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Written by Administrator
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Monday, 01 March 2010 10:39 |
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From a 150 acre Nature Area to a substantial geothermal system, West Chester University in West Chester is a local leader in sustainability initiatives. The university is a part of the Pennsylvania State Sytem of Higher Education and is one of the largest employers in Chester County. The campus includes parts of West Chester Borough and West Goshen Township. The Gordon Natural Area is a sprawling forested area located adjacent to the University's South Campus and is used for research, educational programs and is available for recreational activities. The university maintains a website to share information about its sustainability initiatives at http://www.wcugreen.org. |
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Last Updated on Monday, 01 March 2010 11:53 |
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Written by Marc Bevis
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Wednesday, 18 November 2009 00:00 |
 The Four Season Hotel in Philadelphia is doing something very interesting. They are generating their own electricity from microturbines.  The hotels microturbines are an example of CHP – combined heat and power. They use natural gas to power the microturbines that generate electricity. The waste heat from the microturbines is then used to heat water for use in the hotel. Marvin Dixon, director of engineering for the hotel, says the $1 million dollar project will pay for itself within 4 years. Thomas E. Knudsen, president of Philadelphia Gas Works, says the microturbine is 85% efficient. This compares to about 33% efficiency for the thermal losses of the typical electric generating plant and transmission lines. Traditional power plants do not recover the waste heat because the plants are often far away from population centers so there is little demand for the waste heat. In addition to being an efficient system that reduces their carbon footprint, the microturbines have additional advantages: |
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Written by Marc Bevis
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Monday, 28 September 2009 00:00 |
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What is this talk about a Smart-Grid? Why do I care? Part 2 of a 2 part series. Last month’s blog discussed the existing Grid and some of the challenges it faces. The existing Grid has not changed much in 100 years. Here is an interesting thought experiment. If Alexander Graham Bell were alive today, he would not recognize how his analog telephone has morphed into a digital cell phone wirelessly carrying voice, text, and video all over the world. But if Thomas Edison (pioneer of electricity) were alive today, he would be very familiar with our Grid. GOAL Last month’s blog said the Smart-Grid will connect everyone to abundant, affordable, clean, efficient, and reliable electric power anytime, anywhere. http://www.oe.energy.gov/smartgrid.htm In a little more detail a Smart-Grid has these characteristics: - Self-healing from power disturbance events
- Operating resiliently against physical and cyber attack
- Providing power quality for 21st century needs
- Accommodating all generation and storage options
- Optimizing assets and operating efficiently
- Enabling new products, services, and markets
- Enabling active participation by consumers in demand response
 Source http://www.oe.energy.gov/DocumentsandMedia/DOE_SG_Book_Single_Pages(1).pdf HOW DO WE MAKE THE GRID SMART? |
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Written by Marc Bevis
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Monday, 24 August 2009 00:00 |
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What is this talk about a Smart-Grid? Why do I care? A two-part series.
Today we will look at the existing US Grid and some of its challenges. Here is a map of the US showing the transmission lines. 
http://images.encarta.msn.com/xrefmedia/aencmed/targets/maps/map/000a5302.gif Electricity is not something that typically is stored. It is a commodity that is made just-in-time for the consumer. Utility operators are constantly anticipating how much electricity their customers will want at any time of the day. The electricity is consumed within a second after it is created. The operators add and subtract power generation capacity to ensure that there is always enough power to turn on your lights and air conditioner. If there is not enough power you will get a brown-out causing the lights to dim and stress electrical appliances. If the shortage is severe you get a black-out resulting in total loss of power. However, the utilities do not want to generate too much excess power because it is wasted and would result in higher electric bills.
The utility companies have a portfolio of power generating assets such as coal, nuclear, natural gas, hydroelectric, wind, and solar plants. Each type of plant has unique attributes such as fuel cost, pollution produced, waste storage, and the speed at which the plant can increase or decrease its power output. Coal and Nuclear plants supply the base-load to the Grid. Their fuel costs are low and they are used as much as possible. Peaking assets such as natural gas plants use more expensive fuel, but their output can be adjusted quickly to the varying demand. As we turn on more lights, air conditioners, computers, factories, etc. over the course of a day, the utility companies activate more electric generators so there is always slightly more supply than demand.  http://www.oe.energy.gov/images/elec101_diagram.jpg In the Philadelphia region you probably get an electric bill from PECO who delivers the electricity to your house. PECO buys the power from Exelon. Exelon owns the power plants (coal, nuclear, etc) that make the electricity. On top of this is PJM which is a wholesaler of electricity known as an RTO (Regional Transmission Organization). PJM serves 51 million customers in 13 states plus Washington DC. PJM is in the Eastern Interconnection which goes from the East Coast to Oklahoma and up to North Dakota. The rest of the U.S. is served by the Western Interconnection and Texas Interconnection.
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Written by Marc Bevis
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Wednesday, 22 July 2009 00:00 |
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I love the creativity of the human mind or a brief overview of wind turbine evolution.
Bear Creek Wind Power Project, Bear Creek, PA (Photo: Community Energy) Did you know that the United States is now the largest producer of clean renewable electricity from wind turbines? We passed the former leader, Germany, in 2008. That sounds pretty green. Of course, the US is a much larger land mass than Germany, so it is not as big of an accomplishment as it might at first sound. Only about one percent of US electricity comes from wind turbines, but capacity is growing rapidly. The current economic crunch has been a damper, but then Obama's Economic Stimulus Plan will help. The US has been called the Saudia Arabia of wind because we have rich wind resources. The wind resources of Texas, Kansas, and North Dakota combined could supply 100% of the US electrical needs. Offshore wind could also supply all our needs. Then there are the Great Lakes region and various other locations across the country. The Department of Energy has a goal of 20% wind energy by the year 2030. Part of the challenge is that we have to build out our electrical grid to get the power from rural windy areas to the population centers. That will be a topic for another article. Wind farms have evolved to address a number of issues including bird kills, noise, aesthetics, safety, and geography. You may have seen wind turbines in Pennsylvania or other parts of the country. I have seen large wind projects on the plains of Canada that are mesmerizing to look at. But then, beauty is subjective. The modern wind turbines use a large monopole with 3 large blades that turn slowly in the wind. The turning blades operate a generator which produces electricity that connects to the grid. You may have noticed an offering on your PECO electric bill to buy wind power. You are buying the RECs (Renewable Energy Credits) produced by these wind farms. |
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