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Energy Analysis Newsletter — March 2009
Energy analysis at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) encompasses a broad range of energy analysis in support of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), NREL programs and initiatives, and the energy analysis community. Here is the latest news on energy analysis activities at NREL:
Upcoming Events
March Seminar: The Conundrum of Biofuels, Food Security, and Climate
Robert Harriss
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On March 12, NREL's Strategic Energy Analysis Center (SEAC) and DOE/EERE's Office of Planning, Budget, and Analysis (PBA) will present a seminar (in Golden, Colorado) discussing biofuels. There is reason to expect an increasing frequency of crises emerging from the connections between an increasing demand for energy and food in the coming era of climate change and continued globalization of the world economy. The rapid urbanization of humanity, increases in wealth, and demand for mobility and rich diets have created a complex global architecture of demand and supply systems that are difficult to fully understand. Simultaneously, the global climate system has entered a nonstationary condition created partly by environmental changes from growing demands for food and fuel. Earth-system feedbacks resulting from this conundrum create some problems that can't be solved — but they can be tamed. This presentation by Robert Harriss, of the Houston Advanced Research Center (HARC), will discuss insights from assessment strategies for the governance of complex bio-economic systems. It also will include a HARC case study on increased use of "agrofuels" for biodiesel production in South Asia.
Upcoming seminars
April 9, 2009
"From Green Process Design, to Industrial Ecology, to Sustainability" — Urmila Diwekar (Center for Uncertain Systems: Tools for Optimization and Management)
For more information on the seminar series — including log-in and call-in information for remote access — visit the Web site.
Publications and Web Sites
Some of the documents in this section are available as Adobe Acrobat PDFs.
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Solar Leasing for Residential PV
SEAC analysts Jason Coughlin and Karlynn Cory recently published a fact sheet on "Solar Leasing for Residential Photovoltaic Systems." (PDF 566 KB) In the past year, the residential solar lease has received significant attention in the solar marketplace, primarily for its ability to leverage two key commercial tax credits for the individual homeowner. However, on January 1, 2009, the $2,000 cap on the residential investment tax credit (ITC) was lifted. As a result, the expansion of the solar lease model across the United States may be slower than anticipated. Homeowners may revisit the comparison between the solar lease and home-equity financing in light of the change to the ITC. Market conditions have changed, however, and the solar lease provides some distinct advantages. This publication examines the solar lease option for residential PV systems and describes two solar lease programs already in place.
Wind Energy Economic Development Impacts in Colorado
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SEAC analysts Sandra Reategui and Suzanne Tegen recently published a fact sheet on "Economic Development Impacts of Colorado's First 1,000 Megawatts of Wind Energy." (PDF 281 KB) This fact sheet summarizes their NREL report with the same title (PDF 672 KB), which was prompted by the soaring growth in the number of Colorado's wind power installations in recent years, from 291 megawatts (MW) of capacity in 2006 to 1,067 MW in 2007. Analyzing the economic impact of Colorado's first 1,000 MW of wind energy development not only provides a summary of jobs, land-lease payments, and other revenue, but it also provides a sense of the economic development opportunities associated with other new wind project scenarios. The analysis can be used by interested parties in other states as an example of the potential economic impacts if they were to adopt 1,000 MW of wind power development. To quantify these impacts to Colorado, analysts used NREL's Jobs and Economic Development Impact (JEDI) model.
Analysts Meet With Stakeholders
SEAC analysts Lori Bird and Karlynn Cory presented during the EUEC Energy and Environment Conference held February 2 in Phoenix, Arizona. Bird discussed renewable energy certificate (REC) markets and Cory spoke on feed-in tariff (FIT) policies.
Lori Bird discussed renewable energy and electricity disclosure issues at a workshop titled "Transparency and Accountability: The Role of Information Disclosure" at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on February 6. The event was organized by faculty of the Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise at the University of Michigan, the Georgetown Center for Business and Public Policy, and the Harvard Business School.
On February 13, NREL participated in meetings with city officials representing the Denver-Chongqing Eco-City cooperation, which is developing an electric-vehicle pilot program. The program involves Ford Motor Company in the United States and Chang'an Motors in China. NREL participated in the four-party talks and also provided laboratory overviews/tours of the facilities for vehicle testing and simulation, solar charging, battery materials research, and battery testing. The meetings resulted in the identification of mutual interests for further development and next steps for advancing the cooperation projects.
On February 14-17, NREL participated in the U.S.-China Clean Energy Forum in the San Francisco Bay Area. The event included meetings with U.S. clean energy companies; a tour of facilities at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Washington; and formal meetings and workshops in Seattle, Washington. The Clean Energy Forum has a high-level steering committee led by local Seattle businessmen, Senator Maria Cantwell from Washington, several U.S. trade negotiators and ambassadors, and Chinese government participants and research institutes/universities. The group also has visibility with the U.S. Congress, the Department of State, and the White House. Organizers have structured three working groups around the topics of energy efficiency and conservation, environmental protection, and renewable energy, which have produced preliminary recommendations for enhanced cooperation and clean energy development between the U.S. and China. These recommendations will be further developed and presented to the respective governments.
NREL research associate Sandra Reategui attended the Governor's Forum on Colorado Agriculture on February 19 to talk about the economic impact of wind energy on Colorado. She also presented at the Great Plains and Southwest Summit in Sweetwater, Texas, in February where she discussed "Perspectives and Case Studies from Wind Power Development and Operation throughout the Great Plains and the Southwest." On February 24, she participated in the Climate Change and Utah Water Supply Symposium in Salt Lake City.
SEAC analysts Robert Margolis and Karlynn Cory joined John Lushetsky (solar program manager for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy) and Mark Bolinger (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory research scientist) for meetings with analysts on Wall Street in New York City on February 19-20. The laboratory representatives shared solar analysis capabilities, learned about Wall Street analysis capabilities, and discussed the potential for developing ways to share data and analysis.
For the latest updates on information regarding energy analysis, visit the Energy Analysis Web site.
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