Pacific Standard March-April 2013 Cover

With Electric Cars, Opening a Two-Way Road to the Bank

April 29, 2013 • By • Leave a Comment
A small fleet of Mini Coopers at the University of Delaware both draw electric power from the grid and return it, based on the needs of the moment. (PHOTO: UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE)

The feds have dubbed it “tiny but promising,” but “vehicle-to-grid” electrical regulation officially has gotten off the ground in a small way. Last Friday the University of Delaware flipped the switch connecting—via car charging stations—a small fleet of electric-powered Mini Coopers to electric-grid managers PJM Interconnection. (Actually, the switch was flipped on February 27; last week’s event was a sort of debutant’s coming-out party for the technology.) In a piece subtitled "A New Spin on Car Payments," Dan Ferber told us in the November 2011 issue of Miller-McCune (the ... Read More

More like this: Business & Economics
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Diesel: The Dirty Fuel That Could Usher in Clean Energy

August 22, 2012 • By • Leave a Comment

Without a lot of warning, diesel has become the universal solution for the world economy. Power outage? India’s industries and middle class fired up their diesel generators. Drought? India halved the price of diesel so big farmers could pump more water. India refers to this as the “dieselization of the economy.” India is not alone: In Nigeria, 90 percent of industrial electricity users own diesel generators as insurance against frequent blackouts. As government-run power grids falter, African customers are buying 100,000 generators a year. In China, in 2010, power outages led so ... Read More

More like this: Environment
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Navajo Nation Builds Momentum for Renewable Energy

November 22, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment

There’s a Navajo saying: “When you walk into the future, you must walk in beauty.” When it comes to energy, this is difficult to follow for the current generation of Navajo. Many of the dirtiest coal plants and uranium mines in the country are on Navajo Nation, polluting its land and water and causing health problems. Despite this, of the 300,000 enrolled Navajo tribal members, it is estimated that 18,000 of them don’t have electricity. This past summer, Dreaming New Mexico and New Energy Economy, two energy-focused organizations at work in the Southwest, installed solar panels ... Read More

More like this: Environment
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Consistency Key to Renewable Energy Policy

October 15, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment

The bankruptcy of the solar startup Solyndra last month has placed government funding for renewable energy projects under a microscope. Were the government-guaranteed loans a wise way to use public funding to help green technologies? An analysis conducted by the George Soros-funded Climate Policy Initiative (“Evaluating Policies for Low Carbon Growth”) looked at six large-scale renewable energy projects in the United States and Europe, seeking answers about how their real costs matched up with their estimates, and "how policy affects project economics." The six projects were: wind ... Read More

More like this: By The Way ..., Environment
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Wood Pellets Energizing Europe, Timber Industry

October 12, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment

One strange side effect of the European campaign to slash emissions by 2020 is a boom in North American timber products. A chief at one British Columbia wood-processing firm, Pinnacle Renewable Energy, made a slightly surprising remark to Germany’s Manager Magazin this year: “We’ve grown to a size where we can fill whole cargo ships,” said Leroy Reitsma, Pinnacle’s chief operating officer, “and that makes it profitable to export wood pellets.” Wood pellets? Until recently they were a boring product for home stoves, usually found in northern supermarkets next to the ... Read More

More like this: Environment, European Dispatch
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Falling Cost of Renewables Softens Nuclear Shutdown

October 5, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment

When Germany decided this year to phase out its nuclear sector, eight of its 17 power plants were mothballed immediately, and Germans learned just how expensive it can be to shut down a reactor: about a billion euros. That didn't surprise industry analysts, but it also doesn't include the cost of storing nuclear waste. So German power companies — though they'd been ordered to sock away enough cash to decommission their reactors — will probably ask the government for more help. "Total costs [for all reactors] might yet top the €32.5 billion that companies have set aside for expenses ... Read More

More like this: Environment, European Dispatch
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Germany’s Road to Natural Gas Has Coal Detour

September 21, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment

Germany's nuclear phase-out strikes either joy or fear into the hearts of environmentalists — joy over the end of nuclear power in a major industrial nation, or fear over the undeniable prospect of more coal-fired plants in central Europe. Some estimates claim Germany will add up to 40 million tons of carbon dioxide with (supposedly temporary) new fossil-fuel plants to replace its nuclear power — an increase "equivalent to the annual emissions of Slovakia," as Reuters put it not long ago. But the phase-out comes with a tricky statistic at the heart of the plan, a cap-and-trade rule that ... Read More

More like this: Environment, European Dispatch
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Energy Conservation Through the Lens of Faith

May 30, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment

Advocates of green living are often eager to support their cause by referencing benefits of an eco-friendly life style. The rewards for conserving energy in the home or driving a hybrid car include lower energy bills, fewer trips to the gas pumps and knowing that the air is a bit less toxic. In recent years, however, voices within progressive religion have elevated the cause to a higher plateau. Within the three monotheistic traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, an effort grounded in a shared theology has spawned Interfaith Power and Light, a national organization that preaches ... Read More

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Inventor of Plastic Solar Cells Sees Bright Future

January 28, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment

In 1974, future Nobel laureates Alan Heeger, Alan MacDiarmid and Hideki Shirakawa discovered a new type of plastic — conjugated conducting polymers. "This polymer was a completely new type that acted more like a metal than like other plastics as it was an excellent conductor of electricity," recalled Niyazi Serdar Sariciftci, who started working with the polymers as a doctoral student at the University of Vienna in the mid-1980s. "It became quite the rage and elicited great interest due to its unique behavior." Drawing on that breakthrough, Sariciftci would create the plastic solar ... Read More

More like this: Science, Science & Environment
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Noise Complaints Draw Opposition to Wind Farms

January 6, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment

Mike Eaton and his wife live in northeastern Oregon for the peace and quiet. But ever since wind turbines arrived on the ridge above their home two years ago, the Eatons' slice of heaven has been a nightmare. "It makes me seasick and nauseous," said Eaton, who carries a cane. "I take medication for it, but it just keeps it slightly balanced so I'm not vomiting all the time, to be honest with you." The constant swoosh-swoosh of wind turbines cutting through a downwind gust can be excruciating for Eaton. For others, like Dan Williams, who live nearby just a few miles south of the Columbia ... Read More

More like this: Environment, Health
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