Category Archives: News

New York could be first state to ban controversial drilling practice

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STORY HIGHLIGHTS

  • New York’s state assembly passed a limited ban on hydraulic fracturing
  • Also known as “fracking,” it’s a controversial method of drilling for natural gas
  • The EPA is studying whether fracking contaminates ground water

New York Gov. David Paterson, left, with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

(CNN) — New York could be the first state in the country to impose a limited ban on a controversial method of drilling for natural gas.

This week, the state assembly passed a hydraulic fracturing moratorium bill, which is currently en route to New York Gov. David Paterson’s desk. He will have 10 days from then to take action.

In the past, Paterson has expressed concern about hydraulic fracturing, which involves cracking thousands of feet beneath the earth’s surface to get at valuable natural gas. It is unclear if the governor will sign or veto the legislation.

“He’ll hear what everybody has to say,” a representative of the governor’s office told CNN. She would not provide her name.

Read the full story.

Desalitech Reduces Costs of Desalination

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Middelgrunden Windmills Outside Copenhagen

Efficient desalination can utilize alternative energy, like these Danish windmills, thus relying on the ocean twice. / Photo: andjohan on Flickr

The most common question I field when I mention desalination is, “Doesn’t that take a lot of energy?”

The truth is, yes, it does. That’s why you’ll not hear me advocate for desalination without strongly insisting on complementary conservation.

We must redouble our conservation efforts by upgrading infrastructure intelligently and in no way excuse wasteful water practices by pointing to the plentiful, historical ingredients of desalination: oceans of water and oceans of coal.

Each barrel of freshwater extracted from the ocean has costs, so we should use the water as efficiently as possible, recycling it and then remediating it into the water cycle.

Yet, conservation alone isn’t going to meet our water needs. The world’s population is expected to increase by 2.5 billion over the next 30 – 40 years, while the current, natural water cycle is not expected to increase its output.

Just as we must increase conservation, we must prepare for the impending water plateau by increasing our capacity to produce fresh water.

Hence my excitement in June when I heard about Desalitech’s successful pilot.

The test purified Mediterranean saltwater, using Desalitech’s proprietary Closed-Circuit Desalination saltwater reverse osmosis method (SWRO-CCD).

Using common components, without energy recovery, running a high-pressure pump at 81% mean efficiency and circulation pump at 37.5% mean efficiency, the pilot achieved 48% recovery at 2.05 – 2.40 kWh per cubic meter of fresh water. For comparison, Perth’s desalination plant using Energy Recovery from ERI achieves 43% recovery at 2.32 kWh/m3.

Desalitech aims to increase the mean efficiency of the off-the-shelf, high-pressure pump to 88%, to provide recovery at 1.75 – 1.95 kWh/m3 on Mediterranean saltwater. The same pumps used on ocean water could produce equal recovery at 1.5 – 1.7 kWh/m3.

Desalitech’s implementation reduces the cost of powering desalination processes. It also decreases capital expenditures. Nadav Efraty, CEO of Desalitech, told me, “This technology is reducing energy consumption by up to 50% when we utilize about twice the membranes, reduces energy by about 10-15% when we use only 40% of the membranes compared to a conventional plant, or reduces energy about 30% when we utilizes the same amount of membranes, but in this mode, since we don’t utilize any form of energy recovery, we still see a reduction in capital expenditures.”

Even with less than half the membranes, the technology still sees 10-15% energy reduction. That’s a 60% savings on capital expenditures for membranes.

As an added element of efficiency, plants utilizing Desalitech’s technology can turn plants up and down depending on demand: Nadav explained, “The very same unit can operate at very high production rates part of the day (when power rates are low for example) and in extremely low energy consumption the rest of the day.”

Desalitech does this by independently controlling component flow rates, recovery, pressures and cross flow irrespective of the other variables.

Following their successful pilot, Desalitech is addressing brackish water. Desalitech’s three BWRO installations are fully operational facilities, capable of producing 10,000 m3 fresh water per day.

Market Driven Tree Hugging

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A helicopter pours water on Californian wildfires in 2009 / Photo: kevindean on flickr

A number of small buckets of water can contain a wildfire / Photo: kevindean on flickr

Climate legislation in the United States just went up in a cloud of CO2. Again.

Which doesn’t for one second mean the battle is lost.

Regulation may have failed, but thankfully, the free-market surrounding water isn’t waiting for regulations to change. The BlueTech sector is already in position with profitable solutions to mitigate climate change.

The inefficient transportation and treatment of water from source to end-user accounts for 13% of energy use in the United States (and 17% in water-starved California).

As we reported earlier this year, the Carbon Footprint of Water Report calculated that a 5% decrease in infrastructure leaks in the United States would save 270 million gallons of water a day and 313 million kilowatt hours of electricity annually — enough to power 31,000 homes. Not only that, but it’d keep 225,000 metric tons of C02 emissions out of the air.

Meanwhile, cities like Pittsburgh, St. Louis and Seattle are introducing plans to replace aging infrastructure, to the tune of nearly $5 billion. Which is only a portion of the estimated $335 billion national pricetag.

It’s a perfectly timed confluence of events: we’re facing a global crisis. The inefficient water complex – which bears some responsibility for the crisis – is due for an upgrade. Simultaneously, innovation in water efficiency has bloomed.

Throughout the country the BlueTech industry is poised to offer municipalities and water authorities cost-savings and reduced costs to upgrade infrastructure via smart-water systems, efficient water-treatment and stormwater management, and positive revenue streams through resources recovered from waste streams.

As water supply ceases to match demand, new desalination technologies can replace ancient systems to achieve excellent energy efficiencies – often with decreased capital expenditures.

Each of these methods mitigates the causes of climate change by making efficient use of water, thereby making efficient use of energy. Efficient energy use reduces fossil fuel extraction (thereby reducing water usage still further) and reduces the release of pollutants like CO2 and mercury into the atmosphere and water supply.

And each of these methods reduces costs for implementers, either by reducing capital expenditures or by reducing operational costs. They’re a win for the economy and a win for the environment.

To be sure, it’d be helpful if Congress would expedite adoption of clean technology by establishing a firm price signal for pollution. But as American politicians have repeatedly refused, the free market is ready to manage the growing climate and water crises, with or without Congress.

Extracting Money from Wastewater

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Copper Mining in China

Copper Mining in China / Photo: tzachernuk on Flickr

Speaking of Resource Recovery, Canadian company BioteQ Environmental Technologies, Inc has announced plans to build a wastewater treatment plant at a copper mine in China. The plant will be a joint-venture with Jiangxi Copper Company. Construction is slated to begin Q3 2010 and cost $3 million, to be shared equally.

The plant will purify produced water from the copper mine at the rate of 800 cubic meters per hour. It will extract up to 50,000 pounds of nickel and 60,000 pounds of cobalt annually from the site’s wastewater and rainwater runoff. Nickel is a corrosion resistant element used in alloys and plating. Cobalt is widely used in components of lithium-ion batteries, among other uses.

Another BioteQ and Jiangxi joint-venture treatment plant extracted 700,000 pounds of copper from wastewaster streams on-site in its first six months of operations. The acidic wastewater left untreated would have damaged the environment.

BioteQ’s process uses a proprietary ion exchange technology called ChemSulphide to extract metals from water with a 99% recovery rate, purifying the water for reuse on-site or discharge into the environment.

Not only will the treated water pass strict standards for release into the environment, but the partners gain two additional revenue streams, compensating for the cost of treating the water.

Ecosphere's Ozonix Deployed to Gulf, but not for Oil

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Ecosphere Technologies’ agreement with Mid-Gulf Recovery Services has developed into a contract announced July 8th.

The contract stipulates two Ozonix mobile water treatment units will be deployed on barges carrying housing quarters, to purify grey and black water generated by the personnel deployed to clean portions of the gulf. One unit has been deployed, and the second is slated to deploy by July 22.

This is unexpected news indeed, and while I’m glad the personnel on the two barges won’t contribute to the environmental disaster via untreated grey or black water, I had hoped advanced technology would be deployed to directly address the oil spill itself.

However, Ecosphere may have just stumbled on a new opportunity: if Ozonix can be used to purify grey and blackwater for reuse, Ozonix could potentially be deployed in other humanitarian and military missions, remote oil and mining camps, and other personnel-heavy, water-starved situations. The UN could deploy Ozonix in Haiti to save money trucking water to IDP camps.

We’ll keep watching Ecosphere to see how the contract with Mid-Gulf progresses.

TaKaDu Finds a Partner in Schneider Electric

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TaKaDu Partners with Schneider

TaKaDu, who we’ve written about previously here and here, recently announced they’ve partnered with Schneider Electric, a global energy management giant.

The partnership exposes TaKaDu to Schneider Electric’s customers in more than 100 countries, where TaKaDu will be deployed to identify inefficiencies in water management in an effort to reduce energy usage.

As Pascal Bonnefoi, water segment director at Schneider Electric, stated in a recent interview, “The Energy Bill represents on average one-third of the operating cost of the water utility. We need to do more with less –  and water is not an exception.”

Continue reading →

Google to Expand PowerMeter to Water

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Google's PowerMeter on a Smartphone

Google's PowerMeter on a Smartphone. / Photo: Google

Monitoring corporate water use is about to get very simple for Sustainability Managers.

Google announced last Thursday they’re looking to expand the capabilities of their PowerMeter application.

“We’re starting with electricity and we’re interested in moving on to natural gas and other utilities [such as water] in the home,” Dan Reicher, Director of Climate Change Initiatives at Google, said.

Google’s PowerMeter application currently allows end-users to track and analyze energy usage from any internet-enabled device, including smart phones.

Coupling PowerMeter with current water analytics data from systems like TaKaDu’s Water Infrastructure Management suite (which works with currently available water data) and AUG Signals’ Intelligent Drinking Water Monitoring System could create a service for businesses seeking to quantify and reduce their water costs and footprint.

Making water metrics available on smart phones, for example, will reduce adoption costs and shorten the learning curve, leading to widespread use.

Imagine corporate Sustainability Managers at conferences, standing in circles with their smart phones out, comparing water efficiency.

via cnet News

BlueTechs Await Permission to Deploy in Gulf, While Rome Burns

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Controlled Burn of BP's Oil Spill

A fishing boat is dwarfed by smoke from burning oil / Photo: Deepwater Horizon Response on Flickr

Seven weeks after the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil platform, oil slicks have inundated the shores of mainland United States. Traditional oil recovery methods have proved inept.

BP has collected only 25 million gallons of oil and water from the surface of the Gulf and burned 238,000 barrels into the atmosphere — leaving plenty of oil to suffocate marshes, turn beaches black and poison marine life. A normally optimistic friend of mine recently joked that BP had discovered an organic, biodegradable material to absorb oil: pelicans.

That cynicism is poisonous, but it is not without justification. With over 100,000 solutions proposed via a highly publicized suggestion line, BP, the US Government and sub-contractors have plenty of available, established technologies to choose from. And yet, from many accounts, the technology sits idle along the gulf, waiting for permission to deploy.

Continue reading →

Advanced Technology Reaches the Gulf

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BP Oil Spill Covers Gulf

BP Oil Spill Covers Gulf / Image: NASA and the MODIS Rapid Response Team

Another Artemis Top 50 Company is deploying their technology to the Gulf to aid clean up of the still growing BP oil spill.

Ecosphere Technologies signed a letter-of-intent with Mid-Gulf Recovery Services, LLC to deploy Ecosphere’s Ozonix technology to clean up the “Gulf’s marshes and inland waterways,” according to Glen Smith, CEO of Mid-Gulf Recovery Services.

The Ozonix Deep Water Recovery Process, recently patent-pending, is “a non-chemical water treatment system specifically built for removing oil and chemicals from water.” It works by generating millions of “micro bubbles”, creating a “buoyancy blanket” that lifts oil rapidly to the surface of the gulf.

How Ozonix Helps in the Gulf

Ozonix increases the concentration of oil on the surface of the Gulf, simplifying oil recovery (Click to view larger)

By forcing oil to surface quickly, the oil has less time to spread as it rises. The increased concentration on the surface simplifies the process of extracting the oil from the water.

View a visual presentation of the process (pdf).

Ecosphere’s technology won the endorsement of Jean-Michel Cousteau, the famed ocean explorer and President of Ocean Futures Society: “Ecosphere has been providing its patented Ozonix technology to help major energy companies recycle their frac waters by eliminating chemical biocides. We must now use this same technology to help restore our seas and shores while protecting the habitats of the marine and wildlife of the Gulf Coast. Now is the time for action, action, action and this is technology that needs to be put to work immediately.”

Using air is obviously a more environmentally friendly solution than using potentially hazardous chemical dispersants. It’s refreshing to see modern technology finally deployed to the Gulf, however late it is in coming.

Water Prices to Increase by 8% in WA

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Drought in Western Australia

Cracked earth in Midland, Western Australia just east of Perth

Between 1997 and 2007 water supplies in Perth, the capital and largest city in Western Australia, decreased by 65%, leading Perth to commission the Kwinana desalinization plant in late 2006. The plant provides 130 million litres of water a day, and runs on renewable energy supplied by the Emu Downs Wind Farm.

Public pressure compelled the Western Australia Water Corp to utilize renewable energy. Pressure exchangers from Energy Recovery, Inc, an Artemis Top 50 company, save the plant 15.6 MW of energy, reducing energy usage at the plant to 180GWh a year. That’s only 66% of Emu Downs’ 270GWh a year produced from wind.

But the price of water throughout Western Australia continues to climb. The estimated 8% increase in Western Australia, announced today by Opposition Leader Eric Ripper, would complete a 40% increase in the cost of water to households in the past three years.

With their vast coastlines and open spaces, Western Australia can look to the seas for further partnerships between advanced, efficient water technology and sustainable energy like wind and solar.

Leaders in Western Australia seem to be thinking likewise. As Gary Crisp of Western Australia Water Corp said, “I predict that desalination will account for at least half of Perth’s water in the next 30 years.”

Photo credit: Aleatoric Consonance on Flickr