The governors of several US states adjacent to the Great Lakes have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (PDF) along with the federal government in order to streamline the development of offshore wind power generation in the Great Lakes. The governors of Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, New York and Pennsylvania, as well as ten different federal agencies have all signed the Memorandum. This agreement has created the new Great Lakes Offshore Wind Energy Consortium which will serve to "support the efficient, expeditious, orderly and responsible review of proposed offshore wind energy projects in the Great Lakes."

Most of the Great Lakes area offers some of the best wind potential in the country, although there is not yet any offshore wind power generation installed. With this Memorandum, future development of wind energy in the Great Lakes should be less encumbered with bureaucratic difficulties and encounter fewer interdepartmental coordination problems.

According to the Department of Energy press release, the Great Lakes offer "the potential to produce more than 700 gigawatts of energy from offshore wind, about one fifth of the total offshore wind potential in the U.S." Wind power generation in this region would also be well positioned to serve the more densely populated Midwest.

image: CC BY 2.0 by Phault

via: EERE Network News

Denmark has released a portfolio of programs to achieve the ambitious targets of getting all of its electricity and fuel needs from renewable sources by 2050 and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 34 percent compared to 1990 levels by 2020. The country intends to get half of their energy from wind and the rest by utilizing smart grid, biogas, geothermal, wave and other sustainable technologies.

Denmark will add 1500 MW of offshore wind and 1800 MW of onshore wind by 2020 in order to reach its goal of 35 percent renewable energy by 2020. By 2016, the government will invest $18 million in renewable energy research and $4.5 million in wave power research.

The government is also offering incentives for companies that invest in renewable energy and energy efficiency improvements. Power plants will receive incentives for switching from coal to biomass. By next year, no new building will be allowed to have oil or gas heaters and by 2016 no existing buildings will be able to install them.

via Climate Progress and Energy Efficiency News

Image via skagman

Two of Google's finest, Fernanda B. Viégas and Martin Wattenberg, have created an interactive map of the country's wind energy that is both hypnotic and hopeful. The map uses data from the National Digital Forecast Database to provide hourly visual updates of wind patterns and speed across the U.S.

The creators made the map to illustrate that "an invisible, ancient source of energy surrounds us—energy that powered the first explorations of the world, and that may be a key to the future." That's the hopeful part. Looking at all of the wind energy churning around the country is enough to make anyone excited about installing wind turbines wherever we can.

Viégas and Wattenberg would like to eventually map more regions and even the entire globe if they can find suitable sources of live wind data. Click here to see the map in real time.

via CleanTechnica

An electric vehicle may offer serious competition to conventional racing vehicles in this year's Pikes Peak race. Nobuhiro "Monster" Tajima is the current champion and the record holder for the fastest time in the race. For the 2012 race, he hopes to extend his title run and set a new time record with an electric vehicle. Team Monster has not released many details about their vehicle, but it is known that the vehicle will be an EV with a twin motor system and regenerative brakes.

The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb is an ecclectic event, and the race has a number of classes of vehicles, including electric vehicles, that take part every year. Part of the attraction for using an EV is that electric motors are relatively unaffected by the change in altitude (the course rises 4,721 feet (1,439 meters) over its length of 12.42 miles (19.99 km), whereas combustion engines must deal with the change in air pressure and oxygen as they climb higher.

A strict environmentalist perspective might look at any form of motorsport and see it as unnecessary excess. But racing can be a testing platform to develop and improve EV technology. Racing can also serve to make more people aware of electric vehicles and bring them further into mainstream awareness.

via: AutoGuide.com

For some, electric vehicles are too quiet, and consideration is already being given to requiring EVs to be more audible. Eventually, the outcome from the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act of 2010 is likely to require that electric vehicles make some sound, at least at low speeds, to help provide an auditory signal to pedestrians, cyclists, and others in order to improve safety. Even sighted people rely on audible cues to know that a vehicle is nearby.

In my recent test drive of the forthcoming Volkswagen E-Golf, I immediately noticed that this car makes noise. The purr made by the E-Golf is a variable tone (that sounds like a "young Wookiee" according to Autoblog Green). It is characteristic and distinctive, and seems to relate to engines and motors while not being a usual engine sound.

I had this car roll up behind me as another test driver came back from their loop in the car, and I would likely not have been aware of the car's presence without the sound. In general, I think it is effective, and not annoying or intrusive. It communicates its presence and it changes with the speed of the vehicle, which is something that happens naturally with a conventional engine, as well.

But, when driving this car, I found my perception of the sound was as something external, rather than part of the car I was driving. At one point, as I was about to pull out onto the road, I heard the sound increase, and I momentarily hesitated, because the sound seemed to be from outside, as though another vehicle was coming, rather than the sound seeming to be related to teh car I was driving. Almost immediately, I realized what it was, and that the road was clear, and I continued on. But the sound was behaving differently enough that it gave me that brief pause.

This was only an intial impression, and I only spent 10 minutes or so in the car. Very likely, a regular driver of one of these cars will become accustomed to the sound and how it relates to the car. I don't think I would have any problem acclimating to it if I was driving this car regularly. But to me, it is indicative that the development of sound for EVs may have subtleties that will need to be worked out in order to find the right way to provide sound cues from electric cars.

[Ed. Note: Volkswagen paid for the travel and lodging for my trip to SF where I gathered some of the information for this story.]

image credit: Volkswagen

While on the west coast for the Volkswagen press tour, I had the chance to drive the company's new electric Golf. The E-Golf is scheduled to be available as part of the 2014 Volkswagen line. At present, there is a pilot fleet of about 20 of these cars that are being driven by VW employees as part of a study examining things such as usage and vehicle charging before the vehicle is ready for general release. The test fleet, including the vehicle that I drove, was built using the 6th generation Golf body, but the production version will use the 7th generation Golf as vehicle platform.

My test drive of the E-Golf was only a couple of miles, since there were a couple dozen journalists who wanted to have a chance for a drive, so it needed to be constrained, but I still got a taste of driving this car similar to many of the other EVs I've driven. I've had the opportunity to drive a number of electric vehicles, though many of those experiences have been on the small, indoor driving track that has been available at the NAIAS in Detroit, and I've been a passenger in a few other demonstration EVs that weren't available for general driving.

The E-Golf has an interesting regenerative braking system that is more interactive - and more like driving a car with a manual transmission - than usual with other EVs I've encountered, which tend to behave like a car with an automatic transmission. When coasting, the E-Golf will begin to regeneratively recharge the batteries. However, the driver can use a pair of paddle switches on the steering wheel to increase the level of regenerative braking the car provides, recapturing progressively more energy back to the batteries and slowing the car more quickly with each step. This would take some getting used to before one became proficient with it, but it brings back a level of engagement to the driving experience that most EVs don't have.

The E-Golf has a 26.5 kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery and an estimated range of 93 miles. For the test fleet, VW is also providing an iPhone with special app to enable the owner to "check the battery’s charging status, regulate the car’s internal temperature, gauge how much charging time is left, or even remotely start the charging procedure."

More about the sound made by the E-Golf will be coming shortly.

[Ed. Note: Volkswagen paid for the travel and lodging for my trip to SF where I gathered some of the information for this story.]

image credits: EcoGeek

One of the biggest problems with typical horizontal-axis wind turbines (HAWT - pinwheel-type turbines) is that they are not very efficient at low wind speeds. This is usually dealt with by surveying sites and finding locations where wind speeds tend to be higher, so that the turbines will be more effective once they are built, but these locations are often in remote locations, far from where the power is needed.

Wind turbines that use ducts to direct the wind for greater efficiency are not an entirely new idea, but the developers of the Winga have a new approach that could make this a useful configuration for new wind turbines.

By using wings to shroud both the inlet and the outlet to the turbine, it is possible for the turbine to generate power with lower wind speeds. The Winga turbine could be located closer to the ground, so that it would be less visually obtrusive, and also makes maintenance easier to carry out. The Winga can also be configured so that it could be lowered to the ground in the event of excessive winds that had the potential to cause damage.

The Winga has a cut-in speed (where the turbine first begins to generate power) of just 2 meters per second (about 4.5 mph) wind speed and reaches full power at a wind speed of 4 meters per second (about 9 mph). A typical HAWT has a cut-in speed of 4 meters per second, and doesn't reach full power until the winds reach 10 meters per second (about 22 mph).

The compact configuration of this turbine also allows it to use an annular rotor instead of the more conventional central-axis blades, which concentrates the blade area at the edges, where the greatest amount of torque is developed. The Winga has a tower height of 35 meters (about 115 feet), and measures 36.5 meters (120 feet) in length, with a scoop opening measuring 9 meters by 12 meters (30 feet by 40 feet). All of the moving parts are contained within the enclosure, so it would not have the dynamic, moving appearance that some find bothersome with conventional turbines.

The lower height of the Winga could be a disadvantage in some respects, since faster, more consistent winds are found at higher elevations above the ground. But the ability to produce power at a lower wind speed, and the likelihood that it can produce power more consistently, could overcome that disadvantage. Steering the large scoop into the wind when the winds are swirling and less steadily coming from a single direction might also be difficult and could also lead to inefficiencies. But the possibilities offered by the Winga are interesting, and further development could be worth watching.

link: Winga E-Generator

HatTip to: @johnrobb

Last week I had the opportunity to attend a press information and driving event held by Volkswagen in California, near their Electronics Research Laboratory in Belmont. As noted with many other manufacturers at this year's NAIAS, the connected car is something that Volkswagen is also deeply involved in, and their decision to locate this facility in Silicon Valley is deliberately intended to support that aspect of their business.

At present, Volkswagen has several vehicles of particular interest. Among the vehicles I drove were the Touareg Hybrid, the Jetta Sportwagen TDI, and the E-Golf. (I'll have more coverage of the E-Golf in another article.) The Touareg is a 5-seat SUV with a parallel hybrid drivetrain (one electric motor with compact disengagement clutch mounted between V6 engine and transmission: 47 hp electric motor and 3.0 liter V6) with permanent all-wheel drive. It carries 174 pounds of nickel/metal hydride batteries, but this is a mild hybrid that mostly uses the electric motor to assist the conventional engine. The Touareg Hybrid gets mileage of 20 MPG city/24 MPG highway (as compared to 16 MPG city/23 MPG highway for the 3.6 liter conventional gas engine). That puts it in the middle of the pack among hybrid SUVs.

If cargo capacity were the reason to buy an SUV, you'd actually do beter with the Jetta Sportwagen TDI. Nearly 2,000 pounds lighter than the Touareg, the Sportwagen also seats five, but it has 2.9 more cubic feet of storage space with the rear seats down (66.9 cubic feet for Sportwagen versus 64 cubic feet for Touareg). The diesel Sportwagen gets almost double the mileage of the Touareg, as well, with 29 MPG city/39 MPG highway for the automatic transmission version (and as compared to the 24 MPG city/31 MPG highway for the 2.5 liter gasoline engine version). Manual transmissions are available for both models of Sportwagen.

As noted earlier, over 20% of Volkswagens sold in the US are diesels. Volkswagen officials indicated that smaller 1.8 liter and 1.4 liter diesel engines are forthcoming for more fuel-efficient vehicles in upcoming model years. Diesels also provide a 20% reduction in carbon emissions as compared to gasoline engines.

Volkswagen doesn't typically have the highest numbers compared with its competitors in terms of fuel efficiency, which may be why we don't find ourselves talking about them as often as we do with some other automakers. But the comapny has a corporate-wide commitment to reducing the environmental impacts of their business with their "Think Blue" strategy (choosing blue - as with the entire planet seen from space - rather than green to represent their breadth of vision). This includes long-term goals such as a 40% reduction in greenhouse gasses from production plants by 2020 and a fleet CO2 emissions target of below 120 grams per kilometer. The company also recently completed construction of the only LEED Platinum Certified automotive factory in the country with their new manufacturing facility in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

[Ed. Note: Volkswagen paid for the travel and lodging for my trip to SF where I gathered some of the information for this story.]

image credit: EcoGeek (pictured: L: Touareg, R: Jetta Sportwagen)

The US Environmental Protection Agency has released its Clean Air Act standard for carbon emission from new power plants. Under the proposed EPA rule, any new fossil-fuel-fired power plants (whether fueled by coal or natural gas or any other fossil fuel) would have to meet an "output-based standard of 1,000 pounds of CO2 per megawatt-hour (lb CO2/MWh gross)." (EPA Fact Sheet PDF) EPA believes that over 95% of existing gas-fired plants would meet this standard, but that coal-fired plants would need to incorporate carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology in order to meet the limit.

The proposed rule does not apply to existing plants or to plants currently under construction. Nor does it ban new coal power plants from being built (although others have remarked that this marks the beginning of the end of electricit from coal). But new coal plants will have to meet standard with additional equipment that is still costly to install and to operate. This makes it increasingly likely that new power plants will utilize fuels other than coal.

According to the EPA statement, "The proposed standard, which only applies to power plants built in the future, is flexible and would help minimize carbon pollution through the deployment of the same types of modern technologies and steps that power companies are already taking to build the next generation of power plants. EPA’s proposal is in line with these investments and will ensure that this progress toward a cleaner, safer and more modern power sector continues." If 'Clean Coal' is as viable as its lobby would like us to believe, there shoud be no problems with this.

image: CC BY 3.0 by Davidshay1

link: EPA News Release

While the headline may sound dire, it's not an indication that the US Army is giving up on green building. Instead, the Army has announced it will use a new construction code of its own which is based on the ASHRAE 189.1 standard for new buildings and renovations, rather than continue to use LEED or the High Perfromance Sustainable Buildings standards. This new standard will "govern all new construction, major renovations and leased space acquisition." The Army had already adopted ASHRAE 189.1 late in 2010.

Some of the impetus for this change is political. In 2011, Congress acted to prevent any Department of Defense project from achieving LEED gold or platinum certification as part of that year's Defense Reauthorization bill.

Moreover, LEED is fundamentally a marketing program that recognizes buildings built to a particular high standard of performance. At its core, the Army is more concerned about having better buildings that it can operate more efficiently. Deputy Under Secretary of Defense Dr. Dorothy Robyn stated that, "With more than 300,000 buildings and 2.2 billion square feet of building space, DoD has a footprint three times that of Wal-Mart and six times that of GSA. Our corresponding energy bill is $4 billion annually." The Defense Department recognizes the importance of green buildings for its overall operational effectiveness.

The armed forces have been one of the biggest early adopters of LEED, and if all of the services are going to move away from using LEED as their standard for improved performance, that is likely to have a strong effect on USGBC, GBCI, and the LEED program as a whole. "The repercussions of this announcement will be widespread," notes Green Building Law Update. "For federal contractors, this is a game changer. The LEED AP credential will be less valuable. Past performance highlighting LEED certification will be less valuable, if not totally irrelevant."

ASHRAE 189.1 is not some lesser standard. It was develeoped by ASHRAE (the professional organization of mechanical engineers), US Green Building Council, and IESNA (the professional organization of lighting engineers), as well as the International Code Council. Moreover, the Army's action is not unprecedented. The International Code Council has also developed the International Green Construction Code (IGCC) which incorporates the ANSI/ASHRAE/USGBC/IES Standard 189.1 as a "jurisdictional compliance option." Increasingly, building codes are going to directly incorporate green measures instead of relying on third-party standards that are merely optional.

Ultimately, this may push LEED in new directions. LEED was meant to push the envelope and to transform the marketplace. In that respect, it has accomplished much of that initial goal. As the industry has moved to embrace LEED, perhaps in the coming years, LEED will again push for even greater improvements in building technology and again make LEED an indication of a truly elite building.

via: Green Building Law Update