SEI showcases energy conservation efforts

In a year marked by dramatic rises in energy prices, interruption of supplies by natural disasters and projected sustainability shortfalls, the significance of energy research is more critical than ever. Tech has embraced this approach in implementing an initiative to coordinate the efforts of energy researchers around campus.

“What the Strategic Energy Initiative [SEI] is about is engaging industry in order to get Georgia Tech involved in high-impact, near-term energy technology development,” said Sam Shelton, director of SEI. Shelton cited hybrid cars and ethanol additives in gasoline as examples of high-impact projects. “Near-term is five to ten years. We’re going to have a big problem in the next five or 10 years. Certainly, between now and 2015, our oil production will plateau or peak. It’s a geological fact,” he said, referring to the Hubbert Peak Theory, which predicts that future world oil production will soon peak and then decline rapidly.

“What we try to do is to do technology assessments to determine what are the high impact technologies that will save [particular types of energy]. We try to identify [high-impact, near-term] technologies and put together the expertise on campus, which is always multi-disciplinary: the chemists, mechanical engineers, economists and policy advisors,” he said.

SEI held an exhibition in the Student Center Ballroom on Feb. 28 showcasing the remarkable research conducted in various disciplines on campus ranging from architecture to biochemistry.

One example of a high-impact, near-term project that seeks to make a significant change in the means of electricity production is the Georgia Tech-Southern Company Offshore Wind Conceptual Design Project. This is an industry-partnered research project seeking to install wind farms off the coast of Savannah. Based on a study conducted by the National Renewable Energy Lab, contemporary wind technology has the potential to harness 900 gigawatts of power, which is greater than the current installed capacity of the U.S.

The Offshore Wind project is realistically solving many of the existing qualms about wind power (some claim it is aesthetically jarring and takes up valuable land space). This will be done by placing the required wind turbines at least 13 miles from the coast and far from visibility on a shallow continental shelf stretching out from the coast of Georgia.

The long-term average cost of electrical power generated from these turbines could be as low as six to eight cents per kilowatt-hour, a figure that many agree is competitive with the energy costs of fuel, not to mention the added security benefits of being self-sufficient in energy resources.

The Offshore Wind project is a promising collaboration that aims to replicate European successes with wind farms in local circumstances.

While the Offshore Wind project seeks to supplant coal-fired power production for domestic consumption, other researchers on campus are focused on creating viable alternatives to gasoline to power transportation needs.

One of the most practical ideas that have been developed involves the use of biofuels such as cellulosic ethanol to replace gasoline and diesel in vehicle engines.

“The [cellulosic ethanol] technology is here, we just need to assemble it. We’ve got chemists and biologists working on it right now. Everybody agrees that’s where future ethanol needs to come from,” Shelton said.

The research being conducted on campus is focused on producing cellulosic ethanol in large quantities from advantageous local conditions, with the ultimate aim of setting up a plant in two to three years.

A bipartisan report released in 2004 by the National Commission on Energy Policy predicted that manufacturing cellulosic ethanol will be as cheap as, if not cheaper than, the contemporary costs of extracting gasoline.

As far as ensuring local supplies, an abundance of regional crops such as southern pine, pulpwood and switchgrass makes for a readily available source of biomass, a large amount of which is left over from the days before paper mills relocated from the state to South America.

“You may commercialize a technology today, but it still takes twenty years to replace energy infrastructure....The advantage of cellulosic ethanol is that the infrastructure is already there. Some of the gasoline bought now already has 10% ethanol. There are five million flex-fuel vehicles on the road that burn 85% ethanol. Most people don’t even know it. [The system for replacing gasoline with ethanol in vehicles] is totally transparent,” Shelton said. The significance of energy efficiency is not lost anymore on industries concerned about rising costs. Not counting the oil crisis of the late 1970s, average crude oil prices after adjustment for inflation are at a record high.

“The cost in 2006 dollars of oil today is eight times higher than in 1970,” Shelton said. Even with all its other drawbacks, ultimately it will be the increasing cost of conventional fuels such as coal and petroleum, which will prove to be the catalyst for industrial acceptance of energy efficiency, according to Shelton.

With prices of conventional energy commodities being driven up by rising demand worldwide, local and regional companies are becoming more aware of the financial sense of being energy efficient. Manufacturing plant managers are now willing to consider longer payback periods for implementing energy efficient technologies in their facilities, according to Achin Chugh, a third-year Mechanical Engineering major working with Tech’s Industrial Assessment Center, which performs energy audits and provides efficiency reccomendations to regional plants.

Innovative Energy Solutions

Offshore wind farms: GT-Southern Company Offshore Wind Conceptual Design Project

Biofuels to replace gasoline

Student-led projects