: January 29, 2009

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–NuEnergen, LLC announced today that the Defense Energy Support Center (DESC) has awarded a Demand Response services agreement to NuEnergen, LLC. The intent of the agreement between NuEnergen and the DESC is to “enable all military and federal sites to participate in Demand Response programs with NuEnergen as a provider of services.” All federal and military facilities interested in participating in Demand Response programs throughout the United States will have their agreements approved by the DESC.

“NuEnergen has been working with the DESC over the past several months to demonstrate our broad capabilities in both Demand Response and in Energy Sourcing services and we are very proud that they have selected us as a trusted advisor,” said Kevin Hamilton, CEO of NuEnergen. Hamilton added, “The U.S. Government is the largest user of electricity in the United States and the DESC should be applauded for their efforts to reduce consumption and costs to the taxpayer.”

“The DESC encourages federal and military installations to do their part to use energy more efficiently, and Demand Response programs are a great way to meet that objective,” said Larry Fratis, Head of the Electricity Branch for DESC. “Demand Response is a solution that makes good business sense while delivering positive community and environmental benefits through increased efficiency and reliability of the electric power system. In addition, participation in this program is in line with the intent of the federal Energy Policy Act of 2005, as well as service/agency sustainability goals.”

In addition to receiving payments from local Independent Service Operators (ISOs) for participating in Demand Response programs, all federal and military locations that participate will be utilizing NuEnergen’s online Energy Management Dashboard (EMD) that tracks all Usage, Cost and Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions metrics at the division, location and facility levels.

If you would like more information about the Demand Response or Energy Sourcing services that NuEnergen offers, you can send an email to info@nuenergen.com, call us at 866-977-0901 or visit our website at www.nuenergen.com.

About NuEnergen

NuEnergen is an Energy Consulting and Services provider headquartered in White Plains, NY, focused on reducing energy costs and providing sustainability programs for Global 2000 clients.

About the DESC

The Defense Energy Support Center’s mission is to provide the Department of Defense and other government agencies with comprehensive energy solutions in the most effective and economical manner possible. For more information, visit http://www.desc.dla.mil/default.asp.

Posted in NuEnergen, Press Release | Leave a comment

This Weeks CAP & TRADE Debate

By Sandy Hamilton | Published: January 4, 2009

This week the Senate took up a debate on a bill regarding Climate Change. The heart of the bill is a plan to CAP the production of greenhouse gases and, for the first time, force polluters to buy (TRADE) permits to emit carbon dioxide. Both presidential candidates have expressed support for the cap-and-trade concept that underlies this legislation, but also have said they would like to see changes in the current bill. Senator Barack Obama, would like to see its pollution targets strengthened, while Senator John McCain, is demanding that it provide more help for the nuclear power industry.

Emissions_by_state_8

The measure, as proposed, would reduce American production of climate-altering gases by nearly 70 percent from current levels by 2050. It would provide billions of dollars in subsidies for energy conservation and environmentally clean technologies, creating millions of jobs, proponents say.

The sale of the permits would raise more than $5 trillion for the government in the coming decades, money that the bill proposes to distribute to affected industries, consumers and local governments in one of the biggest programs of redistribution of American wealth in history. The bill’s proponents say the money would help pay for a technological leap that would create millions of new jobs while cleaning the atmosphere.

Posted in Greenhouse Gas Emissions, RECs/Carbon Offsets | Leave a comment

High Efficiency Solar Cells Show Promise

By Sandy Hamilton | Published: December 16, 2008

A number of recent technological advances suggest new pathways to solar cells that will convert a large fraction of sunlight into electricity — that is IF the technologies can be commercialized.

In November, researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) announced that they have developed an antireflective coating that captures the entire spectrum of sunlight from any angle. The researchers stacked seven layers of antireflective coating, each about 100 billionths of a meter thick, or 100 nanometers. Each layer is composed of nanoscale rods, all positioned at an oblique angle. The arrangement allows each layer to enhance the antireflective qualities of the layer below it, resulting in a highly efficient capture of sunlight. The work was funded by the DOE Office of Basic Energy Sciences.

Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) took a similar approach to boosting solar cell efficiency, but focused their efforts on the back of ultrathin silicon solar cells. The team applied an antireflection coating to the front of the cell and covered the back with multiple layers of reflective coatings and a diffraction grating, trapping light within the cell and boosting its efficiency by up to 50%.

At Ohio State University (OSU) they have devised a potential solar cell material that can capture the entire visible portion of sunlight. The material, an electrically conductive plastic combined with metals, such as molybdenum and titanium, is still a long way from a functional solar cell, but it has promising properties, including the ability to generate electrons that remained in an excited energy state for a relatively long period of time.

Posted in Renewable Energy | Leave a comment

Obama’s Climate Change Plan

By Sandy Hamilton | Published: September 8, 2008

With the Democratic National Committee convention in Denver last week, NuEnergen executives were able to attend various policy meetings regarding the Democratic plan for energy. Titled BARACK OBAMA: NEW ENERGY FOR AMERICA, the Democratic plan encompasses short, medium and long range solutions the administration wants to put forth for our growing list of issues. NuEnergen was pleased to see that there was a big focus on Climate Change. The following is an excerpt from his proposed energy policy on Climate Change;

  • Make the U.S. a Leader on Climate Change
    • Barack Obama understands that the only real solution to climate change requires all major emitting nations to join in the solution. While it is time for America to lead, developing nations like China and Brazil must not be far behind in making their own binding commitments. To develop an effective and equitable global program, Obama will re-engage with the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) - the main international forum dedicated to addressing the climate problem. He will also invigorate the Major Economies (MEM) effort and bring all major emitting nations together to develop effective emissions reduction efforts.
  • Implement Cap and Trade Program to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emission
    • Barack Obama supports the implementation of an economy-wide cap-and-trade system to reduce carbon emissions by the amount scientists say is necessary: 80% below 1990 levels by 2050. This market mechanism has worked before and will give all American consumers and businesses the incentives to use their ingenuity to develop economically effective solutions to climate change. Obama’s cap-and-trade policy will require all pollution credits to be auctioned. A 100 percent auction ensures that all industries pay for every ton of emissions they release, rather than giving these valuable emissions rights away to companies on the basis of their past pollution. A small portion of the receipts generated by auctioning allowances ($15 billion per year) will be used to support the development of clean energy, invest in energy efficiency improvements, and help the economy meet emissions reduction targets.

The policy statement covered a number of issues ranging from Dependency on Foreign Oil, Investing in a Clean Energy Economy, Energy Rebates for Efficiency Projects, Mileage Standards for Cars, Trucks and SUVs, Electric Vehicles, Flex-Fuels, BioFuels and U.S, production of Oil & Gas.

Of additional note was Democratic party’s commitment to having 10% of our electricity coming from Renewable Sources by 2012. While some states are well on their way with an RPS (Renewable Portfolio Standard), a federal mandate seems likely with a Democratic administration.

Posted in Current Affairs, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Legislation, Renewable Energy | Leave a comment

NuEnergen Execs meet with N.Y. Governor Pataki

By Sandy Hamilton | Published: July 29, 2008

Kevin_george_sandyEx-Governor George Pataki and Senior Adviser John Cahill have recently joined the law firm of Chadborne & Park, LLP to focus their efforts on energy and environmental issues facing global 2000 companies. NuEnergen executives Kevin Hamilton and Sandy Hamilton recently met with the Governor and John Cahill to discuss various issues surrounding Greenhouse Gas Emissions and the impending U.S. Cap & Trade policy debates.
During his tenure as New York’s Chief Executive, Pataki advanced award-winning, cutting edge policies in the renewable energy and environmental fields. This included the protection of over 1 million acres of open space, the adoption of the progressive Regional Green House Gas initiative, the implementation of the nations first green building tax credit and other policies that helped propel N.Y. to the forefront in addressing Climate Change.

Posted in Current Affairs, NuEnergen, Press Release | Leave a comment

North Pole is on Thin Ice

By Sandy Hamilton | Published: July 11, 2008


Untitled_5

It’s interesting as to why some stories get traction in the mainstream media and why some don’t. In online science discussions, the fate of this years summer sea ice has been the focus of a significant debate of expert prediction skills.  However, none of these efforts made it on to the Today program. Instead, a rather casual article in the UK based Independent that showed the latest thickness data and quoted Mark Serreze as saying that the “area around the North Pole had 50/50 odds of being completely ice free this summer”, has taken off across the media.

The key issue is that since last year’s dramatic summer ice anomaly, the winter ice that formed in that newly opened water is relatively thin (around 1 meter), compared to multi-year ice (3 meters or so). This new ice formed quite close to the Pole, and with the prevailing winds and currents (which push ice from Siberia towards Greenland) is now over the Pole itself. Given that only 30% of first year ice survives the summer, the chances that there will be significant open water at the pole itself is high.

The actuality will depend on the winds and the vagaries of Arctic weather - but it certainly bears watching. Ironically, you will be able to see what happens only if it doesn’t happen (from these web cams near the North Pole station).

This is very different from the notorious story in the New York Times back in August 2000. In that case, the report was of the presence of some open water at the pole - which as the correction stated, is not that uncommon as ice floes and leads interact. What is being discussed here is large expanses of almost completely ice-free water. That would indeed be unprecedented since we’ve started tracking it.

Posted in Greenhouse Gas Emissions | Leave a comment

Worldwide CO2 Market shows Dramatic Growth

By Sandy Hamilton | Published: July 8, 2008

Consulting firm Point Carbon indicated today that the global carbon market has generated almost as much money in the first half of 2008 as it did in all of 2007.

The company said 1.8 gigatons of CO2 equivalent was traded globally in the first half of this year, worth more than $59 billion US dollars, compared with $62 billion for all of 2007. The aggregate worth of transactions in the first half of this year is already 94% of the value for all 2007 transactions, in large part because of a “notably higher” average carbon prices.

Point Carbon said that 70% of the 1.8 Gt CO2e traded thus far in 2008 was transacted within the EU Emissions Trading Zones, up from 61% over the same period in 2007.

In addition, Point Carbon said several new markets and market segments have been introduced, including the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative in the U.S. , the trading scheme in Alberta, CA and the upcoming Austrailian federal Emissions Trading scheme.

Posted in Greenhouse Gas Emissions, RECs/Carbon Offsets | Leave a comment

June 9-11, Rockwell Corporate Leaders Roundtable, Peable Beach, CA

By Sandy Hamilton | Published: April 22, 2008

Corporate_leaders_roundtable_2NuEnergen CEO Kevin Hamilton will be presenting on “Challenges and Opportunities for Fortune 500 companies in the New Energy Economy” during the Rockwell Automation Corporate Leaders Roundtable on June 9th - 11th at The Inn at Spanish Bay, Pebble Beach, CA. Topics will include how corporations can stem the rising tide of energy costs through Procurement Strategies in deregulated markets, and the impending Cap and Trade on Carbon Emissions and how to prepare for it.

Held at the Inn at Spanish Bay, Pebble Beach, CA, this unique event designed for executive leaders from manufacturing and original equipment manufacturers provides an opportunity to discuss topics facing industry today. Over 60 manufacturing executives will participate in this event from industries such as; Food and Beverage, Pharmaceutical and Biotech, Automotive and Consumer Goods. Since 1990, Rockwell Automation has offered this forum to hundreds of senior executives who want to stay abreast of best practices in manufacturing.

Posted in Current Affairs | Leave a comment

Google and Renewable Energy

By Sandy Hamilton | Published: March 27, 2008

Every year the founders of Google write a Founders Letter and publish it. It’s meant to be an “off the cuff” look at the business and industry, what’s working, what’s not. You can read the entire letter here.

Rec3_3 What is interesting in the letter is how this now very large, and very profitable company is committed to the environment and addressing global warming. They use a very clever term of RE<C meaning; Renewable Energy less expensive that Carbon based energy. For those of us in the industry a REC is a Renewable Energy Credit. In the letter within the section “The World” Larry and Sergey (founders of Google) write;

“Speaking of the world, we don’t want it to end-especially by environmental catastrophe. Consequently, we are working hard on our own considerable energy use in data centers by making them far more efficient. We’re working directly on our own carbon/methane off sets to cover our usage. But we are all on the same Spaceship Earth, and we need to energetically address harmful emissions. To this end, we launched RE<C, an initiative to make renewable energy cheaper than coal-fired plants. We have started our own internal development effort, and have made investments in promising technologies. We are working on new clean technologies that could make more energy than we have now, and do it at a lower cost. Our goal is to generate a gigawatt (roughly enough to power San Francisco) of clean, cheap energy in years, not decades. If we are successful, we will not only help the world, but also make substantial profits.”

Generating enough clean renewable energy to power a city the size of San Francisco. Certainly a big goal, but if there is a company that can do it, Google can.

Posted in Greenhouse Gas Emissions, RECs/Carbon Offsets | Leave a comment