Awards competition seeks the most efficient computer monitors

The second competition of super-efficient equipment and appliance deployment (SEAD) global efficiency medals recognizes and highly-efficient desktop computer monitors. This global competition winner take-all is efficiency in the shows by the recognition of the products with the best energy efficiency forward. SEAD is an initiative of the clean energy ministerial and an operation within the international partnership for energy efficiency cooperation (IPEEC); The Energy Department serves as the U.S. Government lead agency.

It is estimated that in 2008, the same amount of 11 to 13 shows in the residential sector medium-sized coal-fired power plants produced was consumed. Sales of award-winning displays can lead to substantial energy savings. Will be accepted through March 31, 2013, product nominations and winners will be announced in September. The first competition of SEAD of global efficiency medal recognized Samsung and LG for making the world the most energy efficient televisions. Find the website of SEAD competition.

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Department of energy Awards $10 million developing advanced biofuels

The Energy Department on January 3 over 10 million announced $ for five projects in California, Texas, Maryland, and Washington, to be the development of new technologies to convert biomass to advanced biofuels and bio-products such as plastics and chemical intermediates. These projects use processed sugar biomass to convert innovative synthetic biological and chemical techniques, which can be converted into bio products and drop-in biofuels for cars, trucks, and aircraft.

Two of these projects to develop cost-effective ways to manufacture chemical intermediates from the lignocellulose deconstruction. Lignocellulose is a construction material that comprises much of the mass of plants. Intermediates are valid biofuel biomass-based products, treated as commodities and a refinery in the supply chain can be passed finished as biofuel from the manufacturer. Three projects proposes new conversion techniques to transform biomass intermediates in advanced biofuels and bioproducts. The Department of energy progress warning message is displayed.

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EPA Awards $675,000 to Students in Sustainable Tech Competition

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on December 4 awarded a total of $675,000 in grants to 45 college teams in its "People, Prosperity and the Planet" annual student design competition. Each grant, which awarded up to $15,000 per team, will be applied toward designing and developing sustainable technologies to help protect health and the environment while promoting economic development.

For example, a team from Southern Polytechnic State University in Georgia will work on increasing photovoltaic panel energy output by having solar cells track the sun. Another team from Johns Hopkins University will study the integration of waste treatment with algal cultivation for aquaculture and renewable biofuel production.

After eight months of work on their projects, the teams will bring their designs to Washington, D.C. to participate in EPA's National Sustainable Design Expo, scheduled for April 20-21, 2013. A panel of scientific experts will judge the projects, and winners receive an award and recommendation for a second phase grant of up to $90,000 to further develop their designs and prepare them for the marketplace. See the EPA press release.

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ARPA-E Awards $130 million for 66 power engineering projects

The Energy Department on 28 November announced 66 research projects by the advanced research projects Agency (ARPA-E) energy total $130 million received in funding through its program, selected "OPEN 2012". ARPA-E seeks transformational technologies that show promise fundamental technical but are not ready for private-sector investment. The selected projects include 11 technology areas in 24 States.

The OPEN 2012 projects focus on a wide range of technologies, including advanced fuels, vehicle design and materials, building efficiency, grid modernization, energy storage, and renewable energy.

For example, is the electron energy develop for the growing market of electric vehicle motors and generators for wind turbines, Corporation in Landisville, Pennsylvania, a technology for the production of permanent magnets, the less cost and are stronger than they are today. For another project of the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, North Dakota, develop an air-cooled unit for power plants, which offers low environmental impact and helps maintain water and energy efficiency in power generation.

The projects were selected by a process on the basis of merit by thousands of concept paper and hundreds of applications. They are based in 24 States with approximately 47 per cent of the projects conducted by universities, 29% of small businesses, 15% of large enterprises and 7.5% from national labs and 1.5% from non-profit organizations. The announcement brings ARPA-E projects total approximately 285, for a total amount of around 770 million $ awards. See Energy Department press release.

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FERC Awards license for Oregon wave power station

Ocean power technologies, which is planning a device for converting wave energy off the Hawaiian coast called, in the year of 2009 to tap wave power off the coast of Oregon.
Credit card: Ocean power technologies, Inc

Ocean power technologies (OPT) announced on 20 August that her daughter U.S. has approved Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) of a planned 1.5 megawatt power plant for wave off the coast of Oregon. This is exhibited in the United States the first FERC license for a wave power plant. The license provides enough power for about 1,000 homes, an authorisation for the use of up to 10 OPT devices.

Construction of the first 150 kilowatt device is nearing completion and the Reedsport, is expected to be approximately 2.5 miles to Oregon coast ready this year for providing. Extension is the wave energy converter from an open steel cylinder down into the ocean from a floating buoy. A piston is halfway down the cylinder and crime waves, the piston up and down moves the application of pressure to sea water along the cylinder, filled bags, the high pressure sea water into a turbine which drives a generator eject to produce electricity.

OPT is cooperative an Oregon-based electric power for this first system from the Department of energy makes Congressional delegation and PNGC with the support of the Oregon, financially. FERC has granted in particular, a 35-year license for grid-connected wave energy production. After the first device is deployed, OPT plans up to nine more devices and connection, network infrastructure, in receipt of additional funding and all necessary regulatory approvals. See press release OPT.

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California Awards $1.1 Million for Energy Research Projects

The California Energy Commission on July 11 awarded $1.1 million for energy research projects, including a variety impacting renewable energy and energy efficiency. Funds for the 10 projects come from the Commission's Public Interest Research Project program. Commissioners approved $300,000 to the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California at San Diego in order to better understand differences in regional climate model projections for California and how they impact hydropower generation forecasting.

The remaining nine projects are from PIER's Energy Innovations Small Grant program. The program provides money to small businesses, non-profits, individuals, and academic institutions to conduct research establishing the feasibility of new, innovative energy concepts. These grants are capped at $95,000. Among the projects is a project dealing with small soluble organic molecules designed to increase the lifetime and reliability of photovoltaics, and a study of enhanced cooling towers for cooling buildings. See the California Energy Commission press release.

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Energy Department Honors Utilities with Public Power Wind Awards

The Energy Department on June 19 recognized three utilities—two in Minnesota and one in California—with the 2012 Public Power Wind Award. Minnesota's Moorhead Public Service and the Minnesota Municipal Power Agency, along with California's City of Palo Alto Utilities, received the awards. The American Public Power Association (APPA) and the Energy Department's Wind Powering America initiative created the Public Power Wind Award to recognize APPA-member utilities that demonstrate outstanding leadership in advancing wind power and furthering energy independence.

Now in its tenth year, the annual award recognizes APPA members in three categories: Small Member System, Large Member System, and Joint Action Agency. Moorhead Public Service received the Small Member System award for its years of leadership in wind energy that began with its pioneering utility-scale wind investments in 1999. The City of Palo Alto Utilities received the Large Member System award for delivering 17% of its energy mix from wind power, and for using wind energy to provide 97.5% of the renewable energy credits the utility uses for its green power program, PaloAltoGreen. And Minnesota Municipal Power Agency received the Joint Action Agency award for installing a wind turbine in each of its member communities, with which it collaborated to develop the 44-megawatt Oak Glen Wind Farm in Steele County, providing enough electricity to power 14,000 homes. See the DOE Progress Alert and the Wind Powering America website.

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Department of energy awards funds for the concentration of solar energy

The Department of energy announced its new investments in 21 projects on June 13 to the advancing state of the art solar power (CSP) technologies focused. The $56 million in awards include three years subject to Congressional appropriations, and cover 13 States: Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Vermont and Washington. In the context of the planned three-year initiative, Congress authorized an initial $16.30 million in fiscal year 2011. Additional requirements in the amount of $39,70 million in fiscal years 2013 and 2014, to support these CSP projects plans made to the Department of energy.

Carried out the research projects – in partnership with the private sector, laboratories and universities – the Department of energy SunShot support initiative, a joint national effort to solar power to make the end of the decade with traditional energy sources competitive. For example, national laboratories falling particles receiver and heat exchanger system to increase efficiency and lower costs develop DOE's Sandia.

The awards are innovations in new components to reduce, increase speed operating temperatures of and efficiency of CSP systems help. The 3-year applied research, the dramatic improvements in the CSP projects performance while driving progress towards target SunShot 75% cost reduction focus. CSP technologies use mirrors reflect and to produce sunlight to heat, which then is used to produce electricity to focus. CSP systems differ from other solar energy technologies through its ability to store energy as heat so that consumer demand cannot be satisfied, even if the sun shines not also during the night. See DOE press release, the full list of the awards, and the site SunShot initiative.

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Energy Department Awards $11 Million for Clean Energy Small Businesses

The Energy Department announced on May 23 a total of $11 million in innovative research and technology grants of up to $150,000 awarded to nearly 67 small businesses in 22 states. The grants were awarded under the department's Small Business Innovation Research program, part of the Obama Administration’s broader support for job-creating small businesses and startup companies nationwide. These businesses are located in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington. The businesses will work on 75 research projects including designing better wind turbines and fuel cell technology. They will then be eligible to compete for a second phase of the program with awards up to $1 million over two years.

For example, the Seachange Group in Maine will work on a process that determines the best conditions for thermochemical conversion of biomass into drop-in transportation fuels, which has potential for under-developed rural communities. And Creare Incorporated of New Hampshire will focus on improving battery pack thermal management for electric vehicles. See the DOE press release and the description of all the projects.

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Transportation Department Awards $13.1 Million for Green Transit

The U.S. Department of Transportation on April 2 awarded $13.1 million to fund 11 innovative research and demonstration projects under the Federal Transit Administration's (FTA) National Fuel Cell Bus Program. The program advances hydrogen fuel cell power for transit buses and is designed to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil and promote cleaner air.

The funds are shared by three consortia: Calstart in Pasadena, California; the Center for Transportation and the Environment in Atlanta, Georgia; and the Northeast Advanced Vehicle Consortium in Boston, Massachusetts. The projects will directly impact organizations and municipalities in seven states, including California, Georgia, Ohio, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, and South Carolina. All three consortia will engage in work to develop various fuel cell components, test U.S.-made buses under real-world conditions powered by fuel cells, and conduct educational outreach.

According to DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the FTA, every fuel cell-powered bus put into service in the United States could reduce the amount of carbon released into the atmosphere by 100 tons annually and eliminate the need for 9,000 gallons of fuel every year over the life of the vehicle. For buses currently running on diesel fuel, that translates into a savings of more than $37,000 per year, per vehicle. See the Transportation Department press release and the project descriptions .

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DOE Awards $7 Million to Reduce EV Charger Costs

This is an excerpt from EERE Network News, a weekly electronic newsletter.

DOE announced on December 21 awards totaling nearly $7 million in research and development funding that will help to reduce the current costs of electric vehicle chargers by 50% over the next three years. With DOE support, manufacturers in California, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania will work to improve the development and design of charging equipment. This research will promote "smart" charging capabilities that can help ensure electric vehicles enhance, rather than strain, existing electrical grid capacity.

Two of the four selected projects will focus on improving electric vehicle chargers that attach to consumers' homes and are used by the owners to charge their vehicles while they are at home. Two other projects will focus on chargers used at commercial and public locations to charge large numbers of vehicles, including commercial fleets of delivery vehicles.

The four projects selected for awards are listed below. These research and development investments will leverage additional investments from the industry grantees. See the DOE press release and the DOE Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability website.

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DOE Awards 7 million for storage technologies in fuel cell vehicles

This is an excerpt from EERE network news, a weekly electronic newsletter.

DOE on 12 December more than 7 million $ within four projects in California, Oregon and Washington, the hydrogen storage technologies for use in electric fuel-cell vehicles develop. The 3-year projects will help, cost and improve the performance of hydrogen storage systems through the development of innovative materials and advanced containers. DOE is committed to help advanced fuel cell technology research, bringing domestic automakers more electric fuel cell vehicles on the market.

The selected organizations provide close to $2 million in costs for storage systems to reduce the cost of compressed hydrogen leading projects, and develop materials for hydrogen storage advanced. Compressed hydrogen storage provides a short-term way to commercialization and lower costs for compressed tank systems availability and adoption speed up their market. Advanced materials-based storage hydrogen technologies enable more efficient memory on lower prints current compressed hydrogen tanks allow.

Among the projects DOE's Pacific Northwest used national laboratory a coordinated approach to reduce the costs associated with compressed hydrogen storage systems by focusing on the improvement of the carbon fiber composite materials and the development and production of hydrogen storage tanks. HRL laboratories, LLC, Malibu, California, explores an innovative approach to the hydrogen storage with altered fluids to absorb efficiently and can release hydrogen gas. DOE's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and partners will use a theory guided approach to synthesize new materials with high hydrogen adsorption capacity. And a tied under the direction of the University of Oregon, including the DOE's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, develop and test promising new materials for hydrogen storage. The proposed chemical hydrogen storage materials could liquid fuel and regeneration of hydrogen storage material, temperature and pressure ranges for both onboard mobile and stationary fuel cell applications suitable activate. See the DOE press release (copyright) and the fuel cell technologies program Web site.

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DOE Awards $12 Million in the Rooftop Solar Challenge

The SunShot Initiative's Rooftop Solar Challenge will boost installation of solar panels like these shown on a Chicago building.
Credit: Social Security Administration

DOE announced on December 1 its $12 million in funding for the awardees of the Rooftop Solar Challenge. The Challenge supports 22 regional teams in 18 states to spur solar power deployment by cutting red tape. The effort streamlines and standardizes permitting, zoning, metering, and connection processes, while also improves finance options for residential and small commercial rooftop solar systems. This project is part DOE's SunShot Initiative, and is designed to make solar energy more accessible and affordable, increase domestic solar deployment, and position the United States as a leader in the global solar market.

Using a "race to the top" model, the Rooftop Solar Challenge incentivizes the regional awardees to address the differing and expensive permitting, zoning, metering, and connection processes required to install and finance residential and small business solar systems. The 22 teams bring together city, county, and state officials, regulatory entities, private industry, universities, local utilities, and other regional stakeholders to clear a path for rapid expansion of solar energy and serve as models for other communities across the country. The teams will implement step-by-step actions to standardize permit processes, update planning and zoning codes, improve standards for connecting solar power to the electric grid and increase access to financing. Non-hardware costs like permitting, installation, design, and maintenance currently account for up to 40% of the total cost of installed rooftop photovoltaic systems in the United States.

The SunShot Initiative is a collaborative national effort to make solar cost-competitive with other forms of energy by the end of the decade. See the DOE press release, a complete list of awardees, and the SunShot Initiative website.

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