Monday, February 28, 2011
Wind Energy Development Can Revitalize Rural America
Wind Energy Development Can Revitalize Rural AmericaDate: 1/25/2011Source: Stacia Cudd, National Association of Farm Broadcasting News Service.Audio with Tom Potter, Colorado Wind for Schools Facilitator (MP3 1.3 MB) Download Windows Media Player. Time: 00:02:46
Many rural communities have seen the benefits of wind energy development in action ? but some concerns and doubts remain.
Tom Potter is the Colorado facilitator of the Wind for Schools program and has spent quite a bit of time in the rural communities of the state. He's heard people questioning the viability of harnessing wind for energy and whether it's even worth it. But according to Potter, many of the concerns are being overcome by a desire to fix an even bigger problem in the countryside.
"People in rural areas that I talk to, really have a big concern about what they call the depopulation of their county and of their town and of their farm areas. The major concern is that they don't see their kids again because there isn't a future for them here. They already see, as we're building out wind farms and the like, that some of the kids are coming back and the flight of the youth is being reversed somewhat."
In fact, Potter has seen that in action. He's visited several schools and says there's a general buzz ? an excitement ? about wind energy projects in schools. Potter recalls a visit to the high school in Burlington, Colorado, where he had a chance to hear what students think about wind energy and what it means to their future.
"The seniors there were talking about a very high interest in renewables projects. They were talking about the future. And that could include a future of, for instance, engineering school to be a wind engineer ? or the future that could include some commercial operation with wind."
Of course, as Potter points out, that future depends a lot on the actions of the parents of these students and today's leaders. That's why Potter decided he'd like to adapt the well-known "A Christmas Carol" story to an energy story.
"If we really understood what the energy picture is and how we're impacted by it and how our shortsighted decisions are making long-term difficulty for the next generations, would we continue doing that? And in our age, I think the polar bears are in some ways like the Tiny Tims ? each of those photos of a polar bear jumping off an ice flow that's melting giving us a chance to focus for a minute and rethink the energy habits we've gotten into and what do they mean about where we're going."
Potter believes new energy interests could revitalize the rural way of life and make a big difference in the country's future ? and likely even the future of the entire world.
"At every scale wind can bring benefits. At the small scale, increased energy security. At the community scale, financial benefits to the areas entrepreneurs and some improved economic choices for the community. And then finally at large scale, tax relief, lease income, and new rural jobs."
Potter says wind energy is the future of rural America.This information was last updated on 1/25/2011
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The history and processes of milling
I believe in eating local, nutritious foods. It is relatively easy to do this with vegetables, eggs and dairy products but buying bread that I feel good about is much more challenging.� This past summer, during the Our Daily Bread Course, I learned more about why buying local healthy bread is very difficult because bread is a highly processed product by its very nature. Beyond this, there are a variety of issues including where different varieties of grain are grown, how grains are milled into flour, how and whether the flour is processed, whether bakeries purchase local grains and how much time, effort, and money individuals spend on ensuring they have access to good quality flour. I learned about our current mode of flour production, and the smaller scale alternatives of home milling and stone grinding and the systems associated with these alternatives.� In this essay, I will explore the history of milling, the processes involved, the impact on our nutrition and the directions that we can choose to go in, if we want to consume healthier, more localized bread.
To begin with, a field of wheat is converted into a loaf of bread by breaking the grain open and grinding it in a process called milling, which is one of the common processes for making grains digestible and making their nutrients available to us. However, mainstream flour production, for the most part, takes the nutritious grain and turns it into nutritionally poor flour. To understand why this happens, we have to think about the structure of wheat, which is made up of the bran, the germ and the endosperm. The husk of the wheat grain, called the bran, contains some protein as well as many vitamins, minerals and other nutrients, including potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, calcium, niacin, phytic acid and dietary fiber. The germ is the embryo of the grain, containing proteins, fats, lipids, sugar and B vitamins. The endosperm contains a lot of the protein and carbohydrates to make flour. The aleurone layer between the germ and the endosperm contains essential amino acids. Since the endosperm contains most of the dry matter it is technically the only part of the grain needed to make flour. However, the majority of the nutrition is contained in the bran and the germ.
Stone milling was the only way to make grain into flour for millennia. Farmers would sell their grain to the mill in their area and the mill would process that grain and sell it to bakers. Stone mills were powered by water or wind to grind the grain between two large stones. Stone mills were common throughout Europe and they were excellent for grinding soft wheat varieties. The grain is poured into a hole in the upper stone, called the runner, and is distributed across the bottom stone, called the sleeper. The movement of the stones crushes the entire grain, which gives the flour a nutty flavor and retains all the vitamins, enzymes, amino acids and fiber contained in the grain (Marriage). The friction between the stones heats the flour up gradually preventing the loss of the enzymes and the vitamins in the flour without compromising the baking quality. The grain is ground once and then sifted to remove large parts of leftover grain.� These pieces can be milled once again to even out the size of the flour. Screens are also used to remove the bran, because it is unappealingly dark, and the germ, because it contains lipids that could cause the flour to go rancid. Flours with different proportions of bran and germ are graded differently.
Despite this spectrum of flour grades, there were two main types in Europe during the nineteenth century. ?Low grinding? was the unsifted flour from a single pass through the millstones. This flour had a 100% extraction, meaning it contained all parts of the original grain.� This flour made dark hearty bread that retained all of the original nutrients of the grain. However, the whiter grades of flour were always more desirable to the higher classes and they were therefore more expensive. ?High grinding? was flour that had been reground multiple times and sifted extensively to remove the bran. Ironically, the flour consumed by the upper classes, who could have eaten the very best, was the less nutritious flour that had the bran and germ taken out.
The Northeastern area of the United States also produced soft wheat varieties, so stone milling was also used there. In the late 18th century, Oliver Evans invented the first automated flour mill in the United States that did the work of seven men (Basey 7). It used millstones, had an enormous amount of levers and pulleys, and was very noisy. Evans? mills were water powered, so they were situated along rivers. This invention dramatically increased flour production, but produced only one grade of wholemeal flour.
Meanwhile, in Hungary, stone grinding was not adequate to grind the hard wheat varieties that grew well there. New ways of milling were explored and the steam roller mill was invented in 1865. During the next two decades, over 300 of these new mills were built in Hungary to support the growing flour milling industry, which became the country?s largest sector (Perren 430).� The new mode of milling was much faster and therefore more economical than stone milling had been.� In the roller milling process, the grain is ground into middlings, which are then sifted by hand and reground. The extensive amounts of sifting to remove the bran and the germ required a large labor force. �
The US ignored the new ?high grinding? system for a while because of its labor-intensity.� However, a conglomeration of factors quickly shifted the perception of roller milling. First of all, the United States was shifting from growing wheat in the harsh weather and rocky soils of the northeast to the optimal Midwest conditions where hard wheat varieties were grown instead of soft wheat varieties because they have a higher gluten content and a more easily removed bran. This transition required a new type of milling because stone mills were not sufficient to grind hard wheat. Secondly, flour was needed that would not go rancid on the long migrations that some people were beginning to make westwards across the continent. The last and, perhaps most important factor, was the invention of the purifier machine which uses air streams to blow the bran off of the wheat middlings. This removed the unappealing labor-intensive aspect of hand sifting the bran out.
In 1875, the Americans combined the European roller mill, Oliver Evan?s automated mill, and the recent invention of the purifier to create an outstanding new version of the roller mill.� The process of the roller mill system is to clean the grain of straw, dust, stones, and any other debris. Afterwards, the grain is fed between two corrugated steel break rollers, where it is broken in half along its midline, becoming break stock. The pieces, consisting of layers of bran and germ with an endosperm covering, are put through the roller system again and then they are mechanically sifted according to size. The purifier then removes most of the bran and the germ and the endosperm goes through the system several more times.� The following step in the process is reduction, in which the grain pieces are crushed into flour with flat textured rollers. Any remaining germ and bran is completely removed in this stage. These roller mills are able to process a large quantity of grain, so rather than bringing grain to local stone mills, significant quantities of grain were transported to centralized roller mills. This meant that along with the loss of nutrition when the new system was introduced, there was also a loss of small-scale milling on the community level.
Although the United States seized this opportunity to improve the efficiency of their flour production system, Great Britain was slow to adopt the newly improved technology. They grew soft wheat varieties, so it was not until 1900, when the United States began exporting surplus wheat to England and Wales, that they needed to use roller mills (Perren 431). When this occurred, there was a lot of backlash from the British medical society due to the fact that the roller mills produce less nutritious flour. For example, in 1924 medical doctor Charles Edward Shell wrote to the British Medical Journal,
When the steel ?roller flour mill? were introduced into this country from America a vital injury was inflicted on our national well-being?.[the flour] lacks the proteins, fat, vitamins, and mineral constituents present in the original grain, providing only an emasculated substitute which is not merely inefficient, but also directly harmful. For a dietary overloaded with starchy material produces fermentation and flatulence : it favours the development of an abundant intestinal flora embarrassing to the digestive economy, burdensome to the gastro-intestinal organs, and favourable to the free development and increased virulence of such pathogenic microbes as may obtain access to the intestinal tract. (Shell 789).
There was also resistance to the roller mills in the United States. In the early 1900?s, some people protested the new flour systems because of these nutritional concerns. In 1920, the first head of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Dr. Harvey Wiley who advocated for pure foods and drugs in the United States tried to outlaw refined, bleached white flour because of the processes involved with making it, and the loss of nutrition (Basey 23).� �
Despite the backlash in the beginning of the introduction of roller mills, the nutritional loss of flour due to the usage of roller mills has fallen out of the public?s sight. Efficiency took priority over nutrition when it comes to milling, as seen from the fact that ninety-nine percent of the world?s grain is ground in roller mills (Marriage).
Although the current automated way of milling may seem better in the economical sense, it caused us to lose the many nutritional benefits of the bran and the germ.� Medical professionals protested the introduction of roller mills because of the severe loss of nutrition. As can be seen from the following chart, the vitamins A and B1 are almost entirely lost in roller-milled, bleached flour.
�� � � � � � � � � � � �� Stone-Ground White Flour�� �Roller-mill Bleached White Flour
Extraction�� � �������������������������������������������� 81%�� ������������������������������������������������� 72%
Protein�� ����������������������������������������������� 11.20%�� ������������������������������������������� 10.70%
Fat�� �������������������������������������������������������� 1.20%�� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 0.70%
Carbohydrate�� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �� 67%�� ������������������������������������������������ 80%
Calcium mg. per 100 g�� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 50�� ���������������������������������������������������� 22
Iron mg. per 100 g�� ������������������������������������� 4�� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �� 1
Vitamin A (units per 100 g)�� ���������������� 200�� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �� 0
Vitamin B1 (units per 100g)�� � � � � � � � �� 150�� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 22
Calories per 100 g�� ���������������������������������� 370�� ��������������������������������������������������� 370
������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� (adapted from Drummond 942)
Bread could be, and used to be, one of our main sources of Vitamin B1, yet as we can see from the chart, this is one of the most notable losses in roller-milled, bleached flour. The removed bran and germ are currently sold either as animal feed or as health supplements and pharmaceuticals. This means that rather than receiving our nutrition directly from the milled grain, we buy it from a bottle.
As Hannah Jones from the Organic Research Centre in England points out, when we transitioned to roller milling, we lost the essential amino acids contained in the aleurone cell layer in the endosperm of the wheat. Our bodies are unable to make these essential amino acids so we need to have a dietary source of these amino acids to be healthy individuals.� Another problem with removing all the bran and germ is that all the fiber is removed from the finished product.� Fiber is important in our diets because it helps with digestion and smooth bowel movements.
More processes occur after the grain is milled that further undermine its nutrition. It is conditioned or heated to adjust the moisture content of the flour. According to Doug Brown, a Canadian baker at the Kneading Conference, it is easier to add moisture to the flour than it is to remove it.� Two types of conditioning are used -- warm and hot. In warm conditioning, the flour is heated up to 115 degrees Fahrenheit. With hot conditioning, the flour is heated to 140 degrees Fahrenheit, which makes the gluten less elastic, thereby lowering the baking quality. Another issue with hot conditioning is that almost all the naturally occurring enzymes in the grain are denatured.
The next step is to add chemicals that make the flour act as though it had been stored for a month?s time because aged flour provides better baking results due to its lower pH. It is cheaper to add either potassium bromate or ascorbic acid to achieve this than to actually store the flour.� After this, bleaching agents such as chlorine dioxide, nitrogen peroxide, chlorine, benzoyl peroxide or acetone peroxide are added to the flour to whiten the naturally yellow endosperm. �
In the United States, a wartime health measure in 1941 required that mills add synthetic vitamins to the flour to replace all of the lost nutrition (Basey 14). Thiamin, riboflavin, niacin and iron all must be added to flour. This is intended to replace what was removed when the bran and germ were taken out; however, the full amounts are not added back. Andrew Whitley of the Real Bread Campaign, among others, believes that our bodies cannot incorporate these supplemental vitamins as well as we could absorb the naturally occurring forms.
Often times people buy whole wheat rather than white flour to avoid these processing problems. A little known fact is that most whole wheat flour has undergone all of the same processes as white flour. The millers add back some of the bran and germ after the flour has gone through the system (Basey 20).
At this point in time, it is worthwhile to search for wholemeal grain on the market. This is flour in which nothing has been added and nothing has been taken away. That means that all of the bran, germ and endosperm, and all the associated vitamins, enzymes, and amino acids are contained within the flour. This flour also goes by the names of unbolted wheat meal, entire wheat flour, and graham flour.� Along with the benefit of retaining the nutrition and fiber in the grain, wholemeal flour is less processed, less energy intensive, and it bakes delicious bread.
Due to the fats contained in the germ of the wheat, it is important to use the wholemeal flour soon after it is ground. Some bakeries deal with this restriction by grinding their own grain. This way they can ensure that the flour is used before it has a chance to go rancid. We visited Backhuas in Germany where the bakery contains a small stone mill. They purchase grain from local farmers which supports the local community as well as reduces the distance that the grain has to travel to reach the mill. The flour is used within a couple of days of being ground, so the nutrition of the bran and germ is retained without giving the lipids the chance to go rancid. We were offered a variety of breads that they had baked and all were delicious!
The issues of rancidity and nutrition are dealt with through the positive solution of returning to localized grain systems. This has positive implications on many levels. There are many ways to bring the grain system to the local level. One is through a model like Backhaus in Germany. In Western Massachusetts, Wheatberry Bakery is following a similar model where the bakery buys local grain and mills it in the bakery.� Another important possibility is establishing connections between millers and bakers, such as the connection between Aurora Mills and Borealis Bread in Maine. The overall goal is to set up local food systems that include local grains.
For people who would rather bake their own bread rather than buy it, a home mill provides a way to bake with fresh, wholemeal flour. Home bakers can choose whether to get their grain from local sources. Wheatberry has pulled in the concept of community supported agriculture ? they have set up a grain CSA. The members can use the mill in Wheatberry Bakery to grind their own flour.
We lost a lot of important things when we switched to roller milling, most notably, the nutrition that our daily bread ought to provide and the connections between farmers, millers and bakers.� New England used to grow soft wheat, so we could begin doing this again and be able to mill our own grain. We can restore local connections between farmers and bakers by re-establishing stone mills. We can support local grain farmers by buying their grain and milling it at home to bake into bread. There are many solutions to this, depending on whether you are interested in buying bread made from local grain or grinding your own grain to home bake with. No matter which path you choose to take, it will help bread become more nutritious, and it will help to implement the whole grain system into our local communities.
Bibliography
Basey, Marleeta F. Flour Power: a Guide to Modern Home Grain Milling. Albany, Or.: Jermar, 2004. Print.
Brown, Doug, and Kate Conway. "Baking Pastries with Whole Wheat and Alternative Grains." 2010 Our Daily Bread: Following Grains Through The Food System. Kneading Conference, Skowhegan, Maine. 29 July 2010. Lecture.
Drummond, J.C. "The Nations Larder in Wartime -- Food in Relation to Health in Great Britian ? The Historical Background." The British Medical Journal (1940): 941-43. Print.
"Harvey Washington Wiley." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 12 Oct. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey_Washington_Wiley>.
Jones, Hannah. "Cereal Grain Quality." 2010 Our Daily Bread: Following Grains Through The Food System. Organic Research Centre, Hamstead Marshall, England. 12 Aug. 2010. Lecture.
Marriage, Michael. "Introduction to Dove's Farm." 2010 Our Daily Bread: Following Grains Through The Food System. Dove's Farm, North Wessex Downs, England. 10 Aug. 2010. Lecture.
Perren, Richard. "Structural Change and Market Growth in the Food Industry: Flour Milling in Britain, Europe, and America, 1850-1914." The Economic History Review 43.3 (1990): 420-37. Print.
Shelly, Charles Edward. ?Millstone Flour and National Nutrition.? The British Medical Journal. Correspondence. (1924) Print.
Whitely, Andrew. "Bread Nutrition." 2010 Our Daily Bread: Following Grains Through The Food System. Organic Research Centre, Hamstead Marshall, England. 11 Aug. 2010. Lecture.�� �
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To begin with, a field of wheat is converted into a loaf of bread by breaking the grain open and grinding it in a process called milling, which is one of the common processes for making grains digestible and making their nutrients available to us. However, mainstream flour production, for the most part, takes the nutritious grain and turns it into nutritionally poor flour. To understand why this happens, we have to think about the structure of wheat, which is made up of the bran, the germ and the endosperm. The husk of the wheat grain, called the bran, contains some protein as well as many vitamins, minerals and other nutrients, including potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, calcium, niacin, phytic acid and dietary fiber. The germ is the embryo of the grain, containing proteins, fats, lipids, sugar and B vitamins. The endosperm contains a lot of the protein and carbohydrates to make flour. The aleurone layer between the germ and the endosperm contains essential amino acids. Since the endosperm contains most of the dry matter it is technically the only part of the grain needed to make flour. However, the majority of the nutrition is contained in the bran and the germ.
Stone milling was the only way to make grain into flour for millennia. Farmers would sell their grain to the mill in their area and the mill would process that grain and sell it to bakers. Stone mills were powered by water or wind to grind the grain between two large stones. Stone mills were common throughout Europe and they were excellent for grinding soft wheat varieties. The grain is poured into a hole in the upper stone, called the runner, and is distributed across the bottom stone, called the sleeper. The movement of the stones crushes the entire grain, which gives the flour a nutty flavor and retains all the vitamins, enzymes, amino acids and fiber contained in the grain (Marriage). The friction between the stones heats the flour up gradually preventing the loss of the enzymes and the vitamins in the flour without compromising the baking quality. The grain is ground once and then sifted to remove large parts of leftover grain.� These pieces can be milled once again to even out the size of the flour. Screens are also used to remove the bran, because it is unappealingly dark, and the germ, because it contains lipids that could cause the flour to go rancid. Flours with different proportions of bran and germ are graded differently.
Despite this spectrum of flour grades, there were two main types in Europe during the nineteenth century. ?Low grinding? was the unsifted flour from a single pass through the millstones. This flour had a 100% extraction, meaning it contained all parts of the original grain.� This flour made dark hearty bread that retained all of the original nutrients of the grain. However, the whiter grades of flour were always more desirable to the higher classes and they were therefore more expensive. ?High grinding? was flour that had been reground multiple times and sifted extensively to remove the bran. Ironically, the flour consumed by the upper classes, who could have eaten the very best, was the less nutritious flour that had the bran and germ taken out.
The Northeastern area of the United States also produced soft wheat varieties, so stone milling was also used there. In the late 18th century, Oliver Evans invented the first automated flour mill in the United States that did the work of seven men (Basey 7). It used millstones, had an enormous amount of levers and pulleys, and was very noisy. Evans? mills were water powered, so they were situated along rivers. This invention dramatically increased flour production, but produced only one grade of wholemeal flour.
Meanwhile, in Hungary, stone grinding was not adequate to grind the hard wheat varieties that grew well there. New ways of milling were explored and the steam roller mill was invented in 1865. During the next two decades, over 300 of these new mills were built in Hungary to support the growing flour milling industry, which became the country?s largest sector (Perren 430).� The new mode of milling was much faster and therefore more economical than stone milling had been.� In the roller milling process, the grain is ground into middlings, which are then sifted by hand and reground. The extensive amounts of sifting to remove the bran and the germ required a large labor force. �
The US ignored the new ?high grinding? system for a while because of its labor-intensity.� However, a conglomeration of factors quickly shifted the perception of roller milling. First of all, the United States was shifting from growing wheat in the harsh weather and rocky soils of the northeast to the optimal Midwest conditions where hard wheat varieties were grown instead of soft wheat varieties because they have a higher gluten content and a more easily removed bran. This transition required a new type of milling because stone mills were not sufficient to grind hard wheat. Secondly, flour was needed that would not go rancid on the long migrations that some people were beginning to make westwards across the continent. The last and, perhaps most important factor, was the invention of the purifier machine which uses air streams to blow the bran off of the wheat middlings. This removed the unappealing labor-intensive aspect of hand sifting the bran out.
In 1875, the Americans combined the European roller mill, Oliver Evan?s automated mill, and the recent invention of the purifier to create an outstanding new version of the roller mill.� The process of the roller mill system is to clean the grain of straw, dust, stones, and any other debris. Afterwards, the grain is fed between two corrugated steel break rollers, where it is broken in half along its midline, becoming break stock. The pieces, consisting of layers of bran and germ with an endosperm covering, are put through the roller system again and then they are mechanically sifted according to size. The purifier then removes most of the bran and the germ and the endosperm goes through the system several more times.� The following step in the process is reduction, in which the grain pieces are crushed into flour with flat textured rollers. Any remaining germ and bran is completely removed in this stage. These roller mills are able to process a large quantity of grain, so rather than bringing grain to local stone mills, significant quantities of grain were transported to centralized roller mills. This meant that along with the loss of nutrition when the new system was introduced, there was also a loss of small-scale milling on the community level.
Although the United States seized this opportunity to improve the efficiency of their flour production system, Great Britain was slow to adopt the newly improved technology. They grew soft wheat varieties, so it was not until 1900, when the United States began exporting surplus wheat to England and Wales, that they needed to use roller mills (Perren 431). When this occurred, there was a lot of backlash from the British medical society due to the fact that the roller mills produce less nutritious flour. For example, in 1924 medical doctor Charles Edward Shell wrote to the British Medical Journal,
When the steel ?roller flour mill? were introduced into this country from America a vital injury was inflicted on our national well-being?.[the flour] lacks the proteins, fat, vitamins, and mineral constituents present in the original grain, providing only an emasculated substitute which is not merely inefficient, but also directly harmful. For a dietary overloaded with starchy material produces fermentation and flatulence : it favours the development of an abundant intestinal flora embarrassing to the digestive economy, burdensome to the gastro-intestinal organs, and favourable to the free development and increased virulence of such pathogenic microbes as may obtain access to the intestinal tract. (Shell 789).
There was also resistance to the roller mills in the United States. In the early 1900?s, some people protested the new flour systems because of these nutritional concerns. In 1920, the first head of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Dr. Harvey Wiley who advocated for pure foods and drugs in the United States tried to outlaw refined, bleached white flour because of the processes involved with making it, and the loss of nutrition (Basey 23).� �
Despite the backlash in the beginning of the introduction of roller mills, the nutritional loss of flour due to the usage of roller mills has fallen out of the public?s sight. Efficiency took priority over nutrition when it comes to milling, as seen from the fact that ninety-nine percent of the world?s grain is ground in roller mills (Marriage).
Although the current automated way of milling may seem better in the economical sense, it caused us to lose the many nutritional benefits of the bran and the germ.� Medical professionals protested the introduction of roller mills because of the severe loss of nutrition. As can be seen from the following chart, the vitamins A and B1 are almost entirely lost in roller-milled, bleached flour.
�� � � � � � � � � � � �� Stone-Ground White Flour�� �Roller-mill Bleached White Flour
Extraction�� � �������������������������������������������� 81%�� ������������������������������������������������� 72%
Protein�� ����������������������������������������������� 11.20%�� ������������������������������������������� 10.70%
Fat�� �������������������������������������������������������� 1.20%�� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 0.70%
Carbohydrate�� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �� 67%�� ������������������������������������������������ 80%
Calcium mg. per 100 g�� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 50�� ���������������������������������������������������� 22
Iron mg. per 100 g�� ������������������������������������� 4�� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �� 1
Vitamin A (units per 100 g)�� ���������������� 200�� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �� 0
Vitamin B1 (units per 100g)�� � � � � � � � �� 150�� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 22
Calories per 100 g�� ���������������������������������� 370�� ��������������������������������������������������� 370
������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� (adapted from Drummond 942)
Bread could be, and used to be, one of our main sources of Vitamin B1, yet as we can see from the chart, this is one of the most notable losses in roller-milled, bleached flour. The removed bran and germ are currently sold either as animal feed or as health supplements and pharmaceuticals. This means that rather than receiving our nutrition directly from the milled grain, we buy it from a bottle.
As Hannah Jones from the Organic Research Centre in England points out, when we transitioned to roller milling, we lost the essential amino acids contained in the aleurone cell layer in the endosperm of the wheat. Our bodies are unable to make these essential amino acids so we need to have a dietary source of these amino acids to be healthy individuals.� Another problem with removing all the bran and germ is that all the fiber is removed from the finished product.� Fiber is important in our diets because it helps with digestion and smooth bowel movements.
More processes occur after the grain is milled that further undermine its nutrition. It is conditioned or heated to adjust the moisture content of the flour. According to Doug Brown, a Canadian baker at the Kneading Conference, it is easier to add moisture to the flour than it is to remove it.� Two types of conditioning are used -- warm and hot. In warm conditioning, the flour is heated up to 115 degrees Fahrenheit. With hot conditioning, the flour is heated to 140 degrees Fahrenheit, which makes the gluten less elastic, thereby lowering the baking quality. Another issue with hot conditioning is that almost all the naturally occurring enzymes in the grain are denatured.
The next step is to add chemicals that make the flour act as though it had been stored for a month?s time because aged flour provides better baking results due to its lower pH. It is cheaper to add either potassium bromate or ascorbic acid to achieve this than to actually store the flour.� After this, bleaching agents such as chlorine dioxide, nitrogen peroxide, chlorine, benzoyl peroxide or acetone peroxide are added to the flour to whiten the naturally yellow endosperm. �
In the United States, a wartime health measure in 1941 required that mills add synthetic vitamins to the flour to replace all of the lost nutrition (Basey 14). Thiamin, riboflavin, niacin and iron all must be added to flour. This is intended to replace what was removed when the bran and germ were taken out; however, the full amounts are not added back. Andrew Whitley of the Real Bread Campaign, among others, believes that our bodies cannot incorporate these supplemental vitamins as well as we could absorb the naturally occurring forms.
Often times people buy whole wheat rather than white flour to avoid these processing problems. A little known fact is that most whole wheat flour has undergone all of the same processes as white flour. The millers add back some of the bran and germ after the flour has gone through the system (Basey 20).
At this point in time, it is worthwhile to search for wholemeal grain on the market. This is flour in which nothing has been added and nothing has been taken away. That means that all of the bran, germ and endosperm, and all the associated vitamins, enzymes, and amino acids are contained within the flour. This flour also goes by the names of unbolted wheat meal, entire wheat flour, and graham flour.� Along with the benefit of retaining the nutrition and fiber in the grain, wholemeal flour is less processed, less energy intensive, and it bakes delicious bread.
Due to the fats contained in the germ of the wheat, it is important to use the wholemeal flour soon after it is ground. Some bakeries deal with this restriction by grinding their own grain. This way they can ensure that the flour is used before it has a chance to go rancid. We visited Backhuas in Germany where the bakery contains a small stone mill. They purchase grain from local farmers which supports the local community as well as reduces the distance that the grain has to travel to reach the mill. The flour is used within a couple of days of being ground, so the nutrition of the bran and germ is retained without giving the lipids the chance to go rancid. We were offered a variety of breads that they had baked and all were delicious!
The issues of rancidity and nutrition are dealt with through the positive solution of returning to localized grain systems. This has positive implications on many levels. There are many ways to bring the grain system to the local level. One is through a model like Backhaus in Germany. In Western Massachusetts, Wheatberry Bakery is following a similar model where the bakery buys local grain and mills it in the bakery.� Another important possibility is establishing connections between millers and bakers, such as the connection between Aurora Mills and Borealis Bread in Maine. The overall goal is to set up local food systems that include local grains.
For people who would rather bake their own bread rather than buy it, a home mill provides a way to bake with fresh, wholemeal flour. Home bakers can choose whether to get their grain from local sources. Wheatberry has pulled in the concept of community supported agriculture ? they have set up a grain CSA. The members can use the mill in Wheatberry Bakery to grind their own flour.
We lost a lot of important things when we switched to roller milling, most notably, the nutrition that our daily bread ought to provide and the connections between farmers, millers and bakers.� New England used to grow soft wheat, so we could begin doing this again and be able to mill our own grain. We can restore local connections between farmers and bakers by re-establishing stone mills. We can support local grain farmers by buying their grain and milling it at home to bake into bread. There are many solutions to this, depending on whether you are interested in buying bread made from local grain or grinding your own grain to home bake with. No matter which path you choose to take, it will help bread become more nutritious, and it will help to implement the whole grain system into our local communities.
Bibliography
Basey, Marleeta F. Flour Power: a Guide to Modern Home Grain Milling. Albany, Or.: Jermar, 2004. Print.
Brown, Doug, and Kate Conway. "Baking Pastries with Whole Wheat and Alternative Grains." 2010 Our Daily Bread: Following Grains Through The Food System. Kneading Conference, Skowhegan, Maine. 29 July 2010. Lecture.
Drummond, J.C. "The Nations Larder in Wartime -- Food in Relation to Health in Great Britian ? The Historical Background." The British Medical Journal (1940): 941-43. Print.
"Harvey Washington Wiley." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 12 Oct. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey_Washington_Wiley>.
Jones, Hannah. "Cereal Grain Quality." 2010 Our Daily Bread: Following Grains Through The Food System. Organic Research Centre, Hamstead Marshall, England. 12 Aug. 2010. Lecture.
Marriage, Michael. "Introduction to Dove's Farm." 2010 Our Daily Bread: Following Grains Through The Food System. Dove's Farm, North Wessex Downs, England. 10 Aug. 2010. Lecture.
Perren, Richard. "Structural Change and Market Growth in the Food Industry: Flour Milling in Britain, Europe, and America, 1850-1914." The Economic History Review 43.3 (1990): 420-37. Print.
Shelly, Charles Edward. ?Millstone Flour and National Nutrition.? The British Medical Journal. Correspondence. (1924) Print.
Whitely, Andrew. "Bread Nutrition." 2010 Our Daily Bread: Following Grains Through The Food System. Organic Research Centre, Hamstead Marshall, England. 11 Aug. 2010. Lecture.�� �
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Scientists Generate Two Energetic Electronic States from One Photon
News Release NR-4410
Double yield via singlet fission could mean 35% efficiency boost for solar
December 2, 2010
Researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy?s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the University of Colorado, Boulder (UCB), have reported the first designed molecular system that produces two triplet states from an excited singlet state of a molecule, with essentially perfect efficiency.The breakthrough could lead to a 35 percent increase in light-harvesting yield in cells for photovoltaics and solar fuels.The experiments, using a process called singlet fission, demonstrated a 200 percent quantum yield for the creation of two triplets of the molecule 1,3-diphenylisobenzofuran (DPIBF) at low temperatures.In singlet fission, a light-absorbing molecular chromophore shares its energy with a nearby non-excited neighboring molecule to yield a triplet excited state of each. If the two triplets behave independently, two electron-hole pairs can be generated for each photon absorbed in a solar cell. This process could subsequently increase by one third.the conversion efficiency of solar photons into electricity or solar fuels.The researchers identified DPIBF as a promising candidate while searching for molecular chromophores that have the required ratio of singlet and triplet energy states.Earlier, NREL and Los Alamos National Laboaratory had demonstrated an analgous two-electrons-from-one photon bonus using semiconductor quantum dots in a process NREL termed Multiple Exciton Generation. The latest advance is the first to demonstrate the electron multiplication phenomenon via �the singlet-fission process in molecules.Until this most recent advance, singlet fission had been known as a somewhat obscure phenomenon occurring at low efficiency in a small number of molecular systems. In 2004, NREL and UCB revisited singlet fission as a potential way to maximize solar photon conversion efficiency. In 2006, NREL?s Arthur J. Nozik and Mark C. Hanna calculated the gains in thermodynamic efficiencies that were possible with solar cells based on singlet fission. These activities led to a much more extensive search for the best candidate molecules in a collaboration between NREL and the research group at the UCB led by Josef Michl.The research has been published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.� Authors are NREL?s Justin C. Johnson and Arthur J. Nozik, and UCB?s Josef Michl.� For a technical summary of this article, please visit http://www.nrel.gov/news/pdfs/technical_summary_20101202_press_release.pdfNREL is the U.S. Department of Energy's primary national laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency research and development. NREL is operated for DOE by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC.�###�Visit NREL online at�www.nrel.govNR-4410
For further information contact NREL Public Relations at 303-275-4090.Subscribe to receive new NREL releases by e-mail. Subscribe to RSS feed. About RSS.
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Farmers now delivering biomass to POET's Project LIBERTY storage site
Area farmers harvested 56,000 tons of corn cobs, leaves, husks and some stalk this fall but had been waiting to deliver the biomass to POET while guidelines for the U.S. Department of Agriculture?s Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP) were finalized. Farmers on Monday began completing the application process, and they started delivering bales soon after.
?While we shared the farmers? frustration with delays to BCAP, we are happy to see that the program is being implemented and farmers are now delivering biomass to POET,? Project LIBERTY Director Jim Sturdevant said. ?I know they are eager to deliver their bales, just as we are eager to validate our receiving and handling procedures at the new biomass stackyard.
?BCAP is important to helping these first farmers get the new biomass market off the ground. BCAP?s inclusion in the next Farm Bill is an important part of continuing to develop this market.?
BCAP is a USDA program that provides matching funds of up to $45 per ton to an individual farmer for a maximum two years. It is meant to offset startup costs for developing the feedstock market for cellulosic ethanol and other alternative energy endeavors.
Bales this year will be used primarily to test procedures for delivery, receiving, quality assurance, storage and handling at the stackyard. When operational, Project LIBERTY will use about 300,000 tons of biomass annually to produce ethanol.
About POET
POET, the largest ethanol producer in the world, is a leader in biorefining through its efficient, vertically integrated approach to production. The 23-year-old company has a production capacity of more than 1.7 billion gallons of ethanol and 9 billion pounds of high-protein animal feed annually from 27 production facilities nationwide.�POET also operates a pilot-scale cellulosic ethanol plant, which uses corn cobs and light stover as feedstock, and will commercialize the process in Emmetsburg, Iowa. For more information, visit http://www.poet.com.
�
###
�
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?While we shared the farmers? frustration with delays to BCAP, we are happy to see that the program is being implemented and farmers are now delivering biomass to POET,? Project LIBERTY Director Jim Sturdevant said. ?I know they are eager to deliver their bales, just as we are eager to validate our receiving and handling procedures at the new biomass stackyard.
?BCAP is important to helping these first farmers get the new biomass market off the ground. BCAP?s inclusion in the next Farm Bill is an important part of continuing to develop this market.?
BCAP is a USDA program that provides matching funds of up to $45 per ton to an individual farmer for a maximum two years. It is meant to offset startup costs for developing the feedstock market for cellulosic ethanol and other alternative energy endeavors.
Bales this year will be used primarily to test procedures for delivery, receiving, quality assurance, storage and handling at the stackyard. When operational, Project LIBERTY will use about 300,000 tons of biomass annually to produce ethanol.
About POET
POET, the largest ethanol producer in the world, is a leader in biorefining through its efficient, vertically integrated approach to production. The 23-year-old company has a production capacity of more than 1.7 billion gallons of ethanol and 9 billion pounds of high-protein animal feed annually from 27 production facilities nationwide.�POET also operates a pilot-scale cellulosic ethanol plant, which uses corn cobs and light stover as feedstock, and will commercialize the process in Emmetsburg, Iowa. For more information, visit http://www.poet.com.
�
###
�
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New Bedford Closing In On Solar Deal
Libra
The changing Moon enters intense Scorpio and your second house of personal finances, reminding you to watch your budget. With indulgent Neptune in your fifth house of pleasure for some time to come, you may have a hard time saving money. Financial risks you take during the next two days or so are ill-advised: wait for a better time.
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The changing Moon enters intense Scorpio and your second house of personal finances, reminding you to watch your budget. With indulgent Neptune in your fifth house of pleasure for some time to come, you may have a hard time saving money. Financial risks you take during the next two days or so are ill-advised: wait for a better time.
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Capturing Waste Heat with Organic Rankine Cycle Systems
In Brisbane, Australia, a 240-kW ORC unit at a timber plant will soon harvest heat from an existing biomass burner and generate electricity to power kilns for drying lumber. Similar ORC systems are becoming killer add-ons for other heat-based renewable energy plants, including concentrating solar and utility-scale geothermal systems.
?People are realizing now that, if you throw away heat, you?re throwing away money,? said David Paul, international business development manager for Pratt & Whitney, which designed the system for the Gympie Timber Company in Australia.
Typical geothermal systems generate electricity when water-based steam at high temperatures powers turbines. An ORC system uses a different fluid, such as thermal oil or silicon-based oil, which powers turbines at lower temperatures than those required for steam. ORC power plants have been known to generate power from geothermal sources with temperatures as low as 73.3�C (165�F) in Alaska. Utility-scale geothermal plants with steam turbines typically require water temperatures in excess of 350�F.
The ability to use lower temperature fluids make the ORC systems ideal for harvesting heat from industrial exhaust systems. They are typically configured with the following components:
Heat source ? This can be a geothermal water well, exhaust from an industrial facility, or heat from a biomass furnace or concentrating solar power system.
Thermal oil ? This intermediary component transfers heat from the source to the ORC unit.
Rankine cycle� ? Oil from the thermal oil system warms oil in the ORC unit, creating temperatures high enough to power a turbine.
Pratt & Whitney is among the growing number of companies trying to introduce ORC en mass to the United States market. ORC systems have been generating heat and electricity with woody biomass sources for 20 years overseas. Europeans have embraced combined heat and power (CHP) ORC plants (such as the one in Australia) because they can operate with at to 85 percent efficiencies.
?When you look at the stacks on a nuclear plant or coal plant, they?re releasing all that excess heat into the atmosphere, so they?re only 20 to 30% efficient,? said Bob Larson, CEO of Pennsylvania-based 1st Renewable Energy Technologies. ?An ORC captures that excess heat, making 85% efficiencies possible.?
Europe has 120 to 150 ORC CHP plants with capacities of multiple megawatts. Many use waste wood as biomass feed sources. Larson said environmental concerns, coupled with high fuel costs, jump-started Europe?s investments in ORC plants in the 1980s. His company has formed a partnership with Maxxtech AG, one of Europe?s leading ORC manufacturers, to target the American market, where cement plants and other industrial facilities have been capturing waste heat for years.
Paul said Pratt & Whitney has received a notable increase in inquiries about ORCs as waste heat has become a hot topic over the past year. The company, a division of United Technologies, recently sold a unit to the city of Albany, New York. Similar systems are also marketed by geothermal heavyweight Ormat Technologies Inc.
Challenges remain in expanding ORC use in the United States, especially when retrofitting at industrial plants. In many configurations, the ORC itself is only 50% of the total installation costs, which include heat transfer equipment and condensers to cool the systems.
?A lot of times there have to be incentives in place [to make the economics work],? Paul said.
Incentive programs have helped his company?s ORC business expand to in India, Thailand and Indonesia.
Pratt & Whitney spokesman Bryan Kidder said its systems run $1,000 to $2,000 per kW. Larson said his CHP ORC systems can cost $925 kW compared to $5,000 to $7,000 per kW for other forms of renewable energy.
Larson envisions a time when Americans might install relatively small (2 to 5 MW) distributed ORC plants that provide heat and power to regional districts while operating independently of large transmission lines.� He believes smaller, distributed plants are more efficient and could take advantage of ORC technology more sustainably.
?There?s talk about 50 MW biomass plants in the U.S., but you kind of shoot yourself in the foot if you need to truck in biomass from 100 miles out just to fuel [the plant],? he said. ?Smaller plants allow for more sustainable forestry.?
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?People are realizing now that, if you throw away heat, you?re throwing away money,? said David Paul, international business development manager for Pratt & Whitney, which designed the system for the Gympie Timber Company in Australia.
Typical geothermal systems generate electricity when water-based steam at high temperatures powers turbines. An ORC system uses a different fluid, such as thermal oil or silicon-based oil, which powers turbines at lower temperatures than those required for steam. ORC power plants have been known to generate power from geothermal sources with temperatures as low as 73.3�C (165�F) in Alaska. Utility-scale geothermal plants with steam turbines typically require water temperatures in excess of 350�F.
The ability to use lower temperature fluids make the ORC systems ideal for harvesting heat from industrial exhaust systems. They are typically configured with the following components:
Heat source ? This can be a geothermal water well, exhaust from an industrial facility, or heat from a biomass furnace or concentrating solar power system.
Thermal oil ? This intermediary component transfers heat from the source to the ORC unit.
Rankine cycle� ? Oil from the thermal oil system warms oil in the ORC unit, creating temperatures high enough to power a turbine.
Pratt & Whitney is among the growing number of companies trying to introduce ORC en mass to the United States market. ORC systems have been generating heat and electricity with woody biomass sources for 20 years overseas. Europeans have embraced combined heat and power (CHP) ORC plants (such as the one in Australia) because they can operate with at to 85 percent efficiencies.
?When you look at the stacks on a nuclear plant or coal plant, they?re releasing all that excess heat into the atmosphere, so they?re only 20 to 30% efficient,? said Bob Larson, CEO of Pennsylvania-based 1st Renewable Energy Technologies. ?An ORC captures that excess heat, making 85% efficiencies possible.?
Europe has 120 to 150 ORC CHP plants with capacities of multiple megawatts. Many use waste wood as biomass feed sources. Larson said environmental concerns, coupled with high fuel costs, jump-started Europe?s investments in ORC plants in the 1980s. His company has formed a partnership with Maxxtech AG, one of Europe?s leading ORC manufacturers, to target the American market, where cement plants and other industrial facilities have been capturing waste heat for years.
Paul said Pratt & Whitney has received a notable increase in inquiries about ORCs as waste heat has become a hot topic over the past year. The company, a division of United Technologies, recently sold a unit to the city of Albany, New York. Similar systems are also marketed by geothermal heavyweight Ormat Technologies Inc.
Challenges remain in expanding ORC use in the United States, especially when retrofitting at industrial plants. In many configurations, the ORC itself is only 50% of the total installation costs, which include heat transfer equipment and condensers to cool the systems.
?A lot of times there have to be incentives in place [to make the economics work],? Paul said.
Incentive programs have helped his company?s ORC business expand to in India, Thailand and Indonesia.
Pratt & Whitney spokesman Bryan Kidder said its systems run $1,000 to $2,000 per kW. Larson said his CHP ORC systems can cost $925 kW compared to $5,000 to $7,000 per kW for other forms of renewable energy.
Larson envisions a time when Americans might install relatively small (2 to 5 MW) distributed ORC plants that provide heat and power to regional districts while operating independently of large transmission lines.� He believes smaller, distributed plants are more efficient and could take advantage of ORC technology more sustainably.
?There?s talk about 50 MW biomass plants in the U.S., but you kind of shoot yourself in the foot if you need to truck in biomass from 100 miles out just to fuel [the plant],? he said. ?Smaller plants allow for more sustainable forestry.?
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Algeria plans rapid green energy ramp-up
[ALGIERS] Algeria is aiming to generate 40 per cent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020, energy minister Youcef Yousfi has announced. About 60 renewable energy projects will be launched to give a capacity of 3,000 megawatts, hetold a press conference held to announce the strategy (2 January).
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"The main purpose of this new policy is to prepare the country for the post-petrol era," Yousfi said. Currently, fossil fuels account for 96 per cent of export revenue, and are the basis of the national economy. The country hopes to supplement this revenue from exports of renewably sourced energy."Algeria has been late in developing the renewable energy sector, but by stepping up the launch of projects we can catch up," said Omar Bouhadjar, research manager at Algeria's Centre for Development of Renewable Energies (CDER). "Important projects were announced last month that will support the new Algerian strategy," he added. But legislators were forced to postpone a discussion of a draft of the renewable energy development strategy, due to take place on 4 January, because of political disturbances.Article continues: http://www.scidev.net/en/news/algeria-plans-rapid-green-energy-ramp-up.html Powered By WizardRSSCheap Electricity Free Energy Generator Magnetic Energy Generator Magnetic Generators Free Energy Home
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"The main purpose of this new policy is to prepare the country for the post-petrol era," Yousfi said. Currently, fossil fuels account for 96 per cent of export revenue, and are the basis of the national economy. The country hopes to supplement this revenue from exports of renewably sourced energy."Algeria has been late in developing the renewable energy sector, but by stepping up the launch of projects we can catch up," said Omar Bouhadjar, research manager at Algeria's Centre for Development of Renewable Energies (CDER). "Important projects were announced last month that will support the new Algerian strategy," he added. But legislators were forced to postpone a discussion of a draft of the renewable energy development strategy, due to take place on 4 January, because of political disturbances.Article continues: http://www.scidev.net/en/news/algeria-plans-rapid-green-energy-ramp-up.html Powered By WizardRSSCheap Electricity Free Energy Generator Magnetic Energy Generator Magnetic Generators Free Energy Home
Vids 4 Grids
The National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA), in partnership with George Mason University and Northern Virginia Community College, is producing a series of videos designed to inform today?s students about tomorrow?s possibilities. Targeting high school seniors and first-year college students, Vids 4 Grids will (when all have been produced) consist of 12 ten-minute videos and three 30-minute podcasts to be posted on YouTube. Each video in the series will highlight a particular piece of grid equipment or fundamental concept integral to the deployment of Smart Grid systems.
Through integration into curricula and online posting for open usage, Vids 4 Grids aims to increase awareness and create interest in power systems careers, and ultimately lead to expanded enrollment in classes leading to power system careers. The project encourages industry participation in curriculum development for power engineering and, through the open access of YouTube, increase general public knowledge of the power sector. NEMA expects Vids 4 Grids to help develop the well-trained, highly skilled electric power sector workforce that is essential to implementing a national clean-energy Smart Grid.
Vids 4 Grids is funded by the Department?s Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability as one of 52 Recovery-Act funded awards for Workforce Development, and is the only one of those selected specifically developing videos. Filming for the videos is done on-site at the facilities of leading power equipment manufacturers. The Podcasts will incorporate open-ended questions with student-selected experts on their experiences in the power sector.
Below are the first two videos in the series:
Check back for more updates at: http://www.youtube.com/vids4grids.
Deborah J Buterbaugh is Energy Project Specialist with the National Energy Technology Laboratory.�
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Sunday, February 27, 2011
Algeria plans rapid green energy ramp-up
[ALGIERS] Algeria is aiming to generate 40 per cent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020, energy minister Youcef Yousfi has announced. About 60 renewable energy projects will be launched to give a capacity of 3,000 megawatts, hetold a press conference held to announce the strategy (2 January).
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"The main purpose of this new policy is to prepare the country for the post-petrol era," Yousfi said. Currently, fossil fuels account for 96 per cent of export revenue, and are the basis of the national economy. The country hopes to supplement this revenue from exports of renewably sourced energy."Algeria has been late in developing the renewable energy sector, but by stepping up the launch of projects we can catch up," said Omar Bouhadjar, research manager at Algeria's Centre for Development of Renewable Energies (CDER). "Important projects were announced last month that will support the new Algerian strategy," he added. But legislators were forced to postpone a discussion of a draft of the renewable energy development strategy, due to take place on 4 January, because of political disturbances.Article continues: http://www.scidev.net/en/news/algeria-plans-rapid-green-energy-ramp-up.html Powered By WizardRSSMagnetic Generator Cheap Electricity Free Energy Generator Magnetic Energy Generator Magnetic Generators
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"The main purpose of this new policy is to prepare the country for the post-petrol era," Yousfi said. Currently, fossil fuels account for 96 per cent of export revenue, and are the basis of the national economy. The country hopes to supplement this revenue from exports of renewably sourced energy."Algeria has been late in developing the renewable energy sector, but by stepping up the launch of projects we can catch up," said Omar Bouhadjar, research manager at Algeria's Centre for Development of Renewable Energies (CDER). "Important projects were announced last month that will support the new Algerian strategy," he added. But legislators were forced to postpone a discussion of a draft of the renewable energy development strategy, due to take place on 4 January, because of political disturbances.Article continues: http://www.scidev.net/en/news/algeria-plans-rapid-green-energy-ramp-up.html Powered By WizardRSSMagnetic Generator Cheap Electricity Free Energy Generator Magnetic Energy Generator Magnetic Generators
Farmers Now Delivering Biomass To POET's Project LIBERTY Storage Site
[WizardRSS: unable to retrieve full-text content]Farmers are now delivering biomass bales to POET's 22-acre storage site in Emmetsburg, Iowa, the future home of the 25 million-gallon-per-year cellulosic ethanol plant dubbed "Project LIBERTY."Powered By WizardRSSFree Energy Home
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Fits and Starts: Ontario's Green Energy Growth
Since the launch of the FIT program in October 2009, several big wind and solar manufacturers have announced plans to set up or expand their operations in the province to capitalize on growing demand for Ontario-made products. Global manufacturer Canadian Solar is building a new facility in the town of Guelph that will be capable of manufacturing 200 megawatts of modules a year and create around 500 jobs. Some sixty miles down the road, Siemens is establishing Canada?s first wind turbine blade factory in Tillonsburg, representing a $20 million dollar investment and the creation of 300 jobs. South Korea?s Samsung is, of course, the largest foreign investor in the market to date with its $7 billion contract from the Ontario government to develop the province?s wind and solar industries.
Through the FIT program, Ontario is becoming a hot bed of green energy development, manufacturing and job creation. In December, Ontario Energy Minister Brad Duguid said he?d recently announced 1,700 clean energy jobs across the province.
The solar business in particular is seeing a surge in activity with new local content rules driving partnerships and investment. �Starting this year, solar projects must meet a 60% domestic content requirement. Suppliers and manufacturers have responded by developing products and alliances to allow developers to meet the steep local content threshold. SunEdison, for instance, has begun deploying a locally-produced racking system for solar rooftop installations across the region. The company is also manufacturing fully-bankable solar PV panels in Newmarket, Ontario and has doubled production since December due to high demand.
According to data from Toronto-based ClearSky Advisors, prior to FIT?s launch, there were three solar manufacturers in the Ontario market: 6N silicon, SolGate and SatCon. Today, there are 18 module manufacturers, three of which are manufacturing through a local contract manufacturer and 15 inverter manufacturers, six of which are using local contractors. In addition, there are numerous racking/mounting manufacturers that have sprung up since the program?s debut.
Developments on the wind side are slower with many OEMs and suppliers looking for more certainty about the long-term viability of the program before investing. Along with Siemens, Vestas and GE Energy are very active in the region. In terms of new manufacturing facilities, India?s Suzlon Wind Energy is said to be eyeing the province as a possible venue but nothing definitive has been announced. Current wind manufacturing capacity in Ontario will not allow for developers to meet the increased local content requirement of 50% which kicks in next year. So the market needs more OEMs to set up and form partnerships with local manufacturers and service providers.
The big elephant in the room for Ontario?s green energy industries is the upcoming provincial election set for next October. The opposition Conservative party is currently leading in polls and has been making negative comments in the press about the future of the FIT program, which was passed by the current Liberal government. Ontario taxpayers are being subjected to diametrically opposed narratives in the media about the potential impact FIT will have on the provincial economy with critics blaming the program for energy rate hikes while supporters point to job creation and investment. Experts say some of the big players are waiting to see what happens next fall before making a sizable investment in the market.
The other big question is grid capacity. Developers and manufacturers are very concerned about the timing and extent of the province?s transmission expansion plans to accommodate renewables. There are over 250 renewable projects awaiting approval from the OPA which was supposed to begin a testing process last August. The Economic Connection Test (ECT) will determine which grid expansion plans will go forward allowing projects to connect. The timing for this test remains uncertain and with expansion projects requiring long lead times, developers are wondering when or if their projects will get a greenlight.
Despite this uncertainty, Ontario?s green energy industry is continuing to grow and there are plenty of opportunities for wind and solar manufacturers and service providers to play a role in building the local supply chains. The next few months are critical as FIT projects seek financing, transmission expansion plans become clearer and supplier arrangements are finalized. While the future of FIT will not be entirely certain until after the election, the future looks bright for Ontario?s renewable energy industries.
Adrienne Baker is a director of Canadian Clean Energy Conferences and produces the Ontario Feed-in Tariff Supply Chain Forum which takes place April 19-20 in Toronto.�
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Through the FIT program, Ontario is becoming a hot bed of green energy development, manufacturing and job creation. In December, Ontario Energy Minister Brad Duguid said he?d recently announced 1,700 clean energy jobs across the province.
The solar business in particular is seeing a surge in activity with new local content rules driving partnerships and investment. �Starting this year, solar projects must meet a 60% domestic content requirement. Suppliers and manufacturers have responded by developing products and alliances to allow developers to meet the steep local content threshold. SunEdison, for instance, has begun deploying a locally-produced racking system for solar rooftop installations across the region. The company is also manufacturing fully-bankable solar PV panels in Newmarket, Ontario and has doubled production since December due to high demand.
According to data from Toronto-based ClearSky Advisors, prior to FIT?s launch, there were three solar manufacturers in the Ontario market: 6N silicon, SolGate and SatCon. Today, there are 18 module manufacturers, three of which are manufacturing through a local contract manufacturer and 15 inverter manufacturers, six of which are using local contractors. In addition, there are numerous racking/mounting manufacturers that have sprung up since the program?s debut.
Developments on the wind side are slower with many OEMs and suppliers looking for more certainty about the long-term viability of the program before investing. Along with Siemens, Vestas and GE Energy are very active in the region. In terms of new manufacturing facilities, India?s Suzlon Wind Energy is said to be eyeing the province as a possible venue but nothing definitive has been announced. Current wind manufacturing capacity in Ontario will not allow for developers to meet the increased local content requirement of 50% which kicks in next year. So the market needs more OEMs to set up and form partnerships with local manufacturers and service providers.
The big elephant in the room for Ontario?s green energy industries is the upcoming provincial election set for next October. The opposition Conservative party is currently leading in polls and has been making negative comments in the press about the future of the FIT program, which was passed by the current Liberal government. Ontario taxpayers are being subjected to diametrically opposed narratives in the media about the potential impact FIT will have on the provincial economy with critics blaming the program for energy rate hikes while supporters point to job creation and investment. Experts say some of the big players are waiting to see what happens next fall before making a sizable investment in the market.
The other big question is grid capacity. Developers and manufacturers are very concerned about the timing and extent of the province?s transmission expansion plans to accommodate renewables. There are over 250 renewable projects awaiting approval from the OPA which was supposed to begin a testing process last August. The Economic Connection Test (ECT) will determine which grid expansion plans will go forward allowing projects to connect. The timing for this test remains uncertain and with expansion projects requiring long lead times, developers are wondering when or if their projects will get a greenlight.
Despite this uncertainty, Ontario?s green energy industry is continuing to grow and there are plenty of opportunities for wind and solar manufacturers and service providers to play a role in building the local supply chains. The next few months are critical as FIT projects seek financing, transmission expansion plans become clearer and supplier arrangements are finalized. While the future of FIT will not be entirely certain until after the election, the future looks bright for Ontario?s renewable energy industries.
Adrienne Baker is a director of Canadian Clean Energy Conferences and produces the Ontario Feed-in Tariff Supply Chain Forum which takes place April 19-20 in Toronto.�
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2011 US Energy Legislative Preview
We look for the following topics to dominate the 2011 energy debate:
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations: The EPA?s plan to regulate greenhouse gas emissions in lieu of a cap and trade system would indirectly benefit cleantech. However, the Courts and Congress are presently questioning the Agency?s authority and funding. Even if those hurdles are cleared, we are still concerned that executing the regulations will be hindered by EPA?s culture and limited resources.�
Energy bill: Cap and trade and Renewable Energy Standard (RES) are dead; a Clean Energy Standard (CES) is potentially the new centerpiece. The CES is an RES with the additions of nuclear, natural gas, and coal with carbon sequestration. Additional components of an energy bill may include incentives for natural gas vehicles, nuclear energy loan guarantees, and offshore drilling regulations.
Deficit reductions: Republicans are planning budget cuts which challenge extensions of the upstream renewable electricity manufacturer?s tax credit (MTC), the downstream renewable electricity cash grant program expiring in 2012, and the wind Production Tax Credit (PTC) expiring in 2013. It may also challenge unspent stimulus funds in the Department of Energy (DOE) Loan Guarantee Program (LGP) which particularly benefits utility-scale solar.
Variables that will impact the debate include:
President Obama on nuclear and natural gas: The Administration compromised in March 2010 by offering offshore drilling incentives and nuclear loan guarantees in exchange for RES and cap and trade. However, embracing a CES with minimal climate change provisions would be a more radical policy shift. If this occurs, prospects improve for an energy bill and small cleantech provisions that can piggyback.
Courts and Congress on EPA regulations: A final court ruling may take years and come from the Supreme Court, but there will be various lower court rulings impacting the debate in the near-term. In Congress, the House Republicans will attempt to defund the EPA and Senators from coal states will move to strip the Agency?s authority. The proposals would face a veto threat, but still pressure the Administration to at least delay the regulations.
Crude Oil prices: Increasing gasoline prices pressure Congress to diversify our energy portfolio. In the summer of 2008, voters were more concerned with energy policy than the War in Iraq. If oil spikes again, all renewables would benefit from the attention, even though natural gas is the relevant commodity for electricity generation technologies like wind and solar.�
While scenarios exist for passing 2011 cleantech legislation, we are not particularly optimistic. Deals in the previous Congress were hindered by extreme partisanship and though the election shifted power, it did not replace any of the party leaders. Furthermore, we believe job creation and deficit reduction will dominate the 2011 agenda.�
Robert Lahey is the Senior Legislative Analyst at Ardour Capital Investments, LLC, and can be reached at rlahey@ardourcapital.com. Founded in 2002, Ardour Capital is the leading research and investment-banking firm exclusively focused on energy technology, alternative energy and power, and clean & renewable technologies. Ardour Capital publishes in-depth company coverage and industry specific research. Ardour Capital offers private and public companies a full range of corporate finance, investment banking and capital market services. Ardour Global Indexes is a family of pure play alternative energy indexes that is the primary measure of cleantech equity performance.
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Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations: The EPA?s plan to regulate greenhouse gas emissions in lieu of a cap and trade system would indirectly benefit cleantech. However, the Courts and Congress are presently questioning the Agency?s authority and funding. Even if those hurdles are cleared, we are still concerned that executing the regulations will be hindered by EPA?s culture and limited resources.�
Energy bill: Cap and trade and Renewable Energy Standard (RES) are dead; a Clean Energy Standard (CES) is potentially the new centerpiece. The CES is an RES with the additions of nuclear, natural gas, and coal with carbon sequestration. Additional components of an energy bill may include incentives for natural gas vehicles, nuclear energy loan guarantees, and offshore drilling regulations.
Deficit reductions: Republicans are planning budget cuts which challenge extensions of the upstream renewable electricity manufacturer?s tax credit (MTC), the downstream renewable electricity cash grant program expiring in 2012, and the wind Production Tax Credit (PTC) expiring in 2013. It may also challenge unspent stimulus funds in the Department of Energy (DOE) Loan Guarantee Program (LGP) which particularly benefits utility-scale solar.
Variables that will impact the debate include:
President Obama on nuclear and natural gas: The Administration compromised in March 2010 by offering offshore drilling incentives and nuclear loan guarantees in exchange for RES and cap and trade. However, embracing a CES with minimal climate change provisions would be a more radical policy shift. If this occurs, prospects improve for an energy bill and small cleantech provisions that can piggyback.
Courts and Congress on EPA regulations: A final court ruling may take years and come from the Supreme Court, but there will be various lower court rulings impacting the debate in the near-term. In Congress, the House Republicans will attempt to defund the EPA and Senators from coal states will move to strip the Agency?s authority. The proposals would face a veto threat, but still pressure the Administration to at least delay the regulations.
Crude Oil prices: Increasing gasoline prices pressure Congress to diversify our energy portfolio. In the summer of 2008, voters were more concerned with energy policy than the War in Iraq. If oil spikes again, all renewables would benefit from the attention, even though natural gas is the relevant commodity for electricity generation technologies like wind and solar.�
While scenarios exist for passing 2011 cleantech legislation, we are not particularly optimistic. Deals in the previous Congress were hindered by extreme partisanship and though the election shifted power, it did not replace any of the party leaders. Furthermore, we believe job creation and deficit reduction will dominate the 2011 agenda.�
Robert Lahey is the Senior Legislative Analyst at Ardour Capital Investments, LLC, and can be reached at rlahey@ardourcapital.com. Founded in 2002, Ardour Capital is the leading research and investment-banking firm exclusively focused on energy technology, alternative energy and power, and clean & renewable technologies. Ardour Capital publishes in-depth company coverage and industry specific research. Ardour Capital offers private and public companies a full range of corporate finance, investment banking and capital market services. Ardour Global Indexes is a family of pure play alternative energy indexes that is the primary measure of cleantech equity performance.
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Large-scale wind farms generate first energy to the grid
Two of the UK's largest offshore wind farms have begun generating energy for the grid for the first time this weekend.Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) announced on Friday (January 14th) that the wind turbines at Greater Gabbard, which is situated off the coast of Suffolk, and one turbine at the Walney wind farm, located offshore at Barrow-in-Furness, are now in operation.Three of the 140 wind turbines at Greater Gabbard are now generating electricity and sending it back to the grid, although once fully operational the site will generate up to 500MW of wind power.Meanwhile one 3.6MW turbine at Walney was switched on.SSE and Dong Energy, which both have a share in the Walney site, said that the remaining 50 turbines will be in full operation over the coming months and by the end of the year, the 102-turbine farm will be complete and producing power, BusinessGreen.com reported.Both sites are expected to produce a significant amount of power, which will in turn aid the UK in reaching renewable energy targets.Posted by Mark Stephens Sign up for regular email updates to help you save money and energy
For more information please see: Walney site� The news feeds on this site are independently provided by Adfero Limited � and do not represent the views or opinions of the Energy Saving Trust.
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For more information please see: Walney site� The news feeds on this site are independently provided by Adfero Limited � and do not represent the views or opinions of the Energy Saving Trust.
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Forest Service Extends Comment Period On Vt. Wind
Aquarius
The changing Moon enters your tenth house of career and status, bringing about a power struggle between you and someone in authority. Hold your ground if you are currently involved in a project that will eventually improve the overall structure. Pick your battles wisely, compromising where necessary but standing firm for important principles and issues..
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The changing Moon enters your tenth house of career and status, bringing about a power struggle between you and someone in authority. Hold your ground if you are currently involved in a project that will eventually improve the overall structure. Pick your battles wisely, compromising where necessary but standing firm for important principles and issues..
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Fits and Starts: Ontario's Green Energy Growth
Since the launch of the FIT program in October 2009, several big wind and solar manufacturers have announced plans to set up or expand their operations in the province to capitalize on growing demand for Ontario-made products. Global manufacturer Canadian Solar is building a new facility in the town of Guelph that will be capable of manufacturing 200 megawatts of modules a year and create around 500 jobs. Some sixty miles down the road, Siemens is establishing Canada?s first wind turbine blade factory in Tillonsburg, representing a $20 million dollar investment and the creation of 300 jobs. South Korea?s Samsung is, of course, the largest foreign investor in the market to date with its $7 billion contract from the Ontario government to develop the province?s wind and solar industries.
Through the FIT program, Ontario is becoming a hot bed of green energy development, manufacturing and job creation. In December, Ontario Energy Minister Brad Duguid said he?d recently announced 1,700 clean energy jobs across the province.
The solar business in particular is seeing a surge in activity with new local content rules driving partnerships and investment. �Starting this year, solar projects must meet a 60% domestic content requirement. Suppliers and manufacturers have responded by developing products and alliances to allow developers to meet the steep local content threshold. SunEdison, for instance, has begun deploying a locally-produced racking system for solar rooftop installations across the region. The company is also manufacturing fully-bankable solar PV panels in Newmarket, Ontario and has doubled production since December due to high demand.
According to data from Toronto-based ClearSky Advisors, prior to FIT?s launch, there were three solar manufacturers in the Ontario market: 6N silicon, SolGate and SatCon. Today, there are 18 module manufacturers, three of which are manufacturing through a local contract manufacturer and 15 inverter manufacturers, six of which are using local contractors. In addition, there are numerous racking/mounting manufacturers that have sprung up since the program?s debut.
Developments on the wind side are slower with many OEMs and suppliers looking for more certainty about the long-term viability of the program before investing. Along with Siemens, Vestas and GE Energy are very active in the region. In terms of new manufacturing facilities, India?s Suzlon Wind Energy is said to be eyeing the province as a possible venue but nothing definitive has been announced. Current wind manufacturing capacity in Ontario will not allow for developers to meet the increased local content requirement of 50% which kicks in next year. So the market needs more OEMs to set up and form partnerships with local manufacturers and service providers.
The big elephant in the room for Ontario?s green energy industries is the upcoming provincial election set for next October. The opposition Conservative party is currently leading in polls and has been making negative comments in the press about the future of the FIT program, which was passed by the current Liberal government. Ontario taxpayers are being subjected to diametrically opposed narratives in the media about the potential impact FIT will have on the provincial economy with critics blaming the program for energy rate hikes while supporters point to job creation and investment. Experts say some of the big players are waiting to see what happens next fall before making a sizable investment in the market.
The other big question is grid capacity. Developers and manufacturers are very concerned about the timing and extent of the province?s transmission expansion plans to accommodate renewables. There are over 250 renewable projects awaiting approval from the OPA which was supposed to begin a testing process last August. The Economic Connection Test (ECT) will determine which grid expansion plans will go forward allowing projects to connect. The timing for this test remains uncertain and with expansion projects requiring long lead times, developers are wondering when or if their projects will get a greenlight.
Despite this uncertainty, Ontario?s green energy industry is continuing to grow and there are plenty of opportunities for wind and solar manufacturers and service providers to play a role in building the local supply chains. The next few months are critical as FIT projects seek financing, transmission expansion plans become clearer and supplier arrangements are finalized. While the future of FIT will not be entirely certain until after the election, the future looks bright for Ontario?s renewable energy industries.
Adrienne Baker is a director of Canadian Clean Energy Conferences and produces the Ontario Feed-in Tariff Supply Chain Forum which takes place April 19-20 in Toronto.�
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Through the FIT program, Ontario is becoming a hot bed of green energy development, manufacturing and job creation. In December, Ontario Energy Minister Brad Duguid said he?d recently announced 1,700 clean energy jobs across the province.
The solar business in particular is seeing a surge in activity with new local content rules driving partnerships and investment. �Starting this year, solar projects must meet a 60% domestic content requirement. Suppliers and manufacturers have responded by developing products and alliances to allow developers to meet the steep local content threshold. SunEdison, for instance, has begun deploying a locally-produced racking system for solar rooftop installations across the region. The company is also manufacturing fully-bankable solar PV panels in Newmarket, Ontario and has doubled production since December due to high demand.
According to data from Toronto-based ClearSky Advisors, prior to FIT?s launch, there were three solar manufacturers in the Ontario market: 6N silicon, SolGate and SatCon. Today, there are 18 module manufacturers, three of which are manufacturing through a local contract manufacturer and 15 inverter manufacturers, six of which are using local contractors. In addition, there are numerous racking/mounting manufacturers that have sprung up since the program?s debut.
Developments on the wind side are slower with many OEMs and suppliers looking for more certainty about the long-term viability of the program before investing. Along with Siemens, Vestas and GE Energy are very active in the region. In terms of new manufacturing facilities, India?s Suzlon Wind Energy is said to be eyeing the province as a possible venue but nothing definitive has been announced. Current wind manufacturing capacity in Ontario will not allow for developers to meet the increased local content requirement of 50% which kicks in next year. So the market needs more OEMs to set up and form partnerships with local manufacturers and service providers.
The big elephant in the room for Ontario?s green energy industries is the upcoming provincial election set for next October. The opposition Conservative party is currently leading in polls and has been making negative comments in the press about the future of the FIT program, which was passed by the current Liberal government. Ontario taxpayers are being subjected to diametrically opposed narratives in the media about the potential impact FIT will have on the provincial economy with critics blaming the program for energy rate hikes while supporters point to job creation and investment. Experts say some of the big players are waiting to see what happens next fall before making a sizable investment in the market.
The other big question is grid capacity. Developers and manufacturers are very concerned about the timing and extent of the province?s transmission expansion plans to accommodate renewables. There are over 250 renewable projects awaiting approval from the OPA which was supposed to begin a testing process last August. The Economic Connection Test (ECT) will determine which grid expansion plans will go forward allowing projects to connect. The timing for this test remains uncertain and with expansion projects requiring long lead times, developers are wondering when or if their projects will get a greenlight.
Despite this uncertainty, Ontario?s green energy industry is continuing to grow and there are plenty of opportunities for wind and solar manufacturers and service providers to play a role in building the local supply chains. The next few months are critical as FIT projects seek financing, transmission expansion plans become clearer and supplier arrangements are finalized. While the future of FIT will not be entirely certain until after the election, the future looks bright for Ontario?s renewable energy industries.
Adrienne Baker is a director of Canadian Clean Energy Conferences and produces the Ontario Feed-in Tariff Supply Chain Forum which takes place April 19-20 in Toronto.�
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Saturday, February 26, 2011
Wind Powering America Employment Opportunity
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Domestic Solar Power Systems - What's In It For Me?
[WizardRSS: unable to retrieve full-text content]Solar power has been with us for many years now, from the humble solar powered calculator through to the SEGS CSP installation in California's Mojave Desert (capable of producing an incredible 354 MW of power) - it is used to power all manner of devices and supplement grid supply in many areas. Although these massive solar power stations are incredibly interesting and capable of producing vast quantities of electricity (and the solar powered calculator is rather useful), the single most potentially life....Powered By WizardRSSGreen Energy
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How Would You Use Your Mobile Device to Save Energy?
On Tuesday, Shannon told you about some mobile tools on FuelEconomy.gov that can help you find and compare fuel efficient vehicles.
More and more, people are using their phones and mobile devices to find information, whether they're on the go and need the info now or if they're just at home and choosing to use a phone instead of a computer. Whatever the reason, we know that mobile information and tools are important.
Maybe you would find an energy-saving app useful when you're in a store comparing products, or wondering if a product is eligible for an incentive. Maybe you'd like to follow do-it-yourself instructions from your phone when you're working on an energy project around the house. Maybe you'd like to use an app to conduct an energy assessment and keep track of your home energy improvements.
These are just a few ideas we've had for how mobile apps could help you save energy, but we'd like to hear yours.
How would you use your mobile device to save energy?
Each Thursday, you have the chance to share your thoughts on a question about energy efficiency or renewable energy for consumers. Please comment with your answers, and also feel free to respond to other comments.
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DOE Providing $7 Million for Updated Building Codes
The DOE has announced that 24 states will receive $7 million to support energy-efficient building codes. The funds will help states comply with updated residential and commercial building codes as part of a larger endeavor to significantly cut the energy intensity of the U.S. buildings sector, which currently accounts for more than 40% of the nation?s energy consumption.
Recovery Act commercial building goals include specifications presented by the ANSI, ASHRAE, IESNA, and the IECC.� These codes cover a myriad of energy-efficiency issues including HVAC systems, water heating, power, and lighting.
The Building Energy Code program has generated approximately $16 billion in savings since it began 20 years ago.
The states selected for funding will be eligible for up to $350,000 in technical assistance, including code training and adoption outreach to policy makers.
DOE Headquarters gets Cool Roof
DOE Establishes Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Advisory Committee
DOE Technology Validation Project Vehicles Coming to California
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Fits and Starts: Ontario's Green Energy Growth
Since the launch of the FIT program in October 2009, several big wind and solar manufacturers have announced plans to set up or expand their operations in the province to capitalize on growing demand for Ontario-made products. Global manufacturer Canadian Solar is building a new facility in the town of Guelph that will be capable of manufacturing 200 megawatts of modules a year and create around 500 jobs. Some sixty miles down the road, Siemens is establishing Canada?s first wind turbine blade factory in Tillonsburg, representing a $20 million dollar investment and the creation of 300 jobs. South Korea?s Samsung is, of course, the largest foreign investor in the market to date with its $7 billion contract from the Ontario government to develop the province?s wind and solar industries.
Through the FIT program, Ontario is becoming a hot bed of green energy development, manufacturing and job creation. In December, Ontario Energy Minister Brad Duguid said he?d recently announced 1,700 clean energy jobs across the province.
The solar business in particular is seeing a surge in activity with new local content rules driving partnerships and investment. �Starting this year, solar projects must meet a 60% domestic content requirement. Suppliers and manufacturers have responded by developing products and alliances to allow developers to meet the steep local content threshold. SunEdison, for instance, has begun deploying a locally-produced racking system for solar rooftop installations across the region. The company is also manufacturing fully-bankable solar PV panels in Newmarket, Ontario and has doubled production since December due to high demand.
According to data from Toronto-based ClearSky Advisors, prior to FIT?s launch, there were three solar manufacturers in the Ontario market: 6N silicon, SolGate and SatCon. Today, there are 18 module manufacturers, three of which are manufacturing through a local contract manufacturer and 15 inverter manufacturers, six of which are using local contractors. In addition, there are numerous racking/mounting manufacturers that have sprung up since the program?s debut.
Developments on the wind side are slower with many OEMs and suppliers looking for more certainty about the long-term viability of the program before investing. Along with Siemens, Vestas and GE Energy are very active in the region. In terms of new manufacturing facilities, India?s Suzlon Wind Energy is said to be eyeing the province as a possible venue but nothing definitive has been announced. Current wind manufacturing capacity in Ontario will not allow for developers to meet the increased local content requirement of 50% which kicks in next year. So the market needs more OEMs to set up and form partnerships with local manufacturers and service providers.
The big elephant in the room for Ontario?s green energy industries is the upcoming provincial election set for next October. The opposition Conservative party is currently leading in polls and has been making negative comments in the press about the future of the FIT program, which was passed by the current Liberal government. Ontario taxpayers are being subjected to diametrically opposed narratives in the media about the potential impact FIT will have on the provincial economy with critics blaming the program for energy rate hikes while supporters point to job creation and investment. Experts say some of the big players are waiting to see what happens next fall before making a sizable investment in the market.
The other big question is grid capacity. Developers and manufacturers are very concerned about the timing and extent of the province?s transmission expansion plans to accommodate renewables. There are over 250 renewable projects awaiting approval from the OPA which was supposed to begin a testing process last August. The Economic Connection Test (ECT) will determine which grid expansion plans will go forward allowing projects to connect. The timing for this test remains uncertain and with expansion projects requiring long lead times, developers are wondering when or if their projects will get a greenlight.
Despite this uncertainty, Ontario?s green energy industry is continuing to grow and there are plenty of opportunities for wind and solar manufacturers and service providers to play a role in building the local supply chains. The next few months are critical as FIT projects seek financing, transmission expansion plans become clearer and supplier arrangements are finalized. While the future of FIT will not be entirely certain until after the election, the future looks bright for Ontario?s renewable energy industries.
Adrienne Baker is a director of Canadian Clean Energy Conferences and produces the Ontario Feed-in Tariff Supply Chain Forum which takes place April 19-20 in Toronto.�
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Through the FIT program, Ontario is becoming a hot bed of green energy development, manufacturing and job creation. In December, Ontario Energy Minister Brad Duguid said he?d recently announced 1,700 clean energy jobs across the province.
The solar business in particular is seeing a surge in activity with new local content rules driving partnerships and investment. �Starting this year, solar projects must meet a 60% domestic content requirement. Suppliers and manufacturers have responded by developing products and alliances to allow developers to meet the steep local content threshold. SunEdison, for instance, has begun deploying a locally-produced racking system for solar rooftop installations across the region. The company is also manufacturing fully-bankable solar PV panels in Newmarket, Ontario and has doubled production since December due to high demand.
According to data from Toronto-based ClearSky Advisors, prior to FIT?s launch, there were three solar manufacturers in the Ontario market: 6N silicon, SolGate and SatCon. Today, there are 18 module manufacturers, three of which are manufacturing through a local contract manufacturer and 15 inverter manufacturers, six of which are using local contractors. In addition, there are numerous racking/mounting manufacturers that have sprung up since the program?s debut.
Developments on the wind side are slower with many OEMs and suppliers looking for more certainty about the long-term viability of the program before investing. Along with Siemens, Vestas and GE Energy are very active in the region. In terms of new manufacturing facilities, India?s Suzlon Wind Energy is said to be eyeing the province as a possible venue but nothing definitive has been announced. Current wind manufacturing capacity in Ontario will not allow for developers to meet the increased local content requirement of 50% which kicks in next year. So the market needs more OEMs to set up and form partnerships with local manufacturers and service providers.
The big elephant in the room for Ontario?s green energy industries is the upcoming provincial election set for next October. The opposition Conservative party is currently leading in polls and has been making negative comments in the press about the future of the FIT program, which was passed by the current Liberal government. Ontario taxpayers are being subjected to diametrically opposed narratives in the media about the potential impact FIT will have on the provincial economy with critics blaming the program for energy rate hikes while supporters point to job creation and investment. Experts say some of the big players are waiting to see what happens next fall before making a sizable investment in the market.
The other big question is grid capacity. Developers and manufacturers are very concerned about the timing and extent of the province?s transmission expansion plans to accommodate renewables. There are over 250 renewable projects awaiting approval from the OPA which was supposed to begin a testing process last August. The Economic Connection Test (ECT) will determine which grid expansion plans will go forward allowing projects to connect. The timing for this test remains uncertain and with expansion projects requiring long lead times, developers are wondering when or if their projects will get a greenlight.
Despite this uncertainty, Ontario?s green energy industry is continuing to grow and there are plenty of opportunities for wind and solar manufacturers and service providers to play a role in building the local supply chains. The next few months are critical as FIT projects seek financing, transmission expansion plans become clearer and supplier arrangements are finalized. While the future of FIT will not be entirely certain until after the election, the future looks bright for Ontario?s renewable energy industries.
Adrienne Baker is a director of Canadian Clean Energy Conferences and produces the Ontario Feed-in Tariff Supply Chain Forum which takes place April 19-20 in Toronto.�
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Energy security
It has become popular to talk about climate change policy in terms of energy security. Rather than saying we need more renewables, efficient building and public transport to meet climate change targets we now say that we need them to achieve energy security.
This trend is likely to continue. In November the British Government will introduce the Energy Security and Green Economy�Bill.�Eager to influence and improve the Act, development NGOs with climate campaigns and environmental organisations will have to talk about what they want in terms of energy security. If we want to be part of the debate we will have to stop calling for cuts in emissions to protect the world's most vulnerable people. We will have to start saying we must get more energy from renewables to increase energy security.?This might appear no different. Just another way of talking about the same thing. Both could involve investing in renewables, reducing the amount of fossil fuels we burn, building efficient buildings.
But when we talk about security we mean a world of peace and stability. For us security means peace-building. It means resolving conflicts, not military intervention. It means producing our own energy rather than fighting wars to secure oil and gas from other countries. We waved our ?no war for oil? placards in the run up to the Iraq war. For us security means addressing the root causes of instability. We mean changing the things that make the world unstable and prone to conflict: climate change, competition over resources, the gap between rich and poor. When we talk to people about energy security we imagine that they share this vision.
But we forget that there are other ways of looking at security. And our vision of security is not the dominant one. The approach that most western governments have to security is the exact opposite. Stability is achieved through the vigorous use of force. ?Rogue nations? are contained by military intervention. Insurgents and rebels are contained by special forces. Access to secure supplies of energy is achieved through war. The aim is to keep a lid on instability. Not to question why that instability exists or to do anything about it. The prime example of this approach to security is the ?War on Terror?.
Perhaps we mistakenly think when we talk to people about energy security they buy into our definition of security. Let's not be naive. There is a reason they didn't listen when we talked about preventing drought, floods and disappearing islands. There is a reason they didn't listen when we talked about a just deal in Copenhagen, indigenous land rights and living within our environmental means. It?s because all of these things are inconsistent with their approach to security. In a world with a safe climate, economic justice and fair access to natural resources, their approach to security would be irrelevant.
When nowadays we talk about what we want in terms of energy security what we are actually saying is this: our vision for a renewably powered country is consistent with your vision for containing instability using violence. Our vision for energy efficient homes is consistent with your vision for military intervention. Let?s increase energy security by using renewables, but let?s also secure new energy reserves using force. Crucially we say our vision for energy security does not challenge your approach to global security. Our vision for energy security does not require you to do anything about the actually causes of instability and violence.
Without thinking we?ve given our support to an approach to dealing with the world?s problems that goes completely against our values. The situation is likely to get worse in the run up to the Energy Security and Green Economy Bill. In being forced to frame our demands for better climate policy in terms of energy security, our efforts to improve the Bill will unwittingly add force to a broader programme that is completely at odds with what we believe.
So what should we do? We must be explicit about why we want good domestic climate and energy policy. Let?s say that it is needed to achieve peace and stability. Let?s say that climate change and competition for dwindling energy reserves are both causes of instability and violence. We should make it clear that there the other causes of instability and violence - like nuclear proliferation and inequality - need to be dealt with too. Finally let?s be very clear that our vision for renewables and good domestic climate policy is totally inconsistent with the dominant approach to security.
Alex is a campaigner and activist on climate change and energy issues.
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This trend is likely to continue. In November the British Government will introduce the Energy Security and Green Economy�Bill.�Eager to influence and improve the Act, development NGOs with climate campaigns and environmental organisations will have to talk about what they want in terms of energy security. If we want to be part of the debate we will have to stop calling for cuts in emissions to protect the world's most vulnerable people. We will have to start saying we must get more energy from renewables to increase energy security.?This might appear no different. Just another way of talking about the same thing. Both could involve investing in renewables, reducing the amount of fossil fuels we burn, building efficient buildings.
But when we talk about security we mean a world of peace and stability. For us security means peace-building. It means resolving conflicts, not military intervention. It means producing our own energy rather than fighting wars to secure oil and gas from other countries. We waved our ?no war for oil? placards in the run up to the Iraq war. For us security means addressing the root causes of instability. We mean changing the things that make the world unstable and prone to conflict: climate change, competition over resources, the gap between rich and poor. When we talk to people about energy security we imagine that they share this vision.
But we forget that there are other ways of looking at security. And our vision of security is not the dominant one. The approach that most western governments have to security is the exact opposite. Stability is achieved through the vigorous use of force. ?Rogue nations? are contained by military intervention. Insurgents and rebels are contained by special forces. Access to secure supplies of energy is achieved through war. The aim is to keep a lid on instability. Not to question why that instability exists or to do anything about it. The prime example of this approach to security is the ?War on Terror?.
Perhaps we mistakenly think when we talk to people about energy security they buy into our definition of security. Let's not be naive. There is a reason they didn't listen when we talked about preventing drought, floods and disappearing islands. There is a reason they didn't listen when we talked about a just deal in Copenhagen, indigenous land rights and living within our environmental means. It?s because all of these things are inconsistent with their approach to security. In a world with a safe climate, economic justice and fair access to natural resources, their approach to security would be irrelevant.
When nowadays we talk about what we want in terms of energy security what we are actually saying is this: our vision for a renewably powered country is consistent with your vision for containing instability using violence. Our vision for energy efficient homes is consistent with your vision for military intervention. Let?s increase energy security by using renewables, but let?s also secure new energy reserves using force. Crucially we say our vision for energy security does not challenge your approach to global security. Our vision for energy security does not require you to do anything about the actually causes of instability and violence.
Without thinking we?ve given our support to an approach to dealing with the world?s problems that goes completely against our values. The situation is likely to get worse in the run up to the Energy Security and Green Economy Bill. In being forced to frame our demands for better climate policy in terms of energy security, our efforts to improve the Bill will unwittingly add force to a broader programme that is completely at odds with what we believe.
So what should we do? We must be explicit about why we want good domestic climate and energy policy. Let?s say that it is needed to achieve peace and stability. Let?s say that climate change and competition for dwindling energy reserves are both causes of instability and violence. We should make it clear that there the other causes of instability and violence - like nuclear proliferation and inequality - need to be dealt with too. Finally let?s be very clear that our vision for renewables and good domestic climate policy is totally inconsistent with the dominant approach to security.
Alex is a campaigner and activist on climate change and energy issues.
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Got a Question? See if We Have an Answer!
Have you ever had a question?maybe about energy efficiency, renewable energy, the Department of Energy, or the like?and not had any idea where to find the answer? Have you ever gone through the EERE website and not known where to find what you're looking for?
The reason I am asking all these hypothetical questions is because I wanted to bring your attention to an well-established resource of EERE's that you might not know about: the EERE Information Center!
You can call them; e-mail your question; or contact them through their new "live chat" system, which lets you ask your questions right from your browser window. And if you have a common or pretty basic question, you might want to check out their Frequently Asked Questions first, just to make sure your answer isn't there.
It's a totally free service provided by the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy to U.S. citizens. So the next time that you have a question about energy efficiency, renewable energy, or anything like that, you might want to consider seeing if they can find an answer for you.
Elizabeth Spencer is a communicator at DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory, which assists EERE in providing technical content for many of its Web sites.
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London shopping centre uses Europe's largest heat pump
A shopping centre in London has officially started to use the largest geothermal heat pump in Europe. Climate change minister Greg Barker unveiled the system, which will heat and cool One New Change in the heart of the City.The pipework is 60km long and it is hoped that it will reduce the carbon emissions of the building by at least ten per cent and save �300,000 on energy bills every year, its owners say.On opening the renewable energy technology, Mr Barker said: "This is British innovation at its best, using the earth's natural resources to solve our energy needs."Extracting warmth from the ground underneath London will help save on the building's heating bills and will cut carbon."In addition to the large-scale system, the building has solar-controlled glass, reducing the need for air conditioning, and green roof terraces to encourage biodiversity.It has also received an 'excellent' sustainability rating under the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method, which could signal the future of commercial buildings in achieving sustainability and reducing carbon emissions.Posted by Emily Thomas Sign up for regular email updates to help you save money and energy
For more information please see: One New Change� The news feeds on this site are independently provided by Adfero Limited � and do not represent the views or opinions of the Energy Saving Trust.
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For more information please see: One New Change� The news feeds on this site are independently provided by Adfero Limited � and do not represent the views or opinions of the Energy Saving Trust.
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Friday, February 25, 2011
NREL Employees Significantly Increase Their Community Support
News Release NR-4510
Charitable Giving Campaign Sees Second Record Breaking Year
December 17, 2010
For the second year in a row, employees of the U.S. Department of Energy?s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) pledged significantly more to community organizations during its annual charitable giving campaign this holiday season.���For 2011, employees have committed more than $430,000 to the Partnership for Colorado and Mile High United Way, a significant increase over the $328,000 donated by employees in 2010.� The Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC, which manages NREL for the Department of Energy, will contribute another 10 percent to the agencies, for a total contribution of $473,000.�?I am impressed by the continued generosity of the NREL staff during a time when many families across the state are struggling financially,? said NREL Director Dan Arvizu. ?I want to thank and acknowledge the hard work of our campaign co-chairs, Mike Pacheco and Susan Hambleton. Their efforts, along with a committee of NREL volunteers, inspired NREL employees to easily surpass the aggressive goal we set for ourselves of raising $400,000.?The more than $100,000 boost in employee charitable giving follows a banner year in 2010 when employee donations increased 57 percent over 2009.?We began our campaign with the message that there had never been a better time for us all to ?give something back? to our communities,? said Mike Pacheco, Vice President of Deployment and Market Transformation and campaign co-chair. ?NREL?s employees have always demonstrated the highest levels of generosity and commitment to our communities in the past. This year?s campaign results, again, surpassed all our expectations.?Human Resource representative and campaign co-chair Susan Hambleton added, ?This year, NREL has continued to grow and we are fortunate to have many new employees.� With our communities in such dire need during these difficult economic times, NREL employees clearly felt it was a good time for us reach a little deeper and share our blessings with those in the community who need our help.?NREL allows employees to designate their funds to any agency served by Partnership for Colorado or the United Way, or to any nonprofit agency of the employees? choice.� �Employees designated about two-thirds of their gifts to community service agencies under the Partnership for Colorado banner, and the remaining money to United Way agencies and other specified charitable organizations.Donations have been pledged primarily through payroll deduction for 2011 and will be delivered to the agencies periodically through the year.Partnership for Colorado is a nonprofit coalition of the Black United Fund of Colorado, Community Health Charities of Colorado, Caring Connection and Community Shares of Colorado.� The partnership represents more than 200 local nonprofit agencies.�Mile High United Way represents 80 local agencies to help people in the metro Denver area.NREL is DOE?s primary national laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency research and development. NREL is operated for DOE by The Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC.###�Visit NREL online at�www.nrel.gov�
For further information contact NREL Public Relations at 303-275-4090.Subscribe to receive new NREL releases by e-mail. Subscribe to RSS feed. About RSS.
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Solar Estimates in Quickbooks: Free Webinar
Join us Friday, January 28, 2011, 9:00 - 10:00 AM PST
Tips & tricks to create a solar estimate in Quickbooks.
Also, Solar for Quickbooks Plug-in & Add-ons developer Q&A.
REGISTER HERE to receive Login Instructions
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Tips & tricks to create a solar estimate in Quickbooks.
Also, Solar for Quickbooks Plug-in & Add-ons developer Q&A.
REGISTER HERE to receive Login Instructions
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DOE Providing $7 Million for Updated Building Codes
The DOE has announced that 24 states will receive $7 million to support energy-efficient building codes. The funds will help states comply with updated residential and commercial building codes as part of a larger endeavor to significantly cut the energy intensity of the U.S. buildings sector, which currently accounts for more than 40% of the nation?s energy consumption.
Recovery Act commercial building goals include specifications presented by the ANSI, ASHRAE, IESNA, and the IECC.� These codes cover a myriad of energy-efficiency issues including HVAC systems, water heating, power, and lighting.
The Building Energy Code program has generated approximately $16 billion in savings since it began 20 years ago.
The states selected for funding will be eligible for up to $350,000 in technical assistance, including code training and adoption outreach to policy makers.
DOE Headquarters gets Cool Roof
DOE Establishes Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Advisory Committee
DOE Technology Validation Project Vehicles Coming to California
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Public health in the era of peak oil (Canada)
Introduction by EB contributor Dr. Dan Bednarz
Donald Spady, MD, discusses the potential impacts of peak oil on the social determinants of health in Canada. These are the factors that are associated with keeping people healthy and are critical to maintaining personal health in a post-peak world. They also are integral to the infrastructure of both the health care system and the public health system.
There are at least three salient differences between Canada the United States. First, Canada is geographically large with a relatively small population of approximately 34 million. Approximately 21 million live in the provinces of Quebec and Ontario, with 13 million spread across the vast geography of the eight other provinces and three territories. The entire province of New Brunswick, for example, is 28,000 square miles and has approximately 750,000 residents; in contrast, Massachusetts has 6.5 million residents on 7,800 square miles. The point is that health care systems must cover wide expanses.
Second, Canada has a national health plan; anyone who has seen Michael Moore?s ?Sicko? will recall the scenes from the health clinic in Windsor, Ontario ?across the river from Detroit- in which Moore asks Canadians how much their medical care will cost; they don?t know and find his question humorous. In 2006 Canada spent US $3,678 per capita on health care, while the U.S. spent $6,714, per-capita for health care.
Third, Canada is a relatively energy rich nation and an exporter to the US. These importance differences shape Canadians vulnerability to the health consequences of peak oil.
Excerpts from the Interview
Human life is impossible without energy. It can indeed be understood as a process of energy exchange between human beings and their environment. Oil today is the single most important energy resource for the lives and the way of life of Canadians.
However, oil is a finite resource, and there is an ongoing debate surrounding what has been termed ?peak oil? . Current discussions are not so much focused on whether peak oil will happen, but rather, on when it will happen, and what will be the scope and range of its effects.
Some U.S. researchers have begun to examine how this phenomenon affects health outcomes and to consider possible responses by the public health sector. Many of these researchers attended a conference entitled ?Peak Oil and Health? organized by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in March, 2009. Canadian public health circles have thus far been less engaged with these issues. To begin to clarify what is at stake specifically for Canadian public health with regards to peak oil, Fran�ois Gagnon from the National Collaborating Centre for Healthy Public Policy (NCCHPP) interviewed Dr. Donald W. Spady, a paediatrician/epidemiologist in the Departments of Pediatrics and Public Health Sciences of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Alberta in Edmonton, who is keenly interested in this issue and has been following these debates and engaging in conferences and webinars about them for the past few years.
---
Fran�ois Gagnon (NCCHPP) ? Why should public health professionals be concerned with peak oil?
Dr. Donald Spady (DS) ? Since there are no clear and easy sources of energy to replace oil, and adequate amounts of affordable energy are essential to Canadian life, peak oil could affect the health of Canadians in significant ways. It will affect many parts of the infrastructure of Canadian society that largely determine the health of the Canadian population. For public health professionals, peak oil is significant because it will affect what are commonly called the social, environmental and economic determinants of health. For example, it will significantly affect, and require some reorganization of, our economic, transportation, and food systems. It is also important to public health professionals because it will very likely affect how health services are organized (the use of products and services dependent on petroleum permeates our health care system), but I understand the mandate of the NCCHPP does not cover this area and thus I will not expand on this now.
---
NCCHPP ? Can you share your thoughts on the links between peak oil, the food system and health outcomes?
DS ? Petroleum is used in virtually all aspects of food production and transportation, therefore peak oil presents a significant threat to Canadian food security. While this could pose a problem as petroleum supplies diminish, the immediate problem in Canada is not food production, it is food security; i.e. finding and buying adequate amounts of affordable and nutritious food. Peak oil will likely affect every component of food security: accessibility, availability, adequacy, acceptability, and agency. It will do so mainly and initially through economic factors, but ultimately also through the consequences of the lack of fuel and fertilizers which will be secondary to an absolute lack of petroleum. Food security is a common problem in an economic downturn where unemployment is high, but it is always and specifically the case in more remote areas of the country and on native reserves, where food is expensive and choice is limited. As well, some segments of the population, such as the elderly or single parent families, are always more exposed
to food insecurity because they may lack the ability to find and purchase adequate amounts of nutritious food.
The 2004 Canadian Community Health Survey found that 9.2% of Canadian households were food insecure at some point in the previous year and 8.8% of the population lived in food insecure households in 2004. It was the poorer person, often on social assistance, worker's compensation or unemployment insurance, who was at greatest risk. Another group, at risk for many problems besides food insecurity, was the Aboriginal household living off the reserve. Lone-parent families, larger families, and families with young children were at particular risk. Housing costs can play a role in determining food security status in low-income households and living in rental housing posed a particular risk. Quite possibly rent trumps food; these days a mortgage or a high energy bill may do the same.
In Canada in 2008, food prices rose 7.3% over the year, as compared to a rise in the Consumer Price Index of only 1.2%. Reasons for these rises include: high oil costs, climate change and associated crop losses and decreased yield, more land and food crops being used for biofuel production, and market speculation. It is reasonable to expect that these factors will persist over the next decades.
Depending on where you live, food prices in Canada can vary by as much as six-fold for the same product, and it has been reported that between 14% and 40% of Canadians face a problem of no or limited access to desirable nutritious foods, even when money is adequate. Food costs and value are particular problems in remote areas of Canada, especially Northern Canada, the high Arctic and on First Nations Reserves, where the types of food are less varied and the food is often of lower quality. For all Canadians, a lack of food access and variety may become a significant issue as long distance transport becomes increasingly expensive or even absent.
Two other issues that may affect the Canadian food supply are long-distance foods and corn-based biofuels. Much of our food travels thousands of kilometres to reach our table. These ?long-distance? foods may be more energy efficient and environmentally friendly than similar local foods, especially if foods are transported in large volumes, and thus long-distance foods should not be dismissed arbitrarily. Biofuels grown in North America are more problematic, with concerns about their energy benefits, their high fertilizer, fuel and water requirements, and their potential competition with food production contributing to concerns of food security. Other forms of biofuel, such as sugar cane and palm oil, are less 'food' based and have better energy characteristics; but, they also can have significant environmental impacts.
Full interview is here:
English: http://www.ncchpp.ca/67/New_Publications.ccnpps?id_article=541.
French: http://www.ccnpps.ca/88/Nouvelles_publications.ccnpps?id_article=542.
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Donald Spady, MD, discusses the potential impacts of peak oil on the social determinants of health in Canada. These are the factors that are associated with keeping people healthy and are critical to maintaining personal health in a post-peak world. They also are integral to the infrastructure of both the health care system and the public health system.
There are at least three salient differences between Canada the United States. First, Canada is geographically large with a relatively small population of approximately 34 million. Approximately 21 million live in the provinces of Quebec and Ontario, with 13 million spread across the vast geography of the eight other provinces and three territories. The entire province of New Brunswick, for example, is 28,000 square miles and has approximately 750,000 residents; in contrast, Massachusetts has 6.5 million residents on 7,800 square miles. The point is that health care systems must cover wide expanses.
Second, Canada has a national health plan; anyone who has seen Michael Moore?s ?Sicko? will recall the scenes from the health clinic in Windsor, Ontario ?across the river from Detroit- in which Moore asks Canadians how much their medical care will cost; they don?t know and find his question humorous. In 2006 Canada spent US $3,678 per capita on health care, while the U.S. spent $6,714, per-capita for health care.
Third, Canada is a relatively energy rich nation and an exporter to the US. These importance differences shape Canadians vulnerability to the health consequences of peak oil.
Excerpts from the Interview
Human life is impossible without energy. It can indeed be understood as a process of energy exchange between human beings and their environment. Oil today is the single most important energy resource for the lives and the way of life of Canadians.
However, oil is a finite resource, and there is an ongoing debate surrounding what has been termed ?peak oil? . Current discussions are not so much focused on whether peak oil will happen, but rather, on when it will happen, and what will be the scope and range of its effects.
Some U.S. researchers have begun to examine how this phenomenon affects health outcomes and to consider possible responses by the public health sector. Many of these researchers attended a conference entitled ?Peak Oil and Health? organized by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in March, 2009. Canadian public health circles have thus far been less engaged with these issues. To begin to clarify what is at stake specifically for Canadian public health with regards to peak oil, Fran�ois Gagnon from the National Collaborating Centre for Healthy Public Policy (NCCHPP) interviewed Dr. Donald W. Spady, a paediatrician/epidemiologist in the Departments of Pediatrics and Public Health Sciences of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Alberta in Edmonton, who is keenly interested in this issue and has been following these debates and engaging in conferences and webinars about them for the past few years.
---
Fran�ois Gagnon (NCCHPP) ? Why should public health professionals be concerned with peak oil?
Dr. Donald Spady (DS) ? Since there are no clear and easy sources of energy to replace oil, and adequate amounts of affordable energy are essential to Canadian life, peak oil could affect the health of Canadians in significant ways. It will affect many parts of the infrastructure of Canadian society that largely determine the health of the Canadian population. For public health professionals, peak oil is significant because it will affect what are commonly called the social, environmental and economic determinants of health. For example, it will significantly affect, and require some reorganization of, our economic, transportation, and food systems. It is also important to public health professionals because it will very likely affect how health services are organized (the use of products and services dependent on petroleum permeates our health care system), but I understand the mandate of the NCCHPP does not cover this area and thus I will not expand on this now.
---
NCCHPP ? Can you share your thoughts on the links between peak oil, the food system and health outcomes?
DS ? Petroleum is used in virtually all aspects of food production and transportation, therefore peak oil presents a significant threat to Canadian food security. While this could pose a problem as petroleum supplies diminish, the immediate problem in Canada is not food production, it is food security; i.e. finding and buying adequate amounts of affordable and nutritious food. Peak oil will likely affect every component of food security: accessibility, availability, adequacy, acceptability, and agency. It will do so mainly and initially through economic factors, but ultimately also through the consequences of the lack of fuel and fertilizers which will be secondary to an absolute lack of petroleum. Food security is a common problem in an economic downturn where unemployment is high, but it is always and specifically the case in more remote areas of the country and on native reserves, where food is expensive and choice is limited. As well, some segments of the population, such as the elderly or single parent families, are always more exposed
to food insecurity because they may lack the ability to find and purchase adequate amounts of nutritious food.
The 2004 Canadian Community Health Survey found that 9.2% of Canadian households were food insecure at some point in the previous year and 8.8% of the population lived in food insecure households in 2004. It was the poorer person, often on social assistance, worker's compensation or unemployment insurance, who was at greatest risk. Another group, at risk for many problems besides food insecurity, was the Aboriginal household living off the reserve. Lone-parent families, larger families, and families with young children were at particular risk. Housing costs can play a role in determining food security status in low-income households and living in rental housing posed a particular risk. Quite possibly rent trumps food; these days a mortgage or a high energy bill may do the same.
In Canada in 2008, food prices rose 7.3% over the year, as compared to a rise in the Consumer Price Index of only 1.2%. Reasons for these rises include: high oil costs, climate change and associated crop losses and decreased yield, more land and food crops being used for biofuel production, and market speculation. It is reasonable to expect that these factors will persist over the next decades.
Depending on where you live, food prices in Canada can vary by as much as six-fold for the same product, and it has been reported that between 14% and 40% of Canadians face a problem of no or limited access to desirable nutritious foods, even when money is adequate. Food costs and value are particular problems in remote areas of Canada, especially Northern Canada, the high Arctic and on First Nations Reserves, where the types of food are less varied and the food is often of lower quality. For all Canadians, a lack of food access and variety may become a significant issue as long distance transport becomes increasingly expensive or even absent.
Two other issues that may affect the Canadian food supply are long-distance foods and corn-based biofuels. Much of our food travels thousands of kilometres to reach our table. These ?long-distance? foods may be more energy efficient and environmentally friendly than similar local foods, especially if foods are transported in large volumes, and thus long-distance foods should not be dismissed arbitrarily. Biofuels grown in North America are more problematic, with concerns about their energy benefits, their high fertilizer, fuel and water requirements, and their potential competition with food production contributing to concerns of food security. Other forms of biofuel, such as sugar cane and palm oil, are less 'food' based and have better energy characteristics; but, they also can have significant environmental impacts.
Full interview is here:
English: http://www.ncchpp.ca/67/New_Publications.ccnpps?id_article=541.
French: http://www.ccnpps.ca/88/Nouvelles_publications.ccnpps?id_article=542.
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PNNL Improving Commercial Building Energy Efficiency
January 04, 2011
Anne Haas, PNNL, (509) 375-3732
Through the Commercial Buildings Partnership, DOE?s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and several partners will work together to retrofit existing structures or design new structures that exceed current energy efficiency codes by at least 50 percent for new buildings ? and 30 percent for existing buildings. Commercial buildings account for 18 percent of U.S. energy consumption.
RICHLAND, Wash. ?
Commercial buildings account for 18 percent of U.S. energy consumption.� In an effort to significantly reduce energy use from these buildings, public and private entities are teaming as part of the Commercial Buildings Partnership to design and implement energy efficient measures.� The partnership is kicking off a three-year program, funded through the U.S. Department of Energy's Building Technologies Program, which will lead to several new or retrofitted structures across the country. DOE announced the funding in November 2010.
DOE's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory will work with Home Depot in California; Grand Valley State University in Michigan; the U.S. Army in Ft. Bragg, N.C.; U.S. General Services Administration in New England; the U.S. Job Corps in Reno, Nev.; and the Smart Grid Development in Kingstown, R.I., to help retrofit existing structures or design new structures that exceed current energy efficiency codes by at least 50 percent for new buildings and 30 percent for existing buildings.� Some buildings are attempting to use renewable energy and energy efficiency measures to produce as much energy as they consume on an annual basis.�
The projects will serve as test beds and training centers for innovative building-related research and will demonstrate how energy use can be dramatically reduced in commercial buildings ? to help spur wider adoption of energy efficient building practices across the industry.
At Home Depot, for example, the team will design and construct an energy efficient prototype store in California that will require up to 50 percent less energy than current code.� This code is known as the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE)/Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IESNA) Standard 90.1-2007 compliant buildings.
"The program will enable PNNL to use the knowledge and skills developed over three decades of buildings energy efficiency research to help commercial building owners and operators take advantage of huge opportunities for energy savings ? and accelerate the widespread deployment of cost-effective, energy saving measures in commercial buildings across the U.S.," said Michael Baechler, senior buildings program manager at PNNL.
Each project partner will receive technical assistance valued at between $200,000 and $700,000, depending on the scope of work.� Partners also will contribute 20 percent in cost-share to each project.�
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funded the work.� To learn more about DOE's Building Technologies Program visit: www.eere.energy.gov/buildings.
The mission of the Building Technologies Program (BTP) is to develop technologies, techniques, and tools for making buildings more energy efficient, productive, and affordable. BTP focuses on improving commercial and residential building components, energy modeling tools, building energy codes, and appliance standards. This Web site provides information and resources for industry professionals to help reduce the energy use of new and existing buildings and strengthen the nation's energy future.
Tags: Energy, Energy Efficiency, Smart Grid
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is a Department of Energy Office of Science national laboratory where interdisciplinary teams advance science and technology and deliver solutions to America's most intractable problems in energy, the environment and national security. PNNL employs 4,900 staff, has an annual budget of nearly $1.1 billion, and has been managed by Ohio-based Battelle since the lab's inception in 1965. Follow PNNL on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
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