For the paper industry, DOE's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) thinks there's a simple answer: producing the right thickness of paper. Currently, paper mills produce 15- to 30-ton rolls of paper at a time, and if a roll fails to meet specifications, the entire roll is recycled or sold as inferior grade. To avoid that paper loss, LBNL designed and built an innovative ultrasonic laser sensor to measure paper's bending stiffness and shear strength as it speeds through the mill. The sensor recently proved its ability in a two-week test at a Boise Cascade mill. According to LBNL, the new sensor could reduce the consumption of trees and chemicals and save U.S. paper mills about $200 million in energy costs and $330 million in fiber costs each year. See the LBNL press release.
The paper industry is part of the forest products industry, one of eight energy-intensive industries that DOE's Industrial Technologies Program is focusing on through its Industries of the Future effort. See the Forest Products Industry of the Future Web page.
VA Tech Hydro announced in late May that it will supply the main components for what will be the world's largest tidal energy plant, the 260-megawatt Sihwa Lake Tidal Power Plant in South Korea. The facility will dam the flow of water from the ocean into Sihwa Lake, creating power at high tide as the ocean flows into the lake, but allowing the unrestricted flow of the water back into the ocean during low tide. According to the company, this arrangement will also increase the water quality in the lake. Daewoo Engineering & Construction is leading the project, which the companies expect to complete by 2009. See the VA Tech Hydro press release.
Meanwhile, the U.K. Department of Trade and Industry announced a grant of nearly $5 million (2.7 million pounds) to SMD Hydrovision for the development of its tidal stream device, the TidEl. The propeller-driven device captures tidal flow energy while submerged in the ocean and moored to the ocean floor. According to SMD Hydrovision, a scale model successfully completed a seven-week trial, and the new grant will be used to develop a full-scale one-megawatt grid-connected system. The unit will be installed and tested next year at the European Marine Energy Center's Tidal Test Site, located near Stromness on the northern Scotland island of Orkney. See SMD Hydrovision's press release and TidEl Web page.
The World Green Building Council serves the real estate and development industry to help transform it into a sector in which sustainability is a core value. The Web site is a source of information, news, data, and opinion about green building practices and developments worldwide. The site also promotes international sustainability events and provides a roadmap for other countries aiming to set up their own not-for-profit council.
DOE Offers Energy-Saving Tips to Cut Summer Cooling Bills
Summer is coming soon, and with many parts of the country already experiencing hot days, DOE is offering easy tips to save money and energy while keeping cool. By following a few common sense guidelines, you can cut your summer energy bills by 10 to 50 percent. The energy-saving tips cover such topics as wisely using fans and air conditioning, landscaping for energy efficiency, shading your windows, and weatherizing your home, as well as other low-cost tips to save energy. See the tips and other useful links in the DOE press release.
The Alliance to Save Energy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are also offering tips to save energy this summer. See the Alliance to Save Energy press release and see the EPA press release and related documents on the Energy Star Web site.
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