1. Home
  2. Articles posted by: Rona Fried (Page 2039)

Feds Partner with NY Institute to Promote Fuel Cell Research

Jun. 22–TROY — Twenty-eight doctoral candidates will study fuel-cell science and engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute over the next five years, thanks to a new $4.8 million program funded by the federal government and the school. Once the program begins in the fall, doctoral candidates will begin an interdisciplinary program that includes courses on entrepreneurship as well as science and engineering. The program aims “to accelerate the process of moving ideas from discovery to the marketplace,” RPI Provost G.P. “Bud” Peterson said in a statement. The initiative, funded with $3.2 million from the National Science Foundation and $1.6 million from RPI, will bring together disciplines within engineering, science and management, and involve faculty and facilities from six departments and six research or student centers. There are already some commercial applications of fuel cells, which convert hydrogen to electricity. They include the GenCore system developed by Latham-based Plug Power Inc., which is used to provide backup power for telecommunications firms. Researchers at RPI have been delving into fuel cells for several years, but this is the first time a specific course of study has been packaged for doctoral candidates, school officials said. For the last two years, RPI has worked with […]

Read More

California to Create World's Leading Center on Energy Efficiency

The California Clean Energy Fund (CalCEF), a $30 million public benefit investment fund created as part of the Pacific Gas and Electric bankruptcy settlement, announced it intends to award a one million dollar grant to establish and maintain the world’s leading university center on energy efficiency. The grant will be awarded to a Northern California university which aspires to international leadership in the development of energy efficiency technologies and the removal of barriers to their rapid commercialization. “Increasing energy efficiency is the single most important step California can take to minimize the long-term cost of reliable energy services,” said Michael R. Peevey, chairman of CalCEF and president of the California Public Utilities Commission. “Establishing a university center on energy efficiency is a natural way to meet the state’s goals by tapping into a wealth of academic expertise in developing and bringing innovative technologies to market.” By creating a university-based center for energy efficiency, CalCEF will bring together its diverse Board of Directors, partnerships with leading venture capital firms, and academic leaders from multiple disciplines to advance innovation and accelerate the commercialization of energy efficient products, services and practices. The center will also reinforce California’s standing as a national and international […]

Read More

Nuclear Power's Scorned Small-Scale Competitors Are Walloping It in the Marketplace

Rocky Mountain Institute researchers today doused the hype about “nuclear revival” in an icy bath of real-world data. They documented that worldwide, the decentralized, low- or no-carbon sources of electricity-cogeneration and renewables – all claimed by nuclear advocates to be too small and too slow to help much with climate change – are already bigger than nuclear power and are quickly leaving it in the dust. “Nuclear advocates are desperately trying to create an illusion that their failed option is being revived,” said RMI CEO and cofounder Amory Lovins, the lead author of the analysis, “so all its remaining costs and risks, which private investors have rejected, can be loaded onto taxpayers. This bailout, now being debated in Washington, is claimed to be vital because nuclear power is the only power source big and fast enough to combat climate change. But industry and official data reveal that claim to be false. While nuclear power dies of an incurable attack of market forces, its derided smaller-scale competitors are already a bigger global power source and are growing very rapidly, while nuclear power continues to fade away.” The analysis appears as the cover story in RMI’s summer 2005 newsletter, published online today. […]

Read More

Weekly Clean Energy Roundup:June 22, 2005

News and Events DOE to Award $2.5 Million to 18 Tribes for Efficiency, Renewable Energy Nissan to Build Altima Hybrid in Tennessee Starting in 2006 Indiana Students Achieve 1,836 MPG in Supermileage Competition Ethanol Partnership Plans to Produce Biodiesel from Corn Vermont Sets Renewable Energy Requirement; Iowa Expands Tax Credits Planetary Society Launches a Solar SailEnergy ConnectionsInternational Funding Helps Shape China’s Energy Future News and EventsDOE to Award $2.5 Million to 18 Tribes for Efficiency, Renewable EnergyDOE announced last week that it plans to award nearly $2.5 million to 18 Native American tribes to advance the use of renewable energy and energy efficient technologies on tribal lands. The tribes will investigate energy audits, energy efficiency improvements, and a wide range of renewable energy technologies, including biomass, geothermal, solar, and wind energy. Notable projects include plans to tap geothermal energy resources on the Citizen Potawatomi Nation tribal lands in central Oklahoma, efforts to evaluate wind power development in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska, and plans to install utility-scale wind power plants on tribal lands of the Hualapai and Hopi in Arizona. See the DOE press release, or go directly to the full list of projects (PDF 9 KB). The grants are […]

Read More

WorldWater & Power Corp. Signs Rep Agreement for China

WorldWater & Power Corporation (OTC BB:WWAT.OB), maker of high-horsepower solar energy systems, has signed an Agreement with Xinhua Financial Network Limited (XFN), China’s premier financial services and media company, to represent WorldWater & Power in the Chinese water and energy markets. Xinhua will introduce WorldWater & Power to federal and provincial governmental and private sector buyers for the sale of the Company’s AquaMax(tm) high volume water pumping systems and other solar products. As a result of deteriorating air quality, the National People’s Congress Standing Committee passed a Renewable Energy Law, effective January 1, 2006, requiring that 10 percent of China’s electricity must be generated from renewable energy sources by 2020. Several provinces are investigating the use of solar systems, and appear to be moving forward ahead of government regulations. Website: [sorry this link is no longer available]     

Read More

Carmanah Awarded $900 Million Contract with Chicago

Carmanah Technologies Corporation (TSX Venture: CMH) has been contracted by PACE Suburban Bus of Chicago, Illinois, to supply its proprietary i-STOP(TM) solar-powered LED bus stop lighting systems. Awarded through a public bid process, this contract is valued at up to $885,000. Installation is scheduled over the next five years with the first $194,000 in i-STOP(TM) systems to be delivered before the end of August. PACE is the suburban bus division of Chicago’s Regional Transportation Authority and the 14th largest bus service in North America. PACE serves 130,000 daily riders throughout Chicago’s suburbs via 240 routes covering 3,500 square miles. The Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission (NIPC) estimates the population of PACE’s service area to be approximately 5.2 million and expects it to grow to more than 6.2 million by 2020. The i-STOP(TM) is a unique solar-powered LED bus stop lighting system, which installs on all standard bus stop poles. Utilizing Carmanah’s patented solar-powered LED technology, the i-STOP(TM) bus stop lighting system is completely self-contained, which means no trenching, wiring, traffic disruption or site remediation is required. http://www.transitlights.com Website: [sorry this link is no longer available]     

Read More