Energy Info

I thought about giving this blog a corny name like "Sourcing Energy Info" but on seconds thoughts that might be too confusing! Before I turn my attention to the "W" in resorurce recovery, I wanted to wrap up the discussion of Energy by passing on a few of my favorite websites on the topic. Not the most riveting of blogs for sure, but I want my blogs to contain useful information through the links and not just be this crazy limey blathering on about his latest beef or pet project! So here are a few sites I've found in the mass of information on the glorious mess that is the world-wide-web (do we still call it that, or am I showing my age already?).

U.S. Energy Information Administration (www.eia.gov)

This one has to be the top of the pile for any data junkies like me. They have historical data for every energy source by state, end use and major energy provider. If you want to know the $/kWh for electricity or $/btu for natural gas, and heaven knows what other pricing or production stats, this is the place to start. Although focused on US pricing, they have some good International stuff and their Energy Outlook takes a shot at trying to guesstimate future energy costs. A warning to data junkies though, you may find yourselves lost in piles of data for days on end so have a friend feed your cat whilst you're using it!

U.S. EPA (www.epa.gov or water.epa.gov)

The EPA website has to be one of the most data-rich but frustrating sites I've used over the years. They have a huge amount of information - data, electronic documents, maps - but it can be tough to dig into it to find any of the useful stuff. Thankfully their search is pretty good and so you can usually find what you're looking for after a while. On the topic of energy in wastewater treatment facilities, I recommend starting with: http://water.epa.gov/infrastructure/sustain/energyefficiency.cfm as the front door to a lot of general information to help folks to be more energy efficient. Another good spot to look is the Energy Star site which includes a section for wastewater treatment (which, ironically, I can no longer find!!!). Portfolio manager is the closest thing to a national standard for assessing energy efficiency at a treatment facility. I'm not a big fan of their regression analysis for the scoring (maybe a topic for a future blog!) but as a tool for assessing energy performance and planning improvements it's pretty decent.

The Ecoinvent Database (www.ecoinvent.ch)

In a previous blog I spoke about Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) as a powerful tool for assessing the environmental impact of processes and products. A huge piece in the LCA puzzle is energy use and so the LCA databases are a great source for understanding how such diverse things as chemical use or driving to/from the treatment plant are tied to global energy use. As noted in that article, I access the databases through the Simapro simulator.

Water Environment Research Foundation (www.werf.org)

My last blog focussed heavily on the work being done by WERF, so I won't go on about it agian, except to point you toward their Energy Knowledge Area: http://www.werf.org/i/ka/Energy/a/ka/Energy.aspx (hmmm, you'd think we could have a shorter URL...)

Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org)

"Really Andy, you're suggesting Wikipedia as a useful reference? It's not peer reviewed and there's also sorts of mis-information on there." Well, I have to confess to being a big fan of Wikipedia. If you need a basic overview of any topic such as what the heck is a Carnot cycle or a Rankine Engine, I can't think of a better place to start than Wikipedia. Usually you get a nice and succinct definition in a paragraph or two and a link to sites with more depth and then some reasonable references at the end if you want to chase more information. I've heard the criticism that it's not peer reviewed and may be full of errors, but I've seen errors in books and supposedly peer-reviewed papers. Many text books and most papers have a myopic view of topics that is put to shame by the consensus approach of Wikipedia. If I ever get to the point of being a prof in a University I'll tell my students to use Wikipedia and other web-based resources instead of text books as much as possible. (Come on, tell me I'm crazy!)

So, there are a handful of sites to get you started in your investigations into Energy and wastewater treatment. I'd be interested in hearing from others on useful sites you've found so please comment below!

 

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