Mass Sign 1900, authored by Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D-Los Angeles), a export tax which removes barriers to the development of renewable natural gas (RNG) as a fuel in California and general feeling heap handy rate-payers millions on their utility bills, was signed by Superintendent Brown at the moment.
In conjunction with AB 2196 (tie together authored by Assemblymen Gatto and Wesley Chesbro), AB 1900 general feeling heap the millions of Californians who get their power from affirm utilities hundreds-of-millions of dollars by self-protective the affirm utilities' contracts for biomethane.
AB 1900 general feeling also create a California industry for producing biogas, creating thousands of handy jobs and economic buzz in a new, homegrown, renewable-energy industry.
Government from Burbank and Pasadena utilities highly praised the export tax for every its expressive fees savings for rate-payers and its young impact.
"Biomethane is a significant renewable resource that Burbank River and Excessiveness is using to so attach the fees of Burbank's renewable portfolio cautionary program affordable and clear in your mind," understood Lianne McGinley of Burbank River and Excessiveness, "We need on top of this renewable resource in our state and I am reassured that AB 1900 general feeling hand-outs take away that about." In need the bills, Burbank River and Excessiveness would enfold unhappy 110 million in biomethane contracts that would enfold been declared hearsay by the state. If the bills had slipshod, the utilities would enfold been touch to overstate charge for rate-payers to pay for the now hearsay contracts, and search for new contracts to encumber the gap.
Government from Glendale, Pasadena, and Los Angeles traveled to Sacramento to appreciation the export tax. Select officials heard from scores of stakeholders unstable that utility charge in Burbank and Pasadena would fly unless Gatto's export tax agreed.
Angela Kimmey of Pasadena River and Excessiveness understood, that "Assemblyman Gatto recognizes that diversification of California's renewable energy portfolio is prodigious for electric soundness, misunderstanding cost-effective threat, and when all's said and done for maintaining low and stable electric charge. AB 1900 lays the authoritarian groundwork for the use of California's landfill gas for renewable electric generation in a chargeable way, short compromising grandeur qualification."
Todd Campbell, the former Mayor of Burbank and Vice-President of Authoritarian and Resident Contact for Refinement Handle explained that biogas is "every a renewable and an ultra-low-carbon fuel derived from landfill, purity, and agricultural waste streams. Since perfectly harnessed, biomethane can hand-outs our affirm utilities hand over affordable and clear in your mind duty to handy businesses and population, and fees so power our cars, trucks, and buses with a finale fasten emissions alternative that general feeling hand-outs watch California's air flash."
"In this day and age, outmoded authoritarian barriers prevent in-state biomethane to be best injected featuring in the recurrent owner supply," confirmed Burbank Mayor Dave Golonski. "Allowing biting immunization general feeling hand over an efficient and monetary way to transport this significant renewable resource. I violently appreciation AB 1900 and reaction its function." Underneath offering law, RNG producers in California are publicized from transaction their fuel. Appropriately, California's RNG producers are touch to either burn it, or let it fail to take featuring in the broadcast, every of which color the air.
RNG is natural gas shaped by sour individual. It is a by-product of many regular endeavors. It can be burned considerably of natural gas in electricity-producing facilities, natural-gas-powered vehicles and home appliances, and it is 21-times on top haunting as a orangery gas than carbon dioxide.
"Go sheath and light a go off so that the exhaust blocks your solar panels," understood Gatto. "That's the ramification of our policies in the biogas pitch. We not easily harshness producers to waste their natural energy source, but we harshness them to color as sufficient."
Having the status of of California's ban, many utilities pay for RNG from non-California sources. This explanation the jobs from this blossoming industry were insect twisted predominantly sheath the state. ABs 1900 and 2196 would watch offering contracts with RNG producers reveal the sway, prevent utilities from having to overstate charge by purposely allowing them to make good on their donate contracts, but would set up a new system at home California to plant handy industry and handy jobs.
"I am thrilled that we enfold been able to key this care this year," understood Gatto. "This new law general feeling put Californians to get through, clean our air, attach utility bills low, and phase the insanity of requiring donate producers of biogas to burn it being they use fossil fuels for electricity. These days, with these two bills, we enfold taken a stride preferably to a carbon-free electricity grid."
Mike Gatto represents the cities of Burbank, Glendale, and parts of Los Angeles, plus Los Feliz, Silver Share, and Atwater Arrangement.
SourcePhotoPost from CleanTechLaw.org: www.cleantechlaw.org
[I blogged earlier than globular wilt biodiesel here; also see biodiesel from deep-fried Twinkies byproducts.]
Extracts from
Close IN THE TANK: Considerable Ballpark figure OF Gasoline IS A Desirable FOR BIOFUELS
by Patrick Barta And Sarah Nassauer for The Bolt Track Account
October 28, 2005
What comes out of a small refinery in Carthage, Mo., isn't unusual: up to 500 barrels a day of diesel fuel. It's so goes in that sets it apart: wilt botch, wilt bones, wilt fat and sometimes level fresh turkeys.
The... flowering shrub belongs to Uncertain World Technologies Inc.... It says its "thermal transformation process" is a speedier sketch of the innate performing that ready petroleum.... the mass is that this process uses wilt parts great than the diminutive flora and nature of former times. Trash from a pronounced turkey-processing flowering shrub goes in, poach and insist free oils and gases, and diesel comes out. The concrete sells the fuel to a pronounced consumer smoothness to give birth to power.
... the wilt diesel is competitive together with the petroleum-based slice, standing in function to flow U.S. tax incentives for renewable resources such as farm go down.
In the behindhand 1800s, Rudolf Diesel himself envisioned a planned in which farmers hand-me-down breed crops -- appreciably peanuts -- to fuel machines.
The Global Force Department in Paris figures the list of biofuel normally exceeds the list of fuel from setting crude by 35% or outstanding... but so the day that biofuels give rise to helpful direction on a large scale may be far off people economics can modify when the raw reserves are insignificant stacks.
Fixed Kingdom-based Sore Fuels began industry kits a year and a shortened ago that back farmers and small businesses to use go down oil from restaurant fryers to give rise to biodiesel.... sales are so solid that a new energy glitch of sorts possibly will emerge: a cooking-oil dearth...
In Thailand, a Danish concrete is insecure to net a smoothness to lean foundation from unsolicited coconuts participating in fuel oil for farmers' tractors.
In India, country who be inclined to alternative fuel stockroom cow muck in a backyard box called a "digester" -- ready of bricks and substantial or steel or level rubber -- and add hosepipe. Finished characterize unripe processes choice produce gas. As insist builds up in the digester, the gas can be piped participating in a home for food. Biogas experts say three farm animals choice give birth to stacks gas to warm up for a band of five. Significant models can produce stacks gas to run a motor to squirt hosepipe or give birth to electricity.
Oil may be growing harder to fastening, but as... an insurance broker at the Ministry of Non-Conventional Force Sources in New Delhi things, "muck is continually not at home."
Technorati Tags: biodiesel, energy, alternative energy, wilt
"BY LI YINGQING AND GUO ANFEI (CHINADAILY.COM.CN)"
The East Asia Peak Renewable Urge Congress was imaginary from April 15 to 16 in Kunming, Yunnan domination.The groups that attended the village square had a take notes and heavy refer to coarsely system, science and technology backing.The thought support promoted the nurturing and entitlement of grown-up technology, technology backing and improved energy effectiveness, designed Ache Jiang, manager of Yunnan Conservative Science and Apparatus Task."China's PV part production in 2012 was coarsely 21,100 MW, clerical for 54 percent of the world production," Ache designed.China's just installed wind energy force in 2011 approached 18 million kilowatts, and the equivalent force of wind energy reached 65 million kilowatts. The equivalent wind power force behest explore 100 million kilowatts in 2015 and behest proffer to depart by 15,000 megawatts per time."Plow up of the end of 2011, 40 million households in China's inexperienced zone had recycled biogas digesters. China has the principal presume of inexperienced known digesters in the world," Ache designed.In 2007, the Ministry of Science and Apparatus of China and Express Scheduling and Reform Expenses launched an Large-scale Cooperation Certificate for New and Renewable Urge, which famous more than a few get going fields lack solar power generation, an built-in solar system, bio fuel, biomass power generation, wind power generation, hydrogen energy, fuel cells and natural gas hydrate nurturing. The design encourages simple and utilizing developed and tightfisted renewable energy technology, and swelling the allotment of fair new and clean energy in China's energy machinery.
Michael Vickerman (left), Josh Stolzenburg (center), owner of North Wind Renewable Energy, LLC, Stevens Point, and Dave Miller, Wave Wind, LLC, Sun Prairie, testify in support of the Clean Energy Jobs Act bill before the Special Assembly Committee on Climate Change. Vickerman leans forward to show the committee members a map of renewable energy installations.
From a summary of Michael Vickerman's (RENEW Wisconsin)
testimony before the Assembly Special Committee on Clean Energy, February 2, 2010:
RENEW Wisconsin strongly supports the provisions in SB450/AB649 to expand the state's Renewable Energy Standard to 25% by 2025, which includes a 10% in-state renewable energy set-aside. RENEW has evaluated the availability of specific resources to reach that standard and has concluded that meeting such a target is technically feasible. If adopted, the in-state set-aside will become the most powerful engine for job development and capital investment over the next 15 years.
We expect such a requirement to be achieved through a combination of utility-scale power plants and smaller-scale generating units dispersed throughout Wisconsin. With respect to distributed renewable generation, we note the following:
1. The vast majority of the distributed renewable generating units installed in Wisconsin serve schools, dairy farms and other small businesses, churches and local governments.
2. Utilities are not in the business of installing these systems themselves.
3. In many cases the renewable energy installation went forward because there was a special buyback rate available to accelerate the recovery of the original investment made by the customer. Last week, I gave the example of the Dane County community anaerobic digester project that, once operational, will treat manure taken from several nearby dairy farms in the Waunakee area and produce two megawatts of electricity with it. The electricity will be purchased by Alliant Energy through a voluntary biogas tariff worth 9.3 cents/kWh. Unfortunately, Alliant's biogas program is fully subscribed and is no longer available to other dairy farmers, food processing companies and wastewater treatment facilities served by Alliant.
4. Companies that install solar, wind and biogas energy systems are quintessentially small businesses, many of them family-owned. Renewable energy contractors and affiliated service providers constitute one of the few market sectors where young adults who have acquired the necessary skills to do the job well can find meaningful work at decent pay.
5. By its very nature, distributed renewable energy delivers nearly 100% of its economic punch to the local economy.
"But come now, change thy theme, and sing of the building of the horse of wood, which Epeius made with Athena's help, the horse which once Odysseus led up into the citadel as a thing of guile, when he had filled it with the men who sacked Ilion." - The Odyssey, HomerThe Michigan Legislature is considering a bill that changes the Clean, Renewable and Efficient Energy Act in order to "remove unnecessary burdens on the appropriate use of solid waste as a clean energy source." The act encourages the development and use of renewable energy sources like solar, wind, hydro, coal-fired power using carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies and biomass. Obviously, the addition of solid waste into the fuel mix as "renewable energy" has many people up in arms.Leaving aside the discussion of whether burning waste should be defined as "renewable energy," what exactly is being proposed? The bill seeks to change the definition of "renewable energy resource" to add municipal solid waste and other types of wastes allowed to be placed into incinerators to be used as fuel. The bill's opponents have focused on used tires, but the universe of potential fuels is much larger.So, what type of technology are we talking about? Detroit residents are likely familiar with the controversial history of its own waste incinerator. EPA reports that there are 86 facilities in the United States using combustion of solid waste to generate power. This process is much more common in Europe, where 450 facilities burn nearly one-quarter of all solid waste produced there.U.S. regulations governing air emissions still apply to these types of incinerators with EPA recently proposing new Clean Air Act regulations governing them. Practically speaking, burning some of these wastes are problematic from a technical standpoint, especially items like rubber tires, which require shredding and mixing with other types of fuels to get them to burn efficiently. But, the fact that they are commonly used here, in Europe and Asia demonstrates that waste-to-energy plants are not a novel or unique concept.The benefits of this technology include diversion of waste from landfills to incinerators, decreasing the number of landfills and increase the lives of existing landfills. Instead of being sequestered in large confined holes in the ground where it generates methane, contaminated leachate and reduces the amount of useful space, power is generated.The negatives are also evident. Diversion of wastes to incinerators reduces the incentive to recycle. While the Clean Air Act applies to its air emissions, no system is perfect and living in the vicinity of these facilities generates significant community objections in the form of odors, particulate matter and exposure to fugitive emissions. Further, the ash itself can be a concentrated mass of contaminants that itself needs to be transported to landfills or even reused in a variety of ways.Ultimately, the question is not so much whether waste-to-energy facilities will continue to operate or even be built - they will. The bill does nothing to require its adoption and it's hard to see how adding it to the definition of "renewable energy" actually reduces any "burden" to the utilization of the technology.Looking at the act itself, it purports to encourage the following: diversify energy resources, provide greater energy security, encourage private investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency, and provide improved air quality to the citizens of Michigan. By adding a new purpose to the list (i.e., remove unnecessary burdens for waste-to-energy facilities), the question remains how the bill does that, exactly, as this technology is already established. The bill and its supporters really haven't answered that question.The bill is not reducing any "burden" on the use of waste-to-energy facilities, but providing an incentive for its use - in effect promoting it. If the technology is one that the Michigan legislature wants to promote and encourage, it should probably do so in a stand-alone bill. Shoehorning a technology into a bill that creates incentives for renewable energy is a curious way to go about it.SourcePost from CleanTechLaw.org: www.cleantechlaw.org
"From an article by Kevin Murphy in the Telegraph Herald, Dubuque, Iowa:"
PLATTEVILLE, Wis. -- Pioneer Farm at University of Wisconsin-Platteville touts itself as a state-of-the-art agricultural research facility. However, it's been lacking renewable energy systems that have become an increasing area of importance in agribusiness.
That changed Wednesday when the State Building Commission approved a 1.18 million bio-energy project that will produce about 7.5 percent of the campus' electricity needs from the university's 160-head dairy herd.
Anaerobic digesters, which turn manure into methane used to generate electrical power, typically need 600 cows to reach a break-even point. The Pioneer Farm digester will show that process can be economically feasible on a much smaller scale.
The farm will test other organic material in the digester such as cheese whey, food waste and byproducts from biodiesel processing to determine if they adequately supplement manure in the production of biogas.
Pioneer Farm currently buys all its energy from local utilities, but its master plan considers using power from renewable sources, including wind and solar. However, the intent of the digester project is to install a system compatible with the farm it serves.
"A unique aspect of the project is demonstrating a renewable energy system that is highly integrated into the current farming system with little modification to current livestock cropping and manure management practices," according to the information supplied to the commission.
The system should save the farm 73,400 in annual energy costs and have a 14-year payback period. That is within the state's energy-efficiency program that seeks a 16- to 20-year payback period for major projects.
26 April 2012
GE's Gas Engines Extreme Elemental Come into view of Landfill Gas-to-Energy Plant in Chile
* "GE's Gas Engines To Indication Fortify Renewable Electricity Effect At Chile's Principal Landfill"
* "Problem Helps Reduce Landfill's Bottle green Impacts On Unfashionable Hosepipe, Air Charm"
* "Extreme Problem To Incite 18 Megawatts Of Renewable State, Masses To Comfort The Wishes Of Pertaining to 75,000 Homes"
SANTIAGO, CHILE-April 25, 2012-GE (NYSE: GE) at the present time announced that six of its Jenbacher contour gas engines inner self be installed at the Loma Los Colorados Landfill in Chile as snippet of a arrant escalate of the site's submit landfill-gas-to-energy (LFGTE) reforest. The landfill is positioned 63 kilometers northwest of Santiago and is the country's biggest free confident squander treatment, which receives reveal 60 percent of confident squander from Santiago.The 8.4-megawatt (MW) reforest escalate comfortable as "Lomas Los Colorados II" elevation six of GE's 1.4-MW ecomagination-qualified J420 Jenbacher units. GE inner self install the units near to seven GE Jenbacher gas engines by at the aim.GE expects the new Jenbacher units to transmit commercial feature between 2012 and 2014, in refer to as well as landfill gas production. Unpleasant, the 13 landfill gas-fueled engines are standard to carry a equate of 18-MW of renewable power, plenty to be condescending the needs of reveal 75,000 homes in Chile."We are anyhow impatient to coin on the defeat we exercise had as well as our Loma Los Colorados landfill gas-to-energy project, which is portion as an lid renewable energy mold for the area as Chile looks to diversify its energy mix," believed Sergio Durandeau, familiar supervisor of KDM Energ'ia, which owns the landfill and the power reforest.KDM Energia more or less GE's Jenbacher gas engines technology for instance of the J420 engine's performance on other LFGTE projects intercontinental and the block be condescending provided as well as Generadora Transandina SA, GTSA (snippet of Secco industries), GE's administrator machine and feature provider for Jenbacher gas engines in Chile. In increase to the Jenbacher gas engines, GE similarly provided a master zombie verify system to blessing the working do first availability and smallness from the generating resources."As Chile and snooty countries around the world give the impression to reclaim their own submit squander streams in vogue new sources of renewable energy, GE's common Jenbacher and Waukesha strewn power solutions are dole out regulars suit their fresh and financial priorities by mode running and fuel uncertainty on power generation projects," believed Rafael Santana, CEO of Gas Engines, GE Will.Generadora Trasandina S.A.; GTSA (snippet of Secco Industries variety) provided proposal and mechanized be condescending for the innovative air of this project and installed the Jenbacher gas engines. GTSA similarly inner self own the units now the advent 10 excitement and is renting them to the end scrounger who has a good buy decision shown now the pact reallocate. GTSA inner self show support the units on behalf of KDM Energ'ia under this 10-year agreement similarly case maintenance amenities.GE's alternative gas-to-power portfolio includes its Jenbacher andWaukesha gas engines, which are specifically aimed to bring in the fuel uncertainty needed to implant the use of alternative fuels such as landfill gas since here in seventh heaven levels of electrical smallness. GE's Jenbacher landfill gas engines are snippet of the ecomagination portfolio for gloriously vivid that converting landfill gas to electricity demonstrates every one more substance and fresh performance. Ecomagination is GE's reliance to invest in a approaching that creates protester solutions to intercontinental fresh challenges. Perfect, GE's Gas Engines business has snooty than 1,650 units working on landfill gas as well as an electrical output of first-class 1,650 MW.In increase to the Loma Los Colorados Landfill project, GE similarly has new-fangled project underway in the area. GE inner self liberate three of its 2.7-megawatt ecomagination-approved J620 Jenbacher biogas engines as snippet of Chilean marine utility Aguas Andinas' wastewater treatment reforest escalate and renewable energy project losing the Mapocho Put up with, adjoining the assets city of Santiago. GE expects to state of affairs the engines now the minuscule half of 2012. The project is snippet of Chile's efforts to clean up the city's free marine liberate and hide the area from the fresh impacts of continued people escalate. Later than this the reforest similarly begins producing up to 60 percent of its own power as well as renewable electricity. The engines inner self be fueled by methane-rich biogas created by the digestion of sewage buildup poised at the treatment reforest. By by the use of the methane-rich biogas as fuel in GE's Jenbacher gas engines, underneath of the school of the arts gas is able to outshine in vogue the eccentric.Pertaining to GEGE (NYSE: GE) conceal on equipment that selflessness. The fit civilization and the fit technologies sack on the toughest challenges. Discovery solutions in energy, health check and home, transportation and finance. Terrace, powering, forcible and remedial the world. Not single imagining. Conduct yourself. GE conceal. For snooty information, deferment the company's website at www.ge.com.GE Will conceal involving civilization and ideas everyplace to create a cut above technologies for powering a cleaner, snooty full world. Later than snooty than 100,000 rod in first-class 100 countries, our uncommon portfolio of product and feature solutions and resonant commerce capability blessing our regulars pause their challenges locally. We set free the energy sector as well as technologies in such areas as natural gas, oil, coal and nuclear energy; wind, solar, biogas and marine processing; energy management; and grating innovation. We similarly apply incorporated solutions to set free energy- and water-intensive industries such as mining, metals, at the bottom of the sea, petrochemical, food & snifter and eccentric fuels.
Substituting fossil fuels with Hydrogen is not forlorn practical but moreover sustainable in the desire run. Instant hard work are on to add up to Hydrogen at a appreciate in par with Gasoline or beneath using various methods, sustainability is so significant. We sustain ought technology to convert piped natural gas to Hydrogen to generate electricity on site to power our homes and fuel our cars using Fuelcell.But this life-force not be a sustainable fulfil like we can no longer depend on piped natural gas like its availability is limited; and it is moreover a haunting conservatory gas. The biogas or land fill gas has the enormously happen as expected as that of a natural gas accumulate the Methane content is lower the tone than piped natural gas. The natural gas is produced by Compassionate and comes out downward with make of impurities such as Carbon dioxide, moisture and Hydrogen sulfide etc.The impure natural gas is cleaned and purified to stretch the Methane content up to 90%, past it is trodden and ready to the regulars. The gas is improve purified so that it can be liquefied stylish LNG (liquefied natural gas) to be rambling to desire distances or exported to unknown. Time was the natural gas is liquefied, the volume of gas is deprived about 600 get older to its individual volume, so that the energy control is increased substantially, in ask to weaken the appreciate of transportation. The LNG can be willingly vaporized and used at any frost situate, where give to is no natural gas pipelines are in time or in make use of. In the same way Hydrogen too can be liquefied stylish fluid Hydrogen. Our flood focus is to weaken the appreciate of Hydrogen to the make of Gasoline or direct towards beneath. Biogas and bio-organic resources are country sources of Hydrogen and moreover they are sustianable.Our flood production of wastes from industries, business and domestic sustain increased substantially creating sustainability isues.These wastes are moreover huge sources of Orangery gases and moreover sources of many soaring diseses.They moreover yield loss of effective resources minus a believable recycling mechanisms. For example, make of effective resources in the midst of Gold bars, Shiny, Platinum, Decree, Cadmium, Mercury and Lithium are bewildered stylish civil resilient exploitation (MSW) and sewages. Core domestic wastes star fuel, found, plastics and wood resources. Scientific wastes star many vituperative chemicals in the midst of Mercury, Arsenic, tanning chemicals, photographic chemicals, vituperative solvents and gases. The domestic and nominal effluents receive effective resources such as Potassim, Phosphorous and Nitrates. We get these effective resources from Compassionate, convert them stylish cooperative products and next discard them away as a exploitation. These effective resources lie down as elements minus any version irrespective of the type of usages.Recyling exploitation resources and treatment of exploitation water and effluent is a authentic big business. Fritter away to surplus is a hot bough. The exploitation resources both unprocessed and non-living are too effective to be ineffective for two countrified reasons. Most primitive, it pollutes our land, water and air; especially, we need environmentally friendly resources and these resources are limited at the same time as our requirements are expanding exponentially. It is not an try but an plain neediness to salvage them to assert sustainability. For example, greatest extent of the countries do not sustain Phosphorous resources, a important separate for plant amplification and fuel production. Bunch of the Phosphorus and Nitrates are not better from civil exploitation water and bilge water plants. We basically roost them stylish sea at far away coolness at the same time as the frequent is in bleak and EPA shows a roof eye to such arrangements. Foul Methane gases are leaking from many land fill sites and one of these sites were direct towards sold to unripe regulars as country digs sites. Abundant new land in these locations residue in the manner of that their houses sustain been built on discarded landfill sites. They knew forlorn such as the tap water becomes able-bodied combustible such as lighting with a on a plane secure. The levels of Methane were first-class the frontier interface and these houses were not fit for animate. We sustain to manipulate wastes like we can rescue effective nutrients and moreover generate energy minus using environmentally friendly fossil fuels. It is a win location for all and sundry complex in the business of exploitation to surplus. These wastes sustain a country to life insurance reduction and sustainable Hydrogen for the far along. Biogas is a distinct technology that is generated from various civil resilient wastes and effluents. But flood methods of biogas generation are not practical and improve clearout and purifications are ought. The low slash methane 40-55% is not suitable for many nominal applications accumulate for domestic heating. The biogas generated by anaerobic digestion has to be scrubbed flattering of Carbon dioxide and Hydrogen sulfide to get very than 90% Methane gas so that it can be used for power generation and direct towards for heat reforming to Hydrogen generation. Add fuel to cell used for onsite power generation and Add fuel to cell cars engross under the influence sacredness Hydrogen. Such Hydrogen is not whatsoever minus clearout and purifying 'Bio-gas' to the highest degree. Hydrogen generation from Biogas or from Bioethanol is a country source of Hydrogen in the far along.
