Cost of Electricity Will Not Rise: Dr. Joseph Romm at the Green Car Summit. Bartlett Proposes Open Fuels Act

January 31, 2011

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by Joanne Ivancic (Advanced Biofuels USA) Produced by the Green Car Journal and the Washington Auto Show, each January the Green Car Summit convenes a panel of experts “to address the critical issues of the day for a smarter, greener, cleaner and safer automotive future.” The sponsors and moderators make a serious attempt to assure that they include aspects of those issues that should be of particular interest to Capitol Hill staff working on legislation impacted by, or that will have an impact on, this focus.
Electric vehicles had a vocal cheerleader in the person of Dr. Joseph Romm, a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress. His most startling statement, “There is only one fuel that is substantially cheaper than gasoline that will not go up in price.” He was speaking of electricity.
There was no opportunity to challenge that statement at the Summit, so Advanced Biofuels USA would like to do so now.
Apparently, Romm believes that with a deregulated power industry, as is the case in many parts of the US, we will continue to get cheap electricity. With over 50% of our power generated by burning coal, the price of coal has a lot to do with the price of electricity. And coal mining companies repeatedly warn that increased rates will result from being forced to give up the most efficient mining practices used today—including violation-prone deep underground mining as well as mountain top removal. And “clean coal” carbon sequestration processes certainly have enormous price tags.
As to nuclear power, the expenses related to obtaining liability insurance for new plants are so great that it is generally accepted that no new plants will be built in the US unless the federal government foots the bill and agrees up front to pay for damages due to any mishaps at new plants that insurance does not cover.
Production and installation of wind and solar generation and transmission will have to be paid for by someone—apparently not the rate-payers, not the actual users of that electricity, according to Romm.
Some in the pulp/paper industry fear that their forest-based feedstocks will be priced beyond their ability to stay in business if governments (federal or states) require renewable feedstocks for power generation. Utilities, even regulated ones, will be able to raise rates based on the costs of the feedstock, enabling them to out-bid competitors.
Apparently in Romm’s universe, none of these market dynamics, nor any increased demand from owners of electric vehicles, will result in power rate increases to consumers. Increases in power utility prices are normal. Why should that stop now?
In the audience at the Green Car Summit, George S. James of the US Department of Energy’s Building America program raised a related issue. The Building America program has been concentrating on design and engineering of buildings to make them MORE energy efficient, on discouraging the use of more electricity. He wondered if promoting the use of plug-in electric vehicles didn’t contradict everything they were working toward. He contemplated changes that would be required, from additional permits for additional electrical service and charging stations to fire code considerations. Another audience member wondered if chargers for electric vehicles would be permitted in underground garages due to dangers of gases emitted from batteries during recharging. He wondered what the Underwriters Laboratory’s requirements for charging stations would be.
Bob Kozak, an Advanced Biofuels USA board member who attended the Green Car Summit challenged Dr. Romm’s statement with specific calculations (below). In some places, electricity equivalent to a gallon of liquid transportation fuel is not all that much cheaper. He noted that even without those electricity prices going up, and even without the additional expenses related to installing safe, UL approved charging stations, the price of electricity to go from here to there is not all that different today in many parts of the US.
Equivalent Electrical Cost for Liquid Fuels Based on Equal Amounts of Energy
Using a western Maryland residential electric rate, the cost of electricity for the same amount of energy contained in a gallon of transportation fuel is as follows.

¹Retail Electric Cost per 1 KwH	$ 0.0873	KwH/Gallon
Electric Cost for 1 Gallon E-85	$ 2.40	27.5
Electric Cost for 1 Gallon E-10	$ 3.07	35.2

¹ December 2010 Allegheny Electric Rate
A retail electrical price of $.115/KwH (a price seen in some US areas, especially at peak) produces an E-10 electrical price of over $4.00/gallon.

Retail Electric Cost per 1 KwH	$ 0.1150	KwH/Gallon
Electric Cost for 1 Gallon E-85	$ 3.17	27.5
Electric Cost for 1 Gallon E-10	$ 4.04	35.2

Actual recharging cost will be somewhat higher than these values due to energy losses in the recharging system. Depending on the resistance values of the voltage converting transformers and the cords plugged into vehicles, 5-15% additional electricity would be needed at each recharging.
To discuss these calculations in detail, contact Bob Kozak at AtlanticBiomass @ aol.com.
Should electricity prices remain the same or rise, should the energy density of liquid fuels continue as an advantage over battery-powered vehicles, liquid-fueled vehicles are likely to remain as attractive as ever (at least since the very early 1900s, as Susan Cischke, Sustainability, Environment and Safety Engineering VP for Ford Motor Company pointed out).
Lisa Lyons Wright, Energy and Stem Cell Legislative Assistant and Press Secretary to Congressman Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD 6th) brought up proposed Open Fuel legislation. The intent of this legislation is to transition the US from reliance on dwindling fossil fuels and to require development of vehicles that are designed to operate efficiently on a range of petroleum and renewable fuels.
Ford's Cischke provided a candid assessment of what it will take to accomplish such goals, the technical breakthroughs that will be required. Such goals do not seem completely impossible to meet, but working toward those goals as a step-by-step process is likely to be more productive for the auto manufacturers and more likely to bring viable products to market. In addition, existing infrastructure and near-term expectations for production of a wide range of fuels should be considered as the details of the legislation are worked out. It will take a while for modern automotive computers, as flashy as they are and as versatile as they are, to tell the difference between gasoline, biogasoline, ethanol blends, biobutanol, methanol, etc., in order to communicate to the engine proper operating parameters. It will take a while to develop engines that could perform under such a wide range of fuels.
As Advanced Biofuels USA has reported, some current research does focus on engineering engines that can achieve equivalent mileage using a range of gasoline/ethanol blends, nearing E85. READ MORE and MORE (Energy Market Price)