USDA Offers Renewable Energy Feasibility Studies for Rural Businesses
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced on September 7 the availability of grants of up to $50,000 for agricultural producers and rural small businesses to conduct feasibility studies for installing renewable energy systems.
The proposed systems can produce heat, electricity, or fuel from renewable energy sources: wind, solar, biomass, geothermal, hydropower, or hydrogen-based sources. They must be also located in a rural area and owned by the applicant. Under the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP), the USDA is making $3 million in grants available, enough to support about 60 grants. Applications are due October 5. See the USDA press release, the USDA's REAP Feasibility Study Grants Web page, and the related Federal Register notice .
The USDA also announced a $1.9 million award to Lincolnway Energy (Nevada, Iowa) to modify a coal-fired boiler at its ethanol biorefinery to burn wood and other biomass. The award was made under USDA's Repowering Assistance Program, which pays eligible biorefineries to replace fossil fuels with renewable biomass sources. See the USDA press release, the USDA's Repowering Assistance Program Web page, and the Lincolnway Energy Web site.
Automotive X Prize Winners Announced
The X Prize Foundation and Progressive Insurance awarded $10 million on September 16 to three teams that won the Progressive Automotive X Prize.
Edison2 (Charlottesville, Virginia) claimed half the prize purse by winning the "mainstream" class with its "Very Light Car" - a 4-seater, 4-wheeled, aerodynamic vehicle that runs on E85. It achieved the energy equivalent of 102.5 miles per gallon of gasoline (MPGe). It also achieved the lowest drag coefficient of any car with four wheels ever tested at Chrysler Proving Grounds, and it weighs only 830 pounds.
Earning a $2.5 million prize with a win in the "alternative side-by-side" class, the "Wave II" from Li-ion Motors Corp. (Mooresville, North Carolina) is an all-electric car powered by lithium-ion batteries. The 2-seater reached 187 MPGe with a driving range over 100 miles. Its distinctive look features an aerodynamic body that encloses all four wheels.
The remaining $2.5 million was awarded to X-Tracer Team Switzerland (Winterthur, Switzerland), whose E-Tracer won the "alternative tandem" class. The enclosed all-electric motorcycle deploys two extra outrigger wheels at low speeds to stabilize the vehicle. It achieved over 200 MPGe - the highest fuel economy in the competition - with a range exceeding 100 miles.
DOE provided $9 million in grants to the competition to support education, outreach, and technical operations. DOE's Argonne National Lab performed dynamometer tests under controlled laboratory conditions to verify each vehicle's performance. See the Progressive Automotive X Prize
press release and
Web site and the websites for
Edison2 and
Li-ion Motors.
