Brown on Green

Solar-Thermal Energy Could Boost Colorado Economy

By Jerry Brown
BrownOnGreen.Net

 

A group of solar-energy advocates calling themselves the Solar Thermal Alliance of Colorado (STAC) have proposed a roadmap for solar-thermal development they say would make Colorado a global leader in solar heating and cooling and boost the state's economy for decades to come.

Using what they described as conservative and pragmatic projections, the group said their roadmap for solar-thermal development could add more than 24,000 jobs and $1 billion in revenue to Colorado's economy by 2050.

"Colorado is strategically poised to seize national leadership in the solar thermal industry -- and the vast economic benefits that come with it," STAC said in its proposed roadmap.

STAC unveiled its solar-thermal roadmap January 24 at the Denver Housing Authority's Mulroy Opportunity Center, which uses a solar-thermal system to produce about half of its hot water.

STAC was formed under the joint leadership of the Colorado Renewable Energy Taskforce (CRES) and the Colorado Solar Energy Industries Association (COSEIA).

"If you haven't heard about solar-thermal before, you're not alone," said Neal Lurie, executive director of COSEIA. "That's about to change."

"Solar thermal performs better in Colorado than in any other state in the nation," Lurie added. "We have a natural advantage in Colorado over other states. We need to take advantage of that unique competitive position to generate jobs and promote economic development across the state."

"This is a great opportunity not just to advance solar thermal but to advance our economy," said Tony Frank, executive director of CRES.

"In spite of remarkable progress with other forms of renewable energy, Colorado is noticeably behind in solar thermal deployment," STAC said in its proposed roadmap.

One reason for the lag in solar-thermal development, STAC said, is that "an exceedingly large percentage of people simply are not aware that there is more than one type of solar technology."

Most of the attention to solar energy over the years has focused on photovoltaics, using solar energy to produce electricity. Solar-thermal systems typically use solar energy to heat a liquid that is then used to produce space heating and hot water for residential, commercial and industrial applications. Through a process known as thermally driven cooling, solar-thermal systems can also be used to cool buildings.

STAC suggested a "Go Solar Colorado!" communications campaign to educate homeowners, businesses and utilities and increase awareness of solar-thermal energy.

The group also suggested the need for new financing mechanisms for solar-thermal projects. "Solar thermal businesses have not attracted the attention of lenders until recently,” STAC said, because of the “same awareness issues that face energy consumers."

And STAC said both state and local governments should create a regulatory environment friendlier to solar-thermal projects.

"Fragmented permit processes and installation requirements continue to increase costs among the state’s more than 200 municipalities, 74 counties and 65 utilities," STAC said. "Issuing permits for a standard residential solar installation can add up to 20 days to solar thermal project times in some Colorado communities, while others complete the processes in less than one day."

"Lack of focus on solar thermal deployment is the most glaring gap in Colorado's clean energy economy," STAC said. "Our vision is to make Colorado a global leader in solar thermal adoption, installation, manufacturing, and R&D to boost Colorado’s economy, generate jobs, and help build a sustainable energy future."

CRES seeks proposals for Denver Sustainability Park

By Jerry Brown
BrownOnGreen.Net

The Colorado Renewable Energy Society (CRES) is requesting letters of interest from organizations interested in developing projects or programs for a “sustainability park” to be built near downtown Denver. The letters are due by December 14.

CRES and the Denver Housing Authority are partnering to develop Denver Sustainability Park on a 2.7-acre site at 2500 Lawrence Street, five blocks west of Coors Field.

The park “is a first-of-its-kind demonstration and testing site for a full spectrum of sustainable technologies and strategies,” CRES said. It also will include an outdoor commons area serving as an open-air classroom and venue for community and cultural events.

“Denver’s Sustainability Park will be a place to showcase and demonstrate established and emerging earth-friendly strategies,” CRES added. “It will serve as a hands-on learning laboratory for students, developers, green industry professionals, municipal leaders and the public at large.”

CRES said proposed projects or programs should include at least one of five elements: renewable energy, green building, urban agriculture and sustainable site development, community outreach and education, or transportation. The proposals can include established technologies or “emerging or nontraditional ideas.”

The proposals will be evaluated by a committee of renewable energy and green-building experts, design professionals, community stakeholders and representatives from CRES and the Denver Housing Authority.

The letters of interest should include a brief description of the project or program, space requirements including any special siting requirements and an explanation of how it will enrich the sustainability park’s mission of “advancing a holistic model for developing health sustainable communities,” CRES said.

CRES said it “understands that all information submitted may not be 100% firm and accurate. At this stage, specifications or other information regarding your proposal are not meant to be binding contractual commitments.”

CRES said it expects visitors to the sustainability park to number “in the tens of thousands” annually. “With strategic involvement in events like the World Renewable Energy Forum coming to Denver in May 2012, and the Annual Green Route Festival, the park and its supporting partners and exhibitors will get local, national and international exposure,” CRES said.

Letters of interest and questions should be submitted to DJ Cardi, program manager, Colorado Renewable Energy Society, 3245 Eliot Street, Denver, CO 80211. He can be reached at 303-882-5300 | d.cardi@cres-energy.org.

Colorado State University turns green into gold

By Jerry Brown
BrownOnGreen.Net

Colorado State University’s colors are green and gold.

Officially, the colors recognize the school’s agricultural heritage as a land-grant university.

But CSU has become very green when it comes to producing and saving clean energy. And it’s doing it in ways that save the school a lot of money, turning green into gold.

I was part of a group from the South Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce that recently toured two very different sites on CSU’s Foothills Campus in Fort Collins where CSU is producing energy that saves the school money and helps the environment.

Our first stop was a biomass boiler that burns wood chips from trees killed by pine beetles and wildfires into heat used by buildings on the campus. It’s a joint demonstration project by CSU and the Colorado Forest Service to develop a market for the timber from trees killed by the beetles and wildfires.

In its second year, the demonstration project is proving very successful, says Carol Dollard, an energy engineer for CSU’s Facilities Department.

The boiler burns about 245 tons of wood chips per year, a tiny fraction of what’s available. But it’s one creative example of how to tackle the problem of getting rid of all those dead trees.

A factsheet on the project says the heating plant saves CSU about $10,000 a year in fuel costs. The figure actually is higher than that, Dollard says, because the heating plant is operating more efficiently than it was when the factsheet was prepared.

Our other stop was a 30-acre, 5.3 megawatt solar power system. It produces about one-third of the electricity used on the Foothills Campus and will save the university an estimated $6 million over its lifetime.

It’s one of the largest solar systems on a university campus in the United States.

The solar system was built in two phases, covering 15 acres each. Phase 1, completed in 2009, uses movable photovoltaic panels that track the sun. Phase 2 was completed last year and uses photovoltaic panels fixed into place.

The system was funded through a public-private partnership of CSU, Xcel Energy and Fotowatio Renewable Ventures (FRV). FRV owns and operates the system. CSU purchases the power under a contract that guarantees the price it will pay for the for the next 20 years.

 

Energy Efficiency Inspired by The Jetsons and The Anasazi

By Jerry Brown
BrownOnGreen.Net

John Avenson has been a science fiction fan all of his life.

So, when he saw The Jetsons on TV as a boy it didn’t take long for him to decide he wanted a house like theirs -- full of gadgets that would make everyday life easier.

He’s also been fascinated by the idea of getting free heat from the sun, which dates back to a childhood trip with his family to Indian cliff dwellings near Colorado Springs.

Using plans he obtained from the Solar Energy Research Institute, now NREL, Avenson built a house in the suburbs of Denver nearly 30 years ago that combines elements from The Jetsons and the lessons he learned during his visit to those cliff dwellings.

“I’ve lived in a home that for 29 years has had almost no heating bills,” Avenson says.  He says his largest heating bills, in February, are somewhere between $30 and $40

In fact, his heating bills are so low that he’s hasn’t bothered to replace the furnace that came with the house with one of the new high-efficiency furnaces now on the market.  “I hardly ever use my furnace,” Avenson says.  “It wouldn’t be worth it.”

Avenson shares his living space with Rex, a computer that keeps track of how much energy he uses and how much energy he generates with the solar panels on his roof.  Rex also keeps track of temperatures throughout the house, turns lights on an off and -- my favorite trick -- automatically raises and lowers a set of heat-trapping shades.  Rex raises the shades when the sun is shining during the winter to let the sun heat his home and lowers the shades when the sun sets -- or goes behind a cloud -- to trap the heat in the house inside.

I met Avenson through Steve Stevens, who has also made his house highly energy efficient.  I featured Stevens’ home in an earlier story on BrownOnGreen.Net.

Both Avenson and Stevens have done most of the work on their houses themselves.  One key difference:  Stevens has done much of the work on his house on the cheap with materials he’s either scrounged for free or purchased at deeply discounted prices; Avenson hasn’t.

Click on the picture at the top of this story to see a live update of the energy usage at Avenson’s house.  Or play the video for a tour.

 

Chief Evangelist in the Church of Sustainable Living

By Jerry Brown
BrownOnGreen.Net

In the Church of Sustainable Living & Saving Energy, Steve Stevens would surely qualify as Evangelist in Chief.  He preaches sustainability, conservation and frugality – and practices what he preaches.

Retired after a 35-year career at Bell Labs, Stevens has almost single-handedly turned his modest house in Golden, Colorado, from a typical suburban dwelling into a building that produces more energy than it consumes.

He’s added enough insulation – it’s shoulder high – to his attic to give it an R100 rating.  He’s adding enough insulation to his exterior walls – 8½ inches – to give them an R60 rating.  And he dug up much of the foundation of his house and added R29 worth of insulation to the outside of his foundation before filling it back in.

Stevens uses solar energy for most of the heat and electricity in his modest suburban home – in the form of 48 photovoltaic panels on his roof capable of producing 9,920 watts of electricity and a once-rotting south-facing deck he’s converted into a sun room he calls his “solar furnace.”

He says his solar furnace and the “super insulation” he’s adding to the walls, attic and foundation of his house eventually will let him get rid of the high-efficiency gas furnace in his basement.

“I won’t need a furnace anymore,” he says.  That’s a pretty bold statement for someone living in a community where below-freezing temperatures are common at least six months out of the year and below-zero temperatures can linger for days at a time.

I have no doubt he’ll succeed and his furnace will show up on Craig’s List someday.  It’ll be like one of those pristine used cars that some little old lady just drove to church and the grocery store for 10 years.

Stevens is an active participant in the Colorado Renewable Energy Society (CRES) was named CRES’s volunteer of the year for 2010.  He helped plan this year’s Denver solar-homes tour for CRES and his house was on the tour.

So, I showed up at his house expecting to have him show off the solar panels on his roof and tell me how much money he’s saving bypassing Xcel Energy.

We eventually got to the solar panels.  But they were pretty much an afterthought in my tour.  Stevens wanted to show off the other things he’s doing to his house.

What I experienced over the next 90 minutes felt like a combination of watching a proud papa show off his family and sitting in the classroom of a teacher who’s so excited about what he’s teaching that you get excited about it, too.

What Stevens is doing to his house is impressive.  What’s makes it even more impressive is that he’s doing most of it on the cheap.

“The American dinner table generally has a dog underneath to eat the scraps that fall off,” he says.  “I’m the dog on the American construction dinner table.  I’m down there as things get thrown off the edge. I see what use I can put them to.”

For example, he used glass from discarded patio doors – purchased for $15 apiece from Habitat for Humanity – for the south-facing windows in his “solar furnace.”  Most of the lumber he uses is cull lumber he buys from Lowe’s at 75 to 80 percent off.  And he has light fixtures throughout his house that he bought from Habitat for Humanity for next to nothing.  He uses 1-, 1½- and 2-watt LED bulbs in many of the light fixtures.

You’ll see some of what I saw if you watch the video accompanying this article.  But there was more.  Much more.

SunTrac Solar: A 35-year-old dream about to come true?

By Jerry Brown
BrownOnGreen.Net

Bill Lowstuter’s had a dream for the past 35 years:  Getting other people into hot water.  Really hot water.  It looks like his dream is about to come true.

Lowstuter is founder and chief operating officer of SunTrac Solar of Golden, Colorado.

Most of us think of photovoltaics – using the sun’s power to create electricity – when we think of solar power.  But SunTrac manufactures four-by-eight-foot panels that concentrate the sun’s energy to create super-hot water – 140 to 250 degrees Fahrenheit – for commercial and industrial use.

It’s ideal, Lowstuter says, for companies that prepare and process food, hotels and hospitals that need 160-degree water for their laundries, breweries and other commercial and industrial operations that use very hot water.

“It will work really well on domestic hot water for your home,” Lowstuter adds, “but it’s overkill.”

He came up with his design for a solar-concentrating panel in 1975 and built a prototype in 1978.  He still has it.

“I’ve carried it around for 30 years and nine houses in five states,” he says.  “So, I just have to thank my wife for her patience and perseverance.”

She must like him a lot.  “Some of our first dates were actually assembling some of the solar panels,” he says.  “Who says engineers aren’t romantic?”

The prototype “was the same design, the same configuration we have now,” Lowstuter says, with some modifications along the way to make the panels more rugged and durable.

Ready to actively sell the product

Although he came up with the idea 35 years ago, Lowstuter says he got serious about developing the product about four years ago.

SunTrac’s ready to actively start selling, he says, “because I’m now really comfortable with the ruggedness, reliability and long-term viability of the product.”  For example, a panel installed at Lowstuter’s house came through a one-inch hail storm “perfectly fine.”  The same storm damaged the roof of his house and several cars and destroyed his garden.  The panels are rated for a 30-year life, he says.

Another reason SunTrac is ready to begin selling its product, Lowstuter says, is the Cleantech Open – a business competition designed to help clean tech startup companies develop the business and marketing expertise they need to become successful.

“I entered the Cleantech Open because I’m an engineer, I’m a tinkerer, and I don’t have the skillsets from the standpoint of doing business planning, marketing and the sales piece of this,” he says.

The Cleantech Open was “a tremendous learning opportunity to be able to help us advance by several years in terms of our business acumen and our presentations and the quality of knowing the market, knowing how to get to the market, knowing how to go into the market and tell the story about why people should be interested in our product and our company,” he says.  “It was an immense help.”

Elegant in its simplicity

SunTrac’s product is elegant in its simplicity. 

Remember using a magnifying glass to concentrate sunlight to start a fire when you were a kid?  SunTrac uses the same principal, except it uses parabola-shaped curved polished aluminum mirrors to focus sunlight on black copper tubes filled with liquid.  The liquid, typically a propylene glycol solution, is then used to heat water for commercial and industrial use.

The heart of the SunTrac solar panel is a rectangular manifold – two one-inch metal pipes joined together with six half-inch copper tubes with a special black paint to absorb heat.  The manifold serves as a frame that provides the panel’s shape and as a mounting mechanism for the mirrors.  And the pipes and copper tubes carry the liquid heated by the mirrors.

The whole thing is enclosed in a metal case with a five-millimeter (3/16”) tempered glass front to protect the mirrors from the elements.

To maximize the amount of sunlight converted to heat, a small 12-volt DC brushless electric motor activated by a pair of light sensors moves the mirrors to track the sun as it moves across the sky.  The motor is mounted on the outside of the case for easy replacement.

The panels are up to 76 percent energy efficient – they convert up to 76 percent of the solar energy hitting them into heat.  That’s significantly better than evacuated glass tubes, the main competing technology.  The average efficiency of the top 15 evacuated tubes on the market is 59 percent, according to a comparison on SunTrac’s website.

As an engineer with extensive manufacturing experience, Lowstuter also has simplified the manufacturing process.

“There’s only about two hours of work in (building) each panel,” Lowstuter says.  “We can build probably 25 to 30 a day with a staff of 10 people and five work stations.  So, we’re able to rapidly ramp up in terms of being able to meet any anticipated production requirements.”

“The entire panel is designed to be assembled really with two tools,” Lowstuter says.  “One is a Number 8 hex head wrench and the other is a Number 10 hex head wrench.  There are only two bolt sizes in this entire assembly.”

One SunTrac panel can deliver the same amount of energy (when converted to BTUs) as ten 205-watt photovoltaic panels, Lowstuter says.  Up to eight panels can be connected for added heating capacity.

CRES Announces 2010 Renewable Energy in Buildings Awards

By Jerry Brown
BrownOnGreen.Net

A new carbon-negative public library in Brighton and a cohousing project for seniors in Boulder are the winners of the Colorado Renewable Energy Society’s 2010 Renewable Energy in Buildings Awards.

The new 20,000-square-foot Brighton Library, part of the Rangeview Library District in Adams County, won the award in the institutional category.  Silver Sage Village Cohousing in Boulder won in the residential category.

The Brighton Library claims to be the first carbon-negative* library in the United States and first carbon-negative* public building in Colorado.  It uses geothermal heating and cooling and a 108-kW solar-photovoltaic system.  It also used carbon credits purchased by the project's general contractor to reach carbon-negative status.

The library district estimates it will save more than $30,000 a year in energy costs.  The library's photovoltaic system offsets about 36 percent of the building's projected carbon usage and the library also saves 31 percent in carbon usage through energy efficiency. The library has applied for LEED Gold certification.

Silver Sage Village is a mixed-income housing project with 16 housing units for seniors.  A 2,300-square-foot common house features a dining room with a gourmet kitchen and courtyard grill, a living room with a fireplace, a media room and exercise room, two guest rooms, laundry facilities and a sunken garden with a hot tub.

Silver Sage uses passive and active energy systems to conserve energy.  Rainwater will be directed to landscaping on the site and two detention ponds will return runoff to the earth.  Residents of the facility are expected to drive 30 percent less, pay 50 percent less for utilities and use 40 percent less water than the average American.

The awards will be presented June 19 at the Colorado Renewable Energy Conference in Montrose. 

(Editor's note:  For the purists among you, the library actually claims to be "carbon positive" meaning that it offsets more carbon than it uses.  But, to me, that makes it "carbon negative."  And it's my blog, so I'm using "carbon negative" until someone convinces me I have it wrong.)

George Bye: A passion for flying without fossil fuel

By Jerry Brown
BrownonGreen.Net

It’s easy to develop a passion for flying when both your parents are pilots and own their own plane.

So, it’s no surprise George Bye has a passion for flying.  After all, he’s been around planes since he was in grade school.

As CEO of Bye Energy, he’s also developed a passion for making planes fly without fossil fuels.

Bye expects to have an all-electric plane flying around the suburbs of Denver by the end of this year.  He expects to be putting electric-powered airplanes into the hands of customers by 2012.

Bye plans to replace the internal combustion engine in a standard, commercially available plane with a 90-pound, 168-horsepower electric motor built by UQM Technologies of Frederick, Colorado.

“This will transform the industry,” Bye says.  “This is not a small-scale change.  We’re talking about a significant, large scale change.”

Initially, Bye’s “proof of concept” plane will be all electric, drawing power from four or five batteries installed behind the electric motor.

Ultimately, Bye expects to use non-fossil biofuel and solar power to extend the plane’s range. 

The biofuel, also being developed by Bye Energy, will be used to power an auxiliary power unit -- a small generator that will charge the plane’s batteries during flight.

And Bye's working with Ascent Solar of Thornton, Colorado, to cover part of the plane’s wing and other parts of the plane’s exterior with a film of photovoltaic material thinner than a human hair that would also generate electricity for charging the plane’s batteries.

Bye says he has a few other tricks up his sleeve to extend the plane’s range even further.  But he’s not talking about those just yet.

As Bye sees it, the electric motor has a number of advantages over the internal-combustion engine it’ll replace:

• It’s more efficient -- 95 percent versus 25 percent for the internal combustion engine.
• It’ll be cheaper to operate -- roughly $3 an hour for electric power versus $15 to $30 an hour for a gas-fueled plane.
• It has only one moving part versus more than more than 900 moving parts in the internal combustion engine.  That will mean cheaper maintenance costs.
• And it’s both cleaner and quieter.  The only sound comes from the rotation of the propeller, and Bye is working on noise-reduction technology to eliminate much of that noise.

Because he’ll be using a plane that’s already been approved for flight, Bye says, the only thing he has to prove to the Federal Aviation Administration before he can put an electric plane into the air is that the power plant works.  The rest of the plane’s already been approved, he says.

Governor’s Office: Transmission Lines Needed for Renewable Energy

By Jerry Brown
BrownonGreen.Net

One of the challenges to implementing Colorado’s new renewable-energy law will be building the high-voltage transmission lines needed to move electricity from utility-scale wind and solar facilities in remote parts of the state to heavily populated areas along the Front Range, says an official of the Governor’s Energy Office.

Gov. Bill Ritter signed H.B. 1001 into law on Monday.  It requires Xcel Energy to use renewable energy for 30 percent of the power it delivers to customers by 2020.

The new law, championed by the governor’s office and supported by Xcel Energy, increases a 20-percent-by-2020 renewable-energy requirement -- the “20x20 goal” -- approved by the legislature in 2007.

There’s plenty of solar and wind energy in the state to meet the new goal, says Morey Wolfson, transmission program manager for the Governor’s Energy Office.

He says the state has identified the potential for more than 96,000 megawatts of wind-generated electricity and more than 26,000 megawatts of solar-generated electricity in the state.  That’s nearly nine times what the state’s total electrical-generating capacity was in 2008.

But “transmission is … a missing link that threatens to lead the state to a genuine energy crisis,” according to the 100-page Renewable Energy Development Infrastructure (REDI) report published by the Governor's Energy Office in December.  So, getting the electricity to major population areas may be the real challenge.

“Although the new renewable energy generation built to date in Colorado has been able to connect to the existing transmission system, the system is close to meeting its physical ability to accept injection of new utility-scale renewable energy generation,” the REDI report says.

The utility-scale wind-generation capacity in Colorado is concentrated in eight resource generation development areas (GDAs), mostly in eastern Colorado.  The solar-generation capacity is concentrated in two GDAs in southern Colorado, one in the San Luis Valley and one the Arkansas Valley south and southeast of Pueblo.

In all likelihood, only a small fraction of that renewable capacity will ever be turned into electricity-producing wind or solar facilities, Wolfson says.  And there are may be arguments, at least in some localities involved, about wind or solar projects that are proposed.

But building the transmission lines needed to get the energy to where it’s needed may be where the real arguments will occur.  And the estimated price tag for the new lines is about $700 million.  So, paying for the new lines may be an issue.  Although transmission costs are significant, they typically are no more than 7percent of a customer's total utility bill, Wolfson says.

The Colorado Public Utilities Commission held hearings last month on what is proving to be a controversial proposal to build a high-voltage transmission line, called the SoCo line, from Pueblo to Alamosa in the San Luis Valley.  It would extend south from the Comanche Power Plant in Pueblo to Walsenburg and then west through La Veta Pass to Alamosa.

The fight over the SoCo line isn’t an isolated case.  Last year, local opposition killed proposed transmission lines in Idaho and California.

Wolfson discussed the REDI report this week at the monthly meeting of the Colorado Renewable Energy Society (CRES).  Copies of the REDI report are available online as a PDF document.  Paper copies are available on request from the Governor’s Energy Office.

CRES withdraws opposition to solar-garden bill

By Jerry Brown
BrownonGreen.Net

The Colorado Renewable Energy Society has withdrawn its opposition to the “solar garden” bill in the Colorado House after Rep. Claire Levy of Boulder and other sponsors agreed to three amendments dealing with the organization’s concerns about the proposal.

“The amendments to H.B. 1342 were enough to tip how our Policy Committee thinks about this bill,” said Becky English, chair of the CRES committee.  The amendments would:

• Remove a 1.5x multiplier CRES believed would have reduced solar use and favored solar gardens over individual solar users.
• Phase solar gardens in more slowly, over a three-year period instead of two years to give the market more time to adjust.
• Limit solar gardens to 20 percent of the retail distributed generation Xcel Energy can use to meet a requirement to obtain a percentage of its electricity from retail users whose renewable-energy systems are intended primarily for their own use.

English was clearly happy CRES could now support the bill.  “She (Levy) is one of the clean-energy heroes in the Colorado Legislature,” English said.  “We all wanted very much to support this bill because she’s been such a friend to clean energy.”