Bringing together Boston's CleanTech news and events

The slides from the talk last night at MITei can be found linked below:
 
Sue Tierney's Slide deck from MITei 2/2/10 talk (pdf)

Last night, Dr. Sue Tierney (Managing Pricipal, Analysis Group) talked to the MIT Energy Initiative about "Why modernizing our energy technologies is so hard, but worth the effort."  Her slides are posted HERE, but here are some highlights from her talk:

• Electricity use will grow to 42% of energy portfolio by 2025
• 2/3 of produced BTUs go towards energy losses and are never delivered.
• US has 1/4 of world's coal supplies (a 400 year supply in a business-as-usual case), but this leads to many problems
• 
  • 25% of plants are older than 40 years
  • 50% of plants are older than 30 years
    • Because so many current plants are old and the capital investments are paid off, and new plants have to meet new control requirements, it is hard to shut down old plants
  • Cheap coal-plant generation in the middle of the country leads to schizms between party members when it comes to energy and job creation policy
• Many competing groups at play in the field
  
  • There are 3 main definitions of modernization of energy technologies according to the federal government 
    • 2005 - EPACT
    • 2007 - EISA
    • 2009 - ARRA
  • 29 States with Renewable Energy Portfolios
  • There are countless committees and work groups at the federal and state levels that all have a piece of the pie.
  • SEC announcement on 1/27/10 - Companies should disclose climate risk (NYTimes article)
  • There is no cop to police  legislation that are in direct conflict - conflict must be solved through litigation.
• Substantial increases in $/MWh on the horizon (80-210% increase by 2050) [Steven Specker, EPRI, 8/3/09]
• Hurdles facing new technologies
  • Main problem facing new technologies: "Yesterday's technology is really sticky"
  • Ranges of estimated carbon prices go from $16 to $93 in 2015; this leads to inability for businesses and investors to make adequate plans and hedges.
  • Additional uncertainty around policy - Cap and Trade vs. a tax makes a huge operational difference
  • Regulated Utilities face risks in recovering costs for new capital outlay
  • Unregulated generators bear the burden of proof of fiscal stability to fund new projects
  • Many states could face a drastic rise in retail electricity rates
    • Mandatory carbon controls could push rates through the roof
  • Economy is built around cheap energy in many parts of the country. If/when a real proce gets put on Carbon, there will be a dramatic shift for many areas
• "The cost of modernizing energy technologies is trade-offs."
  • Policy makers want changes without adverse effects
  • Can you build new transmission lines without increasing rates?
  • Can you make federal loan guarantees without increasing taxpayer risk?
• "It is easy for the government to authorize new research, but harder for them to fund it."
• Many chicken vs. egg problems in the energy sector
  • More electric vehicles vs. location/time based electricity pricing
  • Transmission infrastructure vs. Wind Farms

Dr. Tierney additionally summarized all of these hurdles with a plea to innovators and entrepreneurs to continue working, and know that there is an immense need for new solutions to make it to the marketplace.

Thanks to Renee Fry (who is invloved not only with the HBS Association of Boston but also is Chair of the Energy SIG at the MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge), there is a special rate for those CleanTechBoston.com's readers who want to attend the Feb. 11th event "Cleantech and Alternative Energy Panel: What does the Future Hold?"

Speakers include:

• Dennis R. Costello, Managing Partner at Braemar Energy Ventures
• Marc Poirier, General Partner at @ Ventures
• Ellen Bossert, Head of North American Green Initiatives for Philips Lighting
• Pasi Miettinen, President and CEO of Sagewell, Inc.
• Judith Judson, Former Massachusetts Energy Chairman and now Head of Regulatory and Market Development at Beacon Power

And, after our panel, from 8:00pm-9:00pm, Clark Waterfall, head of the Ignite Clean Energy (ICE) competition and managing director at Boston Search Group, will lead an introduction on ICE and how you can participate - from mentors, to judges, to contest participants - all are needed!  If you have an idea, please bring it!

To register for the discounted rate of $35, visit: http://www.hbsab.org/store.html?show_item=1787

Last night at the MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge's Energy SIG event, there was an array of panelists with a variety of thoughts as they related to Energy Efficiency (EE).

Psai Miettinen (President and CEO, Sagewell):

• Energy Efficiency is all about data (80% of which is not useful in most analysis)
• Many things in the EE world have been talked about for the last 15 years, but not much disruptive innovation has taken place during that time frame.
• Huge need for EE work in small to medium sized businesses, as well as residential, but the most important question is which buildings should go first and have the ability to make an impact.
• The ability of the building owner to actually do something needs to be part of the equation when looking for customers.  Companies need to ask "where can you affect change, and where will stuff get done?"
• There is only the capacity in the market currently to address 5-10% of the building stock/year. This must lead to more stringent project selection criteria.
• When the government subsidies and spending returns to a normal level, more decisions will be made based purely on ROI.

David Kopans (Co-founder and CFO, EnergyClimate Solutions):

• "Think Different" needs to take place in the EE world -- many people are asking the wrong questions.
• As compared to business as usual from the energy crisis in the 70's, the US is currently saving $700 Billion/year.  2/3 of this comes from various forms of energy efficiency.
• There is currently too much focus on economic ROI when evaluating solutions. Other value propositions need to be introduced to appeal to a broader array of people. The focus needs to shift away from spreadsheets and put more value in non-monetary components.
• The biggest challenge in scaling to the market is policy and regulation.  Codes vary from state to state and even between municipalities.

Kenneth Fisher (Senior Project Architect, Gensler):

• Architecture needs to be about creating environments AND efficiency, not one or the other.
• Architects as a whole are behind the curve - too many do not have the ability or knowledge to look at EE issues in buildings.
• LEED certifications have moved the market and moved the conversations, but it is a standard that was created by groups other than architects.
• The important question that architects need to ask is "Why does your company/building want LEED certification?" Understanding this can influence many aspects of the client relationship.
• The conversation shouldn't be about LEED design, it should be anout GOOD design.

Ken Czech (VP Strategic Product Development and Innovation, Lightolier):

• Many consumers assume LEDs are more energy efficient, but it is not necessarily the case. There is a need to ensure you are comparing light sources based on equal light output.
• Lighting is not just about cost efficiency, it is also about the quality of light.  There are many intangibles that factor into whether a new technology will be a success.
• CFLs are generally regarded as a "failure" because of issues including failure to deliver on promised efficiency, quality of light, and long warm up periods.
• It is a hurdle for companies to sell in new products when it is know that there are even more efficient products just on the horizon. 
• Careful analysis must be done to determine the correct upgrade path for lighting efficiency on a customer by customer basis.  What is right for Nordstom isn't necessarily right for Panera Bread.

In the last week and a half, both David Brewster (President) and Marshall Chapin (Sr. Director of Business Development) of EnerNOC have spoken at networking events in Boston.  Both essentially made the same pitch for Demand Response (DR) solutions, referencing a host of interesting background information along the way.  Here are some of the highlights:

• 10% of the current energy generation infrastructure is built to service less than 1% of demand (peaks). These plants are only brought up in emergencies, and many are run less than 80 hours a year.
• Carbon emissions continue to rise, with China's headed through the roof.
• Only 1% of all Energy customers have used high tech to drive down total expenditures.
• A visibility into consumption and pricing typically leads to a 5-15% annual savings.
• Demand Response solutions can pay customers between 2-5% of the annual bill.
• The Brattle Group found that a 5% nationwide load reduction during peak periods would save the US $5-10 Billion per year.
• There is over 88Gw of flexible energy usage that could be tapped for DR.
• Currently DR is very regionalized, limited by grid operators and ISOs.
• DR can be an excellent match for intermittent power supplies (i.e. wind and solar) - scaling back usage to match supply as these sources become larger suppliers to the grid.