How Wasteful is Delaware?

According to an article (that thankfully was cut out of my paper by my mom) in The News Journal on March 15th, Delaware uses more energy per capita than its three neighbors, New Jersey, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. My initial reaction to just this opening statement was, how could this be true since of the four states, Delaware is the smallest. The article continues by stating that the homes, businesses, and industrial sites located in Delaware consume a great deal of energy. Also, another surprising statement suggested that Delawareans drive more than those in Maryland. Delaware is ranked as 32rd in energy efficiency in the country. This may be due to missed opportunities to update new energy efficient construction codes as well as the consistent cheap energy prices. Keeping energy prices low is not always a good things, despite happy Delaware residents. If energy prices are very low, residents have no incentive to be energy efficient. Higher prices may get people thinking! New construction projects in the lower counties were not built as efficient as projects built in the surrounding states during the same time period. Again, this falls under the "missed opportunity" category. This lack of energy efficiency was only due to the fact that lawmakers failed to update residential and commercial Building Energy Code Standards. The article also lists a few ways in which homeowners can improve energy efficiency on their own. A few are as follows: 1. Seal gaps in windows, doors, etc to prevent air leaks 2. Turn off computers and monitors 3. Close fire place when not in use 4. If you have a second refrigerator, turn it off if it is not regularly used 5. Lower water heater thermostat to 120 degrees. The article, State Codes Cost Billions in Wasteful Energy Use can be read online.
Hopefully with the construction of the offshore wind farm in Reboboth, Delaware will begin to climb up in the rankings from number 32 in energy efficiency. Maybe this wind farm will start a positive trend in using renewables. The last part of the article mentions that buildings such as the Bank of Delmarva in Rehoboth, are switchingto solar energy. Johnnie Miller and his company are taking on the job. The bank project has has gained so much positive attention that Miller said he continues to run out of business cards. At least we are making some steps, however small they may be, in the right direction.

Algae as a Source of Renewable Energy

It was brought to my attention tonight in one of my labs that algae is being looked at as a potential renewable energy source. After lab, I googled the topic and saw that CNN did a segment on an algae greenhouse outside of El Paso, Texas. Glen Kertz, who is the president and CEO of Valenct products gave CNN a tour of the facility. He says that algae can be an alternate fuel as well as a way to deal with our issue of global warming. Alage is an extremely fast growing plant and is mostly composed of oil. This oil can potentially be used in cars, trucks, and planes. The algae is grown in a large greenhouse and is kept in vertical hanging plastic bags that are constantly moving. Kertz says that by hanging the algae vertically, a lot more surface area is exposed to the sun. This possible source of energy produces 100,000 gallons of oil from the algae in one year. Compare this to an acre of corn which produces 30 gallons of oil and an acre of soybeans which produce 50 gallons. A large part of the algae research is dedicated to finding out what types of energy each algae species can produce. Currently there are about 65,000 species of algae with a lot more to be discovered. OriginOil, Inc is a developer in the technology needed to transform algae oil into a renewable energy source. Their website offers a video that was featured on CNN's segment "Energy Fix". Three of the biggest challenges that OriginOil faces is 1.) Algae growth is dependent on calm conditions. The problems lies in that they somehow have to get CO2 and other nutrients into the algae without disturbing it. 2.) Algae needs a light source so facilities that grow algae need to find a cost effective way to distribute sunlight. 3.) To obtain the oil from the algae their cell walls must be cracked. So far, algae seems like it could be a promising renewable energy source. I'm sure, however, there is a lot more research to be done.