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Sunday, November 25, 2007
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Here's a look at a shiny new micro-hydroelectric plant installation in Pitkin County from The Aspen Times "reg". They write:
Rancher and local developer John McBride walked over to his electric meter Tuesday afternoon and pointed to the numbers ticking backward, as electricity was fed into the grid from his new micro-hydroelectric plant. The custom-built system works both as gravity-fed irrigation and as a power plant -- producing up to five kilowatts of electricity per hour. The idea behind it is simple, utilizing the gentle slope of McBride's Capitol Creek property in Old Snowmass, but revolutionary for rural properties in the West...
McBride estimated that the hydro plant on his ranch will be a money maker in two to three years. Half of the $20,000 initial investment was repaid by McBride's energy company, Holy Cross, as a benefit for becoming a small power producer, and Holy Cross then buys excess energy from McBride...
With rising energy prices, the idea has been gaining steam, and Pitkin County commissioners are pondering a code amendment that will make it easier to build micro-hydroelectric plants. For many spots in the valley, commissioners would have to pass an amendment to the land-use code that allows for building on steep slopes near water. Apart from some larger plants, the city of Aspen has a small hydroelectric facility at Maroon Creek, and plans are underway to revamp a 19th-century facility at the base of the Castle Creek Bridge.
However, it's plants like the one proposed by Bruce FaBrizio on Brush Creek, that would spring up if Pitkin County passed the amendment. When running at full capacity, the plant will generate 32 kilowatts of electricity per hour, enough to light up 12 average-sized homes. The intake for McBride's micro-hydro plant is about 250 vertical feet above where the plant is situated. Every two and a half feet of vertical adds another pound per square inch. Hence, the power plant is basically a small turbine powered by water under pressure of 100 pounds per square inch. "There are a lot of people here who have the water to produce hydro-power," said Jose Miranda, a senior manager at Carbondale's InPower Systems. "For the people who have the water, you can produce a lot of energy." Miranda, a solar engineer by background, pointed out that solar can only collect sunlight for so many hours a day, while hydro provides output 24 hours a day. So a two-kilowatt solar system produces roughly half or less of the energy of a two kilowatt hydro system. As water goes down the valleys near Aspen, the vertical drop can be substantial, leading to the possibility of numerous small plants. If the county code passes, the code amendment could clear the way for dozens of hydroelectric plants in the area, and that doesn't even include folks like McBride.
More Coyote Gulch coverage here.
"2008 pres"
8:37:33 AM 
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Halliburton was on hand at a recent meeting of Bureau of Land Management's Southwest Colorado Resource Advisory Council to explain hydraulic fracturing (frac'ing) and hopefully allay some of the concerns for neighbors of oil and gas operations, according to The Telluride Watch. From the article:
The Bureau of Land Management's Southwest Colorado Resource Advisory Council met Friday, Nov. 16, at the Devil's Thumb Golf Course in Delta. The RAC provides direction and support to the BLM and includes citizens and elected officials, as well industry representatives, environmentalists, OHV enthusiasts, and recreationists.
The agenda included a presentation on hydraulic fracturing by Halliburton, Inc.; a presentation by the Tamarisk Coalition, and reports from field managers of various BLM districts in southwest Colorado. Halliburton Technical Manager Mike Eberhard presented the company's version of hydraulic fracturing, a process used in natural gas recovery throughout Colorado. The source of much controversy, frac'ing, as the process is commonly known, involves the injection of frac'ing compounds, usually water and friction-reducing additives, into gas-bearing layers of rock in order to fracture the rock. Fluidized sands are then pumped into the fractures in order to open them up, allowing trapped gas to escape.
The controversy around frac'ing tends to involve the types of chemicals used by drilling companies (not usually disclosed due to proprietary concerns) and allegations of aquifer contamination by those chemicals. Eberhard explained that a drill bore -- the hole drilled to access gas-bearing formations, usually 13-5/8 inches at the surface -- is encased, or cemented, throughout its length to isolate the bore and its contents from aquifers. In addition, he said, gas-bearing formations are often much deeper than water-bearing formations, anywhere from several thousand to 30,000 feet deep in some regions. Eberhard took pains to explain that the chemicals used in frac'ing are nothing more than household chemicals such as you might find in laundry detergent, window cleaner, even ice cream. Guar, for example, used primarily by the food industry, is used to thicken the fluid so that the sands are carried farther over the horizontal distances used in modern directional drilling techniques. Other frac'ing chemicals include biocides (to eliminate guar-loving bacteria) and friction-reducers to make pumping easier at great depths...
One audience member questioned the validity of reports that diesel fuel is one of the fluids used in frac'ing compounds. Eberhard replied that Halliburton prides itself on being "a zero-diesel company," but verified that diesel is used in some operations as a guar carrier. He also volunteered the information that Napalm was one of the first carriers used -- "but not any more," he said. When the fracturing and propping processes are completed and the pressure is released from above, frac'ing fluids return to the surface while sands remain in place. Eberhard stated that up to 50 percent of the frac'ing compound remains in the rock, usually trapped in its pores. Gas recovery declines sharply within the first year as pressure is released within the gas-bearing formation. Fluids that return to the surface are treated with biocides and reused. Recovered fluids are kept in lined surface pits or steel tanks and include naturally contaminated fossil waters released along with the gas.
"2008 pres"
8:03:55 AM
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From The Denver Post, "Colorado voters have only two weeks left to register with a political party if they want to participate in the Feb. 5 presidential caucuses. The registration deadline is Dec. 5. Voters can switch parties, and unaffiliated voters, who make up about one-third of the state's electorate, can register with a party in order to take part in the caucuses. Colorado, which usually holds its caucus in the third week of March, is now one of more than 20 states that are holding, or planning to hold, their presidential caucuses or primaries Feb. 5. Both Democratic chair Pat Waak and GOP chair Dick Wadhams wanted the caucuses moved up so Colorado would have more of a voice in the presidential nomination."
"2008 pres"
7:41:25 AM
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© Copyright 2009 John Orr.
Last update: 3/15/09; 1:46:11 PM.
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