Chemical Engineers Warn Nation Overlooking Obstacle to Widespread Use of Renewable Energy

To: ENVIRONMENTAL EDITORS

Contact: Jeanette Krebs, +1-717-214-2200, krebs@thebravogroup.com

NEW YORK, July 15 /PRNewswire/ — While the United States searches for ways to use renewable resources in electric power generation, too little attention is being paid to developing innovative, large ways to store this energy.

A new white paper published by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) states because of the intermittent and highly variable nature of solar and wind power, they require massive storage technology to make them steady and reliable parts of the nation’s power grid.

In an effort to conserve oil and natural gas and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, everyone — including T. Boone Pickens — is working toward electric power systems that draw more from renewable resources, and less from fossil fuels. However, the chemical engineers warn almost all of the attention on renewable energy is being given to its generation — not to actually storing this renewable energy, which is necessary for use on a broad scale.

The solution, say Bernard Lee and David Gushee, the report’s authors, who retired from Institute of Gas Technology and Congressional Research Service, respectively, is to develop and commercialize Massive Electricity Storage technology (MES). The authors say nuclear, natural gas or coal generated power uses generators running steadily and continuously to deliver power to consumers. However, if renewable power — such as wind and solar — is to move up from an incremental supplier to major supplier of power, it must be converted to dispatchable power for steady, continuous delivery to consumers.

MES can change this, according to the white paper, and make renewable energy more reliable. The report details the state of U.S. power systems, and what needs to be done with MES in terms of capital investment in order to integrate renewable energy into the grid. It recommends congressional funding and other actions that can be taken to develop MES. The chemical engineers conclude that, until the public and Congress join them in realizing the importance of MES, the nation won’t be able to put renewable energy into practical, widespread use.

For a copy of the report, visit: http://tinyurl.com/5mfotj

AIChE, celebrating its 100th anniversary, is a professional society of more than 40,000 chemical engineers in 92 countries. Its members work in corporations, universities and government using their knowledge of chemical processes to develop safe and useful products for the benefit of society. http://www.aiche.org.

Jeanette Krebs

717.214.2200

krebs@thebravogroup.com

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Bernard S. Lee

http://profnet.prnewswire.com/Subscriber/ ExpertProfile.aspx?ei=79082

SOURCE American Institute of Chemical Engineers

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