UC San Diego History and Science Studies Professor, Dr. Naomi Oreskes, the co-author of Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming was featured on the OpEd page of the Los Angeles Times this week.  “The verdict is in on climate change” is a logical and articulate presentation why, in this case, the seemingly reasonable act of maintaining an open mind is, in fact, unreasonable.  Click here to get the full impact in her words.

In Merchants of Doubt, Dr. Oreskes describes how denial-for-hire “experts” have been involved in a continuum of anti-science campaigns stretching back over 50 years to a time when cigarettes were supposedly healthy.  Their tactics have centered on nurturing doubt to forestall action.  The jury is still out; two sides to every story; don’t rush to judgment are their common themes.

The remarkable scientific advances of the past two centuries are based upon a process of research, followed by scientific writing, followed by peer review.  Modern scientific truths are not based on opinion polls or the forcefully stated positions of hired guns from unrelated fields.  The fact that not every scientist within a given field is in agreement does not negate the validity of the peer reviewed conclusions held by the vast majority.  Imagine that you had a child with a life-threating medical condition.  Your doctors agree on the recommended course of action.  In doing so they reveal that their conclusions are held by 90% of the physicians in their specialty.  Would you not take action because their conclusions were not universally held?  Would tell your child, “The jury is still out?”  Would you wait?

Click here for my 2010 review of Merchants of Doubt.  Buy a copy for yourself and for all of your smart friends who read.  

With a focus on the San Diego region’s job growth, smarter technology development, solar energy storage integration and increased electric vehicle infrastructure and deployment, Smart City San Diego is delivering results. The collaborative is made up of City of San Diego, GE, UC San Diego, CleanTECH San Diego and San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E).  It formed to leverage each entity’s strengths to create and implement initiatives to improve the region’s energy independence, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and assert San Diego as a clean energy leader.

“Over the past year, Smart City San Diego has been forward-thinking about creating opportunities for a more sustainable region,” said San Diego Mayor Sanders. “Moving into 2012, our collaborative will continue to build on those results and develop and launch even more initiatives to drive economic growth for our region.”

These results include:

Car2Go: The City of San Diego and SDG&E worked with Daimler’s Car2Go to make San Diego’s launch of its plug-in electric vehicle car sharing pilot a big success. The City continues to work with SDG&E to increase the number of public-access charging stations throughout the Car2Go targeted region. The team is working collectively to educate the community about the benefits of the pilot program and expects to increase public interest in electric vehicles and encourage the growth of the plug-in electric vehicle industry in San Diego. Data gained from Car2Go will provide information on where charging stations are most needed. Smart City San Diego also continues to work to streamline the permitting process for deploying charging stations.

Smart Appliances: SDG&E and GE are working together to test the communication links between GE’s smart appliances and SDG&E’s smart meters to ensure consumers are empowered with the best technologies to manage energy use and costs. GE’s Appliances business is supplying SDG&E with a smart dishwasher, washer and dryer along with a GE Nucleus energy manager and Programmable Control Thermostat to expedite the testing process. SDG&E’s team is currently testing the communication between these assets prior to consumer deployment.

Economic Development and Job Growth: CleanTECH San Diego – working with the City of San Diego, SDG&E, UC San Diego, Scripps Institution of Oceanography and its private sector member companies – is quantifying and categorizing regional clean tech companies that touch smart grid technology development. Categories include solar energy, energy storage, energy efficiency, clean transportation and other technology companies. CleanTECH San Diego has also created a baseline analysis of the direct and indirect economic impacts of the named clusters. This baseline analysis can help quantify year-over-year job growth and other economic impacts of the regional smart grid sector. This will be particularly helpful in measuring the economic impact of the over 180 solar companies and over 20 storage companies that call San Diego home.

Solar Integrated Energy Storage: UC San Diego and SDG&E have submitted a grant application to test, demonstrate and evaluate a variety of solar integrated energy storage projects over a 12 to 24 month period. If funded, this initiative will test multiple applications at multiple sites and provide analysis for the benefit of utilities, grid planners, regulators, solar inverter manufacturers, system integrators, business modelers, energy storage manufacturers and other early adopters. CleanTECH San Diego supports this initiative as part of efforts to advance the region as an Innovation Hub (IHub).  In August 2010, the California Governor’s Office of Economic Development designated the greater San Diego region as an IHub for solar energy storage.  The purpose of the IHub is to build on the region’s existing innovation infrastructure and strong culture of collaboration to accelerate the convergence of solar energy and energy storage.

Policy Leadership: In July 2010, Smart City San Diego hosted California Public Utilities Commissioner Mark Ferron for a day long briefing on San Diego’s smart grid initiatives.  The Commissioner met with industry representatives from the solar, energy efficiency, smart grid and technology sectors and toured UC San Diego’s world renowned microgrid.  The collaborative held a roundtable with the Commissioner to brief him on the vision and work of Smart City San Diego.

Solar Decathlon 2013 Finalist: The City of San Diego and UC San Diego worked with the Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon Committee to make San Diego one of two finalists for the location of the 2013 Solar Decathlon. The event promotes the outreach, education, and economic benefits of energy security, renewable energy and energy efficiency.  If early projections bear out, attendance at the event has the potential to be larger than the San Diego Convention Center’s highest attended conference and create a positive economic impact for the region.

Economic Development and Job Growth: GE worked with CleanTech San Diego and SDG&E to host a GE Sourcing Supplier Diversity event for the first time in San Diego.  Over 50 diverse local suppliers participated in one-on-one sessions with GE buyers to learn how best to work with GE and be considered for future projects.

“GE is proud to bring our grid modernization technology and expertise to Smart City San Diego,” said Mark Hura, global smart grid commercial Leader for GE’s Digital Energy business.  ”An efficient, reliable and sustainable electric infrastructure is essential to powering economic growth and supporting business, industry and the dynamic lifestyles of a skilled workforce.  We applaud all the successes over the past year and look forward to many more to come.”

Formed in January 2011, Smart City San Diego was charged with bringing together leading organizations from government, business, education and non-profit to maximize synergies to drive sustainability programs forward, identify new opportunities, embrace additional collaborators, and move the San Diego region beyond today’s boundaries of sustainability.  This model will be able to be duplicated in other regions.

The collaborative leverages its strengths and resources as a partnership to develop and implement local initiatives that will empower consumers, improve environmental quality, drive economic growth, and reduce the San Diego region’s reliance on oil.  The collaborative is working toward a more consumer-focused, environmentally conscious energy future by addressing San Diegan’s 21st century energy needs.

Click here for the Smart City San Diego website

A microgrid is a localized grouping of electricity generation, energy storage, and loads that normally operate connected to a traditional centralized grid.  The microgrid at University of California, San Diego (UCSD) is one of the best examples of an electricity network that provides local control yet is interconnected with the larger electricity grid.

Recently the Rocky Mountain Institute visited UCSD to study and document the microgrid that controls and integrates electricity supply and demand on the campus.  One result of their visit was a six minute video that spotlights the groundbreaking work being done on the La Jolla campus

At UCSD, the microgrid provides the ability to manage 42 megawatts of generating capacity, including a central cogeneration plant, an array of solar photovoltaic installations and a fuel cell that operates on natural gas reclaimed from a landfill site. The central microgrid control allows operators to manage the diverse portfolio of energy generation and storage resources on the campus to minimize costs. In addition, the campus can “island” from the larger grid to maintain power supply in an emergency, as in the case of the power blackout that struck parts of Southern California, Arizona and Mexico in September 2011.

The microgrid at UCSD provides a living laboratory to experiment with integration and management of local resources and to optimize the use of these resources in interaction with market signals from the larger grid.

Click here to watch the video.

Articles of Interest
Solar forecasting and microgrids
Understanding the Role of Buildings
UC San Diego is a campus-wide living laboratory for sustainable energy

On Thursday I participated in the latest CleanTECH San Diego SCRUB session.  SCRUB is an opportunity for early stage cleantech companies to present their business plans to a panel of CleanTECH San Diego members.  Three local emerging cleantech ventures made their case to twenty-one CleanTECH San Diego members representing a mix of venture capitalists, engineers, marketing specialists, intellectual property attorneys as well as local leaders from industry, research and government.  The objective of SCRUB is to provide feedback and assistance to take each company to the next stage. 

This quarter’s SCRUB showcased three distinctly different cleantech businesses.  TransPower seeks to become a leading supplier of power generation, energy storage and power control technologies. Principal product areas include an advanced electric propulsion system for heavy-duty vehicles and a modular energy storage system for use with EV technology.  Interra Energy’s core process revolves around using waste biomass to create biochar through pyrolysis for use within sustainable agriculture practices, which can create waste biomass and thus a sustainable loop. NuLEDs aims to be a leader in LED lighting and control for commercial environments. Their primary product is a networked digital controller technology that can provide flexible dimming and tailoring of specific colors, correlated color temperatures (CCT) and color rendering index (CRI).

In the past nine quarterly SCRUB sessions CleanTECH San Diego has provided advice, introductions and critical evaluations to 32 future cleantech stars.  If you have a cleantech enterprise that would benefit from a good SCRUB you should forward your business summary to Jason Anderson at jasona@cleantechsandiego.org  

CleanTECH San Diego SCRUB Graduates 2008-2012
(Click on name to link to website)

TransPower

Interra Energy

NuLEDs, Inc.

MultiSpark LLC.

TourEngine Inc.

Lightwave Photonics LLC.

Home Town Farms

Butler Sun Solutions

350 Green

WaterSmart Software   

Shrink Nanotechnologies  

Eco ReBox   

Vari-Ro

Marine Power Partners 

OnRamp Wireless

New Leaf Biofuel 

TransPacificEnergy, Inc. 

Balboa Pacific 

EcoDog

Malama Composites

Pyron Solar

Kai BioEnergy

Community Fuels

ISE Corporation

Chlorofill

Sustainable Green Technologies

California Wind Systems

ECOR (Noble Environmental Technologies)  

Strategic Enzyme Applications  

SleepServer

This quarter’s SCRUB was hosted by CleanTECH San Diego member, Luce, Forward, Hamilton & Scripps LLP. 

Tom Murphy is an associate professor of physics at the University of California, San Diego.  His blog, Do the Math, takes an astrophysicist’s-eye view of societal issues relating to energy production, climate change, and economic growth.

Now is the time on Do the Math when we scan the energy landscape for viable alternatives to fossil fuels. In this post, we’ll look at tidal power, which is virtually inexhaustible on relevant timescales, is less intermittent than solar/wind (although still variable), and uses old-hat technology to make electricity. For this exercise, we mainly care about the scale at which the alternatives can contribute, leaving practical and economic considerations sitting in the cold for a bit (spoiler alert: most are hard and expensive). Last week, we looked at solar and wind, finding that solar can satisfy our current demand without batting an eyelash, and that wind can be a serious contributor, although apparently incapable of carrying the load on its own. Thus we put solar in the “abundant” box and wind in the “useful” box. There’s an empty box labeled “waste of time.” Any guesses where I’m going to put tidal power? Don’t get upset yet.

Continue Reading >

Soitec, a world leader in generating and manufacturing revolutionary semiconductor materials for the electronics and energy industries, dedicated its new North American solar headquarters and manufacturing plant in San Diego at a ceremony held on Friday, December 16.  Governor Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr, provided remarks at the event.  Also participating in the factory dedication were San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders, Jessie J. Knight, chairman and CEO of San Diego Gas & Electric Company (SDG&E), California Public Utilities Commissioner (CPUC), Timothy Simon and Jim Waring, CEO of CleanTECH San Diego.  They were joined by governmental officials and over 300 community and business leaders that attended the dedication event.  The factory is located in San Diego to supply more than 300 megawatts (MW) in solar projects to provide electricity to SDG&E.  All Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) have been approved by the CPUC.  The new factory will enable a manufacturing capacity of 200 MW of Soitec’s fifth generation of Concentrix concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) modules, with the opportunity for future expansion to double the capacity to 400 MW per year.

Soitec’s highly efficient, durable CPV systems have enabled the company to plan for more than 300 MW in utility-scale solar power plant projects throughout the Southwest U.S., including 155 MW in PPAs with San Diego Gas & Electric, approved by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) last month. Additionally, a power purchase agreement for up to 150 MW for the Imperial Solar Energy Center West project, another project that currently proposes to use Soitec’s CPV technology, was approved by the CPUC on December 15.  Tenaska Solar Ventures, LLC, an affiliate of independent energy company Tenaska, is developing that project.  

Click here for a brochure of the Concentrix concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) module.

“SDG&E has signed more contracts using CPV technology than any other utility in the world – a distinction we’re proud of,” said Jessie J. Knight, Jr., chairman and CEO of SDG&E.  ”At the time we began our talks with Soitec, we realized we had a unique opportunity to negotiate not only a good contract for solar energy at prices that competed head-to-head with other technologies, but also to solidify an agreement that would bear fruit for years to come in new local jobs and overall economic benefits.  From a reliability and grid stability perspective, this technology is far superior to other typical ground-mounted arrays.”

Soitec employs a distributed manufacturing model which locates CPV module factories close to its customers to provide the most efficient and environmentally beneficial green power.  The distribution model also calls for a large percentage of local content and local job generation.

“Soitec’s new facility will create hundreds of well-paying jobs and build on San Diego’s growing reputation as one of the world’s leading clean-technology clusters,” commented San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders.  ”We are so honored and proud to welcome Soitec to the San Diego community, and I know that San Diego’s collaborative business community will continue to work with Soitec to ensure the company’s success and prosperity.”

Governor Brown noted, “I’m glad to be here for the dedication of Soitec’s manufacturing plant. The expansion of clean energy businesses is a direct result of legislation mandating that one-third of California’s electricity come from renewable sources by 2020.  That’s a goal and we’re going to meet it. In fact, we are going to do better.”

The U.S. Department of the Interior issued its final approval of the Tule Wind Power Project today when Secretary Ken Salazar signed the Record of Decision on the Environmental Impact Statement. This is the approval for the portion of the project on federal lands, making it the first approval of five California “priority” wind energy projects proposed for public lands.

“We applaud the effort by the Department of the Interior, which worked closely with the State of California to effectively execute the environmental review process for Tule Wind and other priority projects to bring jobs and revenue to these communities,” said Harley McDonald, business developer for Iberdrola Renewables.

In late 2009, Secretary Salazar and then-Governor Schwarzenegger signed an agreement directing Interior and California State agencies to create a federal-state initiative to advance development of environmentally appropriate renewable energy on U.S. lands in California.

The Tule Wind Power Project, an up to 200 MW wind energy facility, is proposed for the McCain Valley in Eastern San Diego County. The federal lands portion of the project approved by the Department of Interior today will generate up to 186 MW.

The federal agency’s approval of Tule Wind is the first of several needed to bring this important source of clean energy to San Diego. The project is located within four jurisdictions and will need additional approvals from the California Public Utilities Commission, Bureau of Indian Affairs, California State Lands Commission and County of San Diego.

“The County of San Diego will be holding hearings on our Major Use Permit application in the first quarter of 2012,” said McDonald. “The Planning Commission, then likely the Board of Supervisors, will be voting on whether this project will be allowed to proceed.

“It is important that all our permits are secured in the next few months, so the project can have a chance to be built and deliver energy before the end of 2012 when the current tax credits expire,” said McDonald.

Tule Wind is a Low-Impact, Clean Energy Source

The Tule Wind Power Project, as proposed, will produce enough clean energy for approximately 60,000 San Diego-area homes, reduce greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 230,000 tons and reduce water use by 149 million gallons per year by displacing gas-fired generation.

“More than five years of environmental studies have found that Tule Wind will have very low impact to cultural, wildlife and natural resources,” said McDonald.

In its Record of Decision, the Department of the Interior selected an alternative that reduced the number of turbines on public lands from 128 turbines to 62 turbines — in order to avoid biological, cultural and hydrological resources. Iberdrola Renewables has worked in close collaboration with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and species-specific biological experts to identify the risk to sensitive and endangered species near the project area and develop a comprehensive Avian & Bat Protection Plan for the project.

“We’ve been working closely with the Fish & Wildlife Service on science-based solutions to avoid impact to all avian species — in particular, golden eagles,” said Stu S. Webster, director of Permitting & Environmental for Iberdrola Renewables.

“All the federal agencies involved in this effort recognize the need to minimize the project’s environmental impacts, and realize the broader benefits of wind energy, creating jobs and meeting renewable energy goals,” said Webster.

Iberdrola Renewables conducted several years of avian point counts, conducted telemetry studies on golden eagles and nesting surveys in compliance with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and California Department of Fish and Game — and only two golden eagle observations were made during two years of avian use surveys at the project site, explained Webster.

“The studies indicated low use of the site by golden eagles, telling us that collision with a Tule Wind turbine is unlikely,” said Webster. “However to err on the side of caution and prove that our science-based deductions are accurate, we have commissioned to continue another year of studies on the northern ridge through the Wildlife Research Institute, which has been studying eagle activity in San Diego County for 23 years. It is expected that these additional studies will confirm little-to-no use by the eagles of the valley portion of the project area and further characterize eagle use near the northern ridge and confirm that there is very low risk to these eagles.”

WRI has already conducted two years of golden eagle nesting and territory analyses and one year of raptor migration studies on the project site.

Tule Wind Benefits San Diego County

In addition to providing substantial environmental benefits, Tule Wind will add to the region’s economy by providing:

– $3.5 million per year in property tax revenue to the County of San Diego

– Support of approximately 915 jobs in the San Diego economy during construction — including ancillary supply chain and manufacturing jobs

– 10-12 new permanent jobs onsite during operations, with an additional 28 jobs supported each year in supply chain and manufacturing

– $30 million in Sales & Use Tax during construction

– $1 million in annual payments to landowners and tribes

– $1 million over 30 years in campground improvements and maintenance in McCain Valley

Tule Wind enjoys broad-based support from San Diego residents and businesses that want to protect the environment, improve air quality, and spur economic development for the region.

“CleanTECH San Diego is keenly interested in not only the region’s air quality, but also economic opportunities that create jobs for our region,” said Jim Waring, president and CEO, CleanTECH San Diego. “As a leader in the clean energy economy, we support the development of renewable energy projects that further diversify our energy resources. To this end, we encourage the County Board of Supervisors to approve Tule Wind as proposed, to fuel the region’s economy and meet clean air mandates.”

“We’re thrilled to see the Tule Wind Power Project moving in the right direction, bringing jobs, sustainability and economic prosperity to San Diego County,” said Scott Alevy, president and CEO of the East County Chamber of Commerce. “It is important that we clear the green tape to advance these projects that provide such great benefit to not only the environment, but also the local economies they will serve.”

The Tule Wind Power Project Environmental Impact Statement/Report was performed in accordance with guidelines set forth by the National Environmental Policy Act and California Environmental Quality Act, and was studied jointly with the proposed San Diego Gas & Electric East County Substation and Sempra Energy’s Energia Sierra Juarez’ Gen-Tie Line.

Click here for more information about the Tule Wind Power Project.

And click here for Morgan Lee’s article in the San Diego Union Tribune, “Large wind farm earns federal approval”.

As California is poised to adopt a new round of car standards designed to cut emissions and expand the market for electric vehicles (EV), a new report provides insight into California’s emerging leadership role in this fast-growing economic sector.  New data reveals that California took in $467 million in global EV venture capital (VC) investment (69 percent of total dollars) in the first half of 2011 and, along with Michigan, is the top patent holder for new EV technology in the United States.  Powering Innovation: California is Leading the Shift to Electric Vehicles from R&D to Early Adoption, from the nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization Next 10, tracks key indicators to assess opportunities and obstacles for California in the EV sector.

Click here for the 32 page report and here for the Key Findings.

San Diego’s contribution to the growth of EV was featured in the report.  (Page 22) “The San Diego Region more than tripled its EV workforce between 2004 and 2010.  The largest contributions to growth have been Motor Vehicle Components, composing 52 percent of the region’s EV employment in 2010, and Advanced Batteries with 42 percent of regional EV employment.”  (Page 22) “The San Diego Region boasts the highest employment concentrations in both Advanced Battery and Motor Vehicle Components.”  (Page 24) “In Research and Development, San Diego represents 60 percent of EV related employment statewide, equal to roughly 150 jobs of the more than 280 EV jobs in the region.”

Of particular value in the report are the observations on Page 26 which summarize the realities of EV, “Why Electric Vehicles?  Benefits and challenges to powering innovation.”

You can drill down to the company level of the transportation technology sector in the San Diego region via the cleantech cluster database on CleanTECH San Diego’s website.  Click here.

The Future of the Electric Grid was published this week by the MIT Energy Initiative.  The 268 page report aims to provide a comprehensive, objective portrait of the U.S. electric grid and the challenges and opportunities it is likely to face over the next two decades.  It also highlights a number of areas in which policy changes, focused research and demonstration, and the collection and sharing of important data can facilitate meeting the challenges and seizing the opportunities that the grid will face.  The report shows that with new policies, the electric grid in the United States could handle the expected influx of electric cars and wind and solar generation.

Much of the report relates directly to developments in the San Diego region.  Chapter 5 is about The Impact of Distributed Generation and Electric Vehicles.  Chapter 8: Utility Regulation touches on the current challenge in San Diego to have a rate structure for distributed generation which is equitable for all parties.

(From page 182 of the report), “The distortions caused by these implicit subsidies rise with the penetration of distributed generation and with energy conservation more generally.  Consider, for example, proposed “zero net energy” buildings: if network costs continue to be recovered on a per-kWh basis, these customers could in theory receive all the benefits of being connected to the grid, drawing and injecting power on demand, while paying little or nothing toward the cost of the system or the option to use the network.”  Of course, the opposite side of the issue is also compelling.

Click here for the complete report and here for the abstract.

The multidisciplinary effort of the MIT Energy Initiative to generate The Future of the Electric Grid included economists, engineers and, of course, graduate students from MIT and from without.  Click here for an excellent video of the introductory presentation by the study c-chairs of the report. 

The last two sections of the report include a useful Glossary plus a list of Acronyms and Abbreviations.

Yesterday was a good news day for the rapidly growing algae biofuel industry in San Diego.  Local TV station KPBS produced a comprehensive video segment, 2012 Could Determine Future Of Algae As Fuel.  Click here for the video.  

La Jolla-based Sapphire Energy announced a breakthrough via a white paper, “An exogenous chloroplast genome for complex sequence manipulation in algae.”  

“With this breakthrough, Sapphire Energy has shown that it is possible to make algae–the world’s most efficient photosynthetic organism–even more efficient,” said Jason Pyle, Sapphire Energy founder and CEO.  “This work represents the first steps toward a novel approach for creating genetic diversity in any or all regions of a chloroplast genome, and may have applications in other plants.”  

Click here for the full report.   

Grants for up to $7,000 are available for biofuels training for 55 students.  Classes will be held at UCSD Extension and Mira Costa College starting in March 2012.  Details here.

Today Carlsbad-based Aptera Motors ended their quest to manufacture an innovative electric vehicle.  Here is the news from Paul Wilbur, Aptera’s CEO.

After years of focused effort to bring our products to the market, Aptera Motors is closing its doors, effective today. This is a difficult time for everyone connected with our company because we have never been closer to realizing our vision. Unfortunately, though, we are out of resources.

It is especially disappointing since we were so close…

Aptera executives had been engaged in exhaustive due diligence with the Department of Energy (DOE) pertaining to an ATVM (Advance Technology Vehicle Manufacturing) loan. Our business plan was examined from top to bottom by internal agency representatives, independent consultants and experts in academia. They did an amazing job of vetting us and they tested every possible weakness in our plan. And after nearly two years of discussions, we had recently received a Conditional Commitment Letter for a $150 million loan.

The ATVM loan would have provided funding for the development and commercialization of a five-passenger, midsized sedan (similar to a Toyota Camry) that would be base priced at less than $30,000 and deliver more than a 190 mile per gallon equivalent. The concept of this vehicle had been in place since the very beginning of Aptera, and we had been wholly focused on its development for the last year. The last remaining hurdle was finding new funds to match the DOE loan.

We were so optimistic that the company would move forward that we were in discussions to reactivate a mothballed automotive plant in Moraine, Ohio. In the past months we had engaged with the labor union that operated that facility to discuss the hiring of 1,400 new job opportunities. These jobs would have reactivated talented workers who had been dismissed when the facility was closed.

During the same time, we continued development of our patent-pending composite manufacturing system that enables energy efficient vehicle production by drastically reducing vehicle weight (by as much as 30%) while tripling its strength. This same patent pending system allowed us to finish the surface of our composites without manual finishing and without the high capital cost of a typical automotive paint shop. In all, the process would save nearly $750-million versus a typical volume auto assembly plant start-up.

We were well on the way to satisfying the vision of efficiency on which the company was founded and we are confident that with time and capital we could still achieve our goal. The Aptera formula: aerodynamics plus light weight design (through composites) delivered efficiency of 206 EPA miles per gallon in tests at Argonne National Labs. That wasn’t a simulation; it was real measured performance. Despite that promise of efficiency, this challenged market – specifically large private investors – did not have an appetite to lead an investment for the perceived low volume return of our three-wheeled vehicle. So we reprioritized our product plan to four-door sedans, which also cost us time.

We remain confident, even as this chapter closes, that Aptera has contributed tech new technologies to build a future for more efficient driving. Through the dedicated staff at Aptera, our board and suppliers we have touched this future. All that remains is for someone to grab it. We still believe it will happen.

Paul Wilbur
President and CEO
Aptera Motors

If algae is to be the solution for America’s pain at the gas pump, trained workers are needed to make that a reality.  Applications are now available for continuing education grants at the University of California San Diego to retrain workers as general science technicians in the rapidly expanding biofuels industry in the San Diego and Imperial County region.

Approximately 55 students will begin classes in March of 2012, with each student receiving the equivalent of a $7,000 grant from the State of California. Prospective students from across California interested in applying for next year’s EDGE program and biofuels and industrial biotechnology companies interested in hiring interns from the program should contact Karen Overklift at the BIOCOM Institute (858) 455-0300, extension 104 or koverklift@biocom.org or go to http://tinyurl.com/4d9m93g

Algae, the substance known to many as “pond scum,” may one day be the fuel that powers U.S. automobiles.

“That’s what petroleum is – it’s ancient algae,” said Dr. Stephen Mayfield, a professor of biology at UC San Diego and director of the San Diego Center for Algae Biotechnology (SD-CAB). “Algae already makes oil that looks like crude oil. The oil we extract from algae goes directly into a refinery and gets converted into diesel or gasoline.”

The students, who will attend classes at UC San Diego Extension and Mira Costa College, are the second cohort of students in a program funded by a two-year, $4-million grant from California’s Department of Labor under the Green Innovation Challenge.

“Nationwide there is a need for skilled workers to participate in the development and commercialization of new technologies, as we can see in the field of alternative energies,” said Hugo Villar, director of science and technology at UC San Diego Extension. “The university has been a leader in helping adult learners acquire new knowledge and skills that allow them to transition out of stagnant areas of the job market and participate into more vibrant areas as we are doing now with biofuels.”

“This program is not only training workers for new jobs in the local economy, it will eventually help our nation become less dependent on foreign oil,” said Mayfield, “The bioenergy sector will eventually be creating millions of jobs nationwide. Our biggest challenge will be to keep those jobs in California.”

The grant involves the work of a number of local partners, which include UC San Diego, San Diego State University, Mira Costa College EDGE program, SD-CAB, CleanTECH San Diego, BIOCOM Institute, BIOCOM, San Diego Workforce Partnership and the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation.

“With this training, these students are prepared to support the region’s growing biofuels companies and help San Diego continue to be a leader in the biofuels sector,” said Jason Anderson, vice president of CleanTECH San Diego, a non-profit organization that is helping to accelerate San Diego as a world leader in the clean technology economy.

San Diego is widely recognized as one of the world’s leaders in biofuels research and development. A recent analysis, conducted by the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), found that for the algal biofuels sector alone, the industry provides the region with 410 direct jobs and $56 million in direct economic activity and $108 million in total economic activity annually.

“It’s critical that we build the research and development infrastructure for the biofuels industry here,” said Mayfield. “Right now, we have a head start on the rest of the world and we can’t afford to lose that.”

Thanks to the $4-million EDGE grant, San Diego has also become a national leader in training biofuels technicians. Mayfield said feedback from the program’s graduates, faculty and local biofuels companies will lead to a redesign of the curriculum for the next class of science biofuels technicians, which will run from March through August of 2012. Once the program is perfected, an online, web-based curriculum will be made available to any California university or college, and through enrollment in UC San Diego Extension to anyone around the world who wants to gain basic science training to enter the biofuels industry.

Malama Composites, manufacturers of high performance polyurethane foams made from bio-based renewable resources, announced today that it has joined Spain’s Green Comm Racing Team at the America’s Cup, the world’s most prestigious sailing competition, in order to promote environmental innovation and technology within the sailing industry. 

“Our materials enable manufacturers to produce products that are stronger, lighter, faster and far more environmentally responsible than alternative core materials.  Our partnership with the Green Comm Racing Team provides a fantastic venue to premier the next generation of sustainable materials, and we are honored to be a part of it,” said David Saltman, Chairman and CEO of Malama Composites.

Francesco De Leo, Executive Chairman of Green Comm Racing, stated, “This is a unique opportunity to rally some of the best minds in the world behind a very exciting goal: designing and manufacturing the ultimate renewable energy machine – a winning America’s Cup boat.  Our goal is to promote a green agenda by leveraging the media impact of one of pinnacle sport events in the world.”

Malama Composites develops and produces rigid polyurethane foams made from soy polyols and other renewable resources.  The resulting panels serve as a light-weight structural core material in the manufacturing of everything from boat hulls to wind turbine blades, movie sets to surfboards.  While cost and performance competitive with alternative, petroleum-based foams, Malama’s products contain no toxic resins or additives, and can be easily reused or recycled.

Francesco De Leo is a thought leader in the field of communication technology with a particular focus on green IT.  He was the former Managing Director of Telecom Italia and Head of Strategy and International operations at Wind.  The Green Comm Racing Team is made of a group of young sailors and executives who see the America’s Cup as an opportunity to advance green innovation in the sailing industry by leveraging the media impact of one of the most high profile sporting events in the world.

Click here for some amazing photos and here for video. 

Live from San Diego – America’s Cup Webcam

How to follow the America’s Cup World Series in San Diego

On Thursday Qualcomm Incorporated announced the first Wireless Electric Vehicle Charging (WEVC) trial for London in what is a UK and industry-leading initiative.  Qualcomm is collaborating with the UK Government, as well as the Mayor of London’s office and Transport for London (TfL) to deliver the trial.  Earlier in the week Qualcomm announced it had acquired substantially all of the technology and other assets of HaloIPT, a leading provider of wireless charging technology for electric road vehicles.  See my post of November 8th.

The pre-commercial trial is expected to start in early 2012 and will involve as many as 50 electric vehicles (EVs).  The trial will use Qualcomm wireless inductive power transfer technology that enables high-efficiency power transfer across a large air gap.  It is very easy to use: the driver simply parks the vehicle in the usual way and the system automatically aligns for power transfer, making parking easier and charging hassle free.

The trial, which will be based partially in Tech City, the East London cluster receiving the strong support of the Prime Minister, is planned to leverage the Tech City entrepreneurial community and encourage companies to innovate around services and applications, in order to enhance the smart EV experience.

Prime Minister David Cameron said, “This wireless charging technology is a giant leap forward for the electric car industry and I am delighted that London businesses will be among the first to benefit from the trial.”

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said, “In my quest to deliver cleaner air for the capital, I want London to be the electric car epicenter of Europe. Encouraging a massive uptake in electric driving is key to this vision of becoming a zero-emission city.”

“Qualcomm is very pleased to be participating in the London WEVC pre-commercial trial, which builds on the existing trials of electric vehicles sponsored by the Technology Strategy Board and the Office for Low Emission Vehicles in the UK,” said Andrew Gilbert, executive vice president of European Innovation Development at Qualcomm. “Wireless charging eradicates the EV plug-in cable and makes charging of electric vehicles simple and easy for drivers.”

Addison Lee, the UK’s largest minicab company, and Chargemaster plc, the leading European operator of advanced EV charging infrastructure, have also agreed to participate in the WEVC London trial.

Qualcomm is not the only high tech giant with a wireless plug-in connection.  In March Google announced a trial of a Plugless Power charging station for vehicles at its Mountain View, CA headquarters.

Qualcomm Incorporated today announced that it has acquired substantially all of the technology and other assets of HaloIPT, a leading provider of wireless charging technology for electric road vehicles.  All members of the HaloIPT team have joined Qualcomm’s European Innovation Development group based in the UK. 

“Qualcomm has been investing in wireless power for a number of years and the HaloIPT acquisition will further strengthen our technology and patent portfolio,” said Andrew Gilbert, executive vice president of European Innovation Development for Qualcomm. “Building on 20 years of development and innovation in wireless power at The University of Auckland and its commercialization company Auckland UniServices Ltd, the HaloIPT team, in a relatively short period of the time, had established itself as a leading developer in wireless electric road vehicle charging — with HaloIPT winning industry acclamation and awards.”

“We are immensely proud of what has been achieved by our team at HaloIPT over the past 18 months,” said John Miles, Executive Chairman of HaloIPT and a Director at Arup.  ”In that short space of time, we have brought world-class university research to the attention of the global automotive industry and, through really innovative design, demonstrated the potential for wireless charging in front of several of the world’s leading OEMs.  That has been a terrific achievement.”

In addition to the HaloIPT transaction, Qualcomm and Auckland UniServices, the commercialization company of the University of Auckland, have committed to a long-term research and development arrangement to promote continued innovation in the field of wireless charging for electric road vehicles by way of inductive power transfer.

“UniServices is proud to see the development of technology for the wireless charging of electric vehicles become an important area for Qualcomm,” said Peter Lee, chief executive officer, UniServices.  ”We believe Qualcomm is well positioned to make available this technology to third parties for the wireless charging of electric road vehicles, and the relationship will provide opportunities for continued research and development of this technology.”

Bruce Bigelow’s article in Xconomy:  Qualcomm Buys HaloIPT (and Patents) for Wireless Charging Technology

What do electric vehicles have to do with winter sports?  Beats me.  But while all of the Shaun White want-to-be’s are checking out snowboards at SnowJam 2011 you can take a run in the new all-electric Nissan Leaf. 

The ‘drive electric tour’ will provide the opportunity to learn all about the Nissan LEAF.  You will be guided through several display areas, have the opportunity to talk with LEAF experts, and explore the many innovations from Nissan including:

· The Nissan LEAF battery system and charging details
· The “sexy science” of the Nissan LEAF and how it compares to other vehicles
· Staying in-touch with your LEAF through your phone or computer
· Fuel efficiency and costs
· Environmental impact
· Meet Nissan LEAF’s helpful accessories
· 100 miles is more than enough!

But the best part of the ‘drive electric tour’ is that you can drive the car for yourself!  You will be able to drive the Read the rest of this entry »

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced today that USDA has issued a loan guarantee that will allow biofuels firm Sapphire Energy to construct a facility in New Mexico to produce “green crude” oil from algae which can be refined into transportation fuel.  The project is intended to advance American efforts to provide renewable commercial-scale biofuels, increasing energy security and reducing dependence on foreign oil.  The project is expected to create 60 jobs in the community of Columbus, NM.

“The Obama Administration is committed to providing support for renewable energy production which will safeguard national security and create jobs in rural America,” said Vilsack. “This project represents another step in the effort to assist the nation’s advanced biofuel industry produce energy in commercial quantities from sustainable rural resources.”

La Jolla-based Sapphire Energy intends to design, build and operate a $135 million integrated algal biorefinery (IABR) in Columbus, N.M., for the production of advanced biofuel that is a “drop-in” replacement for petroleum derived diesel and jet fuel.  The IABR will be capable of producing 100 barrels of refined algal oil per day, equivalent to at least one million gallons per year.  The oil will be shipped to the United States Gulf Coast to be refined by Sapphire’s refinery partner, Dynamic Fuels, located in Geismar, LA.

The funding is provided through USDA’s Biorefinery Assistance Program. On December 3, 2009, USDA issued a conditional commitment for an 80 percent guarantee on a $54.5 million loan.  The loan closing and issuance of the Loan Note Guarantee for this project took place on October 21, 2011.

Today’s announcement is in concert with the objectives of the Renewable Fuel Standard, known as RFS2, which reaffirmed the goal of producing, by 2022, 36 billion gallons of biofuels to include 21 billion gallons of advanced biofuels.

Producing fuel from algae is seen as one way to provide for domestically produced fuel for commercial and military use.  USDA is partnering with the Department of the Navy as it embraces a biofuel future.  USDA has also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to help the commercial airline utilize biofuels as jet fuel.  Under the MOU, the USDA and FAA are working together with the airline industry to develop appropriate feed stocks that can be most efficiently processed into jet fuel.  Doing so will decrease the industry’s current dependence on foreign oil and help stabilize fuel costs in the long run.

Sapphire Energy Video

How do you NOT drive a car 8.4 million miles?  The new High Tech Elementary and High Tech Middle Chula Vista students know. 

They recently helped do just that by adding a San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E)-owned solar system to their school’s rooftop — as well as adding solar to their curriculum.

This work marks the 25th project like this for SDG&E’s “Sustainable Communities Program,” which now totals three megawatts of clean energy. This energy goes back onto the grid which benefits each of the project’s surrounding community. The three megawatts of clean energy is equal to: NOT driving a car 8.4 million miles, powering 2,000 homes, saving 6.4 million pounds of greenhouse gases each year, planting 98,000 trees or removing 722 cars from the road.

Flip that switch!

Dave Geier, vice president of Electric Operations for SDG&E helped the High Tech Elementary and High Tech Middle Chula Vista students flip the switch for their rooftop solar system, marking the third solar project SDG&E has done with the charter school.

The effort includes a curriculum where students learn about renewable energy and energy efficiency.

The schools are seeking LEED Platinum certification from the US Green Building Council and were designed to be nearly 26 percent more energy efficient than required by California Building Codes. Because of these efforts, Geier also presented the school with the “SDG&E Sustainable Champions Award” and a check for $83,000 from the energy efficiency incentives the school was able to receive.

Sustainable communities are growing

Geier spoke to hundreds of students in the audience about how SDG&E is creating sustainable communities Read the rest of this entry »

In Revenge of the Electric Car, director Chris Paine (Who Killed the Electric Car?) takes his film crew behind the closed doors of Nissan, GM, and the Silicon Valley start-up Tesla Motors to chronicle the story of the global resurgence of electric cars.  A special screening of the documentary will be held November 11th at 6:00pm at the Landmark, Ken Cinema, 4061 Adams Avenue, San Diego.

Joel Pointon, Electric Transportation Manager of San Diego Gas & Electric, David Almeida, Coordinator for the Caifornia PEV Rebate Program (CCSE), and Greg Newhouse, Chairperson of the local Clean Cities Coalition for San Diego, will appear in person to introduce the film and for Q&A after the 6:00pm show.

Cast: Tim Robbins, Bob Lutz, Carlos Ghosn, Elon Musk, Greg “Gadget” Abbott, Danny DeVito, Jon Favreau, Anthony Kiedis, Stephen Colbert, Talulah Riley.   Run time 90 minutes

Click for a hot trailer of Revenge of the Electric Car

Link to Landmark Ken Cinema

SIERRA MARTINEZ is an energy attorney and analyst in the San Francisco office of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).

Clean Energy Efficiency Continues To Displace Expensive Dirty Power Plants

Some skeptics of energy efficiency claim that energy efficiency never really avoids the need for new power plants.  They claim that energy efficiency might reduce our energy consumption in theory, but not in practice.  Well, the good news is that there’s new evidence from the California Public Utilities Commission showing that energy efficiency is actually displacing the need to build power plants.  So much power is being saved, in fact, that California is embarking on a historic path: Instead of increasing the total amount of electricity we use, which has been the general trend since Edison’s time, energy efficiency will reduce the total demand for electricity.  (This efficiency will also provide a significant boost to economic growth, I might add.)  In the graphic below, you can see that energy efficiency is actually bending the demand curve downward. 
              Electricity Demand in California ISO From 2008 to 2020[1]

California is in the process of determining how many power plants it should allow private utilities to build over the next decade.  The Public Utilities Commission analyzes how much energy California is expected to consume over the next decade, and Read the rest of this entry »

car2go (Electric Car Share Program in San Diego) is opening up memberships today for free (usually $35).  Sign up now and also receive 30 minutes of free drive time with the promotional code PLUGIN.  Click for offer.

car2go is a groundbreaking mobility program redefining transportation in urban areas. German auto giant Daimler has selected San Diego to launch the first all-electric carsharing program in North American. 

car2go provides a fleet of free-floating, self-service Smart fortwo cars distributed all over the city.  The operating area ranges as far north as Pacific Beach and west to I-15.  You may roam up to 200 miles from San Diego, but your usage must begin and end anywhere within the operating area.  The car2go all-electric vehicles can be accessed “on-demand” or reserved for up to 24 hours in advance.  For on-demand access, members simply swipe their membership card against the vehicle’s windshield.

Unlike traditional carsharing programs, car2go allows its members to use the vehicle for as long as they like, without committing to a specific return time or location. They can have one-way rentals and finish the trip in any authorized parking space within the car2go operating area.  Attractive “by-the-minute” rates include costs for insurance, parking and maintenance.  Click here to complete details.  And here for a 3 minute training  video.  And here for a video of the Smart fortwo zippin’ around San Diego.

San Diego was selected to be the base for the first North American car-sharing fleet of 300 all-electrics for a variety of reasons.  As early-adapters San Diegans have made our region #1 in the U.S. for EVs with hundreds of Nissan Leafs and Chevy Volts humming around town.  Charging stations are sprouting in anticipation of thousands of new users. 

You will have to wait until November 18th to pilot one of these two-person-mobiles.  You can starting thinking now about all the ways car2go will change the way you roll.  As a member a 10 minute trip from Little Italy to Petco Park will cost $3.50 plus tax.   You finish the trip by parking in any legal parking space on the street or in specially designated car2go areas.  The transaction is done.  You do not feed the parking meter (a special deal with the city) and you don’t fork over $20 to ACE Parking.  Of course if you are rolling with your posse a two-seater is going to limit your entourage.

If you are considering purchasing a smart car you can kick the tires at smart center San Diego at 4750 Kearny Mesa Road.  It’s like the cute little brother of Mercedes-Benz of San Diego at the same address.  Don’t kick the tires too hard.

Tom Murphy is an associate professor of physics at the University of California, San Diego.  His blog, Do the Math, takes an astrophysicist’s-eye view of societal issues relating to energy production, climate change, and economic growth.

Many Do the Math posts have touched on the inevitable cessation of growth and on the challenge we will face in developing a replacement energy infrastructure once our fossil fuel inheritance is spent. The focus has been on long-term physical constraints, and not on the messy details of our response in the short-term. But our reaction to a diminishing flow of fossil fuel energy in the short-term will determine whetherwe transition to a sustainable but technological existence or allow ourselves to collapse. One stumbling block in particular has me worried. I call it The Energy Trap.

In brief, the idea is that once we enter a decline phase in fossil fuel availability—first in petroleum—our growth-based economic system will struggle to cope with a contraction of its very lifeblood. Fuel prices will skyrocket, some individuals and exporting nations will react by hoarding, and energy scarcity will quickly become the new norm. The invisible hand of the market will slap us silly demanding a new energy infrastructure based on non-fossil solutions. But here’s the rub. The construction of that shiny new infrastructure requires not just money, but…energy. And that’s the very commodity in short supply. Will we really be willing to sacrifice additional energy in the short term—effectively steepening the decline—for a long-term energy plan? It’s a trap!

When I first encountered the concept of peak oil, I was most distressed about the economic implications. In part, this was prompted by David Goodstein’s book Out of Gas, which highlighted the potential for global panic in reaction to peak oil—making the gas lines associated with the temporary oil shocks of 1973 and 1979 look like warm-up acts. Because I knew Professor Goodstein personally, and held him in high regard as a solid physicist, I took his message seriously. Extrapolating his vision of a global reaction to peak oil, I imagined that the prospect of a decades-long decline in available energy—while we strained to institute a replacement infrastructure—would destroy confidence in short-term economic growth, thus destroying investment and crashing markets. The market relies on investor confidence—which, in some sense, makes it a con job, since “con” is short for confidence. If that confidence is shattered on a global scale, what happens next?

I still consider economic panic to be a distinctly possible eventuality, but psychology can be hard to predict. Market optimists would see the tremendous investment potential of a new energy infrastructure as an antidote against such an outbreak. Given this uncertainty, let’s shy away from economic prognostication and look at a purely physical dimension to the problem—namely, the Energy Trap.

Energy Return on Energy Invested

Our goal will be to quantitatively assess the Energy Trap, and see if there is any substance to the idea. We will rely on a concept that has acquired a central role in evaluating our energy future. This is energy return on energy invested, or EROEI.

In order to utilize energy, we must exert some energy to secure the source and prepare it for use. In order to burn wood in our fireplace, we (or someone) must chop down a tree, cut it into logs, and split the large logs. To drive our gasoline-powered car, we must expend energy finding the oil, drilling and possibly pumping the oil, then refining and distributing the gasoline. To collect solar energy, we must invest energy to fabricate the solar panels and associated electronics. The result is expressed as a ratio of energy-out:energy-in. Anything less than the break-even ratio of 1:1 means that the source provides no net energy (a drain, in fact), and is not worth pursuing for energy purposes—unless the form/convenience of that specific energy is otherwise unavailable.

In its early days, oil frequently yielded an EROEI in excess of 100:1, meaning that 1% or less of the energy contained in a barrel of oil had to be expended to deliver that barrel of oil. Not a bad bargain. Oil production today more typically has an EROEI around 20:1, while tar sands and oil shale tend to be about 5:1 and 3:1, respectively. By contrast, it is debatable whether corn ethanol exceeds break-even: it may optimistically be as high as 1.4:1. Switching from conventional oil to corn ethanol would be like switching from a diet of bacon, eggs, and butter to a desperate survival diet of shoe leather and tree bark. Other approaches to biofuels, like sugar cane ethanol, can have EROEI as high as 8:1.

To round out the introduction, coal typically has an EROEI around 50–85:1, and natural gas tends to come in around 20–40:1, though falling below the lower end of this range as the easy fields are depleted. Meanwhile, solar photovoltaics are estimated to require 3–4 years’ worth of energy output to fabricate, including the frames and associated electronics systems. Assuming a 30–40 year lifetime, this translates into an EROEI around 10:1. Wind is estimated to have EROEI around 20:1, and new nuclear installations are expected to come in at approximately 15:1. These are all positive net-energy approaches, which is the good news.

The Inevitable Fossil Fuel Decline

Let’s explore what happens as we try to compensate for an energy decline with an alternative resource having modest EROEI. On the upslope of our fossil fuel bonanza, we saw a characteristic annual growth rate of around 3% per year. The asymmetric Seneca Effect notwithstanding, a logistic evolution of the resource would result in a symmetric rate of contraction on the downslope: 3% per year. I borrow a graphic from the post on the meaning of “sustainable” to illustrate the rationale for expecting an era of decline for a one-time finite resource.

On the long view, the fossil fuel age is a blip, with a down side mirroring the (more fun) up side.

We could use any number for the decline rate in our analysis, but I’ll actually soften the effect to a 2% annual decline to illustrate that we run into problems even at a modest rate of decline. By itself, a 2% decline year after year—while sounding mild—would send our growth-based economy into Read the rest of this entry »

The frequent references to San Diego as a global leader in cleantech are usually illustrated by regional activities in solar, wind, water, smart grid, biofuels and energy efficiency.  A perusal of the CleanTECH San Diego company database also reveals a mini-Mo Town of 38 ventures in the Transport Technology category.  Achates Power is in the pole position.

Since 2004 Achates Power has been working to develop a fundamentally better internal combustion engine. Today the company announced its latest results, which include a 20 percent fuel efficiency gain when compared to one of the world’s best medium-duty clean diesel engines.  Also announced was an overall calibration that meets the stringent U.S. EPA 2010 emissions standards.  Bruce Bigelow of Xconomy describes their recent achievements in his article, “Achates Power Cites “Huge” Improvement in Diesel Fuel Savings, Emissions”. 

Achates Power has raised over $50 million to rev-up their efforts to build the internal combustion engine equivalent of Doctor Dolittle’s pushmi-pullyu.  The opportunity is worthy of their effort.  They note that in the U.S. under 5% of all vehicles consume over 26% of all road transportation fuel.  Therefore, a more fuel efficient solution will provide a huge payoff for fleet operators and anyone with lungs.

Take a video virtual tour of Achates Power and its San Diego-based headquarters, which houses more than 50 engineers and scientists.

(Updated 11/6/11 with article ENERGY: Geothermal wants a level playing field by Eric Wolff at end of post.)  

Tim Kelley, CEO of the Imperial Valley Economic Development Corporation, calls Imperial Valley the renewable energy epicenter of California.  He could just as easily say the region is at the very bottom of renewable energy resources in California.  My last trip to the Imperial Valley took me to Calipatria near the south end of the Salton Sea.  Every day Calipatrians view the city’s landmark, a 184 foot flag pole, the top of which is at sea level.  Calipatria is the lowest city in the western hemisphere.  The happy combination of low elevation, thin earth crust and seismic activity enables the Imperial Valley to generate 20% of all the geothermal energy produced in the United States. 

The 16 geothermal plants in the area produce over 530 megawatts of electricity most of which is sold to Southern California Edison.  It is anticipated that the Salton Sea geothermal field may contain an additional 2,000 megawatts of commercial development potential. 

None of the “hot rock” electricity is directed to San Diego due to the lack of transmission line capacity, a problem which the Sunrise Powerlink will solve.  The biggest operator with 10 facilities is CalEnergy, a MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company (part of the Warren Buffett empire).  Cal Energy’s Vonderahe-1 is one of the largest and hottest geothermal wells in the world.  It can produce nearly 2.2 million pounds of hot water in an hour, enough to power a 50-megawatt power plant.  Number two operator in the Imperial Valley is Ormat Technologies, a subsidiary of Israel-based Ormat Industries.

The Salton Sea area of Imperial County will see five new geothermal projects go on line in 2012 with a combined capacity of 239 megawatts.

In simplified terms, a geothermal production well is drilled to a depth of 5,000 to 10,000 feet to tap into reservoirs of superheated fluids.  This 400 degree Fahrenheit brine rushes to the surface where steam is “flashed” in a series of closed vessels to drive turbines to produce electricity.  The cooled-down brine is piped a distance away from the generating plant to be injected back into the earth to re-enter the reservoir to capture the earth’s heat.  Once a reservoir is located and tapped the flow of the super-hot brine is relatively steady and sustainable.  No carbon emissions are associated with the process.  Unlike solar and wind energy, geothermal energy is a baseload resource generating electricity 24/7. 

This past week San Diego was the host of the 2011 convention of the Geothermal Energy Association.  More than 2,500 attendees from 33 different states and 13 different countries came together in San Diego for the largest gathering of geothermal energy leaders in the world.  In conjunction with the event GEA published a 13 page report, Energizing Southern California’s Economy: The Economic Benefits and Potential for Geothermal Energy in Southern California.  Click here for the report.

Google has added to the body of knowledge by contributing their technical expertise and a big chunk of cash.  Enhanced Geothermal Systems Potential in Google Earth incorporates tens of thousands of new thermal data points to create the most data rich maps of U.S. geothermal resources to date.  Here’s what Fast Company thinks. 

In addition to energy to generate electricity, the vast geothermal resources in the Imperial Valley include geothermal fluids rich in several economically valuable metals including lithium, manganese and zinc.  Recently Forbes magazine outlined the current state of the opportunity, Lithium: The New California Gold Rush.

You will want to take the virtual tour of a CalEnergy geothermal facility.  Click here to begin your grand tour.

In 2008 the Imperial Irrigation District commissioned a Renewable Energy Feasibility study.  In addition to geothermal, the 118 page report evaluates solar, wind and biomass energy.

Eric Wolff in the North County Times ENERGY: Geothermal wants a level playing field.

These mudpots are located in an open field on the southeastern side of the Salton Sea. The mud is just above ambient temperature and you can walk right up to the vents. 

Where hot water is limited and hydrogen sulfide gas is present (emitting the “rotten egg” smell common to thermal areas), sulfuric acid is generated. The acid dissolves the surrounding rock into fine particles of silica and clay that mix with what little water there is to form the seething and bubbling mudpots.

Copy and paste the location to Google maps:  Davis Rd & W Schrimpf Rd, Calipatria, Imperial, California 92233.  The satellite view shows the “volcanoes” and their proximity to the Salton Sea.

Click here for a Youtube video (not mine) of the mudpots complete with glugs, blurps and bloops.