Biomass

Just getting my thoughts together on Biomass. Is this kind of how everyone else is going to go about this? Let me know.
Biomass
What is it: If you have ever burned wood then you have used a renewable source of energy known as biomass to produce heat. Biomass is defined as “organic material made from plants and animals.”

But energy does not exist is a vacuum, it comes from somewhere. On earth we get our energy from the suns rays. Plants absorb that energy through photosynthesis and animals chow down on plants (and sometimes other animals) to get energy as well.

So lets go back beside the fire for a moment. When you torch a log you are burning the suns stored energy and releasing it as heat and steam.

There are many other ways to gain access to stored energy in natural materials though. Below are some of the different types of technology.

Wood/Garbage waste
Biofuel
Biogas -Methane
Ethanol
Algae

Advantages: TK--
Disadvantages: Chemical reactions often have byproducts, which is just a fancy way of saying leftovers. In biomass reactions there is always waste left behind. TK--

Local Information:TK--
http://news.mongabay.com/bioenergy/2008/03/cu-boulder-awarded-project-solar.html

The Obama Factor: Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) will receive a huge boost in funding. The Biomass Program will receive a hefty $800 million dollars in funding.

The Biomass Program's vision:
“A viable, sustainable domestic biomass industry that produces renewable biofuels, bioproducts and biopower, enhances U.S. energy security, reduces our dependence on oil, provides environmental benefits including reduced greenhouse gas emissions, and creates economic opportunities across the nation.”

The stimulus sets aside this money for TK---

Additional Resources:
http://www.eia.doe.gov/kids/energyfacts/sources/renewable/biomass.html - an informative and basic description of biomass.
Information on Biomass lobbyist spending: http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?lname=US+Biomass+Power+Producers+Alliance&year=2008

Graphics/interactive ideas: TK--

NPR story on Stimulus

NPR had a story last night about the stimulus package where different people could call in and ask questions. Some of the questions were relevant to renewable energy so this might be a good thing to link up with....
-Joanna

Wind Challenge? and Stimulus Dollars

Cassie - This might be interesting for you, or maybe you know something about it. I saw an ad in a mag - something about ClimateSmart and a Boulder County wind challenge. I don't know anything about it or if it's even current, but I thought you might find it interesting.

Also, on a general policy note: The White House blog site, http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/09/02/17/Signed-sealed-delivered-ARRA/, includes Obama's remarks about the stimulus package and provides a link to http://www.recovery.gov/, a site that will allow the public to track where the money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is going. Transparency made easy!

-Lauren

On renewable energy

I watched Obama's speech last night...good stuff that we should quote on the site! Here, from the NY Times transcript:

"Because we know we can’t power America’s future on energy that’s controlled by foreign dictators, we are taking a big step down the road to energy independence, and laying the groundwork for a new, green energy economy that can create countless well-paying jobs. It’s an investment that will double the amount of renewable energy produced over the next three years, and provide tax credits and loan guarantees to companies like Namaste Solar, a company that will be expanding, instead of laying people off, as a result of the plan I am signing.

In the process, we will transform the way we use energy. Today, the electricity we use is carried along a grid of lines and wires that dates back to Thomas Edison – a grid that can’t support the demands of clean energy. This means we’re using 19th and 20th century technologies to battle 21st century problems like climate change and energy security. It also means that places like North Dakota can produce a lot of wind energy, but can’t deliver it to communities that want it, leading to a gap between how much clean energy we are using and how much we could be using.

The investment we are making today will create a newer, smarter electric grid that will allow for the broader use of alternative energy. We will build on the work that’s being done in places like Boulder, Colorado – a community that is on pace to be the world’s first Smart Grid city. This investment will place Smart Meters in homes to make our energy bills lower, make outages less likely, and make it easier to use clean energy. It’s an investment that will save taxpayers over one billion dollars by slashing energy costs in our federal buildings by 25% and save working families hundreds of dollars a year on their energy bills by weatherizing over one million homes. And it’s an investment that takes the important first step towards a nationwide transmission superhighway that will connect our cities to the windy plains of the Dakotas and the sunny deserts of the Southwest."

--Tiffany

Energy ideas

I think renewable energy could be an awesome topic. Its timely because Obama has promised to generate new green jobs and work towards this goal, but I think Tiffany is right that there are not many specifics.

Some initial things that might be interesting to look at are:

• Is Boulder ahead of the rest of the country in terms of its use of renewables and how?
• Is renewable energy feasible on a large scale? From what I understand we use wind power only during peak energy times and we don't have the infrastructure to distribute green energy yet.
• Will renewable energy require a massive effort to re-grid the U.S.?
• How have some people used renewable energy off-the-grid in Boulder? Will they go back to the grid if the country changes?

Just some thoughts.

What the stimulus package means

I was reading this article in the NY Times about how the stimulus package breaks down.
"Programs to promote energy efficiency and renewable energy sources are big winners in the stimulus package, receiving more than $45 billion in new spending and tax breaks."

Maybe we use the site to explain exactly how renewable energy is funded (now and in the past)? We'd have some good sources at NREL. I just don't think I've ever read anything that coherently explains how the government is/isn't supporting renewable energy.

-Tiffany

Responses

I have to say, I'm leaning more toward the generational profiles than the one-stop shop idea. While I think that's interesting, I also think it could take away from the marketing campaigns the NRDC, Sierra Club, etc. have in place. I guess I'm having a hard time envisioning how users would interact with it in addition to/instead of directly with the organizations. It also would be really hard to make evergreen--we'd have to keep updating content.

On the "seeing the environmental movement through multiple generations" front, I really like that it could be rife with pictures and audio, and would give people a better understanding of where our grandparents (and undergrads) are coming from. Work wise, it would be easy to divvy up, since we each could take one or two profiles and do all the work on them. Then we could add in the contextual history about the times these people are talking about.

I think we should try to meet again early next week to finalize. Maybe before Thomas Friedman?

--Tiffany