Newer Technologies
Policy Incentives
There are five policies which encourage energy ventures which can be labeled as "renewable": tax
credits, subsidies, research grants, so-called renewable portfolio standards and green pricing programs.
Renewability does not assure non-polluting of the atmosphere nor of land or water or the environment, it
merely means that the energy source material can be replenished in a relatively short time period. Only wind
and solar energy technologies offer true zero-emission attributes, alongside hydroelectric and geothermal
energy generation which impact the land and often water also. Even the placement of wind turbines and solar
panel "farms" are considered by many to pollute the landscape, while having lesser impact upon man
other than depriving man the use of the land for supplies of food, clean water and air to sustain life.
The words used to determine eligibility for the incentives are open to political abuse.
Biomass. Biomass is the burning of organic matter – typically agricultural crops,
grasses and wood (from trees and wood waste) – to produce heat for electricity generation (distributed
energy). Often the meaning of the word is extended to domestic trash, tires and toxic gas from dump sites.
Click to view the Energy Justice .net Fact Sheet on Biomass
Incineration.
Burning biomass, unlike solar and wind, produces significant carbon dioxide emissions (about one third
more than coal and three times that of natural gas). These emissions, it is suggested, might be balanced out
by planting new crops, which take up carbon dioxide as they grow. The carbon emission to carbon uptake ratio,
the location of the two processes, and the effects on local soil and water quality, are important issues that
must be considered in determining what forms of biomass could be sustainable. For biomass to be a significant
source of low–carbon emitting renewable energy, crops must be grown with little cultivation and
fertilizer, be transported only over short distances, and be grown and harvested in a way that does not
degrade the land. Grasses – such as switch grass and big blue stem – are low impact possibilities
for biomass. If produced and used correctly, biomass could possibly contribute to U.S. distributed energy
needs. According to a recent NREL study, accepting the increased carbon emissions, biomass incineration could
produce 17–28% of U.S. electricity by 2020.
However, the logistics and costs of handling vast quantities of this type of fuel are often underestimated.
The impact of trucking hundreds of loads each day, the fuel those trucks consume energy and the GHG
consequences are material offsets to prospective "benefits". Pollution of groundwater by leachate
from storage piles of the material and risk of fire to such piles either by lightning or spontaneous
combustion are largely un–controllable. Furthermore, the time to grow trees for wood is measured in
years whereas incineration takes a minute fraction of that time – on those terms it cannot be a
sustainable alternative fuel for electrical power generation. Previous assumptions about burning trees were
that the younger fast growing trees sequestered more carbon than the older ones. Recent studies in Canada and
Alaska indicate that the opposite is true. Older trees store more carbon than younger ones and it takes a
minimum of 20 years of new growth till the younger trees begin to sequester carbon and at least 100 years
before the forest sequesters what is lost through clear cutting and the soil disturbance associated with it.
Much of the carbon held in a forest is held in the humus in forest soils.
Moreover, recent research has revealed that burning of biomass releases gaseous toxins harmful to humans
into the atmosphere for us to breathe. Microscopic particulates emitted by the thousands of tons in biomass
combustion is very damaging to human biology. Not only damaging to those with existing breathing difficulties
but also producing birth defects.
The economics of biomass burning are totally distorted and out of phase with normal “free–market”
economics. Recent federal grants and subsidies in the so–called “Stimulus Package” are the
cause of the proliferation of these plants. There are many people looking to make lots of money quickly.
Plants that are begun in 2010 and are completed by 2013 will recover about 30% of their capital costs,
courtesy of the American taxpayer. Corporations can also claim zero carbon emissions simply because the EPA
rules omit counting the emission of CO2 in biomass burners. Any combustion of organic matter
produces CARBON DIOXIDE and WATER.
A fundamental problem with using biomass for electricity generation or fuel substitutes for hydrocarbon
fuels is the serious impact upon forests. Forests inhale carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, exhale oxygen and
convert the carbon into wood fiber. Cutting forests either to provide fiber as biomass or to clear land for
cultivation of crops to manufacture fuels like ethanol, releases carbon dioxides into the atmosphere. First
carbon dioxide is no longer absorbed to create wood and roots of the forest, and second conversion into chips
for burning releases the carbon as carbon dioxide directly into the atmosphere consuming energy for the
conversion in the process. The cleansing of ground waters and air by forests is interrupted. The increased run
off and pollution of ground waters by excess fertilizers applied to stimulate crop growth for bio fuels
seriously degrades ground waters which are becoming the scarce resource of the century.
Bio Fuels (portable energy). When refined from corn for example; in spite of the
exhortation of the government for oil companies to increase the amount of ethanol mixed with gasoline, even ifall
our corn output was used for ethanol, it would cut petroleum consumption by just 10%–12%.
Moreover, distillation cannot remove the water from ethanol which can cause major damage to automobile
engines not specifically designed to burn ethanol. Because the water content of ethanol also risks pipeline
corrosion it must be shipped by the more expensive energy consuming means of truck, rail car or barge, as
opposed to using pipelines. It takes more than one gallon of fossil fuel to produce one gallon of ethanol.
Ethanol is 20% to 30% less efficient than gasoline, making it more expensive per highway mile. It takes enough
corn to feed one person for a year (450 pounds of corn) to produce the ethanol to fill one SUV tank. The corn
must be grown, fertilized, harvested and trucked to ethanol producers, all of which adds to fuel costs and
carbon emissions. In addition, considering the environmental balance, 1,700 gallons of water are consumed to
produce one gallon of ethanol.
Ethanol is so costly that Congress has enacted major ethanol subsidies, about $1.05 to $1.38 a gallon,
which is no less than a tax on consumers. A second tax is levied in the form of taxpayer handouts to corn
farmers) to the tune of $9.5 billion in 2005 alone). Ethanol production has driven up the prices of corn–fed
livestock — and thus prices of beef, chicken and dairy products — as well as prices of products
made from corn, such as cereals. As a result of higher demand for corn, other grain prices, such as soybean
and wheat, have risen dramatically. The U.S., as the world's largest grain producer and exporter, passes
these higher grain prices on in the worldwide food market. Click to view the EarthJusice.net fact sheet on Cellulosic
Ethanol .
At best, the policy of using bio fuels to replace gasoline is a questionable knee–jerk. The millions
of gasoline consumers, who fund the benefits through higher fuel and food prices, as well as taxes, are
relatively uninformed and have little clout. Moreover, the demand for fuel crop space is leading to the
burning off of tropical forest areas to clear land for fuel crops, which increases GHG generation by both the
burning and denying the forests their traditional role of absorbing carbon dioxide and reducing GHG emissions
into the atmosphere.
Fuel Cells. A fuel cell is an electrochemical device that combines hydrogen and oxygen to
produce electricity, with water and heat as its by–product. As long as fuel is supplied, the fuel cell
will continue to generate power. Since the conversion of the fuel to energy takes place via an electrochemical
process without combustion (electrolysis), the process is clean, quiet and efficient – two to three
times more efficient than fossil fuel burning. Click to view the EnergyJustice.net fact sheet on Hydrogen
and fuel cells .
No other energy generation technology offers the combination of benefits that fuel cells do. In addition to
low or zero emissions and fuel portability, benefits include high efficiency and reliability, multi–fuel
capability, citing flexibility, durability, salability and ease of maintenance. Fuel cells operate silently,
so they reduce noise pollution as well as air pollution and the waste heat from a fuel cell can be used to
provide hot water or space heating for a home or business.
There are many uses for fuel cells – right now, all of the major automakers are working to
commercialize a fuel cell car. Fuel cells are powering buses, boats, trains, planes, scooters, forklifts, even
bicycles. There are fuel cell–powered vending machines, vacuum cleaners and highway road signs.
Miniature fuel cells for cellular phones, laptop computers and portable electronics are on their way to market.
Hospitals, credit card centers, police stations, and banks are all using fuel cells to provide power to their
facilities. Wastewater treatment plants and landfills are using fuel cells to convert the methane gas they
produce into electricity. Telecommunications companies are installing fuel cells at cell phone, radio and 911
towers. The possibilities are apparently endless with hydrogen in abundant supply and process technologies
becoming more efficient as time passes.
Hydrogen is potentially the most abundant and inexhaustible energy source available. However it cannot be
harvested or mined or pumped from the ground. To isolate it as the energy carrier that it is, one has to break
the bonds to other elements to which it is attached in nature. Unlike electricity which does not "keep",
hydrogen can be stored or moved from place to place for use for work as a compressed gas, or as a super
chilled liquid or in suspension with metal hydrides. Remember that hydrogen is the basis of all the so–called
hydrocarbon fuels we depend upon today. Hydrogen burns easily. Isolating hydrogen requires the application of
energy to sever the bonds. The inherent value of hydrogen as fuel lies in extending the lifetime and
versatility of electricity.
Hybrids. Hybrid traction is when a prime combustion or electric motor meld with each other
to operate in a manner enhancing fuel efficiency for a given type of journey. Most vehicle manufacturers have
models on the market or in advanced development. The interaction between the motors is computer controlled to
allow efficiencies to be controlled for safety and comfort.
Buildings. Energy efficient building designs allow for energy capture from the environment –
the sun, air and rain water – such that energy may be stored for later use when not immediately consumed
in the function of the building. These features exist together with efficient peripheral insulation above,
under and around the building which also are normally connected with utility services. Charges are made by the
utility service providers making supply to the building, and can give credit when excess energy generated in a
building is taken by the utility service for use elsewhere for their operations.
Choices for cooling, heating and equipment power distribution are usually computer automated according to
internal and external ambient conditions and as intrinsic demands are experienced. Wind, Solar, and fuel cell
technology can be employed within such building designs.
The building surrounds are designed to take advantage of xeriscaping native plant species and hydroponic
techniques to conserve energy and be more easily maintained.
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