Landfill Gas

Several weeks ago a group of energy professionals from India were touring central Californian renewable energy projects and I suddenly found myself as the SMUD representative on a tour of the the Kiefer Landfill. I was tasked to provide information on how small generators interconnect with utilities. In exchange, I received a tour of the landfill...and garnered some fantastic information about how landfills extract methane and burn it to provide electricity.


I discovered that the California Air Resources Board will not tolerate the release of methane into the atmosphere. If we don't use it, it will be flared, because to not do so risks explosion. If it isn't captured for a secondary use like power generation, waste gas is always flared and lost:




Kiefer flares the gas if its not burned in ICE engines. I now have a much larger appreciation about my role as a protection engineer responsible for the transmission line from the landfill to SMUD. If the line is out of service, the gas is flared and the power generation is lost.

The reason I'm blogging about all this is because SMUD calls this 'renewable' energy. We market landfill generation as 'green' which is a complete crock of shit. A crock of shit because we universally fail to recognize the vast volumes of cheap Chinese shit that end up in the landfill to begin with, and the massive fossil fuel inputs necessary to keep this over-consumption waste stream moving. This is merely energy efficiency, not renewable energy.

Only dumps on the scale of Merika and her excess consumption are able to generate enough methane to fuel power plants...which is why India is just now sending over engineering delegates...because they are now developing their own massive landfills and see the potential electricity generation.

Efficiency Has Come

The point that must be taken from energy efficiency, it must, is that energy efficiency has only ever led to more energy use, not less.

Efficiency has come, and demand has risen apace.

The more efficient a car grew, the more of them we built, and the more we used them, the more energy they consumed overall. We equate this with 'standard of living.' Two cars per human rather than one. A fridge in the house, and the spare in the garage...with a chest freezer to boot. Two computers in the home...which has become a much bigger home, with 45 CFL light bulbs instead of a smaller home with 15 incandescents.

Efficiency has come, and demand has risen apace.

Take a look at the corridor between my office area and the entrance to my building:


There are seventeen flourescent fixtures providing corridor light 24 hours a day, every day of the year, as this building is occupied every minute of the day by power system dispatchers. And this corridor is used by humans perhaps no more than 4% per day.

Doing the math: 17 fixtures * 2 bulbs * 40W each + 17 ballasts * ~5W each is a total demand of 1445W * 8760 hours = ~12,600kWh * $.10/kWh = $1,265 per year.

A few months ago, facilities was trying to troubleshoot an electrical problem in the building. They turned off these lights and temporarily strung a set of those yellow plastic lightbulb cage things with CFLs, 15 in total, and there was more than enough light to move about, and the numbers:

15 CFLs * 13W each * 8760 hours * $.10/kWh = $170 per year.

I pointed this out to facilities. But as soon as the lighting problem was corrected, we returned to the lighting in the photo. These lights are on right now, at 5:00 PM on Sunday...with no one in the hallway.

And because refrigerators are so damn efficient, there is one in my area that supports the off and on again lunch habits of 6 people. We aren't required to share any of the other 4 fridges in the building...too far to walk, apparently. At ~600kWh a year, this is another $60.

These convienences are 'quality of life' issues, and so are not to be discussed further. If we changed things, we'd be forced to walk down a slightly darker hallway to a fridge we'd have to share with 'others.' So we don't.

The Return of $3.XX

While the purslane and brown rice is getting ready, I along with all the other 300 million Americans are breathing a sigh of relief! The return of $3.XX gas is right around the corner! Oil and natural gas futures are down! Way down!

A few good returns on how demand destruction is working its way through the Merikan economy and speculators are now short on oil. Speculators don't give a whit about the absolute magnitude of price; they only care that they are on the right side of its movement. They predict us curtailing use.

And apparently we've cut back 5%. That's actually respectable! And it wasn't due to any action on the part of the Franklin Monologues...it was the rest of you. I don't think public trans ridership, bicycling, or scootering to work had a whole lot to do with that 5%, it was likely we just simply stopped recreationally using oil.

My observation is that demand inelasticity increases as demand destruction progresses. That first 5% is easy to get; we air our tires, drive a wee bit slower, combine trips...all the shit we should have been doing from the beginning but were too lazy and stupid to do. 5% does not impact our lifestyles, outside of bringing energy to the front of our reptilian minds. The next 5% will be a lot more difficult; if it takes a 40% price increase to effect a 5% reduction, what price 10%?

And at $3.XX, we can fergettabout conservation!

PV Payback

I spent time this morning re-calculating my projected PV payback. I am looking at sixteen years, or until midway through the year 2023.

I had originally estimated sixteen years, before I knew my actual production numbers which were much higher than I expected. But...it's still sixteen years! However, I now include the following assumptions which I didn't consider earlier:

1) PV production will fall 5% in 5 years, and 10% in ten years.
2) A new inverter will be needed in 10 years, at a future value ($1,740) of a present value of $1,068 at 5%.
3) 5% inflation for both energy from my utility and the new future inverter.

So I will have reached payback in about 16 years, and assuming a total PV system life of 25 years, my $7,389 outlay will have returned $17,973.

Because I paid for the system from savings up front, I did not finance this endeavor, so no interest payments. Even assuming that I plow the monthly energy savings right back into savings, I still incur a lost opportunity cost of not having invested my money over that time frame, But look at the markets today, sheesh! I sold high in 2007 to buy my system that today is more expensive from a mutual fund that is devalued. And 5% energy inflation...well, you know my bias towards higher future energy costs, personally I think they will be higher than 5% but I'll be conservative.

I'm coming out ahead in all accounts.

LES GILT

Nice to know SMUD ratepayers are subsidizing our efforts at greening up the place. I drove a hybrid Escape up to Loon Lake a while back, and I drove it home as I biked in that day and I worked late.

I took in the owners manual on the Escape and read up on how it works, and was better armed when I drove it back to work. As you might expect, I tried to accelerate slowly to delay the gas engine assist, turned off the max-AC which keeps the gas engine running at all times, and experimented with braking to see how the regenerative action worked when I either braked hard or slow. I modified my behavior based on feedback from the car.

I also got my first drive in a Prius the other day, as a passenger. No, Amy, the vanity license plate didn't read LES GILT -- it was a SMUD car. I read the manual out-loud to the driver and I monkeyed with the controls...and I tried to explain how her driving habits have as much to do with fuel efficiency as the battery assist. She wanted none of that. Annoyed with my persistence, she drove it like she drove her Lexus; fast accelerations and fast speeds. She's my neighbor who I carpool with. I have an exceptional ability to irritate anyone.

But for me, it didn't take long for the novelty to wear off. I see why Al Gore Jr. drove one 105 mph last year -- after 20 minutes in it, it's just another damn car. But there is one key difference; in electric-only mode, the car is quiet.

I want to dovetail an additional thought on roadways with hybrids -- without engine noise, a slow-moving hybrid or an electric at any speed on an open grade rubber asphalt road is a silent killer. When we start migrating towards all electric Volts and other such cars, I think there's going to be a spike in pedestrian and cyclist fatalities that we aren't yet prepared for.

Well, 'prepared for' is incorrect. We're not really going to do shit about it one way or the other. We're going to chalk up every death due to 'inattention', or 'distracted driving', so in the end we really won't do anything to re-design our urban environments that correctly separate human traffic from vehicle traffic. Without noise, I have a hard time biking and feeling sure there's no car behind me.

The good news for me is that Elk Grove and Franklin Blvd. is devoid of hybrids. My city is populated by the Entitled, who assume that energy will someday again be cheap enough to dispel any notion of hybridism. The Elk Grove Compulsory Motoring Program hasn't changed much with $4.25 gas. I never see a hybrid on my route. Well, infrequently to be sure. The only hybrid drivers I do see are when I'm on the bridge on 41st overlooking highway 99 -- and...there they are! All single drivers in the carpool lane with their precious little yellow badges of superiority on their bumpers. This state in 2004 passed an asinine law allowing single occupant hybrid drivers to drive in high occupancy highway lanes. Unbelievable. The car runs on straight gasoline when operating at freeway speeds! And it does nothing, nothing! to curb the development of sprawl. Make a more efficient car, and people will drive more to make up for it. Certain people bought the car for the express purpose of that yellow pass, to allow them the right to drive solo in any lane at any time. Now, with less guilt! It's congestion pricing by any other name -- but it's only offered to a handful of rich white pseudo-environmental suburban liberals who can't divorce themselves of the convenience offered by private vehicle.

LES GILT?

Please.

SEER

Although unknown to his neighbors, my brother-in-law Marc has unbridled access to his condominium rooftop. Although I don't know, and am unsure about his personal habits...one would think that in his San Diego sun he could grow quite the killer homegrown stash.

But I digress. I was thinking about his and my sister's air conditioning unit. It's likely mounted on the rooftop, with the refrigerant line running from the roof down to his first story unit. I was wondering about the efficiency.

My house is on the precipice of a new cooling/heating system. Built in 1991, I have a few observations about my existing environmental "system". For years, we've dealt with summers of high temps upstairs, and a cool downstairs, and winters of hotter than hell upstairs, and freezing downstairs. And although I haven't calculated it, the largest portion of our home's energy usage is directly attributable to the heating/cooling needs. This is likely the same for any home in America.

I am blessed to work for SMUD. Last Thursday, I attended a presentation by a co-worker who detailed the specifics of his own home's energy usage before and after a massive investment in both energy efficient and comfort based improvements. A total EYE OPENER. EVERY issue that I have today, he had, and was able to rectify.

First -- the disparate temperature difference between rooms, as mentioned.
Second -- the long delay in getting hot water to the extremities of the house; the kitchen, and the upstairs.
Third -- Uneven room pressures when interior doors are closed.
Fourth -- High energy draw from the furnace fan.
Fifth -- Air infiltration.
Sixth -- Higher energy draw during the cooling season.

His was a 1998 SMUD advantage home (an example at the time of good efficiency) and was still able to justify $20,000 in improvements to make it both more comfortable and efficient. I am more than willing to do the same.

My 1991 home, built here in the tract-home wasteland of Elk Grove, was one of the first during the 18-year housing boom. It is closer to SACTOWN than most zip codes, where most jobs exist. But, the tract-home mentality of offering low home prices and not giving a shit about the long-term operating costs of a house were readily apparent. Several neighbors suffer from both leaking windows and leaking roofs, and I'm sure ALL of us suffer from the one-size-fits-all approach to HVAC. I personally had issue with an undersized electrical service panel, but outside of this, the issues I have are mainly creature comforts. And energy bills.

Such things might be commonplace. But I have a distinct feeling they don't have to be. Consider $20,000 on top of a $350,000 mortgage, for complete satisfaction and reduced energy bills. I am willing to try this. I spent a lot of money on solar panels to make a difference, and I thought I made decent improvements in personal energy consumption but I have a long way to go. And now I am armed with new information.

At 17 years old, and having sacrificed home improvements to pay off my mortgage, a shitload of replacements are needed in the next few years. A rundown of my home's infrastructure:

Fences -- all replaced last month. Good for the next 20 years.
Carpet -- original! And man, does it look like shit.
Water heater -- original.
HVAC -- all original.
Kitchen cabinets and countertops -- original, but likely we'll want better in 3-5 years.
Roof -- likely OK for the next 15 years.
Windows -- some mold, but overall acceptable.
Siding -- OK, I've kept up with caulking and painting maintenance.
Stucco -- just fine.

The big ticket items are the water heater and HVAC systems. And, while replacing them, I will spent the incremental difference and get a whole house evaluation and will fix all the things that need fixing to get our house to near zero energy usage from the grid. Mark my words...I will have a house that draws in the bottom 10% of all SMUD customers. I will achieve this both through personal consumption changes and through home efficiency measures.