MVR Heat Pumps & Thermal Efficiency at Chivas Brothers Distillery

Explore how Chivas Brothers implemented innovative heat pump technology from RTC Solutions Provider Piller Blowers & Compressors at its distillery in Scotland to increase efficiency and reduce emissions. The project uses mechanical vapor recompression (MVR) technology to recover thermal energy from the whisky distillation process, reducing the site’s total energy consumption by 48% and carbon emissions by 53%. The case study explains the heat pump system’s customized design and highlights its successes, which prompted Chivas Brothers to invest £60 million to deploy MVR technology across the rest of its eligible distilleries.…

Direct Electrification Of Industrial Process Heat

Replacing fossil fuels in industrial processes is increasingly feasible with electricity-based technologies. A joint study between Energy Innovation, Agora Industry, and Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation shows that direct electrification could meet 90 percent of the energy demand not yet electrified by European industry by 2035. Rapid adoption of such technologies would be a crucial contribution towards Europe’s climate targets and help ensure the sector’s global competitiveness.…

Natural Gas and Indoor Air Pollution in North America

This study adds to the growing body of evidence suggesting that distribution-grade natural gas contains a range of hazardous air pollutants, which can have adverse impacts for indoor air quality and public health. Specifically, this study indicates that benzene and other hazardous air pollutants are present in nearly all natural gas that is supplied to households, buildings and businesses throughout North America, which builds on existing evidence that natural gas leakage poses not only climate, but also human health risks. In addition, this study shows that the concentration of odorants in natural gas varies depending on location and that these …

Downstream Natural Gas Composition Across U.S. and Canada

Previous research has shown that natural gas (NG) leaks from residential appliances are common, affecting greenhouse gas emission inventories and indoor air quality. To study these implications, the authors collected and analyzed 587 unburned NG samples from 481 residences over 17 North American cities for hydrocarbons, hazardous air pollutants, and organosulfur odorants. Nearly all (97% of) gas samples contained benzene (between-city mean: 2335 ppbv [95% CI: 2104, 2607]) with substantial variability between cities. Vancouver, Los Angeles, Calgary, and Denver had at least 2x higher mean benzene concentrations than other cities sampled, with Vancouver exhibiting a nearly 50x greater mean benzene …

Tribal Energy Financing Program

The Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Loan Programs Office (LPO) recently announced its first conditional commitment under the Tribal Energy Financing Program (TEFP) for a loan guarantee of up to $72.8 million for the development of a solar-plus-long-duration energy storage microgrid on the Tribal lands of the Viejas Band of the Kumeyaay Indians near Alpine, California. The Viejas Microgrid project will provide the Viejas Band with reliable utility-scale renewable energy generation and storage infrastructure through the installation of a 15 MW photovoltaic solar generation system and a 38 MWh battery long-duration energy storage system. The project developer, Indian Energy, is a …

Nuclear Waste Cleanup

EM has spent over $215 billion since its creation in 1989 to clean up hazardous and radioactive waste at sites and facilities contaminated from nuclear weapons production and nuclear energy research. EM has acknowledged that it needs to strengthen program management to ensure that the completion of the remaining cleanup work is safe, efficient, and cost-effective.

GAO was asked to review EM’s implementation of its 2020 Program Management Protocol. This report examines (1) how EM has implemented its Protocol and (2) the extent to which EM has incorporated program management leading practices as it implements the Protocol.

GAO reviewed documents …

National Security & Critical Minerals Event Summary

Read this resource for a summary of the OurEnergyPolicy webinar on National Security & Critical Minerals, the first topic in the Critical Minerals “Minologues” series.…

The IRA & Federal Investment in Energy Event Summary

Read this resource for a summary of the OurEnergyPolicy webinar featuring Jigar Shah and Phil Kangas as they discuss funding opportunities provided by the U.S. Department of Energy Loan Programs Office (LPO).…

Modeling the Potential Effects of Rooftop Solar on Household Energy Burden in the United States

Policymakers at the federal and state level have begun to incorporate energy burden into equity goals and program evaluations, aiming to reduce energy burden below a high level of 6% for lower income households in the United States. Pairing an empirical household-level dataset spanning United States geographies together with modeled hourly energy demand curves, we show that rooftop solar reduces energy burden across a majority of adopters during our study period from a median of 3.3% to 2.6%. For low- and moderate-income adopters (at or below 80% and 120% of area median income, respectively), solar reduces median 2021 energy burden …

2024 World Hydropower Outlook

The overarching headline this year is the growth in the global hydropower f leet to 1,416GW in 2023. Conventional hydropower capacity grew by 7.2GW to 1,237GW, while pumped storage hydropower (PSH) grew by 6.5GW to 179GW. The conventional hydropower capacity addition was the lowest single year delivery this century, though the longer-term average is relatively stable at about 20GW per year. PSH delivery has been trending upwards, though from a lower base.

In 2023 there was a decrease in generation of 223TWh from 2022’s figure to 4,185TWh. This reflects drought conditions in some significant hydropower markets, though our expectation is …