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CITY HALL, PHILADELPHIA, PA
On November 13, 2011, Philadelphia’s Mayor Nutter held a press conference changing his posture on the Occupy Philadelphia movement. During the show, he reversed his position on the protesters being allowed to obtain a new permit when the current permit expires on the 15th. Following is the response from the Occupy Philly Press Team:

YouTube HD Video: Occupy Philadelphia Press Conference Reply to Mayor Nutter

YouTube Low-Def Video: Occupy Philadelphia Press Conference Reply to Mayor Nutter (Shooting the Press)

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High Definition Pictures

The Article * Occupy Wall Street? Occupy Yourself! *

E15 (a blend of gasoline and ethanol)

In response to a request by Growth Energy under section 211(f)(4) of the Clean Air Act, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has partially granted a waiver to allow fuel and fuel additive manufacturers to introduce into commerce gasoline that contains greater than 10 volume percent (vol%) ethanol and up to 15 vol% ethanol (E15) for use in model year (MY) 2001 and newer light-duty motor vehicles, subject to several conditions. On October 13, 2010, EPA granted a partial waiver for E15 for use in MY2007 and newer light-duty vehicles (i.e., cars, light-duty trucks and medium-duty passenger vehicles). On January 21, 2011, EPA granted a partial waiver for E15 for use in MY2001-2006 light-duty motor vehicles. These decisions were based on test results provided by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and other information regarding the potential effect of E15 on vehicle emissions. Taken together, the two actions allow, but do not require, E15 to be introduced into commerce for use in MY2001 and newer light-duty motor vehicles if conditions for mitigating misfueling and ensuring fuel quality are met. EPA is in the process of completing work on regulations that would provide a more practical means of meeting the conditions.

Prior to the distribution of E15, fuel and fuel additive manufacturers are required to register the fuel with EPA. For more information on fuel registration visit the Registration and Health Effect Testing page. There are also a number of other actions including changes to various state and local laws that may also affect the distribution of E15.

What is E15?

Ethanol is an alcohol that can be mixed with gasoline to result in a cleaner-burning fuel. The most common blend of gasoline and ethanol is E10, or 10 percent of ethanol to 90 percent of gasoline. E10 was granted a waiver under Clean Air Act section 211(f)(4) by operation of law over 30 years ago. E15 is gasoline containing 15 vol% ethanol.

The primary source of ethanol is corn, but other grains or biomass sources may be used.
What is the E15 waiver?

In order to protect the emission control systems of vehicles and engines, the Clean Air Act prohibits the introduction of fuels or fuel additives that are not substantially similar to the fuels or fuel additives used in certifying vehicles and engines to emission standards. However, the Act authorizes EPA to grant a waiver of this prohibition for a fuel or fuel additive if it can be demonstrated that vehicles and engines using the otherwise prohibited fuel or fuel additive will continue to meet emission standards over their “full useful life” (100,000 or 120,000 miles, depending on the vehicle type and model year).

In March 2009, Growth Energy (a coalition of U.S. ethanol supporters) and 54 ethanol manufacturers applied for a waiver to increase the allowable amount of ethanol in gasoline from E10 to E15. The waiver application included data on the impact of E15 on vehicle emissions, fuel system materials, and driveability. Additional data were developed by DOE, which in 2008 began testing for potential impacts of various ethanol-gasoline blends on emissions of MY2007 and newer light-duty motor vehicles. This testing followed enactment of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, which calls for significantly increasing the amount of biofuels, such as ethanol, to be used in transportation fuel. EPA received over 78,000 public comments about Growth Energy’s application.

Initially, EPA partially granted Growth Energy’s waiver request application. Based in large part on DOE test data, the Agency approved the waiver for and allowed the introduction into commerce of E15 for use in MY2007 and newer light-duty motor vehicles, subject to certain conditions. EPA did not approve the waiver for E15 use in MY2000 and older light-duty motor vehicles, heavy-duty gasoline engines and vehicles (e.g., delivery trucks), highway and off-highway motorcycles, and nonroad engines, vehicles, and equipment (e.g., boats, snowmobiles, and lawnmowers) due to insufficient test data or other information to support a waiver for these vehicles and engines. At the time of the announcement in October, EPA deferred action on E15 for use in MY2001-2006 light-duty motor vehicles until DOE test data for those model years became available.

On January 21, 2011, after DOE test data were made available to the public (see EPA Docket #EPA-HQ-OAR-2009-0211 at www.regulations.gov), EPA took further action on Growth Energy’s waiver request application to approve the introduction into commerce of E15 for use in MY 2001-2006 and newer light-duty motor vehicles, subject to the same conditions that apply to the partial waiver decision for later model year vehicles. Taken together, the two waiver decisions allow the introduction into commerce of E15 for use in MY2001 and newer light-duty motor vehicles if the waiver conditions are met.
What Vehicles May Use E15?

* Flexible-fuel vehicles (FFVs).
* MY2001 and newer cars.
* MY2001 and newer light-duty trucks.
* MY2001 and newer medium-duty passenger vehicles. (SUVs).

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What Vehicles and Engines May Not Use E15?

* All motorcycles.
* All vehicles with heavy-duty engines, such as school buses, transit buses, and delivery trucks.
* All off-road vehicles, such as boats and snowmobiles.
* All engines in off-road equipment, such as lawnmowers and chain saws.
* All MY2000 and older cars, light-duty trucks, and medium-duty passenger vehicles (SUVs).

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What Conditions are Part of the Waiver Decision?

EPA placed two types of conditions on the waiver for E15: those for mitigating the potential for misfueling of E15 into vehicles, engines and equipment for which E15 is not approved, and those addressing fuel and ethanol quality. All conditions must be met prior to the introduction of E15 into commerce.

Fuel quality conditions:

* Ethanol used for E15 must meet ASTM International D4806-10.
* The Reid Vapor Pressure for E15 is limited to 9.0 psi during the summertime.

Misfueling mitigation conditions:

* Labels must be placed on E15 retail dispensers indicating that E15 use is only for MY2001 and newer motor vehicles.
* Product Transfer Documents (PTDs) must accompany all transfers of fuels for E15 use.
* Parties involved in the manufacture of E15 must participate in a survey of compliance at fuel retail dispensing facilities to ensure proper labeling of dispensers.
* Parties must submit a plan addressing conditions to EPA for approval.

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What is EPA doing to Address Potential Misfueling?

EPA is in the process of establishing a regulatory program to help mitigate potential misfueling of vehicles, engines, and equipment for which E15 is not approved. Concurrently with the October 13, 2010 partial waiver decision, the Agency proposed a rule that would require all E15 fuel dispensers to have a label if a retail station chooses to sell E15, and sought comment on separate labeling requirements for fuel blender pumps and fuel pumps that dispense E85. Similar to the prohibition in Clean Air Act section 211(f)(1), the rule would prohibit the use of gasoline containing greater than 10 vol% ethanol in vehicles and engines not covered by the partial waiver for E15. In addition, the rule would require PTDs specifying ethanol content and Reid Vapor Pressure (RVP) to accompany the transfer of gasoline blended with ethanol and a national survey of retail stations to ensure compliance with these requirements. The rule would also modify the Reformulated Gasoline (RFG) program by updating the Complex Model to allow fuel manufacturers to certify batches of gasoline containing up to E15. The measures were designed to help promote the successful introduction of E15 into commerce.

EPA held a public hearing on the proposed rule in November and provided a 60-day public comment period that ended on January 3, 2011.

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Notices and Updates
NOTE: You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader, available as a free download, to view some of the files on this page. See EPA’s PDF page to learn more about PDF, and for a link to the free Acrobat Reader.

Under the authority of Clean Air Act section 211(f)(4), EPA may consider the March 2009 application from Growth Energy for a waiver for a gasoline-ethanol blend with up to 15 vol% ethanol (E15) to be used in non-flexible-fueled vehicles.

EPA reviewed Growth Energy’s application along with available test data, other information and public comments. On October 13, 2010, EPA determined that, subject to compliance with the conditions listed in the waiver decision, a gasoline produced with greater than 10 volume percent (vol%) ethanol and up to 15 vol% ethanol will not cause or contribute to a failure of MY 2007 and newer cars, light-duty trucks and medium-duty passenger motor vehicles to achieve compliance with applicable emission standards over the vehicles’ full useful life. Therefore, EPA partially and conditionally granted Growth Energy’s waiver request for a gasoline-ethanol blend with up to 15 vol% ethanol. On January 21, 2011, EPA took further action on Growth Energy’s waiver request and granted a partial waiver for E15 use in MY 2001-2006 cars, light duty trucks and medium-duty passenger vehicles, subject to the same conditions that apply to the partial waiver for newer light-duty motor vehicles.

* Partial waiver for use of E15 in MY2001-2006 light-duty motor vehicles | PDF Version (22 pp; 2.7MB; January 26, 2011)
* Fact Sheet: EPA Announces E15 Partial Waiver Decision | PDF Version (3 pp; 510K; EPA-420-F-11-003; January 21, 2011)
* Partial waiver for use of E15 in MY2007 and newer light-duty motor vehicles | PDF Version (58 pp, 4.57M, published November 4, 2010)
* Status Update (July 2010)
* Status Update (PDF) (2 pp, 493K, November 30, 2009)
* Extension of Comment Period: Notice | PDF Version (2 pp, 75K, published May 20, 2009)
* Notice of Receipt of Waiver Application | PDF Version (3 pp, 77K, published April 21, 2009)

For further information or assistance, please contact Robert Anderson (anderson.robert@epa.gov) or at 202-343-9718.

Enough that if i had a hundred of anything, i would have fifty in seventy years.

What are these anythings ? Phytoplankton in the ocean, who produce half the oxygen we breathe are declining at 1% a year. They die because the oceans change in a warming world. The world is warming because I and you put carbon dioxide in the air.

The phytoplankton eat carbon dioxide to make oxygen. So, a decline in phytoplankton means an increase in carbon dioxide, which in turn causes more warming and less phytoplankton and less oxygen and more carbon dioxide…

Eat local. Drive less. Insulate the house.

All the little live things

The regulators have finally ordered you to cease using ineffective dust scrubbers. Do you take steps to fix the equipment ? Oh, no. You sue the regulators instead.

For you see, you have no sense of shame, no thought for the earth you disembowel, the lives you destroy, or the poisons you excrete. You are Massey Energy, and you don’t care.

Gulf of Mexico ? Not quite. Try Nigeria.

“In fact, more oil is spilled from the delta’s network of terminals, pipes, pumping stations and oil platforms every year than has been lost in the Gulf of Mexico, the site of a major ecological catastrophe caused by oil that has poured from a leak triggered by the explosion that wrecked BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig last month.”

The USA is perfectly happy with oil spills. As long as it doesn’t happen in the USA.

Guess what. What goes around, comes around.

Poisoned Country

How much faster? The robot working with silicon can build a semi-conductor on a six-inch-square plate of glass, plastic or flexible metal in about 35 minutes. It pivots and dishes like a point guard, sifts like a master chef, analyzes like a forensics expert and does it all while maintaining a vacuum seal on the entire process.

Simultaneously, it can analyze glitches and measure light absorption, while preparing the next half-dozen plates.

“It used to require us to go to, let’s see, one … two … three … four … five labs to do the same thing,” NREL scientist Ingrid Repins said.

And the silicon robot is one of just six such robots in six bays in NREL’s Process Development and Integration Laboratory (PDIL), the place where industry is starting to turn to test their newest cells.

The bay that uses silicon as the semiconductor for solar cells was the first to begin operating and holds all the speed and performance records so far.

Next to go on line were bays devoted to stand-alone characterization, integrated characterization and atmospheric processing.

The latest bay to start operating is the one that uses Copper Indium Gallium diSelenide (CIGS) as the semi-conductor in solar cells. Still being installed is the final bay, which will work with cadmium-telluride cells.

In each bay, the central transfer robot is the hub, operating like a jukebox, delivering the plate to chambers that can deposit micron-thin layers of chemicals to build the semi-conductors, or test and measure the growth of the crystals that make the cells.

Solar Companies Can Test Samples, Use Their Own Tools
Solar companies will be able to hook their own tools to the central robot and discover how their newest formulas compare. A vacuum transport tool can take the sample plates to the different, yet compatible, bays to see how an unusual process might bolster the power of a cell.

Solar companies know how to make solar cells in a dozen different ways — as shingles, as windows, as fanny packs, as attachments to space vehicles — but they constantly are searching for ways to lower costs and gain efficiency.

“The whole goal is dollars per watt,” Repins said.

President Obama has set a goal that solar energy become cost-competitive with coal and other fossil fuels by 2015.

“The gap is closing,” Repins said. “We’re getting closer. Already, First Solar is saying that for a large installation in southern California where electricity prices are relatively high, they are at parity now.”

NREL scientists are hoping their PDIL facility will help industry close that gap sooner by bringing lab-like precision to industrial-type processes.

R&D Agreement with Climax Molybdenum
For example, NREL last month signed a cooperative agreement with Climax Molybdenum of Empire, Colorado, which wants the lab to help test a new process of building sodium into the molybdenum layer of solar cells and then sputtering that sodium onto the CIGS layer.

Traditionally, the sodium leaches into the solar cell from the glass plate, but that’s not really a good way to do it because there is little quality-control in the glass-making procedure, Repins said.

For Climax Molybdenum, NREL will measure how well the company uses its tools to sputter the sodium from the molybdenum into the semiconductor, and how precisely it gets there.

“The assumption is that there will be more control getting sodium from the molybdenum than from the glass,” she said.

If it’s perfected, that’s another step toward lowering the cost of solar energy.

Solar cells are like mini-batteries, with three layers of thin films representing the two terminals and the current in between. The three layers together are about one-seventh the thickness of a human hair.

The middle layer, which absorbs the sun’s rays and acts as the current, is where the action is.

Some companies are sure CIGS will emerge as the best semi-conductor; others pin their hopes on cadmium telluride or the venerable silicon.

World Record; Now, How to Transfer It to Industry?
NREL two years ago set a world record for the efficiency of a thin-film solar cell, when its CIGS cell was able to convert to electricity 20 percent of the energy it absorbed from the sun. The record for a cadmium-telluride cell is 16.8 percent.

Today’s roof-top solar panels typically are able to convert about 10 or 11 percent of the sun’s energy, although there is a large range of between 8 percent and 20 percent efficiency.

Now, the challenge is to be able to layer a film of CIGS on commercial-sized solar panels without dropping down much from that 20 percent pinnacle.

Repins envisions that with the 20-percent formula as the template, in a few years companies can roll out kilometer-long sheets of solar cells and still achieve 16 percent efficiency — even as they strive to use the least expensive materials and put an emphasis on speed.

The difference between 11 percent and 16 percent is huge, because the cost savings multiply on each other, she said.

It means solar panels can be smaller and generate the same amount of energy, and that means lower materials costs, lower factory costs and lower installation costs.

Getting there — to reach a 16 percent efficiency level while making miles of thin-film cells a day — is the goal of the one-of-a-kind testing facility at NREL.

Sensors Can Read How Cells Are Growing
In the brightly lit PDIL on NREL’s campus in Golden, Colorado, scientists simulate the processes industry will use. The goal is to answer previously unanswerable research questions, while controlling and characterizing the surfaces of the cells, developing new techniques and devising new structures.

“The old way we used to do things, each layer required a different machine,” Repins said. “We would take out the substrate and put it into another machine.” Each time the plate was removed, humidity could weaken the cell and there were issues of cleanliness and contamination.

Now, the goal is a process that is seamless, spotless and transparent.

In each bay, lasers shine light on the cells and sensors can read how the cells are growing.

PDIL’s ultra-high-vacuum environment lets researchers study the role of impurities and defects, said NREL senior scientist Miguel Contreras. “We can do basic R&D at the material level. We can also develop analytical tools on site to test new plates and to test for quality.”

What combination of heat, metals, chemicals and time can grow the crystals to form the perfect cell? At one step excess copper is needed; at another, just enough sodium needs to leach into the middle layer.

The goal of all the depositing, analyzing and measuring is to be able to tell industrial partners why the cell isn’t growing as well as it should and what can be done about it.

“We do a post-mortem,” Repins said. For example, “‘We got 14 percent efficiency with these materials, why are you only getting 12 percent?’”

Companies want to know how they can turn the knobs to get the ultimate performance out of the cells. “This helps take that step toward telling them what to do in the process,” she said. “We can tell them, ‘this is what the sodium content should look like,’ for example. It’s one more clue.”

Bill Nemeth, a scientist in NREL’s PDIL facility, says he doesn’t have to wear a lab coat at work “because everything revolves around maintaining a vacuum,” and the researchers never come into direct contact with semi-conductors.

“We have the capability that no other place can duplicate,” Nemeth added. “This encourages cooperation.”

Goal: Fewer Impurities, Better Efficiency, Better Yield
The CIGS PDIL tool also was designed to do basic research and development on materials. The ultra-high vacuum environment allows scientists to study the role of impurities and defects, as well as what happens when the metals are deposited at the fast rate demanded by industry. That knowledge will help researchers develop analytical tools for quality control and to test for new plate materials.

“The system was designed to allow us to do things we could not do before, such as get a better look at impurities and the quality of materials, the different layers that compose the CIGS cell,” Contreras said. “It’s helping us understand better what is limiting our efficiencies, as well as learning how to improve industrial productivity.

“This gives us more insight into the physics and materials science of CIGS-based solar cells,” Contreras added. The fundamental research will “lead to better solar cell efficiency, process control, improved uniformity and improved yield.”

Learn more about NREL’s photovoltaics research.

— Bill Scanlon

But Solis and Santistevan, both 17-year-old juniors, were determined they could do better. So, they bent and trimmed the balsa wood, flattened the angles on the blades, and tried again. They flipped on the house fan and, what do you know, the meter read 5.3 volts.

Definitely worth some high-fives.

“This appeals to me,” Santistevan said. “To try to find new technology to make renewable energy more accessible and more affordable, that’s important. Enjoying your job, having a good time while you’re working, that’s also important to me.”

Rick Shin, science consultant with NREL’s Education Programs, presented the hands-on lesson aimed at sparking interest in clean-energy careers for students who don’t necessarily see a bachelor’s degree in their futures.

The Energy Workforce Program of Goodwill Industries of Denver sponsored the visit.

Inspiring the Work Force of the Future
“We are well aware of the future challenge of filling such jobs in our nation,” said Cynthia Howell, NREL’s Education Programs manager. “We’re partnering with education to home-grow such technicians and engineers.”

A major goal at NREL is to spark the development of a work force for the renewable energy economy of the future. NREL’s Education Programs staff visit local schools dozens of times each year to instruct and inspire.

About 28 percent of American adults have a bachelor’s degree. The remaining 72 percent vie for a number of jobs that may require specialized training or certification. For example, there are 874,000 electricians and 773,000 hair stylists in the United States.

More education — or at least more training — typically means more income.

According to the U.S. Census, the average American with a bachelor’s degree earns about $51,000 a year; those who drop out from high school earn $18,700; and those with a high school diploma but not college degrees earn an average of $28,000.

Of course, there are huge variables in income among those with high school diplomas, the higher-paying jobs going to those with the most marketable technical skills.

Soon the renewable energy industry will be looking for electricians, welders, pipefitters and turbine installers.

“There are all kinds of good jobs that don’t take a lot of education after high school,” Shin told the students. “For those jobs, you need about nine months or a year of training after high school.”

Most of the students participating in West’s Energy Careers class already are determined to pursue a technical career.

Milynda Montez, 17, sees a huge dichotomy between the dropouts who are on the road to trouble or to dead ends, and her Aviation Careers classmates who are acquiring skills for a technological world. Montez said she plans to enlist in the Air Force — one of nearly a dozen students who are interested in engineering and aviation.

But she sees renewable energy as a promising career choice, too. “It’s pretty important and vital to our nation,” Montez said. “I know it’s a growing problem.

Job Explosion in Renewables Expected
A key part of the new energy future equation is educating students, teachers and consumers. From elementary school mentoring to senior-level research programs, NREL’s education opportunities help provide the link to the new energy future. The goal is to engage young minds in renewable energy and support teachers’ commitment to excellence in teaching and learning.

An economic model developed last year by researchers at Yale University and the University of California-Berkeley predicted a net increase of 1.9 million green jobs by 2020 in the U.S. if Congress passes the Clean Energy Jobs Act.

Colorado is a promising location for green jobs if the West High students choose to stay near home. The state has established a requirement of 20 percent alternative energy by 2020 for major utilities. A bill introduced the current session of the Colorado Legislature would increase the requirement to 30 percent, with most of that additional clean energy generated by wind power.

“We hope our messages will travel home with the students to their parents,” Shin said. The hands-on activities aim to “inspire students to wonder and then seek more knowledge.”

Renewable Technologies Are Linked
Training in one renewable energy field often leads to related work.

For example, NREL is working with Xcel Energy to launch a wind-to-hydrogen demonstration project at the laboratory’s National Wind Technology Center near Boulder, Colo. The project links wind turbines to electrolyzers that pass wind-generated electricity through water to split it into hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen then can be stored and used later to generate electricity from a fuel cell or an internal combustion engine.

Shin talked to the students about the shape of airplane wings and wind turbines, both of which are air foils, and about the increased importance of wind energy in the future.

He showed them a fuel cell that contains precious platinum, a catalyst that makes it easier to use wind energy to break down water into oxygen and hydrogen. They learned that by starting with wind and using water to produce hydrogen, a utility doesn’t have to store electricity in batteries. Instead, hydrogen can be stored in tanks, to be used later to make electricity when the wind isn’t blowing or the sun isn’t shining.

The students’ silence during the lecture part of the class had Shin wondering if he had connected with them.

But as soon as they were allowed to use their hands and their brains to model the kinds of wind turbines being tested at NREL, the classroom came alive.

Students used glue guns, balsa wood, dowels and plastic gears to design wind turbines.

“When we do hands-on, everyone feels more comfortable, working with each other, building something,” said Solis. “This is creative. You have to have a creative mind.”

John Foden, 17, foresees his interest in mechanics and welding with a job in clean energy. “It’s probably a good career,” he said. “You never know what’s going to happen a few years down the road with the Earth.”

Gerardo Espinoza, a senior, changed the blades on his model to make it more aerodynamic. “I’d like to go into mechanics and engineering,” he said. “All this, it’s like a difficult puzzle to solve. And I like puzzles.”

Students not Afraid to Fail
Amber Smith, who teaches the Energy Careers class as part of Career and Technical Training Education at West High, said the NREL program is effective because it exposes the students to real opportunities within their reach and rewards experimentation.

“The hands-on part that NREL provides is just amazing,” Smith said. “The NREL educators explained to the students, ‘This is what you’ll be doing in technical careers.’ When they see it and do it, it means so much more to them. They get a lot out of it. They love it, they become engaged.”

“Most of the time, children are afraid to fail, afraid to do something wrong. But with the NREL projects, I love that the children didn’t mind that the blades didn’t spin as fast as they wanted them to. They just said, ‘OK, back to the drawing board.’ That kind of attitude is hard to replicate in the classroom.”

Learn more about NREL’s Education Programs.

— Bill Scanlon