Tapping New Sources of Energy

Can microbes that live in swamp mud help us produce green energy?

Chemistry Professor Brian Dyer is researching that possibility, through his work at the intersection of chemistry, physics and biology. “I’m really into blurring the lines between traditional disciplines,” he says.

Formerly with the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, Dyer joined Emory this summer to help unite the University’s multi-disciplinary research into renewable energy sources. “The need for renewable energy is one of the key problems of our time,” Dyer says, “and Emory is well-positioned to really make an impact in this area.”

Dyer uses laser spectroscopy to study how light can interact with materials. Early in his career, he began working with proteins that can do photochemistry, drawing his inspiration from natural photosynthesis.

“Ultimately, plants are taking light and storing it as chemical energy,” Dyer explains. “The elegance of some of these reactions is astounding. It’s an incredibly complex process, done with a series of proteins that are highly optimized for a specific function, such as light harvesting and water oxidation. The proteins are like tiny machines. A good analogy is an internal combustion engine, where you actually have integrated, working parts.”

Artificial photosynthesis
In recent years, science and industry have started searching for ways to develop systems of artificial photosynthesis, to help solve the energy shortage and reduce carbon emissions. So far, man’s attempts at tapping the sun’s power have fallen far short of Mother Nature’s.

While living in Los Alamos, located at 7,500 feet above sea level on the Pajarito Plateau, Dyer installed solar panels on his family home. “I wanted to understand the issues of solar energy at the practical level of a home owner,” he says. Even with 320 days a year of New Mexico sunshine, he found conventional solar panels to be inefficient and not cost effective.

“An even bigger problem is the batteries required to store the intermittent solar flux,” Dyer says. “Their storage capacity is limited and their lifetime is short. They also contain hazardous chemicals, like lead and sulfuric acid.”

Mimicking Mother Nature
Dyer is focused on solving this solar energy storage problem. He wants to covert solar energy to fuel, using a particular protein to develop a photocatalyst for solar hydrogen production — which brings up the swamp bugs.

A type of anaerobic bacteria that lives deep in the mud of swamps, where there is little oxygen, survives by splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen. While humans need to use expensive systems to perform this process on a large scale, the bacteria does it naturally by generating the protein hydrogenase — the most efficient catalyst known for making hydrogen.

By studying the biological system, Dyer hopes to find ways to adapt the microbial catalysis of hydrogenase so that it can be harnessed for solar hydrogen production.

“You can trick bugs to make lots of certain kinds of proteins, like a little factory,” Dyer explains. “It’s called ‘directed evolution,’ where you push bacteria a certain way, forcing it to adapt and to produce an evolved protein that has the properties you need.”

His goal is to generate hydrogenase in a form that allows the protein to bind to quantum dots, which are good at absorbing light and could provide the energy to drive the reaction.

“We envision producing hydrogen in a photochemically driven process, where the electrons and protons needed to produce the hydrogen are furnished by water,” Dyer explains. “You could then burn the hydrogen as fuel and get water back. It would be a perfectly clean cycle.”

Renewable energy center
At Emory, Dyer is teamed with other scientists in his experiments, including Tim Lian, William Henry Emerson Professor of Chemistry and a leader in quantum dot technology, and Stefan Lutz, an associate professor of biomolecular chemistry who specializes in protein engineering.

Dyer will also serve as the director of a renewable energy center on campus, to launch this fall. The aim is to further integrate ongoing energy research among chemists, physicists, biologists and computer scientists.

“The energy field has suffered from 30 years of people saying that the search for more energy is an engineering problem,” Dyer says. “Actually, it’s primarily a science problem. Emory has a good track record of bringing together interdisciplinary teams, and tremendous strengths in the bio-sciences, as well as the physical sciences. Most of the advances in renewable energy are going to be made at that interface.”

-----
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page

Study Shows Georgia EMCs' $17 Million Investment Pays Off in Demand Reduction and Energy Savings

/PRNewswire/ -- A recently released study of Georgia's Electric Membership Corporations (EMCs) reports that in 2008 the EMCs spent $17.2 million on programs that reduced demand by 173 MW, an 11 percent increase in demand reduction from 2007, and created energy savings of 34,580,000 kWhs, an increase in savings of 21 percent from 2007. The spending includes the development, implementation, and communication of programs that help members save energy and reduce costs, such as energy audits, electric appliance incentives and financing plans, load control options, rate options, weatherization programs, and compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulb distribution.

"The amount of energy the EMCs and their members saved in 2008 would serve over 2,200 homes for an entire year, or put another way, the amount of energy saved equals what is required to serve the population of a community the size of Adel, Georgia (population 5,399), for 2008," says Paul Wood, president/CEO of Georgia EMC.

The study, 2009 EMC Demand Side Management, Energy Conservation, and Energy Efficiency Report, produced annually by Georgia EMC, documents EMC energy efficiency, energy conservation, and demand side management (DSM) activities and quantifies the potential effects those activities have on reducing demand in the state.

The study also reveals that by year-end 2008, 100 percent of the state's electric cooperatives provided green energy in their overall resource mix to members. This commitment to renewable capacity represents more than 24 MW of green energy available to members by mid-2009.

"When you combine green energy, the demand reduction in 2008, and the potential we have for an additional 100 MW of demand reduction through interruptible rates for commercial/industrial accounts, we're looking at approximately 300 MW in demand reduction and renewable resources," says Wood. "That's about the size of two or three medium peaking generation plants," he adds.

Out of 42 Georgia EMCs, 38 offer customers renewable electricity through Green Power EMC, a non-profit cooperative formed by electric cooperatives to promote renewable energy from Georgia-based resources; three receive power from TVA and participate in TVA's Green Power Switch; and one receives renewable energy from a local farmer that uses an anaerobic digester to produce electricity.

"Georgia's EMCs have been active with demand side management, energy conservation, and energy efficiency for many years and are committed to investing in new and ongoing programs," says Wood. "Their leadership and level of participation in exploring green energy options is confirmation that renewable resources have an important role in meeting the future energy needs of this state."

Each of Georgia's EMCs tailors the programs they offer to meet the needs of their customers. For example, the report shows that most EMCs provide in-home energy audits while only a few have a manufactured home program. Because almost 90 percent of EMC customers are residential, the majority of energy conservation and efficiency programs are focused on those customers. Approximately 8.6 percent of EMC customers are considered commercial/industrial.

Other key findings from the report include:

-- Georgia EMCs have been leaders in installing automatic meter reading
(AMR) and advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) systems, which
provide customers with more detailed billing information and
facilitate time-based rate options. At year-end 2008, 27 EMCs had some
level of AMR/AMI infrastructure installed, benefiting over 670,000 EMC
customers.
-- Georgia EMCs have had active load management programs for many years
and currently have 160,725 load management switches installed on their
customers' air conditioners, water heaters, and irrigation systems.
This represents an 11 percent increase in the total number of load
management switches that were in place in 2007. These systems can
reduce summer peak load by approximately 154 MWs.


"Overall, the EMCs' programs help decrease greenhouse gas emissions, help defer the need for building additional power plants, and help reduce transmission and operating costs," says Wood.

-----
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page
Follow us on Twitter: @GAFrontPage

Obama Inauguration to Highlight Dramatic 'Green Energy' Agenda

/PRNewswire/ -- President-Elect Barack Obama will take office January 20th with the strongest commitment to renewable energy of any President in history. Obama's widely anticipated inauguration speech is expected to highlight bold new national policies to speed America's transition to a renewable energy economy.

-- Construction of a high-voltage "interstate highway" system to bring more wind and solar energy to America's major cities.

-- A national policy mandating America's electric utilities to buy a percentage of their electricity from renewable sources like solar and wind - the most readily available, abundant and affordable sources of green energy.

-- Aggressive near-term targets to reduce America's dependence upon imported oil to address both global warming and national security.

Wind and solar energy companies, already coming off a year of record growth in 2008, are expected to gain new momentum through the inauguration and first 100 days as the new Obama administration implements its green agenda.

Growth and investment in the solar industry is focused on manufacturers of photovoltaic (PV) laminate - which convert sunlight to renewable energy. Analysts at Lazard Capital Markets confirmed buy ratings on leading PV suppliers Energy Conversion Devices (NASDAQ:ENER) and First Solar (NASDAQ:FSLR) .

-----
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page