Renewable Energy Shines Brighter As Utility Bills Soar University Researchers Across Georgia Look at Alternative Energy Technology
ATLANTA -- Mar 31 - Florida Times Union
ATLANTA -- Erica Frank's idea of home improvement involves a little more than driving down to the local hardware store.
Frank, whose mountain home is one of the few in the state to run
independently of the electric company's power grid, said she made the changes
several years ago because of concerns over power plant emissions rather than
saving on her monthly bills.
"Financially, I don't think we're making a killing on it, but it makes
me happy to know that I'm not giving Georgia Power one more nickel than I need
to," said Frank, an associate professor at Emory University School of
Medicine.
University researchers across the state, however, are looking into new
technologies to make renewable energy less costly and more powerful.
Bernard Kippelen, associate director of Georgia Tech's Center for Organic
Photonics and Electronics, is working on a new form of solar panels made from
lightweight and cheaper materials, studying to see if the flexible cells can be
used in retailers' inventory trackers or personal appliances, such as cell
phones or radios.
Because the field is still new, he said, and it is unknown if the technology
could be used on a mass level to run homes or fuel power plants.
While the focus to live "green" has yet to hit the mass market,
increased attention on rising fuel costs and utility bills are giving advocates
more steam in their arguments for alternative energy sources.
"I think there is an awakening to paying attention to energy
issues," Kippelen said. "I think every time they fill their [car] tank
it gets their attention."
Much of the electricity in the country is produced by plants burning fossil
fuels, such as coal and natural gas. Georgia Power, a subsidiary of Southern Co.
that provides electricity to 2 million customers in the state, also relies on
nuclear and hydroelectric power.
But the surging expenses for those fossil fuels have hit Georgia Power hard,
according to the company, which is asking state regulators to pass along the
burden to customers.
"The rise is the rise in coal prices and the continued high prices in
natural gas," said Georgia Power spokesman John Sell. "What's driving
higher coal prices is the global coal market. Specifically, China's growth has
almost doubled the price of domestic coal in some cases."
As a regulated utility, Georgia Power is allowed to recover its fuel costs
from bill payers.
The company has asked the Public Service Commission for a $390 million
increase in rates that would increase bills 9.8 percent, adding $2.70 to the
monthly bills for the average residential customer.
Savannah Electric, another Southern Co. subsidiary, received approval last
year for a 13.5 percent increase for fuel recovery that added $13 a month for
the typical resident.
And Atlanta Gas Light, which supplies natural gas to companies that bill
homes and businesses throughout the state, also is asking regulators for
permission to raise more money for fuel expenses that would translate into a
$1.39 monthly increase for home customers.
Public Service Commissioner Bobby Baker said Georgia Power officials promised
to estimate better the fuel costs during the company's last fuel-recovery
hearings in 2003.
"Now we're being told that the problem is getting worse rather than
better, and we've been given a number of reasons why," he said.
The increases highlight the need for Southern Co. to start seriously looking
at energy sources whose costs are less likely to fluctuate because of global
demand, said Rita Kilpatrick, Georgia Policy Director for the Southern Alliance
for Clean Energy.
She said renewable energy resources -- such as power generated by the wind,
sun or plant material -- should be considered.
"The company needs to start diversifying its energy mix so that the kind
of economic swings that you see in the world economy are not as harmful to
Georgia Power or Southern Co.-affiliate customers," she said, adding that
energy-efficiency programs also are not supported enough.
Renewable sources and energy conservation jumped into the public's attention
after the oil crisis of the 1970s but have remained on the fringe of the
country's total energy picture.
Oil supplies 35 percent of the country's energy needs, followed by natural
gas and coal gas, according to the International Energy Agency, a think tank
based in Paris.
Meanwhile, energy generated by water, biomaterials and wind make up less than
7 percent.
The expense of converting renewable energies into power has been one
roadblock against their widespread usage.
Though consumer solar panels have dropped in price over the years and become
more accessible and more than 13,000 wind turbines spin in California to produce
1.27 percent of the state's total electricity, traditional fuel sources are
often cheaper to use.
"You're going to find as a rule of thumb that the cost of renewable
resources are more expensive on a megawatt-hour than a megawatt-hour generated
on coal or nuclear," Baker said.
He said that requiring the state's power companies to increase their use of
renewable energy in the near future, as a bill introduced in the legislature
tried to do this year, would make the problem of higher customer bills even
worse.
But researchers are looking for ways to make using renewable energy on a
large scale cheaper.
Georgia Tech's campus in Savannah is studying wind along the coast as a
potential source for energy. University of Georgia researchers are looking at
different ways to convert biomass, such as peanut shells and wood waste.
Southern Co. also recently delved into researching biomass, burning some
prairie grass at its plant in Albany to reduce the amount of coal being burned
as well as limiting polluting emissions.
A far-off option could be actually turning the grass or wood products into a
gas, said Tom Johnson, research engineer for Southern Co.'s research and
environmental affairs.
"As far as a potential renewable energy resource that could be a large
supply one day down the road, the biomass would be the one because it's more
plentiful [in the Southeast]," he said.
vicky.eckenrode@morris.com, (404) 589-8424
KEEPING THE LIGHTS ON
Renewable energy sources -- water, biomaterials and wind -- make up a smaller
portion of the United State's system than the rest of the world's.
U.S. Energy
Source Percentage
Oil 35 Natural gas 26 Coal gas 22 Uranium/Nuclear 8 Water flow 3 Bio energy 3
Wind less than 1
World energy
Source Percentage
Oil 34 Natural gas 21 Coal gas 23 Uranium/Nuclear 7 Water flow 2 Bio energy
12 Wind less than 1
Source: International Energy Agency