Recently in Reports Category
From Pew Charitable Trusts:
The number of jobs in America's emerging clean energy economy grew nearly two and a half times faster than overall jobs between 1998 and 2007, according to a report released by The Pew Charitable Trusts. Pew developed a clear, data-driven definition of the clean energy economy and conducted the first-ever hard count across all 50 states of the actual jobs, companies and venture capital investments that supply the growing market demand for environmentally friendly products and services.
Pew found that jobs in the clean energy economy grew at a national rate of 9.1 percent, while traditional jobs grew by only 3.7 percent between 1998 and 2007. There was a similar pattern at the state level, where job growth in the clean energy economy outperformed overall job growth in 38 states and the District of Columbia during the same period. The report also found that this promising sector is poised to expand significantly, driven by increasing consumer demand, venture capital infusions, and federal and state policy reforms.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) recently analyzed the potential impacts of three federal renewable electricity standards. The report found that the "differences between average national electricity prices in the RES cases and the base case are less than 1%... and no state sees an increase of more than 5% compared to the base case in 2022, th eyear of peak impact on prices."
The report states that Southeast states would generally rely on biomass co-firing and the purchase of renewable energy credits to reach the mandate. John Wilson of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy disputes this finding. "The technical report's regional perspective is at odds with similar studies by others, and with our own investigation into the potential for renewable energy in the Southeast," Wilson wrote on his blog. "The three major problems with this report are: biopower is poorly analyzed, or at least poorly documented; transmission is assumed to be built quickly; and distributed generation is not adequately considered." To read more of Wilson's comments visit the SACE energy blog.
The report states that Southeast states would generally rely on biomass co-firing and the purchase of renewable energy credits to reach the mandate. John Wilson of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy disputes this finding. "The technical report's regional perspective is at odds with similar studies by others, and with our own investigation into the potential for renewable energy in the Southeast," Wilson wrote on his blog. "The three major problems with this report are: biopower is poorly analyzed, or at least poorly documented; transmission is assumed to be built quickly; and distributed generation is not adequately considered." To read more of Wilson's comments visit the SACE energy blog.
From the report, Southeast Energy Opportunities, by the World Resources Institute, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, and Southface:
Southeast states seeking solutions to current and future energy challenges have a major opportunity to use existing technology to harness local renewable energy resources. Our regional assessment, drawing on recent government and regional studies, suggests sufficient renewable energy resources to meet as much as 30 percent of the Southeast's electric power needs within the next 15 years.The full report can be found here.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has released the report: The Impact of Ethanol Use on Food Prices and Greenhouse Gas Emissions. Key findings of the report include:
- Between April 2007 and April 2008, an increase in ethanol production accounted for 10 to 15 percent of the 5.1 percent increase rise in food prices during the same time period. Therefore, ethanol was responsible for .5 to .8 percentage points of this 5.1 percent increase.
- During the same period, higher prices for energy directly increased the price of food by 22 percent, or 1.1 percentage points of the 5.1 percent increase.
- The production, distribution, and consumption of corn ethanol creates 20 percent less greenhouse gas emissions than the equivalent process for gasoline. The CBO analysis considered the amount of carbon dioxide removed from the atmosphere when the corn is grown.
- While the report states that most plants use natural gas, when coal is used instead, the greenhouse gas emissions exceed those of gasoline.
- Ethanol made from plants, trees, or waste, known as biomass, could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 85 to 95 percent relative to gasoline.
From Worldwatch Institute:
The Sierra Club and Worldwatch Institute today released a report, Smart Choices for Biofuels, highlighting the need for important policy reforms at this critical juncture in America's effort to increase the use of biofuels. The report outlines the economic and environmental impacts of first-generation biofuels such as corn ethanol, proposes strategies to make the biofuels industry more sustainable, and offers specific policy recommendations in four broad categories:
- Developing sustainability standards
- Advancing biofuels production and new technologies
- Creating green jobs through biofuels
- Promoting policy coherence across energy sectors
From the Minnesota Department of Agriculture:
Increasing the amount of ethanol blended into gasoline from 10 percent to 20 percent causes no significant change in performance of automotive fuel systems according to research conducted by the Minnesota Center for Automotive Research at Minnesota State University, Mankato. The study examined the impact of gasoline with a 20 percent blend of ethanol (E20) on the endurance, wear and performance of automotive fuel pumps and sending units. This study is the fourth in a series of research projects conducted to determine the effect of E20 on fuel system components.The study looked at eight models of fuel pumps, running three identical versions of each model for 4,000 hours using one of three different fuels - gasoline, E10 and E20. Gasoline and E10 were used in the study as a reference to identify what effects two accepted fuels would have on the pumps and sending units. The 24 pumps were selected to represent a variety of manufacturers, model years, common vehicles and designs. In addition, the study examined the effect of E20 on nine different makes and models of sending units.
The study found that the pumps showed significantly less wear when tested with E20 than with gasoline. The study concluded that overall, E20 did not have any greater negative effects than gasoline or E10 on the fuel pumps tested. It also showed there were no substantial differences in the performance of the sending units tested in the three different fuels.
A new analysis by North Dakota State University finds that the economic impact of a cellulosic ethanol plant in North Dakota would have a larger economic impact than a corn ethanol plant. While a corn ethanol plant would have $17 million of annual economic impact and create 40 direct jobs, a cellulosic plant was projected to have an annual economic impact of $53 million and create 77 jobs. The authors suggest the additional impact from a cellulosic plant is due to (1) the creation of new revenue streams from agricultural residues that previously had little or no existing market and (2) additional costs in feedstock collection and transportation. The full analysis can be found here.
Sandia National
Laboratories - February 10, 2009
An
in-depth study by Sandia National Laboratories and General Motors Corp. has
found that plant and forestry waste and dedicated energy crops could sustainably
replace nearly a third of gasoline use by the year 2030....Using a newly developed tool known as the
Biofuels Deployment Model, or BDM, Sandia researchers determined that 21 billion
gallons of cellulosic ethanol could be produced per year by 2022 without
displacing current crops. The Renewable Fuels Standard, part of the 2007 Energy
Independence and Security Act, calls for ramping up biofuels production to 36
billion gallons a year by 2022. The 90 Billion Gallon Study, which focused only
on starch-based and cellulosic ethanol, found that an increase to 90 billion
gallons of ethanol could be sustainably achieved by 2030 within real-world
economic and environmental parameters. Press
release and full report can be found here.
A new article published in the Journal of Industrial Ecology found that corn ethanol emits, on average, 51 percent less greenhouse gases than gasoline. The University of Nebraska study researched dry-mill ethanol plants that use natural gas. The research team stated that this was the first study "to quantify the impact of recent
improvements throughout the corn-ethanol production process, including
crop production, biorefinery operations and co-product use ... Previous
studies, which found ethanol to have a much smaller edge over gasoline
in GHG emissions, relied on estimates based on corn production, ethanol
plant performance and co-product use as they were seven years ago." The press release can be found here.
A new report by the
American Solar Energy Society and Management Information Services quantifies the
revenue dollars and jobs in the renewable energy and energy efficiency
industries in 2007. According to the report, these industries saw over a
trillion dollars in revenues and constituted nearly 4 million jobs. The full
report can be found here.
