CWEB.069/September.28.2001
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A proposed coordinated pursuit of quick, substantial and cost-effective energy savings across the Northwest has been abandoned, a victim of timing and circumstances.
The so-called Plug and Play plan and a companion regional public mobilization campaign failed to attract a critical mass of support, according to people involved in its development. And falling wholesale power prices lessened the sense of urgency for such a systematic demand-side effort.
"The original concept was to have a common set of measures or offerings that we could all come to agreement on and an umbrella marketing/outreach effort to push those along," said power planning director Dick Watson of the Northwest Power Planning Council. "By the time we actually got the measures together in late spring, many of the utilities who had been most active said these are good ideas, but if we stop and take two or three steps back we're going to lose more than we gain."
The marketing and outreach component enjoyed a lot of support, he said, but a few large utilities balked at the cost and also worried that regional messages would confuse their local communications on conservation.
Despite the demise of these twin initiatives, they have made an impact, according to Watson and others. Some Plug and Play ideas have been taken up around the region. And the basic overall structure remains available should another energy crisis prompt a need for speedy demand-side solutions.
Meanwhile, the prospect of yet another conservation ramp-up and ramp-down has spurred calls for a more level approach to regional energy efficiency. Bonneville Power Administration head Steve Wright made such a plea in late September (see related story). And the Council is considering regionwide conservation goals in the neighborhood of 100 average megawatts annually for the next three years.
Plug and Play/Mobilization Campaign Unplugged
Plug and Play evolved as a set of demand-side ideas to address "the near-term energy and peak-supply crisis in the Pacific Northwest," according to an April 26 report prepared by Fred Gordon and Dave Hewitt of Pacific Energy Associates. They were contracted by the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance to explore options for short-term conservation, according to Alliance executive director Margie Gardner.
Gordon and Hewitt identified 12 separate potential programs covering a variety of energy uses and conservation strategies. Collectively, these could save 326 aMW of energy and cut peak demand by 426 MW over three years, according to a summary. Levelized utility costs range from 1 cent per kilowatt-hour saved to 4.9 cents/KWh, with most proposals under 4 cents/KWh and many below 3 cents/KWh. Total price tag was estimated at nearly $500 million.
These were designed as largely additional to efficiency efforts by utilities, governments and others, according to Gordon. (See Con.WEB, June 28, 2001, for a story on Plug and Play.)
Plug and Play was introduced to stakeholders in the spring, and discussions continued into summer. But circumstances changed, Gordon said. He noticed "a lot less urgency with the drop in spot market prices. The fact some utilities wound up buying a significant amount of power that now is above market influenced some utilities to be less enthusiastic" about Plug and Play. He called the initiative "a tough thing to pull off in the midst of a price collapse."
Meanwhile, the mobilization campaign was seen as a way to "complement, reinforce and amplify" energy-saving initiatives around the region, according to an August letter from Council member Tom Karier.
However, he noted concerns over cost and marketing inconsistencies, and wrote, "Those that cannot support the initiative represent a significant part of the regional load and have service territories that are closely intertwined with those of other utilities in the region. Consequently, we do not feel we can move forward with the campaign on a regional basis. To do so would raise equity and 'free rider' issues as well as the possibility of confusion and conflict that would undercut the effectiveness of the effort."
Yet, he continued, some mobilization campaign elements are being adopted by utilities, individually and in groups.
"Most importantly," wrote Karier, "I do not believe that our inability to come together on this particular initiative is in any way symptomatic of a lessening of importance of pursuing cost-effective efficiency improvements and demand management efforts."
Plug and Play ideas have helped inform a number of energy efficiency initiatives; Gordon specifically cited Idaho Power's recent demand-side management filing (see Con.WEB, Aug. 30, 2001). He also said Plug and Play could be plugged in for a future energy crisis.
A Third Way for Conservation?
Many people, however, would prefer a more level approach to conservation--not the up-and-down cycles that have characterized the region's collective efforts over the past 20 years.
"There are some of us who are concerned that the momentum for conservation will tend to die off pretty quickly here," said Watson, given falling wholesale power market prices and a wave of utility rate increases. "We have a history in this region. We try to yo-yo this resource up and down. And it's not like you're hiring GE or Bechtel or come in and build a power plant. You're talking about local infrastructure; laying people off, then scrambling around to get people on board, back and forth, back and forth."
In the past few years, Watson said, the region accomplished about half of the cost-effective conservation outlined in the Council's last regional plan--about 45 aMW annually compared to 90 aMW in the plan.
Now the Council is looking at a regionwide goal for conservation. "Building the equivalent of a conservation [combustion turbine] in three years makes sense to us; in the neighborhood of 90 to 100 average megawatts for three years," said Watson. This concept will be considered by Council members and get a public airing, he said in late September. "We're still struggling with how we move this forward." --Mark Ohrenschall
The head of Bonneville Power Administration wants a regional forum to craft a strategy for sustained energy conservation across the Northwest over the next decade.
BPA acting administrator Steve Wright thinks conservation efforts should be maintained independently from the gyrations of energy markets. "We must all stop treating conservation as a reaction to a crisis," he said. "It must be a cornerstone of our region's energy future."
In Sept. 24 remarks at a Portland conference titled "Conservation or Crisis: A Northwest Choice," Wright advocated an "income-averaging approach to conservation" based on long-term marginal electricity costs. Conservation programs wouldn't dramatically increase when short-term power market prices shoot up to 6 cents per kilowatt-hour, he said, nor would they fall precipitously when prices drop to 2 cents/KWh.
"This would allow our region to create a sustainable energy efficiency effort that does not suffer through the peaks and valleys of the energy market," Wright told the conference attendees. "Customers and private-sector programs need multiyear stability if they are to reach efficient levels in staffing, materials and equipment and other support systems. This approach allows a multiyear funding commitment that provides the necessary infrastructure that would lead to lower-cost implementation of energy efficiency."
Wright said a regional conservation strategy should be competitively neutral, and utilities, federal agencies, states and Indian tribes should commit to achieve their respective shares of cost-effective energy savings.
He called for a draft strategy in three months and a final version in six months, so the Northwest Power Planning Council can use it for the 2003 regional plan.
The Council, meanwhile, also is considering a regional goal for conservation, in the range of 90 to 100 average megawatts a year. "We're trying to think about ways we can . . . keep the momentum going," Council power planning director Dick Watson told Con.WEB.
Warning Against Complacency
Wright's call for a steadier approach to Northwest energy conservation comes amidst a recent decline in wholesale market prices--they are now about 3 cents/KWh, he said, down from highs of 25 cents/KWh and more over the past year.
But the BPA acting administrator warned against a false sense of complacency, including a "relaxation of the efficiency ethic . . . We have a severe [energy] infrastructure problem, and clearly if we do not learn from the history of the last year, we are doomed to repeat it." Energy deficits have been avoided only through load curtailments and loosened environmental standards, which "do not constitute a long-term strategy. We must commit ourselves to infrastructure investments, and energy efficiency must be a significant part of this package.
"The fundamental fact is that load still exceeds supply and is likely to do so for some time," Wright said. He noted that the Council still projects a need for 1,000 MW of new supplies by 2003, even with all the new plants under construction, and excluding temporary generators.
Conservation as Infrastructure Solution
Increasing power supply, improving gas pipeline and storage capacity, bolstering the transmission system and sustaining energy efficiency programs are all part of the energy infrastructure solution, according to Wright.
Conservation must overcome "two fundamental problems that have limited the effectiveness of our regional energy efficiency efforts in the past." One is the periodic scaling up and down in response to short-term power market prices--thus his call for a sustained approach.
"In addition," said Wright, "we have to recognize that we must create an environment in which utilities are not put at a competitive disadvantage if they pursue energy efficiency investments . . . We have to create competitively neutral mechanisms that assure we realize the least-cost power system for Northwest citizens.
"Let me be clear that I am not proposing that we go back to the conservation programs of old," he said. "We are looking for creative strategies that create sustainble energy efficiency implementation in a restructured electric industry. We are looking for partnerships, and for programs that are easy to administer and don't require large staffs to administer."
The energy world has changed considerably over the past decade, he said. Power markets are more open, competitive and volatile; obligations to serve load and acquire new resources are murkier; public-purposes funding has emerged for conservation; technology advancements are creating new demand-side opportunities; and customer interest in conservation has soared with the energy crisis.
"The significance of these changes, combined with the renewed importance of capturing the conservation potential, make it exceptionally important that we adopt a strategy in this region that can succeed in this new world," he said.
Wright--who started his BPA career in conservation 20 years ago--also listed some benefits of using energy more efficiently: lower bills, diversified resource portfolio, addressing system constraints, buffering market volatility, reducing environmental impacts, creating jobs and stimulating economic development.
And he cited BPA's record of accomplishment in developing more than 780 aMW of conservation since 1982, on spending of $2 billion. He acknowledged BPA's dismantling of many programs in the mid-1990s for cost-cutting reasons, but also pointed out recent initiatives such as the conservation/renewables rate discount, Conservation Augmentation and more recent programs launched amidst the energy crisis. --Mark Ohrenschall
Seattle City Light has agreed to buy the energy output from up to 175 megawatts of capacity from the Stateline Wind Project and other sources, in what is billed as the largest public-power utility contract for wind power in the country.
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| Stateline turbines Courtesy of PacifCorp Power Marketing, Inc. |
The region's largest public-power utility will initially purchase energy from up to 50 MW of Stateline capacity beginning in January, under terms of a 20-year contract with PacifiCorp Power Marketing approved unanimously by the Seattle City Council Sept. 17. PPM had already agreed to buy all the electrons from the 262-MW-capacity wind venture under a separate arrangement with developer FPL Energy. The pact with Seattle also includes integration and exchange agreements.
Seattle's annual levelized cost for Stateline power is 4.16 cents per kilowatt-hour, according to a City Light briefing document. Total delivered cost will be about 4.85 cents/KWh beginning next year.
Stateline is under construction in south-central Washington: the 83.8-MW Oregon segment received approval in mid-September from the Oregon Energy Facility Siting Council.
Seattle's share (all from the Washington side) is scheduled to rise incrementally to as much as 175 MW by 2004, including some power from other wind farms. Given projected capacity factors of about 33 percent, City Light could eventually buy close to 60 aMW of wind-generated power--more than half of the city's 100 aMW new renewables goal.
Seattle officials praised the Stateline purchase as clean, renewable, cost-competitive and fixed-price energy that will diversify City Light's resource portfolio, contribute to economic development east of the Cascades and further improve the market for wind energy.
Seattle Chases Wind
Seattle's agreement to buy Stateline wind power follows a series of recent renewable energy actions by the region's largest city and its municipal utility.
In March 2000, the City Council committed City Light to meet its entire load growth without increasing greenhouse gas emissions. City Light's 2000 resource plan called for 100 aMW of new renewables over 10 years, and the utility issued a solicitation in July 2000 (see Con.WEB, July 25, 2000). Stateline energy offered by PacifiCorp Power Marketing "was one of the most competitive proposals received," according to the City Light briefing document. The municipal utility and PPM signed a letter of interest in March of this year.
"The challenge was to put it into contractual forms," City Light superintendent Gary Zarker told the Council's Energy and Environmental Policy Committee on Sept. 13. He described wind power as a viable and economic energy resource, but noted "some . . . real knotty problems of making wind work in the Northwest market."
Under the agreement, City Light will get energy from up to 50 MW of capacity from January 2002 through July 2002; up to 100 MW from August 2002 through December 2003; up to 125 MW (plus a 25-MW option from PPM) from January 2004 through June 2004; and 150 MW (plus a 25-MW option from a new non-Stateline wind resource) from July 2004 through December 2021.
A total of 100 MW allocated to Seattle will come from Stateline as now configured, according to City Light's Nancy Glaser. The other 75 MW will derive from a new or expanded wind project. She called this "a way to leverage future Northwest wind development . . . another key and significant part of this process."
The agreement also incorporates a pair of integration and exchange agreements "that provide for the conversion of energy received . . . into energy that may be practicably scheduled," according to the City Council's ordinance approving the agreement.
In one agreement, "PacifiCorp [PPM is a non-regulated affiliate] will integrate, store and return energy associated with 150 MW of the generation capability" through 2011, reads the City Light briefing document. PacifiCorp's system will take in the intermittent wind power over a month's period and return it to City Light two months later as a flat block of energy delivered to the Mid-Columbia trading hub. City Light will provide non-spinning reserves.
Under the other arrangement, City Light will exchange up to 50 MW of variable wind energy for firm wind energy for PPM.
City Light's projected cost of Stateline energy is 4.16 cents/KWh, levelized over the 20-year term. The utility will pay a flat rate, noted mayor Paul Schell in an early September letter to the Council. "Seattle will pay only for the power it actually receives," the mayor wrote. With the integration and exchange agreements, Seattle's total price tag for delivered wind power will be about 4.85 cents/KWh.
The levelized energy cost is expected to be in the range of combined-cycle gas-fired combustion turbine costs over the next five years; the exact comparison will depend on natural gas prices, noted the briefing document. "We don't know what gas prices are going to do," Glaser told the Council committee. With the wind power, "We have a very good, cost-competitive resource for the next 20 years."
In the nearer future, based on today's lower electricity market prices, Stateline power could cost the city up to $2 million extra annually in the first couple of years, City Light's Glaser told the Council committee. City councilman Jim Compton expressed some concern over adding new resources while Seattle currently has more than enough power and rates are increasing, although he also supported diversifying the city's energy sources and committing to green energy.
If electricity market prices do remain low, Glaser said Seattle could recoup costs from the higher-priced wind power through wholesale green power sales.
The price of wind energy is one of the risks associated with the agreement, the briefing document acknowedged; it will likely go above spot market prices at times during the 20-year agreement. Future transmission availability represents another risk, as does the "unlikely" possibility some of the wind energy may not materialize because certain criteria were not achieved.
At the same time City Light has several protections in the agreement as well, including a fixed price, payment only for delivered power, and damage awards if mechanical availability and capacity factors fall below certain thresholds.
J.D. Ross Redux
In concluding discussion with the Council Energy and Environmental Policy Committee, City Council member Heidi Wills invoked the name of City Light patriarch J.D. Ross in "embracing enthusiastically" the wind-power purchase.
She called it a "tremendous long-term investment in clean, renewable energy" that will help meet the city's environmental commitments at an "extremely competitive" cost--lower than the five-year cost of power Seattle is buying from the Klamath Cogeneration Project. Wind energy also diversifies the city's hydro-based portfolio and its vulnerability to periodic droughts.
And, said Wills, it will help transform the regional wind market while promoting economic development in eastern Washington. --Mark Ohrenschall
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Northwest utility retail green power programs have collectively doubled their sales and customer participants in the past year, according to a new report from Renewable Northwest Project.
The total numbers remain quite small in the context of the regional power system: 5.3 average megawatts in annual sales through 16 retail green power programs; 18,675 signed-up customers; and an average customer participation rate of 1.9 percent. Three utilities--PacifiCorp, Portland General Electric and Eugene Water & Electric Board--dominate the sales and participation figures.
Still, the big jump in green power sales and participation is impressive given the circumstances, according to RNP's Peter West. Only two new programs have started since last year, he said, and roughly a third of the utilities stopped marketing retail green power during the energy crisis. The doubling of numbers is "extraordinarily significant, especially in the midst of all the rate increases going on and more yet to come." He believes this growth demonstrates consumer support of renewable energy sources.
"Powerful Choices II: A Survey of Retail Green Power Programs in the Pacific Northwest" builds on a similar study published a year ago (see Con.WEB, Sept. 29, 2000). It covers specific information from 16 Northwest utilities as well as two apiece in California and Colorado. In addition to numbers, the report examines green power products, pricing, marketing and lessons learned.
"While there is no single strategy to ensure success, the most popular programs in terms of customer participation procure a combination of the following: getting to know the customer; partnering with community organizations, environmental groups, and local businesses; being persistent and consistent; making commitments to further green power purchases; and having a positive attitude," the report said.
Northwest Retail Green Power
The August 2000 version of "Powerful Choices" listed 14 Northwest utilities with retail green power programs: city of Ashland, Benton PUD, Central Electric Cooperative, Clearwater Power, Consumers Power, Douglas Electric Cooperative, EWEB, Flathead Electric Cooperative, Midstate Electric Cooperative, Orcas Power & Light, PacifiCorp, Portland General Electric, Tacoma Power and Umatilla Electric Cooperative. The report lauded the fact that more than two million Northwest residential customers could directly choose green power.
Chelan County PUD and Idaho Power have since launched retail initiatives, while the existing ventures have undergone another year of development. Still, this remains a "pretty nascent industry and product," West said.
"Powerful Choices II"--prepared by Portland State University graduate student Emily Moore-- found that 47.1 million kilowatt-hours (5.3 aMW) of green power are sold through regional utility programs, double the 23.5 million KWh (2.6 aMW) reported last year. Meanwhile, the number of participating customers jumped from 9,300 in 2000 to 18,675 this year.
"While most of the surveyed utilities saw increases in sales and participation over the last year, Pacific Power and Portland General Electric are the two utilities that gained the most momentum, accounting for 80 percent of the increase," according to an RNP news release. Those two utilities represent 60 percent of Northwest retail green power sales, while EWEB accounts for another 25 percent.
Customer participation regionwide is "overwhelmingly residential," according to the report. Total customer participation rates per utility range from 0.1 percent to 6.5 percent, averaging 1.9 percent. Residential customer average is 2.1 percent.
Retail Green Power Programs
"Powerful Choices II" describes each utility retail green program as "operating under unique circumstances," but it makes some categorizations across the different initiatives.
A number of utilities buy their green power from existing or new renewables, some develop their own resources, and others target future development. "There are a few utilities heavily investing in renewable resources in their own community," the report said, citing Ashland and Orcas. RNP thinks "investment in new renewables is becoming an increasingly important characteristic as green power programs mature." The seven biggest green-power sellers in the report share a "solid commitment to bringing new renewable resources on line."
Block packages are the most popular retail option, offered by 12 of the 20 surveyed utilities. Price premiums per 100-KWh block range from $1.80 to $5. Some other utilities, notably EWEB, allow customers to choose the percentage of green power in their overall electricity use. Yet another approach invites customers to make voluntary contributions, as Idaho Power does.
Price matters in attracting customers, but so does the quality of green power offered, according to West. He thinks the optimum current range balancing price and quality is $2 to $3.50 per 100-KWh block. PacifiCorp dropped the price of its block from $4.75 to $2.95 following a survey showing price as a barrier, the report noted.
The surveyed utilities have marketed their green power programs through such means as bill stuffers, local media (advertising and news), direct mail, Web sites and community events. However, the report said, "The most exciting marketing strategies arose from utility partnerships with community and environmental organizations." Nine of the surveyed utilities fit this category, and their average customer participation rate is more than double the others, 2.7 percent compared to 1.2 percent. RNP also noted that few utilities had substantially marketed green power to their non-residential customers--those that have reported sales increased about 30 percent.
The energy crisis, meanwhile, led several utilities to cut back or eliminate marketing of their green power programs. And a few utilities lost participating customers after a rate increase.
Looking Ahead
West thinks energy has a much higher public profile these days, but most people don't necessarily know the sources of their power. He sees a three-step process in promoting green power: people need to be made aware of it, persuaded why it is an important choice, and then signed up for programs. He acknowledged it could "take a while" for green power to develop into a sizable market. Another doubling of Northwest green power sales, to 94 million KWh, would still be only a tiny fraction of the region's total electricity use--0.0004 percent of the Northwest Power Pool load in 2000.
Washington utilities will be required to offer retail green power next year under a new state law, and this will expand the regional green power market. However, West said a slowing economy is likely to affect green power sales in Washington and elsewhere.
Numbers shouldn't be the only measure of retail green power program success, the report cautioned. "Successful programs are those that generate enough customer demand to spur new renewable development, regardless of participation rate."
West made an analogy to the development of recycling. It is now a much more common practice, and although the total tonnage of recycled materials is still relatively modest, those tons of stuff are not going to landfills. Green power, meanwhile, offers a chance to cut back on fossil fuel-fired electricity generation. "It is about a longer view," West said. --Mark Ohrenschall
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Two novel renewable energy initiatives designed to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions have received funding from the Climate Trust.
In early September, the Portland-based non-profit group and Bonneville Environmental Foundation announced a 10-year joint purchase of green tags valued at more than $200,000. These green tags will represent the environmental benefits from about 4.1 average megawatts of new wind energy in Oregon. Their purchase from Bonneville Power Administration will help finance future renewables development.
And in July, the Climate Trust announced funding of a demonstration project for a process to remove CO2 and other pollutants from landfill gas before it is burned to generate electricity at the Roosevelt Regional Landfill in south-central Washington.
These are the first two renewables ventures funded by the Trust, which receives money from Oregon power plant developers for projects to reduce CO2 emissions. Funding for the green tag purchase and Roosevelt CO2 separation project comes from $1 million contributed by the 480-MW Klamath Cogeneration Project in southern Oregon. That money also has funded an Internet-based carpool coordination project around Portland and two carbon-storage initiatives in forests.
Meanwhile, Climate Trust continues to review proposals received earlier this year through its request for carbon offset projects with Seattle City Light (see Con.WEB, Feb. 28, 2001).
Climate Trust Renewables Projects
The green tag arrangement between the Trust and Bonneville Environmental Foundation will reduce pollution by the equivalent of parking 5,100 cars for 10 years, BEF president Angus Duncan said in a news release.
These green tags will be purchased from BPA and derived from the new wind-energy project near Condon or another Oregon wind project. "We expect it to be Condon," said Trust executive director Mike Burnett. BPA will reinvest the revenue in future renewables, while the applicable wind-generated electricity will annually displace an estimated 2,300 metric tons of CO2 from fossil fuel-fired power.
CO2 offsets will be separated from other environmental attributes of these green tags, and retired by Climate Trust. BEF will retire offsets for nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide, mercury and other pollutants. "Each organization is leveraging the funds of the other to make more of the good stuff it wants to have happen, happen," said Burnett. The two non-profits will basically split the approximately $200,000 cost of buying the green tags. "Both organizations are doing this for environmental benefits, not for resale," he said.
Trust board chair Diana Bodtker said in the news release: "We hope that this project serves as a model for environmentally minded organizations to finance climate-safe power."
Meanwhile, the Roosevelt landfill-gas CO2 separation project represents "the first commercial-scale demonstration of this innovative environmental technology," Bodtker said in a July news release. This system evolved from more than a decade of research and development funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and private businesses. It has been tested in laboratories and on a small-scale basis at a New Jersey landfill, according to Burnett.
Developed by Acrion Technologies and provided by Evergreen Eco-Resources, this process will strip CO2 from landfill gas before the gas is burned in large engines to generate electricity (see Con.WEB, Aug. 31, 1999, for a story on the landfill-gas project). Liquid carbon dioxide will be captured and sold commercially; nurseries that need to increase CO2 levels in their greenhouses are the target market, according to Burnett.
The separator technology also will take out some other significant air pollutants, including volatile organic compounds and sulfur dioxide.
"Funding from the Climate Trust is critical to our decision to move forward with the generator and pursue the separator technology," said Brian Skeahan, general manager of Klickitat County PUD, which operates the 10-MW-capacity Roosevelt landfill-gas project. "By cleaning the landfill gas with the separator, our generator will run cleaner and require less downtime and cost for maintenance."
This technology also could provide a broader benefit by making landfill gas-to-energy projects more cost-effective at small and medium-sized landfills, said Burnett. The separator should lead to cleaner and less expensive operations, while the captured CO2 represents potential added revenue.
RFP for Carbon Dioxide Offsets
Early this year, the Trust and Seattle City Light announced a joint solicitation for projects that reduce carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions. The Trust has about $5.7 million available in funding.
Nearly 80 proposals came in, and 14 are now under more detailed evaluation by the Trust. They include cogeneration, distributed generation, energy efficiency, transportation efficiency and forest-related initiatives. "They're all very good projects at a reasonable price," Burnett said. The Trust expects to sign contracts with about half of the 14 remaining proposals. --Mark Ohrenschall
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Resource-efficient products installed in 50 Oregon homes have demonstrated significant water and energy savings.
A recent study of the Save Water and Energy Education Program (SWEEP) found overall savings of 25 percent in indoor water use, and a 68-percent decrease in clothes washer energy consumption with resource-efficient models.
"The single most important finding is that we were able to verify that there are very substantial water savings achievable by installing a suite of water-efficient appliances," said program manager Marc Ledbetter of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, which evaluated SWEEP's water and energy savings.
SWEEP involved efficient clothes washers and dryers, dishwashers and toilets installed in 25 homes apiece in Wilsonville and Lafayette, OR. A few homes also received low-flow showerheads and faucet aerators. Those two cities and a host of other public- and private-sector partners joined in the program, which was launched in 1999.
In addition to identifying resource savings, PNNL found a mean annual dollar savings per SWEEP household of $167 (the appliances were donated).
The study, however, did not address SWEEP products from a cost-benefit perspective as a conservation strategy for local utilities--although U.S. energy secretary Spencer Abraham said in a news release: "If every American household installed these products, the annual water savings would equal the average flow of the Mississippi River into the Gulf of Mexico for five entire days."
Also, despite extensive community and school educational efforts, Wilsonville and Lafayette residents apparently have not switched to water- and energy-saving appliances in any great numbers, according to local officials. Wilsonville public works director Jeff Bauman called SWEEP "hopefully a step toward a longer-term shift to more efficient appliances."
SWEEP Background
Although many studies have documented efficiencies from specific appliances, PNNL's Ledbetter believes SWEEP is unique in assessing savings from "a full suite of major water-saving devices." The program focused primarily on water efficiencies and secondarily on energy efficiencies, he said.
SWEEP took place in two fast-growing communities with significant water-supply shortages (see Con.WEB, Nov. 30, 1999, for a story on the program's launch). In both Wilsonville and Lafayette organizers chose 25 "representative" homes built before 1992, when the federal Energy Policy Act mandated certain types of water- and energy-efficient residential equipment. "We expect there will still be substantial savings achievable in homes built after that, but we did not measure that," Ledbetter said.
Each participating home received a manufacturer-donated Frigidaire Energy Star-qualifying horizontal-axis clothes washer and matching dryer, a Frigidaire Energy Star-qualifying dishwasher, and a Caroma toilet with different flushing buttons for liquid and solid wastes. A few homes were given new showerheads and aerators; most already had them from a prior Portland General Electric program, according to the study.
"The participants were asked just to use the equipment as they saw appropriate," said Ledbetter. "We were not asking them to change behavior; we were just giving them more efficient equipment." He acknowledged "general encouragement" for water conservation coming from other sources.
PNNL used a three-level monitoring system to collect data on water usage for the study homes. Data were collected at city water mains and customer water meters; for washing machines, data were collected at the point of use.
In addition, Ledbetter explained, specialized software disaggregated the data collected at the customer water meters into individual end uses, by comparing water usage profiles (collected in 15-second intervals) with water-use profiles for the individual water-using devices in each household. Electricity use also was measured.
All the data reflect the months of November through February, when residential water use is virtually all indoors.
SWEEP Results
Some key results:
"It's interesting to note that while on a per-cycle or per-use basis the clothes washer is the dominant savings device in the program . . . it's the toilet that overwhelmingly drives the total program savings over time," the report said. "These savings, of course, result from the relative high usage a toilet sees in comparison to the other equipment in a typical home." Mean annual per-home water savings amounted to 11,565 gallons for toilets, compared with 6,390 gallons for clothes washers and 690 gallons for dishwashers.
"In summary, the SWEEP equipment used in the test homes in Lafayette and Wilsonville, Oregon, produced significant savings in water and energy compared with the baseline equipment," the report concluded. "The SWEEP study demonstrated that a properly chosen suite of appliances and equipment can make a significant impact on indoor water use."
A SWEEP conservation approach also could produce systemwide benefits for water suppliers, Ledbetter noted, such as avoided costs for pumping, treatment and capital improvements. PNNL is working with George Mason University on a model to help communities gauge these kinds of savings.
In addition, the PNNL report did not address cost-benefit issues. "It's another question entirely," Ledbetter said, although communities could take the SWEEP savings figures and conduct their own economic analyses.
The Oregon Office of Energy, meanwhile, is working to expand the SWEEP concept to other communities in the state. OOE provides information, technical help and incentives in Lafayette, Wilsonville, Bend, Redmond and Salem, according to an article by the energy office's Lisa Schwartz.
Community Perspectives
In addition to the 50 participating households in Wilsonville and Lafayette, SWEEP involved local community and school educational efforts on water and energy conservation. Those have shown mixed results, according to local officials.
"I thought there was a fair amount of participation in community events," said Lafayette city administrator Phil Lieberman. "Just not a whole lot of people went out and made changes in their washers and dryers." Very few locals have taken advantage of a city-funded $40 rebate for installing efficient appliances, he told Con.WEB.
Lafayette's "fairly large" low-income population and newer subdivisions were less than ideal for promoting substantial shifts in appliances, according to Lieberman. "Where it could be the most effective is where you've got a fairly well-established suburb that has reasonable income levels and a susbstantial number of people with older appliances who can afford to make the change. That really didn't fit the pattern here."
Any SWEEP benefits to the local water/wastewater system were "modest at best," Lieberman said, and in any case difficult to track. Lafayette is installing new filters for old wells around town that will alleviate the community's immediate water-supply crisis.
In Wilsonville, only four customers have signed up for a zero-down-payment, 7.5-percent-interest loan for resource-efficient appliances, according to Bauman.
Nevertheless, Bauman described SWEEP's educational component in Wilsonville as "really encouraging." Energy and water conservation were featured in the curriculum at a week-long outdoor school attended by 200 sixth-graders, who also received take-home conservation kits.
In addition, Bauman said the city asked schools to sponsor a middle-school poetry and essay contest on the topic of why it's important to conserve water and energy. "This to me was the most impressive part." Local businesses donated prizes; all 96 participating students received movie passes, while the four finalists got $50 gift certificates and the grand-prize winner received a new efficient Frigidaire clothes washer/dryer set. The top four entries (as judged by a local senior citizens' panel) were published and distributed in 4,000 water bills.
Bauman said Wilsonville's water consumption doubles from winter to summer, primarily as a result of increased outdoor usage. The city's system is designed to accommodate daily peak and storage needs. Still, indoor water conservation can help postpone future system expansion. "In combination it's good to have both" indoor and outdoor water-saving strategies. He observed that seven years of mandatory summer water restrictions have made brown lawns a "politically correct" symbol of conservation within the community.
Bauman thinks a program like SWEEP will gradually reap benefits, as the market evolves for more efficient appliances. "I think the real payoff is not going to be as dramatic as mandatory summer restrictions with brown lawns," he said. "What this will be over time . . . will be sort of a built-in method of conservation." --Mark Ohrenschall
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The Pacific Northwest is home to a great number of vastly different industrial companies.
But whatever they do, these companies share in common the use of energy--and opportunities for energy efficiency.
Here are energy-saving stories from four industrial companies in the region: a cold-storage firm, a steel mill, an airplane-maker and a high-tech manufacturing and development plant.
Henningsen Cold Storage
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Oregon-based Henningsen Cold Storage provides nearly 33 million cubic feet of frozen and refrigerated warehouse space in the Northwest, Oklahoma and North Dakota, according to the company's Web site.
That's a lot of air to keep cold: roughly equivalent to 15 buildings the size of a football field, each 50 feet tall. Electric power (primarily for refrigeration) is the company's second-largest expense; at 20 percent of costs it trails only labor, according to engineering services manager Paul Henningsen.
Henningsen views electricity as a controllable cost, and has taken numerous measures to lower its bills. "We've had very good success, documented success," Henningsen told a Northwest industrial energy conservation teleconference in June. The company reduced its energy consumption 60 percent below the industry baseline for the first phase of a new facility near Portland, and has achieved significant savings, in the range of 20 percent to 25 percent, with several other projects, he later told Con.WEB.
These energy efficiencies respond to increasing competition within the consolidating cold-storage industry, as well as customer demands for lower prices. Henningsen also cited environmental benefits and associated positive recognition for the company.
"The primary focus we had was to try and increase our bottom line," Henningsen told the teleconference. "Our goal is to reduce our power requirements" as low as possible, with the greatest return on investment. He said his company has received financial help on energy efficiency from the Oregon Office of Energy (in the form of state Business Energy Tax Credits), Portland General Electric and Bonneville Power Administration.
He later called such assistance "very helpful . . . Some [efficiency] technologies are still expensive, so we need a little help to justify the payback on some of them." A testimonial on Portland General's Web site credited the utility and Cascade Energy Engineering for assisting Henningsen with efficiency upgrades at the Gresham, OR facility that save nearly 2 million kilowatt-hours annually.
Among the energy-saving tips offered by Henningsen from his company's experience: raise suction pressure as high as possible while maintaining product temperature; operate systems at the lowest condensing pressure; keep condensing towers clean; remove oil from evaporators; install demand defrost; keep freezer-door openings to a minimum; minimize fan horsepower through fan cycling or installation of variable frequency drives; use demand-limiting motors; replace less-efficient lighting; and add insulation.
These efforts have reduced operating costs and enhanced the firm's competitiveness, Henningsen said. Advanced control systems, meanwhile, give Henningsen a better handle on its refrigeration. These efficiencies also provide the company with "hedges against an unknown electric market," he added.
Birmingham Steel
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Seattle City Light's largest single customer, Birmingham Steel uses an average of 32,000 megawatt-hours of power each month. Electricity is the plant's second-biggest cost, vice president/general manager Ray Lepp said at a June business environmental conference, and as such, "It gets a lot of focus."
So does energy conservation. The West Seattle plant--which uses electric-based furnaces to transform scrap materials into a wide range of steel products--has results to prove it.
"We've reduced our electric power usage for the melting in the steel furnace in the area of well over 10 percent," Lepp told Con.WEB in January. "That's the largest single source of electric power consumption in the plant. If you add up everything, it's somewhere in the area of 15 to 20 percent reduced power needs to make the same amount of steel accomplished in the last three years."
This attention to efficient energy use is part of Birmingham Steel's larger interest in environmental stewardship, Lepp said. "We really focus hard on doing a very clean job of making steel," he said, citing many environmental awards for the plant, and its uncommon urban location for a steel mill. The company's Web site noted: "Making steel from scrap means significant energy savings and conservation of our country's natural resources."
Energy efficiency also represents good business practice. Birmingham Steel's two major competitors in the West, one in Oregon and another in Utah, pay one-third less in power costs, according to Lepp. The plant's energy efficiencies have cut monthly bills by about 15 percent, or around $150,000. "The other side effect of being good with utilities is it helps close that gap with my competitors," he said.
One significant measure undertaken by Birmingham Steel was an innovative post-combustion system in the furnaces that efficiently injects oxygen into molten baths to remove impurities in metals. Seattle City Light, a frequent conservation partner with the plant, contributed $658,000 (80 percent) of the cost, according to Lepp.
"Money was just so scarce to take on projects like that," he said. "The fact the city could do that enabled me to do it. It turned out to be a win-win for both us," since Seattle effectively gained additional power supplies. Seattle has helped Birmingham Steel with 10 conservation projects since 1993, providing more than $900,000 in total incentives, according to a November 1999 City Light news release. Those projects account for yearly energy savings of about 2 average megawatts.
Other Birmingham Steel electric energy efficiencies include variable-speed controls on fans, a remodeled air-compressor system and lighting retrofits. As of January the plant had started working on natural gas conservation efforts, such as burner tuneups and waste-heat recovery, along with water recycling that had conserved millions of gallons.
And Birmingham Steel was contemplating ways to generate power with waste heat. It may be impractical, Lepp acknowledged, but asking questions can lead to answers.
"Everybody is constantly looking for ways to make a difference, especially with energy prices" trending upward, Lepp said. The plant's electricity rate as of July had risen 69 percent in the past year, he told the environmental conference. Supply-side solutions are needed to alleviate the energy crunch, he said, but so too is a continued focus on conservation.
The Boeing Co.
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The Northwest's largest industrial company has moved its headquarters from Seattle to Chicago, but it still makes airplanes in the region, and still remains a substantial energy consumer--and conserver.
Six major Boeing facilities in western Washington had been paying Puget Sound Energy electric rates tied to wholesale market prices, and average monthly power bills for those six sites at one point last year jumped tenfold to exceed $20 million, Boeing utilities manager Keith Warner told a Northwest industrial energy conservation teleconference in June. Prices moderated in late 2000, but then jumped again in November and December. "It was time to do something different," he said.
Energy engineers from those six Boeing facilities met on a Saturday to brainstorm energy-saving opportunities. "We've been pretty progressive on energy conservation," said Warner, but much more could be accomplished. The group came up with a "very long" list of some 100 ideas, categorized from immediate to longer-term.
"One of the first things we did was find out where the issues were," said Warner. Historical data showed that electricity accounted for about three-fourths of Boeing utilities, so the focus went to saving power. Manufacturing, lighting and HVAC systems each represent about 30 percent of load and another 10 percent goes for personal computers, data centers and the like.
An initial 15-percent energy conservation target was subsequently stretched to 25 percent. "We are working toward that," Warner told the teleconference. "We feel some plants will get there, and other plants that have been very aggressive in the past may not have all the opportunities."
Warner outlined some of the energy-saving measures taken by Boeing.
Engineers visited facilities at night to listen for compressed-air leaks and take digital pictures of steam leaks. "We'd take a picture and show it to the operations folks and let them know there was a problem," he said--and that usually led to a solution.
Boeing also started rezoning its large-bay lighting into smaller segments, and adding light switches in many locations, to reduce unnecessary lighting.
"We also took symbolic measures," said Warner. Those included turning off lights that lit up the Boeing logo at night, and disabling lighting and ballasts for 800 vending machines.
The company also expanded indoor temperature ranges, setting heating at 65 degrees and cooling at 75 degrees. Many employees had complained about the cold in the months before June, Warner acknowledged, but added, "It's something we felt was necessary."
In some Boeing facilities with small nighttime staffing levels, buildings have been closed and work crews assigned to other shifts. "The only way to get significant savings is to completely shut the buildings down," he said. One Boeing facility in California set a "hard deadline" of 4:30 p.m. to close facilities--regardless of whether employees were inside.
Beyond these immediate measures, Warner said energy conservation projects that can pay back this year through utility savings already have approval to begin. Boeing is tapping utility incentives "to the extent we can" to help fund these efficiencies. "Until we go through the quick-payback [items], we've not had to go to longer-term investments. We'll be doing that this fall."
With 48 million square feet of Boeing space spread around three western Washington counties, communications poses a "real challenge," according to Warner. Boeing has promoted conservation through its internal company newsletter, an employee Web site, suggestion boxes that have received more than 1,000 energy-saving ideas, a video and posters. "No one communications mechanism works for everyone. We've tried the shotgun approach," he said.
Warner emphasized the importance of spreading the conservation message companywide. "At a large company like Boeing, there are a lot of behavioral issues. Communications is a key effort. We've really tried to engage everyone . . . We had good response early in the year with all the [energy crisis] headlines. The real challenge is just sustaining the commitment to behavioral changes and to the management changes as well."
As of mid-September, "Our conservation efforts continue strong," Warner told Con.WEB. "We have achieved approximately 15-percent reduction since last year" at the six major Puget Sound facilities.
Hewlett-Packard
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Energy conservation has long been practiced at the Hewlett-Packard manufacturing and development plant in Corvallis, OR, but recently that practice has expanded.
"We've been doing energy conservation in a big way since before any of this energy crisis happened in California," HP-Corvallis energy manager Phil Ermer told Con.WEB in May. "If you walked up to a plant manager before, he might not be quite as aware [of conservation]. There's probably more awareness going on now."
The Corvallis facility cut its energy use by more than 10 percent from February through April, compared to the same period a year ago, according to Ermer. Lighting and HVAC changes and equipment replacements have contributed to these savings. The company also is exploring potential energy efficiencies related to its manufacturing processes.
"I personally feel that the biggest thing we can do to help the regional Western energy situation and to keep costs under control is to use less energy," he said. "A lot is going to be supply and demand. If you can ease the demand, the whole picture will improve."
HP-Corvallis, which develops Ink Jet printer technology, can make a difference. The plant is the largest power consumer in Benton County, according to Ermer, using more electricity than Oregon State University and neighboring food-processing facilities.
"We've tried to do a whole bunch of different things" in conservation, Ermer said.
Controls automatically shut down unnecessary office lighting, including hallway lighting near windows. "What we've found from an ergonomics standpoint is that lighting levels are better at a little bit lower level than was typically designed in buildings in years past," said Ermer.
HP also has encouraged employees to turn off computer equipment at night--with reminder notes placed on terminals still running in the evenings.
HVAC systems power down through controls, as needed. Perimeter heating is reduced along windows, and the indoor temperature swings a little wider. "It used to be 73 degrees, plus or minus 1 degree. Now the summertime high is more like 75 degrees and the wintertime low is closer to 70 . . . The whole idea is to use as much outside air to make things comfortable as possible." HP also has replaced some chillers with more efficient models.
HVAC checkups have also made a difference, according to Ermer. "Each of these systems, particularly in the newer buildings, have fairly sophisticated controls. To actually tune them up and get them running at peak efficiency has been really beneficial." These investigations have caught dampers stuck open delivering more air than required, as one example.
Prospective energy efficiencies in its manufacturing processes are under consideration by the high-tech company.
In a new venture in partnership with the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance, H-P Corvallis has placed sensors to monitor temperatures and flows in chilled-water lines. "The whole idea is to install some of this real high accuracy equipment to get a better understanding of our energy consumption and how the plant is operating," said Ermer.
H-P Corvallis also participates in a pilot program with the semiconducor industry research consortium SEMATECH examining a method to make better use of exhaust air from highly sensitive "clean rooms" where integrated circuit chips are manufactured for Ink Jet cartridges. "The treatment of air that goes into clean rooms is actually quite expensive," said Ermer. "If you reduce the amount of air that is thrown away, you reduce the energy it takes to treat that air."
Energy conservation, he believes, fits well with the personal ethic of H-P employees as well the firm's corporate values. "A lot of H-P people really are environmentalists. It's not a hard sell to get people to conserve on energy. Also . . . it does reduce cost. As much as anything, it's good stewardship for companies like H-P to be doing this. We want [energy conservation] to be in the forefront of what we do for environmental protection." The Corvallis plant recently received ISO 14001 environmental certification, which requires energy conservation planning. "We're serious about doing that," he said. --Mark Ohrenschall
The Pacific Northwest is a national leader in clean energy, according to a new report from Climate Solutions and Renewable Northwest Project.
"Rising to the Challenge: The Northwest's Clean Energy Leadership" documents numerous regional examples in renewable energy and green power development among utilities, businesses, governments and non-profit organizations. Although many of these advances have already been reported (including in Con.WEB), the report offers a comprehensive compilation of Northwest activities.
"I started this thinking we're a pretty good [clean energy] area of the U.S., and by the time I got to looking at all our different pieces of leadership, I said, 'We're one of the leaders,'" said report author Patrick Mazza. He found himself impressed with the rapid development of wind power, successes in Oregon green power marketing, a number of progressive utilities, and non-profit groups and businesses supporting renewables and green power--these elements reflect substantial green power demand in the region.
Still, Mazza believes more can be accomplished. "We wanted to recognize what's been done so far and . . . use it as a tool to evangelize this further."
Clean Energy Leaders
"The Pacific Northwest has one of the most significant concentrations of such clean energy leaders on the planet . . . The story of how they are rising to the challenge raises hope that in coming years we can transform our sources of energy, save the climate and build a new base of prosperity that sustains both communities and the planet," Mazza writes in "Rising to the Challenge," which came out in August.
He called the report's timing "somewhat fortuitous." Climate Solutions planned the report as a culmination to the Northwest Clean Energy Challenge, and then the energy crisis happened.
"Rising to the Challenge" highlights more than 20 specific cases of Northwest clean energy leadership in the public and private sectors.
"Many [businesses] want to incorporate environmental ethics into their business practices, or position themselves on the cutting edge of new ideas. Some businesses choose Green Power to demonstrate they reflect their employees' values. Many retail operations opt for Green Power to distinguish themselves from their competition and make customers feel good about shopping with them," the report quotes Diane Zipper of Renewable Northwest Project.
Among businesses profiled are three Puget Sound companies that committed to 100-percent green power via green tags (see Con.WEB, April 30, 2001). Also noted is the Port of Portland and its recent announcement it would buy 525,000 kilowatt-hours annually of wind power, covering 1 percent of its total electricity usage. The report lists 85 Northwest entities on the Northwest Clean Energy Challenge "honor roll" for "meaningful commitments to use and promote Green Power."
That campaign, along with RNP's Go Green initiative and the Renew 2000 green power certification program coordinated by Northwest Environmental Advocates, are mentioned in the report as clean energy contributors. "Several allied efforts by Northwest public interest organizations are pushing forward both the production and use of Green Power in the region," the report said.
Green power programs are moving the market, too, Mazza writes. More than 10,000 individual Oregonians and nearly 300 businesses buy green power from utilities, supporting 12 megawatts of wind-energy capacity. He believes this augurs well when retail green power offerings are required of Washington utilities beginning next year.
Bonneville Environmental Foundation's green tag program is listed as an innovative green power program.
Meanwhile, "Northwest utilities are on the leading edge of efforts in the U.S. to bring Green power sources into the grid," the report said.
To wit: Bonneville Power Administration's preliminary agreements to buy power from 830 MW of new wind energy; Seattle City Light's commitment to meet all load growth without increasing greenhouse gas emissions ("the first utility in the U.S., and likely the world, to undertake such a commitment"); Eugene Water & Electric Board's plans to meet load growth with new renewables and conservation; Energy Northwest's wind project; Montana Power's quest for 150 MW of wind power, and its funding contributions to 75 kilowatts of solar-power capacity through its Universal Systems Benefits Charge; the city of Ashland's 30-KW solar power initiative; Chelan County PUD's payments for small-scale renewable energy delivered to its system, and a solicitation of voluntary customer donations; Orcas Power & Light's purchase of locally generated green power; and Western S.U.N. Cooperative's work with utilities to install some 60 KW of solar capacity.
While acknowledging these various efforts, Mazza also sees considerable room for more green power programs, wind installations and, particularly, solar-energy development. "We're just really starting to see solar happen. I'd like to have more solar demonstrations," he said. "We've got a tremendous solar resource, especially east of the [Cascade] mountains." He also looks for greater development of the Energy Web idea, including fuel cells.
Building markets for green power and renewable energy is vital; the 10,000-plus Oregonians buying green power still represent just a "tiny percentage of the overall customer base," Mazza said.
Green Power Synergy
"The progress in the region is really being driven by green power demand," Mazza said. "And that green power demand is being driven by various factors." He cited "this winning combination of good innovative efforts by public-interest and non-profit groups to drive forward the market; great efforts by utilities, particularly public utilities that are reflecting the will of their customers; and a good set of businesses that really are far-thinking enough to see that green power is good business for them, too."
It comes down to "synergy," Mazza said. "You need all the pieces and you need the pieces hooked up. You need the green power programs. You need the public-policy framework. You need the actual renewables on the ground. Put them all together and weave the fabric." --Mark Ohrenschall
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Con.WEB was created by the Energy NewsData Web team, including: Publisher-Cyrus Noë; Editor-Mark Ohrenschall;
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