With all due respect to the musical South Pacific, we were reading the Boston Globe the other day and saw an article on a technology that makes a lot of sense.  Why not get rid of the problem before it becomes a problem.  It would seem easier than trying to get rid of it after. It’s like we say about greenality, plan it in!

According to eassortment , “The technical definition of fossil fuels is “incompletely oxidized and decayed animal and vegetable materials, specifically coal, peat, lignite, petroleum and natural gas”.  The technical definition of fuel is “material that can be burned or otherwise consumed to produce heat”. In our modernized western world, fossil fuels provide vast luxurious importance. We retrieve these fossil fuels from the ground and under the sea and have them converted into electricity. Approximately 90% of the world’s electricity demand is generated from the use of fossil fuels. Combustion of these fossil fuels is considered to be the largest contributing factor to the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. In fact it is believed that energy providers are the largest source of atmospheric pollution today. There are many types of harmful outcomes which result from the process of converting fossil fuels to energy. Some of these include air pollution, water pollution, accumulation of solid waste, not to mention the land degradation and human illness.”

According to several sources there is between 1.4 and  2.5 trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas in the United States.  A significant amount and if managed correctly could greatly reduce our need for foreign oil.  However, even though natural gas may be one of the cleaner fuels, when it is burned, it produces carbon dioxide, water, and energy.  It’s just a fact of combustion.  However, a new technology (project) developed by a Canadian company, Atlantic Hydrogen Inc. of Fredericton, New Brunswick, may be able to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 40 percent and can capture that black gunk (solid carbon), “a substance that can be used in making tires, laser printer toner, and other products.”  Makes sense to us.  Let’s get it out before it gets in and, if we have a usable byproduct, all the better.  Read the full article here.  My question to you is: Where in the “green” spectrum is this project (Green by Intent; Green by Project Impact; Green by Product Impact, or Green General)?

Whether your TV tastes run to Fringe, 24, or the serials, like My Friend Flicka, or The Lone Ranger, there is always a recap from previous episodes.  So here goes.  “In our last episode,”  I talked about how Steve Fludder from GE and Richard Cohen from Bank of America are embracing green efforts because they are good for the bottom-line.  In this post I will look at the view from “big oil”.  Peter Voser, Royal Dutch Shell, was interviewed for ECO-nomics.   U.S. CAP (the U.S. Climate Action Partnership); he believes that market-based energy legislation is needed in this country and others and only by participating with the other stakeholders will it be effective.   His thinking is that to be effective, “energy legislation (must) drive supply security, drive lower fuel emissions, drive new jobs and preserve old jobs.”   “We will quite clearly look out for natural gas developments, which we see as a long-term source of energy that has a lot of positives.” (new projects)

We all think of Shell as an oil company, but they are big in the natural gas industry, too, having started 30 years ago and continue with innovation. (new projects) “By 2012, we will have more (natural) gas production world-wide than we have oil.”  His answer to the question of what will be needed as far as answering our environmental problems, his answer is “From a global perspective, the demand for energy will double by 2050. So we will need most of the energy forms that we know today.” Look for my next post about an alternative source and it’s not wind or solar, but something very different.)

Finally, his thoughts about future transportation; Mr. Voser thinks that by 2050 we will go from 1 billion cars world-wide to 2 billion cars, and about 40% of those will be electric.  That leaves about 1.2 billion to be fueled by other forms.  So hybrids, low-carbon-fuel cars, and more efficient engines are needed (all new or continuing projects)

There is much more in this Wall Street Journal section that we find very interesting, including a view from “big oil”, and a top ten ranking of “clean-tech” companies.  Look to future posts for some more information on these and other topics.

“Green Projects” are being implemented at breakneck speed.  It is hard to keep up with the sheer volume.  That’s exciting news for project managers embracing the “green wave”.  One particular project caught our attention, not only because it garnered national attention, Parade Magazine, April 18, 2010, but because it is local to Earthpm and my wife is an alum.  The University of New Hampshire (UNH), and Waste Management (WM), are powering the college with garbage.  Yes, garbage!  According to the recent article, Waste Management, the operators of a landfill a dozen or so miles from the campus of 15,000 students, was dealing with surplus gas containing 50% methane.  Most landfill operators are forced to burn the gas because it is a pollutant, but can be used as fuel.  WM realized that UNH could use methane, but how to get it there was a problem.  $49 million dollars and 12.7 miles of pipeline later, UNH has its methane.

We wondered how UNH will pay for the project.  The answer is from an article by the EcoLine Partnership.  UNH will sell the renewable energy certificates (RECs) generated by using landfill gas to help finance the overall cost of the project and to invest in additional energy efficiency projects on campus. In addition, UNH will sell power in excess of campus needs back to the electric grid. “By selling the RECs from EcoLine™, UNH will further fund its aggressive plan toward climate neutrality,” says Tom Kelly, UNH chief sustainability officer and director of the office of sustainability. “With this climate action plan, called WildCAP, UNH has committed to lowering its emissions by 50 percent by 2020 and 80 percent by 2080.”

Of course, WM cannot simply tap the landfill and send it down the pipeline.  The naturally occurring by-product of landfill decomposition is collected via a state-of-the-art collection system consisting of more than 300 extraction wells and miles of collection pipes.  The gas is purified and compressed at a new UNH processing plant at the Waste Management’s Turnkey Recycling and Environmental Enterprise (TREE) in Rochester, N.H.  It then travels through a 12.7-mile-pipeline from the landfill to UNH’s cogeneration plant, where it will replace commercial natural gas as the primary fuel source.

Just in these few paragraphs alone, there were three major projects identified; collection of the methane, the pipeline, power generation conversion at UNH.  While UNH is the first in the nation to do this, we are sure that more and more universities (and business/municipal complexes) will follow, especially those within close proximity to a landfill.  And these days, who isn’t!

“Clean tech is always in a boom-and-bust cycle,’’ said Matt Moscardi, manager of investor programs at Ceres, a green investment coalition based in Boston. “Without a price on carbon, or some other mechanism by which you measure pollutants and emissions, the playing field will not be level.’’ [Reference: Boston Globe article, 9-Mar10]

The ’tilted playing field’ or unfair advantage alluded to by Ceres is also referred to as clean energy’s “competitive conundrum”.  Since clean energy costs are higher than those available from conventional sources, what is going to convince a typical consumer to pay that higher price?  And, are those lower prices from conventional sources truly reflective of the true ‘price‘ of their service, including emissions?  It’s not easy or convenient for consumers to think of it this way, but when they ‘save’ money on low energy costs, they’re paying for it later in tax dollars and cleanup efforts that result from the dirtier sources of power – not to mention the ‘intangible’ loss in ‘quality of life’ for this and future generations.  I know… it sounds a little preachy, but it’s true.

Since 1863, the colors of the University of Massachusetts have been Maroon and White.  And if you know Amherst, Massachusetts, USA, the hometown of that school, you know of the dazzling changes in color visible in the autumn.  So, combining that color-changing capacity with world-class research has added a new color to the University’s color scheme.

You can probably guess that color.  Yep.  It’s green.

“At UMass Amherst,” says Chancellor Robert Holub, “We build green, we research green and we help the entire country envision a green future. The campus has worked at this tirelessly for years, and now our expertise and leadership position are being recognized.”  This comes from a recent article at the University of Massachusetts’ website, linked here.

There are quite a few efforts going on at the University which should pique the interest of our PM readers, but there are two that we’ll focus on – here in this posting and in a follow up interview to appear on EarthPM shortly.  We expect to be talking with the scientist responsible for the “green gas” project as well as the project manager for the University’s award-winning Central Heating Plant, and of course we’ll post those interviews in our interviews section as soon as they’re available.

Green Gas At UMass: UMass scientist George Huber’s patent-pending technique offers a low-cost, single-step process for turning sawdust, woody stalks and other waste biomass into gasoline, diesel fuel, heating oil and valuable chemical commodities such as benzene, toluene and xylenes. Huber is a co-founder of Anellotech and chair of Anellotech’s scientific advisory board.

Using Huber’s rapid new catalytic pyrolysis technology, Anellotech has already demonstrated commercially relevant production not only of gasoline and biofuel precursors but of benzene, toluene and xylene in milligram and gram-scale bench-top reactors. Global markets for these chemicals are in excess of $50 billion at present.

Huber’s spinoff, Anellotech, is pursuing a $20 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Demonstration of Integrated Biorefinery Operations initiative. This funding could place a pilot-scale biorefinery in the Springfield area with jobs for an estimated 25 workers at each company’s facility. Anellotech takes advantage of Huber’s fast, efficient process for producing gasoline and diesel fuel from waste wood, corn and other materials. He and Anellotech recently received a $1.9 million Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) grant to investigate new catalysts for low-cost conversion of biomass into a liquid that can be refined to a fuel such as JP-8 jet fuel.  Source: GreenCarCongress.com

You really must see the very short video about this ‘green gasoline’ – here.  It’s featured on the US Government’s National Science Foundation site.

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Green Power: The campus’s award-winning Central Heating Plant began operating this winter. Ten years in the planning, the facility replaces a coal-fired plant built more than 90 years ago. It relies on natural gas and diesel for fuel and is capable of generating both steam and electricity. Eventually, the campus will be capable of producing 80 percent of its total electrical load. Greenhouse gases will decrease by 6 percent in the coming year, due to the plant alone.  Here’s a little more detail about this facility:

Its power process systems include a 10 mw combustion gas turbine, a heat recovery steam generator, four package boilers, various administrative spaces and auxiliary equipment.  The new CHP will produce 10 million watts of electricity at 13.8 kilovolts for on-campus consumption.  A heat recovery steam generator will use the exhaust heat from the gas turbine to produce steam for campus heating year-round.  Three package boilers, each rated up to 125,000 pounds per hour steam, will provide additional steam capacity to meet campus demand in the spring, fall, and winter months.  Environmental controls include selective catalytic reduction to control the emissions of nitrous oxide, and oxidation catalysts to control carbon monoxide emissions.
So whatever colors your Alma Mater has in its branding, have they considered adding green?  It looks like the green gauntlet has been thrown…

Stay tuned to EarthPM.com – we will be following up this story with an interview with the principals involved.