Energy Department to Fund CSP Integration with Fossil Fuel Plants

The Energy Department on December 17 announced $20 million in new funding that will help integrate concentrating solar power (CSP) systems with fossil-fuel power plants. These hybrid systems leverage the infrastructure of fossil fuel plants, such as turbine and transmission systems, helping to reduce the cost of solar-generated electricity and bring CSP plants online quicker. Today, between 11 and 21 gigawatts of CSP could be built and integrated into existing fossil fuel plants in the United States, enough to power between three and six million homes.

The new funding strives to overcome near-term market and technological barriers for cost-effective CSP hybrid system implementation. Additionally, CSP hybrid technology may help enable further cost reductions in stand-alone CSP projects and spur innovations across the broader CSP supply chain. The projects selected for funding under this program will work to design, build, and test cost-competitive integrated CSP/fossil fuel power generating systems. The Energy Department seeks applications from industry, universities, and national laboratories. Awardees are required to provide 75% of the total project cost.

The Department's SunShot Initiative, a collaborative national effort to make solar energy cost-competitive with other forms of energy by the end of the decade, is sponsoring the offering. See the Energy Department Progress Alert and the funding opportunity announcement.

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Green machine: Saint-Gobain NOVA innovation competition taps North American startups

Saint-Gobain, has joined co-present the world's largest construction companies of the materials chapter (USGBC-NCC) to the company NOVA innovation competition with the U.S. Green Building Council - Northern California. Competition rewards start Greentech and innovations in sustainable products, new materials, highly efficient solutions, clean technology and renewable energy sources with cash prizes and access to partnership opportunities with Saint-Gobain offers Cleantech companies around the world.
The deadline to submit entry is 30 June; Finalists win the chance their innovative companies the top management team of Saint-Gobain in a live speed dating format to the 2012 Greenbuild International Conference and Expo in San Francisco on November 15 pitch.

NOVA identifies external car, the international group of Saint-Gobain analysts, and evaluates start up companies for partnerships with Saint-Gobain believes companies, there is a thriving entrepreneurial community in the United States and Canada, and exceptional contributions to the NOVA innovation competition 2012 expected as it for the first time in North America is hosted.
John Crowe, President and CEO of which Saint-Gobain Corporation and member of the NOVA said: "we have a responsibility maintain for start-ups, which otherwise would have had no access to bring to their innovation, be it sustainable building solutions or technologies for renewable energy on the civilian market."

At Greenbuild NOVA external venturing awards a winner of the first place with $50,000 and second and third place winners with $25,000 and $10,000 or. Winner also works with NOVA, a variety of partnerships with the company such as licensing, manufacturing or commercial agreements to explore equity participation or joint venture.

Rakesh Kapoor, Director, Saint-Gobain Northboro R & D Center and NOVA external car, says that companies that provide missing for growth but gain the ability to market the most advantages of the NOVA innovation competition.
"Since 2006, we in dozens of promising startups in the United States and in Europe, with a select few rises to above the competition innovation invested", Kapoor said. He adds that the award-winning companies thrive with access to the global market through Saint-Gobain established distribution channels and above all the support, resources and expertise that innovation comes from nearly 350-year history of the company of construction of materials.

The 2012 NOVA innovation competition come the extensive list of progressive companies that has evaluated external car NOVA since 2006, participants and winners will be part of an elite group of more than 40 existing partnerships.
Earlier in this spring on the Cleantech Forum in San Francisco, announced Saint-Gobain it the innovation competition with USGBC-NCC co-present would. Sheeraz Haji, CEO of Cleantech Group, said the i3 platform creators and producers of Cleantech Forum innovation competition emerging companies would provide the power of a global partnership to unlock new markets, increasing their brand and to validate their technology.

Sheeraz also said: "this goes well beyond the provision of funds landmark competition and instead supports young companies establish to prove themselves on the global market, to maintain their business models and their customer base."

To learn more about the NOVA innovation competition, a start-up recommend or apply via the online form, please visit www.saint-gobain.com/innovationcompetition2012 before the 30 June 2012.

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JEDDAH - Jordan's pursuit to become a nuclear energy state, though promising, faces several major obstacles, Brookings Institution's "Models for Aspirant Civil Nuclear Energy Nations in the Middle East" report said.

The study, released lat month, pointed out that rising electricity demand, desalinization needs, and opportunity cost of consuming domestic energy resources all point to the need to adopt nuclear energy.
The report noted that Jordan faces two major challenges in its nuclear drive, namely shortages of both expertise and funds.

Despite the presence of uranium reserves - estimated at over 100,000 tons - the country lacks the finances to bear up-front capital costs without placing stress on the state budget. "Unless Jordan plans to link with a broader Gulf grid, it simply makes no sense to build a 1,000MW reactor for internal use," Ebinger added.

According to the report, Jordan's best option would be a turnkey project, under which a major vendor would assume all up-front costs and sell the plant to the government upon completion of construction.

The study noted that Jordan is relying on an unusual approach, a public-private partnership model, with the Kingdom bringing in a strategic partner to help defray up-front capital costs. "With all the turmoil in the region there is a growing perception that money needs to be diverted from these programs to support pressing social issues," said Charles Ebinger, director of Brookings' Energy Security Initiative and an author of the report.

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Heat wave of spreads in North East

Excessive heat, power outages not MixThe heat will index most likely to exceed 105 degrees in 23 StatesHeat security advisories are expected to last through at least TuesdayExcessive heat is extremely dangerous for human HealthHeat in connection with death reported in Illinois

(CNN) --eine dangerous heat wave continued to facilitate Mainland, so as it spread to North-East, slowly in the nation, the national weather service said.

23 States and the District of Columbia were Tuesday under heat advisories.

Excessive heat warnings are from Western Oklahoma to Connecticut, and from the deep South to the Ohio Valley.

In these reach areas, the heat index or body due to the effects of heat and humidity combined to, how feels hot between 110 and 115 degrees of this week.

Stillwater, Oklahoma and Fort Smith, Arkansas, indented on Monday the high temperatures in the United States, topping at 107 degrees, the weather service said. At least a dozen affected, century mark, with many others well into the 1990s.

A 51-year-old man in Granite City, Illinois, died Sunday due to excessive heat, said the coroner to Madison County. Mitsunari Uechi was no longer in his mobile home, where the air conditioning was not working. Police the residence described as "hot extreme" coroner Stephen Nonn in a statement said.

Uechi shipped to regional medical center with a temperature of 104 degrees at gateway. He was pronounced dead later, according to the coroner.

Nonn noted, that Uechi "suffered chronic medical problems, which placed him in a higher risk of heat stress-related disease."

Multiple high-temperature records have been broken recently.

Wichita, Kansas, hit 111 degrees Sunday. The national weather service says that the temperature of 111 degrees are only 10 times occurred since July 1888.

High pressure across the Plains is that weather patterns keep stable, so that heat to build and expand the East coast of the United States.

Some discharge is expected midweek, as the high pressure system weakens and moves slightly South-East. Thus, thunderstorms will be to develop in the Central Plains.

Excessive heat is extremely dangerous to human health. According to the information on the website of the national weather service, diseases can develop heat when the body to quickly heated loses itself safe cooling or a person to much liquid or salt through sweating or dehydration.

Symptoms of heat exhaustion include heavy sweating, pale and moist skin, weak pulse, fainting and vomiting.

The Agency suggests that people from heat protect diseases by reducing the activity during the hottest part of the day, wear light clothes and drink plenty of water.

The Agency also requires that people of caffeinated or alcoholic drinks contain. Even meat and other proteins can increase metabolic heat production.

The States under a heat advisory is:

--Alabama

--Arkansas

--Connecticut

--Delaware

-Georgia

--Illinois

--Indiana

--Kansas

--Kentucky

--Louisiana

--Maryland

--Mississippi

--Missouri

-New Jersey

-New York

--North Carolina

--Ohio

--Oklahoma

--Pennsylvania

-South Carolina

--Tennessee

-Texas

-VirginiaCNN Monica O'Connor, Jacqui Jeras and Ed Payne contributed to this report.

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