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  2. Articles posted by: Rona Fried (Page 2015)

Wal-Mart Opens First Experimental Supercenter

Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) has opened an experimental supercenter store that incorporates environmental features in McKinney, Texas. The supercenter offers the usual line-up of products and will employ about 450 people – what is unusual is, according to the company, “the new experimental store could profoundly change the way the retail industry designs, constructs, and manages facilities as it relates to the environment.” “We see it as a next step in evaluating the impact we leave on the environment as we look toward smart growth and sustainability in the building of our new stores,” said Mike Duke, executive vice president and chief executive officer of Wal-Mart Stores – USA. “This store will contain many of the best resource conservation and sustainable design technologies currently available to minimize the use of energy and natural resources.” The McKinney store will experiment with materials, technology, and processes, which include: * Reducing the amounts of energy and natural resources required to operate and maintain the stores * Reducing the amount of raw materials needed to construct the facility. * Substituting, when appropriate, the amount of renewable materials used to construct and maintain the facility. “We want to make the best use of renewable and alternate […]

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Magnetek Solar Inverters Win Frost & Sullivan 2005 Technology Innovation Award

Magnetek, Inc. (NYSE:MAG) has received Frost & Sullivan’s 2005 “Solar Power Systems Technology Innovation of the Year” Award. A leading supplier of digital power supplies and systems, Magnetek received the Award for its Aurora(TM) solar power inverters, which Frost & Sullivan lauds as “an inverter solution that could revolutionize the solar energy market.” The Frost & Sullivan Award reinforces Magnetek’s growing reputation as an alternative energy innovator. In May, Aurora received the INTEL DESIGN AWARD as one of the five best designs at INTEL 2005, an international electrical engineering, electronics, lighting, industrial automation, security and components show held biennially in Milan, Italy. Designed for residential use, Aurora inverters change the direct current (DC) produced by solar photovoltaic (PV) cells into utility-grade alternating current (AC) and provide the power grid protection required by electric utilities on both sides of the Atlantic. Developed at Magnetek’s European design center near Florence, Italy, the compact units feature the highest power density of any solar power inverters on the market today, and are easy to install anywhere inside or outside the home. A key advantage that Aurora brings to market is its exceptional reliability, based on Magnetek’s extensive experience in designing and building digital power […]

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Quantum Awarded Phase 2 of DOE Contract

Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide, Inc., (Nasdaq: QTWW) announced the U.S. Department of Energy has awarded the company Phase 2 of its $2.6 million program for the development and advancement of next generation hydrogen storage technologies. Quantum and the U.S. Department of Energy are working under a Cooperative Agreement to advance hydrogen storage systems in support of fuel cell vehicle commercialization. The overall project focuses on optimizing the storage capacity of Quantum’s ultra lightweight advanced composite 10,000-psi hydrogen storage tank technology, previously developed by Quantum and the U.S. Department of Energy, and reducing costs to deliver next generation hydrogen storage systems. The specifics of Phase 2 include evaluating and incorporating new developments into high-pressure hydrogen storage systems, such as optimization of materials and fabrication methodologies, advanced structural monitoring systems, and higher density hydrogen storage. As researchers develop solid-state materials for low pressure hydrogen storage in the long term, safe and durable tanks will also be required. Quantum’s new concepts may eventually be applicable to long-term hydrogen storage engineering issues like thermal management and system optimization, as well as to off-board storage and hydrogen delivery. “Quantum, working in concert with the U.S. Department of Energy in 2001, was the first to […]

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