Best of the Week of June 20, 2011

The California Energy Commission’s PIER program conducted three workshops seeking input on program direction. Use the following links to view the program overview presentations and related files.

• Program overview presentations
• Related documents (Charter for Advisory Groups and Research Initiatives Report)

PIER has reorganized its eight or so programs under three offices: 1) Smart Infrastructure, 2) Renewable Energy, and 3) Efficiency. There are no major directional changes to report but of course the Governor’s Clean Energy and Jobs Plan is driving adjustments in emphasis, including an emphasis on timely results in support of 2020 goals. What is completely new is the formation of “sub-advisory” groups under PIER’s standing Advisory Board. These groups were convened to hear and comment on PIER’s forward plans. They will serve as gatekeepers for funding decisions going forward.

I had time to attend two of the three workshops. I agree with the many advisory group members who applauded PIER staff presentations and efforts to organize the workshops. Staff accomplished this while also carrying the normal workload of managing large project portfolios. The new office structure will encourage closer collaboration among PIER’s programs and staff. For example, environmental assessment projects related to renewable energy are now under the same overall leadership as renewable energy RD&D projects.

It was gratifying to hear PIER’s plans to fund a California Renewable Energy Research Center to focus on assessments and analysis enabling renewable energy deployment from building to utility scale. It was also gratifying to note that one of Cal-IRES’ efforts this year was referenced in relation to the Renewable Energy Program, i.e. the RESCO Symposium we organized in February for PIER.

Gerry Braun
Director, Cal-IRES
June 28, 2011

Complete Keywords: Smart Infrastructure, Smart Grid, Renewable Energy, Energy Efficiency, PIER, California Renewable Energy Research Center, CREC, Energy Policy Drivers, Hybrid Energy Generation, Combined Heat and Power (CHP), Distributed Generation (DG), RESCO, Community Scale Renewable Energy

LISTSERV: June Updates

Reports:

• California Energy Futures Report was officially released by the California Council on Science and Technology (CCST) on May 24th. For this and other CCST energy reports, visit: http://www.ccst.us/publications/index.php Attendees of the April 4, 2011 Cal-IRES Forum heard a preview of results, which can be seen in video or in highlights on the forum proceedings page: http://cal-ires.ucdavis.edu/events/2011-cal-ires-forum/
• The California Energy Commission has published the PIER project report: Energy-Efficient Community Development in California: Chula Vista
  

News:
5/19: Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom joined UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi, California Energy Commissioner Carla Peterman and others for a tour of UC Davis West Village, being billed as the largest zero net energy development of its kind in the country. http://www.ltg.ca.gov/news.php?id=25 Background: In September 2010, the California Public Utilities Commission awarded UC Davis $2.495 million under the California Solar Initiative RD&D Solicitation #2 to complete a program of research, development and demonstration targeting 1) innovative production technologies and 2) innovative business models related to solar PV. The Cal-IRES Program is charged with managing the former and the West Village Energy Initiative Project Team is charged with managing the latter. A portion of this research builds on the California Energy Commission's Renewable Energy Secure Communities (RESCO) Project.

Events:

• 6/7: 10-11:30 am PDT (1: 2:30 pm Eastern) WEBINAR: Offshore Wind: Port and Staging Area Needs and Status.
  
• May reports, presentations and recordings of six California Energy Commission 2011 Integrated Energy Policy Report (IEPR) Workshop Proceedings held in May.
  

Pending California Renewable Energy Integration Legislation:

• SB 679 (Pavley) This bill would appropriate all unencumbered funds originally appropriated in SB 77 and designated for Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) programs. The Senate Appropriations Committee reduced the appropriation from $50 million to $25 for low-interest energy efficiency revolving loans to local governments and public institutions.
• SB 771 (Kehoe) The California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority is charged with establishing a renewable energy program to provide financial assistance to public power entities, independent generators, utilities, or businesses manufacturing components or systems to generate new and renewable energy sources, etc. This bill would expand the definition of "renewable energy" to include energy generation based on landfill gas turbines, digester gas turbines, and microturbines.
• SB 790 (Leno) This bill would clarify the statutes that authorize local governments to implement Community Choice Aggregation, a program that allows communities to pool, or aggregate, the electric load of their residents, businesses and other institutions in order to procure and generate electricity on their behalf.

Latest Blog: What do efficient refrigeration, solar panel production and samba music have in common?

We are delighted to share UC Davis graduate, Daniel Eisenberg’s news. You may have met Daniel at the April 2011 Cal-IRES Forum. He and Karen Eggerman, Cal-IRES Associate, prepared the Forum Highlights found on our proceedings page.

Daniel has won a Fulbright scholarship to conduct refrigeration energy efficiency research in Florianopolis, Brazil, beginning in March 2012. The research focus will be on making household refrigeration compressors more thermodynamically efficient. Refrigerators use a major portion of household energy, so this research could have significant societal benefits. Since the research will be conducted at the POLO laboratories at Universidade Federal Santa Catarina with its many ties to major refrigerator manufacturers, it is likely that successful completion of his project will be quickly implemented for consumer use. A secondary focus for his Fulbright scholarship is to become more culturally aware and invested into Brazilian society through music. Daniel has significant experience playing in Brazilian samba schools, and plans to join other local drum ensembles to gain a deeper understanding of what it means to be Brazilian.

In the meantime, Daniel has a full-time research position for the Chemical Engineering & Materials Science department at UC Davis. While working on viscoelastic fluid characterization and a life cycle analysis on the health hazards of solar panel production, he is also learning much about state-of-the-art solar panel design and production.