McDonald's Explores Net Zero Energy

Net Zero Energy

A zero-energy building, also known as a zero net energy (ZNE) building, net-zero energy building (NZEB), or net zero building, is a building with zero net energy consumption, meaning the total amount of energy used by the building on an annual basis is roughly equal to the amount of renewable energy created on the site. These buildings consequently do not increase the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. They do at times consume non-renewable energy and produce greenhouse gases, but at other times reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas production elsewhere by the same amount.

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Rocky Mountain Institute, Fisher Nickel Inc. and New Buildings Institute

A study prepared by Rocky Mountain Institute, Fisher Nickel Inc. and New Buildings Institute examines the technical and financial feasibility of achieving new net zero energy restaurants in Chicago, Orlando and Washington, D.C.

Through a recent study, McDonald's Corp. seeks to better understand whether it would be feasible to develop a net zero energy quick service restaurant. Exploring net zero energy continues McDonald's tradition of energy efficiency efforts and helps to prepare McDonald's for future energy codes. The study's findings, including research, technical analyses and detailed recommendations, form a road map for McDonald's to pursue future net zero energy restaurants, as well as select energy efficiency solutions for existing restaurants.

"Our Global Energy Leadership board sees net zero energy as an opportunity for McDonald's as we work to advance the energy performance of the restaurants and proactively pursue opportunities for integrating emerging technologies," said Roy Buchert, global energy director at McDonald's. "We are working with the study team and our suppliers to improve the efficiency of the restaurants. This net zero energy concept could change our approach from incremental improvements to substantial advances in energy efficiency and renewable energy integration where it makes sense."

While this study is intended to benefit restaurants globally, three potential U.S. locations were assessed in the study: Chicago, Orlando and Washington, D.C. For each location, multiple scenarios were examined to determine the most practical and cost-effective pathway to net zero energy.

This high-level analysis, completed together with McDonald's internal experts and equipment suppliers, generated a set of conceptual energy conservation strategies in addition to potential savings and cost estimates for prioritization. Further work will be required to generate detailed designs and accurate costs for the high-priority solutions. All aspects of the site and building were included in the study, but emphasis was placed on kitchen and HVAC equipment, which represent the predominant energy use in a typical restaurant.

Click here for report

Article as posted on Electric Light & Power

Factbook: U.S. trend toward sustainable energy continued in 2014

Posted on Bloomberg New Energy Finance

Prices Fall, Deployment and Investment Rise 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The United States saw continued growth in renewable energy, natural gas and energy efficiency in 2014, according to the third annual Sustainable Energy in America Factbook. The Factbook shows that U.S. deployment of sustainable energy increased as prices continued to fall and that investment in U.S. clean energy grew at a higher rate.

Analysts at Bloomberg New Energy Finance who prepared the Factbook for the Business Council for Sustainable Energy found that “over the 2007–2014 period, U.S. carbon emissions from the energy sector dropped 9%, U.S. natural gas production rose 25% and total U.S. investment in clean energy (renewables and advanced grid, storage and electrified transport technologies) reached $386 billion.”

“The 2015 Factbook clearly shows that America is on the path to a more sustainable energy sector,” said Lisa Jacobson, President of the Business Council for Sustainable Energy. “Our energy productivity is rising along with economic growth, while energy-intensive industries are onshoring production to the United States to take advantage of low energy costs. All of this is happening as investment in clean energy continues to grow and as new natural gas infrastructure continues to come online. These are strong positive signs for America’s economy and environment.”

The full 2015 edition of the Sustainable Energy in America Factbook is available at http://www.bcse.org/sustainableenergyfactbook.html.

Key trends in sustainable energy growth noted in the 2015 Factbook include:

• The U.S. economy is becoming more energy productive, with “an outright decoupling between electricity growth and economic growth.” Between 1990 and 2007, electricity demand grew at an annual rate of 1.9% while, between 2007 and 2014, annualized electricity demand growth has been zero. Meanwhile, over those past seven years, the U.S. economy has grown by 8%.
• The U.S. power sector is decarbonizing, with the contribution of renewable energy (including large hydropower projects) to U.S. electricity rising from 8.3% in 2007 to an estimated 12.9% in 2014, and production and consumption of natural gas hitting record highs in 2014. Since 2000, the Factbook shows, 93% of new power capacity built in the United States has come from natural gas and renewable energy.
• Investment in U.S. clean energy is up again. The U.S. clean energy sector has seen $35–65 billion of investment each year since 2007, a significant increase over the annual investment of $10.3 billion in 2004. Overall U.S. investment in clean energy totaled $51.8 billion in 2014, a 7% increase from 2013 levels. The United States finished the year ranked second globally for new dollars invested in clean energy, behind China.

The Factbook also discusses the collapse of oil prices in 2014. While there is no explicit link between oil (which in the United States is used mostly for transport) and most sustainable energy technologies (which are used mostly in the power sector), the oil price shock has a profound global impact and may result in “second-order” effects that could impact U.S. sustainable energy, the Factbook noted.

“Against the backdrop of a surging economy and crumbling oil prices, major trends around decarbonization and improving energy productivity continued in the United States,” said Michel Di Capua, head of Americas research for Bloomberg New Energy Finance. “Low-carbon energy technologies stand to benefit from key policies proposed in 2014, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) proposed regulation for the power sector and an innovative new vision for the electricity market in New York State.”

The Factbook also shows renewable energy and energy efficiency making significant strides across several metrics in 2014, including:

• Renewables represent 205 gigawatts (GW) of installed capacity across the country. Wind and solar are the fastest-growing technologies, having more than tripled since 2008. Hydropower remains the largest renewable energy source at 79 GW, with biomass, geothermal and waste-to-energy representing another 17 GW but limited in new build by a lack of long-term policy certainty.
• Wind and solar reaching grid parity in multiple regions. In 2014, wind developers secured power purchase agreements (PPAs) with utilities below the levelized cost of electricity for fossil-fired power and below the price of wholesale power in the Midwest, Southwest and Texas. Solar providers were also able to offer PPAs or leases to homeowners below the residential retail electricity price, reaching “socket parity,” while utility-scale solar plants in Texas and Utah secured PPAs at some of the lowest prices ever recorded globally ($50–55 per megawatt-hour).
• The Pacific and New England regions made the greatest strides in energy efficiency. The Southeast and Southwest regions, meanwhile, have the greatest opportunities to increase efficiency. Across the United States, commercial buildings have showed the greatest progress on energy efficiency over the last several years.

While the United States is clearly heading toward more use of sustainable energy, the Factbook did show deviations from the larger trend. These include an increase of coal’s share in U.S. electricity generation from 37% in 2012 to an estimated 39% in 2013 and 2014; an increase in carbon emissions from the U.S. energy sector of around 3% since 2012; and a slowdown in utilities’ and states’ adoption of energy efficiency.

The Factbook notes that policy will play a central role in determining where the U.S. energy mix heads in 2015 and beyond. State, federal and international policies – including the EPA’s Clean Power Plan regulation on existing power plants; the global climate negotiations scheduled in Paris this fall; and federal and state-level support for renewables, efficiency and natural gas development – will all help determine the speed with which the trend toward sustainable energy develops in 2015.

The Factbook also contains extensive analysis, charts and data on a wide range of sustainable energy trends in 2014, including energy storage, oil and transportation, distributed energy, combined heat and power (CHP), carbon capture and storage (CCS), and natural gas infrastructure investment.

For more on the 2015 edition of the Sustainable Energy in America Factbook, get the facts at: http://www.bcse.org/sustainableenergyfactbook.html.

About the Factbook Partners

Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) provides unique analysis, tools and data for decision makers driving change in the energy system. With unrivaled depth and breadth, BNEF helps clients stay on top of developments across the energy spectrum from our comprehensive web-based platform. BNEF has 200 staff based in London, New York, Beijing, Cape Town, Hong Kong, Munich, New Delhi, San Francisco, São Paulo, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo, Washington D.C. and Zurich.

Business Council for Sustainable Energy (BCSE) is a coalition of companies and trade associations from the energy efficiency, natural gas and renewable energy sectors. The Council membership also includes independent electric power producers, investor-owned utilities, public power, commercial end-users and project developers and service providers for energy and environmental markets. Since 1992, the Council has been a leading industry voice advocating for policies at the state, national and international levels that increase the use of commercially available clean energy technologies, products and services.

The Sustainable Energy in America Factbook was commissioned by the Business Council for Sustainable Energy and supported by the generous contributions of the following BCSE members: American Gas Association, American Wind Energy Association, Covanta Energy, First Solar, Hannon Armstrong, Ingersoll Rand, Johnson Controls, Jupiter Oxygen Corporation, Kingspan Insulated Panels, North American Insulation Manufacturers Association, Polyisocyanurate Insulation Manufacturers Association, Sempra Energy, Solar Energy Industries Association and Solar Turbines.

Posted on Bloomberg New Energy Finance

Mexico is Reforming its Energy Industry

Next to the United States and Canada, Mexico is the largest oil-producing country in the Western Hemisphere.  Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto recently enacted energy reforms granting companies access to large, untapped reserves in Mexico - estimated to be greater than 110 billion barrels. This is the first time since 1938 that Mexico's energy sector is inviting increased local competition and opening opportunities in foreign direct investment, ending the 75-year monopoly held by Pemex, the national oil company. Energy industry experts believe Mexico will be bringing in more than $1 trillion in new investments because of this action.

Adding international experience and expertise will boost energy production within the country. While other countries are expressing interest, U.S. firms are seeing opportunity because of close proximity and growing relationships between the two countries.

According to the U.S. Congressional Research Service,

"The United States, Mexico, and Canada have made efforts since 2005 to increase cooperation on economic and security issues through various endeavors, most notably by participating in the North American Leaders Summits. The most recent Summit was hosted by President Enrique Peña Nieto in Mexico on February 19, 2014. The three leaders discussed issues on the economic well-being, safety, and security of North America and issued a joint statement renewing their commitment to regulatory cooperation in key areas or interest."

Colorado Gubernatorial Energy Forum

LIVE - SENATORIAL AND GUBERNATORIAL ENERGY FORUMOCTOBER 14TH FROM 9:45 am TO 12:30 pm

The candidates will provide their views on the future of the Colorado energy economy, followed by a moderated Q&A session. A panel discussion focusing on the opportunities for Colorado business and jobseekers in the energy industry will also be held.

This forum is sponsored by:

Colorado Business Roundtable Consumer Energy Alliance Colorado Energy Coalition Vital for Colorado Farm Bureau Colorado South Metro Denver Chamber Colorado Motor Carriers Association Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce Action 22 - Giving voice to Southern Colorado Metro North Chamber of Commerce AABE - Denver Area Chapter Colorado Women's Chamber of Commerce CACI - Colorado Association of Commerce & Industry Denver South Economic Development Partnership Western Slope Club 20

U.S. Net Energy Imports at Lowest Level in 29 Years as Domestic Production Keeps Booming

Net energy imports, as a share of U.S. energy consumption, continue to fall due to increased domestic production in areas such as the Bakken Basin, Marcellus Shale region, Eagle Ford shale, and the Permian Basin.  Last week, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported net imports have declined to 10.9% for the first six months of 2014 — the lowest level in almost 30 years. Total domestic energy production is currently outpacing the United States ever increasing energy consumption, helping lessen dependence on energy imports, says EIA analyst Allen McFarland.

He continues by breaking out each source of growth by energy type, "The increase in total energy production was almost entirely concentrated in petroleum and natural gas. Petroleum accounted for 52% of the 2014 year-to-date increase, natural gas for 27%, renewable energy for 9%, and nuclear electric power for 2%. In contrast, total coal production fell 1%. The increased liquids production reflects the use of advanced drilling methods, including hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling."

Full report published by the EIA:

Total U.S. net imports of energy as a share of energy consumption fell to their lowest level in 29 years for the first six months of 2014. Total energy consumption in the first six months of 2014 was 3% above consumption during the first six months of 2013, but consumption growth was outpaced by increases in total energy production. These changes led to a 17% reduction in net imports compared with the first six months of 2013.

Total energy consumption increased every month in 2014 compared with the same month in 2013. However, 81% of the total increase in consumption came in January and February, reflecting the effect of colder weather during the polar vortex. Natural gas accounted for 55% of the 2014 year-to-date increase, coal for 24%, renewable energy for 12%, petroleum for 8%, and nuclear electric power for 3%. Of the total natural gas consumption increase, the residential and commercial sectors accounted for 69% of the gain, again reflecting the cold winter, while 30% of the increase came from the industrial sector, continuing a long-term trend toward higher industrial use of natural gas.

The increase in total energy production was almost entirely concentrated in petroleum and natural gas. Petroleum accounted for 52% of the 2014 year-to-date increase, natural gas for 27%, renewable energy for 9%, and nuclear electric power for 2%. In contrast, total coal production fell 1%. The increased liquids production reflects the use of advanced drilling methods, including hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling. These techniques have led to higher production in areas such as the Bakken Region, Marcellus Region, Eagle Ford play, and Permian Basin, and have greatly increased U.S. oil and natural gas production.

Total energy imports in the first six months of 2014 fell 6% compared with the first six months of 2013, almost entirely because of decreasing petroleum and natural gas imports, which fell 6% and 5%, respectively. Total energy exports increased 8% compared with the first six months of 2013. The increase was almost entirely the result of a 21% increase in petroleum product exports.

Life on the Oil Rigs

Life on an oil rig is no picnic, and much of what goes on on the rig is a mystery to the common man.  Workers on an oil rig can spend weeks at a time on the job, and many rigs employ a 14/21 schedule meaning 14 days on followed by 21 off.  Its a tough job, but it can be a very rewarding one.   What actually goes on out on the rig is somewhat of a mystery, but thanks to a Washington-based oil company's recent contest, we are treated to a unique look at what life on the rigs can be.  

The photos depict a side of life on the oil rigs not typically imagined by those outside of the industry.  It appears that while working on one of the most industrial settings there is a surprising amount of wildlife.  While workers in the Middle East work to save the life of a trapped sea turtle, others on a bus in Russia have to deal with overly inquisitive bears.  It's amazing to see that while working what has to be one of the most demanding jobs, workers are still able to reflect on beauty in their work.

Click the Photo for the full gallery at The Journal.

Tesla Could Upend Utilities

Morgan Stanley, a major investment bank, thinks the utility industry underestimates the potential of Tesla Motors ability to achieve dramatic reduction in battery storage costs. This breakthrough could potentially convince more people to go off-grid. In their detailed report released in late July, Solar Power & Energy Storage, Morgan Stanley says, "Energy storage, specifically Tesla’s product, could be disruptive in the US and Europe. Given the relatively high cost of the power grid, we think that customers in parts of the US and Europe may seek to avoid utility grid fees by going “off-grid” through a combination of solar power and energy storage. "

“We believe there is not sufficient appreciation of the magnitude of energy storage cost reduction that Tesla has already achieved, nor of the further cost reduction magnitude that Tesla might be able to achieve. once the company has constructed its “Gigafactory”, targeted for completion later in the decade.“

While the costs of the utility networks are fixed and rising, the costs of these new disruptive technologies will continue to fall, and they're falling quicker than the incumbents realize.

Most battery manufacturers, the report notes, have a capacity of around 40MW to 50MW per annum. Tesla is proposing one of 1,000MW – and possibly many more. This, says Morgan Stanley, will slash the capital cost of Tesla’s battery from the current $250/kWh to $150/kWh by 2020, whereas its closest competitor will be at a cost of ~$500/kWh.

Morgan Stanley canvasses three types of approach to the arrival of storage:

On the grid, but net zero grid power usage. Under this approach, a customer’s solar panels produce excess power during the day (which is sold back to the grid), and at night the customer draws power from the grid. This approach could result in low or net zero usage of power produced by large-scale power plants attached to the grid.

On the grid, partial grid power usage. This approach is often taken in Europe, where solar panel systems are not sized to fully allow customers to eliminate their net usage of power from the grid, and where economics and regulation mean moving fully off-grid is very unlikely. It is thus unlikely that such customers pursue a fully off-grid approach.

 Fully off the grid. In this approach, consumers fully depend on their on-site power generation, using storage and a power management system to provide power to the home when needed. Consumers could choose this approach for a number of reasons. For instance, in select markets, customers who choose to “net meter” as in the “on-grid” approach described above, have to pay a large non-bypassable, fixed grid charge; these consumers have an incentive to go fully off the grid.

“By 2028, we estimate Tesla’s 3.9 million units NA car population (or “park”) will have an energy storage capacity of 237 GW (443 GW globally), equal to 22% of today’s US production capacity and nearly 10x larger than the entirety of US grid storage that exists today. These figures exclude any recycled (2nd life) battery after EV use."

"Tesla Model S (85 kWh) can store enough energy to power the average US household for 3.5 days."

Pacific Northwest Economic Region: A Cross-Border Model of Collaboration

For more than a quarter century, state and provincial legislators from northwestern states in the United States and western provinces in Canada have been reaching across the border in a model of Canada-U.S. collaboration. Originally founded in 1988 as a forum for leaders from the state and provincial legislatures representing Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Alaska in the U.S. and the Canadian provinces of British Columbia and Alberta, the Pacific North West Economic Region (PNWER) has grown to include the province of Saskatchewan, and the northern Canadian regions of Yukon and the Northwest Territories.

The idea of what is today’s PNWER came from then Washington state senator Alan Bluechel, who was PNWER’s first president. Growing up on the Canadian side of the border in western provinces, Bluechel understood the common issues and interests that connected states and provinces in the region. His counterpart at the time who played a pivotal role on the Canadian side was Jim Horsman, then Alberta deputy premier and minister of intergovernmental affairs.

Every year, a PNWER delegation visits the two nations’ capitals – Washington and Ottawa – where meetings are held with federal politicians and government officials to address key cross-border issues. As well, PNWER stages an annual summit, an event that this July will be held in Whistler, B.C. This year’s agenda will tackle issues such as expanding market access, workforce development, ocean policy, as well as energy and the environment, among others.

In recent years, PNWER has been particularly active on Canada-U.S. border issues, working to ensure both a safe and efficient border. With the U.S. and Canada sharing the largest, most mutually beneficial two-way trading relationship in the world, ensuring the border provides the security needed, but, at the same time, does not become a barrier to trade and economic growth for both nations, has been a key PNWER priority.

Another issue that has received significant attention from PNWER has been energy and the environment. A key feature of the focus on energy is PNWER’s Legislative Energy Horizon Institute (LEHI), which is designed to educate legislators on the North American energy infrastructure and delivery system. Given the high turnover rate in state legislative bodies, there can be a lack of institutional knowledge about the complex energy issues in state and provincial legislatures. LEHI holds annual sessions to raise the awareness and understanding of legislators on key energy and environment issues from a U.S.-Canada perspective.

What started out as purely an organization to bring together U.S. and Canadian legislators, PNWER has broadened its scope in 1994 to become a true public-private partnership. It includes official private sector participation that involves non-elective public sector, non-profit organizations and non-government organizations. A private sector council, mirroring that of the organization’s legislative delegate council was established and private and public sector co-chairs became part of the working group structure.

As a result, funding for PNWER has become a blend of the public and private sectors. It is financed primarily through three sources, approximately one third from state and provincial dues, one third from private sector sponsorship and dues, and one third from public and private grants.

In an age where both the U.S. and Canada face ever-more complex and challenging issues, when collaboration is key to ensuring both nations continue to benefit from what has been a model bilateral relationship for the world, PNWER stands out as a key example of working together to ensure strong economies and societies.

Building a Better World: The Role MWH Plays in Building Toward the Future

Life on earth is dependent on water. Without it, creation ceases to exist. It is imperative that this precious resource is respected and the infrastructure that brings it to civilization is managed properly and constantly improved to ensure that future generations have access to it. Since its founding in 1820, MWH Global has engaged in the engineering, construction and management of some of the largest and most technically advanced wet infrastructure, hydropower, mining and transportation projects for municipalities, governments and multinational private corporations throughout the world. The company has been driven by its purpose: Building a Better World. For example, Thomas Hawksley of Watson Hawksley Consulting Engineers, an early leader of MWH, was one of the first people to advocate “continuous service” pressurized systems as a way of providing safe water. Today, keeping drinking water systems continuously pressurized remains one of the most fundamental, and likely underappreciated, requirements for providing safe drinking water.

Through the involvement in wet infrastructure and water-engineering projects, the role of MWH has been to help manage water purity and availability in a sustainable fashion for the health, livelihood and security of people worldwide. The company’s ability to lead in this market successfully has been dependent upon forward thinking and anticipating not only what is just around the corner, but what will be the future in a few short years.

The company’s highly experienced team of nearly 8,000 professionals operates on six continents and is continually looking to provide innovative ways to design around the world’s most precious resource: water.

Planning

MWH has developed a Global Strategic Intent (GSI) that is used to drive the company toward the future. It is built upon the MWH purpose: Building a Better World, core values, vision, client outcomes, strategy, strategic priorities and competitive differentiators. Inherent in this have been horizons of growth. In the last 10 years, MWH has focused on 1) where and whom: geographic and client-type expansion through mergers, acquisitions and major projects—taking staff to more than 34 countries worldwide; 2) what: the creation of new service-led business areas taking MWH into business solutions, program management, software solutions, asset management, design-build and construction management; and 3) how: the development of strategies to reinvent how employees do work by using parametric design, templating, licensed tools and more. This careful planning has led to some very exciting developments.

Learning and Preparing for the Future

Part of the MWH strategy has been to develop knowledge through an incubation initiative with corporate funding. An outcome of this incubation effort has seen the company engage, for many years, in disaster recovery efforts around the globe from New Orleans to Christchurch to Queensland. Through these activities, MWH has identified opportunities for planning and preparedness activities that can result in faster and more efficient recovery efforts. Therefore, MWH has applied its knowledge to develop an industry standard “resilience” index (CORRI), which helps insurers and involved agencies to assess, in a consistent fashion, their readiness for major catastrophic events and take action in advance to deal with areas of weakness. This templated approach is being warmly received by major insurers and reinsurers.

“Oftentimes, operations within a company are not set up to afford the investments for developing transformative IP and people. Part of what MWH has done is to develop this incubation initiative, setting monies aside at a global level, so that we are able to develop the processes and technologies that allow us to know our next move,” said Ian McAulay, chief strategy officer for MWH.

Beyond the incubation initiative, MWH understands that the scientific needs of the industry and project must also be met. In a competitive environment with changing requirements and ever-advancing technology, MWH has dedicated a centralized research group. The company places key emphasis on the engineering science associated with its projects, allowing for new and innovative solutions to be provided to clients worldwide. The research group conducts studies for a wide variety of applications across industry sectors such as water, wastewater, mining water and industrial waste. The group focuses on the energy water nexus and how the interrelationship of the two affects clients’ environmental issues. This group is looking at the issues of today as well as those of 15 years into the future.

At MWH, knowing the next move is not limited to developing capabilities internally with appropriated monies and focused study, but extends to watching the megatrends in the marketplace.

Building a Better World

One of those megatrends is population growth. As the world’s population continues to explode, more and more energy is needed to fuel modern manufacturing, commercial, transportation and residential activities. As energy needs increase, so do the demands on water and those companies that clean it, distribute it and provide it to those who consume it in their processes. As such, these utility companies and others are looking more closely at their water footprint and ways innovation will help them save money, differentiate and be more sustainable. “MWH is identifying key areas (Global Growth Platforms) where our 200 years of historical knowledge combined with technology and appropriately applied creates a highly differentiated service offering which drives previously untapped efficiency and effectiveness from the existing asset bases of our clients,” said McAulay. “This ‘Return on Asset Base’ methodology is reaching exciting levels, and now we are actually seeing assets which were historically energy consumptive being transformed to energy productive.”

At the highest level, many large waste-water treatment works are becoming effective energy factories, entirely self-sufficient in terms of energy needs through combined heat and power (CHP), and in many cases being so efficient in this regard that they are net exporters of electricity and gas. “Helping our clients move from being net consumers to net producers of energy is at the heart of our purpose,” said McAulay.

Along with advancing clients to be more sustainable in their energy usage, MWH has been committed to building a better world through partnerships and projects. Joseph Adams, president of the Energy & Industry operation at MWH is part of the Engineers Without Borders USA Corporate Leadership Council. MWH staff is involved in community-driven development programs worldwide through the implementation of engineering projects that address challenges in water supply, sanitation, energy access, sustainable agriculture and more. Additionally, MWH has a program called the Climate Change Commitment Education program, under which employees educate children around the world on simple ways they can save water and energy to protect the future of the planet. Since 2007, more than 14,500 students from 10 countries have participated in this program.

Visual Intelligence and Predictive Analytics

Another trend has been the explosion in social media accessibility and technology capability. It has had an astonishing impact on many major clients of MWH. It is a phenomenon that will only increase in the future as the velocity and variety of data transfer increases exponentially. Many clients of MWH are seeing “regulation” of their activities being done by customers, consumers and critics in real time on visual media. It is a new currency of communication and one which can have wide-ranging impacts on reputation as well as actual levels of customer service.

“In our utilities business, we are working closely with clients to combine our asset knowledge with new technology to give highly visualized displays of real-time performance and predictive future performance to allow clients to manage for optimal asset effectiveness and efficiency and proactive customer service. We call this visual intelligence and it speaks to the new world of machine-to-machine communication. We seamlessly integrate previously unconnected data drawn from those types of interactions and translating it into real-time screen display of valuable information allowing operators to see a ‘rich picture’ of data and make decisions that significantly benefit their business,” said McAulay.

For example, if a water main were to burst in the middle of a business district, in the past, the client would check their records, repair the pipe and manage the fix. This is no longer acceptable to regulators and the general public. Now clients must manage the event, and technology is helping them to do so. Utilities can now connect data that can help predict how many people may be affected by the dust kicked up from construction on the street, the changes in pressure on the entire system when a water line is shut down or rerouted, understand the traffic patterns around the construction to plan for the best times for repairs, measure influence circles around the incident—what is the demographic of the populous and are they historically more apt to complain and what is the ethnic makeup of the neighborhoods in order to properly distribute the correct communications. Utilities now manage time to resolution, track the number of complaints in certain areas, comparing historic versus actuals, and some are even looking to engage in sentiment analytics that will probe social media conversations real-time during repairs, allowing for real-time responses and management. The combination of historical knowledge and predictive knowledge allows for clients to manage for outcomes as opposed to outputs.

At MWH, technology is being used to help clients manage big data in order to make informed decisions that drive their business forward. The company is using a system-thinking approach to pull together the whole picture of asset creation, operations and management so that whether the client is:

• On the Board and cares about share price. • In the management office controlling energy and labor costs. • At the job site taking corrective action to fix or replace a pump, he or she is pulling the right information out of a system that understands time, money and asset-outcome relationships.

McAulay says, “We are able to use technology in new and exciting ways to vision and implement outcome-based scenarios that are cost-effective and sustainable solutions for our clients.”

MWH has flourished since 1820, and will continue to, following the company’s developed GSI, watching the megatrends in the marketplace, incubating research efforts and involving employees in Building a Better World.

The 4 I’s

“First comes thought; then organization of that thought, into ideas and plans; then transformation of those plans into reality. The beginning, as you will observe, in in your imagination.”

—Napoleon Hill

On this latest issue of ICOSA you will notice that our tagline has changed from “Connection and Collaboration” to “Empowering Leaders through Connection, Collaboration, and Communication.” We as an organization are continuously transforming. Our overall purpose is to showcase “the best of show,” whether it is by this magazine that you are reading, our radio station, our website or any other of our media platforms that empower leaders to thrive.

People band together under the notion that two heads are better than one. Why do we believe this statement to be true? Because individuals realize that in order to achieve their goals, they often need more than they can offer alone. All organizations differ, yet they share a common goal: to maximize their strategic resources, which we at ICOSA call the “4 I’s.” In the last five issues of ICOSA you have witnessed the collaborative principles that we abide by. The next issues of ICOSA will continue to introduce you to our philosophies, and in this issue we introduce you to the 4 I’s.

Every successful organization has its own information, intelligence, ideas and innovation, which it uses in a way that sets it apart from all other organizations. We define them as the following:

Information:	Information can be equated to raw knowledge. It is acquired in its most basic form by the five senses (sight, scent, taste, smell and touch) and is stored and processed in the mind. Without information, the mind is useless. Therefore, we think of information as the building block of the mind.
Intelligence:	Intelligence is the ability to use information, tying bits of information together in innovative ways to solve problems. In an organization, intelligence is the ability to sense the value that a particular opportunity will bring to the organization.
Ideas:	An idea can be thought of as the manipulation of intelligence and information to determine a possible course of action.
Innovation:	Innovation is a new idea, method or device.

Information binds humans socially to one another. We share information in the hope of gaining the mechanisms to survive and even flourish. Individuals possess different knowledge and can process certain types of information better than or differently from others. Individuals are brought together—connected—to share information so that they might accomplish something greater than they could alone. If an organization has access to a large quantity of relevant information, its people are more likely to make wise decisions than if they had access to a smaller quantity of relevant information. Information is abundantly available and free-flowing via the Internet, encyclopedias, statistics, research studies, news reports, interviews, speeches, government documents, newspaper columns, editorials and magazine articles.

Intelligence depends on cognition, past experiences and genetic dispositions. Because everyone differs in these realms, everyone differs in intelligence; for example, some people excel in math while others are stronger in language. Intelligence is the ability to sense the value that a particular opportunity will bring to the organization and how each opportunity will affect the organization’s present, and future. Strong organizations realize that different individuals are able to tie information together differently and recognize different opportunities. To run smoothly, organizations need strong leaders, creative minds and organized individuals making sure every aspect of a project gets finished and is done right. That is why the best organizations actively seek out members with a variety of skills and talents. The mind is the machine where intelligence occurs. Although information can be stored in various places other than in the mind—filing cabinets and computers, for example—intelligence is only in the mind.

Ideas are incredibly important; they provide the link between mind and body that empowers action. Additionally, ideas are the backbone of activity. Behind every action that occurs, there is an idea supporting it. If we did not have the ability to form ideas, then we would never actually do anything. Ideas are not just important to individuals; ideas are also instrumental to organizations. Having an idea is what sells. Ideas have the ability to turn our thoughts into action. A company’s future could also depend on the ideas its people generate in order to make the company revitalize, renew and rebuild. Whether an organization is product- or service-based, only the organization’s ability to convey that its ideas and goods can provide some benefit will persuade stakeholders to work with the organization. As a leader, treat every idea from an employee as a valuable contribution, and make it your challenge to bring it to life.

Innovation determines what ideas are “good” (morally sound, feasible, financially responsible, etc.). A company is more likely to implement only ideas that will strengthen both its revenue and its reputation, bringing it closer to its state of perfection. But innovation is more than a means to perfection. To be successful in the long run, organizations must make a commitment to innovation.

Everyone knows that successful organizations are made up of great individuals. However, if information is reserved for only one individual to use, the amount of intelligence that can come from within even a large organization is limited. The way information is shared within a company is vital to intelligence of the organization as a whole. The easier it is for individuals to share information, the more intelligence an organization can obtain.

The 4 I’s are more than separate vital resources; they are crucially interdependent. Together they form a dynamic cycle, which is imperative to the function of an organization. The cycle begins with information, gathered from both external and internal sources. By using our intelligence, relevant and related pieces of information are tied together to form ideas. These ideas are then filtered through to determine if they are innovative before they are put into action. Innovation helps to assure the information, intelligence and ideas are developed in a positive manner.

If organizations properly use these 4 I’s, they will see both financial and emotional returns on their investments. Although organizations are typically defined through their use of these assets, many groups are short in supply of one or all four of these resources.

Center for the New Energy Economy

The Center for the New Energy Economy (CNEE) is directed by former Governor Bill Ritter.  CNEE works toward the advancement of clean energy policy at the state level.  Ritter takes the CNEE message nationally through speaking events about clean energy.  The CNEE has partnered with the East China Normal University which seems to be strategic in that China was number one in all renewable index rankings for 2011 and 2010, reported Ernst & Young. “We need a national energy policy,” Ritter.  Ritter states the clean energy agenda is really about emissions for example natural gas emissions.  Questioning what forms of energy are most efficient has several factors such as the natural environment of a location.  The factors are numerous however the Feds have some legislation on clean energy.

In the U.S. Federal government the clean energy agenda is basically looking at two issues; one is Property-Assessed Clean Energy, (PACE) financing and two the extension of the production tax credit which the wind energy industry relies upon.

At the state level best practices in extraction and efficiency are being discussed.  The CNEE has worked with about 10 states in advancing clean energy policies.

“What’s really interesting is one size doesn’t fit all, so it is important to tailor our work in states to the resources available in the state—to the economic landscape to some extent—to the way that they are generating electricity, to think about that and what that transition is going to involve.  Interestingly transmission—it’s very difficult and sort of a sophisticated topic but the transmission infrastructure matters a lot because of interconnection—pulling renewables onto the grid can be a very difficult thing to do,” Ritter.

“I think energy is one of those things that should not be all about politics but somehow this debate over whether climate change is real or not, is sort of sucked into it, the whole conversation around clean energy including things like energy efficiency.  It’s about saving energy and good business practices,” Ritter.

Clean energy policy groups such as the Energy Foundation out of San Francisco, Hewlett Foundation, Packard Foundation and the McKnight Foundation fund CNEE.

To read more about the Center for the New Energy Economy, visit; http://cnee.colostate.edu/.

To view the full interview, visit; http://youtu.be/JrnCbJBsEro.

Western Energy Alliance

 

Western Energy Alliance is a non-profit trade association representing more than 400 companies across the West connected by the similar interest of environmentally responsible exploration and production of oil and natural gas.

Companies within the intermountain west are represented six ways. 

1. Regionally and nationally represented in the areas of government access to lands for exploration and production, federal agency permitting, air and water quality, reform of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and Endangered Species Act (ESA), wildlife conservation, health and safety, taxation, and other issues.
2. Western Energy Alliance has established relationships with lawmakers in Washington, D.C. enabling meetings with Congress and the Administration.
3. Western Energy Alliance is viewed as a valuable resource by policymakers on oil and natural gas.
4. Current issues are addressed with speaking events
5. They publish the Wildcatter Weekly focusing on natural gas and oil.
6. They provide networking opportunities.

Technology and geologic improvements have increased the locations natural gas can be drilled from making it a clean and secure energy source.  It reduces pollution by 50 percent in comparison to traditional energy sources.  This is measured in the reduced amount of mercury burned and the absence of sulfur dioxide emission.

One-third of all natural gas is produced in the west said, Kathleen Sgamma, vice president of Western Energy Alliance.  Sgamma also said a conservative estimate is that six states can produce an equal amount of all oil imported however the areas are oil drilling restricted.

Natural gas is highly regulated.  Sgamma and Kelly de la Torre seemingly agree that regulatory agencies overlap in regulations and are inconsistent.  Kelly de la Torre is an attorney at the Anton Law Group and practices environmental law.  Current regulations implemented by the E.P.A. have little environmental benefit compared to the cost it takes to abide the regulation.

Western Energy Alliance advocates for balance between environmental safety and production of natural gas and oil.  To contact the Western Energy Alliance visit their website at; www.westernenergyalliance.org.

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Kelly de la Torre―Commercial and Residential Energy Use

Conserving energy residentially and at your business saves money.  Small business owners are impacted by energy use both at home and at work so it is important to have a basic understanding of utilities.  Businesses can work back and forth with their utilities to figure out the best energy savings strategy.   Here are the basics of energy use. An energy rate consists of operating costs, recovery costs, actual cost of energy and return on investment to investors.

Factors that influence the energy rate are energy cost, price changes due to weather, economic forecast, general maintenance and time of day.  Time of day is used determine the energy rate.  Peak hours are defined by each utility company.  Typically peak hours are 8am to 8pm.  Peak hour energy rates cost more than off peak.

Commercial rates for energy can be lowered by allowing devices to be cycled during peak hours.  Utility companies and businesses can collaborate to determine when the cycling happens.

Every degree the thermostat is turned down saves three percent which can be $80 to $100 saved per year.

To save on energy power strips can be used on appliances that continually draw phantom energy such as cable boxes, computers and printers, etc.  Anything that is plugged into the wall can be put onto a power strip and shutting that power strip off saves money.

Purchase energy star appliance both at work and home.

For more information, visit: rmenergyblog.blogspot.com.

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Are We Really spOILed?

The documentary film spOILed debuted last week in Denver to a private crowd hosted by the city’s petroleum club, which was greeted with cheers and applause as the film gushed to a start. Director Mark Mathis delivered a truthful and resonating film from the perspective of a realist who journeyed to discover the truth about oil. As a born and bred local of Colorado and an energy enthusiast I was pleased to experience a realistic and balanced perspective on oil production.

From the onset, the film is catchy and interrupting. Mathis’ story line delivers you to logical points and in an instant flashes you back in time to iconic moments in history as a reminder of how quickly our perception of oil has changed. His clip composition is timed perfectly to anticipate the moments when the viewer may be thinking, “but…"

From Greenpeace to industry insiders, Mathis interviews a gamut of individuals with a vested interest in the production of oil. While the U.S. doesn’t have an energy policy, everybody has an opinion on what it should be. Like Gasland, spOILed is sure to receive attention regarding Mathis’ “ honest discussion on energy.” The film serves as a reminder about how we came to use oil, how oil has revolutionized our world and our lifestyles as well as the results of cutting off oil production completely. It begs to the absurdity of not knowing the intrinsic connections and value that oil affords us, and how far-reaching our dependence is. spOILed reminds viewers that while figuring out an alternative solution to oil is important we can’t just sever our life line to the fuel without consequences.

Living as Americans we have come to appreciate and take for granted the freedoms and choices that are provided to us daily. Our forefathers in a quest to develop a system for free people outlined a set of laws that helped us pursue life, liberty and happiness. These freedoms have allowed us to watch the sunset from our beach bungalows, cozy up to the fireplaces in our mountain homes and drink wine on the porches of our cottages; due in part to the innovations and discoveries years ago spurred by the discovery of oil.

Like residents living on the coasts or across the plains, I too appreciate the daily aesthetics’ that living in Denver and the state of Colorado allow to me. There is nothing like watching the sun set over the mountains, enjoying the outdoors and breathing the fresh Rocky Mountain air at 5,000 feet. I am also acutely aware of the blessings I count for myself in the form of a great place to live, a hot shower in the morning, a reliable car and an iPod that like me runs for hours so that I can be alone with my thoughts, which hopefully come out as good writing when I finally get to typing on my Mac. I also know that these same blessings are the result of American discovery, innovation and ingenuity forged as a direct result of our use of oil.

Mathis’ documentary while of course focused on oil, presents a logical look into the world of oil production and asks viewers to be rational when discussing it and its alternatives. Whether you are a fan of renewable energy or fossil fuels you need to see the film spOILed to really understand both sides or at least to have a rationale conversation on how our society can cut back on its oil dependence without eliminating it completely.

Sustainable Energy in the U.S. Military

The United States military recognizes the need for sustainable energy.  In August the Army established the Energy Initiatives Office Task Force to develop renewable energy projects and improve energy security.  This is a concern because providing energy to remote military locations is dangerous as well as the possibility of the military communications being offline.  In fact one of eight army causalities is a result of protecting fuel convoys.  New energy technology can save lives, money and the environment.  In Iraq from 2003 to 2007, 3,000 people died protecting fuel convoys.  The fuel is used to run generators which provide electricity for communications.  The end cost is $40.00 per gallon which includes all aspects of getting the fuel to remote locations. One reduction to using fuel is providing solar panels that are easily rolled up into an individual’s backpack.  On base solar panels can be mounted on trailers.  The Department of Defense is interested in micro-grids to provide electricity to the military in an energy crisis.  As new energy products are provided and/or developed both by the military and business, most importantly lives will be saved.

For further reading please, visit: http://rmenergyblog.blogspot.com.

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Africa - Can the Continent Build a Sustainable Energy Future?

In our turbulent and uncertain world, countries like China and India have emerged as nations leading the charge towards global economic growth, industrializing through fossil fuels.  However, despite the emergence of these successful economies, energy poverty continues to be an issue for countries across Africa that lacks the infrastructure for even small-scale energy developments. And while the slate is clean for countries across Africa to explore the vast resources available to them, they also have to work through the challenges that those same resources pose. For this reason, academics, researchers, engineers and business leaders came together to speak to those challenges and share ideas to help create a sustainable energy future, a platform for economic development in Africa.  The Global Commerce Forum’s event held in Denver challenged participants to look at potential development based on clean energy complemented by natural gas.

Unlike other countries around the world, the nations that make up Africa lack the monetary resources and the infrastructure for such development. While Africa has lots of sun and wind that blows across the open plains, they do not have manufacturing facilities, concrete plants or transportation to service such large-scale green energy developments.

There are, however, huge reserves of undiscovered and unrecovered natural gas throughout the coastal basins, North-Central Africa, the Chad Basin and through the Nile Delta. Currently, there is a lack of sub-structure for recoverable reserves but these Pre-Cambrian, Devonian and Jurassic source rocks contain huge shale gas potential. This has of course already captured the attention of multi-nationals like Chevron, Swakor (now NAMCOR), Shell and Anadarko who operate across the continent in basins like Tindouf and Karoo that are comparable to the United States’ Barnett and Marcellus shales respectively.

Even with these large-scale operations headed by powerful companies, Africa with its assessed reserves still only has 52 land rigs, 26 off-shore rigs and only five new proposed facilities to produce conventional oil but not unconventional. The climate for new wells however looks slow to change, especially with regulatory issues from geopolitical influences plaguing various areas along with local concern for surface and ground water contamination. But even these challenges can be worked through with proper education regarding the existing technology and techniques.

The real challenge is the water resource conundrum, especially as it pertains to hydraulic fracturing which requires huge amounts of water reserves as well as recycling. Because of the operation locations, there is limited access not just to water but water infrastructure and the availability of the markets that would access such gas. Add in the cost of transportation and the vision seems almost insurmountable.

“Natural gas isn’t the solution, it is the foundation,” said Paula Gant, VP of Regulatory Affairs for the American Gas Association. With the help of small-scale renewables, cities and towns can experience some power where there was not any before while large-scale traditional energy development by large multi-nationals such as Chevron, Shell, Anadarko and NAMCOR can help to advance infrastructure through private funding.

One thing is clear, without an energy policy of our own, advancing one for another continent does not seem logical. The people of Africa have shown that they are strong, they are resilient and they are proud. They do not need a handout, they need a hand up, “Africa needs investment and Africans need jobs. Jobs are created by business, not charity,” said John Coors, Chairman, President and CEO of CoorsTek. “If money was the issue for these people than the problem of poverty would have been solved.”

The shale is there. The demand is high. The people need work. The real question is, how do we support businesses to create jobs and help to build the local African economy? Until then, according to the International Energy Agency, tonight when the sun goes down in Africa, roughly 587 million people will be left in the dark.

Powering a Nation

Energy Development on Native Lands

Think “energy development on Indian lands” and probably wind, solar, geothermal and biomass projects - renewables - are what come to mind, but that’s not all that’s happening in on Native American reservations. Coal, which supplies more than 50 percent of America’s electricity, is still very much in the mix, and for good reason.

Former Sen. Ben Nighthorse-Campbell, R-Colo., told Congress just five years ago, “Indian lands comprise approximately 5 percent of the land area of the United States, but contains an estimated 10 percent of all energy reserves in the United States, including 30 percent of known coal deposits located in the western portion of the United States.”

Coal deposits are a big part of many tribes’ patrimony. Coal can be the resource that provides a decent standard of living, sends kids to college, and finances the struggle to affirm and maintain tribal sovereignty.

Steven J. Morello (Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians) is director of the U.S. Energy Department’s Office of Indian Energy Policy and Programs. “Energy development will be worth three times what gaming is worth in Indian Country,” he said. “Tribes need to take stock of their energy resources.”

Morello listed some of the energy projects on Indian reservations: the Northwest Band of Shoshone Nation is building the first of five geothermal plants and its entire output is already sold; the St. Croix Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin have built an exemplary biomass facility; and the Oklahoma Cherokee, the Navajo Nation and many other tribes are working on wind projects.

Then there are the major coal projects: Many Stars CTL (coal-to-liquid) facility on the Crow Reservation in Montana and Desert Rock Energy Project, a coal-fired power plant in New Mexico on the Navajo Nation.

“The CTL plant will produce synthetic jet fuel for the Air Force,” said Morello.

When fully operational, the plant will provide millions in revenues each year to the Crow Nation. This will give them the opportunity to truly determine their own destiny.”

On Desert Rock, Morello said, “The Navajo Nation doesn’t yet do gaming and has great economic need. We advise tribes, ‘Don’t sell your raw materials, sell a product.’ That’s what the Navajo Nation is doing. The plant will generate electricity and provide jobs.

Many Stars CTL Project

Crow Tribal Chairman Carl Venne said the Many Stars Coal to Liquid project would not only “secure the future of the tribe and its members for generations, but would also enhance national security by making the United States less dependent on foreign oil.”

“On the Crow Reservation we have a 47-percent unemployment rate and a yearly average family income of $7,000 to $10,000. Our people are the poorest of the poor; we don’t make money from gaming,” Venne said. “We together as Indian tribes have an American dream to own our own homes, have jobs, and send our kids to school. But the federal government can’t do this.”

“We’ve given up a lot to this nation, which has not taken care of our tribe. Our land base was 38 million acres; now it is 2.5 million acres. What it boils down to is this: The government has managed our resources for 140 years and we lost everything. We’re tired of waiting for the federal government. We want the opportunity to make our own decisions and mistakes.”

How important is this project for the tribe? “We have the resources to secure the reservation for generations to come. That’s how important it is,” Venne answered.

Ken Roberts, COO of Australian-American Energy Company, a subsidiary of Australian Energy Company, the developer of Many Stars, explained that the project would use coal gasification combined with Fischer-Tropsch process, generally referred to as coal-to-liquids: Coal is first partially oxidized to create a synthesis gas made of hydrogen and carbon monoxide and then it is converted catalytically (a chemical process under heat and pressure…the Fischer-Tropsch process) into a synthetic crude. That can then be refined into transportation fuels and other chemicals. “Basically, the process takes the coal molecules apart and puts them back together in another form to create ultraclean transportation fuels. In this case, the plant will produce both synthetic diesel and jet fuel.

Roberts said the Fischer-Tropsch process has been around since before World War II. In the past several years the Department of Energy and the Department of Defense have carried out studies to verify the benefits of synthetic fuels made using the Fischer-Tropsch process. Results have been good, and the Air Force is moving toward certifying its entire fleet of jets to use this fuel.

“The technology will help us achieve energy independence and security,” Roberts said. “This is fuel produced from domestic supplies of resources, not foreign oil. The project is of huge strategic importance to the U.S. and helps set the pathway for other CTL projects in this country.”

The Crow project will need two to three years for design work, including final site selection of the plant and the coal mine that will supply it, with these initial development costs in the $100-million range.

About $7 billion will be needed in capital costs for construction of the plant, which will take about four years. “CTL facilities are highly capital-intensive projects,” said Roberts. Investors from the U.S., Australia, and other countries will get a reasonable rate of return on the project because oil prices are so high. “Oil prices of $75 a barrel or higher make CTL economically viable,” said Roberts.

The Crow Tribe will receive royalties and taxes from the coal mining operation as well as share in the profits from the CTL plant, with the exact dollar amount being related to future crude oil prices. In addition, “Part of our agreement is to help develop education and training programs to meet the needs of the project and operations into the future,” said Roberts. The project is expected to create up to 4,000 temporary construction jobs and up to 900 permanent jobs on a reservation of 12,000 people.

Coal gasification in a CTL plant takes place in an enclosed system, which makes it possible to capture significant amounts of the carbon dioxide produced by the process. The carbon dioxide can then be injected into deep geologic structures (geosequestration) or sold to oil production companies for enhanced oil recovery in older reservoirs.

Roberts explained that underground gas storage is not experimental. “Naturally-occurring carbon dioxide reservoirs exist and are currently being used for enhanced oil recovery, such as Jackson Dome in Mississippi and Sheep Mountain in Colorado. Natural gas has been injected and stored in underground reservoirs by the petroleum industry for a long time.” He said the company is working with the Department of Interior to locate potential storage locations for the carbon dioxide generated by the Many Stars Project. There are also many oil fields in the area that could utilize the carbon dioxide for enhanced oil recovery.

This project, Roberts said, would use stranded coal, coal that does occur in sufficient quality or quantity to be economic to develop if costs for transporting the coal to power plants have to be added in. “The CTL plant can be built near the mine to reduce costs of transporting the coal,” said Roberts.

“That’s the same amount that would be needed to irrigate a 7,500-acre field of alfalfa,” said Roberts. “Fifteen acre feet a year represents less than 3 percent of the tribe’s water rights on the reservation today. We intend to be very attentive to water and carbon dioxide concerns. Our objective is to be technically reliable, environmentally responsible and safe.”

Desert Rock Energy Project

Steven Begay is general manager of Diné Power Authority, the Navajo Nation’s coal energy development arm and co-developer with the international development company Sithe Global Power subsidiary Desert Rock Energy Company of the proposed Desert Rock Energy Project.

Begay is acutely aware of the place coal could have in economic development on tribal lands: “There is a huge supply of coal here. From Four Corners to Grants, N.M., there is enough coal under lease to last us for 30-50 years. After that, there are harder-to-retrieve supplies good for another for 300-500 years.”

The Desert Rock project, an advanced-technology coal plant, is composed of two 750-MW units that use supercritical boiler technology, Begay explained. The units burn pulverized coal and the power plant will be built so that it can be retrofitted for carbon-dioxide capture and sequestration when that technology is mature.

For now it will have the latest emission controls, among them selective catalytic reduction (SCR) technology (the same system used to control vehicle emissions) designed to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide, mercury and other pollutants, a bag house to contain particulates, and wet scrubbers to reduce sulfur dioxide emissions.

Frank Maisano, a spokesman for Desert Rock Energy Company, said: “This plant will be built to meet the most stringent air-pollution limits ever imposed in the United States. Other projects have used pieces of the technology, but never before has it all been combined in one project. Desert Rock will set a new standard.”

Like the Crow Tribe’s project, coal for Desert Rock will come from tribal lands, specifically from the BHP Billiton mine near Farmington, N.M., which is expanding to meet the needs of this and other projects.

Maisano said the plant would use about 4,000 acre-feet a year of water, 85 percent less than older coal-fired plants. That number includes 500 acre-feet that will be given to nearby Indian communities. “It’s non-potable water that comes from a very deep aquifer. The communities would not be able to get the water themselves. They’ll be able to use it agriculture and other purposes.” Most of the remaining 3,500 acre-feet will be used for the pollution control equipment. “The plant is air-cooled,” said Maisano, “Cooling Desert Rock does not require water.”

Transmitting power from tribal energy projects to the market is an on-going challenge because many of the transmission lines running near the reservations do not have unused capacity. The Navajo Nation is working on getting clearances to build a new 500 kV AC transmission line that would run from Four Corners to Southern Nevada.

Begay talked about the economics of coal projects on Indian lands.

“When the opposition says don’t do coal, just do wind, solar, nuclear, we still have growing demand for electricity and coal’s a big piece of meeting that demand. We need a mixture of generation.”

“We need a proper mix instead of just saying ‘Green is good.’ Coal can be the backup baseload supply to support wind and solar development. Maybe when coal runs out in 1000 years or so, we’ll need to do something else.”

The No-Coal Option

Geri Small, President of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe, and tribal attorney, Steve Chestnut of Ziontz, Chestnut, Varnell, Berley & Slonim in Seattle, talked to Native American Journal about the tribe’s experience with coal development in the mid 1960s through the early 1980s, a period during which many tribes – virtually at the insistence of the Department of Interior – were entering into leases for coal extraction on their lands.

“Between 1966 and 1971, coal companies including Peabody Western Coal, Consolidation Coal Company, and Chevron, as well as speculators, had acquired leases for coal on the tribe’s land, Chestnut said. “In 1972 and 1973 the tribal council began to realize they had essentially lost control of the reservation.”

“There was massive national interest in resources caused by the energy crisis of the early 1970s. Western coal was seen as the savior. Deals were put together by the BIA. Our royalty rate was 17.5 cents per ton, going down to 16 cents per ton if the coal was processed on the reservation.”

Said Chestnut, “It was a great giveaway and the council couldn’t live with it.”

In 1973 the tribe started to look at how they could get Interior to cancel the leases. It was a high-profile effort, said Chestnut. “The companies involved were very powerful and the tribe had little by way of financial resources.”

The tribe submitted a 600-page petition to the Secretary of Interior asking him to review and cancel the leases. At the end of 1973, Secretary Rogers Morton suspended all of the lease transactions, saying he wouldn’t go along unless the tribe agreed. “I think he wanted to give the tribe leverage to negotiate a better deal, and every company made it plain that there was room to renegotiate. But the tribe was not interested,” said Chestnut.

“This went on for several years. The tribe would never go along, but the leases were only suspended, so a legislative solution was needed,” Chestnut said. “Ultimately it took an act of Congress. The deal was that the companies would relinquish their rights to Northern Cheyenne coal and in return receive rights to federal coal located in other places the companies were already mining.”

In 1980-1981, the tribe received sizable damage payments. “The tribe had achieved its objective—they got clear title to the reservation and some damages and picked up 7,000 acres of land.” The one group of speculators that held out lost out when the final date for negotiations set by Congress expired. Their leases were automatically canceled.

“The whole strategy was conceived and executed by the tribe. Northern Cheyenne has very good tribal leaders, for example, Edwin Dahle, who is considered a tribal hero,” said Chestnut.

And since? “There’s nothing going on” in regard to the development of coal or coalbed methane on the reservation, said Small.

Chestnut offered this explanation: “The tribe is unbelievably dedicated to the reservation.”

Reprinted with permission by Native American Journal, October 2008.

Canada And North America's Economic Recovery

Paving the Way through Energy Security & Clean Energy

These days a lot of people talk about how we live in challenging times. They’re not kidding, especially when by “challenging” they mean a freeze in international credit markets and a synchronized world economic slowdown. It’s no secret, we are in the middle of a global financial crisis, and when it comes to helping get the world economy back on track, Canada is all aboard.

Like the United States, Canada has already taken a number of actions to protect its own economy, which the International Monetary Fund predicted will continue to lead the G7 in financial growth in 2009. Canada is also committed to help stabilize global financial markets, restore credit flow and renew economic prosperity around the world. It will address these challenges by continuing to work closely with its G7, G8 and G20 partners, especially its neighbor, ally and number one trading partner the United States.

As part of this economic recovery strategy, Canada has made energy security and climate change top priorities. Prime Minister Stephen Harper and President Barack Obama recently discussed these key issues and vowed to tackle them together during their meeting in Ottawa on February 19, 2009.

President Obama and Prime Minister Harper Establish Clean Energy Dialogue

Noting the long and productive history of bilateral cooperation on continental environmental protection and energy trade and technology, the President and the Prime Minister agreed that environmental protection and the development of clean energy are inextricably linked and announced plans to work together to build a new energy economy as a key element of broader economic recovery and reinvestment efforts.

The two leaders also discussed ways Canada and the United States could encourage the development of clean energy technologies to reduce greenhouse gases and combat climate change. These talks resulted in the establishment of a senior-level Canada-U.S. Clean Energy Dialogue that will cooperate on several critical energy science and technology issues. Priority initiatives identified include: expand clean energy research and development; develop and deploy clean energy technology; and build a more efficient electricity grid based on clean and renewable generation. In the weeks following the meeting, Canadian and U.S. officials will meet and officially launch this new Canada-U.S. initiative. (See “Canada-U.S. Initiative for Tackling Climate Change & Energy Security” for more details).

Canada - Number One Supplier of Energy to the United States

For a deeper understanding of how Canada fits into the energy and environment equation for North America, it’s important to know the role that Canada plays today. First, Canada is the largest energy supplier to the United States including oil, natural gas, uranium and electricity. In fact, the United States imports more oil from Canada than it does from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait combined. And in 2007, Canada’s oil exports to the United States totaled more than $55 billion U.S., representing 2.4 million barrels per day.

Aside from its conventional oil and gas reserves, Canada’s oil sands in northern Alberta total an estimated 175 billion barrels of oil, which represents one of the largest sources of recoverable oil reserves in the world - second only to Saudi Arabia. Yet as technology and recovery techniques advance, the total oil reserves in Alberta’s oil sands are estimated to reach 1.7 trillion barrels, approximately four times the size of Saudi Arabia’s total reserves.

Roughly half of Canada’s crude oil exports to the United States are derived from Alberta’s oil sands, which provide a secure, dependable and long-term supply of oil for the North American market.

Canada’s Oil Sands and Sustainable Development Practices

Development of one of the world’s largest oil deposits brings both opportunities and issues. With such a huge energy resource come environmental challenges. To deal with these issues in a responsible and proactive manner, Canada is working with both provincial governments and the private sector to address how to secure the energy future in a way that is environmentally sound and sustainable. This involves balancing economic development with environmental and social responsibilities.

Production from Canadian oil sands is undertaken on a commercial basis in the context of transparent environmental regulatory and royalty regimes on greenhouse gas emissions, carbon dioxide capture and storage, water use and land reclamation, as well as water and natural gas use. U.S. companies are among the leading firms engaged in oil sands production, and project proposals to develop oil sands deposits are subject to extensive environmental and regulatory review. These permits are only granted once environmental issues and First Nations’ concerns have been addressed.

Canada’s Commitment to Environmental Stewardship

Canada understands that economic prosperity cannot be sustained without a healthy environment, just as environmental progress cannot be achieved without a healthy economy. It has committed to reducing Canada’s total greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020 and by at least 50% by 2050. Meeting those goals will ensure that Canada’s ongoing actions remain comparable to those our partners in the United States, Europe and other industrialized countries undertake.

In support of this ambitious national goal, Canada will continue to provide support for biofuels, wind and other energy alternatives and will also bring in legislation to ban all bulk water transfers or exports from Canadian freshwater basins. Canada will work with all parties in Parliament to introduce sensible policies that can help consumers and improve our environmental well-being, such as increasing incentives for energy-saving home retrofits.

In addition, Canada will work with the provincial governments and our partners to develop and implement a North America-wide cap and trade system for greenhouse gases and an effective international protocol for the post-2012 period. Canada will set an objective that 90 percent of its electricity needs to be provided by non-emitting sources - such as hydro, nuclear, clean coal or wind power - by 2020.

In early 2009, Canada’s Minister of the Environment Jim Prentice gave an address to the Canadian Council of Chief Executives reaffirming Canada’s commitment to environmental stewardship. During the speech, Minister Prentice stated that the Government of Canada has resolved to make national environmental policies positive instruments of economic renewal and of national development during this period of economic uncertainty. He also said that Canada is committed to helping achieve an effective multilateral climate change agreement for the years ahead. Canada will also continue working with the United States to pursue coordinated approaches to energy and environmental challenges that both face, which was further discussed during Prime Minister Harper’s and President Obama’s meeting.

Achieving these objectives will not be easy. But progress is being made on three concurrent tracks, including the previously mentioned Climate Change Policy that Canada introduced in 2007. As stated, this strategy sets a target to reduce total greenhouse gas emissions in Canada in 2020 by 20 percent from a 2006 starting point, also known as the minus 20 by 2020 approach.

While ambitious, Canada believes these target reductions in greenhouse gases are achievable - a promise to the global community that we think Canada will be able to keep. It’s a commitment that requires a greater effort of Canadians than the one proposed by the E.U. 27.

Going forward, Canada is developing a regulatory regime with mandatory targets that will apply to major industrial emitters

President Barack Obama spoke with clarity and determination about his commitment to environmental issues. The United States is re-engaging on multilateral climate change negotiations, creating the opportunity for a North American regulatory regime and a level playing field.

The Canadian Government looks forward to working with the Obama administration on energy security and environmental sustainability.

We will seek to ensure our federal policies are coordinated. We want federal climate change regulation to work in tandem with tax, tariff and technology policies, as well as all other policies that promote timely domestic investment.

Canada is also working to coordinate and harmonize federal and provincial governments and policies.

Concurrent with such measured movement in Canada, we hope to make progress internationally. In 2009, we will work with other countries to negotiate an effective multilateral climate change accord for the years ahead. Key meetings will take place in Bonn in early April and June, as well as in Italy at the June G-8 meeting. Finally, all roads will lead to the Copenhagen Conference in December 2009.

It is Canada’s hope that future climate change agreements will be effective. Climate change is a global problem and requires a global solution, which means all major emitters, developed and developing nations, need to be part of any new accord

Industrialized nations, to be sure, must be prepared to lead the charge provided all major emitters agree to follow, because if industrialized countries exercise leadership without emerging economies countries coming on board, real progress will not be made.

Climate change is a global problem and requires a global solution, which means all major emitters, developed and developing nations, need to be part of any new accord.

Moving forward, we need to ensure comparable efforts from all industrialized nations. We also need to secure meaningful participation from all emerging economies led by the “Big Five” of China, India, Brazil, South Africa and our NAFTA partner Mexico. We need to focus as well on the development and deployment of transformative clean technology and a concerted effort to produce and transmit a greater percentage of cleaner base-load power.

These are principles that Canada believes could and should form the basis of one shared commitment between Canada and the United States similar to the collective commitment of the European Union. A bilateral agreement could have shared targets and shared timetables, a common carbon market and price standard, and mandates that are based on science and common sense. But we think that the two countries need to go further and talk in terms of concrete action plans. Actions that will reduce not just greenhouse gas emission levels but North America’s dependence on foreign oil, such as the soon-to-be-launched Clean Energy Dialogue, established by President Obama and Prime Minister Harper.

Forty years ago, imported oil accounted for about 10 percent of the American market with Americans producing approximately 90 percent of their own consumption. Today that 10/90 ratio has become 60/40. By 2020, it will likely be at 80/20, because at current rates of production and exponential increases in consumption—SUVs and plasma TVs for example—proven U.S. oil reserves, like those of Mexico, are on course to be depleted just one decade from now. This means that by 2020, the United States will be as dependent on imported oil as E.U. nations.

So while Canada already plays a major role in the North American energy equation, we have the capacity to play an even larger role in the North American energy solution. We believe that working together we can reconcile energy and the environment and still have a secure and environmentally sustainable energy future for both our nations.

It is increasingly important that Canada plays a larger role in the North American energy security solution, when one considers the implications of oil scarcity and the political situations in Russia, Venezuela or the troubled Middle East. Considering these factors, Canada’s status as the world’s most reliable supplier of energy becomes not just an economic opportunity but also an obligation to our international partners and perhaps the single best way that we can contribute much-needed stability in an uncertain world.

Opportunity and obligation are why Canada needs to work with the United States in developing cooperative bilateral action plans. These joint strategies could include bringing northern gas to southern customers; clean technology roadmaps that would optimize the considerable expertise of both countries in areas such as carbon capture and storage; plans to expand clean power generation and transmission capacity here in North America or to interconnect the eastern and western regional power grids in North America; and actions that will help North America and the world make the transition from a high carbon present to a low carbon future while avoiding a disruptive and dislocative period involving no carbon en route.

Finally, as Canada gains traction domestically on approaches to dealing with energy security and environmental stewardship, we are able to make a credible commitment to the international community that Canada will play a key role in the effort to stabilize greenhouse gas emissions. Canada will achieve this by also working with our neighbor and closest ally, the United States, in order to devise and execute a coordinated plan of action that will advance our environmental and our energy objectives and, at the same time, renew the North American economy.

Ambitious? Perhaps it is.

Achievable? We think so.

But of this I am certain: as North Americans, this is an agenda that is worth our very best efforts in the days ahead.

Dale Eisler (BA in Political Science at the University of Saskatchewan, Regina Campus; MA in Political Science at Vermont College, Union Institute & University).

Prior to joining the Canadian Federal Government, Mr. Eisler had an extensive career in journalism, including daily newspapers, weekly newsmagazines, syndicated opinion columns, radio and television. He was also a sessional lecturer in journalism at the University of Regina.

In addition, Mr. Eisler was involved, at an ownership level, in private business for 13 years.

In 1998, he was appointed Assistant Deputy Minister for Consultations and Communications with the Department of Finance in the Government of Canada. In 2004, he was appointed Assistant Secretary to Cabinet (Communications and Consultations) at the Privy Council Office, which was the most senior communications position in the Canadian Government.

In 2006, Mr. Eisler was the recipient of the Saskatchewan Commemorative Medal in recognition of his contributions to the province and society. He is the author of two books, most recently False Expectations: Politics and the Pursuit of the Saskatchewan Myth, published by the University of Regina in 2006. Recently, he was awarded the University of Regina’s distinguished alumni award for professional achievement.

Dale Eisler and his wife Louise took up residence in Denver in November 2007. They have one daughter and one granddaughter.

Mining Asteroids for Fun and Profit

An intriguing new industry is taking shape - Asteroid Mining.   If you've seen the movie Avatar, you have already been introduced to the concept of mining in space.  Such an idea would seem to be a mere figment of science fiction.  Today, however, the concept is being treated with more respect by scientists and investors.

"It is a strategic interest of humanity to be able to go to space,"  says Eric Anderson, co-founder of Planetary Resources.  Last April, the company announced their plans to mine near-earth asteroids (NEAs) for materials ranging from water to precious metals. A single, small asteroid could contain more platinum than has ever been mined in the history on Earth.  As Dr. Peter Diamandis would say, scarcity is contextual.

In a sort of validation of Planetary Resources' venture, a new company is announcing today plans to create “the world’s first fleet of commercial asteroid-prospecting spacecraft”.  Deep Space Industries, Inc live streamed their press release, where they showed this video:

[youtube width="560" height="315" video_id="pIY_fmvFDhM"] 

Earlier this week, Planetary Resources released this tech update:

[youtube width="560" height="315" video_id="2xkM80kdXkg"]

switch ~ At The Alliance Center

Our friends at the Alliance for Sustainable Colorado has an upcoming event at the end of the month.  The Alliance for Sustainable Colorado is hosting the next switch~ on July 31, 2014. Ten speakers. Five minutes. Twenty slides, auto-advanced every fifteen seconds. That's switch~. Based on the same rapid-fire format that helped make TedX and Ignite Boulder popular, switch~ is a chance for people with great ideas about energy and sustainability to share their thoughts. The event is Thursday, July 31st with showtime at 7 p.m. To get tickets visit their website at - http://switchenergy.brownpapertickets.com/

Photo Credit: Alliance for Sustainable Colorado