APEC September 2022 Chapter Presentation

Topic: Efficiently Lighting Challenging Spaces

Speaker: Steve Mesh, Brian Barnhart, Chris Chandler

Steve Mesh has been teaching people about Luminaire Level Lighting Controls and Network Lighting Controls for well over 10 years now and has been involved in the lighting industry for over 38 years. He is involved with several professional affiliations including Illuminating Engineering Society, International Association of Lighting Designers, and American Institute of Architects. Steve will also be attending the Ameren Illinois Symposium this year (October 19th in Springfield) to give his knowledge on several lighting styles!

Brian Barnhart and Chris Chandler both work for A&D Electrical Supply as lighting designers and installers. They have a plethora of knowledge for planning, designing, and executing massive lighting projects for various facility types. Currently, they work closely with the Ameren Illinois Energy Efficiency Program and they plan to implement the lighting design styles Steve has been teaching as mentioned above.

APEC April 2022 Chapter Presentation

Topic: Floating Head Pressure

Speaker: John Johnson, Industrial Consulting Engineer, Leidos

John Johnson is a senior energy project developer with 42 years of experience with commercial and industrial energy project design and implementation. He successfully developed and implemented over $100 million in energy efficiency projects involving central utilities and distribution; cogeneration; heating ventilation, and air conditioning; lighting; energy management systems; large pumping and compressed air systems; and industrial and large commercial refrigeration systems. Prior to becoming an Industrial Consulting Engineer for Leidos, Mr. Johnson had the key technical and managerial role in establishing ComEdison Solutions’ energy saving performance contracting (ESPC) business.

April 2022 APEC Southern Illinois KiloWatch

CRACKING THE CODE ON RENEWABLE ENERGY LONG-TERM STORAGE
April 1, 2022
By Larry Erwin

The proliferation of renewables (especially solar and wind energy) presents certain issues relative to current technology. Among these are:

• Energy generation and consumption peaks ordinarily occur at different times of the day for solar and, often, likewise for wind
• Periods of “non-production” occur (nighttime and long periods of overcast days for solar panels, plus periods of low/no wind for wind turbines)
• Periods of overproduction, when energy is being produced, but not required, resulting in “curtailment”
• Lithium-Ion batteries can’t provide long-term storage (typically only four hours)
• Lithium-Ion batteries rely on rare earth or expensive elements, some of which are available only in very limited quantities in the U.S. and/or are primarily found in economically/politically unstable countries. These elements include Lithium, Cobalt, Nickel, and Manganese
• Lithium-ion batteries are volatile and may be prone to fires or explosions
• Lithium-ion eventually experience depletion in their ability to hold a charge.

So, while Lithium-Ion serves well for high-energy-density (or relatively small-device) needs such as electric vehicles, phones and other electronics, etc., its limitation on longduration storage has spurred development of several technologies that may provide practical (and economically feasible) solutions.
While there are various research firms working on developing efficient and effective technologies, two particular types seem to be particularly noteworthy at the moment. Not only are these technologies viable, they utilize inert and readily available materials and are well on their way to gaining commercial applicability; both have had major investment fund participation and are developing pilot locations with major utilities.
First of all is the iron-flow battery developed by ESS, Inc. of Oregon. This technology only requires salt, water, and iron. Current performance is rated at roughly twelve to sixteen hours of storage capacity. Due to their large size (prototypes are packaged in commercial shipping container-size configurations), these batteries would be networked and “stacked” into large arrays/fields/warehouses.
The second is iron-air battery developed by Form Energy of Massachusetts. It’s based on a “rusting/derusting” technology. Projections are for the ability to perform at roughly one hundred hours of storage. These, like ESS’s iron-flow battery, would need to be networked into large arrays.
A third possibility is air liquefaction, a process that has been in place for almost fifty years for producing industrial gases like liquid nitrogen and liquid oxygen. Such storage systems would closely resemble current liquefaction plants, use readily available off-the-shelf equipment, and can have a small footprint. No rare or volatile materials are required, and these systems are safe and highly scalable. Championed by Highview Power of England, multiple installations are either in place or under construction worldwide, including a joint project with Encore Renewable Energy of Vermont.
While these presently appear to be the most promising and mature in their development, additional technologies are being researched that include thermal energy, compressed air, gravity (lift/stack/lower) systems, and concrete battery storage.
While it remains to be seen which of these many technologies eventually emerges as the de facto “leader” in long-term storage, we must always keep in mind Occam’s Razor, which, in layman’s terms, says that the simplest solution is almost always the best. Time will tell!

For more information check out the following (I apologize in advance for any pop-up ads that may reside within some of the videos).

General information
The Future Of Energy Storage Beyond Lithium Ion – YouTube

ESS, Inc. (Iron Flow)
Forget Lithium Ion We Need Flow Batteries! – YouTube

Form Energy (Iron Air)
Why Rust Batteries May Be the Future of Energy – Iron Air Battery Technology – YouTube
New Iron-Air Battery outperforms best Lithium Ion tech. Cheap. Abundant. Non-toxic & Carbon Free. – YouTube

Highview Power (Liquid Air)
Liquid Air Batteries. Literally energy from thin air. Seriously. Literally! – YouTube
Liquid Air Battery Explained – Rival to Lithium Ion Batteries? – YouTube

APEC March 2022 Chapter Presentation – ISTC

Topic: The ISTC: Technical Assistance Programs

Speaker: Bill Auksel, Illinois Sustainable Technology Center 

Bill Auksel is a Technical Assistance Engineer with The Illinois Sustainable Technology Center and Program Manager for its Public Water Infrastructure (PWI) Plant Efficiency Program.  After working for twenty years managing various cold rolling and electrolytic plating operations in the steel industry, Bill worked as project manager of process improvement for a large kitchen and bathware manufacturer.  While in this role, he participated in an ISTC assessment which brought him into close interaction with several APEC members who helped carry efficiency improvement projects from concept to completion.  As a result, he changed career paths to join the ISTC and work with fellow energy professionals to connect our communities at all levels and build a more efficient, resilient and not only sustainable, but restorative pathway to the future.

Don’t miss out on this opportunity to hear about ways to connect your ingenuity and enthusiasm with your fellow professionals and how the ISTC and its free, grant funded Technical Assistance Programs can assist you on your journey.

March 2022 APEC Southern Illinois Kilowatch

A Page Turn for APEC Southern Illinois

March 1, 2022

By Sid Daller

As some may know or not yet know, there will be some changes occurring in the APEC Southern Illinois Chapter Leadership soon. With that in mind I would be failing in my duties to not shine a small light on the efforts of Joe Birschbach over the last few years in reigniting the Southern Illinois Chapter.

As many of you know, Joe took on the task of trying to start this chapter back up with little more than the chapter distribution list and grew it into the success it is today on the second Friday of each month, September through April. Since restarting, we’ve been able to talk about everything from residential solar and passive solar heating, to touring Continental Tire, to talking about small business opportunities and even combined heat and power. So from all of us at APEC, thank you Joe for pouring time and energy into getting speakers, making phone calls, and doing all of the little things it takes to keep the wheels turning! We will keep marching the mission of bridging the technology gap forward.

Related to some other organizational growth, I also want to introduce Jaimee Chen, who has been helping in the background for a few months now into a more formal Vice President role, with myself stepping into a board member role, along with Larry Erwin and Joe Birschbach, in support of our new leadership. Last but certainly not least, I want to announce our incoming chapter president Bill Auksel. Bill will be able to offer more of an introduction during our upcoming meeting so I will leave him the opportunity for him to introduce himself. We are all very excited for these changes and I look forward to working with our larger group. I’m providing the leadership breakdown below effective at the end of this program year.

President – Bill Auksel

Vice President – Jaimee Chen

Secretary – TBD

Board Members – Joe Birschbach, Larry Erwin, Sid Daller

Feel free to reach out to anyone of us if you have presentation topics, new members that wish to join, or other ideas to create additional value for those involved here.

Best,

Sid Daller

Topic: Community Energy Systems as Tools of Economic Development

Speaker: Tim Michels, President, Energy Resources Group, Inc. 

Tim Michels founded ERG in 1975 and has been chasing BTUs and Watts ever since. ERG was among the early energy consulting firms formed after the first OPEC Oil Embargos. He was part of a consulting team that worked with the DHUD and other agencies on the first federal round of Building Energy Performance Standards under the Energy Research and Development Authority (later this became the DOE). He also served for ten years on the ASHRAE SPC 90.1 (the energy standard for buildings). He also consulted for the AIA Research Corporation on Passive Solar Residential design and taught Passive Solar Design courses for Regional Solar Centers across the USA. ERG is a registered professional A&E firm in Missouri. ERG provides: Energy Master Planning, Energy Audits, Building Commissioning (CxA), BAS Retro Commissioning, Trade Ally Utility Program Support, Loads Analyses, Energy Modeling, Measurement and Verification, Advanced Energy Designs, Solar PV Analysis, Energy Benchmarking, Support in securing 3rd Party Energy Financing, and Net Zero Consulting.

Don’t miss out on this opportunity to hear about ways to leverage existing community cash flow to cost effectively deliver Community Energy Systems that can be part of a Net Zero program.

APEC February 2022 Chapter Presentation – ERG

February 2022 APEC Southern Illinois KiloWatch

Capturing Carbon with Artificial Leaves

February 1, 2022

By Jaimee Chen

As climate change affects our planet and becomes a global concern, scientists are increasingly motivated to seek out solutions for reducing these carbon emissions.

In this regard, researchers have developed an up-and-coming artificial photosynthesis system, referred to as an “artificial leaf”, that mimics the natural photosynthesis process to attain solar light-driven CO₂ conversion. These devices are capable of converting sunlight energy directly into fuels that can be stored and used later as an energy source.

In recent news, engineers at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) have built a cost-effective artificial leaf capable of capturing CO₂ at rates 100 times better than current systems! What makes this design better than current systems is that it works by capturing CO₂ from more diluted sources (such as air and flue gas) produced by coal-fired power plants and releases it for synthetic fuel use. Test results showed that it had a successfully high rate of capturing carbon given the available surface area, while also requiring less energy than that of a 1Watt LED lightbulb. Read more about this design here:

https://www.newswise.com/articles/stackable-artificial-leaf-uses-less-power-than-lightbulb-to-capture-100-times-more-carbon-than-other-systems

https://www.dpaonthenet.net/article/189154/Stackable-artificial-leaf-uses-less-power-than-lightbulb.aspx

Other related articles:

https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/resources/highschool/chemmatters/past-issues/2021-2022/october-2021/artificial-leaf.html

https://today.uic.edu/moving-artificial-leaves-out-of-the-lab-and-into-the-air

Topic: IL Energy Market Update, Solar Technology & Incentives

Speaker: Jeff Haarmann, Managing Partner, AGE (Affordable Gas + Electric)

Jeff Haarmann is the Managing Partner of AGE, an energy management and solutions company.  AGE provides energy rate procurement, solar technology solutions and energy efficiency solutions to commercial and residential government aggregation programs in IL & OH.  AGE manages residential government aggregation programs for nearly 35,000 residential households in Southern IL.  Additionally, through its partnerships with nearly all Southern IL Chamber’s of Commerce, AGE negotiates bulk electricity and natural gas rates for participating members and brings energy management solutions to large industrial customers throughout the US.

APEC January 2022 Chapter Presentation – Solar Technology

January 2022 APEC Southern Illinois Kilowatch

Forward Looking Technology to Keep an Eye On – Radiative Sky Cooling!

January 1, 2022

By Joe Birschbach

Radiative Sky Cooling has the potential to be one of the next evolutions in building cooling/refrigeration efficiency. If you’re not otherwise familiar, now is the time to check it out – see discussion/links below!
Apparently, ancient people made ice in desert climates long before electricity was available. They were able to freeze water at night, at above freezing temperatures (i.e., ~42F), then store within insulated structures during the day. This was possible by a principle a “Night Sky Effect Cooling”, or radiative cooling. Which is when water loses heat by loss of light, and related release of thermal radiation into space, via infrared light. This could only occur at night since the sun would counteract this cooling effect, by increasing temperatures, during the day.
While this principle has been understood for a long time, its cooling properties during evening times have left limited practical application. More recently scientists, using this principle, have designed a multilayer optical material that acts as both a mirror, reflecting sunlight/heat, and emitter of infrared light that moves this heat into space more efficiently. In short, this optical material gets ~9F colder when it is taken out of the shade and placed out into the sun, demonstrating cooling potential that can allow for more practical applications.
Scientists believe this type of technology material/application can allow for significant efficiency boost to ac and refrigeration systems by integrate e material into solar cooling panels, which then tie into ac/refrigeration system condensers. A related pilot project at UC Davis has initially demonstrated a system efficiency improvement of ~12%. More recently, the US DOE has awarded ~$3.5M to support the scale up of this technology.
The near-long term goal is to integrate solar cooling panels into high efficiency building systems and reduce building cooling demands by 2/3. The upper technology potential is to reduce
cooling temps by 42C below air temp, with no electricity. This could be a big deal for global energy use related to cooling systems collectively make up ~17% of use and ~8% GHG emissions; and has the potential to grow 8X by 2050, particularly due to a potentially vicious feedback loop associated with a warming planet and the growth of third world economies in warm climates.

Home

https://www.skycoolsystems.com/case-studies/

https://www.renewableenergyworld.com/energy-efficiency/doe-announces-100-
million-for-clean-energy-technologies/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=rasa_io

Topic: 2022 Changes/Updates to the Ameren Illinois Energy Efficiency Program
Speakers: Larry Erwin and Terry Tebbe, Energy Advisors, Ameren Illinois Energy Efficiency Program

Larry Erwin has been the Ameren Illinois’s Energy Standard Business Efficiency Advisor in the southern region of Illinois since June of 2014, working with a wide variety of customers in successfully planning, incentivizing, and implementing Energy Efficiency projects. His current focus is working with Ameren’s Top 1000 Electric and Gas customers.
Terry Tebbe spent 10 years with the Ameren Illinois/Missouri (respectively) Retail Incentive Programs. Over the last four years, he has worked within Southern Illinois as the Small Business Direct Install (SBDI) Energy Advisor, dealing with customers on commercial lighting and, most recently, refrigeration projects.
Don’t miss out on this opportunity to hear about trends and changes with the Ameren Illinois Energy Efficiency Program for the 2022 calendar year.

APEC December 2021 Chapter Presentation – BUSINESS Incentive Overview