Emerging Technologies

Biofuel

Global warming poses one of the most serious threats to the environment in human history. Yet by focusing entirely on carbon dioxide emissions, major environmental organizations have failed to account for published data showing that other gases are the main culprits behind the global warming we see today. By far the most important non-CO2 greenhouse gas is methane. Methane is responsible for nearly as much global warming as all other non-CO2 greenhouse gases put together. Methane is 21 times more powerful a greenhouse gas than CO2. While atmospheric concentrations of CO2 have risen by about 31% since pre-industrial times, methane concentrations have more than doubled. With methane emissions causing nearly half of the planet’s human-induced warming, methane reduction must be a priority. Methane is produced by a number of sources, including coal mining and landfills—but the number one source worldwide is animal agriculture. Animal agriculture produces more than 100 million tons of methane a year.

OHR Energy is currently developing projects that help deal with the growing problem of methane pollution. Our projects capture the methane that is released as animal waste decomposes in an anaerobic digester. The methane is then cleaned to a point to where it is considered pipeline quality. From there, the pipeline quality methane is either sent to the cogeneration system to produce onsite power for the site and/or the utility electric grid or is injected into the utility natural gas pipeline. Once the methane is injected into the pipeline, we can take it out at a second site where another cogeneration system is located. This second site can be located any type of business with high electrical demands located anywhere in California , including hotels, hospitals, manufacturing, universities, food processing, office buildings, etc. Because this second cogeneration system is running on methane injected into the pipeline it is a renewable energy source.

Advanced Energy Storage

An Advanced Energy Storage (AES) system is a device that converts electricity into a form of stored energy and then converts it back to electricity at another time. An AES system is capable of storing energy in multi megawatt ranges and for long periods of time and from many input sources.

OHR Energy is currently developing projects with standalone AES systems and projects that couple cogeneration systems with AES systems. The coupling of these two technologies will allow customers to store power produced at night from from cogeneration systems and use the energy during peak-demand hours the following day when electricity rates are highest. AES systems are eligible for Self-Generation Incentive Program (SGIP) incentives.