EERE Network News -- 02/16/05

A weekly newsletter from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE)
<http://www.eere.energy.gov/>Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable
Energy (EERE). The EERE Network News is also available on the Web at:
<http://www.eere.energy.gov/news/>www.eere.energy.gov/news/


February 16, 2005




News and Events

    * Large Wind Power Plants Slated for North Dakota and Massachusetts
    * Two Companies Get a Boost from Wind Turbine Manufacturing
    * Long Island Aims to Feature a 10-Megawatt Fuel Cell Facility
    * EPA and Four Partners to Build a Hydraulic Hybrid Delivery Van
    * State Energy Collaborative Awards $4 Million to Eight Projects
    * Europeans Join Forces to Develop Organic LEDs


Site News

    * EERE Launches an RSS News Feed


Energy Connections

    * Kyoto Protocol Takes Effect Today
[]



News and Events




Large Wind Power Plants Slated for North Dakota and Massachusetts

PPM Energy is proposing to build North Dakota's largest wind plant, a
150-megawatt facility near Rugby, in the north central part of the state.
The company submitted a letter of intent to the North Dakota Public Service
Commission in late January and plans to build the 100-turbine wind project
by the end of the year. North Dakota Governor John Hoeven expressed support
for the project, and plans to meet with the company next week. See the
<http://governor.state.nd.us/media/news-releases/2005/02/050202c.html>govern
or's 
press release.

Two smaller wind plants are also under development in northwest
Massachusetts. Berkshire Wind Power LLC is planning to build the
15-megawatt Berkshire Project on Brodie Mountain, near the New York border.
A group of the state's municipal utilities and their power supplier—the
Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Company (MMWEC)—announced in
December that they would buy power from the project, which Berkshire Wind
Power plans to build this year. In addition, enXco is planning to build a
30-megawatt wind project on Bakke Mountain and Crum Hill, in the Hoosac
Range near the Vermont border. The Hoosac Wind project has passed through
most of the permitting process, but has yet to earn its final building
permit. See the MMWEC press release
(<http://www.mmwec.org/images/2004newsrelease/041206.pdf>PDF 122 KB) and
the <http://www.hoosacwind.com/ctc6.html>Hoosac Wind Web site.
<http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/alternate.html>Download Acrobat
Reader.

Here's one place you won't find wind turbines: on the roof of the New York
Sports and Convention Center (NYSCC), the proposed new home for the New
York Jets. Though wind turbines were included in a plan released last
summer, the latest plan eliminates them, and the Jets plan to buy green
power from upstate New York instead. See the
<http://nyscc.newyorkjets.com/news.php?id=000000000000125>Jets'
announcement on the NYSCC Web site.


Two Companies Get a Boost from Wind Turbine Manufacturing

[]


A photo of a crane lifting a wind tower.


A crane prepares to lift a wind tower into place on a farm in Iowa. A
growing number of companies are benefiting from wind power, producing
components such as wind towers.
Credit: Tjaden Farms

While utilities, wind turbine manufacturers, and wind project developers
grab most of the wind power headlines, the growth in the wind turbine
business is providing economic benefits for smaller companies as well. A
case in point is Aerisyn, LLC, a manufacturer of metal towers for wind
turbines, which announced in late January that it will build North
America's first automated wind tower production facility in Chattanooga,
Tennessee, this summer. The $7-million facility will create 75 new jobs
initially and as many as 150 new jobs within the next three years. The
plant will be located in an existing building that has long bays, a
heavy-duty crane, and easy access to the port, all of which are ideal for
wind tower construction. Ironically, the building was previously used for
building nuclear reactor components. See the
<http://www.chattanooga.gov/mayor/Press_Releases/Aerisyn%20announcement%2020
5.htm>press 
release from the City of Chattanooga.

The growth in wind power is also benefiting Missouri-based Zoltec Companies
Inc., a manufacturer of carbon fibers, which can be used to provide
strength to wind turbine blades. Zoltec recently signed an agreement with
Vestas Wind Systems AS of Denmark to provide up to $100 million worth of
carbon fiber and carbon fiber materials over the next three years. To meet
the increased demand, the company is starting up five idled production
lines in Abilene, Texas, and plans to double its worldwide production
capacity by 2006. See the
<http://www.zoltek.com/company_information/index.shtml>Zoltec Web site and
press release 
(<http://www.zoltek.com/company_information/12-16-04VestasPR.doc>MS Word 30
KB).


Long Island Aims to Feature a 10-Megawatt Fuel Cell Facility

The Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) plans to support the construction of
the world's largest fuel cell power facility at its West Babylon
substation. On February 1st, LIPA requested proposals for a 10-megawatt
fuel cell power plant, which it intends to bring online by July 1, 2006.
The proposed facility would dwarf existing fuel cell plants, which only
cracked the 1-megawatt barrier in 2000. LIPA proposes to enter into a
20-year power purchase agreement with the winning bidders, who will own and
operate the facility. Proposals are due by April 25th. See the
<http://www.lipower.org/newscenter/pr/2005/feb1.fuelcell.html>LIPA press
release.

Long Island already hosts the current record-holder for fuel-cell
installations, a 1.4-megawatt facility at one of Verizon's critical
call-routing centers in Garden City. See the
<http://www.utcfuelcells.com/utcpower/news/archive/2002-03-20.shtm>March
2002 press release from UTC Fuel Cells.


EPA and Four Partners to Build a Hydraulic Hybrid Delivery Van

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced last week that it
will work with four partners to build the world's first full hydraulic
hybrid delivery vehicle. Hydraulic hybrids work like hybrid electric
vehicles, except that they use tanks of hydraulic fluids under pressure to
store mechanical energy, whereas a hybrid electric vehicle stores
electrical energy in a battery. EPA and its four partners­UPS, Eaton Corp.,
International Truck and Engine Corporation, and the U.S Army National
Automotive Center (NAC)­will begin by building a full hydraulic hybrid
powertrain and an innovative hydraulic hybrid propulsion system integrated
with the drive axle. A second phase of the project will follow up a year
later by adding a clean diesel engine. The UPS demonstration vehicle is
projected to achieve a 60 to 70 percent improvement in fuel economy over
today's delivery vehicles, while meeting the 2010 EPA standard for nitrous
oxide emissions from heavy vehicles. The EPA expects a 3-year payback
period for the added cost of the hydraulic hybrid system. See the
<http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/b1ab9f485b098972852562e7004dc686/3
71449ddfa7c264285256fa4006c109c!OpenDocument>EPA
press release and <http://www.epa.gov/otaq/technology/420f05006.htm>online
fact sheet.

The plans for the UPS demonstration vehicle are sure to be a hot topic at
the Clean Heavy-Duty Vehicle Conference 2005, which starts on February 22nd
in La Quinta, California. Billed as the nation's premier gathering of
industry, military, and regulatory leaders focused on cleaner and more
efficient heavy-duty vehicles, the conference is organized by
WestStart-CALSTART and the NAC, with major support from the Federal Transit
Administration. See the
<http://www.calstart.org/aboutus/nl_detail.php?id=77>conference
announcement from WestStart-CALSTART.


State Energy Collaborative Awards $4 Million to Eight Projects

The State Technologies Advancement Collaborative (STAC) awarded more than
$4.3 million to eight projects last week as a result of its Energy
Efficiency and Fossil Energy Science Solicitation. Five of the eight
projects relate to energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies,
including advanced power converters for motor drives and distributed power
systems; advanced power supplies for motors; membranes for separating
hydrogen from synthesis gases; improved catalysts for the Fischer-Tropsch
process, which produces synthetic fuels from either gasified biomass or
gasified coal; and a predictive model to help ethanol plants produce
high-quality distiller's dried grain with solubles (DDGS), a marketable
co-product of the fuel production process. The remaining three projects,
which together received nearly $1.4 million in STAC funding, relate to
large superalloy castings for industrial gas turbines, methane recovery
from lignite coal seams, and control technologies for coal plants to
increase their efficiency and reduce their emissions. See the STAC press
release (<http://www.stacenergy.org/news/2005_02_07.pdf>PDF 19 KB).
<http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/alternate.html>Download Acrobat
Reader.

While STAC allows states, territories, and DOE to collaborate on energy
projects, states continue to pursue significant energy-related projects on
their own. The Connecticut Clean Energy Fund (CCEF), for instance, recently
issued a request for proposals for its
"<http://www.ctcleanenergy.com/investment/Project100.html>Project 100," an
initiative to help develop renewable energy projects in the state. CCEF
also called for applications to its
<http://www.ctcleanenergy.com/investment/Pre-DevelopmentProgram.html>Renewab
le 
Energy Pre-Development Program, which provides up to $500,000 per project
to help develop renewable energy projects. Finally, CCEF announced that it
has an additional $9 million available for its Commercial, Industrial, and
Institutional Solar Photovoltaic Program
(<http://www.ctcleanenergy.com/documents/CIIPVRFP91504V2.pdf>PDF 212 KB),
which provides a $5-per-watt subsidy for solar power systems. See the CCEF
press releases on <http://www.ctcleanenergy.com/news/75.php>Project 100,
the <http://www.ctcleanenergy.com/news/76.php>Pre-Development Program, and
the <http://www.ctcleanenergy.com/news/77.php>solar power subsidies.

Other active states include Pennsylvania, which awarded more than $1
million in Alternative Fuel Incentive Grants on Monday, and Wisconsin,
which is offering zero-interest loans and increased cash-back rewards for
renewable energy systems through its Focus on Energy initiative. See the
press releases from the
<http://www.dep.state.pa.us/newsreleases/default.asp?ID=3284>Pennsylvania
Department of Environmental Protection and Wisconsin's Focus on Energy
initiative 
(<http://www.focusonenergy.com/data/common/dmsFiles/K_MK_MKPR_PR_1218784857.
pdf>PDF 
121 KB).


Europeans Join Forces to Develop Organic LEDs

[]


A photo of a hand holding a small square device, with electrode


White-light OLEDs are flat sheets of material that glow white when a
voltage is applied to them.
Credit: Philips

More than 20 of Europe's leading companies and research establishments in
the fields of lighting applications and organic electronics and materials
announced on February 1st that they have formed an integrated research and
development project to advance organic light emitting diode (OLED)
technologies. Unlike the LEDs that are currently found in many consumer
electronics, OLEDs use organic molecules that can be spread out over a
large surface, causing the entire surface to emit light. The project's goal
is to demonstrate bright, white OLED light tiles­with a long lifetime and
high energy efficiency­for use in general lighting applications by 2008.
The project is called "OLLA," which is an extreme abbreviation of "high
brightness Organic Light emitting diodes for information communication
technologies and Lighting Applications." See the
<http://www.extra.research.philips.com/euprojects/olla/>OLLA Web site and
press release 
(<http://www.extra.research.philips.com/euprojects/olla/public/press/release
/pressrelease_ollaproject.pdf>PDF
114 KB). <http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/alternate.html>Download
Acrobat Reader.

According to ABI Research, OLEDs are already showing up in the dashboard
displays of some cars, as well as cell phones, digital cameras, and car
radios. To help OLEDs find wider use, Universal Display Corporation is
currently working with DOE to develop an OLED-based "smart window" that can
switch between a transparent window and a source of white light. The
company is also developing infrared-emitting OLED displays for use by
military personnel wearing night vision equipment, and is exploring the use
of ink-jet printers to produce OLED panels. See the press releases from
<http://www.abiresearch.com/abiprdisplay2.jsp?pressid=399>ABI Research and
<http://www.universaldisplay.com/newsroom.htm>Universal Display.

Traditional LEDs continue to gain ground as well. Carmanah Technologies
Corporation continues to rack up sales for its solar-powered LED products,
with applications in aviation lights, illuminated traffic signs, and
solar-powered warning flashers. In early February, the company received a
$615,000 order from the U.S. Marine Corps to supply solar-powered LED
airfield lights for the Marine Corps' second-largest airbase in the Middle
East. See the 
<http://www.carmanah.com/content/investors/news_releases/index.asp>Carmanah
press releases.
[]



Site News




<http://www.eere.energy.gov/news/rss.cfm>EERE Launches an RSS News Feed

News from DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
(EERE)­including the weekly "EERE Network News" as well as up-to-date news
on EERE-related press releases from DOE­is now available via an RSS feed.
RSS, or Really Simple Syndication, is an easy way for Web site owners to
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JavaScript, Perl, and PHP. Newshounds can also use an RSS reader to track
EERE news automatically. For more information on RSS, see our
"<http://www.eere.energy.gov/news/rss.cfm>What is RSS?" page, and if you
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<http://www.eere.energy.gov/news/rss/enn.xml>RSS feed.


Energy Connections




Kyoto Protocol Takes Effect Today

Following its ratification by Russia in late 2004, the Kyoto Protocol
enters into force today, causing its greenhouse gas emission targets to
become binding legal commitments for those industrialized countries that
have ratified it. The Kyoto Protocol also puts several market-based
mechanisms in action, including international greenhouse gas emissions
trading and the Clean Development Mechanism, which credits participating
countries for encouraging clean development in developing countries. The
Kyoto Protocol sets emission targets for industrialized countries for the
years 2008 to 2012, aiming to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions in
industrialized countries to at least 5 percent below 1990 levels. See the
<http://unfccc.int/essential_background/kyoto_protocol/items/2830.php>backgr
ound 
information about the Kyoto Protocol on the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change Web site.

If all industrialized countries participated in the treaty, the Kyoto
Protocol would apply to about half of global greenhouse gas emissions, but
since the United States and Australia have not ratified it, the Kyoto
Protocol's limits apply to 32 percent of global emissions. Although the
United States is not participating, the Bush Administration has set a
target to reduce the U.S. greenhouse gas intensity (the amount of
greenhouse gas produced per unit of gross domestic product) by 18 percent
by 2012. For more information, see the
<http://www.pewclimate.org/what_s_being_done/in_the_world/kyoto_enters_into_
force/index.cfm>special
Web site established by the Pew Center on Global Climate Change to mark the
passing into force of the Kyoto Protocol.

As the Kyoto Protocol takes effect, researchers at the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration (NASA) have verified that global temperatures in
2004 made it the fourth-warmest year on record, falling behind 2002, 2003,
and the record year of 1998. The researchers also anticipate that 2005
could set a new record for global temperature. According to NASA, Earth's
surface now absorbs more of the Sun's energy than gets reflected back to
space. That extra energy, together with a weak El Niño, is expected to make
2005 warmer than the years of 2003 and 2004, and perhaps even warmer than
1998. See the <http://www.giss.nasa.gov/research/news/20050208/>press
release from the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies.

This newsletter is funded by DOE's <http://www.eere.energy.gov/>Office of
Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) and is also available on the
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