Industry News Briefs
July 24, 2008 Headlines
Can We Engineer a Cooler Earth?
U.S. Lags in Doubling Science Grads
Taking Steps to Prevent Bridge Collapses
Industry News
Can We Engineer a Cooler Earth?
Christian Science Monitor (07/16/08) Lamb, Gregory M.
An increasing number of researchers and environmentalists are now regarding "geoengineering" projects as a necessary endeavor. In June, the leading scientific academies in 13 nations, including the United States, came together to call for more ambitious action against global warming, including through geoengineering. Critics, however note there are numerous problems connected with geoengineering plans, including that they take focus away from reducing greenhouse-gas emissions. American Enterprise Institute's Samuel Thernstrom points out, though, that focusing on geoengineering will probably increase such efforts. Separately, a recent study employing computer models revealed that while erecting sun-deflecting mirrors in space would cool the Earth's temperature, it would not return it to the way it was prior to the initiation of global warming. University of Bristol climate modeler Dan Lunt states that the new climate that would evolve would still have high CO2 levels but modified temperatures. The most discussed idea would transport sulfur or additional fine particles into the Earth's atmosphere utilizing airplanes, balloons, or possibly artillery shells to prevent a small fraction of the sunlight. Thernstrom stresses that any long-term plan will likely have three elements: geoengineering, emissions reductions, and measures to adapt to a changed climate.
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U.S. Lags in Doubling Science Grads
Associated Press (07/15/08) Pope, Justin
An effort to double the number of U.S. bachelor's degrees awarded in science, math, engineering, and technology (STEM) by 2015 is significantly behind schedule, according to a new report from Tapping America's Potential, a group formed by 15 prominent business groups in 2005. The group warned that a lack of STEM workers and teachers threatened U.S. competitiveness and predicted that the U.S. would need 400,000 new STEM graduates by 2015. The new report says the number of degrees in STEM fields increased slightly earlier in the decade, but has since stalled at around 225,000 per year. Although the group says there has been substantial bipartisan support for increasing science training, including last year's passage of the "America Competes Act," there has been insufficient follow-through with funding to support the programs, and other countries are doing more. Critics say the concerns from business about the number of science graduates are overblown and self-serving, but Accenture CEO William Green says such criticisms are "nonsense." He notes that the entire country benefits from competitive companies, and says increasing the number of STEM professionals is one of the top three items on CEO agendas of every company he knows. The report also argues that the inability of Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform has hurt U.S. competitiveness by making it difficult to retain highly-skilled workers who study at American universities.
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Taking Steps to Prevent Bridge Collapses
Issues in Science and Technology (06/08) P. 31; Lee, George C.; Sternberg, Ernest
The United States needs to implement a new system to prevent bridge collapses such as the collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge in Minneapolis last summer, according to George C. Lee, a professor of engineering at the University at Buffalo of the State University of New York, and Ernest Sternberg, a professor of urban and regional planning at the university. An important part of making sure tragedies such as the Interstate 35W bridge collapse do not happen again is ensuring that engineers have reliable information on what makes bridges safer. To help engineers get access to this information, the federal government should create a infrastructure incident reporting system through a National Bridge Health Monitoring System, Lee and Sternberg wrote. Such a system would be overseen by the Federal Highway Administration in cooperation with disaster preparedness agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and its state counterparts, along with state highway departments and universities. In addition to collecting data on the structural damage of bridges, the system would also allow researchers to develop damage models so they could predict failure processes for different kinds of bridges under different types of extreme events. Lee and Sternberg also wrote that such a system should allow researchers to develop predictive analytic models that integrate observations from destructive testing, forensic studies, reconnaissance studies, and bridge-health monitoring. According to Lee and Sternberg, these improvements would allow bridge decision makers to more accurately account for the different hazards that bridges are prone to, which would in turn help infrastructure investments to be more cost-effective on a risk-adjusted basis.
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US Small Wind Turbine Market Grew 14% In 2007
Dow Jones Newswires (07/17/08)
The U.S. small wind turbine market grew 14% in 2007, driven by rising electricity prices and concerns about climate change, the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) reports. Small wind turbines produced about 9.7 megawatts of new power-generating capacity in 2007, bringing total small wind-generating capacity to 55-60 MW. More than 9,000 small wind turbine units were sold in 2007, with total sales of $42 million. Small wind systems in the U.S. displace an estimated 60,000 tons of carbon dioxide each year, the equivalent of taking 10,000 cars off the road, according to AWEA. About 50 companies manufacture or plan to manufacture small wind systems in the U.S., the largest market for such turbines. Exports account for about 40% of U.S. manufacturers' sales. Small wind systems have rated capacities up to 100 kilowatts and can be used for a broad range of applications, from charging batteries on sailboats and recreational vehicles to powering homes, farms and small businesses. AWEA is calling for a 30% federal investment tax credit for small wind systems, which currently have no federal tax incentives.
Former Vice President Gore Issues US 10 Year Electricity Challenge
Voice of America News (07/17/08)
Former Vice President Al Gore is challenging the United States to produce all of its electricity through wind power, solar power and other environmentally friendly sources within 10 years. Gore says the transition would not only help resolve America's current energy and economic problems, but would also improve U.S. national security by reducing dependence on foreign oil. Al Gore outlined his vision for the future of U.S. energy needs at the Daughters of the American Revolution Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. "So today I challenge our nation to commit to producing 100 percent of our electricity from renewable energy and truly clean, carbon-free sources within 10 years," he said. Called an alarmist by some critics, Gore has made global climate change his signature issue, and his efforts won him a Nobel Prize. He says that weaning Americans off fossil fuels would require placing a carbon tax on burning oil and coal, which his plan would offset with a reduction in payroll taxes. But Gore says soaring gasoline prices and the current economic turmoil have created a new political environment where Americans are hungry for change. "I do not remember a time in our country when so many things seem to be going so wrong simultaneously," he said. "Our economy is in terrible shape and getting worse, people are hurting. Gasoline prices are increasing dramatically and so are electricity rates. Jobs are being outsourced, home mortgages are in trouble. Banks, automobile companies, other institutions we depend upon are under growing pressure." Gore called on all Americans to pull together, citing the kind of national effort that made it possible for Neil Armstrong to walk on the moon just eight years after former President John F. Kennedy issued that challenge. He said both presidential candidates, his fellow Democrat Barack Obama and the presumptive Republican nominee John McCain are way ahead of most politicians in the fight against global climate change.
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GM Teams With Dozens of Utilities on Plug-In Cars
Wall Street Journal (07/22/08) P. B4; Smith, Rebecca; Stoll, John
A coalition of 36 electric utilities is working with General Motors (GM) to facilitate the roll-out of a plug-in electric vehicle within roughly two years. The effort includes such utilities as American Electric Power, Austin Energy, Consolidated Edison, Dominion Resources, Duke Energy, DTE Energy, Edison International, New York Power Authority, PG&E, Progress Energy, and Public Service Enterprise Group. Car makers need to collaborate with utilities because the latter would oversee the technology's key fuel--electricity. Car companies also need to ensure that the cars' recharging processes are compatible with the power gird and do not impact grid reliability. "GM is introducing production cars that have to work in all 50 states and Canada," said Mark Duvall, program manager for electric transportation at the Electric Power Research Institute, which taking part in the collaboration. "But every electric system is a little bit different, so there are a lot of little issues to work out." One of the key issues to be resolved is ensuring that when a vehicle is plugged into a garage electrical outlet, it will be identified as a car by the utilities and recharged at a suitable time for the electric system. Utilities do not want cars to be recharged during peak demand times such as hot summer days, which would cause wholesale electricity prices to escalate. However, data indicates that there is sufficient surplus power capacity during overnight hours to recharge tens of millions of cars.
Court Overturns EPA's Blueprint for Oxides, Dioxides
Environmental Protection (07/22/08)
The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., recently overturned the Bush administration's plan to reduce polluting emissions from power plants and help states downwind from the facilities meet federal clear air standards. The rule, issued by EPA in March 2005, aimed to slash power plant emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides by about 70 percent by 2015, preventing 18,000 deaths a year. The court reinstated a summertime program to cut smog-forming oxides of nitrogen from power plants across the East to minimize disruption in protecting human health. The court said that EPA must consider faster reductions that better reflect states' obligations to restore healthy air and make pollution cuts that help prevent states from backsliding into non-compliance with health-based standards. The court also agreed that EPA must tailor pollution cuts in upwind states with the level of impacts wrought on downwind jurisdictions.
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Regulations Proposed for Oil Shale Program That Could Produce Up to 800 Billion Barrels of Oil
Department of the Interior News Release (07/21/08)
U.S. Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne on July 22 proposed regulations to establish a commercial oil shale program that could result in the addition of up to 800 billion barrels of recoverable oil from public lands in the western United States.
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CA: Peripheral Canal Is Best Strategy To Save Delta Ecosystem, Ensure Reliable Water Supply
Waterchat.com (07/18/08)
The Public Policy Institute of California has issued a report concluding that building a peripheral canal to carry water around the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is the most promising strategy to balance the desire to revive a threatened ecosystem and the need to ensure a high-quality water supply for California's residents. Under current policy, water is drawn from the Sacramento River and sent south through the Delta to enormous pumps that deliver water to millions of households in the Bay Area and Southern California and millions of acres of Central Valley farmland. This approach, which disrupts the natural water flow, has threatened native fish and made the Delta attractive to invasive species. The approach is also unstable, and as projected sea level rise, crumbling ancient levees, larger floods, and high earthquake potential will inevitably result in a dramatically different Delta environment. This environment will have saltier water, which will be much more costly to treat for drinking and ultimately unusable for irrigation, according to the report. The report concludes that a peripheral canal is not only more promising than the temporary and ultimately unsustainable "dual conveyance" option, which combines the current approach with a canal, but is also the best available strategy to balance two equally important objectives. The new report, "Comparing Futures for the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta," builds on the findings of a 2007 PPIC study by the same team, which concluded that the need for a new Delta strategy is urgent.
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Building an Energy-Efficient America: Zero Energy And High Efficiency Buildings
Environment America Report (07/01/08)
The United States could slash energy consumption by investing in green design incentives and adopting building standards aimed at increasing energy efficiency, according to a report by the advocacy group Environment America. The report focuses on standards developed by the Energy Efficient Codes Council for residential buildings and by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers for commercial buildings. Those standard-setting bodies are aiming for 30 percent more efficiency for 2009 and 2010, respectively. By 2030, the report says: "Political leaders should set the goal for all new buildings to be zero net energy." The report further emphasizes efficiency cost savings and equivalents in avoiding construction of new power plants. If the federal government invested $21.6 billion a year for five years in efficiency programs, research shows energy use would be reduced by the amount produced by 100 coal-fired power plants. The report endorses the passage of production and investment tax credits for energy efficiency, as well as the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant program, which Congress passed in 2007 but has yet to appropriate $2 billion per year to fund.
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Stormwater Management Along Our Public Highways
WaterWorld (07/08/08) McGowen, G. Scott; Lantin, Anna
As part of the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit process, California has created a Statewide Stormwater Management Plan (SWMP) that is spearheaded by Caltrans (California Department of Transportation). The SWMP deals with stormwater discharges in the form of snowmelt and precipitation, non-stormwater discharges like illegal and valid discharges, and emergency response efforts. The SWMP also outlines Caltrans' duties regarding stormwater management procedures and practices, which are divided into six areas--environmental engineering, design, construction, maintenance, right-of-way, and traffic operations/encroachment permits. Each of these six areas is overseen by a division that addresses manuals, guidance, training, and administration of a Stormwater Advisory Team (SWAT). Furthermore, 12 Caltrans districts are responsible for day-to-day, project based deployment of the plan. Each of the SWAT divisions is composed of members from the 12 districts that meet both independently and statewide to assess existing and planned best management practices (BMPs) and deployment of the SWMP. These actions provide a unified strategy for fulfilling the goals of the state's stormwater management program and help improve communication and quality control. Some key aspects of the stormwater program include storm drain system inventories, discharge characterization studies, public education, program evaluation, and evaluating BMPs.
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