CWEB.096/December.18.2003
Marketing green building is vital to expanding its practice beyond the leading edge.
So believes a Portland-based sustainable design professional, who surveyed nearly 500 green building practitioners and also tapped into theories about innovation diffusion and business strategy.
"My big message is we've got a lot more work to do," said Jerry Yudelson, sustainability director for Interface Engineering in Portland.
The U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards are followed by about 10 percent of the institutional market for new buildings, but only some 2 percent of the corporate new building market, Yudelson wrote in a paper titled "Marketing Sustainable Design Services," delivered to the Greenbuild conference in November in Pittsburgh.
"We've begun to make movement in the institutional sector," he told Con.WEB. "The commercial building sector is still very, very new, and we need to be really serious about documenting benefits, documenting costs and really communicating effectively with the people who make decisions" about building green.
Green building costs remain a significant challenge--78 percent of respondents to Yudelson's survey cited higher costs as a perceived barrier to incorporating sustainable design and LEED. More than 60 percent of respondents thought independent cost information would help them better promote green building to clients.
"Anecdotal evidence of benefits is strongly in favor of green building, but it has not filtered yet into the general marketplace enough to overcome perceived cost hurdles," Yudelson wrote.
His paper recommended development of more solid information on green building costs and benefits, along with compelling stories. Also suggested are strategic competitive approaches by green building practitioners.
He sees a model in the market growth of compact fluorescent lamps, spurred by "a very sophisticated outreach program" by organizations such as the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance. "I feel that's a good lesson," said Yudelson. "It gets a lot more difficult trying to move a whole sector like the building sector, which is inherently conservative."
Assessing Green Building
Green building practices can be considered a decade old, dating to the 1993 formation of USGBC, wrote Yudelson. LEED has gained "considerable" marketplace acceptance since 2000, although new project registrations have leveled out at about 30 to 40 per month in 2003. Meanwhile, only about 60 U.S. commercial building projects are certified under LEED versions 2.0 and 2.1, he wrote--even though there are almost 5,000 LEED-accredited professionals nationwide, and more than 10,000 attendees of LEED intermediate workshops.
Curious about green building progress and marketing, and long interested in the spread of new technologies, Yudelson sent a survey to the 2,700 attendees of Greenbuild 2002. He got 473 responses, about 17 percent. Almost 75 percent of respondents classified themselves as very or somewhat experienced in sustainable design. Architects were the most common profession among respondents, representing 35 percent. The rest were engineers, design and construction teams, building owners/developers, government agencies, manufacturers/vendors and others.
He also referenced a similar survey by Building Design & Construction, which attracted responses from less experienced green building practitioners.
Yudelson's survey found that building green was itself a predominant marketing strategy. Almost 60 percent of respondents said they sought LEED certification for at least one project, as the top-listed response to the emerging green building market. Successful projects were listed by 37 percent of respondents as the most effective means of marketing sustainable design services, also highest in that category.
Yudelson described a traditional reluctance by many architects and engineers to strongly promote specific approaches to their clients. "They like to be professionals with an objective viewpoint," he said.
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A green building example: the warehouse at American Honda’s Northwest Regional Facility near Portland has no mechanical heating or cooling, and has sensors to supply the best combination of daylighting and electric lighting. (Photo by Mark Ohrenschall) |
There is also a long-established dynamic between building designers and owners, he said. "The way the building industry works, the owners wait for the architects to bring them something, and the architects wait for the owners to tell them what they're interested in."
But practitioners that advocate green building are finding success, Yudelson said. His survey showed that expertise in green building had enabled 76 percent of respondents to gain new clients or projects; 79 percent of respondents reported their green building work had helped distinguish them in the marketplace.
"Firms that have decided to be strong advocates in that area and have otherwise good credentials are cleaning up. They're getting the plum jobs," said Yudelson, mentioning Mithun and Keen Engineering as examples. Interface, too, has found a "definite benefit from getting into shortlists of competitions and then winning because of this developed reputation."
His message to designers: "It's not too late to get on the [green building] train. The train is leaving the station, and firms that don't respond are going to be fighting an uphill battle."
Challenging Market
Still, green building remains a challenging market.
More than three-fourths of respondents cited significant additional costs as a perceived barrier to applying sustainable design and LEED. Nearly half, 47 percent, found green building difficult to justify to clients, and 39 percent reported market discomfort with new ideas and technologies.
Yudelson delved into theories about the spread of innovations, concluding that green building in the governmental/institutional sector is supported by early adopters, and in the private-sector market by the even smaller category of innovators.
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Another green building example; daylight streams into the Clackamas High School entry on a cloudy Oregon afternoon in early March. (Photo by Mark Ohrenschall) |
Among the main issues, "relative economic advantage is the major driver of response to innovation," Yudelson wrote, but that hasn't been sufficiently demonstrated for higher-cost green building.
"Benefits appear greater for long-term owner occupants of buildings, but many of the reported and putative benefits are harder-to-measure 'soft costs' such as employee productivity, improved morale, reduced absenteeism and illness," he wrote. "These benefits have relatively little acceptance among building owners and project financiers."
Better information on green building costs and benefits is needed, according to Yudelson. Cost equations can be challenging, he acknowledged--it's relatively easy to tote the price of components, such as solar electricity, green roofs or added insulation, but trickier for integrated strategies such as natural ventilation. Post-occupancy data on green buildings also is lacking, he said.
The "best piece of work to date," he said, is a recent California study that found spending about 2 percent of construction costs on green building produces life-cycle savings of more than 10 times that initial investment.
On the benefits side, studies have linked higher student test scores and increased retail sales to daylighting. One result is more attention to daylighting for large new retail stores, he said. However, he said, documented health and productivity benefits from green buildings are still sketchy.
Green building marketing should start at the beginning of a project, Yudelson said. "Part of my research and my experience is that what really counts is that very first discussion between the client and the design and construction team, when they really talk about goals, expectations, etc. It's at that point that this has to be pitched." Otherwise, he said, the owner leaves the scene and building professionals tend to follow conventional paths.
Green building's spread ultimately comes down to salesmanship, at which many design professionals are not highly skilled, Yudelson wrote. This "presents a major barrier to more widespread adoption of sustainable design."
Yudelson's paper recommended use of "compelling sales material" for green building marketing, such as multimedia. He also urged firms to develop a clear green building business strategy, based on some combination of market differentiation, low cost and focus on specific niches, such as building types or project size.
Public agencies can play a role in promoting green building, Yudelson said. One is incorporating it into their own facilities, as the city of Seattle has done by mandating LEED silver for its new buildings. Public agencies also can provide advocacy, technical assistance and even funding. All these help foster the market.
"This is a very sophisticated, complex industry," Yudelson said of the building world. "It's hard to know where you intervene. My feeling is you have to intervene at multiple points."--Mark Ohrenschall
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The "smart energy" industry, including efficiency-related technologies and services, could be an economic bonanza for the Pacific Northwest, according to a new study.
Defined as "the application of digital technologies to the generation, delivery and use of power," smart energy already represents a $2 billion-plus industry in Washington, Oregon and British Columbia, with more than 225 existing companies. The Northwest also hosts an array of smart energy-related research organizations and electric system expertise, according to "Poised for Profit II: Prospects for the Smart Energy Sector in the Pacific Northwest."
"The Northwest could be the world's leading cluster for smart energy," said Jesse Berst of The Athena Institute, which produced the study. Speaking at a Nov. 12 event in Seattle, Berst said smart energy could generate for the region "hundreds of new companies, tens of thousands of new jobs and billions in new revenues."
The most promising near-term smart energy opportunities for the Northwest are found in advanced metering, utility back office software, grid monitors and controls, transmission/distribution/substation automation and power electronics, the report said. Moderate-to-strong potential lies in energy management systems, building automation and controls, distributed generation interconnection and support, energy services companies and work force automation.
The report also outlined regional challenges for smart energy, and recommendations for its advancement.
Poised for Profit II was funded by a consortium including Northwest government agencies, utilities, research and technology entities, and business groups, managed by Climate Solutions.
"It's creating a lot of buzz," said Climate Solutions co-executive director Rhys Roth. "There's growing recognition in the high-tech community that this is another major area of technological opportunity." He also acknowledged smart energy as a "complex and challenging" market. "It's going to take some sophistication and real smart strategy to actually succeed on the ground," he said.
Getting Smarter
"The world's electric power industry is in the early stages of an unstoppable change," the report's summary begins. "A new wave of digital technology has arrived, promising to dramatically improve the generation, transport and use of electricity," according to "Poised for Profit II," which doesn't address power generation.
It listed a half-dozen "powerful forces driving the Smart Energy sector worldwide": inadequate electric transmission grids, surging power demand (especially for high-quality electricity), a movement away from centralized power generation, quick technology advances, increasing government support for clean and smart energy, and the evolution to competitive energy markets.
Market barriers include confusing regulatory authority among different levels of government, which the report called "the single greatest challenge to the growth of Smart Energy." Difficulties for emerging technology companies in gaining market access and capital also present a formidable hurdle. Transforming ideas into products and capturing popular appeal represent other challenges.
The report identified smart energy as including transmission/distribution equipment, electric motors, power electronics, energy consulting and energy services companies, advanced meters, utility back office software and work force automation.
Smart energy components of these markets bring in at least $15 billion in annual revenue around the world, the report said--nearly twice as much as wind, solar energy and fuel cells combined.
For the Northwest, the report said, "At initial examination, the Smart Energy sector clearly represents not only existing revenues and jobs, but also the potential for impressive growth and benefits to our region."
Among key Northwest assets are what the report called "successful pioneers," such as the Washington-based firm Itron, which serves more than 2,000 clients worldwide as "the leading global solutions provider and source of knowledge for collecting, analyzing and applying electric, gas and water usage data," according to the company's Web site.
The region also boasts significant research into smart energy, at universities as well as such institutions as Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Bonneville Power Administration. Transmission/distribution expertise, regional strenths in related fields of software, semiconductors, wireless communications, electronics and fuel cells, and environmental awareness also are regional advantages, the report said.
Northwest Entities in Smart Energy
The Nov. 12 event at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center spotlighted a number of Northwest entities in the smart energy field.
Seattle-based Powerit Solutions offers the Energy Director, described in company literature as "a true product-based energy management system" that "automatically reduces and controls peak demand via dynamic load prioritization and optimization, resulting in increased efficiency and significant utility bill cost savings," without affecting products, facilities or buildings.
Powerit is targeting medium-sized commercial and industrial customers in such areas as manufacturing, food processing, agriculture, forest products and primary metals fabrication, said sales manager Bob Zak. Powerit appreciates the Northwest's supply of technically knowledgeable workers, he noted.
ALSTOM EAI develops integrated software systems for the electric industry, said acting chief executive officer JD Hammerly of the Bellevue, WA-based company. "The reason we're here, and the reason we're expanding here, is the nucleus of expertise and two great universities in the state," specifically electrical engineering departments at the University of Washington and Washington State University, from which ALSTOM draws employees with power system backgrounds.
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory's Mike Lawrence cited predictions for 50 percent growth in U.S. electricity demand over the next 20 years, and an estimated $450 billion price tag to meet that rising need. Smart energy technologies could lop $80 billion off that cost, he said, while enhancing use of clean renewable energy and improving reliability.
Seattle mayor Greg Nickels said he came to the smart energy event because of the sector's employment potential. With nation-leading unemployment rates in the region, "We've got talented people we need to put to work. This is a great opportunity for us to do it." Smart energy now employs 6,000 Northwesterners, he said. "We think there could be thousands more added to that number in the next five years."
Smart energy can help reduce customer energy bills, bolster the grid and meet higher power demands with environmentally friendly resources, Nickels said.
The city plans to spend $240 million in the next six years to improve its electric infrastructure, said director Jill Nishi of the city's Office of Economic Development.
Seattle City Light started a program two years ago in which all large new facilities must provide a phone line to the utility meter; the utility displays 15-minute load profiles, free and available to customers on a secure Web site. After reaching virtually all applicable commercial and industrial facilities, City Light now is expanding the program to medium-sized downtown facilities. The idea is to provide consumption data to help customers manage their energy use.
Challenges
Challenges to smart energy's growth in the Northwest center on access: to ideas, capital, professional talent, markets and cooperative endeavors, the report said.
Roth described utilities as "definitely the number one market and number one channel to market for smart energy technologies, so there's a major challenge in terms of how to encourage utilities to embrace these technologies." Lack of utility economic incentives for energy efficiency can be a barrier, he said, but smart energy also could help utilities upgrade power systems cost-effectively.
Smart energy firms also generally don't view themselves as part of a distinct industry, he said. "It hasn't been organized to advance its interest, to raise its profile, to take advantage of associations that other high-tech industries have done."
To further the Northwest's smart energy economy, the report advocated favorable regulatory actions, regional technical standards, a program to improve market conditions, business assistance, communications and coordinated, expanded research and development.
Roth said more follow-up activities are planned, including an action plan for Oregon under the lead of the Portland Business Alliance.--Mark Ohrenschall (Ben Gilbert also contributed to this article)
When Larry Bell returned to BC Hydro as chair and chief executive officer in 2001, one of his first questions was the location of the Power Smart office.
Bell, who has since left the CEO post but remains chair, was the prime mover behind establishing the Power Smart energy efficiency program in 1989, midway through his first stint as chair from 1987 to 1991.
Discovering upon his return that the program had fallen far down the corporate totem pole, he set about reviving it, said Bev Van Ruyven, BC Hydro's vice president for Power Smart.
Now the Canadian Crown corporation, which owns 80 percent of British Columbia's power generation capacity, is looking to obtain 40 percent of its load growth--or an estimated 3,500 gigawatt-hours--from Power Smart energy efficiencies over the next 10 years. It forecasts a levelized cost of 2.5 cents per kilowatt-hour, Van Ruyven said (Editor's note: All cost references in this article are in Canadian money). Between 1989 and 2000, she added, Power Smart saved 2,500 GWh, or about 285 average megawatts.
Of the $600 million budgeted for Power Smart programs over 10 years, 75 percent will be directed to commercial and industrial efficiency, she said. "We're looking at this as an energy resource acquisition, so we're going to put our money where the resource is, and that's commercial and industrial," Van Ruyven said.
Power Smart's resurgence is one of four prongs in an energy strategy adopted by the provincial government in 2002: 1) Keeping electricity rates low and BC Hydro in public ownership; 2) Secure, reliable energy supplies; 3) More opportunities for private companies to supply energy; and 4) Environmental responsibility, including enhanced energy efficiency and no nuclear energy plants.
Driving Energy Efficiency
One of the drivers for stepping up energy efficiency was the high cost of natural gas, said Paul Wieringa, director of electricity policy for the provincial Ministry of Energy. "(BC Hydro) is trying to push requirements for new supply further into the future," he said.
Another factor, Wieringa said, is that after a period of decline in the mid- to late-1990s, the time had arrived for a Power Smart comeback. "These things go in waves," Wieringa observed. "You implement energy conservation, find out that it works really well, and then people go into a lull until it's time for a fresh look."
The Power Smart rampdown had a number of causes, said Dermot Foley, an energy analyst who co-authored a 2001 David Suzuki Foundation report recommending provincial energy policies to boost efficiency and renewables.
"It was a combination of the usual concerns about deregulation and competition that swept across North America. The feeling was that anything not making money had to be trimmed," Foley said.
Leadership from the top helped revive Power Smart, Foley said. He described Bell and Bruce Sampson, BC Hydro's vice president for sustainability, as "true believers."
Commercial, Industrial Programs
Programs for acquiring energy efficiency from commercial and industrial sectors include audits, energy-efficient product incentives, building design assistance, operating and maintenance guides, and referrals to qualified contractors and financial institutions, according to BC Hydro's Web site.
A "Power Smart Partners" program enables commercial and industrial customers to earn "e.Points" by improving companywide energy efficiency 5 percent. These e.Points can be redeemed for capital investment projects in energy efficiency.
Following are examples of Power Smart activities.
NorskeCanada, a paper producer with four plant sites in British Columbia, worked with BC Hydro to implement two projects that have squeezed out nearly 38 GWh per year of efficiency savings, according to the Power Smart Web site. The projects included replacing governor controls on an on-site generator and replacing a debarker. The projects will save $1.25 million per year, NorskeCanada estimated.
Hudson's Bay Company, a retailer and Canada's oldest corporation, adopted a series of zero-cost or low-cost "behavior change" efficiency measures at its 52 Bay and Zellers stores in British Columbia during 2001 and 2002. The measures saved $260,000 in the first year, Hudson's Bay estimated.
Energy-saving measures included adjusting lighting schedules, reducing lighting intensity during cleaning and stocking, and training employees to turn off lights in unused rooms. Lighting upgrades are planned at the Bay Downtown store. The company estimates cutting that store's electricity use by 10 percent would be equivalent--on a dollar-to-dollar basis--to selling an extra 350,000 pairs of socks.
Traffic lights are another area Power Smart has targeted for savings. Van Ruyven said Hydro plans to help municipalities replace incandescent red and green traffic lights with light-emitting diode (LED) technology at all 3,600 signal-controlled intersections in the province. "That's real market transformation that will save 60 GWh per year," she said.
Replacing incandescent traffic lights with LEDs reduces electricity consumption by 80 percent to 90 percent, and the LEDs last six to 10 times longer, according to the Power Smart Web site.
BC Hydro assisted the city of Vancouver with replacing red, green and "Don't Walk" lights in the 670 traffic signals in British Columbia's largest city. The replacements will save the city $357,000 per year in energy and maintenance costs, according to the city engineering services office. To help the city with initial costs, Power Smart ponied up $2.2 million to fund the capital costs of buying LED lights. The city will pay back 50 percent over five years, without interest, according to the engineering services office.
"I'm real excited about the future of LED," Van Ruyven said.
With $5 million in Power Smart incentives, the University of British Columbia upgraded lighting in 50 buildings and cut its electric costs $600,000 per year, according to the college and the utility. As part of the upgrade, 20 induction lamps were installed in chandeliers in the campus library. Induction lamps use generators and power couplers to cause phosphors to fluoresce, according to a Bonneville Power Administration fact sheet. The new chandelier lamps are expected to last 25 years.
UBC's Energy and Water Targets Action Plan calls for reducing campus energy intensity 30 percent between 1999 and 2010.
UBC and BC Hydro are implementing projects they estimate will save the university an additional $600,000 per year. Those include automated HVAC controls, bathroom occupancy sensors, new controls and burners on steam plants, and replacement of incandescent street and path lights with metal halide lamps. UBC President Martha Piper said this will be the largest energy retrofit in the history of Canadian universities.
Residential Programs
For residential customers, LED Christmas lights have become very popular, Van Ruyven said. "Last year, we brought in LED Christmas lights from Hong Kong and gave them away as a demonstration. Now, all the retail stores are selling them. We have a coupon program and people love them," she said.
Between Nov. 13 and Dec. 31 of this year, customers can print a coupon off a Power Smart Web page entitling them to a $5 mail-in rebate for purchasing LED Christmas lights. The lights use 95 percent less energy and last seven times as long as conventional Christmas lights, while producing little heat and reducing fire risk, according to Power Smart.
Van Ruyven noted that transforming the Christmas light market can help shave evening peaks during winter. She estimated about 12 million strings of Christmas lights are used in the province.
Other residential programs available through Power Smart include:
Other Efficiency Strategies
Power Smart is not the only strategy in British Columbia to increase energy efficiency.
In October, Wieringa said, the provincial Utilities Commission submitted a recommendation for "stepped rates," an inverted block rate structure designed to charge higher prices at higher consumption levels for large commercial and industrial customers. If the government accepts the recommendation and directs the commission to design the rates, they could be in place by late 2004, he said.
The first-tier rate would be tied to system cost and would cover 90 percent of baseline energy load. The second-tier rate, covering 10 percent, would be tied to the long-term cost of new supply, the commission recommendation said. "It's an incentive to invest in energy efficiency or to buy from a third party," Wieringa said.
The ministry also has begun working with the building industry to review efficiency standards in the provincial Energy Efficiency Act. A proposal may be rolled out by mid-2004, Wieringa said.
Meanwhile, Van Ruyven said BC Hydro will file a time-of-use rates application for industrial customers sometime in 2004. Making time-of-use rates work as an efficiency incentive "really depends on getting the right price signal. We have a bit of a journey to go and the devil will be in the details," she said.
The provincial energy plan also sets a voluntary target for acquiring 50 percent of new energy supply from what are called "BC Clean" resources, Wieringa said. Those resources include wind, solar, small hydro, ocean and cogeneration.
BC Hydro's first "Green Power Generation Call" in 2002-03 resulted in Hydro contracting to buy nearly 1,800 GWh per year from 16 independently owned renewable energy facilities--14 hydro, one landfill gas and one wind energy project. The wind project, with 58.5 MW of installed capacity, is located on northern Vancouver Island.
A net-metering tariff was filed with the utilities commission in early November, Wieringa said. The tariff would apply to residential and commercial customers linking a renewable resource of 50 kilowatts capacity or less to the grid.--Jim DiPeso
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Barrett Stambler has ridden the wind for some two decades, and now he's flying high.
As director of renewable business development for PPM Energy, Stambler has a pivotal role in the Portland-based company's fast-expanding wind energy portfolio, which is nearing 1,000 megawatts of capacity. PPM Energy, a subsidiary of ScottishPower, supplies wind power and related services to wholesale customers around the West and Midwest, including Bonneville Power Administration, Seattle City Light and Eugene Water & Electric Board.
Stambler's renewable energy career has spanned policy arenas to an Ivy League business school to the corporate energy world, and wind's evolution from a high-priced novelty to a technologically advanced and commercially viable power generation source.
Today is "a very exciting time" for the wind industry, he believes.
Costs are declining (and the fuel remains free), technologies are improving, system integration and siting issues are better managed, and natural gas-fired power--the current favored large-scale resource--faces an uncertain future.
Oh, and don't forget wind's economic development for rural areas.
Stambler's exuberance for wind energy is plainly evident during a recent late afternoon conversation at PPM Energy offices in downtown Portland.
"Why can't you be passionate?" he asked, raising his arms and smiling wide. "It's a wonderful story."
Renewables Beginnings
Stambler's renewable energy story really began in summer 1977, on a break from his studies at Pomona College.
He worked for an environmental lawyer in Washington, D.C., and joined a lunch one day with Denis Hayes, who talked about an upcoming celebration of renewable and solar energy known as Sun Day. Energized by this idea, Stambler returned to school committed to pursing an environmental career after graduation.
In his first post-college job, with The Solar Lobby, Stambler was assigned to drum up and support renewable energy advocates testifying at Federal Energy Regulatory Commission hearings on implementing the 1978 Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA). This landmark law intended to promote non-utility and renewable power generation.
Stambler recalled he personally rounded up at least half of the 100 people testifying around the nation. "Lobbying is sales," he said. "Instead of selling a product, you're selling legislation."
He stayed in D.C. until 1984, counting among other experiences meeting his future wife at the 1980 Democratic National Convention and working as a congressional staffer.
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| Barrett Stambler, director of renewable business development, PPM Energy (Courtesy of PPM Energy) |
Then came a career move that shifted his renewables focus to a business perspective. "Ultimately, the true test of renewables is whether this stuff is actually built or not," he said. "You can't say that you have renewables if it just says so in a policy."
In 1984, he enrolled in Yale University's master's degree program in private and public management, pursuing "serious business skills" to apply to the wind industry. Idealism alone wouldn't get turbines up and spinning. "Ultimately, you had to convince someone it was a good business proposition."
Stambler counts himself as one of perhaps 10 Yale business school graduates in the wind energy world. These like-minded people wanted to earn "a reasonable living," he said, but they also wanted to engage in a field they considered beneficial to society.
Stambler said he still appreciates his early career background. "The fact I came up through the political world and the policy world has been a big competitive advantage in my business. I truly do understand the complexity of how energy policy and actual project development and construction intersect."
Moving West
After earning his master's degree, Stambler moved west and joined U.S. Windpower (later Kenetech Windpower) as power contracts manager, handling PURPA standard-offer agreements with Pacific Gas & Electric. These contract prices were in retrospect considered quite high--starting at 9 cents per kilowatt-hour and rising to about 15 cents/KWh over 10 years--but Stambler said they were based on oil price projections (oil-fired power was California's marginal electric resource).
He later served as vice president of Kenetech's Northwest office, pursuing wind ventures around the region. However, the firm declared bankruptcy in 1996.
Although Kenetech didn't survive as a company, its legacy remains. "A lot of the projects we did, did come to fruition, but not with Kenetech's name on it," said Stambler. One example: the Vansycle Ridge Wind Farm, eventually developed by FPL Energy as the Northwest's first commercial-scale wind project.
What happened to Kenetech? "I like to say anything that could go wrong, did go wrong," Stambler said. The onset of electric industry deregulation and restructuring made utilities hesitant to invest in wind power, as a potential stranded cost. Natural gas prices dropped below the company's range for wind to be competitively priced. Technical problems arose, which also hindered raising capital. And, he acknowledged, management missteps hurt Kenetech.
"Maybe we were just a little ahead of our time," he concluded.
Career Phases
Stambler looks at his renewables career in three phases. "The first phase was getting in place the ground rules to let renewables compete, the PURPA phase," he said. "My second phase was developing the technology such that costs would come down. Kenetech/U.S. Windpower was all about driving the technology to the lowest cost possible."
After Kenetech's demise, Stambler spent a year at Calpine before joining PacifiCorp in mid-1997. He eventually found his way to PacifiCorp Power Marketing (now known as PPM Energy).
This latest career phase centers on building the wind energy market and effectively competing against other commercial-scale power resources.
When Stambler entered the renewables field around 1980, wind power cost in the range of 50 cents/KWh, from what were essentially prototype machines. "Clearly in the beginning the technology was expensive, no matter how you cut it," he said. Despite wind's many appealing features, "Ultimately if it were going to be a major component of the energy future, it had to be competitive."
Continuing technological advances throughout the industry along with economies of scale have dramatically lowered the cost of wind power, reaching what Stambler called a "sweet spot" in which environmental values and competitive economics converge.
Steady pricing from this free-fuel resource is another selling point for wind, Stambler believes. He compared it to a fixed-rate mortgage. Wind might cost 5 cents/KWh over 25 years; natural gas-fired power might cost less than that now, but it could rise higher in the future. "Price stability is a very good thing for customers," he said.
Wind energy also has progressed in addressing bird impacts, said PPM Energy communications manager Jan Johnson. Today's wind turbines are bigger, turn more slowly and are spaced farther apart than their predecessors.
Substantial bird deaths at California's Altamont Pass in wind's early days led to changes in siting practices, Stambler said. "The result is we do a lot of preventative work and have very high standards." Environmental issues are taken "very seriously" by the wind industry, he said. "Avian impacts across all projects, relatively speaking, [are] very, very minimal," he added, and wind's overall environmental footprint is much smaller than other power resources.
PPM Energy
Into this burgeoning wind industry came PPM Energy, whose business now focuses on natural gas and wind power wholesale electricity markets, along with gas storage and hub services. The company's gas-fired generation exceeds 800 MW.
In a speech to the Windpower 2002 conference in Portland, PPM chief executive officer Terry Hudgens described wind as the "green diamonds of renewable generation." Hudgens, who has a background in the oil and gas industry, said his company planned 3,000 megawatts in its power portfolio, primarily from wind (the target is 2,000 MW of wind capacity by 2010, according to Johnson).
"Wind is going to take clearly a ... stronger role going forward," Hudgens said, citing rising and volatile fuel costs and diminishing fuel supplies for natural gas-fired power, while wind prices are dropping.
PPM by year's end will control the energy output from 830 MW of wind energy capacity around the West and Midwest. It started with the now-300-MW-capacity Stateline Wind Energy Center along the Washington/Oregon border. PPM in January 2001 announced an agreement with developer FPL Energy to buy and market Stateline's entire energy output.
Stateline energy flows to Seattle City Light (a 20-year contract starting at 50 MW, rising as high as 175 MW), BPA (90 MW over 25 years) and EWEB (25 MW over 25 years). Stateline exemplifies the benefits of economies of scale for wind projects, which can be shared with PPM customers, Stambler said.
But PPM also supplies more than electrons.
"Someone needs to deal with that [wind] intermittency piece, and turn that into products that are customer-friendly. That's what PPM excels at," he said.
For example, PPM uses sophisticated forecasting developed by 3TIER Environmental Forecast Group to predict wind energy production down to the hour at Stateline and other wind farms. This information, updated in 10-minute intervals, helps with transmission scheduling and substantially cuts hourly imbalance penalties, according to an article in Windpower Monthly.
Wind does blow sporadically, but specific patterns and thus energy production can be discerned "pretty accurately" on annual, monthly and now hourly bases, Stambler said.
"In the utility business, you're managing uncertainty," he said, as with plant outages, weather and power demand. Wind presents "a little different type of uncertainty. If we can predict it, we can manage it." PPM accordingly can offer customers wind as they want it--say, on hourly firm or day-ahead bases. "We're taking on that risk [of guaranteed delivery] and we charge them something to take that risk," said Stambler.
The company also employs an expert who forecasts weather effects on wind production at specific projects, which enables PPM wholesale power traders to better plan deals.
"It's just amazing the advances in managing this," marveled Stambler.
Meanwhile, PPM's wind resource portfolio is growing more geographically diverse, expanding from the Northwest into California, the Rocky Mountains and Midwest. The company is starting to take strategic advantage of different wind outputs in these various regions, according to Stambler.
PPM Energy also benefits from a financially strong parent company with its own extensive wind experience; ScottishPower is the United Kingdom's leading wind developer, according to Johnson.
Using its assets, including an experienced wind staff and capabilities in power trading and risk management, PPM can "create products for customers that feel more like the products they're used to buying," said Stambler. "We have put together some very significant competitive advantages."
Looking Ahead
Although wind energy now accounts for less than 2 percent of U.S. generating capacity, Stambler believes it is nearing general acceptance as a commercial-scale power resource.
He cites recent integrated resource plans of Northwest utilities PacifiCorp, Puget Sound Energy and Portland General Electric. "They all kicked out very large numbers of wind power purchases," he said.
Stambler thinks a national renewables portfolio standard would be good energy policy and would help move wind power toward double-digit percentages of U.S. electric capacity. But he also noted Stateline developed in two states without renewables mandates--indicative of market demand.
Wind power has moved beyond start-up but is not yet mature, he said. In the next 15 to 20 years, Stambler thinks wind could capture 10 percent of the overall energy market.
"I can see the day in which people will just say ... wind power is just another way for me to meet my energy requirements," he said.
Stambler takes personal satisfaction in wind's emergence. "I kind of hoped it would happen in my lifetime, and I've had a number of starts and stops along the way." He finds it fulfilling to think that, "I helped create that industry and that it's doing a lot of good things for people." Many other longtime committed wind energy professionals can share in that feeling, he added.
Developing wind energy projects is difficult, he acknowledged, and it requires persistence. Stambler's own perseverance with renewables has brought him to a good personal place. "I love wind and I love the Northwest," he enthused.--Mark Ohrenschall
Energy efficiency and renewable energy will play roles in Idaho's diversifying energy resource future, according to state regulatory, legislative and utility officials speaking at the Idaho Energy Conference.
A need for resource diversity and ensuring continued low-cost power are key influences for efficiency/renewables in the Gem State, officials said at the Nov. 6-7 gathering in metropolitan Boise.
Utility integrated resource plans and potential state tax incentives for renewables were listed as means to shape the state's clean energy future.
But none of the officials speaking at the conference mentioned public-purposes funding, which earmarks electric revenues for conservation and renewables and is used in states including Oregon and Montana. Nor were statewide standards for efficiency and renewables development foreseen in Idaho. One legislator specifically disavowed that idea, and no other official raised it during presentations.
Conference speakers cited in this article are Paul Kjellander, president of the Idaho Public Utilities Commission; Rep. George Eskridge and Sen. Laird Noh, both Republican members of the state legislative Energy Interim Committee; and John Prescott, vice president of power supply for Idaho Power.
A Regulator's View
Hydropower is Idaho's dominant in-state electricity resource. But developing new hydro facilities in Idaho is a daunting notion, as it would be for new coal-fired or nuclear generation, IPUC president Paul Kjellander told the conference. "What's left is natural gas, if you're looking at a large facility."
Natural gas and electricity are becoming interdependent resources, he noted, with some 90 percent of new power generation fueled by gas.
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| Paul Kjellander (Courtesy of Idaho Public Utilities Commission) |
But natural gas faces its own challenges, notably supply and pricing. "The days of $2 [per million British thermal units] gas are toast, and they're not going to be back," said Kjellander. The price in early November hovered around $4, before winter's high demand.
The Rocky Mountains have plentiful natural gas resources underground, and increased drilling there is one solution, he said. However, proposed new gas pipelines are headed east and south, away from Idaho.
At the beginning of his talk, Kjellander made a general statement of support for conserving energy, as a way to continue Idaho's legacy of inexpensive electricity.
"The solution is don't use any more power than you really need to," he said. "Don't force utilities to buy more resources. By and large, just set the cap on what you want to spend and use less electricity. That's the only thing you'll be able to do to ensure we have the low-cost electricity or low-cost natural gas we've come to enjoy in this state."
Price signals to Idaho energy consumers are likely to start appearing in the near future, he predicted. Idaho Power is examining automated meter reading and time-of-day rates (see Con.WEB, March 27, 2003). "We're going to walk into this with a pilot project and hope we can find the appropriate cost points so as we move further down this path we can more intelligently and financially responsibly integrate more smart power into the system."
He also spoke highly of market transformation for energy efficiency, as practiced by the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance with funding support from Idaho Power, Avista Utilities and others. "Five years ago I wouldn't have known what it is," he said. "Today, I think it's the right approach."
On renewables, Kjellander sees an increasing role for wind power. "Down the road, as the technology of turbines gets better and the cost continues to be driven down, you'll see more of it come into play," he said.
Kjellander cited retail green power programs from PacifiCorp and Idaho Power as examples of voluntary initiatives, enabling customers who want renewables to support them.
He advocated tax incentives for renewables as a sensible idea, fueling more renewables development and lowering the price.
Renewables have to make economic sense, he said. "To all of a sudden see renewables for the sake of renewables would put more upward pressure on rates."
Legislative Perspectives
In a separate panel discussion, state Rep. George Eskridge outlined his views on the state's energy resource picture, and prospective renewables tax incentives for legislative consideration.
Idaho benefits from its bountiful low-cost hydropower capacity, which serves most Idaho Power and Avista Utilities customers in the state, according to Eskridge.
However, "We've essentially reached the limit of low-cost hydro capability," while hydro relicensing and mitigation are adding costs to existing projects.
"It's becoming more obvious to me and other members of the interim committee that we need more power supply diversity," Eskridge said. "We can't rely only on natural gas. The price is unstable and exploration does not keep up with demand. Using natural gas for electric generation is not the most efficient use of this resource." New coal-fired plants for Idaho are questionable, and siting new transmission lines is also difficult.
A partial solution proposed by the state's Energy Interim Committee, he said, calls for "tax incentives to promote development of renewable energy. The issue of a mandatory renewable energy portfolio was addressed and discussed by the committee. We preferred and decided to go in the direction of tax incentives instead of mandates."
Eskridge listed some specific ideas: a doubling of the investment tax credit for renewables, from 3 percent to 6 percent; an additional 2 percent tax credit for renewables sited in economically distressed counties; and a renewables production tax credit of 0.5 cents per kilowatt-hour for 10 years, including for low-impact hydro in irrigation canals.
Another notion is to raise the maximum size--currently 10 megawatts--of Idaho generating facilities eligible for mandatory long-term utility power purchases at set rates under the federal Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA).
"We'll be discussing those issues" in preparation for the 2004 legislative session, he said.
Renewables are typically more expensive than conventional power resources, and wind is an intermittent producer, he said. But renewables have no fuel costs, while generating local economic development and other non-energy benefits. Many Idaho utilities already are buying, planning and/or exploring renewables and green power, he said.
"Renewables are going to be, I think, an important part of our power supply picture," he said. "They're on the edge of being viable economically. If we can do something to kick them over the edge and put them into production it would be good for the state, good for the power supply situation." Potential state revenue losses from tax breaks should be more than offset by economic gains from renewables development, he said.
Sen. Laird Noh also plugged renewables. "In spite of the fact some alternative energy sources may seem a little higher priced today, it's definitely time to think about diversification and hedging and events that could occur in the future," the senator told conferees.
Earlier, Eskridge lauded the "great progress" in regional energy conservation, which he said has "served [Northwest ratepayers] well."
Utility Resources
Resource diversity also is a goal of Idaho Power, which is developing a 10-year integrated resource plan due out in mid-2004, John Prescott, the utility's power supply vice president, told the conference.
"There's no perfect resource," he said. "We're an advocate of a balanced portfolio."
Electricity demand growth over the next 20 years is estimated at 2 percent to 2.5 percent annually, Prescott said, and customers expect reliable, low-cost and environmentally benign power sources--a challenging combination, he indicated.
Idaho Power is relicensing its Hells Canyon Complex hydroelectric projects; some of its power also comes from coal-fired resources in Wyoming, Oregon and Nevada. Future expansion of the utility's baseload power capacity is likely to derive from coal, Prescott said.
"There is a potential we will have wind as part of our portfolio going forward," Prescott said. Fuel cells also might present an opportunity, he said.
Energy efficiency also will be vital for the investor-owned utility. "Wise use of energy" will "make a big difference whether we can pull this together going forward," Prescott said.--Mark Ohrenschall
Idaho's evolution toward uniform energy codes is still evolving, but consistent energy standards for buildings seem to be gaining acceptance in the Gem State.
State and local government building officials, a contractors' group director, an architect, an energy consultant and a builder/legislator all expressed support for standardized energy codes, during a Nov. 6 panel discussion at the Idaho Energy Conference.
They cited advantages such as reduced energy bills, economic development, higher quality buildings, environmental benefits and consistent requirements for building professionals practicing in different areas.
At the same time, some panelists noted lingering implementation challenges for energy codes. A National Home Builders Association official opined in favor of simple and affordable energy codes, and encouraged voluntary energy efficiency programs.
This discussion came less than two years after milestone state legislation enacting Idaho's first statewide commercial energy code along with new residential energy standards, applicable for the vast majority of the state and replacing a patchwork of local codes (see Con.WEB, March, 30, 2002).
Decoding Energy Codes
House Bill 586--passed by overhelming majorities in the Idaho House of Representatives and Senate and signed into law by Gov. Dirk Kempthorne in March 2002--required local governments that issue building permits and enforce building codes to adopt the International Energy Conservation Code, which applies to both non-residential and residential construction. The vast majority of Idaho cities and counties have building codes and thus were covered under the law.
This marked Idaho's first statewide commercial energy code, and brought uniformity to residential energy standards that previously had varied around the state. The 2000 IECC efficiency mandates for commercial buildings are close to those in neighboring Washington and Oregon, and on the residential side they are similar to Oregon, and more stringent than Washington and Oregon in Idaho's colder climate zones, according to Jeff Harris of the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance.
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"It's a very good code and standard," consultant Ken Baker, a former state employee who long worked on Idaho energy code issues, told the conference. As of April, 86 cities and 21 counties in the state had adopted the IECC, representing about 98 percent of Idaho's population, according to Baker.
Energy codes tackle the problem of lost efficiency opportunities, he said. Energy efficiency creates employment (50 jobs per $1 million of investment) and economic development (a dollar saved on utility bills circulates between eight and 10 times in a community). "Those two things really made me a believer in these energy codes," Baker said. Efficiency also makes for more healthy, comfortable and durable homes.
The projected overall economic value to Idaho of the IECC is $1.3 billion over 10 years, based on energy dollars saved and reinvested in communities, according to Baker. "It's a pretty good deal," he said.
Three government building officials also praised energy codes.
The city of Lewiston adopted its own energy code in 1990, a mix of the Model Energy Code and Northwest Energy Code, said city building official Jerry Hume. He touted the dollar savings in communities with energy codes, as well as the benefits of consistent standards for design/building/engineering professionals working in different communities. These professionals often react negatively to new requirements, he said, urging fellow building officials to tactfully "elicit their voluntary cooperation in what is a mandatory effort."
Building official Paul Aston of Minidoka County described himself as a conservative who believes in less government. But he said building codes save lives--citing as one example hugely unequal numbers of deaths from strong earthquakes in Armenia and California--and enhance accessbility, while energy codes save people money and improve home quality. His county adopted the Northwest Energy Code in 1986 amid "a lot of opposition," but locals have grown to expect the benefits of energy-efficient construction.
"We need to learn how to conserve our natural resources or we will regret it down the road," he said. "That's where energy codes come into play," contributing to better communities and a brighter future.
Architect Paul Jensen, who also chairs the Idaho Building Code Board, recalled the not-too-distant era when "energy codes were a hit-or-miss prospect in the state." Some communities had them, others didn't.
This disparity hurt architects like himself who incorporated environmentally friendly design features such as passive solar and high insulation levels. "Finally it occurred to all of us that it was a little inconsistent to spend a ton of money in energy-conscious design. It puts your product at a competitive disadvantage," Jensen said. "So I see adoption of energy codes as a fairness issue, a leveling of the marketplace."
So does Idaho Rep. Lee Gagner, a builder/developer who sponsored HB 586. He spoke of "the frustration of building [to] two different codes across the street from each other."
Gagner said he "feel[s] very strongly about the uniformity issue. Why are you as a builder pushing these kinds of things that are more work for you? Many times it is more work. But you develop a better product, a safer product. We all know rising costs haunt us all. If we can find ways to keep them lower, we'll do it."
Saving money for home-buyers was a key argument in winning energy code support from the Building Contractor Association of Southwest Idaho, government affairs director John Eaton told the conference.
The 2002 code legislation increased costs for contractors, he noted. "We had to do a lot of work with our members and the Association of Idaho Cities to really come to an understanding why these codes are important, how they can help us reduce the cost to home-buyers in the future." AIC was a main proponent.
Eaton said contractors came to see how they could recoup higher costs of materials. "The paybacks we saw from Ken Baker and others became an overriding reason for us to be able to support this legislation as it went forward ... It was at times contentious. At the end it came out very well." Eaton mentioned a specific implementation problem with crawl space ventilation requirements. He said his group wants to see consistent code interpretations in different jurisdictions.
Although not focusing on Idaho, a National Association of Home Builders official made a series of energy efficiency-related recommendations.
John Ritterpusch, energy and building structure director for NAHB, advocated simple and prescriptive energy codes that are cost-effective and affordable. He also promoted innovations, exemplified by the likes of low-emissivity coatings for windows, high-density fiberglass insulation and high-efficiency HVAC equipment. "Technological competition is the most important engine for advancing energy efficiency in housing," Ritterpusch told the conference.
He also touted the importance of information and education in furthering energy efficiency, and encouraged voluntary energy-saving initiatives as a way to market energy efficiency. These types of approaches "may be more effective than mandatory programs in the long run," he said.--Mark Ohrenschall
A Washington-based firm has proposed building a 20-megawatt-capacity wood waste-fired cogeneration plant adjacent to a lumber mill in the northern Puget Sound region.
The proposed facility would produce electricity and steam by burning waste wood from the Hampton lumber mill in Darrington, WA. Most of the power would be sold to outside entities, likely in the utility sector.
It's still early in the process for Kirkland, WA-based National Energy Systems, which recently filed a permit application with the state Department of Ecology. Air emissions are considered a significant permitting issue for this plant proposed in a valley in the Cascade Mountains foothills.
A NESCO official predicted the cogeneration facility could be operating by early 2005.
Wood Wastes Would Produce Electricity, Steam
The proposed 20-MW cogeneration plant would by fueled by wood wastes generated by the recently refurbished sawmill at the Hampton facility. Total price tag is estimated at between $20 million and $30 million.
The mill would use 2 MW of the planned 20 MW power production at full capacity, and the remaining 18 MW would probably be sold to either Snohomish County PUD, Puget Sound Energy or Portland General Electric, said Larry Becker, director of engineering and construction for NESCO. Potential power sales are in the talking stage, he said.
Financing for the proposed plant would come from selling those 18 MW of power under long-term contracts, said Darren Anderson, a NESCO vice president.
In addition to generating electricity, the plant would produce an anticipated 80,000 pounds of steam an hour, earmarked for kiln drying at the mill, Becker said.
Hampton's facility should be able to provide all the needed wood wastes for the cogeneration plant, according to Becker.
Earlier this year, Sierra Pacific Industries' mill at Aberdeen, WA fired up an 18-MW-capacity wood waste-fired plant. The mill uses about 8 MW of the power output, and the remaining 10 MW are sold under a short-term contract to Eugene Water & Electric Board in Oregon.
Wood Waste Power
Wood-waste-to-energy plants were in vogue in the 1980s as the timber industry enjoyed good economic times. "There was a surge of development during the timber cutting free-for-all of the 1980s," said Jeff King, senior resource analyst for the Northwest Power and Conservation Council.
But as the Northwest timber industry began to wane under the pressures of overharvesting, low timber prices and the weight of endangered species regulations, wood waste fell out of favor.
Although new wood waste-fired plants have been rare in recent years around the Northwest, a number of developments have occurred. Frontier Energy and the Port of Morrow fired up a 10-MW wood-waste-fired plant in Heppner, OR in 2001, while the Colville Tribes updated two wood-waste cogeneration facilities--5 MW and 7.5 MW--at its Precision Pine mills.
Several other wood-waste generators have been refurbished in the past decade, including the 47 MW wood-waste facility at Kimberly-Clark's mill in Everett, WA.
King said tracking wood-waste facilities is difficult, and burning "hog fuel" is more widespread in British Columbia.
Plant Permitting
The proposed wood waste-fired plant in Darrington faces several permitting hurdles, but acquiring water for the plant may not be one of them.
The Department of Ecology has already approved a change in Darrington's water rights, allowing the city to access 507 acre-feet of water from new wells in town. The plant would need 400 acre-feet per year. "That's been taken care of," said Becker of the water rights issue.
Emissions from burning wood waste may be the greatest permitting challenge for the project. "Typically, particulates are a major concern when it comes to wood waste," King said.
Bob Burmark, an environmental engineer with the Department of Ecology, said in mid-December his agency is determining whether NESCO's application is complete. The agency must assess the types and amounts of potential emissions, to determine the permitting path.
In addition, the project has gotten the attention of the National Park Service and the federal Forest Service, given the proposed cogeneration plant's proximity to lands managed by those agencies.
"I think you're going to see both people being for it and against it," said Burmark of the proposed plant. He added it would create jobs in a traditional local industry, but would need to comply with all regulatory requirements.
The Darrington plant would use state-of-the art environmental controls, Becker said. "We will meet all the required [nitrogen oxides] emissions requirements and exceed lots of other emissions requirements," he said. "We'll do anything we need to meet permit requirements."
Portland, OR-based Hampton Affiliates, which purchased the sawmill from Summit Timber Co. in February 2002, recently invested $15 million in upgrades to the plant, which reopened in March.
National Energy also is developing the proposed Sumas Energy 2 facility in Sumas, WA. The 660-MW-capacity natural gas-fired plant was approved by Washington state in 2002, but still needs Canadian regulatory permission for an 8.5-kilometer power line from the U.S./Canada border to Abbottsford, British Columbia. The line would connect the proposed gas-fired power plant to BC Hydro's power grid so the power could be sold throughout the province and the U.S. Pacific Northwest.--Steve Ernst and Mark Ohrenschall
Retail green power programs offered by larger Washington utilities have grown substantially in 2003, according to a new report from the state's Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development and Utilities and Transportation Commission.
The report lists kilowatt-hour sales from green power programs of 39.3 million kilowatt-hours this year through September, or 56.7 million KWh annualized--more than double 2002 sales of 27.9 million KWh. Total customer participants are estimated at 17,795, a 46 percent increase from the 12,196 participants in 2002. Utility revenues from green power programs are projected at $1.2 million for 2003, nearly twice the 2002 total of $632,282.
More than 95 percent of green power sales are from wind energy, according to the report prepared for the state Legislature, and green power blocks are the most common program type.
Among individual utilities, Puget Sound Energy sells the most retail green power: a projected 25.4 million KWh for 2003. Orcas Power & Light--the only one of the 17 reporting utilities with fewer than 25,000 meters--has the top customer participation rate (4.9 percent) and highest green power sales as a percent of total utility sales (0.81 percent).
RENEWABLES/GREEN POWER
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| This solar installation at Seattle Center is part of Washington's growing solar electric capacity. (Courtesy of Xantrex) |
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