QUICK NEWS, 3-10: ; BIOFUEL BREAKTHROUGH; BUFFETT BOOSTS WIND; FIRST U.S. SOLAR-NAT GAS HYBRID

BUFFETT BOOSTS WIND
Warren Buffett Boosts Wind Power Financials
Tara Dodrill, March 2, 2011 (Yahoo News)

"…MidAmerican utility company, owned by [billionaire Warren] Buffett, may soon be the nation's top wind-based utility company…[It] projects to have 2,909 megawatts of wind generated power fields operating by the end of 2011…[having] invested $5.4 billion…

"According to the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, in 2010 MidAmerican installed 40,000 megawatts of wind power in Iowa, where the corporate headquarters are based. The increase in wind powered energy resources makes it the nation's second largest supplier of wind powered energy. Texas is currently the largest…"

Wind is booming in Iowa - and is just getting started. (click to enlarge)

"Buffett's investment of 258 new wind turbines on the company's farm in Iowa may be just the first of many steps for MidAmerican's advancement of alternative power in the United States. The wind turbines are spread across five counties in Iowa and can power more than 200,000 homes. The project is expected to bolster "green" jobs at Siemens plants in both Iowa and Kansas."

Wind's cost remains constant while the natural gas price is crazy volatile, a riskiness smart investors like Buffett won't tolerate. (click to enlarge)

"The Enercon E-126 wind turbine is currently the strongest such alternative energy generator, able to generate 7 megawatts of power. While the turbine showcases the improvements in wind turbine power in the United States, Norwegian ad Spanish companies are already planning to release even stronger wind machines…

"Analysis compiled by the American Wind Energy Association claims that wind power in the United States is now cost competitive with natural gas…closing the fiscal gap which stood in the way of replacing fossil fuel consumption. Power generated from wind turbines has recently been sold as cheaply as six cents per kilowatt-hour. A conflicting report from the government Energy Information Administration states that wind power still commonly costs nearly 10 cents per kilowatt-hour, as opposed to the typical 6.3-cent fee per kilowatt-hour of natural gas."


BIOFUEL BREAKTHROUGH
BESC scores a first with isobutanol directly from cellulose
March 7, 2011 (Oak Ridge National Laboratory)

"In the quest for inexpensive biofuels, cellulose proved no match for a bioprocessing strategy and genetically engineered microbe developed by researchers at the Department of Energy's BioEnergy Science Center.

"Using consolidated bioprocessing, a team led by James Liao of the University of California at Los Angeles for the first time produced isobutanol directly from cellulose..."

Is this the dream realized? (slide from Caltech Prof Frances Arnold - click to enlarge)

"…[Metabolic Engineering of Clostridium Cellulolyticum for Isobutanol Production from Cellulose], published online in Applied and Environmental Microbiology, represents across-the-board savings in processing costs and time, plus isobutanol is a higher grade of alcohol than ethanol…because [it has] an energy density, octane value and Reid vapor pressure - a measurement of volatility - that is much closer to gasoline…

"While cellulosic biomass like corn stover and switchgrass is abundant and cheap, it is much more difficult to utilize than corn and sugar cane. This is due in large part because of recalcitrance, or a plant's natural defenses to being chemically dismantled…[and] biofuel production that involves several steps - pretreatment, enzyme treatment and fermentation - is more costly than a method that combines biomass utilization and the fermentation of sugars to biofuel into a single process."

slide from Caltech Prof Frances Arnold - click to enlarge

"To make the conversion possible, Liao and postdoctoral researcher Wendy Higashide of UCLA and Yongchao Li and Yunfeng Yang of Oak Ridge National Laboratory had to develop a strain of Clostridium cellulolyticum, a native cellulose-degrading microbe, that could synthesize isobutanol directly from cellulose…[because] some Clostridium species produce butanol…[but] do not digest cellulose directly…[other] Clostridium species digest cellulose but do not produce butanol…[and none] produce isobutanol…

"…[T]he research team ultimately chose Clostridium cellulolyticum, which was originally isolated from decayed grass…[which has] natural cellulolytic activity and…[produces more] alcohol than ethanol…[The] Clostridium cellulolyticum has been genetically engineered to improve ethanol production, and this has led to additional more detailed research…"


FIRST U.S. SOLAR-NAT GAS HYBRID
FPL unveils world's first hybrid solar energy center
March 5, 2011 (Florida Power & Light Company)

"Florida Power & Light Company…[inaugurated] the first hybrid solar power plant in the world – FPL’s Martin Next Generation Solar Energy Center.

"Spanning approximately 500 acres in western Martin County, Fla., this one-of-a-kind hybrid facility connects a field of more than 190,000 solar thermal mirrors with an existing combined-cycle natural gas power plant. Innovative technology enables the mirrors to track the sun over the course of a day to harness free fuel from the sun’s rays to create electricity and directly offset the use of fossil fuels…"

FPL’s Martin Next Generation Solar Energy Center (click to enlarge)

"Construction of FPL’s Martin Next Generation Solar Energy Center over the past two years provided more than 1,000 direct jobs, the majority of which were filled by Floridians. In addition, the project utilized more than 150 businesses from across the state, helping support the employment of thousands of additional Floridians during difficult economic times.

"FPL’s 75-megawatt Martin Next Generation Solar Energy Center is designed to harness free fuel from the sun’s rays to power about 11,000 homes…[and] reduce fossil fuel consumption by approximately 41 billion cubic feet of natural gas and more than 600,000 barrels of oil – which would prevent the release of more than 2.75 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions and save FPL customers approximately $178 million in fuel costs over the facility’s estimated 30-year lifetime…"

click to enlarge

"FPL’s Martin Next Generation Solar Energy Center was officially declared in-service in November 2010 and is the third of three large-scale solar projects that the company has completed over the past two years, creating more than 5,000 direct and indirect jobs…[They] are now delivering a total of 110 megawatts of clean, solar energy…

"In addition, the plant is expected to generate more than $5 million in new local tax revenue in its first full year of operation, enabling Martin County to devote considerable resources toward long-term economic development…FPL has already secured and permitted sites where more than 500 megawatts of new solar power could be built and is ready to launch several projects right away that would employ thousands…"


DOI PREPS FOR CLIMATE CHANGE
Interior Department Invites Proposals for Northeast, South Central and Pacific Climate Science Centers
February 28, 2011 (U.S. Department of the Interior)

"The Department of the Interior…invited proposals…to host DOI Climate Science Centers (CSCs) in the Northeast, South Central, and Pacific regions. These CSCs are the last three in a network of eight existing or planned centers around the nation that will serve as regional hubs of the National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center.

"The CSCs will provide managers of natural, cultural and historic resources with the information and tools they need to plan for the challenges posed by climate change and other landscape-scale stressors -- including fire, invasive species and changing land use. Interior has established centers in the Northwest, Alaska, and Southeast, and has announced plans for CSCs in the North Central and Southwest regions in partnership with universities…"

click to enlarge

"Secretary Salazar initiated a coordinated climate change strategy…for establishing not only regional CSCs but also a network of “Landscape Conservation Cooperatives” that engage federal agencies, local and state partners, and the public in using the best available science to craft practical, landscape-level strategies for managing the impacts of stressors such as climate change on natural, cultural, and historic resources.

"Each of the five existing or planned CSCs is a cooperative endeavor between the Interior Department and one or several universities acting as a consortium…Once fully instituted, the CSCs will form a network with the National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center to access the best science available to help managers in the Interior Department, states, other federal agencies, and the private and nonprofit sectors."

click to enlarge

"The National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center, established by Congress in 2008, is located at the headquarters of Interior’s U.S. Geological Survey which is taking the lead on establishing the CSCs and providing initial staffing. Ultimately, funds and staff from multiple Interior bureaus will be pooled to support these centers and ensure collaborative sharing of research results and data.

"Within their respective regions, Landscape Conservation Cooperatives will focus on impacts that typically extend beyond the borders of any single national wildlife refuge, national park or Bureau of Land Management unit—such as the effects of climate change on wildlife migration patterns, wildfire risk, drought or invasive species. Twenty-one LCCs are planned through FY 2012, with 15 already established across the nation."