Consumer Electronics Show 2010 - A Steaming Pile of Hypocrisy? Does it Really Matter?

Photo via Robert Nelson

The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2010 is, as in years past, working to be greener than ever. They're crowing about all the green things they're doing, such as purchasing carbon offsets in the form of renewable energy certificates, donating $50k to the Las Vegas police force for purchasing electric vehicles (does that buy more than maybe two?), enlarging the Sustainable Planet zone by 40% (did they have a choice considering all the new "green" gadgets streaming out of manufacturers this past year?), and choosing "eco-friendly" exhibit locations like the Las Vegas Convention Center (again, was there a choice - is there another venue even close to big enough to host this event?). And yet the Consumer Electronics Association, which hosts the event, has made major un-eco missteps like suing New York City over an e-waste recycling regulation and wagging fingers at California after the state implemented energy efficient TV regulations. Does this make CES's green side all greenwash? And the bigger question - does it really matter?

As much as we love to point out the glaring greenwashing of so many aspects of the event, and the environmental mixed messages from the association itself, there are two significant facts that make it just not all that bad.

First, for a tradeshow the size of CES - the largest tradeshow in the world - which revolves around an industry that is in so many ways the cause of environmental woes - from conflict mineral mining to energy consumption to toxic e-waste dumps - to be so focused on showing off a green side and taking what measures it is currently taking to be environmentally friendly is a big deal. Ideally, it could be doing a whole lot more walking and less talking, but we don't live in an ideal world. We live in one where the world's largest tradeshow is held in Las Vegas, a city with a massive water footprint yet is planted in the middle of a dessert, a city that revolves around consumption and guilt-free indulgence. In other words, the fact that CES is doing anything is a good thing.

Secondly, for all the empty crowing, there's crowing happening from a giant tradeshow, and that has influence no matter how you look at it. As gadget geeks flock to the tradeshow floor, they're not going to be able to miss all the green talk from the show itself and so many of the exhibitors in it. No matter how cynical most may be right now about eco-friendly electronics, eventually everyone attending will have green ingrained in their heads. In other words, CES's greenwashing is actually helping to make green thinking status quo. Radical coming to center, so that heightened sustainable living - you know, all that hippy stuff - becomes normal. That is worth its weight in CO2 offsets.

One final point - the more CEA pushes CES's green side and encourages eco-friendly products, services and events, the more glaring its other moves that put the environment second will become. That kind of double-speak doesn't fly in the logic-based geek community that the organization depends upon. So, it just might be pushing itself to become more environmentally minded without realizing it.

So, when I take off for Las Vegas later today to bring you all the green gadgety goodness going on in the electronics industry this year, I'm going to try hard to focus on what CES and its exhibitors are doing right. If a little elbowing happens, well, it's only to help CES reach their goal of being "the greenest tradeshow" next year.

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Solar Water Heaters Mandatory in Hawaii

As of January 1, 2010, building permits on all single-family new home construction in Hawaii may not be issued for homes that do not include a solar water heating system. This legislation, SB644, was enacted in June of 2009; however, the state energy resources coordinator may be able to provide a variance for this requirement if:

• Installation is impracticable due to poor solar resource;

• Installation is cost-prohibitive based upon a life cycle cost-benefit analysis that incorporates the average residential utility bill and the cost of the new solar water heating system with a life cycle that does not exceed 15 years;

• A renewable energy technology system is substituted for use as the primary energy source for heating water; or

• A demand water heater device approved by UL is installed; provided that at least one other gas appliance is installed in the dwelling. (A "demand water heater" means a gas-tankless instantaneous water heater that provides hot water only as it is needed.)

While the legislation is already in effect, the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission must still adopt specifications for the required performance, materials, components, durability, longevity, proper sizing, installation and quality of solar water heaters.

Already, even before the impact of this new legislation is felt, there are over 65,000 solar water heaters in use in Hawaii today, including thousands on the Big Island. In fact, Hawaii ranks number one in the nation when it comes to using energy from the sun to heat water.

With an eye toward the future, Hawaii law makers understand that conventional water heaters are typically the largest electricity consumer in the average household, gobbling up nearly 40% of consumption. Hawaii's move to force solar heating is a big step for a state that relies heavily on imported fossil fuels for 90% of its supply. This bill has been a long time coming - when the legislation was first introduced five years ago, a barrel of oil cost just $40. Since then, the price has more than tripled.

Overall, solar water heating may save about $6 to $12 or more per person per month when replacing a standard electric resistance water heater. The savings, of course, will vary by household based in part on each person's hot water usage.

Using solar water heating can help keep electric rates down by also reducing electricity demand during the peak evening times from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. when people often use hot water for washing dishes, taking showers, and so forth. To meet this evening peak demand, less efficient electricity generation units must be brought on-line by the power companies. These less efficient units cost more to run and this increase in cost is passed on to consumers.

Not surprisingly, builders and developers were against the new bill, saying it would add too much to the cost of new home constructions. Another surprising opponent was the Hawaii Solar Energy Association. Ron Richmond, with the association, said in an interview with the Star Bulletin, the new legislation would cost home buyers about $2,100 more to have the solar water heaters installed. The average solar water heater, according to the article, currently costs about $5,250, before rebates.

The length of time required to recoup your original investment (payback) will vary widely and depend on whether the purchase is paid for outright or financed and how much energy (electricity, gas, etc.) is saved. Simple payback is the length of time required to recover your investment through reduced or avoided costs. You can expect a shorter payback in areas that have higher energy costs, where the family uses a moderate to large amount of hot water per person, and for homes with more occupants. Finance charges will also lengthen the payback period.

While this new program may make some new homeowners balk at first, there are additional benefits when the cost of a solar water heating system is included in the mortgage for a home purchase. The interest rates are usually lower than on a short-term loan. In addition, the small additional increase in the monthly mortgage payment may be more than made up for in reduced energy costs (electricity or gas).

In the short run, those purchasing new homes in Hawaii may feel a pinch in their wallet upfront in having to install a solar hot water heater; however, over a short period of time, these new homeowners will easily recoup their investment. And, more importantly, by diversifying the State of Hawaii's mix of energy resources by using more renewable energy, such as solar, helps to make Hawaii less dependent on non-renewable energy sources and, in my opinion, a Greener place to live.

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New Nanohybrid Catalysts Could Streamline Biofuel Production

Schematic illustration of the reactions taking place at the water/oil interface in the solid-stabilized emulsions. Depending on the reaction temperature, the prevailing reactions are hydrogenation, hydrogenolysis, or decarbonylation, and depending on the relative solubilities, the products remain in the aqueous phase or migrate to the oil phase. Source: Crossley et al., Science. Click to enlarge.

Researchers at the University of Oklahoma have developed a new family of solid catalysts that can stabilize water-oil emulsions and catalyze reactions at the liquid/liquid interface. Such a recoverable catalyst that simultaneously stabilizes emulsions would be “highly advantageous” in streamlining processes such as biomass refining, in which the immiscibility and thermal instability of crude products greatly complicates purification procedures, note Crossleyet al. in their paper, published 1 January in Science.

The authors deposited palladium onto carbon nanotube–inorganic oxide hybrid nanoparticles. The oxides are hydrophilic, and attracted to the water; the carbon nanotubes are hydrophobic, and prefer the organic layer.

The resulting Janus catalysts (as described by Dr. David Cole-Hamilton of University of St. Andrews, Scotland in an accompanying Perspective piece inScience), sit at the surface like a large surfactant molecule. But unlike surfactants, the nanoparticles are solids that can be easily separated out.

Rather than carrying out multiple consecutive purification steps during refining to separate out the hydrophilic by-products incompatible with fuel applications, it would be desirable to perform sequential reactions under phase-transfer conditions in a single reactor medium.

A serious drawback in such systems, however, is that the surfactants can be difficult to separate from final product mixtures. Solid particles are more easily recoverable and have also been shown in many cases to stabilize aqueous-organic emulsions, but these solid-stabilized emulsions have not been widely used in catalytic contexts. Moreover, in cases such as the refining of bio-oils in which the system is biphasic and contains up to 30% water, the most efficient way of catalyzing reactions is to place the solid catalyst at the liquid/liquid interface and to maximize the extent of interface by creating an emulsion. Otherwise, the catalyst particles will preferentially remain in the heavier phase, such as water. In that case, only the water-soluble molecules will be converted. If further conversion of water-insoluble molecules is wanted, one would need to remove them from the top of the reactor and send them to another reactor with a catalyst operating in the organic phase. Therefore, the concept of solid particles that can simultaneously stabilize an emulsion and catalyze reactions in both phases becomes an attractive proposition.

—Crossley et al.

In the study, the authors explored two preparations with nanotubes of different type, which affected the deposition of Pd. They presented results obtained for several reactions of relevance to biomass-refining chemistry: the elimination of oxygen and the condensation of small molecules. The former is needed to improve the low stability caused by the high reactivity of the oxygenated functional groups in molecules such as the phenolic compounds derived from lignin. The latter is particularly important to increase the molecular weight of those light fragments derived from the less refractory parts of the biomass (cellulose and hemicellulose).

The advantage of operating in a biphasic system, with the catalyst at the liquid/liquid interface, is the possibility of conducting the sequential reactions in a single reactor instead of two.

With solid-stabilized emulsions, a continuous process could be designed in which the two homogeneous phases coexist with the emulsion in a layered configuration: oil/emulsion/water. One can achieve full conversion on both sides of the emulsion followed by constant removal of oil-soluble products from the top layer and water-soluble products from the bottom layer while the reaction keeps occurring in the emulsion.

Our results highlight the preliminary applications of solid catalysts localized at the interface between two liquid phases. We anticipate that tailoring such emulsion-stabilizing solids with additional catalytic functional groups will facilitate a broad range of reactions.

—Crossley et al.

Resources

• Steven Crossley, Jimmy Faria, Min Shen, Daniel E. Resasco (2010) Solid Nanoparticles that Catalyze Biofuel Upgrade Reactions at the Water/Oil Interface. Science Vol. 327. no. 5961, pp. 68 - 72 doi:10.1126/science.1180769

  
  

• David J. Cole-Hamilton (2010) Janus Catalysts Direct Nanoparticle Reactivity. Science Vol. 327. no. 5961, pp. 41 - 42 doi:10.1126/science.1184556

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Biofuel Stocks

Biofuel Stocks
Company (Ticker)	Last Trade	Change	% Change	Open	High	Low	Volume
Archer Daniels Midland (ADM)	31.47	0.16	+0.51%	31.48	31.84	31.33	3406345
Andersons Inc (ANDE)	26.38	0.56	+2.17%	26.08	26.60	26.00	210886
Aventine Renewable Energy Holdings Inc (AVA)	21.60	0.01	+0.05%	21.77	21.79	21.44	267437
Cosan Ltd (CZZ)	8.79	0.09	+1.03%	8.80	8.96	8.71	2637936
Dyadic International (DYAI.OB)	0.00	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Dynamotive Energy Systems (DYMTF.OB)	0.21	0.01	+5.13%	0.20	0.21	0.20	208028
FutureFuel Corp. (FTFL.OB)	6.90	0.20	+2.99%	6.90	6.90	6.90	250
GreenHunter Energy (GRH)	1.33	0.18	+15.65%	1.34	1.36	1.14	134442
Green Earth Technologies (GETG.PK)	0.35	-0.02	-4.11%	0.40	0.40	0.33	163928
Gushan Environmental Energy Ltd (GU)	1.35	0.03	+2.27%	1.40	1.40	1.32	266041
John Deere (DE)	56.06	1.97	+3.64%	54.74	56.20	54.34	3973101
Novozymes (NVZMY.PK)	110.75	4.05	+3.80%	107.85	110.75	107.85	1079
OriginOil, Inc. (OOIL.OB)	0.28	-0.01	-2.41%	0.30	0.31	0.28	226444
PetroAlgae, Inc. (PALG.OB)	22.99	0.00	0.00%	N/A	N/A	N/A	0
PetroSun, Inc. (PSUD.PK)	0.05	-0.01	-9.09%	0.06	0.06	0.05	53500
Rentech (RTK)	1.26	0.03	+2.44%	1.28	1.28	1.22	1307027

Source : http://www.altenergystocks.com/comm/content/biofuel-stocks/

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Biofuel researcher wins biotechnology award

By Susan Trulove

Y.H. Percival Zhang

BLACKSBURG, Va., January 4, 2010 -- Y.H. Percival Zhang, assistant professor of biological systems engineering at Virginia Tech, has been selected to receive the 2010 Daniel I.C. Wang Award.

Presented by John Wiley & Sons Inc. and the journal,Biotechnology and Bioengineering, the award honors an accomplished young member of the biotechnology/bioengineering academic community for commitment to the journal and the community it serves.

The award is named in honor of Massachusetts Institute of Technology Professor Daniel IC Wang, considered "the father of modern biotechnology." It will be presented at the 2010 American Chemical Society annual meeting, to be held in San Francisco, March 21-25.

Zhang's biofuels lab at Virginia Tech integrates chemical engineering design principles with protein biochemistry, microbiology, and modern biotechnology to solve the most crucial challenges for production of biofuels as transportation fuels. He has developed a room-temperature process for digesting biomass into several useful products, including sugars that can be converted to fuels. And he and colleagues at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have demonstrated experimentally an onboard process to convert a cellulosic material into hydrogen to power fuel cell vehicles. Funded by the Air Force, he is engineering enzymes to expedite the conversion of the cellulosic substrate into the soluble product that is ultimately converted to hydrogen energy.

In addition to his most recent award and the Sunkist Young Designer Award, Zhang has received the Air Force Young Investigator Award, the DuPont Young Professor Award, the British Petroleum Young Scientists Award, the Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award from Oak Ridge Associated University. Zhang has received more than $2 million in external funding over the past four years in support of his research program, has published 47 peer-reviewed publications, four invited feature articles, and 10 book chapters, and has submitted 15 patent disclosures. He serves on the editorial boards of three journals.

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Engineered tobacco plants have more potential as a biofuel

(PHILADELPHIA) Researchers from the Biotechnology Foundation Laboratories at Thomas Jefferson University have identified a way to increase the oil in tobacco plant leaves, which may be the next step in using the plants for biofuel. Their paper was published online in Plant Biotechnology Journal.

According to Vyacheslav Andrianov, Ph.D., assistant professor of Cancer Biology at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University, tobacco can generate biofuel more efficiently than other agricultural crops. However, most of the oil is typically found in the seeds - tobacco seeds are composed of about 40 percent oil per dry weight.

Although the seed oil has been tested for use as fuel for diesel engines, tobacco plants yield a modest amount of seeds, at only about 600 kg of seeds per acre. Dr. Andrianov and his colleagues sought to find ways to engineer tobacco plants, so that their leaves expressed the oil.

"Tobacco is very attractive as a biofuel because the idea is to use plants that aren't used in food production," Dr. Andrianov said. "We have found ways to genetically engineer the plants so that their leaves express more oil. In some instances, the modified plants produced 20-fold more oil in the leaves."

Typical tobacco plant leaves contain 1.7 percent to 4 percent of oil per dry weight. The plants were engineered to overexpress one of two genes: the diacyglycerol acytransferase (DGAT) gene or the LEAFY COTYLEDON 2 (LEC2) gene. The DGAT gene modification led to about 5.8 percent of oil per dry weight in the leaves, which about two-fold the amount of oil produced normally. The LEC2 gene modification led to 6.8 percent of oil per dry weight.

"Based on these data, tobacco represents an attractive and promising 'energy plant' platform, and could also serve as a model for the utilization of other high-biomass plants for biofuel production," Dr. Andrianov said.

Thomas Jefferson University

Printed from: http://www.brightsurf.com/t/51387/

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Using Simulated Distillation as Efficient Tool for Modeling Biofuels

Researchers at the University of Graz are proposing the use of simulated distillation (SimDis) as an efficient and effective method to classify biodiesel fuels regarding boiling characteristics and quality. SimDis is a gas chromatographic method widely used in petroleum industries to determine the distillation behavior of different petroleum products and to ensure fuel quality.

In a paper published online 30 December 2009 in the ACS journal Energy & Fuels, Christine Bachler, Sigurd Schober, and Martin Mittelbach show that SimDis can be used to characterize boiling behaviors of different kinds of biodiesel, with a good correlation between data obtained using SimDis and conventional distillation.

Applying the method to two different kinds of biodiesel and biodiesel blends in their study, they show that shorter chain fatty acid methyl esters—e.g., as can be found in coconut oil—can significantly change the distillation characteristic to a more favorable distillation curve, which resembles a fossil diesel fuels boiling behavior.

Biodiesel can differ in chemical composition, unlike fossil hydrocarbon fuels. The fatty acid composition of biodiesel affects critical parameters such as cetane number, cold flow properties, and oxidation stability as well as distillation characteristics.

It is already known that biodiesel basically consists of methyl esters of C₁₆ and C₁₈ fatty acids with similar boiling points. Biodiesel therefore exhibits a narrow boiling range around 350 °C with initial boiling points at 300 °C. In contrast, fossil diesel additionally contains lower boiling compounds, resulting in a steadily increasing boiling behavior starting at 200 °C.

Generally, high-boiling compounds are connected to engine deposits, increase of exhaust gases, and higher cetane numbers, whereas a high amount of volatile compounds can reduce the flash point of the fuel. Further, there is a need to ensure a certain boiling behavior of the diesel fuel due to engine operability, start of the motors, and in the stage of preheating. Recently, the distillation curve is also of main interest in development of diesel fuel surrogates to ensure good engine performance and minimization of pollutants.

—Bachler et al.

Current methods and other procedures based on classic physical distillation suffer from poor reproducibility and are time-consuming and laborious, the authors note. Using simulated distillation simplifies the procedure to obtain distillation characteristics of novel kinds of fuel—e.g., from algae oil or new species of oilseed—where sample amounts are small-sized and fast methods are of great importance.

As a consequence of the general trend to create lower-boiling fuels in order to reduce emissions, simulated distillation is an efficient tool for fuel modeling.

—Bachler et al.

In the study, the researchers used biodiesel produced from rapeseed oil (RME) and from coconut oil (CME)—which differ in their fatty acid composition—along with a petroleum diesel fuel from BP. Among their findings were:

• RME shows a narrow boiling range at temperatures around 350 °C due to the fact of rather high boiling point components, namely fatty acid methyl esters of chain length C₁₆ to C₁₈.

• Coconut oil contains fatty acids of lower boiling point and therefore CME shows a reduced boiling behavior. CME exhibits a distillation characteristic resembling a fossil diesel fuel boiling behavior.

• By mixing RME with CME or fossil diesel fuel, the boiling behavior can be changed, resulting in favorable steadily increasing distillation characteristics.

• The use of pure CME as fuel is not favorable in most European countries due to bad cold properties. However, by mixing CME with RME or diesel fuel the CFPP value can be decreased to adequate values even for moderate climates by maintaining a boiling behavior that still shows ideal characteristics. A certain amount of lower boiling point methyl esters therefore always needs to be selected by consideration of the resulting cold properties of the fuel.

• Fuel blends containing 10% CME seem to represent a good solution.

Further it could be shown that simulated distillation is a powerful tool in analysis, development, and of course in improvement of different kinds of fuels by using widely available laboratory equipment for reduced time and non-negligible potential for automation.

—Bachler et al.

Resources

• Christine Bachler, Sigurd Schober, and Martin Mittelbach (2009) Simulated Distillation for Biofuel Analysis. Energy Fuels doi: 10.1021/ef901295s

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