Downsteam Strategies Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Morgantown Apartment Complex Participates in a Virtual Power Plant

Traditionally, electricity is turned on and off on a demand-only basis, with physical power plants only generating electricity when it’s needed for use. However, a Maryland-based power brokerage company, Mosaic Power, has come up with a way to make our energy consumption more efficient without changing our lifestyle.

Mosaic CEO Laurie Vaudreuil says, “And you can think about that like a car driving in traffic, where if you stop and start all the time, it’s very, very poor fuel efficiency. But if you drive at a steady 55 miles an hour all the time, it’s very good fuel efficiency. So that’s what we’re offering the power grid, is a way to let generators drive 55.”

Mosaic’s solution is a virtual power plant, and it all starts by connecting our water heaters to a cellular network. The system monitors the patterns of supply and demand on the power grid and recognizes when electricity is being over-generated.

Electricity levels fluctuate all day and even every minute. When there’s an excess of power, the network responds by firing up more water heaters to do their job now rather than later. Then it communicates to the generators to lower their output.

By steadying the supply of electricity at a lower level, less carbon is emitted without changing the electricity demand. Joey James of Downstream Strategies adds, “This smart grid technology will bring West Virginia into the 21st century of virtual power plants.”

Vaudreuil compares Mosaic to a stock market of electricity. Mosaic’s job is to stabilize the demand by trading excess electricity with other power companies who need it. Just like buying and selling stock, Mosaic gets paid by how well they respond to momentary changes in the market.

This summer, Downstream Strategies and the Morgantown Municipal Green Team have paired up with Mosaic as part of the third phase in their project to limit the city’s greenhouse gas emissions. So far, one multi-unit apartment complex has signed up to participate in the virtual power plant, Mosaic is withholding the landlord’s name to protect its client’s privacy.

Vaudreuil says that every standard water heater produces one and a half tons of carbon per year. By participating in Mosaic’s demand-response technology, most of the energy typically used per water heater is saved, significantly reducing its carbon emissions.

Mosaic doesn’t charge for its services and pays its clients $100 per water heater every year. That adds up to $28,000 every year for this Morgantown apartment complex. Vaudreuil says the added income can even help improve low-income housing statewide.

“Sometimes when we go into low income apartment complexes, it’s offsetting money they used to get from government grants that’s no longer available,” Vaudreuil says.

Both Downstream and Mosaic say the extra income is a great way for property owners to install solar and other cost-saving measures without raising rent. In an effort to cut carbon emissions in West Virginia and in the region, the team is looking for more apartment complexes and single-family homes to participate in the program.

New Report Examines Morgantown's Greenhouse Gas Emissions

There are a lot of things that contribute to carbon dioxide emissions that drift into the air. For the first time an inventory of how much greenhouse gas is entering the air in Morgantown has been compiled. The environmental consulting firm Downstream Strategies hopes this particular study will inspire other communities to want to do the same.

On a Sunny afternoon, traffic is bustling through one of the busiest intersections in Morgantown on University Avenue. There are cars, buses, and even industrial trucks rumbling through this congested intersection everyday. These vehicles are all playing some role in emitting carbon dioxide into the air, and a new report from Downstream Strategies tries to track down all of the statistics from the year 2012, to see the breadth of Morgantown’s greenhouse gas footprint.

According to the report, activity-based emissions, from vehicle use, solid waste disposal and other factors, contributed to more than 800,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions in 2012. Source based emissions from coal plants, natural gas, and other fuels, emitted nearly 700,000 metric tons. Jeff Simcoe is energy project manager for Downstream Strategies. He co-authored this report.

“We knew that the presence of a power plant would contribute a lot of greenhouse gas emissions in the source based category, we weren’t surprised about that,” he said.

“What we were surprised about on the activity based side is that we were able to identify electricity use as a large contributor, as well as the transportation sector.”

This is the first time Downstream Strategies has attempted to capture the greenhouse gas emissions data from a particular town in West Virginia. Simcoe says he doesn’t think it’s been tried before in West Virginia, by anyone else, either. Downstream Strategies is attempting to figure out these numbers because it’s about to use this study for another project.

“Phase Two of our project will focus on residential use, switching lighting, sealing your home, those types of things to reduce electricity use in commercial homes and businesses, because we see an opportunity there to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in electricity,” said Simcoe.

It’s tricky to compare how Morgantown’s carbon dioxide emissions rank compared to other towns across the region. That’s because Simcoe can’t point to any other towns in the region who are doing a similar kind of comprehensive, wide-sweeping greenhouse gas emission study, using all of the data Morgantown used.

“This is a community-based inventory, versus a city-operations-only or a single-entity inventory. We would be able to compare to inventories that used a similar approach,” he said.

“As far as the U.S. Community protocol that we used, we know in California it’s being recommended that cities and towns use this inventory so they can aggregate the results over larger areas, compare between different cities and start to build a baseline data for an area that they can update over time.”

This study started before the Environmental Protection Agency released proposals to states on reducing greenhouse emissions in the next 16 years. Simcoe is hopeful this report will help the state as it looks to reduce emissions. He points to two specific building blocks the EPA wants states to follow to achieve emission goals.

“Projects like this could help with building block three, which is a more renewable energy type approach, and building block four, which is really focused on demand side energy efficiency,” he said.

“Our phase two project, which will really identify opportunities for residents and business to reduce energy consumption associated with greenhouse gas emissions, is part of building block four.”

Phase Two of the Downstream Strategies project includes conducting a survey to ask Morgantown residents about their energy use. They will also be looking at more energy data. Phase Two will be done by May of next year.

Will West Virginia Ever See A New Coal-Fired Power Plant?

There’s been much deliberation over the last week regarding new Environmental Protection Agency proposals for regulating coal fired power plant carbon emissions. State officials are very discouraged by the ideas. But as Ben Adducchio reports, there are also proposals on the table for how to regulate future power plants, and some are asking whether any will be built again in West Virginia.

The EPA has issued new ideas on how to regulate existing power plants, which would call for a 30 percent national reduction on carbon emissions by 2030, from 2005 levels. Congressmen David McKinley and Nick Rahall co-introduced legislation to essentially strike down not only emissions standards concerning current power plants, but additional proposals that would apply to future power plants.

Those proposals came out last year, and would require new plants to use cleaner methods—like carbon capture and storage, and natural gas technologies, to ensure fewer carbon emissions. Jamie Van Nostrand with the West Virginia University Center for Energy and Sustainable Development says these new technologies will present many challenges for anyone wanting to build a new plant.

“It’s very difficult given the rules under 111 b, which really restrict the greenhouse gas emissions associated with new power plants, and pretty much require carbon capture and sequestration, either through a gasification process before you generate electricity, or capturing it and sequestering it afterwards, and those are very very expensive, particularly in the absence of having oil recovery nearby,” said Van Nostrand.

American Electric Power attempted this type of technology at a plant in southern West Virginia. That didn’t completely succeed, due to funding issues. Jeffrey La Fleur with AEP says the technology needs more research and funding.

“I think we would be a lot further down the road now if we had a little more foresight on the government’s part to develop the technology. For new coal units, the EPA proposed rule is that you will have to have carbon capture to build a new plant and because of all of this has stopped, that technology is not commercially available,” he said.

But Jamie Van Nostrand believes with the new power plant proposals, it can be done.

“The CCS technology is continuing to improve, there’s a lot of money being spent on clean coal technology, and I think the expectation is down the road, the regulation under 111 b would allow the technological advances that would allow a coal plant to be constructed in the future,” he said.

Downstream Strategies, WVU Center to Work on EPA Regulation Report

West Virginia University’s Center for Energy and Sustainable Development is working with Downstream Strategies on a new report, analyzing how West Virginia can best meet new Enivronmental Protection Agency proposals on carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. This study will be used to advise policy makers as they draft strategies to submit to the EPA.

This report will be completed over the course of the next year. The state Department of Environmental Protection has two years to submit a plan to EPA, which will present its proposals for cutting state carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. It won’t be easy, as the majority of the state’s energy production comes from coal. The EPA wants to cut carbon emissions by 30 percent over the next 16 years, from 2005 carbon levels. Evan Hansen with Downstream Strategies says West Virginia’s levels need to decrease about 20 percent, according to EPA proposals.

“What’s important to realize is that a 20 percent reduction in carbon emissions doesn’t mean we would be mining 20 percent less coal or losing 20 percent of our coal jobs,” said Hansen.

“There’s so much flexibility in this rule and it means that it can be achieved in many different ways. Coal production will continue. For example, electricity generation can shift towards natural gas or toward renewable energy systems. There are provisions to increase energy efficiency towards homes and businesses, that counts towards the carbon dioxide reductions.”

Hansen’s organization Downstream Strategies, along with the West Virginia University Center for Energy and Sustainable Development, is compiling information in a report, to give to state policy makers like the DEP, on how West Virginia can meet these EPA proposals. This includes looking at emissions data from all of the state’s coal-fired power plants, as well as researching what rules and regulations on the books might be helpful, or obstructive, to getting these emission cuts done. James Van Nostrand works for the center for energy and sustainable development at WVU.

“I think the studies that are out there indicate that energy efficiency is the probably the lowest cost compliance option. We have a very poor record on efficiency,” he said.

“These would be utilities offering programs to help customers control their energy bills, whether they be residential customers, commercial customers, or industrial customers. It’s basically paying customers for saving kilowatt hours that don’t have to be generated by generating plants.”

The EPA’s newly proposed regulations are the first enforcement standards ever set on carbon emissions. When they were announced, West Virginia’s leaders viewed them with caution, anxiety, and trepidation. Most were extremely disappointed. Van Nostrand says some other states, including coal states like Kentucky, have already begun to develop strategies to cut carbon emissions. Van Nostrand says West Virginia is not as far ahead as it probably should be.

“I don’t think we have positioned ourselves very well thus far to achieve compliance with these rules. A lot of states have moved forward aggressively with respect to diversifying their energy supply,” he said.

Nationally, carbon emissions and how to deal with them have become a politically charged issue. Democrats and Republicans alike struck down a cap and trade proposal in the United States Congress about five years ago, when funding was also on the table for new clean coal technology practices like carbon capture and storage. Van Nostrand says the lack of Congressional collaboration forced the hand of President Obama to direct the EPA’s movement on carbon emission regulation.

“The President is using his executive authority to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act; it’s kind of a blunt instrument, it’s not the best way to do it. But in the absence of Congress coming up with some kind of federal program, it’s not an ideal solution but it’s the only way the President was able to do it,” he said.

The EPA has scheduled four public meetings to discuss these proposals. They are planned for the last week of July, in Pittsburgh, Washington D.C., Atlanta and Denver. The report will be done by next June.

Study: Fracking requires more water than we thought

The Marcellus water resources and water footprint report takes a critical look at water-use data provided by natural gas drillers over the past couple years to the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection—data operators are required to provide under the Horizontal Well Control Act of 2011.

The study interprets that data as well as compares it to the data reported in Pennsylvania, where the gas industry is substantially more developed. The president of Morgantown-based environmental firm Downstream Strategies, Evan Hansen, began his explanation by showing an image of what once was a pit where waste fluid from a fractured hydraulic well used to be stored.

“This is a waste pit that’s located in West Virginia and you’ll notice that there’s no waste in it,” Hansen explained. “And that’s because it was recently pumped dry. And that plastic liner is being removed. The reason is that in this case the flowback fluid that was stored there was draining through cracks in the liner directly into the bedrock that underlies this pit and contaminating the drinking water aquifer.”

Hansen went on to explain that ground water monitoring data was collected before, during, and after development of the site. That data confirms pollution levels increased in the drinking water. He says it’s a cautionary tale that underscores the importance of diligent attention to water issues related to oil and gas development.

Wet Footprint

Hansen says there are about 2000 well sites in West Virginia and 9000 in Pennsylvania. He says the average Marcellus well in West Virginia injects about 5 million gallons of water into wells as fracking fluid. One of the key findings in the report is that “the amount of water used per well is higher than previously estimated for Marcellus Shale wells.”

“And by far most of the water comes from surface water—it’s about 81 percent—plus a portion of purchased water. That’s water purchased from local water utilities,” Hansen said.

Hansen found that 8 percent of the 5 million gallons that goes into each well comes back up.

Flowback

Hansen says the DEP and industry should be applauded for adopting new recycling practices so about 75% of that flowback is now being reused. He says the remainder is disposed of in deep well injections.

“That’s important because every gallon of water that comes from reuse rather than withdrawal is protective of the environment,” Hansen said.

He added that tracking this waste water should continue to be a priority. West Virginia already sees 100-million gallons of waste water each year and PA, across the border where the industry is significantly more developed, sees nearly a billion gallons of waste each year.

Wet Footprint

Hansen’s report also indicates a need to improve data collection and reporting requirements.

Hansen says one of his biggest concerns is that West Virginia’s state law only requires operators to report flowback water. It’s a different story in Pennsylvania where flowback only accounts for 38% of reported waste.

“In Pennsylvania, all types of waste are reported,” Hansen said. “And not only are all types of waste reported, they are reported every six months. So there’s a good, full accounting of the waste generated from Marcellus operations in Pennsylvania. It’s different in West Virginia.”

Operators in West Virginia are required to submit data once a year, but according to the study, only about a third comply. Moreover, errors in data submissions are common.

“Roughly one third of the data we found to be suspect and so we decided to eliminate it before we crunched our numbers because we wanted to be sure that the data that we used for our analysis was reliable.”