Geothermal Pics

Here are pics of the Casey geothermal installation, courtesy of Mara Auster and the Daily Camera.

-Tiffany

Background

Hi -
I am doing a project on ways to replace mountaintop mined coal energy for another class and came across some stuff that we should probably include somewhere as background information.

http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/solar.renewables/page/trends/rentrends.html

I think we should say something like:

Renewable energy accounts for 7 percent of the energy consumption in the U.S. according to official energy statistics from the U.S. government.

This chart shows the main sources America uses to generate renewable energy:
(I just made this chart in excel based on the one from EIS and saved it in photoshop)

Possible photos to use as needed

Hi -
I found some commercial commons photos we could use if needed for our site here they are:
"Darling Wind Farm" by warrenski's photostream
(a ton of Wind farm photos on his stream)











"Wood Pellets" by thingermejig's photostream (Wood pellets are a form of biomass)








"day 68 Illinois Corn" by Randy Wick's photostream

"Geothermal borehole house" by lydurs' photostream

Resources and Definitions

Resources
Find out more about the current state of renewable energy in the U.S.

• National Renewable Energy Lab: http://www.nrel.gov/
• Department of Energy’s Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy: http://www.eere.energy.gov/
• Department of Energy on the Smart Grid: http://www.oe.energy.gov/smartgrid.htm
• Mother Nature Network on renewable energy: http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/translating-uncle-sam/stories/eia-how-much-renewable-energy-do-we-use
• Environmental Protection Agency on where stimulus funding is going: http://www.epa.gov/recovery/where.html
• http://www1.eere.energy.gov/geothermal/
• http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/solar.renewables/page/geothermal/geothermal.html
• http://news.mongabay.com/bioenergy/2008/03/cu-boulder-awarded-project-solar.html
• http://www.environmentalleader.com/2008/07/17/celestial-seasonings-others-partner-with-boulder-on-biomass-study/
• http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2009/feb/24/boulder-county-host-meeting-proposed-biomass-sorti/?partner=RSS
• http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?lname=US+Biomass+Power+Producers+Alliance&year=2008
• http://www.eia.doe.gov/kids/energyfacts/sources/renewable/biomass.html

Definitions
• Check this site out: http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/solar.renewables/page/rea_data/gl.html - If everyone could look at this and pull out and rewrite the ones that they use in their stuff we should have a fairly compressive list).
• Biomass: Biological material that is a form of renewable energy.
• Biofuels: Fuel created from biomass plants like corn.
• Biomass gas (Biogas): A gas created from organic reactions in for example landfills.
• Renewable Energy: Energy that is sustainable and naturally is replenished such as sola, wind, ocean energy etc.
• Wood energy: Wood is a form of biomass energy that is a renewable energy source that is found in may forms including but not limited to wood chips and round wood.


- Joanna

More on Wind from Cassie and Joanna

Hi all-
We interviewed Dave Newport at the CU-Environmental Center today and he had a lot of great things to say! Apparently CU is working towards reducing carbon emissions by switching over to renewable forms of energy in the next ten years or so... We used the flip video camera and are editing the video and will post this informative video soon. Also, I've e-mailed Paul Komar ( a wind expert) about using some of his content on our site.
Cheers,
Joanna

Is the Stimulus Reaching You?

A link to Colorado Public Radio - KCFR is tracking the stimulus in Colorado
http://www.publicradio.org/applications/formbuilder/user/form_display.php?isPIJ=Y&form_code=6f38d121bfb5

AND/OR

http://www.kcfr.org/

- Lauren

Geothermal Cost Comparisons

Things I Have:
- An economic assessment of a residence in Englewood, Colo. completed by Geo-Energy Services, LLC
- Residential federal tax incentive pdf

- And this e-mail from a designer with Rocky Mountain Geothermal:

Lauren,

Here is a recent study we have provided:

I have put together this economic summary.  Normally, this indicates a 7-10
payback, occasionally higher or lower.  When I put this together, I did not
really believe it, but I’ve looked over all of my inputs and other features
this thing indicates.  What this indicates is that the 30% tax credit, makes
this system a near immediate payback because it has a lower installed cost
from the initial start.

Here is the basis of assumption:
Modeled House: 24,570 sqft built with energy code compliant walls, roofs,
and windows.

Conventional system (Alternative 2): Hot water boiler for radiant floor
heating in the basement and hot water serving  4-pipe fan coils for the main
and upper level.  Air-cooled chiller for chilled water serving fan coil
units of main and upper level.  Primary chilled water and hot water
circulation pumps.

Geothermal system (Alternative 1): hot water for radiant using
water-to-water heat pump units in the basement and then water-to-air heat
pump units for the main and upper level.  Primary water pump from ground
loop heat exchanger to all heat pump units in house.  A vertical ground heat
exchanger using approximately 22-400’ deep vertical boreholes.

Convention system installation cost: $15/sqft included for all HVAC system
costs = $368,550

Geothermal system installation cost: $15/sqft plus a 15% premium above
conventional (although I argue the interior cost is nearly the same cost,
but to be prudent let’s assume a 15% up charge for whatever reason) and then
an estimated $120,000 for the ground loop heat exchanger cost.  As it stands
now, the entire geothermal system cost is a 30% tax credit (attached
brochure) = $368550 (inside HVAC) + $55,282.50 (15% premium) + $120,000
(ground loop) = $543,832.50 -$163149.75 (30% Tax Credit) = $380,682.81

Current Xcel utility rates for electricity and natural gas with 3%
escalation per year for electricity and 5% per year for natural gas (both
DOE stated escalation factors for Life Cycle Analysis purposes)

Also understand in this analysis that general assumptions about use of the
house have also been assumed with appliances, TVs, lights, etc. throughout
the house, but as far as this energy model goes, the same general
information with this respect have been applied to both HVAC systems.

This is a scalable analysis , so if installation costs were presumed higher,
say $20/sqft for the conventional system and $23/sqft for the geothermal
system, the payback calculation would remain relatively the same, just the
installation costs would be higher.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks,

Trey

Warren (Trey) Austin, III, P.E.
Certified GeoExchange Designer
Certified Energy Manager