Posts Tagged: energy

Phase 3 complete in Kearney solar energy project

JKB Energy has completed three phases of a solar energy project at UC ANR Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension (KARE) Center in Parlier. The system eliminates thousands of pounds of emissions and saves the center tens of thousands of dollars in energy costs annually, according to a JKB Energy news release. Kearney is one of nine research and extension centers located throughout the state that are part of the University of California Division of Agricultural and Natural Resources (UC ANR).

JKB Energy has worked with Robert Ray, superintendent of the UC ANR KARE physical plant, to maximize their bill offset program. Since 2012, when the program started, UC ANR KARE has steadily cut its energy costs.

After the completion of the final phase, projected for 2016, the center's “postharvest” meter's annual electricity costs will be offset by approximately 96 percent. Postharvest research is science conducted after a crop has been harvested and includes such processes as of cooling, cleaning, sorting, and packaging and how these might affect the quality of stored fruits and vegetables.

According to JKB Energy, over 25 years, this project will eliminate the equivalent of:

• 473,735 pounds of carbon dioxide, the leading greenhouse gas
• 1,520 pounds of nitrogen dioxide, which creates smog
• 1,376 pounds of sulfur dioxide, which causes acid rain
• 94 pounds of particulates that cause asthma
• 770,814 miles driven in an average car

The system is the equivalent of taking 2.5 cars off the road for 25 years, or planting 4.1 acres of trees. 

USDA official promotes renewable fuel infrastructure

A USDA official was in Oakland yesterday to promote the development of renewable fuel infrastructure in the United States, according to a news release from Propel Fuels. The federal agency plans to fund the build-out of 10,000 renewable fuel pumps across the nation in the next five years.

Judith Canales, administrator of USDA's Rural Business and Cooperative Programs, spoke at a press conference held at a gas station where customers can purchase E85 Flex Fuel and biodiesel from Redwood City-based Propel Fuels.

A story produced by KGO-TV in San Francisco said high fuel prices came at a perfect time for Propel, whose biofuel business is booming.

"What we are trying to do is focus on fuels that are domestically made, and fuels that could contribute to American jobs and reduce our dependence on foreign oil," Propel executive Jim Iacoponi told KGO reporter Wayne Freedman.

Most American-made biofuel is produced with corn. Corn is high in starch, but low in sugars, making it less efficient for making fuel than foreign sugar cane. But high U.S. tariffs make corn a viable alternative.

In the news story, UC Berkeley physicist Richard Muller attributed some of the interest in corn to presidential politics.

"Well, it's Iowa," Muller said. "In order to win the Iowa caucuses go to Iowa and promise they will support corn ethanol."

At the news conference, Canales said corn will only be part of the solution.

In the U.S., there are more than 20 million vehicles (more than 1 million of those in California) capable of running on renewable fuels, but the majority do not have access to these fuels. Propel has plans to build 75 additional stations in the Bay Area and Sacramento, as well as in new markets later this year, the news release said.

USDA's Judith Canales fuels a CalTrans vehicle that runs on biofuel.

Children tend to get too much caffeine

Many parents are unaware their children are consuming too much caffeine, University of Nebraska Medical Center researchers found, and it is not good for their health, according to a post on the "contributed news" website All Voices.

The medical center surveyed the parents of more than 200 children 5 to 12 years old during routine clinical visits at an urban pediatric clinic. The researchers found that 75 percent of the children consumed caffeine on a daily basis, and the more caffeine the children consumed, the less they slept.

Children as young as 5 years old were consuming the equivalent of a can of soda a day. Children between the ages of 8 and 12 years consumed an average of 109 mg of caffeine a day, the equivalent of almost three 12-ounce cans of soda.

The All Voices post referred readers to a UC Davis nutrition and health info sheet titled "Some Facts About Energy Drinks," written by project scientist Karrie Heneman and Cooperative Extension nutrition specialist Sheri Zidenburg-Cherr.

The fact sheet said the caffeine content of a single serving of energy drink (8 to 12 oz.) can range from 72 to 150 mg, however, many bottles contain 2 to 3 servings, raising the caffeine content to as high as 294 mg per bottle. In comparison, the caffeine content in an 8-ounce serving of brewed coffee, tea and cola ranges between 134-240 mg, 48-175 mg and 22-46 mg respectively.

Other stimulants such as guarana and ginseng are often added to energy beverages and can enhance the effects of caffeine. Guarana, in particular, contains caffeine (1 g of guarana is nearly equal to 40 mg caffeine) and may substantially increase the total caffeine in an energy drink.

The more caffeine children consume, the less they sleep.

Green laws creating jobs in California

California efforts to reduce the state's carbon footprint is creating jobs, according to a study by Next 10, a nonprofit organization that promotes environmental innovation in California. The report, featured in a story by the Los Angeles Times, was written by UC Berkeley agriculture and resource economics adjunct professor David Roland-Holst.

The Next 10 report said California laws requiring businesses and residents to cut their carbon output and use local energy sources will create more than 400,000 jobs, help consumers save on their lighting bills and boost the state's economy by $76 billion by 2020, according to the story.

"This is the breakout growth sector of the next generation," the article quoted Roland-Holst. "We cannot afford to miss this market opportunity."

LA Times staff writer Marla Dickerson reported that California's per-capita electricity use is about 40 percent less than the national average mainly because of government-mandated energy efficiency standards for utilities, buildings and appliances put into effect over the last 40 years.

Lower energy use has saved Californians $56 billion since 1972, according to Roland-Holst. That money was spent in the local economy instead of on imported oil, out-of-state electricity or building new power plants.

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