American Gas - May 2013 - (Page 10)

DIGEST Continued from page 9 severe-duty concrete mixer with natural gas technology is the ideal blend of power, performance, and efficiency,” said Robert Carrick, manager of natural gas sales for Freightliner, in a release. The Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Energy honored nine natural gas utilities at the recent 2013 Energy Star Awards ceremony. In the Partner of the Year, sustained excellence category, winners included CenterPoint Energy, Baltimore Gas & Electric, Louisville Gas & Electric, and Pacific Gas & Electric. New Energy Star Partner of the Year winners were Columbia Gas of Ohio, Dominion East Ohio, and PECO Energy. South Carolina Electric & Gas received the Energy Star Award for Excellence. Nicor Gas also received special recognition for energy-efficiency program delivery. The awards program honors efforts to improve energy million from the DOE’s ARPA-E program and has attracted interest from industrial partners, Chitta said. The company hopes to have a demonstration plant in three to five years. Calysta Energy LLC, in Menlo Park, Calif., is enabling GTL through microbiology. The company is bio-engineering bacteria that convert methane to liquid fuel. The process takes place at room temperature, so it’s cheaper than traditional GTL. It’s also well-suited to small-scale operations that call for lower capital investments. “Some bacteria have naturally evolved to metabolize methane, similar to the way yeast processes sugar to produce alcohol,” Calysta Chief Science Officer Josh Silverman told American Gas. “We apply genetic engineering to fine-tune these microorganisms to produce gasoline, diesel, and other high-value chemicals.” Calysta has received funding from the National Science Foundation and is in funding discussions with ARPA-E. It’s also gearing up for an injection of venture capital. The company has communicated with “a number of large companies who may be interested in applying our technologies,” Silverman said. He predicts the process will be commercially viable in three to five years.—Eric Schoeniger Meeting All of Your PiPeline Service needS: • • • • • Engineering Survey/GIS Pipeline Integrity Field Services Project Management 61 6 -392-593 8 HollandEngineering.com 10 AMERICAN GAS MAY 2013 UPDATES Double Duty New gas turbines from GE offer efficiency for base loads and flexibility to augment renewables P ower plants that seek to replace coal-fired generation with natural gas typically aim for high efficiency. Power plants that hope to augment wind or solar with natural gas need the flexibility to rapidly ramp up and down. GE claims it can meet the needs of both through its new FlexEfficiency 60 combined-cycle gas turbines. Announced last fall, the FlexEfficiency 60 portfolio will include the existing 7F 3-Series and 5-Series, as well as the new 7F 7-Series and 9-Series. The enhanced 5-Series and new 7-Series are available now. An improved 3-Series and the topof-the-line 9-Series will come later. The turbines range from 185 MW to more than 300 MW. On performance, GE claims the turbines can reach thermal efficiency of 61 percent, lowering fuel requirements, costs, and emissions. A plant http://www.utilitypipelineltd.com http://www.HollandEngineering.com http://www.HollandEngineering.com http://www.utilitypipelineltd.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Gas - May 2013

American Gas - May 2013
Contents
President’s Message
Subject Index
Sandy Coins Say Thanks
Digest
Issues
Update
Need to Know
By the Numbers
Places
Need to Know
Taking a Bite out of Food Truck Pollution
Canada
Capitol Hill
State House
City Hal
Safety: Getting Employees Invested
The Rails
Profile
AGA Ops Conference Preview
Procurement
Jobs
Buyer’s Guide
Marketplace
Headway

American Gas - May 2013