Steam rises from the drill used to bore a hole thousands of meters below the surface at the Unterhaching geothermal plant in Bavaria (Photo: Spiegel Online/Rödl & Partner)

While geothermal power has supplied only 1% of Germany’s renewable energy to date, it has one big advantage over solar and wind power, renewable power sources that already have a foothold in the country. Because it uses the heat of the Earth’s deep crust to heat water for power, geothermal is a base load electricity source available around the clock.

The German news magazine Spiegel recently reported on a Bavarian geothermal energy plant — set to come online in the middle of this month — that is only the second in the world to make use of a “Kalina” system. According to the plant’s technical manager, Reinhard Galbas, the system, which uses a combination of water and ammonia to maximize the amount of power generated by steam turbines, is the most effective way to get electricity out of geothermal energy.

Located in Unterhaching, the €80 million plant is capable of generating 3.4 megawatts (MW) of electricity — or enough energy to power 10,000 homes. It is one of an estimated 150 geothermal plants planned for Germany.

Even before the plant begins sending electricity to the grid this month, it had, for the last year, provided 2,000 households in Unterhaching with space heating. Surplus heat has kept the homes off the heating grid and prevented more than 7,000 tons of carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere, as well as saving residents money on heating costs.

“For many customers who are heating their home with oil, switching over pays off within one to two years,” Erwin Knappek, a former mayor of Unterhaching who began the effort to build a geothermal plant in Unterhaching in the 1990s, told Spiegel.

Despite the rising costs of needed materials such as steel, the cost of the plant is becoming more justified by the day as oil prices continue to climb. “Those costs should be amortized in less than 20 years,” Knappek says. If oil prices rise any more, the plant could pay itself off in much less time than that.

Editor’s Note: The following post is a guest submission by Rosario Marin, Secretary of the State and Consumer Services Agency and Chairwoman of the California Building Standards Commission.

Rosario Marin (Photo: California State and Consumer Services Agency)

If you could make everyone in California build energy efficient buildings, how would you do it?

Would you enact new standards city by city and jurisdiction by jurisdiction, creating a jumble of different regulations? Or would you enact a new set of building codes and enforce the same energy-efficient standards across the state?

Governor Schwarzenegger believes the right answer is to change the building codes and make sure that everyone who builds in California will be held to the same strict environmental standards. That is exactly what we are doing at the California Building Standards Commission, where we set the building standards and codes for every commercial building constructed in this state.

We just concluded the public comment period for 2009’s proposed codes. We call it California’s Green Building Codes and I am proud to say that, when adopted, it will give our state the most advanced building standards in the United States.

The new 2009 codes will require significant improvements in water usage for plumbing fixtures, specify household and landscape water conservation reductions of 20% for homes, and set 15% stronger requirements for energy savings than we currently enforce. We will find these energy savings through a combination of more efficient appliances, better insulation and more efficient windows. This code will also encourage the use of recycled materials in carpets and building materials, identify a number of improvements to air quality and suggest various site improvements, including parking for hybrid vehicles and better storm water plans.

Our partners in developing these new standards are the Department of General Services, Department of Housing and Community Development, the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development and the state’s building industry.

As the state’s real estate arm, the Department of General Services has been constructing energy-efficient buildings for years, and already meets Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards for all new construction projects. This on-the-ground knowledge has helped us create an advanced energy-efficient and sustainable code that is practical today. The Department of Housing and Community Development has provided residential expertise, and Health Planning and Development contributed healthcare facilities know-how. We are also proud that the state’s builders — the Commission’s greatest asset — have attended our public comment sessions and provided valuable input.

Together we created new standards that go well beyond the Title 24 energy standards that California adopted a few years ago — which put us on the map as environmental trailblazers — and which the California Energy Commission has recently strengthened (e-Newswire, 4/30/08). Those standards have contributed to our state keeping energy consumption nearly flat while the population has grown. The Title 24 standards have become the model for many other states.

Once again California is ready to step back in and lead. It is time to go further than Title 24, and our proposed 2009 code is the right next step. I encourage anyone interested in the “greening” of our state to look at the proposed codes on our website and provide us with feedback. By working together now, we can make California a better place for generations to come.

Trathen Heckman, founder of non-profit Daily Acts, recently completed a household water re-use system that will irrigate his backyard with water drained from his shower, sink and clothes washer — and lower his water bill at the same time. Heckman’s Petaluma home is the first single-family household in Sonoma County with a legal, fully permitted greywater system.

The water will flow through a constructed wetland — a gravel-filled trench — where bacteria will eat up particles in the water. The cleaned water will then be distributed to three locations in Heckman’s back yard, where the roots of various edible plants and shade trees will soak it up.

A greywater marsh at the Campus Center for Appropriate Technology (CCAT) at Humboldt State University in Arcata, California. The system, employing a gravel-filled channel filled with vegetation, is similar to the one constructed by Trathen Heckman for his Petaluma home. (Photo: CCAT)

According to Heckman, the system will potentially funnel 36,000 gallons of water a year into the backyard for irrigation. That’s 36,000 gallons that do not have to be pumped to the house from a remote location. Considering that water-related uses account for 19% of California’s electricity, 30% of its natural gas and 88 billion gallons of diesel fuel every year, that’s significant energy savings as well.

Heckman began planning his greywater system almost a year ago, working with civil engineer, Scott Stoller. Building official Cliff Kendall — who approved the project — said that while legal greywater systems haven’t taken off in the Bay Area because of a complex plumbing code, Heckman’s professionally designed system “made his job easy,” he told the Petaluma Argus Courier.

Heckman says that greywater systems are easier to have permitted in other states, such as neighboring Arizona, where the water code is much more flexible. However, he also says that the most important thing is to have an example of a permitted system that you can take to your city and say, “Look what other cities are permitting.”

Rainwater catchment system at the CCAT. Heckman’s catchment system stores up to 1,500 gallons for irrigation use. (Photo: CCAT)

As part of the project, Heckman also installed a catchment system to capture rainwater running off his roof, to be stored in a 1,500-gallon tank for irrigation use. Heckman says that planting shade trees around the house and irrigating them with greywater can have the added benefit of cooling your house during the hot summer months, which will help you save on cooling costs while keeping your water bill low as well.

Here in California we’ve adopted efficiency as a way of life: appliance and building efficiency standards dating from the 1970s, and a readiness to embrace new technology such as CFLs, have kept per capita electricity consumption virtually flat (Power Plug, 5/10/07) for three decades. We’ve also adopted energy conservation by necessity.

The campaign that I work for, Flex Your Power, was launched in summer 2001 in response to the surging energy demand, drought conditions, power plant closings and market manipulation that precipitated the California energy crisis of 2000-2001.

During that first summer, Flex Your Power helped reduce California’s electricity demand at peak by as much as 14%. One-third of the state’s businesses and residents cut energy use by at least 20%.

Alaska Electric Light and Power hopes to have back online by the end of July transmission towers that supplied 80% of Juneau’s electricity (Photo: AELP)

We now have a new case study to learn from. The New York Times recently reported that the 31,000 residents of Juneau, Alaska, have been forced to learn the California energy ethic, and in a hurry. On April 16, an avalanche destroyed transmission towers that supplied 80% of the city’s electricity. Forced to use diesel-fueled generators at $4 a gallon as a back-up, rates soared 400% — from about $0.11 per kilowatt-hour to about $0.53 per kilowatt-hour. Now, Juneau home and business owners are scrambling to slash their utility bills.

In just a few weeks, the city has cut its electricity use by more than 30%, from 1,006 megawatt-hours (MWh) the day before the avalanche to 602 MWh on May 10. The Times‘ William Yardley describes some of the creative ways city residents are making limited kilowatts stretch further:

Comfort has been recalibrated. The public sauna has been closed and the lights have been dimmed at the indoor community pool. At the library, one of the two elevators was shut down after someone figured out it cost 20 cents for each round trip. The thermostat at the convention center was dialed down eight degrees, to 60. The marquee outside is dark.

Schoolchildren sacrifice Nintendo time and boast at show-and-tell of kilowatts saved. Hotels consult safety regulations to be sure they have not unscrewed too many light bulbs in the hallways. On a recent weekday, all but one of the dozens of television screens on display at the big Fred Meyer store were black — off, that is.

A powerful case for energy efficiency: At $0.50 per kilowatt-hour, the cost for Juneau residents to use energy-guzzling equipment adds up quickly (Graphic: AELP)

The city’s private utility, Alaska Electric Light and Power (AELP), says it hopes to have repairs on the transmission towers completed by the end of July. You can see how well Juneau residents continue to respond to their energy crisis by tracking their energy use totals, which are updated daily at AELP’s website.

Sungevity says that satellite imagery and its proprietary software can save homeowners up to 10% to install solar (Photo: GoSolarCalifornia.ca.gov)

Spurred by some blend of concern over global warming, renewable energy targets and generous rebates, demand for solar in California is soaring. Responding to this challenge, California companies and cities have responded with innovative ideas — be it solar maps, power purchase agreements, installations paid for by property tax assessments and customer leases — that aim to make solar more affordable.

Add satellite imagery and Web 2.0 technologies to the list.

Berkeley-based start-up Sungevity wants to streamline the process of going solar and make it cheaper and easier for the average homeowner. The company uses Microsoft’s Virtual Earth satellite imaging service and proprietary software to give users a quick online quote of the best solar power systems for their homes, obviating the need for multiple visits by a crew for site assessment.

According to Sungevity, the company’s remote appraisal system can save a customer up to 10% over other solar companies because fewer site visits are needed. Once a potential customer enters a home address online, Sungevity e-mails back a suggested set-up among five solar-system options — ranging in cost from $7,500 to $38,500, including installation — and information about the financial returns for the customer. After the customer makes a selection, the system is delivered via UPS and a certified technician comes to install the unit.

Founder Danny Kennedy told Greentech Media he wants to see solar uptake through the middle class on a large scale. “The Internet is going to be a key channel to getting to customers and making it easy and low cost,” he added.

Verde Energy is another solar company that recognizes the potential of the Internet to speed solar adoption. Verde provides a bidding service for renewable energy installations using Google Earth and a survey its customers fill out online to gather information for projects that contractors then bid on, although it still requires an onsite consultation afterward.

Former Maryland Governor Parris Glendening spoke at the EcoCity World Summit 2008 about reshaping cities, making them more compact and pedestrian-friendly, and less dependent on oil. A Prius in every garage won’t be enough. “Better cars cannot make better cities,” he declared early in his talk.

Glendening is the founder and president of the Smart Growth Leadership Institute, which is dedicated to helping state and local elected, civic and business leaders design and implement effective land use strategies to successfully leverage coming growth.

A focus of Glendening’s presentation was the U.S. Green Building Council’s impending LEED for Neighborhood Development designation. Now in the pilot phase and set to launch in 2009, LEED for Neighborhood Development will not only consider a building’s energy and water efficiency and use of materials, but the collective ecological impact of the development within a community. After all, a building rated green for its efficient use of electricity may not be so green if it’s located far from transit and the city center.

The takeaway from Glendening’s talk is that if we rebuild our cities with high density in mind we’ll have to worry far less about the efficiency of our cars and can focus more squarely on the bigger help in our fight against global warming, which is improving the efficiency of our buildings.

• Read the first and second installments in our Ecocity World Summit 2008 series: EcoDensity in Vancouver (Power Plug, 5/12/08) and Greening Congress (Power Plug, 5/8/08)

This second installment in our series of posts on the Ecocity World Summit 2008 features Brent Toderian, the director of planning for the City of Vancouver, British Columbia. Toderian spoke about a new city-wide initiative called “EcoDensity,” which is based on the premise that strategically located, sustainably designed density can reduce a city’s ecological footprint, and that, done well, “density is our friend.”

Vancouver, a city of 700,000, has been called the most sustainable city in North America and it boasts, according to Toderian, the lowest greenhouse gas emissions per capita of any city on the continent. Even so, Toderian was quick to point out that Vancouver is still not sustainable. Fifty percent of the city’s homes, for instance, are single-family detached dwellings — that is, traditional sprawl.

In the video below, Toderian quickly describes some of the conditions (weak property rights in Canada) and decisions (removing inner-city freeways) that have made Vancouver such a livable city.

• Read the first installment in our Ecocity World Summit 2008 series: “Video: Greening Congress: Dan Beard at the Ecocity World Summit 2008” (Power Plug, 5/8/08)