American Municipal Power-Ohio Inc. adding hydroelectric plants along Ohio River
HAMILTON, Ohio (AP) — Many decades ago, cost-conscious Henry Ford turned to hydroelectric plants to power his car factories like the one by the Great Miami River, near this Cincinnati suburb. That assembly plant is long gone, but the power plant and the technology behind it isn’t. Read More.
AMP is preparing to construct five hydroelectric power plants at existing dams along the Ohio River (see map), totaling an overall investment of nearly $2 billion.
For more information:
Mandates driving surge to the river for hydropower
AMP-Ohio to add hydroelectric plants along river
Two Kentucky Public Power Communities to join AMP-OHIO
Pennsylvania PUC hears presentations on energy conservation and demand side response
HARRISBURG – The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) held a hearing last week on alternative energy resources, energy conservation and efficiency, and demand side response. Various points of view were expressed by industry representatives. Their presentations are available on the PUC Web site.
PA Governor, Ed Rendell, signed House Bill 2200 into law as Act 129 last month. Act 129 requires utilities to adopt cost-effective plans to cut electricity use 1 percent by 2011 and 3 percent by 2013. Utilities must also implement plans to cut energy use 4.5 percent during peak demand periods when prices are highest—typically the hottest days of summer and coldest days of winter—by 2013. Electric utilities that fail to meet the law’s requirements may face steep penalties. The cost of the energy efficiency and conservation plans will be recovered from the ratepayers.
Acting PA Department of Environmental Protection Secretary John Hanger is pushing for the implementation of advanced meters, aka “smart meters”, that allow consumers to respond to higher prices during periods of peak demand by shifting their consumption to times when power prices are lower. Act 129 requires that utilities must provide their customers with smart meters within 15 years.
Pa. court rejects request by FirstEnergy utilities to break rate caps, increase electric rates
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Two Pennsylvania utilities cannot raise electric rates they charge to customers and break the deregulation-era rate caps on the cost of electricity to which they agreed a decade ago, a state judge ruled earlier this month.
Commonwealth Court Judge Rochelle S. Friedman upheld a January 2007 decision by state utility regulators to deny the request by Metropolitan Edison Co. and Pennsylvania Electric Co.
The utilities had argued that they should be able to raise customers’ retail electric rates to reflect the increasing price of wholesale electricity. But Friedman wrote that the utilities chose not to sign long-term contracts that would have locked in all of their wholesale electricity costs over the life of the rate caps.
In 2006, the companies, both subsidiaries of Ohio-based FirstEnergy Corp., asked regulators to let them begin increasing electric rates, instead of waiting until 2011, when the utilities’ rate caps expire.
Manhattan’s Geothermal Potential
NEW YORK TIMES - For millions of years, invisible streams of water have run deep in the earth below Manhattan at a constant temperature of 65 degrees, a source of energy that seems beyond exhaustion — and beyond reach. But eight months ago, a seminary in Chelsea began to pump water from those streams to heat its buildings in the winter and cool them in the summer.
College Sustainability Report Card: Green Buildings
College Sustainability Report Card provides in-depth sustainability profiles for hundreds of colleges in all 50 U.S. States and Canada. See the results. There are several categories of sustainability used in their report card. The Green Building category 51 schools earned “A” grades in the green building category, which looks at schools’ adoption and use of high-performance green building design. Most of them have numerous LEED certified buildings on campus. The average grade for the green building category was “C+.”
Click on the green building leaders listed below to view report cards.
New “green ratings” for colleges and universities
Princeton Review has begun a green rating system for colleges and universities (534 of them). Colleges and universities are rated on a scale of 60-99. Here’s a look at a few schools that received a Green Rating of 99 this year:
College of the Atlantic (Bar Harbor, ME) — All of COA’s electricity comes from renewable hydropower; new buildings and some old are heated via renewable wood pellets. A new student residence village has composting toilets, triple-paned windows, metered showers.
Emory University (Atlanta, GA) — All new buildings constructed to LEED standards (with an emphasis on energy and water conservation); alternative transportation with a shuttle fleet that is 100% alternatively fueled; recycled waste stream (65% by 2015); and local and sustainably-grown food.
Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, GA) — Institutional programs that embrace green cleaning, solid waste recycling, drought-tolerant vegetation, and storm water capture and reuse.
University of New Hampshire (Durham, NH) — In January 2009 UNH will become the first university in the U.S. to use landfill gas as its primary (80–85%) energy source. UNH also runs an organic dairy farm and education/research center.
University of Washington (Seattle, WA) — UW purchases power that is 100 renewable. UW’s food services emphasize local organic foods and are working toward a zero-waste goal, composting postconsumer waste, and offering compostable dishware and to-go packaging.
Yale University (New Haven, CT) — Yale has one co-generation power plant and is building a second to maximize fuel efficiency. Energy conservation measures include setting thermostats higher in summer and lower in winter, using biofuels in vehicles, and giving incentives to employees to live near campus or carpool.
Closed-loop ground source heat pump systems in schools
ASHRAE recently featured a cursory review of Ground Source Heat Pump (GSHP) systems in schools. According the U.S. Department of Energy, Ground Source Heat Pump (GSHP) systems reduce energy use by 25% to 50% in schools, compared to traditional systems, and result in typical payback periods of eight years. The full article was originally published in the September 2007 edition of ASHRAE Journal. Click here to download the full article for free. After Nov. 12, this article will remain available for free download by ASHRAE Members here and for purchase by nonmembers in the ashrae.org bookstore.
DOE and EPA Release the 2009 Fuel Economy Guide
2009 model vehicles are ranked here in terms of annual fuel costs*. The Toyota Prius continues to lead the pack. And the Honda Civic CNG, a vehicle that runs on compressed natural gas, made the top ten.
| 2009 Toyota Prius 4 cyl, 1.5 L, Automatic (variable gear ratios), Regular | |||||||
 |
|
 7.4 barrels/year |
|||||
| 48 city |
45 hwy |
$949
|
|||||
| 2009 Honda Civic Hybrid 4 cyl, 1.3 L, Automatic (variable gear ratios), Regular | |||||||
 |
 8.2 barrels/year |
||||||
| 40 city |
45 hwy |
$1039
|
|||||
| 2009 Nissan Altima Hybrid 4 cyl, 2.5 L, Automatic (variable gear ratios), Regular | |||||||
 |
|
 10.1 barrels/year |
|||||
| 35 city |
33 hwy |
$1284
|
|||||
| 2009 Toyota Camry Hybrid 4 cyl, 2.4 L, Automatic (variable gear ratios), Regular | |||||||
 |
|
10.1 barrels/year |
|||||
| 33 city |
34 hwy |
$1284
|
|||||
| 2009 smart fortwo convertible 3 cyl, 1 L, Automatic (S5), Premium | |||||||
 |
|
9.5 barrels/year |
|||||
| 33 city |
41 hwy |
$1325
|
|||||
| 2009 smart fortwo coupe 3 cyl, 1 L, Automatic (S5), Premium | |||||||
 |
|
9.5 barrels/year |
|||||
| 33 city |
41 hwy |
$1325
|
|||||
| 2009 Ford Escape Hybrid FWD 4 cyl, 2.5 L, Automatic (variable gear ratios), Regular | |||||||
 |
|
 10.7 barrels/year |
|||||
| 34 city |
31 hwy |
$1364
|
|||||
| 2009 Honda Civic CNG 4 cyl, 1.8 L, Automatic 5-spd, CNG | |||||||
|
|
 0.1 barrels/year |
|||||
| 24 city |
36 hwy |
$1366
|
|||||
| 2009 Mazda Tribute Hybrid 2WD 4 cyl, 2.5 L, Automatic (variable gear ratios), Regular | |||||||
 |
|
10.7 barrels/year |
|||||
| 34 city |
31 hwy |
$1364
|
|||||
| 2009 Mercury Mariner Hybrid FWD 4 cyl, 2.5 L, Automatic (variable gear ratios), Regular | |||||||
 |
|
10.7 barrels/year |
|||||
| 34 city |
31 hwy |
$1364
|
|||||
| 2009 Toyota Yaris 4 cyl, 1.5 L, Manual 5-spd, Regular | |||||||
 |
10.7 barrels/year |
||||||
| 29 city |
36 hwy |
$1364
|
|||||
| 2009 Honda Fit 4 cyl, 1.5 L, Automatic 5-spd, Regular | |||||||
 |
|
11.0 barrels/year |
|||||
| 28 city |
35 hwy |
$1408
|
|||||
| 2009 Toyota Yaris 4 cyl, 1.5 L, Automatic 4-spd, Regular | |||||||
|
|
11.0 barrels/year |
|||||
| 29 city |
35 hwy |
$1408
|
|||||
*Annual fuel costs are based on 45% highway driving, 55% city driving, 15000 annual miles, and the following fuel prices:
- Regular gasoline: $2.91 per gallon
- E85 - fuel mixture of 85% Ethanol, 15% Gasoline: $3.50 per gallon
- CNG - compressed natural gas: $2.55 per gallon
For a personalized cost comparison you can modify the city vs. highway driving percentages, substitute higher fuel prices, and do advanced searches at http://www.fueleconomy.gov.
You can also find the latest fuel efficient vehicle tax incentive information on the website at http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/taxcenter.shtml.
Wireless building automation system and energy management system technology
ASHRAE recently featured an article describing the application of wireless communication technologies to manage HVAC, security, and other systems within buildings. The three main competing technologies are distributed antenna systems (DAS), pico-cellular networks, and cellular repeater systems. The full article was originally published in the June 2007 edition of ASHRAE Journal. Click here to download the full article until Nov. 5, 2008. After Nov. 5, the article will remain available for free download by ASHRAE Members here and for purchase by nonmembers in the ashrae.org bookstore.
Wal-Mart moves toward more environmentally and socially responsible global supply chain
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. hosted a gathering of more than 1,000 leading suppliers, Chinese officials and NGOs in Beijing, China for their Sustainability Summit this week. The company outlined a series of aggressive goals and expectations to build a more environmentally and socially responsible global supply chain. Wal-Mart put forth a series of requirements to attain responsible sourcing. Read more
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