BLUEFUELENERGY.COM: On Wednesday, August 26, the US Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced in a speech and on the US Department of Energy (DOE) website the selection of 25 cost-share projects under the Clean Cities program that will be funded with nearly $300 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. These projects will speed the transformation of the nation’s vehicle fleet, putting more than 9,000 alternative fuel and energy efficient vehicles on the road, and establishing 542 refueling locations across the country. The Department of Energy also estimates they will help displace approximately 38 million gallons of petroleum per year.
“The Clean Cities program is helping give state and local governments the tools they need to build a greener transportation system that will create new jobs and help to put America on the path to a clean energy future,” said Secretary Chu. “Advancing the number of alternative fuel and advanced technology vehicles on the road will increase our energy security, decrease our dependence on oil, and reduce pollution across the country.”
Under the Recovery Act, the Clean Cities program will fund a range of energy efficient and advanced vehicle technologies, such as hybrids, electric vehicles, plug-in electric hybrids, hydraulic hybrids and compressed natural gas vehicles, helping reduce petroleum consumption across the U.S. In addition, funding will support refueling infrastructure for various alternative fuel vehicles, including biofuels and natural gas. Other efforts under the Clean Cities program include public education and training initiatives to further the program’s goal of reducing the national demand for petroleum.
The projects announced by Secretary Chu will support a combined total of more than 9,000 light, medium and heavy-duty vehicles and establish 542 refueling locations across the country. The vehicles and infrastructure being funded include the use of natural and renewable gas, propane, ethanol, biodiesel, electricity, and hybrid technologies. And with the cost share contributions from the recipients, every federal dollar spent will be matched by nearly two dollars from the project partners.
The DOE announcement has several implications for Blue Fuel/DME producers. First, it means that the United States government is taking alternative fuels seriously - clearly a good thing. Secondly, because Blue Fuel/DME is hydrogen rich and can readily be reformed into hydrogen, it is an excellent fuel for onboard hydrogen reforming in hydrogen-powered vehicles. Finally, since natural-gas vehicles are being promoted by the DOE, the need for carbon capture of excess CO2 from natural gas processing plants becomes even more critical. Through the process of active sequestration - the recycling of carbon dioxide for the production of commercial products - combined with renewable energy, we can produce an alternative fuel (Blue Fuel) that represents an immediate solution to the CO2 emissions problems facing natural gas producers all over North America - and, hopefully, even beyond.
Showing posts with label Steve Chu. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Steve Chu. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
US Energy Secretary meets DME producer and academics in China
As reported on both the US Department of Energy's (DOE) website and EGovMonitor.com, among others, Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Commerce Secretary Gary Locke were in China from July 14-17 to "highlight the tremendous potential for mutually beneficial relationships in the clean energy sector."
“Clean energy will drive the economy of the future, both in the United States and around the world,” Chu said. “From renewable energy to more efficient buildings to carbon capture and storage, clean energy technologies can create millions of jobs. Working together, we can accomplish more than acting alone. It’s in our interest and China’s to explore ways to cooperate for our mutual benefit -- by promoting renewable energy, encouraging energy efficiency and cutting pollution.”
Besides meeting with important Chinese government officials such as Zhang Ping (Chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission) and Wan Gang (Minister of Science), Secretaries Chu and Locke had two important sessions extremely relevant to the Blue Fuel/DME world.
On Wednesday, July 15, "Secretary Chu delivered a major address to an audience of top scientists, faculty and students at Tsinghua University focusing on the growing threat China and the U.S. face from climate change, from extreme heat waves to declining rice and agricultural production to flooding of major urban areas in coastal regions. He stressed that dealing with climate change presents opportunities as well as challenges, including the opportunity to create millions of jobs in the clean energy sector. He also outlined a number of solutions that the two countries are working to address, such as developing more efficient batteries, lower cost photovoltaics, and commercial scale carbon capture and sequestration technologies."
The significance of the Tsinghua University address for the Blue Fuel/DME industry is that one of Tsinghua University's leading environmental scientists is Professor Ni Weidou, well known for his innovative research into making the production of methanol/DME "greener" by integrating wind power with the modern coal chemical industry. Also, as an interesting human aside, Secretary Chu noted in his talk that both his parents were graduates of Tsinghua University and that his aunt was a chemistry professor at Tsinghua as well.
On the final day of their official trip, Secretaries Chu and Locke visited ENN headquarters in Langfang, Hebei Province (population approx. 62 million) in northeast China. ENN is an "innovative and integrated 'new energy' company founded in 1989" and is now China's seventh largest private company. On its Langfang campus, ENN "has a cutting-edge underground low-temperature coal gasification plant producing dimethyl ether and has also "recently signed a contract to build a plant in Egypt that will produce 200,000 tons of dimethyl ether annually."
That Secretary Chu, arguably the world's most influential environmental policy maker, met with such important DME players as ENN and Tsinghua University academics (and where he has personal connections, as well) during his trip to China seems fortuitous and good news indeed for anyone involved in the Blue Fuel/DME world.
“Clean energy will drive the economy of the future, both in the United States and around the world,” Chu said. “From renewable energy to more efficient buildings to carbon capture and storage, clean energy technologies can create millions of jobs. Working together, we can accomplish more than acting alone. It’s in our interest and China’s to explore ways to cooperate for our mutual benefit -- by promoting renewable energy, encouraging energy efficiency and cutting pollution.”
Besides meeting with important Chinese government officials such as Zhang Ping (Chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission) and Wan Gang (Minister of Science), Secretaries Chu and Locke had two important sessions extremely relevant to the Blue Fuel/DME world.
On Wednesday, July 15, "Secretary Chu delivered a major address to an audience of top scientists, faculty and students at Tsinghua University focusing on the growing threat China and the U.S. face from climate change, from extreme heat waves to declining rice and agricultural production to flooding of major urban areas in coastal regions. He stressed that dealing with climate change presents opportunities as well as challenges, including the opportunity to create millions of jobs in the clean energy sector. He also outlined a number of solutions that the two countries are working to address, such as developing more efficient batteries, lower cost photovoltaics, and commercial scale carbon capture and sequestration technologies."
The significance of the Tsinghua University address for the Blue Fuel/DME industry is that one of Tsinghua University's leading environmental scientists is Professor Ni Weidou, well known for his innovative research into making the production of methanol/DME "greener" by integrating wind power with the modern coal chemical industry. Also, as an interesting human aside, Secretary Chu noted in his talk that both his parents were graduates of Tsinghua University and that his aunt was a chemistry professor at Tsinghua as well.
On the final day of their official trip, Secretaries Chu and Locke visited ENN headquarters in Langfang, Hebei Province (population approx. 62 million) in northeast China. ENN is an "innovative and integrated 'new energy' company founded in 1989" and is now China's seventh largest private company. On its Langfang campus, ENN "has a cutting-edge underground low-temperature coal gasification plant producing dimethyl ether and has also "recently signed a contract to build a plant in Egypt that will produce 200,000 tons of dimethyl ether annually."
That Secretary Chu, arguably the world's most influential environmental policy maker, met with such important DME players as ENN and Tsinghua University academics (and where he has personal connections, as well) during his trip to China seems fortuitous and good news indeed for anyone involved in the Blue Fuel/DME world.
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