Energy Security by the Numbers

On 02.23.11, In Reports, By Elspeth Montgomery

Last spring the Institute for 21st Century Energy, a U.S. Chamber of Commerce affiliate, released The Index of U.S. Energy Security Risk, a report aimed at clarifying one of the most ambiguous buzz terms of the last several years: energy security.  Thrown around ad nauseam by politicians, the media, and scholars alike, any advancement in securing our energy sector has been overshadowed by an inability to determine what is meant by this vague, but important objective – begging the question, how can we protect something we have failed to define?

Our understanding of energy security has lacked clarity in part due to its conceptual complexity. All part of the popular lexicon, none of the descriptive terms often evoked in conversation (reliable, green, affordable, resilient, domestic, etc.) suffice as exhaustive definitions.  While it might be tempting to parse out favored adjectives and champion them as the most critical, promoting an oversimplified understanding of energy security only prohibits real progress toward achieving it, simultaneously condoning a public lack of awareness about energy and its global importance.  Toward the goal of influencing policy decisions to mitigate current risks and meet future energy needs, the Institute for 21st Century Energy constructed the most expansive attempt at quantifying energy security to date.

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Water Consumption: Natural Gas Looks Better than Coal

On 12.21.10, In Reports, By Emily Grubert

While the greenhouse gas emission reductions of switching from coal to natural gas have been well documented, less attention has been paid to their effects on water.  Worldwatch Sustainable Energy Fellow Saya Kitasei and I recently coauthored a briefing paper comparing the lifecycle impacts of natural gas-fired and coal-fired electricity on fresh water in the United States. We looked at water consumption from mining and drilling in a few different resource basins, including regions where natural gas is produced by more water intensive methods like hydraulic fracturing or coal seam dewatering. We also looked at water consumption in processing, transportation, and at the power plant itself, along with pollution controls and waste disposal for those sites.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, we concluded that the biggest consumptive use of water comes at power plants, where water is routinely used as a coolant. Natural gas-fired power plants generally use less water for cooling for two major reasons. First, natural gas-fired power plants are often more efficient than coal-fired power plants, so less heat needs to be dissipated. Second, natural gas can be burned directly in a turbine (unlike coal, which is solid), and gas turbines are air-cooled. So power plants running gas turbines (including combined cycle plants, which run natural gas through a gas turbine, then use the waste heat to boil water and run a steam turbine) use less water for cooling than plants with steam turbines.

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New report encourages energy innovation as Defense Department priority

On 07.29.10, In Events, News, Reports, By Staff
The 14 MW solar farm at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada demonstrates the potential for further energy innovation opportunities within the Department of Defense.

The 14 MW solar farm at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada demonstrates the potential for further energy innovation opportunities within the Department of Defense.

With Congress demurring once again on comprehensive energy innovation reform, creative and practical thinking will be necessary to build America’s clean energy economy. One opportunity often overlooked is to leverage the Department of Defense (DOD), a traditional engine of American innovation,for the task.

Along these lines, the CNA Military Advisory Board today debuted their new report, Powering America’s Economy: Energy Innovation at the Crossroad of National Security Challenges, at an event at the Russell Senate office building. The new report–which foreshadows an upcoming AEL report–explores the growing challenges presented by the close connection between the U.S. energy portfolio and its economic and national security.

As the largest single energy consumer in the nation, the report finds that Department of Defense (DOD) can play a key role in supporting innovation, commercialization, and widespread deployment of clean energy. The report further examines how DOD can harness the leadership characteristics inherent to the military culture, leverage its organizational discipline, and cultivate strategic relationships within the federal interagency network to move America forward in clean energy technology innovation. The briefing–headlined by Sherri Goodman (CNA Senior Vice President), Vice Admiral Dennis McGinn (U.S. Navy Ret.; member of CNA Military Advisory Board), Brigadier General Gerald E. Galloway (U.S. Army Ret.; member of CNA Military Advisory Board), Dr. Dorothy Robyn (Deputy Under Secretary for Installations and Environment, U.S. Department of Defense), and Dr. Henry Kelly (Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, U.S. Department of Energy)–made a case for expanding federal support for energy research, development, demonstration and deployment at the DOD, as well as a more collaborative relationship with the Department of Energy (DOE).

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Businessweek: Energy Companies Neglect R&D, Stymie Innovation

On 06.17.10, In Notes, Reports, By Adam S. Sieff
Oil executives testifying before Congress in May.

Oil executives testifying before Congress in May.

Reporting on BP’s imbroglio in the Gulf of Mexico, Peter Coy of Businessweek finds that energy companies are neglecting long-term investments in research and development at the price of technological breakthroughs:

“Energy companies worldwide are far less science-oriented than one might expect from an industry that is heavily dependent on technology for safety and profit. In the U.S., energy companies’ spending on research, development, and deployment amounts to just 0.3 percent of sales. That’s barely more than a tenth what the auto industry spends as a share of sales and is dwarfed by the pharmaceutical industry, which spends nearly 19 percent of sales.”

He goes on to ponder the shortcomings of public investments in innovation:

“But government R&D spending on energy has been scarce, too. It was less than 0.03 percent of U.S. gross domestic product as of 2007, about one-third the share in Japan. The dearth of investment in energy R&D helps explain why the world is still getting its energy by punching holes in the sea floor rather than from safer, renewable sources such as the sun and the wind.”

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The Power to Compete: Benchmarking the Kerry-Lieberman American Power Act on Clean Energy Innovation and Competitiveness

On 06.09.10, In Reports, By Teryn Norris

PRESS CONTACT:Teryn Norris (510-593-3716)
norris@leadenergy.org

Jesse Jenkins (503-333-1737)
jesse@thebreakthrough.org

A new policy brief released today by the Breakthrough Institute and Americans for Energy Leadership provides the first independent analysis of how the Kerry-Lieberman American Power Act would impact U.S. competitiveness in the global clean energy industry, benchmarking its provisions against key policy components for technological innovation and industrial development in the low-carbon power and transportation sectors.

The policy brief, titled “The Power to Compete: Analysis of Key Clean Energy Technology and Competitiveness Provisions in the Kerry-Lieberman American Power Act of 2010,” assesses the proposal’s key technology provisions, including research and innovation, manufacturing, and domestic market demand — the central pillars of a national clean energy competitiveness strategy — as well as supportive mechanisms in infrastructure, workforce development, and industry cluster formation.

Download Full Briefing (PDF, 2.3 MB)

Federal energy policy has become a primary U.S. national priority in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and amidst the ongoing Senate debate over comprehensive climate and energy reform. The May 2010 release of the Kerry-Lieberman American Power Act (APA) currently represents the flagship proposal for comprehensive reform in the Senate, and its future within the context of broader energy reform will be determined in the weeks ahead.

The renewed urgency for energy reform arrives among growing national concern that the United States is falling behind its competitors in the growing clean energy industry. Thus, in addition to reducing emissions of greenhouse gases, one of the core objectives of the Kerry-Lieberman proposal is to enhance U.S. competitiveness in clean energy technology markets. As Senator Kerry declared in the opening of the APA release press conference, “The bill that we are introducing today and revealing today, the American Power Act, will restore America’s economy and reassert our position as a global leader in clean energy technology.”

The United States currently lacks an effective national strategy for competitiveness in this sector, and as numerous reports have documented — including our previous report “Rising Tigers, Sleeping Giant,” which provided the first comprehensive comparison of clean energy competitiveness in the U.S. and Asia — the nation is falling behind in a number of core metrics. However, the policy brief finds that the American Power Act does not contain a comprehensive clean energy competitiveness and technology innovation strategy. While the legislation includes a number of measures with varying degrees of support, it falls substantially short in each core policy component of clean energy competitiveness.

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