Obama's New Energy Czar Might Benefit In Talks with China

An interesting chapter has unfolded itself as President Barack Obama nominated his new Energy Secretary last December 15. Meet Steven Chu: a Nobel-prize laureate and a second-generation Chinese immigrant.

The nomination sent a clear signal that the new administration plans to tap on Alternative Energy and Global Warming as the foremost project in Energy sector which Chu’s has extensive expertise in. It is also beneficial for the US to make new progress with China on certain difficult areas.

Chu has been a vocal advocate for research into alternative energy and nuclear power, arguing that a shift away from fossil fuels is essential to combat global warming.

Born in Missouri to a Chinese scholar family, Chu has developed a close tie with China throughout his career. He is a foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and has trained several prominent scientists in China. He was also instrumental in establishing the Bio-X Center at Jiaotong University in Shanghai. Chu’s unique tie could benefit the US in future energy dialogs with China. So far, the US has not been able to make much progress with China in areas such as carbon caps.

Watch Steven Chu’s Youtube video here commenting on Citizen’s Briefing Book, a project that enables Americans to share their insight with President Obama on various issues. You can see Chu’s expertise in the field of global warming.

BP Speak About Why Wind Power Is Going To Boom

Despite of the current economic recession, wind power has all the reasons to boom because of improved technology, increasing demand and cheaper cost, BP's Alternative Energy business developer Nicholas Hiza said during the Wharton Energy Conference last week.

Hiza said technology has increased the amount of electricity each wind turbine generates by 21 times in the last two decades. As a result, fewer wind turbines are needed in order to generate the same amount of electricity. Generous spacing up to 1,000 feet between two turbines can be achieved now, while years ago cluttered wind turbines created a problem for blocking migration route for birds.

Technology also reduced the noise level of wind turbines down to 40-50db, quieter than the humming from a refrigerator. "If you have a chance, drive your car to a wind farm and wind down your window and listen, then you will understand how quiet it is," Hiza said.

Increasing demand for energy has driven up the appetite for investment in wind farms, too. Energy Information Administration (EIA) projected the amount of electricity generated from wind would reach seven gigawatts. The actual amount produced that year amounted to 20 gigawatts, almost three times of EIA’s projection.

Currently, only 1.1% of the US electricity is generated from wind power. That leaves an ample room for the industry to grow as the government aims to produce 20% electricity by wind in the next few years.

Another advantage for wind is the low cost to produce power after the wind plant is built. Each kilowatt of electricity generated by wind costs 40 cents, the most affordable power, Hiza said.
Despite all the great prospect that wind power boasts, Mr. Hiza failed to mention, purposefully or not, the high cost to build these wind farms is in fact an obstacle.

Hiza admitted during a conversation after his speech that there are an increasing number of landowners who require a much higher royalty fee for installing wind turbines on their lands. “I think it is fair,” Hiza said. But he didn’t want to delve into the question how the new problem has affected wind power business. Maybe in a tight economy like this, the business is after all less rosy than he claimed?

Financial Crisis Dampen Motivation For Carbon Control

Leaders around the world have grown more reluctant to slash greenhouse gas emission as the world economy gets worse.

As the governments shift their priority to economy rescue, it makes less sense to push the cap on greenhouse gas emission since such effort will increase the cost for the government.

German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, said today she wanted to keep nuclear power, build new coal-fired plants, and shield chemical, steel, manufacturing, cement and auto industries. Merkel previously promised to eliminate coal and nuclear power in Germany.

New York Times analysis said: “There is now a greater possibility that the E.U. misses a deadline it set for itself,” Yvo de Boer, the executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, said on October 20. “That would call into question Europe’s willingness to back up an offer that was applauded by the whole world with specific policies.”

Such retraction in Europe, warned by some analysts, might cause a chain reaction and lower eagerness of developing countries like China and India, who have already made it very clear about their request on extra funding from developed countries in curtailing global warming.

Obama To Spend $15 Billion Each Year On Alternative Energy

Alternative energy, which has moved higher on President-elect Barack Obama's daunting to-do list, might prove to be a helper for him to achieve the top-priority task: To get the economy back on track and people back to work.

Obama said five days before the election that he “will invest $15 billion a year in renewable sources of energy to create five million new energy jobs over the next decade.” The industry not only has a relatively stronger performance in a bleak economy, but might create the most jobs for Americans in the next 10 years as well.

That explains why alternative energy has become the second most important thing on Obama's list, beating healthcare, tax-cut and the plan on retracting troops from Iraq.

An earlier plan was to put a cap on greenhouse gases requiring industries to buy credits from the government to emit CO2. That plan would have produced large government revenue and sent energy price rocket-high at the same time.

Obama's new plan on energy has switched to spend $150 billion in the next 10 years to develop alternative energy resources including wind, solar and biofuel. The focus has dramatically switched to stimulate the industry and create new jobs.

His third to fifth priorities, according to today's New York Times front-page story, are health care, tax restructuring, and education.

China Admits Its Greenhouse Emission Surpassed the US, And Now What?

A week ago, China's environment official hinted at a press conference that the country's level of greenhouse emission has caught up with the US. Western media like Reuters and Irish Times jumped on the story: "China for the first time admitted it has surpassed the US and became the largest greenhouse emitter in the world!"

This has been a secret that everybody knows since 2006. Why "come out of the closet" now? It might be another example to show China is taking a tougher stance in defending itself on global events.

Although the US, after being pointed to the nose as the biggest greenhouse emitter in the world for the last 100 years, is able to finally say China is "the bad guy," the real question is who is going to make the bigger sacrifice in curbing the emission in the future. The power didn't shift the other way after China's announcement. On the other hand, it might even tilted towards China more.

By being number one emitter in the world, China is still able to argue that developed countries have emitted almost all the greenhouse gas that is currently in the air and therefore are obliged to shoulder more responsibilities.

As long as China maintains its developing country status, Kyoto Protocol will not require it to have a cap on the level of emission. This is exactly what the US hates. The US refused to sign the Protocol during the last round negotiation unless China promised to take more responsibilities. China didn't budge.

China now admitted itself as the biggest greenhouse gas emitter and it even went on to say that the emission level, due to the continuing effort of poverty elevation in the country, is not going to go down any time soon. It's like saying: yeah, I am the bad guy, and so what?

The 5th Wharton Energy Conference Places Stronger Emphasis On Alternative Energy

The Wharton School, the world's first business school, is planning its fifth energy conference. The school's Energy Club, an independent student organization who has held the school's first four energy conferences in Philadelphia, is going to host its fifth in two weeks (November 21, 2008). What's new this year? One thing I noticed is, compared to the previous years, this year's topics have placed more emphasis on the alternative energy than the traditional energy. You can easily see that trend from the list below: (incomplete)

• Solar Grid Parity
• Project Financing in Energy
• Future of Wind
• Private Equity Investments in Alternative Energy
• Future Prospect for Geothermal
• Carbon Capture and Storage
• Solar: Thin-film
• Nuclear: Resurgence of Civil Nuclear Power in Emerging Markets
• Unconventional Oil (e.g. tar sands, shale)

See the complete list here.

Three keynote speakers Jacob Susman, founder of OwnEnergy, Steve Chazon, president of Occidental Petroleum Corp and Vijay Valtheeswaran, award winning correspondent of The Economist will speak about alternative energy industry from aspects of entrepreneurs, investors to media critics.

Three panel discussions include topics on "Investment in Clean Technology", "Opportunities in the Global Power Industry" and "Dissecting the NIMBY (Not In My Backyard) Problem," moderated by well-known figures in each field.

For the first time, this year's Conference will introduce table discussions in order to encourage more interactive and in-depth conversations among those who share the same interest on a particular topic. One professional participant of each table will act as the "table captain" to facilitate.

The one-day conference attracted 200 attendees from students, faculty, to professionals in the industry last year. It has expanded through the years and since last year it had to move to a bigger venue outside the school.

The chairman of the Wharton Energy Club is promoting the event by promising a quality conference as well as an all-you-can-drink cocktail party after the meeting.

Zero-Emission Car of GM

General Motors' new car needs no exhaust pipes or cylinders, and it has zero emission.

As impossible as it sounds, the new hydro-powered Chevy Equinox has hit the streets in New York City, Washington D.C. and South California early this year. 100 people, from regular families to celebrities, have joined the 30-month free ride. In return, each test driver will provide feedback to GM about the car's performance and their views of the experience. A few month into the initiative, some drivers have already "thoroughly impressed."

Josh Max, a New York Daily News reporter, test drove the car in May during an interview for the car review. When he asked Stephen Marlin, driver relationship manager for GM’s test driving initiative, “Project Driveway," of how many cylinders the car has, Marlin said "there is none. The configuration of the engine eliminates the need of them."

When Josh stopped the car for a hydro-refill, Marlin asked him to touch the engine. "We open the hood and I examine the engine, a rectangular, boxy-looking thing. We’ve just driven 10 or so miles, but Marlin tells me to touch the casing. I do. It’s cool."

The Equinox Fuel Cell is powered by GM’s fourth generation fuel cell system – a major advancement in fuel cell technology that can start in sub-zero temperatures, achieve 200 miles per fill up, and travel at up to 100mph. As another test driver Ron Cogan described: "Driving it feels so normal I’m completely at ease with the drive with little thought of the processes at work behind the scenes."

“When you pass guys in Priuses, you can thumb your nose at ’em because even those cars burn fuel. This car emits nothing,” GM's Marlin said. The electric vehicle has four thin vertical slits in place of an exhaust pipe: and instead of CO2 fumes, they emit clean water vapour.

The zero-emissions nature of the vehicle attracted the EPA to the deal. In September, GM delivered a hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle to the Environmental Protection Agency as part of a market test for the technology.

Equinox is the first of its kind that has absolutely no pollution, a step further from hybrid automobiles. Hybrid automobiles are powered by both internal combustion and electricity, they still produce emissions and consume fossil fuel, albeit in smaller amounts than most conventional automobiles.

Hyundai is set to launch the commercial version of its hydrogen fuel-cell car by 2012.