EIA’s New Interactive Maps: State Energy Portal

According to the the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), its state energy portal is “the most comprehensive, dynamic, and interactive view of the U.S. government’s national and state energy data and information currently available to the public.”

The profile/map for NC can be found here. By clicking on the “Layers/Legend” tab and selecting one of five available base maps, educators can customize maps and charts for classroom use. Maps can be created to show availability of energy sources, transmission lines, major power plants as well as renewable energy potential for North Carolina.  Electricity, nuclear, natural gas and renewable energy profiles for the state are also available along with supporting data tables in Microsoft Excel. Also, by clicking on a specific power plant, the portal links users directly to that plant’s data in EIA’s electricity data browser (see corresponding blog post).

This tool also shows how NC ranks in comparison to the other 49 states in terms of energy production, consumption, prices for electricity and natural gas, and carbon dioxide emissions.

Electricity data browser from EIA

The U.S. Energy Information Administration recently posted an electricity data browser to show generation, consumption, fossil fuel receipts, stockpiles, retail sales, and electricity prices. The data appear on an interactive web page and are updated each month; annual, quarterly and monthly data are available from 2001-2011. All images and datasets are available for download.  Furthermore, data sets can be filtered by fuel type, geographic region or state, or energy sector, enabling you to customize data sets and graphs for your state or region.

I encourage you to check out this tool to get up to date US energy data and to create customized graphs for use in the classroom. For example, this tool can be used to quickly get data and corresponding graphs to answer a variety of questions such as:

How much of NC’s electricity generation comes from biomass? natural gas? coal?

How does NC’s consumption of biomass compare the US as a whole?

How has NC’s consumption of natural gas changed since 2001?

Which region of the US is generating the most electricity from natural gas?

Burn: An Energy Journal

BURN: An Energy Journal is the flagship program of The Public Radio Energy Project and winner of the 2012 American Association for Advancement of Science (AAAS) Kavli Science Journalism Award for their documentary special titled Particles: Nuclear Power After Fukushima (54 minutes in 3 segments) that examines the future of nuclear power one year after the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan..

Two other documentaries are available, The Hunt for Oil: Risks  and Rewards and The Power of One a two hour special that includes segments on fracking in Pennsylvania, drilling for oil in the Arctic and the quest to build better batteries.

Teacher Resources from KidWind.org

I featured the Windwise curriculum from The KidWind Project in a previous post but KidWind recently updated its website to include a comprehensive set of teacher resources pertaining to wind energy.  Check out the free resources available to support classroom instruction of wind energy:

Powerpoint presentations on wind energy, solar energy and electricity fundamentals.

Energy-related Activities (pdf format) designed to be quick and easy to integrate into the classroom.

How to Videos to support use of KidWind products as well as wind energy instruction.

Wind Forecast Improvement Project

I just learned about NOAA’s Wind Forecast Improvement Project being conducted in partnership with the Department of Energy.   The goal of this project is to forecast when wind speed will increase or decrease in an effort to help “electric grid operators keep the grid stable by balancing the variable amount of power produced from wind farms by increasing or decreasing power production from conventional generation stations, including coal and natural gas.” The motivation for acquiring this knowledge is to “improve efficiency of operation of these fossil fuel plants, as well as the entire electrical grid system, resulting in lower costs as well as lower CO2 emissions.”

Two videos are available that describe this research project:

A 2:42 minute video (NOAA website)

A 5:32 video (YouTube)

Observed and modeled (forecast) wind profile data are available for Northern (ND,SD,MN,NE) and Southern (TX) study sites.  These plots show both wind speed (in m/s and knots) and wind direction throughout the vertical air column (from appx 400m to 2500m). For more information about interpreting wind barbs, click here.

James Wilczak from NOAA, selected one plot (see below) to share with you that depicts “a nice example of what is called the nocturnal Low Level Jet (LLJ), a layer of accelerated winds that occurs at night over much of the Great Plains and is one of the reasons why the Plains are such a good wind resource.” The LLJ winds are the higher speed winds shown as yellow. The model (bottom plot) gets the general idea correct, but misses the strongest speeds at the start of the LLJ (Hours 02-04 UTC).”

To acquire this set of plots from the WFIP tool, select Colorado City and then May 4th, 2012. Then click on the gray box labeled “NCEP RR” and then below that the blue box labeled “SPD HR.”

Wilczak also provided an example that illustrates how forecasting can be useful to grid operators.   Data from Buffalo, SD on May 3rd, 2012 illustrates “a nice transition of stronger NW winds to a period of near calm, followed by stronger southerly winds.  These are the types of transitions that it is important for grid operators to see coming. The model underestimates the speed of the NW winds, but does pretty well with the calm period and start of the southerly winds.”

To acquire this set of plots from the from the WFIP tool select Buffalo, SD and then select the date May 3, 2012 and then click on the Gray “RUC” box and then blue “SPD HR” box.

As always, I’d love to hear how you use this tool with your students!

Perpetual Ocean Visualization from NASA

This beautiful visualization from NASA shows ocean surface currents around the world during the period from June 2005 through December 2007.  Since most of the ocean’s surface currents are shaped by the wind, this visual can give us a sense of what the wind looks like over our oceans and can help students visualize why some places are better suited to utilizing offshore wind energy or wave energy than others.

Visualizing the Wind: A Wind Map Art Project

Two designers, Fernanda Viegas and Martin Wattenberg, have just made a moving map of the wind with surface wind data acquired from the government’s National Digital Forecast Database and updated hourly.  Here you can view an animated map that will show you today’s wind patterns as well as a Gallery of archived maps to enable users to compare a variety of wind patterns.   Students could compare this dynamic representation with NREL’s wind resource maps to understand variations in wind resource potential across the US.

Generation Technologies Assessment from EPRI

When I address the topic of electricity generation with teachers and students, a key message I aim to to convey is that every energy source used to generate electricity has its advantages and disadvantages.  This knowledge is key to evaluating both renewable and non-renewable energy sources for their potential to provide electricity to a growing population and in doing so  promotes critical thinking about electricity generation in the 21st century.

Coal, coal w/carbon capture and storage (CCS), natural gas, nuclear, hydro, wind, biomass, geothermal, and solar, are all sources for electricity generation.  The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) recently published  an Assessment of Relative Benefit / Impact webpage that visually ranks each energy source from more favorable to least favorable with regards to the following criteria:

Construction Cost
Electricity Cost
Land Use
Water Requirements
CO2 Emissions
Non-CO2 Emissions
Waste Products
Availability
Flexibility

Details are also provided about each of the above criteria and, by clicking on the energy source of interest, the user is taken to a summary page that further details the extent to which this energy source is used to generate electricity.  The Electric Generation Technologies by Region page shows the energy sources used to generate electricity in your region compared to the national average.  You can also compare the energy sources used to generate electricity in your region to those of other regions of the country.

2011 NC Clean Energy Data Book Released!

The NC Sustainable Energy Association (NCSEA), a membership organization representing individuals, businesses, government and non-profits that promote renewable energy and energy efficiency, has compiled the “first-ever” 2011 NC Clean Energy Data Book (pdf).   For each region of the state you can get information about Existing Commercial and Government Energy Efficiency, Potential for Residential Energy Efficiency, Registered Renewable Energy Facilities, Training, Support, and Community College Assets, and Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats pertaining to renewable energy and energy efficiency.

Links to high resolution maps and images from the book will also be available on the companion website soon.

Interview: North Carolina Offshore Wind Coalition

I recently learned about Offshore Wind Wire which provides daily updates and weekly news analysis about the US offshore wind industry.  Also, every Friday they interview an offshore wind “newsmaker.”

Brian O’Hara, the president of the North Carolina Offshore Wind Coalition, an industry and advocacy group, was interviewed on Friday May 20th. Read this interview to hear what he has to say about North Carolina being in an ideal location for developing offshore wind farms in the Atlantic Ocean, with its high wind energy capacity and a lower construction costs.