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Solar powered military installations are nothing new but there is a twist to the solar arrays being installed at Los Angeles Air Force Base, because LA AFB is also booting out its old gas guzzling general purpose vehicles in favor of a fleet of electric vehicles, making it the first federal facility of any kind to replace an entire fleet with EV’s.  The base will be used as a proving ground for new energy efficient vehicle-to-grid technologies that can squeeze the maximum renewable energy potential from both photovoltaic cells and the electric vehicles, too.

Electric Vehicles for LA AFB

The new EV program is relatively modest, with no tactical or emergency vehicles making the switch (the Air Force is testing fighter jet biofuel under another program, by the way).  The base will replace about forty sedans, light duty trucks and shuttle buses with all-electric EVs as well as well as hybrid electric and extended-range EVs. However, the program is serving as a study guide and model that could affect tens of thousands of vehicles in the Department of Defense’s fleets, so its impact could be enormous. Part of the assessment involves costs, of course, and DoD will be looking at the cost of installing charging stations and related infrastructure, and analyzing lifecycle costs of electric vehicles relative to conventional vehicles.

Electric Vehicles and Solar Power

There has been a mushrooming trend of pairing EV charging stations with solar installations, so it’s fair to assume that LA AFB’s solar power plans include EV charging. However, the base also has something a little more sophisticated in mind, a demonstration of V2G (vehicle-to-grid) potential. The idea behind V2G is that electric vehicles spend long stretches of time just sitting around parked, with all that energy in their batteries going unused. In the case of solar-charged EV’s, that’s clean energy going unused. Grid-connected, solar-charged EV’s would provide significant financial benefits to the owner, who could defray the cost of both the solar installation and the EV by selling excess energy to the grid.

Microgrids and V2G Technology

The Department of Defense is also testing smart microgrid technology, including a solar powered microgrid, at military bases. This program is designed to help the DoD achieve energy security by removing its facilities from dependence on the grid. V2G technology comes into play because it could help a facility get the maximum energy potential from its microgrid.

Microgrids, Solar Panels and V2G for All…Not

The Department of Defense has established the position that clean, renewable energy is a matter of national defense that covers the civilian world, not just energy-independent military bases, but the majority party in Congress is not interested investing in new technology for domestic use (heck, they won’t even fund disaster relief here-and-now, let alone investing in our future). Microgrids and locally generated renewable energy sure would have come in handy for at least some of the scores of communities struggling to recover from Hurricane Irene, which are still without power days after the storm.

Image: Solar panels at Los Angeles Air Force Base by Lou Hernandez courtesy of U.S. Air Force.

Tina Casey on Twitter @TinaMCasey

The days of using lightbulbs as a political football may be drawing to a swift and un-melodramatic close, now that the company Lighting Science Group has announced the development of a new 60-watt equivalent LED lightbulb that will retail for under $15.00. The sub-$15 price point is critical, because given that the new bulb uses about 85% less electricity than a conventional incandescent bulb, the payback is a mere eight months. On top of that, the life expectancy of the new LED lightbulb is about 8 years compared to whatever for those pesky conventional bulbs that keep burning out, so there is the potential for a quick and widespread breakthrough into the mass market within the next few years.

Coal Power and High Efficiency LED Lightbulbs

The new bulb will be introduced globally, starting with India this year, and it was designed specifically for the Indian power grid’s variable quality. It may also prove to be a key factor in India’s management of greenhouse gas emissions from coal fired power plants. According to a press release from Lighting Science, India plans to build 80 new coal plants to keep up with energy demand over the next five years, but a full switch to LED lighting could reduce that load by up to 40 percent.  If that figure seems a bit high, check out this lightbulb infographic to get a picture of the impact that lightbulbs have on energy consumption in the U.S.

Even Cheaper LED Lighting

Meanwhile, over in the U.S.A researchers at the University of Florida are on to a new LED lightbulb design that could result in an even cheaper LED. The new approach is based on semiconductors composed of layers of different materials including quantum dots, which are tiny nanoscale crystals. Though this hybrid composition results in a more efficient LED, until now the catch has been that different processes are needed to apply the different kinds of layers, and that adds up to a more expensive LED lightbulb. The  Florida team has developed a way to design the structure so that only one process is needed. As an added bonus, the new design is more efficient and has a longer lifespan that conventional LED lightbulbs.

Lightbulb War Fizzles Out

At the beginning of this summer the majority party in Congress was still dead set on clinging to incandescent lightbulbs, but the hullabaloo seems to be dying quickly. Little wonder, because Lighting Science is not the only company introducing low-cost, high efficiency lighting alternatives.It’s not just the consumer market, either; LEDs are popping up all over the place, from modestly scaled designs for  U.S. Navy bunk lights to gigantic airport parking garages. Some legislators are still carrying a torch for incandescents, but the rest of the world is moving on.

Image: Cash register by seanmcmenemy on flickr.com.

Tina Casey on Twitter: @TinaMCasey

Today’s fishwrap is tomorrow’s biofuel: a research team from Tulane University has found a low cost, energy efficient way to recycle ordinary newspapers into butanol biofuel, which can be used as a drop-in replacement for gasoline. The secret ingredient is a bacteria found in animal droppings, which naturally produces butanol as it digests the news. That’s not as far-fetched as it may seem, because the animal waste-to-biofuel connection is being explored on a number of different fronts, and bacteria are emerging front and center in the new world of low cost biofuel.

The Importance of Being Butane Biofuel

The benefits of the newspaper-bacteria biofuel production process are many. Because it is based on natural fermentation, it needs less energy than conventional biofuel operations. Aside from the simplicity of the process, the use of a recycled material rather than a food crop such as corn is a big plus. Since butane is a drop-in fuel, it can be substituted for gasoline without needing any engine modifications, which gives it an edge over ethanol. According to writer Kathryn Hobgood Ray at Tulane, butane also contains more energy than ethanol and it is less corrosive to fuel pipelines, and it has a far lower carbon footprint than gasoline.

Bacteria and Biofuel

The Tulane team calls their new bacteria TU-103, and it is apparently the first bacteria found in nature that can convert cellulose directly into butanol. Meanwhile, over at the U.S. Department of Energy, researchers are developing another biofuel microbe that can produce butanol from waste material, including agricultural waste. In an interesting twist, the University of Alabama is developing a butane-producing bacteria that lives on glycerol – an annoying byproduct of biofuel operations.

Biofuel Production and Green Jobs on the Rise

Over the summer, the Obama Administration launched a series of initiatives designed to push the biofuel industry forward and create new green jobs in rural communities. There’s a long way to go before renewable biofuel nudges fossil fuels out of the picture, but the pace is rapidly picking up. According to Biofuels Digest, the U.S. produced more biodiesel in the first half of this year than it did in all of 2010, when it produced about 315 million gallons. The industry is on track to produce 800 million gallons this year.

Image: Newspapers by DaveCrosby on flickr.com.

Follow Tina Casey on twitter @TinaMCasey.

A new fully assembled, plug-and-play modular rooftop solar power system was introduced at the Intersolar North America trade show last month, and it could be a low cost solar power solution for home owners and businesses that want to dip a toe into the clean energy pool. The new photovolaic system, called AC Unison, does not require a separate inverter, which would typically add a significant expense to the cost of a rooftop solar array. In that regard the new solar product fits in neatly with President Obama’s SunShot initiative, launched earlier this year, which aims to make solar power as cheap as fossil fuels not only by increasing solar cell efficiency, but also by lowering production and installation costs.

Low Cost Solar Power and Microinverters

The power that solar cells generate is in direct current (DC) form, and in order to be used in a building it must first be converted to alternating current (AC), through a device called an inverter. In conventional rooftop solar  installations, groups of panels are connected to one main inverter, which can cost thousands. More recently, manufacturers have started to offer solar panels with built-in inverters called microinverters. In terms of getting more households and businesses to start transitioning to solar energy, microinverters make it economical for hesitant buyers to start with a single panel or module. That enables the buyer to get more comfortable with solar technology, before committing to a larger investment. Microinverters can also make the solar system more efficient, by reducing the energy waste that typically occurs when power is conducted from a solar panel to a separate inverter.

The AC Unison Microinverter System

In addition to providing consumers with a budget-conscious way to ease into the distributed solar power market, the AC Unison product comes with a number of other enticements. The microinverter (manufactured by SolarBridge Pantheon) is designed to match the 25-year warranty that AU Optronics offers with the module, and the North American distributor is solar industry veteran SunWize Technologies. Perhaps most importantly, the new system has the potential to make more efficient use of rooftops that are partially shaded, where it would be uneconomical to install large solar arrays with a central inverter.

Solar Power for Everyone

Lowering the purchase cost of solar technology is one way to get more low cost clean energy generators into more hands. Neighborhood group discounts are another alternative, as are solar power purchase agreements. The SunShot initiative is also focusing considerable resources on utility-scale technologies and grid improvements. Solar power is already approaching price parity with some fossil fuels in some areas, so it’s only a matter of time before more consumers get their hands on clean energy, one way or another.

Image: Sun on roof by axel rouvin on flickr.com.

In the latest stage of the historic battle between renewable energy and fossil fuels, the U.S. Army has taken the gloves off:  Army Secretary John McHugh announced the launch of the Army’s new Energy Initiatives Office Task Force at the GovEnergy Conference in Ohio last week. The new task force is charged with developing large-scale renewable energy projects for Army bases and other facilities. Though the task force is focused on military needs – in this case, the ability of bases to keep functioning despite widespread fuel supply  and power disruptions – this could mark the beginning of the end for those who fight on the side of continued reliance on fossil fuel in the civilian world, too.

The Energy Initiatives Task Force

The Task Force is the platform by which the Army aims to achieve its goal of using 25 percent renewable energy by 2025. Rather than focusing on small installations, the program is going big, with a focus on utility-scale and near-utility scale projects of around ten megawatts.

Funding for Military Energy

Given the ambitious scope of the Task Force and the urgency of reducing the military’s dependence on fossil fuels and far-flung power plants, one would think that vast public resources would be mustered to support our troops in the fight for renewable energy cause, but one would be wrong. Today’s majority party in the House of Representatives seems to have forgotten its deep and abiding interest in military readiness and is sharply focused on cutting spending, particularly when it comes to environmental initiatives. With that in mind, the Task Force will be looking to the private sector for investment.

Power Purchase Agreements on a Grand Renewable Scale

The arrangement that McHugh envisions is basically a power purchase agreement, in which private investors would build renewable energy installations on or near military facilities and the Army would purchase the power. The Army estimates that a $7.1 billion private sector investment over ten years would yield projects that could churn out about 2,100 gigawatt hours of power annually.

Renewable Energy, from Military to Civilian

Solar energy is the first resource that comes to mind in terms of on-site renewable energy for military bases, but wind power, geothermal and even landfill gas are among the other options. In fact, the Department of Defense has estimated that there is enough geothermal potential alone at DoD facilities to make the the military a supplier of energy to the civilian grid, not just a consumer. Another initiative that could have a significant impact on civilian life is the new Army Net Zero program, in which selected bases are attempting to achieve net zero status in energy consumption, water supply or waste disposal, or a combination of all three.

Image:  U.S. Army 1998 Photographer of the Year Winner courtesy of expertinfantry.com via flickr.com.