March 30, 2010

Unlike most biotechnology students who have to go to a research facility to see scientists in action, those at Greeneville High just need to turn their heads.

For the last four years, Larry Cosenza, of C2 Biotechnologies, a one-man shop in Germantown, N.Y, has been working in his basement to construct fusion enzymes, a new technology that converts biomass into energy more easily. But in January, he took over Greeneville High School’s agriculture room, a move that will not only expand his workspace and put him steps closer to commercialization but also encourage project-based learning in the classroom. [More]

March 29, 2010

Before wading into the green energy sector, there are crucial things every budding entrepreneur should know: think like an investor, know your customer, and prove your research is going to solve a problem.

To the business-savvy this advice may seem obvious, but for the academic-minded attending the Green Technology Entrepreneurship Academy, these nuggets are priceless.

“We give scientists the language of commercialization,” says Andrew Hargadon, a founder of the academy and faculty director at the Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of California, Davis. “We help them translate their own research into commercial terms, and - at the same time - give them a network of investors, entrepreneurs, utilities, and other major companies to work with.” [More]

March 29, 2010

Cranes place solar panels on roofs and the screech of drills can be heard throughout the campus of William Paterson University as workers begin installing a massive solar farm, the largest on a U.S. college campus.

The solar facility is predicted to save the Wayne, N.J., university millions of dollars in energy costs.

“We are proud we can do this,” says Stephen Bolyai, William Paterson vice president for administration and finance, adding that William Paterson's 11,000 students are taking the construction in stride and are "extremely positive" about the project. [More]

March 25, 2010

County and state decision makers, public utility commissions and project owners can determine the economic impacts of new electricity generation projects using the Jobs and Economic Development Impact, or JEDI, models developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, a U.S. Department of Energy national lab.

Despite a name that sounds like an ancient order of space knights from a famous film series, the JEDI models are user-friendly -spreadsheet-based systems that help determine jobs that might be created and other economic impacts of building power-generation systems that use wind, biomass or even solar energy. These estimates let JEDI help decision-making officials determine the viability of implementing a renewable energy project in their home regions.

David Loomis, associate professor of economics and director of the Center for Renewable Energy at Illinois State University, has used the models to further the applied research being done at the center. [More]

March 24, 2010

With 90 percent of its energy coming from oil, Hawaii is the most oil-dependent state in the nation. The Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative is an ambitious plan to reverse that. A partnership between the state and the federal Department of Energy, the HCEI uses a combination of increased energy efficiency and renewable energy sources to work toward the state’s goal of meeting at least 70 percent of its energy needs from clean energy - 30 percent from efficiency and 40 percent from renewables - by 2030.


“What we’re up to is, I think, one of the most daunting transformation projects in the state’s history,” says Ted Peck, the State of Hawaii’s Energy Administrator. “We are attempting to totally shift our energy system to a clean energy system.” [More]

March 24, 2010

A public-private partnership has helped one Air Force base reduce its energy costs and convert to 25 percent renewable energy. Nellis Air Force Base, just north of Las Vegas, took a big step in 2007 when it installed a 14.2-megawatt, 70,000-panel photovoltaic solar array that reduced carbon dioxide emissions by 24,000 tons a year. Built partly on a landfill, the field of solar panels takes advantage of two resources plentiful in Nevada: sunshine and empty land.

At its unveiling in December of 2007, the Nellis array was the largest solar panel installation in North America. (It has since been eclipsed by a Florida Power & Light plant.) The project was originally expected to produce about 30,000 megawatt-hours of electricity per year, but Steven Dumont, Air Combat Command Energy Manager, says it’s actually producing closer to 32,000 megawatt-hours, which is about 8 percent above expectations.

“It all started with a developer who called the base and subsequently called us at Air Combat Command,” he said. “[They] said, ‘We have an idea if you’re willing to give us the land. We can make it cost-effective.’” [More]

March 24, 2010

The biofuels company Novozymes received a $28.4 million tax credit under the Recovery Act for the construction of a new facility in Blair, Neb., that produces enzymes to turn waste into fuel. [More]

March 23, 2010

The mayor of Tulsa formed a new sustainability office to oversee almost $4 million of Recovery Act funds allotted for energy efficiency projects that city officials hope will help offset a $10 million budget cut and rebuild its slumping economy.

Brett Fidler, who served as a special sustainability adviser for the mayor’s office, was chosen as director after Mayor Dewey Bartlett signed an executive order earlier this year to create the Office of Sustainability. Starting this spring, the new office will begin implementing a slew of sustainability initiatives that could save the city hundreds of thousands of dollars a year and create opportunities in an area once known as the energy capital of the world. [More]

March 23, 2010

J.F. Family Limited Partnership has been awarded $191,000 through the Recovery Act toward the use of solar energy at its Lakefront Parkway property in Edwardsville, Ill., which is the company headquarters for J.F. Electric Inc. The funding will be used to install a 75-kW solar photovoltaic system on the building’s roof, creating electricity on-site and creating or saving a total of 14 jobs. [More]

March 23, 2010

An estimated 1,300 households in the San Francisco Bay Area will see improvements to their power and water efficiency over the next two years, thanks to a public-private partnership partially funded by the Recovery Act. The Affordable Multifamily Retrofit Initiative will loan money to property owners to make energy efficiency improvements to multifamily housing in San Francisco, Berkeley and Oakland, with room for participation from other Bay Area cities as well. [More]

March 22, 2010

The Delaware Nation, a federally-recognized tribe of about 1,400 people in Anadarko, Okla., will install solar panel roofs on two tribal government buildings as part of a larger effort to become more sustainable and bring new jobs to an area struggling with high unemployment.

“It’s the start of a green initiative,” says Theda McPheron-Keel, president of Wind Hollow Foundation, a nonprofit organization aimed at helping American Indians improve their lives. “It provides economic development, education, and preserves the culture. It all fits together.”

The new fully functioning roof and solar energy production plant will reduce consumption by 90,000 kilowatt hours annually and save the tribe about $20,000 a year. Installation is set to begin in August. [More]

March 22, 2010

At the T.K. Davis Justice Center in Opelika, Ala., the county is making an effort to reduce costs and help the environment by installing renewable energy projects, including solar panels on the center’s roof and on poles around the property. [More]

March 22, 2010

A123 Systems, of Watertown, Mass., was awarded a $249 million stimulus grant from the U.S. Department of Energy in August that will help implement the company’s strategy for the construction of lithium-ion battery manufacturing facilities in the U.S., with the first location being constructed in Livonia, Mich. [More]

March 19, 2010

Ball State University is building America’s largest ground source district geothermal heating and cooling system. The new operation will save the school millions of dollars, slash greenhouse gases and create jobs.

The project will also “expand how America will define the use of geothermal technology on a district-wide scale,” and provide health benefits such as reducing asthma rates for Indiana residents, says Philip Sachtleben, Ball State’s associate vice president of governmental relations.

The system will cool and heat nearly 50 buildings on Ball State’s Muncie, Ind., campus, replace four coal-burning boilers and span more than 600 acres. The switch to geothermal will save the university $2.2 million in fuel costs and cut its carbon footprint in half. [More]

March 19, 2010

FedEx Freight has a special delivery for America’s clean energy economy: a fleet of hydrogen powered forklifts.

All 35 electric forklifts at FedEx Freight’s Springfield, Mo. service center will be converted to hydrogen fuel cell power. The $2.8 million project will be completed in a few weeks and was partially funded through a grant from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The energy makeover is “the best of both worlds,” says Dennis Beal, vice president of physical assets at FedEx Freight. “The vehicles will be emission-free and will provide the benefits of electrical power forklifts without having to plug them in to recharge the battery,” Dennis says.

The forklifts will be quieter, easier to operate and cleaner than ones with internal combustion engines. Dennis says the switch to hydrogen power is expected to result in lower maintenance and downtime, increasing productivity at the service center. [More]

March 19, 2010

New Hampshire has a plan to lower expenses and create jobs, all while conserving energy. In all, the state has received $17.3 million in Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) funding. Of that, $9.6 million has been sent to the New Hampshire Office of Energy and Planning (NHOEP) to launch several energy saving projects.

NHOEP established a subgrant program to award $6.6 million of the EECBG grant funding to local municipalities and counties. New Hampshire municipalities and counties submitted over 270 applications, totaling over $21 million in grant requests.

“Substantial energy efficiency improvements will be made throughout the state,” says Dari Sassan, EECBG coordinator for NHOEP. “Through this program, we are going to be able to fund116 innovative projects in 65 communities that will save money and stimulate the local economy,” he explains. [More]

March 19, 2010

Energy SmartPARKS is a program formed through collaboration between the U.S. Departments of Energy and the Interior to help the National Park Service make America’s parks and landmarks more energy-efficient. [More]

March 19, 2010

Like so many other towns, both Springfield, Ill., and Lubbock, Texas, have their share of people living in poorly insulated homes equipped with old, energy-wasting appliances and cracked siding. But now, with millions of dollars in Recovery Act funds going towards weatherization programs, more families will stay warmer in the winter, cooler in the summer, and, most importantly, save money.

“It cropped about a hundred bucks off my bill in the cold, cold winter,” says Springfield resident Donald Dagget, a 78-year-old retired beauty salon owner who had his 1937, two-bedroom bungalow weatherized in October. “I was very thankful for that. Even though I’m in a house all paid for, I don’t have a lot of money.” [More]

March 18, 2010

In support of the National Science Foundation, National Renewable Energy Laboratory team members Ian Baring-Gould and Owen Roberts traveled to the freezing continent of Antarctica to support the commissioning of the Ross Island Wind Farm, the southernmost wind farm in the world. NREL is a U.S. Department of Energy national lab. [More]

March 18, 2010

Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of Energy Steven Chu visited a North Carolina plant today to highlight how Recovery Act funds helped the manufacturing business expand its work force and boost production.

Cree, Inc., which manufactures energy efficient light-emitting diode (LED) products, received nearly $40 million in federal tax credits to help them purchase new equipment and increase production of high-efficiency LEDs. [More]