Mayor's global warming plan aims to cool London

Urban greening, flood risk management and cooler buildings are part of the mayor's strategy to cope with climate change

• guardian.co.uk, 
• Friday August 29 2008 10:31 BS

Boris Johnson sailed downriver to the Thames flood barrier to launch his climate change strategy. Photograph: Martin Godwin

Climate change could seriously threaten quality of life in London and the capital's position as a leading world city, the mayor, Boris Johnson, warned today.

Johnson issued the warning as he launched a strategy, claimed as the first for a major world city, detailing the action that needs to be taken in London to cope with global warming.

It outlines measures such as "greening" the city and cutting water use, which will be needed to help London adapt to the higher risk of floods, droughts and heatwaves expected in the future.

The strategy outlined the difficulties London faces in preparing to cope with the more frequent extreme weather events and the changes in the seasons – including warmer, wetter winters and hotter drier summers – that climate change will bring.

Johnson believes London is well-placed to pioneer methods in adapting to climate change, suggesting there will be economic opportunities in developing "green" jobs in the city.

Johnson said: "We need to concentrate efforts to slash carbon emissions and become more energy efficient in order to prevent dangerous climate change. But we also need to prepare for how our climate is expected to change in the future.

"The strategy I am launching today outlines in detail the range of weather conditions facing London, which could both seriously threaten our quality of life – particularly that of the most vulnerable people – and endanger our pre-eminence as one of the world's leading cities."

He said all major cities were at risk from climate change, and by producing the strategy – which is a legal requirement under the Greater London Authority Act – London was being put in a strong position.

The strategy said the main dangers climate change poses the capital are flooding, drought and heatwaves.

Some 1.25 million people are at risk of flooding, along with almost half a million properties, 441 schools, 75 underground and DLR stations and 10 hospitals under threat.

The Thames region has lower water availability per person than Morocco, but Londoners consume on average 18 litres per day more than the national average while some 600m litres a day are lost through leaks.

Summer temperatures in the capital have been rising in recent decades and the August 2003 heatwave killed at least 600 people in the city.

The strategy outlines a series of measures to help the capital cope with the problems climate change is set to bring.

They include:

• "Urban greening", with the use and design of green spaces, green roofs and tree planting to absorb and retain rainwater 
• Raising the public awareness of flood risk, and improve flood risk management on the Thames tributaries where properties are at significant risk of flooding
• Promoting less water loss by reducing leakage from water mains
• Encouraging people to use less water by promoting and aiding compulsory water metering in developments where feasible and retrofitting of existing homes to help them become more water efficient
• Designing new buildings and adapting old ones to minimise the need for cooling facilities.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/aug/29/climatechange.water

Friday, 29 August 2008 12:03 UK Mayor reveals climate change plan The mayor launched his climate change strategy at the Thames Barrier Londoners must use less water and plant more trees to prevent climate change from damaging the quality of life in the capital, the mayor has said. Boris Johnson said measures were needed to combat the danger of increased flooding, droughts and heatwaves. They included more water metering, more green spaces to "cool" the city and steps to reduce leaks from water mains. Green Party London Assembly member Jenny Jones said the measures contained "nothing new" and were "inadequate". Climate change could "seriously threaten our quality of life - particularly that of the most vulnerable people", Mr Johnson said.  We need to concentrate efforts to slash carbon emissions and become more energy efficient in order to prevent dangerous climate change  Boris Johnson Some 1.25 million people are at risk of flooding, along with almost half a million properties, 441 schools, 75 London Underground and DLR stations and 10 hospitals, the mayor said. The Thames region has lower water availability per person than Morocco yet Londoners consume on average 18 litres per day more than the national average, the mayor said. Meanwhile 600 million litres of water per day are lost through leaks, he added. The August 2003 heatwave killed at least 600 people in the city, according to the mayor. "We need to concentrate efforts to slash carbon emissions and become more energy efficient in order to prevent dangerous climate change," Mr Johnson said. "But we also need to prepare for how our climate is expected to change in the future." Oil dependence The mayor also pledged to reduce leakage from water mains, adapt buildings to minimise the need for cooling facilities and improve flood risk management. Ms Jones said all those suggestions would help combat climate change but said they could have been announced "at any time over the past 10 years". "These are all good measures, we have got to do all these things," she said. "But where are the big new ideas? We need the mayor to find ways to reduce our dependence on oil, for example." She added: "If the mayor ignores the contribution transport makes to climate change, he is ignoring a major part of the problem." http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/7587465.stm

Wind energy to be considered as power source for Peoria area

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By PAUL GORDON

of the Journal Star

Posted Aug 27, 2008 @ 04:53 PM

Last update Aug 27, 2008 @ 08:15 PM

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PEORIA —

Move over, Chicago. Peoria could become the next Windy City.

At least, that's something local economic development leaders believe is worth looking into.

Craig Hullinger, economic development director for the city of Peoria, is urging area civic and government leaders to determine the feasibility of making wind power the city's chief energy source.

Many questions must be answered before anything is done, Hullinger said Wednesday, "But I definitely think this is something worth checking into. Wind energy is here, and I think it's here to stay."

Hullinger first broached the subject during a meeting Wednesday of the Economic Development Stakeholders, a group of the area's organizations involved with economic development.

His idea is that a consortium of business and governments in Peoria could be created to buy wind energy from an area wind farm. The wind farm company would take care of locating the wind farm, which Hullinger acknowledged would be controversial, finding a place close enough to the Peoria metropolitan area.

He suggested near Interstate 74 on the approach to Peoria, or perhaps developing a business park with the wind farm "to further enhance our image as a green community."

Hullinger brought it up at the economic development meeting almost as a trial balloon, to gauge the interest of the group.

"They were hearing it for the first time, but they seemed interested," he said later.

One person who agrees the issue is worth pursuing is Jim McConoughey, president of the Heartland Partnership.

McConoughey said there are cities in other parts of the world that use wind as a major source of energy. "This isn't a new idea in some parts of the planet. It may not be that well-known here, yet, but many countries use wind energy as the backbone to their urban energy needs. It exists, and it works."

McConoughey believes one reason wind energy has stayed in the background in the United States is that until the last few years, energy costs were fairly stable. Now that they, too, are climbing, people are looking for alternatives.

McConoughey also agreed with Hullinger that should the Peoria area become known for using clean energy and green sustainable technology, it could become more attractive to people and businesses considering a move.

"The idea that a community has the technical expertise to do this would be very attractive," he said.

Hullinger said he will bring the idea to the city's Sustainable Development Commission and begin dialogue with companies capable of handling the city's needs to at least get answers to the myriad questions likely to be asked, including how many turbines would it take to power the metropolitan area.

He also plans to discuss it with the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation, which often funds clean energy research efforts, and look into other possible funding sources.

"There is a lot to be done, of course. This isn't something that could happen overnight. But it's definitely worth looking in to," Hullinger said.

http://www.pjstar.com/homepage/x499365074/Wind-energy-to-be-considered-as-power-source-for-Peoria-area

ConocoPhillips is latest to sell its gas stations

Big oil companies have been saying goodbye to the troubled business

By BRETT CLANTON Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

Aug. 27, 2008, 11:00PM

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/biz/5971034.html

ConocoPhillips on Wednesday became the latest major oil company to exit the troubled gas station business and pass on the guardianship of familiar store brands to new owners.

The Houston-based oil company agreed to sell its 600 remaining stores to PetroSun Fuel, a privately held Seattle company, in an $800 million deal that puts a bookend on an effort announced in 2006 to unload the company's fuel stations.

The move follows similar ones recently by Exxon Mobil Corp. and BP, which announced plans to jettison U.S. gas stations amid higher fuel costs, increasing competition from low-price rivals and slumping profits.

It also heralds the end of an era in which the name on the big neon sign on the highway told drivers where their money was going.

Today, fewer than 2 percent of the 115,157 convenience stores selling motor fuels in the U.S. are owned and operated by major oil companies — although many retain the brand names, according to the Association for Convenience and Petroleum Retailing in Alexandria, Va.

"Every day it gets closer to zero," said Jeff Lenard, a spokesman for the trade group.

Most of the stations included in the ConocoPhillips deal are on the West Coast. Only one is in Texas.

All will continue to carry their Conoco, Phillips 66 or 76 brands.

But once the deal is closed, the stores will have a more distant relationship with their former parent.

ConocoPhillips will act solely as a wholesale fuel supplier to the sites, as well as to other stores that are not part of the deal, said Terry Hunt, a spokeswoman for the Houston-based oil company. She called the arrangement a "more sustainable business model."

With retail pump prices topping $4 a gallon earlier this year and still often more than $3.50, customers might assume gas stations are big moneymakers. But the slowing economy and falling U.S. fuel demand this year have made it difficult for retailers to raise prices enough to cover the wholesale price of gasoline they sell.

The convenience store association estimates that retailers made a penny or two per gallon in pretax profit last year, despite high pump prices. The group has not released profit estimates for 2008, when gasoline prices climbed still higher.

Bruce Bullock, director of Southern Methodist University's Maguire Energy Institute, said the deal announced Wednesday suggests ConocoPhillips and its rivals don't see the gas station business improving anytime soon.

"I think this is a pretty good indication that most of the companies continue to believe that prices are going to be either stable or increasing," he said.

On Wednesday, regular gasoline sold for an average $3.67 per gallon nationwide and $3.41 in Houston, AAA reported.

Amid higher prices, U.S. gasoline demand was down 1.5 percent during the first six months of this year, according to the U.S. Energy Department's Energy Information Administration.

If the trend continues, the U.S. could register its first full-year decline in gasoline demand in 17 years.

But Sam Hirbod, chief executive of PetroSun, said his company sees opportunity where the major oil companies see a drag on earnings.

"We are very much interested in participating in the consolidation that's happening in the retail gas station sector," he said, adding that his company is working on two other deals that could add as many as 200 more stores by next year.

The deal Wednesday will make PetroSun, which now has about 120 properties on the West Coast, one of the nation's largest independent petroleum and convenience store operators. The company agreed to acquire the ConocoPhillips properties through a newly formed affiliate called Pacific Convenience & Fuel.

The 600 stores in the deal are spread over 10 states and represent more than 1 billion gallons of fuel sales each year.

Most are in urban areas in California, Oregon and Washington. Others are in Denver, Salt Lake City and Albuquerque, N.M. A Dallas store is the only Texas site.

In Houston, ConocoPhillips sells fuel through Phillips 66 and Conoco stations, but the deal doesn't affect them because they are independently owned.

One way PetroSun aims to offset rising operating costs is by upgrading the ConocoPhillips properties with better in-store products and services, Hirbod said.

In some cases, that will include the addition of fresh deli sandwiches and salads, healthier snacks and perhaps even financial services, he said.

Yet SMU's Bullock said current market conditions will likely test any fuel retailer.

"It's a question of whether a company with a different focus can make money doing the same thing that someone else has already tried," he said. "My sense is that's going to be a tough road."

The Buffalo News

Was power overpriced by $100 million?

Complex trades may have boosted bills in state

By David Robinson NEWS BUSINESS REPORTER 
Updated: 08/27/08 6:58 AM 

Ratepayers in New York state may have been overcharged based on trading that allegedly capitalized on the differing costs of transmission grids that electricity can follow en route to New York City.">

Derek Gee/Buffalo News

Ratepayers in New York state may have been overcharged based on trading that allegedly capitalized on the differing costs of transmission grids that electricity can follow en route to New York City.

Federal energy regulators are investigating whether electricity trading schemes have caused New York state consumers to pay hundreds of millions of dollars too much for their power.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission confirmed has been investigating whether electricity traders have been manipulating power prices through complex transactions aimed at capitalizing on differences in the cost of transmitting electricity.

How much those transactions have inflated power prices in New York state is not known, but several consumer groups, power marketers and other entities have estimated that the alleged manipulation could have inflated prices by at least $100 million, and possibly more than $415 million.

“New Yorkers are already financially burdened due to economic hardships, and can ill afford to bear the brunt of overcharges for their energy,” Gov. David A. Paterson said Tuesday in a statement urging a speedy probe by FERC. “Anything less than a swift and comprehensive investigation, as well as restitution, would be unconscionable.”

At the center of the investigation are a rising number of transactions that began to appear in January from a small number of traders, according to the New York Independent System Operator, which manages the state’s power grid and took steps to curtail the problem trades last month.

The suspicious trades scheduled electricity from around Lake Erie to be shipped to the New York City area along a circuitous route that passed through Ontario, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania to take advantage of lower transmission costs by avoiding the transmission bottleneck that exists between upstate New York and New York City.

But because electricity follows the path of least resistance, regardless of the scheduled route, ISO officials estimate that 80 percent of the power followed a more direct — and much more costly — route through New York state and Pennsylvania.

“This means that the certain market participants were sending their power through the most expensive and congested corridors, but not paying the fees like everyone else,” wrote U. S. Sen. Charles E. Schumer in a letter to FERC.

And because the suspect trades increased the amount of power flowing through already congested transmission lines, it drove up electricity prices for all New York consumers by triggering additional fees that are passed on to residential and commercial customers.

The state Consumer Protection Board has estimated that the trades have cost New Yorkers more than $100 million this year, while others place the figure much higher. Pepco Energy Services, a Virginia-based energy marketing company, estimated the costs at a minimum of $415 million in a FERC filing. Other estimates are in the $240 million to $290 million range.

“No one is probably close to figuring out how much this gamut is worth,” said Gerald A. Norlander, the executive director of the Public Utility Law Project, an Albany-based advocacy group for low-income consumers.

Norlander and others are urging FERC to identify the traders who made the suspicious transactions and impose significant penalties on them, including restrictions on future trading.

“The people who were overcharged in this instance should get their money back,” said Mindy A. Bockstein, executive director and chair of the Consumer Protection Board. She said FERC should institute pricing rules to prevent future manipulation.

“It’s a small number of market participants, and this FERC investigation should reveal more about them,” said Connie Cullen, a New York Power Authority spokeswoman.

A number of parties also are urging FERC to take steps to force those traders to make refunds for the overcharges that the transactions caused. Norlander, who has requested a public investigation, said it is unclear how much restitution could legally be sought.

“Quite simply, the commission should not allow market manipulation to go unpunished,” wrote Michael B. Mager, a lawyer representing dozens of the state’s biggest industrial customers, in a FERC filing earlier this month.

The New York ISO last month took steps to limit the trades by imposing new tariffs on the eight different circuitous routes used by traders. ISO officials said in a FERC filing that those steps should reduce the questionable trades, but would not eliminate them entirely, as it attempts to develop additional ways to monitor electricity trading.

http://www.buffalonews.com/145/story/424308.html

Bloomberg's wind-power talk just blew smoke

BY MICHAEL FRAZIER | michael.frazier@newsday.com

August 21, 2008

A day after touting the great potential of wind powering New York City, Mayor Michael Bloomberg acknowledged yesterday that his proposal placing wind turbines atop bridges and skyscrapers would be a bit impractical. 

"I have absolutely no idea whether that makes any sense from a scientific, from a practical point of view," Bloomberg said.

His comments pulled the wind out of the sails of a speech he gave Monday at the National Clean Energy Summit in Las Vegas. As a response to the city and nation's power crisis, Bloomberg proposed "wind farms atop our bridges and skyscrapers" and miles out in the Atlantic Ocean.

"Are you going to put a big windmill on top of the Empire State Building? I think that's very unlikely," Bloomberg said yesterday. "Can you put windmills off the coastline? That is highly likely."

Wind farms exist on land in New York, mainly upstate. But erecting wind towers in the densely populated city would be met with great opposition. Offshore wind farms would be more practical, experts and city officials say. 

"I can seriously imagine offshore [wind farms], but in terms of actually urban turbines inManhattan, we are a ways off from that," said Valerie Strauss, spokeswoman for Albany-based Alliance for Clean Energy New York. 

Strauss applauded Bloomberg for exploring the option. She said smaller turbines are being developed but the technology is in its early stages.

The Long Island Power Authority was forced by high costs to shelve a plan last summer that would've placed 40 turbines off the South Shore between Jones Beach and Robert Moses State Park. The turbines would've generated power for 44,000 homes, LIPA officials said. 

"Windmills are no panacea for our problems. They can help, just like biofuels can help, just like tides can help," Bloomberg said. "In the end it is conservation that is the main thing you and I can do and that we can do in this city."

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/newyork/ny-nywind215809748aug21,0,3096419.story

Smokestack heat: Fuel of the future?

Posted by Martin LaMonica

How's this for a tantalizing possibility: rather than install solar panels on your roof, the lost heat from your furnace could power your home.

That's not yet a product, but a growing number of scientists and clean-tech companies are trying to coax usable energy from smokestacks and other waste-heat sources.

A global push toward energy efficiency is prodding more industrial outfits to reuse heat from their operations that would otherwise be lost to the skies.

Meanwhile, improving thermoelectric technology that converts heat into electricity is being fitted onto everything from car exhaust pipes to furnace flues.

It's a sign that energy efficiency, which often takes a backseat to renewable energy or alternative fuels, is getting more attention from technology innovators.

One company, GMZ Energy which was formed earlier this year by researchers from Boston College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is taking a high-tech path to waste-heat recovery.

It has developed a nanomaterial-manufacturing process that improves the efficiency of existingthermoelectric modules, which are usually made from bismuth telluride and look something like a computer chip.

Thermoelectric devices can work in two directions: passing an electrical current through a module creates heat on one side and cooling on the other. Working in the reverse, applying heat to a device will create electricity.

Initially, GMZ Energy plans to sell modules to the existing market for cooling in small refrigerators or server racks, CEO Mike Clary said. The bigger market--on the order of billions of dollars--is converting waste heat from smokestacks or industrial equipment to electricity, he said.

"Eventually, we're going to see a tremendous amount of waste heat recovery applications, but that's 5 to 10 years off," Clary said. "We have to get to that 10 percent efficiency threshold to start making it viable."

Clary said appliance maker Bosch has shown interest in making a home-heating unit with an attachment that makes electricity from exhaust heat. At 10 percent efficiency, a home could meet its power needs with the heat on.

GMZ's prototype modules now operate at about 7 percent efficiency, 30 percent or 40 percent better for cooling than existing devices, Clary said.

A thermoelectric module, which one company intends to use for harvesting waste heat to make electricity.

(Credit: Martin LaMonica/CNET News)

The company, which got its seed funding from venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, is looking to raise a round of funding in September to set up assembly operations in China, Clary said.

It is also readying a technical paper to show that its manufacturing process, where material is milled and then repressed into an ingot, works with both bismuth antimony telluride and silicon germanium for high-temperature applications.

Make steam, make juice 
Automakers, too, are investigating heat recovery through thermoelectric devices.

BMW and General Motors are reviving work in this area and plan to test attachments to exhaust pipes next year. So far, research indicates that mileage could be improved by about 5 percent, or 1 mile per gallon, on a Chevrolet Suburban.

GMZ Energy's Clary thinks that automakers' interest in thermoelectrics is one reason the market is likely to take shape. He also notes that many researchers are working in the area.

But even before any breakthroughs in advanced materials, many people consider waste heat recovery the proverbial low-hanging fruit in energy efficiency.

"The market is a lot of wasted energy, and that is, by definition, a zero-cost feedstock," said Roger Ballentine, president of Green Strategies and a clean-tech investor. "That's a pretty attractive proposition."

A traditional heat recovery system. Click to see larger image.

(Credit: Recycled Energy Development)

Ballentine has consulted for China Energy Recovery, a Shanghai-based company that says it can capture 90 percent of energy that would otherwise be lost.

Efficiency, in general, is less sexy than renewable-power generation, an area that attracts more entrepreneurs and investors. But the economics of efficiency are usually better, said Ballentine, who expects to see more growth in heat recovery.

"If energy prices keep going up, the economics keep getting better," he said.

Co-generation plants, where both heat and electricity are produced, have been around for many years. Yet even though it is a cleaner form of power generation than burning fossil fuels,combined heat and power has held steady, at 9 percent of energy production, for several years, according to the World Alliance for Decentralized Energy.

Wasting away 
The granddaddy of the waste heat recovery business is Recycled Energy Development, whose chairman, Thomas Casten, has been involved in energy-recycling projects for 30 years.

In projects at power plants or factories, the company places coils around a smokestack or other equipment to heat water. That hot water is then pumped back into the facility for heating or industrial processes. Or the hot water is turned into pressurized steam to make electricity in a turbine.

The amount of heat in a typical power plant that goes up in smoke is a "problem and an embarrassment," said Dick Munson, senior vice president at Recycled Energy Development, whospoke at the Virtual Energy Forum in June.

The average U.S. power plant uses three units of fuel to do one unit of power, meaning that two-thirds of the energy content is vented as waste, he said.

The efficiency of power plants in the United States has not improved in 50 years, while industry in Denmark has managed to increase efficiency 60 percent in the last three years, he said.

One customer is taking wasted energy from a steel smelter to make 220 megawatts of electricity. That's on the order of a single large solar-power plant. Through waste heat recovery, the U.S. could generate the equivalent of 400 coal-fired power plants, Munson said.

Polices need to be updated to better favor efficiency, Munson argued. Another barrier to industrial-scale heat-recycling projects is high capital costs, Ballentine added.

But one of the biggest impediments to heat recovery is changing the mind-set of building operators and product designers.

That's even truer of thermoelectric technology, which still needs to improve before more people look at it seriously, said GMZ Energy's Clary. A hybrid car or diesel truck, for example, could improve efficiency, as could a solar-thermal power generator.

"New ways of thinking like that just don't happen overnight in complex systems that have complex product cycles," he said. "As people get dialed into it, and the performance goes up, it will take off."

http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10019347-54.html