2003 Review/2004 Outlook | Green Energy News

December 21, 2003 – Vol.8 No.39

2003 REVIEW / 2004 OUTLOOK.

At first glance you’d think that 2003 was a miserable year. And in many ways it was. It was a year of war. The world’s eyes were focused on the actions of the U.S. in Iraq

The world’s economies too - with the exception of China which put a man in space in 2003 - still dragged. Borrowed money - deficit spending, an increase in the national debt - have helped the world’s largest economy, the U.S., back on its feet - a least temporarily.

And on the environment front things look grim at the end of 2003. Ice in the Arctic is reported to be receding rapidly. Open water routes across the top of the planet are predicted by mid-century. The Inuit - seeing their world melt before their eyes - are considering lawsuits in the name of human rights. Weather extremes - drought and deluge - seem to have gotten worse. How many people died in a boiling Europe in the summer of 2003? Thirty five thousand? More than fourteen-thousand in France alone?

But all is not lost. There is concern out there, even here in the U.S. Good people, good companies have come to the realization that something’s got to give. For one thing, the energy-from-oil situation. Change needs to be sooner than later.

Those good companies and good people have realized, too, that they will have to do it themselves without much help from the Federal government. The states may be helpful, however.

(So is George W. Bush correct when he thinks voluntary efforts - not government mandate - will cure fossil-fuel and environment ills? He’s correct in that there’s enough good intent and good will out there to bring cleaner, greener energy technologies into common use. But at the same time his administration has put up roadblocks that prevent these technologies from gaining a foothold with consumers. Those roadblocks - tax breaks, relaxed rules and direct spending - help keep dirty energy cheap. Clean can’t compete with cheap.)

Overall the Green Energy Industry proved to be a pretty tough crowd in 2003. (It’s those good companies and good people.) The industry has forged ahead despite the ills of the world and forces that try to keep it down. What they did in 2003 was nothing short of amazing. Here’s a sampling.

Solar photovoltaic projects moved steadily into the megawatt class in 2003.

-- California State University, Hayward, planned a 1.05 megawatt system. (Visit PowerLight at http://www.powerlight.com/)

-- A 1.0 megawatt system was installed at Del Mar Fairgrounds, San Diego, California. (Visit BP Solar at http://www.bpsolar.com/)

-- Another 1.0 megawatt system at Fala Direct Marketing on Long Island, New York was built. (Visit Shell Solar at http://www.shell.com/solar and PowerLight at http://www.powerlight.com/ )

-- A 5-megawatt grid connect system has been planned for 40 acres near Barstow, California. (Visit Global Solar Energy at http://www.globalsolar.com/)

-- A one-megawatt solar photovoltaic system for the Butte County Center in Oroville, California was built. Visit Sun Power and Geothermal Energy at (http://www.sunpowergeothermal.com/)

-- The Springerville Generating Station Solar System has reached 3.78 MW in size. (Visit Tucson Electric Power at http://www.tep.com/)

-- And on the production side of solar, Sharp Solar opened a 20-megawatt-per-year plant in the U.S. and SunPower announced plans to open a 25-megawatt plant in the Philippines. (Visit Sharp Solar at http://www.sharp-usa.com/solar , Sun Power at http://www.sunpowercorp.com/ )

The numbers for new wind capacity added in 2003 aren’t out yet, but at least for the U.S. new capacity for 2003 should be more than 2002 - which was a slow year. Aside from a series of new projects - large and small - was some other encouraging news.

-- The U.K. is set to become the world’s largest producer of offshore wind. The second round of leases was offered to developers that could bring more than 7 gigawatts of offshore wind to the U.K. (Visit the British Wind Energy Association at http://www.bwea.com/)

-- In business, Vestas said it will buy rival NEG-Micon. Gamesa also bought MADE in 2003. Both acquisitions should help reduce the cost of wind energy by a fraction. (Visit Vestas at http://www.vestas.com/ , Gamesa at http://www.gamesa.es/)

-- The first phase of the 500-plus megawatt Arklow wind project off the coast of Ireland got under way. GE Wind is partnering with Airtricity, at least in the first phase. (Visit GE Wind Energy at http://www.gewindenergy.com/ , Airtricity at http://www.airtricity.com/ )

-- And in place of what became one of the best known buildings in the world in 2001, a new skyscraper will rise near where the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center stood. The new building will be powered 20 percent by the wind. (Reportedly McKenzie Bay International will supply the turbines http://www.mckenziebay.com/ )

In the fuel cell arena - vehicle, portable or stationary - a year of some important developments.

-- One of the major problems of fuel cells, particularly for vehicles, has been cold weather operation. At temperatures below freezing, water in shut-down Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cells (the type most consider the best choice for vehicles) would freeze, making it inoperable or damaged. Honda apparently solved the freezing problem in 2003. (Visit Honda media at http://www.hondanews.com/ click Environmental)

-- While many pin their hopes on fuel cells and a hydrogen economy, others say fuel cells are OK, but forget about the hydrogen part. CalTech researchers discovered that membranes in fuel cell stacks made of solid acid could be used in place of polymer ones and would use straight methanol as fuel - not hydrogen. On the plus side a methanol infrastructure would be easy, as would storage on and off a vehicle. On the negative side there could be greenhouse gas emissions - though significantly reduced. (Visit Caltech at http://www.csem.caltech.edu/teaching.html )

-- As Honda, Toyota and DaimlerChrysler placed more fuel cell vehicles in testing programs in 2003, one company, Anuvu, began offering a fuel cell vehicle for anyone who could pay for it. The company began offering a Nissan pick-up truck converted to fuel cell power for $99,995. (Visit Anuvu at http://www.anuvu.com/ )

-- And in Malaysia a hybrid zinc-air fuel cell car built by eVionyx was driven 320 miles (516 kilometers) on a single fueling, breaking that company’s own Guinness Book of World Records distance record. (Visit eVionyx at http://www.evonyx.com/ )

Biofuel proponents, like those for ethanol and biodiesel, instead of looking to convert an entire world to their way of thinking overnight , continued to plug along looking for new opportunities with fleets, installing more pumps open to the public and researching new fuel technologies as well.

-- Pioneer Hi-Bred International, a subsidiary of Dupont, announced it would use biodiesel, where available, for its fleet of 300 trucks. (Visit Pioneer at http://www.pioneer.com/ )

-- Smithfield Foods announced that it will become the major partner in BEST Biofuel and build a facility that would convert hog waste into biogas. That gas would be converted to methanol and, in turn, used with soybean oil, animal fat or waste cooking oil to make biodiesel. (Visit Smithfield at http://www.smithfieldfoods.com/ )

-- A new entrant in the biodiesel business switched on its first pump in 2003, Blue Sun Biodiesel based in Fort Collins, Colorado. (Visit Blue Sun at http://www.gobluesun.com/ )

-- DaimlerChrysler and Choren Industries announced that they were working on a new product known as syndiesel. If successful, syndiesel could be made from wood chips and tree waste, meat and bone meal, dried sludge from sewer treatment plants, and dried household garbage. (Visit Choren at http://www.choren.de )

-- PureVision received $2 million from the U.S. government to turn biomass wastes from wood, agriculture, paper processing, along with grasses, into sugars needed to make ethanol. The process would also yield fibers and pulp for textiles and papers as well as chemicals to make bioplastics. Waste from the entire process would be used as a fuel to generate thermal energy and electricity needed in the production process. Excess electricity, if any, could be sold to the power grid. (Visit PureVision at http://www.purevisiontechnology.com/ )

For a quick look at how well alternative gaseous fuels did well in 2003 look no further than Impco (alternative fuel system supplier) and Westport (alternative fuel engine builder) - both racked up significant orders.

-- Impco was awarded a $1.2 million contract to supply propane conversion systems for the entire fleet of 3300 municipal vehicles operating in Puebla City, Mexico - a city of 1.3 million. (Visit Impco at http://www.impco.ws/ )

-- And Westport Innovations - which should tally up its unit engine sales for 2003 early in 2004 - has delivered or has on order thousands of natural gas and propane heavy duty engines for use in buses and trucks in markets as wide ranging as China and Egypt. (Visit Westport at http://www.westport.com/)

U.S. consumers aren’t allowed to purchase the large variety of fuel efficient vehicles that others around the world can get, DaimlerChrysler's smart cars for instance. But some forward thinking automakers believe correctly that many Americans think it’s a good to idea drive efficient cars.

-- One story of the year here. Toyota launched it’s second generation Prius in 2003. In the U.S driving cycle, 60 MPG City, 51 Highway. Still $19,995. Motor Trend’s 2004 Car of the Year. The company expects to sell at least 47,000 for the 2004 model year - maybe more. (Visit Toyota at http://www.toyota.com/ )

Ocean energy - energy from tides, wave and currents - hasn’t received the same attention as, say, wind energy. Still in 2003...

-- Marine Current Turbines (MCT) installed a 300-kilowatt tidal current turbine in waters off the U.K. (Visit MCT at http://www.marineturbines.com/ )

-- Ocean Power Technologies (OPT) of New Jersey, with $7 million from the U.S. Navy, began anchoring its power-generating buoys off the coast of the Kaneohe Marine Corps Base in Hawaii. The OPT technology uses the up and down motion of the buoy to turn the energy in a rolling wave into electricity. (Visit OPT at http://www.oceanpowertechnologies.com/ )

-- Wavegen announced it will use GBP 2.1 million ($3.38 million) to build a prototype of a next-generation wave energy machine. (Visit Wavegen at http://www.wavegen.co.uk/ )

-- Tidal Hydraulic Generators, received GBP 1.6 million ($2.58 million) to develop another prototype tidal stream generator.

-- Independent Natural Resources has successfully tested SEADOG that would use the power of ocean waves to pump seawater to land-based towers or reservoirs for pumped storage like those used by a few utility companies to store energy. (Visit INRI at http://www.inri.us/ )

-- Hammerfest Stroem announced that its prototype tidal stream generator was operating on the bottom of the Kvalsund channel leading to the city of Hammerfest, Norway. (Visit Hammerfest http://www.e-tidevannsenergi.com/)

Where the news in 2003 was dominated by the war in Iraq, 2004 will be dominated by the elections in November - with Iraq and the trial of Saddam Hussein running in the background.

And the world will be watching how America votes. How America votes will determine how the world views the United States and the people who call it home.

It’s safe to say that Bush wants not only to get reelected but he wants to be reelected in a landslide. It’s also safe to say that this administration will pull out all the stops to try to make this happen.

One of the goals of his administration has been one that he has yet to achieve - an energy policy, He and the Republican controlled Congress came close, but failed in the end in a dispute over protecting MBTE (gasoline additive) producers from litigation.

You can bet Bush will get an energy bill in 2004, even if he has to push the MBTE issue aside for later.

And what will that bill do for renewable and efficient energy? Renewables will get a boost in the form of tax help and some spending, which will help a bit. But, ironically, what may help green energy in 2004? The fact that Bush has refused to make major efforts to mitigate global warming. The fact that Bush is too close to the fossil fuel industry. The gut feeling many still have that the war in Iraq was to gain easy access to the oil.

Together these feelings are deep rooted and, other than some major changes in policy, people won’t dispel them soon. If they don’t like Bush’s connections or his policies they will search for energy alternatives in an attempt to counteract the damage they feel he has done, or will do. Prius sales should be good. People will buy renewables from the grid when they can.

And on November 2 energy and the environment will be on many people’s minds in the voting booth.