Photo: Coyote Springs Generating Station by Portland General Electric

On August 25, my colleagues at the Deutsche Bank Climate Change Advisors and I released a new greenhouse gas (GHG) life-cycle analysis of U.S. coal and natural gas-fired electricity. If you have been following my posts on ReVolt over the last year, you’ll know we began studying this issue after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced revisions to its methodology for estimating emissions from natural gas systems (basically from the production, processing, transmission, and distribution of natural gas) that resulted in a more than doubling of its estimate for methane emissions from those sources. Methane, in addition to being the primary component of natural gas, is a GHG some 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide over a hundred-year period. Consequently, some analysts have raised concerns that when the actual amount of methane emitted during the entire life cycle of natural gas (an amount which the EPA’s previous methodology apparently underestimated) is taken into account, natural gas might lose its GHG advantage over coal.

Over the past year, a number of new life-cycle analyses have come out that all ask different versions of the question, “How clean is natural gas really, on a life-cycle basis?” Some focus on GHG emissions from shale versus conventional natural gas, while others focus on all natural gas produced in the United States. The life-cycle analyses use different underlying assumptions, methodologies, and sources of data, and nearly all comment on the implications of their findings for the GHG comparison between coal and gas. After all, if the Obama administration is (or at least was) considering a clean energy standard that gave natural gas-fired electricity a half-credit on the basis of its GHG savings over coal, this should be reflected by actual GHG savings.

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Source: Caribbean 360

Worldwatch researchers recently completed their initial visit to Jamaica for the Caribbean Low-Carbon Energy Roadmaps project. The team discussed a range of issues related to Jamaica’s energy infrastructure and needs with policymakers and stakeholders, and one issue that stood out was the potential for more cogeneration at sugar mills.

As of 2010, the agricultural sector accounted for 6 percent of Jamaica’s gross domestic product (GDP) and 20 percent of the nation’s employment. The largest of the industries within the agricultural sector – the sugarcane industry – accounted for 35,000 direct jobs and 100,000 indirect jobs. About 46,000 hectares, or nearly 5 percent of Jamaica’s land, is dedicated to growing sugarcane.

But what does this industry have to do with Worldwatch’s Low-Carbon Energy Roadmap in Jamaica? The simple answer is that waste from sugar mills is already contributing to Jamaica’s energy portfolio, and has the potential to play an even more substantial role.

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As part of Worldwatch’s Caribbean Low-Carbon Energy Roadmap project, Climate & Energy Director Alexander Ochs and I made our first country visit to Jamaica. The trip, ten days in total, was a chance to formally meet with project partners at the Jamaican Ministry of Energy and Mining and other governmental departments as well as with stakeholders from across all sectors that are important to the country’s energy future. Throughout the visit, many issues came up repeatedly, including working with the IMF, net billing vs. net metering, calculation of avoided costs as it pertains to renewable energy projects and power purchase agreements, and the cost of taking out a loan for renewable energy investments. All of this led to a very clear initial observation: Jamaica is facing a serious energy crisis, one that can only be tackled with massive investments in renewable energy, energy efficiency, and smarter grid solution.

(L to R) Gerald Lindo, Fitzroy Vidal, and Minister Clive Mullings of Jamaica's Ministry of Energy & Mining with Worldwatch's Mark Konold and Alexander Ochs

Jamaica’s GDP is currently around USD $13 billion. In 2010, the country spent USD $1.6 billion on fossil fuel imports, roughly 12 percent of its GDP. That figure was as high as 20 percent before the global economic crisis and it is likely to return to that level as oil prices continue their overall upward trend. Despite enormous renewable resources, fossil fuels comprise 91 percent of the island’s energy source. This dependency on fossil fuels plays a major role in a consumer’s utility bill, or “light bill” as it is commonly called. Currently, consumers pay roughly USD $0.38 to $0.40 per kilowatt hour (kWh) for electricity. By comparison, electricity rates in the U.S. average around $ 0.10 per kWh. As the burden of expensive electricity persists, there is growing support for the government to take action. As Hillary Alexander, Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Energy and Mining, told us, “We need solutions that are practical, implementable and beneficial for the people of Jamaica – and we need them now!”

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On July 28, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed a package of regulations designed to reduce air pollution from the oil and natural gas industry. One of these regulations, a new source performance standard for volatile organic compounds (VOCs), will require drillers to use a technique called “green completions” on any oil or gas well that they hydraulically fracture. The EPA estimates that this new regulation, which is the United States’ first federal air standard addressing hydraulically fractured wells, will reduce such wells’ emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) by 95 percent.

Green completions also have the co-benefit of capturing methane that would otherwise be vented or flared. Methane is the main constituent of natural gas and a greenhouse gas 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Recent estimates of methane emitted during the production, processing, and transport of natural gas have caused some to question the greenhouse gas benefits that could be achieved by switching from coal to gas-fired electricity.

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President Obama announced last week that automakers must enhance the future performance of their cars and light trucks if they want to continue selling in the United States. The fleets for Model Years 2017 through 2025 will need to meet a combined highway/city performance equivalent to 54.5 miles per gallon (mpg) and 163 grams of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions per mile according to EPA test procedures. The new standard extends one established in 2009 that requires a Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) of 35.5 mpg and 250 grams of CO2 per mile by Model Year 2016. For passenger vehicles, the standards increase by an average of five percent annually from 2017 through 2025.

The CAFE requirement includes a flexibility mechanism that provides credits allowing automakers to reduce their fleet-wide efficiency performance by designing a variety of systems including efficient air conditioning, flex fuel engines, and compressed natural gas treatment. These ‘accounting tricks’ combined with the possibility of a slight rebound effect in driving behavior may undermine fuel efficiency improvements. Meeting the higher fuel economy standards may not be so far out of reach for automakers even without flexible crediting, considering the efficiency levels achieved by cars on the road today, such as the Toyota Prius, which gets 50 mpg. Nonetheless, the new standard is leaps and bounds beyond the 27 mpg Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standard for passenger cars that had been in place since 1985.

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For the millions suffering through the recent heat waves blanketing the United States, geothermal heating and cooling systems may be of interest. Although such systems are by no means new, they have experienced tremendous growth recently. Last year alone, 50,000 new systems were built in the United States, increasing the total number of U.S. geothermal heating and cooling installations to 150,000.

The frequent and extreme heat waves and cold spells of the past decade have put utilities under greater pressure. Just last week, three regional transmission organizations (RTOs) set all-time highs for daily electricity demand. Unfortunately for electricity consumers, rising electricity demand also translates into rising electricity prices. So what does this have to do with geothermal energy? For home and building owners, geothermal systems offer an opportunity for cleaner and cheaper heating and cooling services.

What services can a geothermal heating and cooling system provide?

As the name might suggest, geothermal heating and cooling systems provide heating and cooling for buildings. Less obvious is that these same systems can also provide humidity control and water heating services. This means that installing a geothermal system lowers the demand on furnace, air-conditioning, and water heating units.

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Metros with clusters across the United States

There are 2.7 million clean economy jobs in the United States, according to a recently released report by the Brookings Institution entitled “Sizing the Clean Economy: A National and Regional Green Jobs Assessment.” Brookings hosted an event to announce the release, at which one panel explored the fascinating and increasingly important role that Regional Innovation Clusters (RICs) play in fostering the clean economy.

The report shows that the majority of green jobs (defined as jobs with a direct or indirect environmental benefit) are in conventional sectors like manufacturing, waste management, and mass transit. But the fastest growing sector is clean technology, which includes renewable energy, smart grid, and energy efficiency. While 64 percent of green jobs in the U.S. reside within the 100 largest metropolitan areas (which hold 66 percent of the U.S. population), the same metros hold an outsized 74 percent of the clean tech jobs created from 2003 to 2010. The Brookings report takes this as evidence that metros have strong industry clusters that boost clean economy growth.

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Natural disasters can provide a dramatic reminder of the impact human activities are having on our planet. In recent months, the Southwestern United States has experienced devastating forest fires. As of June 2^nd, over 3 million acres have burned throughout the country this year, representing the largest acreage burned by this point in the year since 2000. According to data from the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC), the total number of acres burned between 1960 and 2009 has greatly increased. Additionally, the number of acres burned per individual fire event has also increased, at an even sharper rate, demonstrating a trend toward more severe fires. This is true despite the fact that U.S. forest acreage decreased from 1945-1997.

Source: National interagency Fire Center

The Wallow Fire, which began in late May and is still burning, is the largest fire in Arizona’s history covering 538,049 acres. The Las Conchas fire, which has thus far destroyed over 100,000 acres and has become the largest blaze in New Mexico’s history is also still burning as of July 1^st. There are several other large fires in the Southwestern region.  The increase in number and severity of wildfires makes us wonder:  is climate change to blame? The answer: yes, at least in part. In fact it is a combination of poor management AND climate conditions that is fueling the infernos raging in the American Southwest and elsewhere in the country.

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This entry is the latest in a Worldwatch blog series on innovations in the climate and energy world.

Natel's SLH turbine, courtesy of www.natelenergy.com

According to BP’s Statistical Review of World Energy for 2011, global hydropower consumption set an all-time high by growing 5.3 percent in 2010, led by China and Canada. The 2010 International Energy Outlook, developed by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, projects that renewable energy will be the fastest growing source of electricity through 2035, 53 percent of which will be hydropower (mostly in non-OECD nations). But in the United States—the world’s second largest consumer of electricity—hydropower potential is almost fully tapped, and the future of energy is in natural gas and other renewables.

Isn’t it?

A recent innovation by Natel, a California-based engineering firm, can produce power from ‘low head’ dams and other existing structures.

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The C40 Summit was held in Sao Paulo, Brazil, a C40 participating city

Several international organizations have collaborated recently to combat climate change in the world’s largest cities. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former U.S. President Bill Clinton announced last month that they will be combining the resources of the Clinton Climate Initiative, a program of the William J. Clinton Foundation, and the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, which Bloomberg chairs, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in cities.

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