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.

With the exception of tidal energy, our focus thus far has been on land-based energy sources. Meanwhile, the ocean absorbs a prodigious fraction of the Sun’s incident energy, creating thermal gradients, currents, and waves whipped up by winds. Let’s put some scales on the energetics of these sources and see if we may turn to them for help. We’ve got our three boxes ready: abundant, potent, and niche (puny). Time to do some sorting!

Thermal Gradients

Wherever there is a thermal gradient, our eyes light up because we can create a heat flow across the gradient and capture some fraction of the energy flow to do useful work. This is called a heat engine, the efficiency of which is capped by the theoretical maximum (T_h − T_c)/T_h, where “h” and “c” subscripts refer to absolute temperatures of the hot and cold reservoirs, respectively. In the ocean, we are rather limited in how much gradient is available. The surface does not tend to exceed 30°C (303 K), while the depths cannot get much cooler than 0°C (273 K; pressure and salinity allow it to go a few degrees negative). The maximum thermodynamic efficiency therefore tops out at 10%, and in practice we might get half of this in a real application. The general scheme of producing energy from thermal gradients in the ocean is called ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC).

Conti

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With a projected 40 percent population growth in the next 40 years, San Diego will need 400,000 more homes and 500,000 new jobs by 2050.  Now, we have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to influence how people will live, work, learn and play in the future throughout the San Diego region.  Visit ShowYourLoveSD.org, share your values and priorities and be a part of a major, region-wide effort to plan for our future.  This is our chance to share our personal voices on what we want our region to become.  If many of us speak up, government officials will listen!

ShowYourLoveSD.org is the result of nearly two years of research and community input organized under Our Greater San Diego Vision, an initiative facilitated by The San Diego Foundation and supported by close to 300 ambassadors and task force members, more than 170 diverse community partners, and an unprecedented 10 media sponsors.

“It’s in everyone’s interests to take a few minutes and go online to help shape the region for decades to come,” said Bill Geppert, chair of Our Greater San Diego Vision.  “People in San Diego County are concerned about the region’s future, especially its high cost of living and how that impacts their quality of life.  This is an opportunity to put the future in your own hands.”

During community workshops in the fall and task force meetings over the summer, ideas were generated and then combined with the initiative’s public opinion research and other data points to come up with scenarios presented at ShowYourLoveSD.org.

Once the public participation window closes on January 31st, the results will be developed into a guiding vision for the region to be unveiled in the late spring of 2012 and continually refreshed and updated.

To help shape a vision for the future of the region in which we all live, work and play, visit ShowYourLoveSD.org . 

The future is at stake.  Time is of the essence.  January 31^st is the last day to have your say.

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

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.

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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.