QUICK NEWS, 12-2: MARKET SELLS NEW ENERGY SHORT; HYBRID NEW ENERGY (WIND & WATER); NEW LOWDOWN ON BIOCHAR; SOME NUMBERS ON NUCLEAR

MARKET SELLS NEW ENERGY SHORT
Hedge Funds Short Clean Energy as Goldman Pares Stakes
Ben Sills, December 1, 2010 (Bloomberg News)

"Hedge funds increased short selling in U.S. renewable energy stocks to the highest level in a year, boosting bets against First Solar Inc. and Tesla Motors Inc. as government support for low-polluting technologies faltered.

"Seventeen percent of the freely traded shares of the 35 U.S. stocks in the WilderHill New Energy Index are sold short, compared with 16 percent in October and 15 percent in August…almost four times the 4.4 percent short ratio of the Standard & Poor’s 500 index…[S]hort sellers targeted makers of wind turbines, solar panels and electric cars whose sales also were undermined by cash-strapped European governments cutting subsidies. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and BlackRock Group trimmed long positions in renewable-energy shares in the third quarter…"

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"President Barack Obama said he may be unable to reduce U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions after Republicans regained control of the House in Nov. 2 elections. Republicans say they will seek to roll back Environmental Protection Agency rules limiting carbon venting, ease curbs on coal mining and may try to block billions of dollars in federal subsidies for clean power…

"…Uncertainty over future subsidies already cut installation of new wind turbines in 2010…Zoltek Cos., a maker of carbon fiber for blades used in wind turbines, [thin film manufacturer First Solar] and American Superconductor Corp., whose converters connect those machines to power grids, were among the most-shorted stocks…"

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"The most-shorted stock was Tesla Motors, the California electric carmaker headed by Paypal Inc. founder Elon Musk, which gained about 60 percent this month after it sold a $30 million stake to Panasonic Corp…Investors had shorted 65 percent of Tesla’s free-float…By contrast, the most shorted stock in the S&P 500 was AutoNation Inc. Speculators had borrowed 34 percent of the free float…

"Solar panel makers are also suffering as European governments, struggling to contain the fallout from the financial rescue packages requested by Greece and Ireland, curb rates paid for power from photovoltaic panels…U.S. demand for photovoltaic panels may offset the declines in Europe as falling panel prices allow utilities to build industrial-scale solar generators, according to Shayle Kann, an analyst at GTM Research…Kann forecasts U.S. power companies will install 5,000 megawatts, or $8 billion, of solar panels annually by 2015…"


HYBRID NEW ENERGY (WIND & WATER)
Integrating Wind and Water Power, an Increasingly Tough Balancing Act
Peter Behr, November 30, 2010 (NY Times)

"The Pacific Northwest Smart Grid Demonstration, the largest of 16 U.S. Department of Energy pilot projects, is under way in five Northwest states. It seeks ways to balance the region's huge base of hydroelectric power with its fast-expanding collection of wind farms…With a budget of $178 million split evenly between an American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grant and local contributions by 11 utilities and other partners, the smart grid project covers a wide array of missions…A critical experiment centers on coping with wind power's starts and stops by paying consumers to let utilities store surplus wind energy in hot water heaters…

"…Until now, hydro dams have primarily backed up wind, adding energy when wind speeds wane and backing off when wind picks up…Since 1998, wind developers have added 4,000 megawatts of wind power generation capacity, which is available about one-third of the time. The region has about 33,000 megawatts of hydropower and can call on about half of that on average, because of seasonal low water conditions…Half of the new wind energy is purchased by California utilities…Oregon, Washington and Montana also have state renewable portfolio standards, contributing to a demand that could possibly push wind generation capacity as high as 12,000 megawatts in 2016, three times the current amount…"

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"But wind and water aren't turning out to be such good neighbors …When the river is high and the wind blows hard, the region can be confronted with too much power. Hydropower from the region's dams could provide a fast-acting backstop when wind power suddenly ramps up or down, but the Columbia's flow has many claimants…During the spring months, when melting snow fills the Columbia basis, dam operators are stretched to manage the river flow…Too much spillage over the dam can upset the river's oxygen-nitrogen balance, killing salmon…

"Bonneville's customers are accustomed to bargain electricity rates thanks to hydropower. Retail power prices average about 9 cents per kilowatt-hour in Washington, half the rates in some East Coast states. The national average is 12 cents…With the region's hydro resources fully committed, the region faces higher future prices for power…Smart grid technologies that reduce demand, conserve power and help integrate wind energy systems may be key factors…"

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"…[H]undreds of customers' electric water heaters will be equipped with controllers and two-way communication links to their utility, so that the heaters can be turned off in advance of a major wind front, then switched on to absorb the surplus electric power when the front arrives…[Utility operators] could allow the water in the tank to heat significantly higher than the customary 120 degrees Fahrenheit. The water heater would be equipped with a mixing valve and sensor to ensure safe water temperatures at the tap…The project's software will also factor in each customer's water usage patterns…The customers, all volunteers, can choose to override the heater controls…

"…[Some] customers will get smart appliances, smart thermostats and home area networks…[Some] utilities in the smart grid project will receive an energy "signal"…meant to reflect generators' electricity costs and the value of conservation, demand restraint, renewable power, storage and other factors…[T]he signal will alert utilities to times when generation costs are high, creating an incentive for utilities to conserve power through energy storage…[T]he utility should earn a benefit that it would share with consumers who reduce their power usage…The project will test various compensation approaches…Later in the experiment, customers will get in-home electricity usage displays to track their power usage, and programmable thermostats…The results of these smart grid demonstrations can provide benchmarks for assessing clean energy strategies…"


NEW LOWDOWN ON BIOCHAR
Putting U.S. Biochar Policy on the Right Track
November 2010 (Natural Resources Defense Council)

"Biochar is a term for charcoal that is formed by heating biomass at high temperatures in the absence of oxygen and then added to soil to improve its health. Biochar has generated attention as a global warming mitigation tool because of its potential to sequester large amounts of carbon dioxide…But questions about the environmental impacts of biochar’s lifecycle must be answered…

"Research should focus on biochar’s potential…In addition to sequestering carbon dioxide, biochar…protect[s] water quality through improved nutrient uptake…use[s] multiple biomass waste streams as feedstocks, and…yield[s] a variety of renewable energy resources…[These] make a more robust case for developing our understanding of biochar systems than a narrow focus on biochar’s potential to mitigate global warming…[D]evelopment of biochar systems has been hampered by the lack of market
value for most of these…[though] research has shown that biochar can reduce soil emissions of nitrous oxide and methane, both potent global warming pollutants…"

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"Understanding biochar’s potential starts with increased production. The performance of biochar systems depends on the feedstock…the conversion process…and the manner in which the biochar is handled, transported, and applied. Much of what is written about biochar is hypothetical or based on small-scale, laboratory demonstrations. A key barrier to understanding the performance of different biochars is the shortage of pilot and commercially operating biochar production systems…especially slow pyrolysis systems, the preferred technology…

"…An aggressive research and demonstration strategy is needed to develop a classification scheme…to answer…Which feedstocks are most promising…Which conversion systems are best…[and] How can biochar be applied to maximize soil benefits…? …There are two sets of environmental concerns…[1] the sustainable supply of biomass feedstocks and the impacts of their production, harvest, transport, and transformation….The second set of concerns deals with…emissions from the operation of different biochar systems—especially small systems…"

Schematic of slow pyrolysis (click to enlarge)

"Assessment of the impacts of any biochar system must account for the energy required to produce, collect, transport and process the feedstock and the potential for soil carbon loss during the production, harvest and application of the biochar. More research, development, and demonstration efforts are needed…Certain feedstocks and production systems may be preferable…waste biomass…is likely preferable to growing primary biomass, as it does not incur the cost in energy inputs or…land-use change emissions…Animal manures, organic municipal solid waste, and urban wood residues are the most promising feedstocks because they are most concentrated…

"Large production systems, uniform feedstocks, and tightly controlled application regimes will likely be more reliable…[S]maller systems will be much more difficult to characterize and monitor…Five to ten commercial-sized projects are needed to gather data…Demonstrations are needed on a range of technologies…slow pyrolysis is particularly important…Projects should…[access] a wide range of potential feedstocks…a representative spectrum of soil types and crop systems. Waste biomass feedstocks should be prioritized…The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) should conduct a five-year program…"


SOME NUMBERS ON NUCLEAR
Study Assesses Nuclear Power Assumptions
November 30, 2010 (American Institute of Physics via PR Newswire)

"A broad review of current research on nuclear power economics has been published in the Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy. The report concludes that nuclear power will continue to be a viable power source but that the current fuel cycle is not sustainable. Due to uncertainty about waste management, any projection of future costs must be built on basic assumptions that are not grounded in real data."

[Sarah Widder, author, Benefits and Concerns of a Closed Nuclear Fuel Cycle:] "The goal of this study was to determine what assumptions are key to reaching conclusions about the relative costs of technologies…The increasing world demand for uranium and political considerations such as the fate of the Yucca mountain disposal site are two major elements that drive conclusions in one direction or another."

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"Reprocessing and recycling of spent fuel is an alternative to the "once-through" policy mandated by the 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act. While it would minimize high-level radioactive waste and recover additional value from the fuel, the option is controversial because of the risk of weapon proliferation and the significant cost of fuel recovery…

"Analyses supporting the once-through option assume a continuation in current waste management policies, although they rely on disposal at Yucca Mountain, which has now been deemed unsuitable by the current administration. Analyses supporting a closed fuel cycle, in which unused fuel is recovered and recycled, assume progress in developing new recovery technologies and an increase in uranium costs due to international competition for resources…"