QUICK NEWS, February 19: The Campaign To Get Conservatives To Fight Climate Change; A Perfect Match Of Distribute Energy And The Grid; U.S. Navy Moves On Wave Energy

The Campaign To Get Conservatives To Fight Climate Change Seeking conservative converts to climate change cause; Former congressman Bob Inglis tries to steer his party away from denialism

Brian Nearing, February 18, 2018 (Albany Times Union)

“Bob Inglis is putting a lot of faith in young people…Inglis is a former U.S. Congressman from South Carolina who in 2010 was turned out of office by Republican voters after he bucked the party line concerning the role fossil fuels play in climate change…Since then, this avowed conservative has been crisscrossing America on a mission to persuade Republicans that climate change science is neither a hoax nor a fraud, and that solutions capable of heading off further damage to the environment can abide by conservative principles such as free enterprise and energy abundance…Inglis has [done over 400 talks to young people] since 2013 targeting conservative audiences…[Recent polls show] that compared to a decade ago, significantly fewer Republicans believe climate change is happening or that human activities cause it…But Inglis, 58, said he remains encouraged by the attitudes of the youngest generation of Republicans…” click here for more

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A Perfect Match Of Distribute Energy And The Grid Pushing the Limit: How Demand Flexibility Can Grow the Market for Renewable Energy Cara Goldenberg and Mark Dyson, February 14, 2018 (Rocky Mountain Institute)

“…Demand Flexibility: The Key to Enabling a Low-Cost, Low-Carbon Grid…shows how demand flexibility can be a lower-cost, less-polluting alternative to natural gas-fired power plants for balancing renewable energy on the grid…[The use of demand flexibility across a large geographic area can] shift electricity consumption from times of the day with high demand but low renewable supply to times with high renewable supply…[It] can significantly reduce customer costs, curtailment of renewable energy, peak demand, and carbon emissions compared to relying on natural gas-fired generation…Due to its low operating costs, new renewable capacity often displaces more expensive generators on the grid, lowering wholesale clearing prices. Higher amounts of variable renewable energy on the system also creates a mismatch between energy demand and supply, increasing the risk of renewable curtailment…[The combination, coupled with inflexible thermal generation, can significantly lower the revenues of renewable projects…[RMI]shows how this] can be addressed by the deployment of control and communication technologies used to manage energy consumption…” click here for more

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U.S. Navy Moves On Wave Energy US Navy picks Irish wave energy system; The US Navy is to carry out grid-scale testing of a wave energy convertor developed by an Irish company.

5 February 2018 (The Construction Index)

“…[Irish-designed OE Buoy will be built in the US]and deployed at the US Navy’s wave energy test site on the Hawaiian Island of O’ahu in autumn 2018. The contract value of is €5.25m out of a total project value of almost €10m for testing…The 750t OE Buoy measures 38m by 18m with a draught of 9m and has a potential rated capacity of up to 1.25MW in electrical power production…It is estimated that a 100MW wave farm could power up to 47,000 Irish homes…[The pilot project is part of the Navy’s effort to test the reliability of near-full-scale wave energy converters and obtain data to validate performance predictions and levelized cost of energy estimates]…” click here for more

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