Fairhaven, The River

Hope and enthusiasm vs reality

CNet reports big increases in the (very small) market for small wind systems.  This seems likely to be another case of hope and enthusiasm that is not justified by the reality.  The ever pragmatic Dutch have done a study of a dozen different small wind systems (report in Dutch, article  in English).  The result is that the Dutch will not subsidize or give special rates to small wind systems.  They do have special deals for the large wind systems.  But the economics are so poor in terms of cost per KWh or per ton of CO2 saved that they will not encourage small wind use.

Small wind will continue to have uses in special situations where they are the best economic choice.  But the romantic push for small wind all over suburbs does not make sense.

More eco-news, implementation and management skill matter

The implementation and management of various eco-projects also matter a lot.  Among the various recent articles in Financial Times is one that describes the ongoing failure of the methane recovery systems from pig manure in Mexico.  I've mentioned the various successes in South Asia and elsewhere with these systems.  They are very important in many developing countries.  The technology itself was shown to work in Mexico, with a few successful systems.  But, construction quality problems, intertie and related problems wth the electrical grid, and other management problems have resulted in most of the systems not working. 

There has been a similar shift in the small locomotive industry.  The Green Goat hybrid locomotives have run into serious problems.  A problem with the batteries led to a major recall that drove the manufacturer into bankruptcy.  They've since been purchased and may recover, but  genset locomotives have taken 2/3 of the market.  The hybrid approach of batteries and one large engine is not superior to the approach of having 3 smaller engines and only running as many as are needed.

In both cases the concept was sound, but you need good management and implementation as well.

Some good news

An ongoing failure provides some good news on the world energy tech front.  This failure is the  solar cooker efforts.

Solar cookers are one the enduring faith vs reason battles when aiding the poor in third world countries.  The current leading solar cooker costs about $10, uses mostly local materials, and meets about 75% of cooking needs.  Clouds, bad weather, and high temperature needs drive the remaining 25%.  They continue to fail in response to:

• High efficiency wood/brush cookers.  These cost now about $2, use entirely local materials, and can meet 100% of cooking needs.  They have efficient designs and flues, so that the problems of smoke, accidental fires and burns are tremendously reduced.  They consume less fuel and can burn scavenged brush.  The net effect is also a 75% reduction in fuel use.  It's fairly obvious why these are tremendously popular and solar cookers are not.
• Gobar gas systems are spreading steadily through South Asia.  These convert livestock manure into low grade gas.  They are highly popular in India and Nepal, with use slowly spreading elsewhere.   They are an easy transition for people who previously were using dried dung as fuel.  The gobar systems use dried dung, plant wastes, and controlled amounts of liquid in a gas digester to produce usable gas for cookers.  Gas cookers are much cleaner, safer,  and more efficient than dung fueled heaters. These systems are too expensive for the really poor, but subsidies bring them within affordable reach of the successful farmer with a livestock herd.  They are climate limited to places where the dung can be dried naturally.  This includes much of South Asia.
• Variations on Gobar systems are showing up in other agricultural areas.  Indonesian pig farming, Thai pig farming, and US dairy farming all have introductory systems in operation.   These will become much more popular as the technology is understood, made more reliable, and the information about its use spreads.

These all act to reduce the deforestation in South Asia, and the manure gas systems also reduce the methane emissions from livestock.  They lower the immediate demand for fossil fuels, although this reduction is a very small percentage of world use.  They primarily make the agricultural areas much less dependent on fossil fuels.  There is only a little excess production to support more urban uses.  Variations on the cooker technology are also sold in Africa, where wood fueled cookers are also used.

The gobar systems may even improve life in Afghanistan if the civil war ever subsides enough to enable reconstruction of permanent fixtures like the qanats and construction of gobar gas generators.  The Gurkhas are certainly pushing for it (toward the end of the article).

The latest in sailboats

I noticed this nice writeup on the early experiences with the Beluga Skysails.  It gives some real numbers, like a 10% reduction in fuel use for the ship, and a realistic report on how the highly risk averse maritime industry evaluates and reacts to a radically new technology.  Kudos to the US Navy for supporting this effort with their long term contract to use the ship.  They understand that it takes several years of genuine operational experience to settle in a technology.  (At least in this case.  The USN overall track record is a lot shakier.)  A few more years and some higher fuel prices may see more of these ships be launched or retro-fitted.  The retro-fit alternative is one thing that makes this technology interesting.  It reduces the capital investments needed.

The cover page has a better picture.  The photo in the article is some heavily photoshopped composite.  I've seen the real ship carrying the real wind turbines, and it did not look like that at all.  They did go for a symbolic use of a sail assisted ship carrying wind turbine on it's first commercial voyage.  But it was only turbine blades above decks.

Paper Recycling

The 2008 figures for paper recycling in the US are out.  The impact of a full year of recession is a decrease in per capita paper utilization, but no drop in the recycling trend.  Since the 1970's the trend has been an increase of about 0.75% per year in recycling content.  The recession did not interfere.  2008 saw an overall 57% recycling rate.  The US remains on target for the goal of 60% by 2013.

Next year will need examining also.  The municipal recycling efforts are much harder to subsidize than before.  Revenues from all sources are down.  But recycling is still less expensive per ton than trash disposal.   It's tougher for towns to use revenue to cover collection costs, but most towns realize that pushing recycling efforts is still a cost reducer.  If the word gets out to the public properly, the percentage improvement should hold.

I saw the latest figures for some of the local paper collecting bins.  The net income is pennies per ton.  The best money is from corrugated boxboard.  It gets both repeat use as boxes and excellent recycling yield.   Our town curbside collection contract is a mixed contract covering containers and paper with no further breakdown.  We pay for each ton collected, but it's about $50 less per ton than the regular trash disposal.

Heating Season Assessment

This winter's heating season is about finished.  I did my assessment of how changes have affected my home energy use.  In summary:

• Heating consumption reduced about 20%
• Electricity consumption reduced about 130W

Electricity

The Kill a Watt has definitely paid for itself.  I went around doing various measurements and made decisions based on measurements.  There were three surprises to me:

1. The inkjet printer consumes almost 10W when sitting idle.  This is much more than I expected, given its energy star rating.  When I re-read the energy star regulation I found it requires an idle consumption of under 10W, which the printer does just barely meet.  So I changed my habits to turn off the printer whenever I pick up printed results or finish scanning. This is not much extra work.  If I forget, it doesn't matter much, I just turn it off when I notice. 
2. Ethernet hubs consume 10-15W.  That was more than I expected.  I did some re-cabling and built one crossover cable to eliminate the need for one hub.
3. My wireless telephone consumes 20W.  I haven't replaced it yet.  I could replace it and the remote with a DECT phone that consumes 5W.  This would save $15/yr and cost about $60.  My delay makes me a typical consumer.  An ROI of 25% does not inspire a purchase.

No surprise was the benefit from consolidating an internal server and the need to put TV and DVD on a powerstrip for an easy on/off.  Doing all this has a net savings of about 130W based on electricity bills.  This is a savings of $200/yr.

I have already shifted lights to CFLs, so it's getting harder to cut much more without some substantial changes.  The next thing that I could do is replace an old PC (233 MHz Pentium) that acts as my general proxy server for scrubbing ads, filtering traffic, email fetching, etc.  It's a matter of lots of software reconfiguring.  I don't feel like putting in all that time to save about $50/yr.

Heating

This was based on degree days and oil usage in gallons.  I saved about 20% through two major steps:

1. An aggressive effort with caulk and plastic to weatherstrip and seal windows, etc.  Having done all that I also got enough improvement that I have figured out remaining things to tackle.
2. A questionable mechanical thermostat was replaced with an electronic setback thermostat.  I think the old one was not working properly.  The automatic setback didn't seem to be effective.  The new one definitely works. 

Short of major home construction changes like opening up walls to re-insulate, I probably won't get more than another 10%.  From an ROI perspective I've gotten most of the easy changes.  The heating system is already measured at 85% system efficiency.  That's as high as you get with heating oil and normal systems. 

End of season

Today is the last day of the season for farmer's market.  Attendence and sales have been drifting down as the season ends.  I had time for a short chat with one of the farmers.  His farm has four major sales channels, and part of his challenge is maintaining a proper balance for them.

1. They run a CSA program.  For a fixed payment in the winter you get a weekly box of mixed produce during the season.  This up front money is very important for the cash flow of the farm.  But they limit participation because they don't want to kill the other channels.   They are not sure that the CSA approach has real endurance.  If it turns out to be a passing fad, the farm will need the other channels.  Also, CSA customers do not like to be subject to the variability of good and bad seasons.  In return for up front payment, they want assurances on quantity.
2. They run their farm stand.  It will stay open for another month.  This is a long standing tradition for suburban farms.  They are not willing to close it.
3. They sell at the farmers market.  This has held up nicely and provides a high efficiency sales environment.  They make a lot of sales in a few hours each week.
4. They sell to a few local stores and restaraunts.

This year went OK for them.  Not too much was lost to rain or insects.  The increased interest in local eating helps.  The less fad driven locavore efforts have also helped.  A lot of the press and educational coverage has emphasized a realistic assessment of what crops make sense for this climate and soil.  So instead of the locavores pushing to grow difficult poor yielding crops, the locally suitable crops are pushed on the locavores.

I've also noticed an increased interest in canning this year.  There were sales on canning supplies at the hardware stores and more press coverage.  This seems to be a nationwide thing too.  Amazon and other Internet stores were sold out for many canning supplies.  I had not noticed canning before.  I don't have a garden so it makes little sense for me to can.  If I really enjoyed it, personally canned goods would taste better but using locally  grown foods would cost more than commercially canned goods. 

Another power meter update

After seeing the WSJ comment on printers I decided to check mine.  It's an HP Photosmart 3310 all-in-one.  When I checked the printed specifications I saw that it was energy star, under 10W, etc. and not given it much more thought.  It turns out that is true, but under 10W means 9W drain continuous idle.

So now I'll be turning it off when I'm not using it.  Paper is a smaller part of my world and I only need it a few times per week, for things like scanning receipts, printing boarding passes, etc.  Unlike other modern systems (like TVs) the off switch really means off.  I confirmed that it is using zero watts when off.  This should save another 75 KWh/year.  These little drains do add up.

APS Report

I haven't gotten into checking analyses and references, but the APS Energy Effficieny Report looks good.  Unlike the McKinsey report, this one explains the analysis and sources.  More later (probably much later) when I have had time to read and examine it in detail.

Another power meter tidbit

I went through the struggle with kitchen layout and power cables for the microwave and got my first surprise.  The microwave is going dominate the power consumption because it chews up a steady 3 watts  when idle.  I need to put it onto a switched outlet.  It also consumes 30W when the door is open.  That's the interior light.  After a few months I'll have aggregate numbers that include other use.  My guess is that the biggest single power saving will be that from putting it onto a switched outlet.

Those 3W steady consumption are already 60% of the total power consumption for the other small kitchen appliances.   These little power meters usually provide a penetrating glimpse into the obvious, but this time it's been informative.

(And for ROI fanatics, the cost of putting it on a switched outlet is just my labor.  So it has a fabulous ROI.  It just won't save much real power.  I've been spending a few dollars per year on it.  Now I will stop.  Savings, about 24KWh/yr for relocating to a switched outlet.)