Energy Conservation News articles from April 1999

Energy Conservation News archives from April 1999

OUTLOOK: Congress Looking at Efficiency Credits Again.
April 1, 1999... According to RESNET (P.O. Box 4561, Oceanside, CA 92052; Email: resnet@earthlink.net, Website: www.natresnet.org), several initiatives are under consideration in Washington to provide federal tax credits for more energy efficient homes. On...

Purchasing Decisions Getting Priority.
April 1, 1999... According to a study just released by Statoil Energy, Inc. (N-4035 Stavanger, Norway; +47-51-80-80-80, Fax: +47-51-80-70-42; Website: www.statoil.com), energy purchasing decisions are, more than ever, being determined at the corporate level,...

INTERNATIONAL: Beijing Allocating More Funds to Energy Problems.
April 1, 1999... According to the World Resources Institute (10 G St., N.E., Suite 800, Washington, D.C. 20002; Tel: 202/729-7600; Fax: 202/729-7610), Beijing and 8 other Chinese cities are ranked among the world's 10 most polluted cities. Furthermore, in the...

ENERGY MANAGEMENT/FINANCING New Information Marketing Alliance.
April 1, 1999... EnerShop (Website: www.enershop.com), a subsidiary of Central and South West Corp. (1616 Woodall Rodgers Fwy., Dallas, TX 75202-1234; Tel: 214/777-1000, Fax: 214/777-1033; Website: www.csw.com), has entered into a marketing alliance with...

RESIDENTIAL: MAISY Databases Applied at LBNL.
April 1, 1999... MAISY's (Market Analysis and Information System, Jackson Associates, Suite 417, 100 Europa Dr., Chapel Hill, NC 27514; Tel: 919/967-9000, Fax: 919/967-8040; Email: jjackson@ntrnet.net, Website: www.maisy.com) commercial and residential energy...

Consumption Measurement Facilitates Savings.
April 1, 1999... Ericsson (Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson, S-126 25, Stockholm, Sweden; Tel: +46-8-719-0000, Fax: +46-8-184-085; Website: www.ericsson.com) has signed a contract with Enermet for an order of GSM modules, GM 12, with a value of $19 million. The...

Ecommerce Applied to Energy Sales.
April 1, 1999... "Eenergy" is a hot, new area in ecommerce. Now, Idealab!, the innovator behind ecommerce Internet companies such as Free-PC, GoTo.com, and eToys, has set up utility.com where consumers use the Internet to buy electricity for their homes and...

COMMERCIAL: Commercial Bill Analyzer on Market.
April 1, 1999... Electrotek Concepts has just released its Commercial Energy Bill Analyzer (CEBA), a software system giving utilities the ability to offer bill analysis and energy audits over the Web to small- and medium-size commercial customers. The new...

INDUSTRIAL: Burner Reduces Fuel Consumption.
April 1, 1999... Praxair, Inc. (39 Old Ridgebury Rd., Danbury, CT 06810-5113; Tel: 203/837-2000, Fax: 203/837-2450; Website: www.praxair.com) has installed its new proprietary burner technology at Gallo Glass Co. (Modesto, CA) which can boost production 15%...

DOE Aims to Cut Mining Energy.
April 1, 1999... As announced in the Federal Register [12294, March 12, 1999], the U. S. Department of Energy's Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Office of Industrial Technologies (OIT) in conjunction with the Federal Energy Technology Center (FETC)...

Efficiency Awards Target Heavy Industry.
April 1, 1999... The DOE has awarded more than $2 million to 6 U.S. manufacturing companies to help demonstrate and commercialize energy-efficient industrial technologies. The technologies supported by these grants will further advance their application in the...

Gas Use Up Sharply.
April 1, 1999... According to a just-published GRI report, "The Implications of the Changes in Industrial Energy Demand: 1985-1992" [GRI-99/0030], between 1985 and 1992, U.S. industrial consumption of natural gas increased 3.3% annually - nearly twice the rate...

Plantwide Efficiency Assessments.
April 1, 1999... Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL, P.O. Box 2009, Bldg. 9102-1, M.S. 8038, Oak Ridge, TN 37831; Tel: 423/574-0770, Fax: 423/576-0493), on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Industrial Technologies (OIT), is interested in...

TRANSPORTATION: Patent Issued for More Efficient Fuel Cell.
April 1, 1999... Humboldt State University's Schatz Energy Research Center (SERC, Arcata, CA, 95521; Tel: 707/826-5102; Website: www.humboldt.edu/~serc) has received a patent for a fuel cell design that underscores how "less can mean more" in the world of...

DOE Grants to Push Fuel Cells.
April 1, 1999... The Nevada Operations Office (Darby A. Dieterich, U.S. Department of Energy, Nevada Operations Office, Contracts Management Division, P.O. Box 98518, Las Vegas, NV 89158) of the Department of Energy has issued a Financial Assistance...

UTILITIES/POWER GENERATION Process Optimization Reduces Heat Rate.
April 1, 1999... Recent survey results published by Resource Data Intl., Inc. (RDI) have verified the positive impacts of KFx, Inc.'s (1999 Broadway, Suite 3200, Denver, CO 80202; Tel: 303/293-2992, Fax: 303/293-8430; Website: www.kfx.com) subsidiary Net Power...

Slashing Costs of Recovering Methane.
April 1, 1999... Far from being static mountains of garbage, landfills are dynamic systems naturally converting waste into potentially valuable resources. Long after they're closed, solid waste landfills generate gases from the natural decomposition process of...

Siemens Offers Higher Power CIS Modules.
April 1, 1999... Siemens Solar (Camarillo, CA; Website: www.siemenssolar.com) is now vending CIS solar modules ST20 (20 Wp) and ST40 (38 Wp). Siemens Solar has been closely involved in further developing CIS thin-film technology with the aim of achieving the...

APPLIANCES: Intelligent Chip for Green Power Supplies.
April 1, 1999... Micro Linear Corp. (2092 Concourse Dr., San Jose, CA, 95131; Tel: 408/433-5200; Email: info@ulinear.co, Website: www.microlinear.com) has revealed a patented chip for the design of green switching power supplies in systems such as PCs,...

HVAC: Pint-Size Heat Pumps.
April 1, 1999... This month researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL, P.O. Box 999, Battelle Blvd., Richland, WA 99352; Tel: 509/375- 2121, Fax: 509/372-4791) reported on their work in developing a heat- actuated heat pump small enough to fit...

LIGHTING: Incentives for LED Traffic Signals.
April 1, 1999... Municipalities, counties, and cities across GPU Energy's (300 Madison Ave., Morristown, NJ 07962-1911; Tel: 973/455-8200, Fax: 973/455- 8582; Website: www.gpu.com) New Jersey service territory, as well as the state, can gain cash rebates by...

NYSERDA Seeks High Efficiency.
April 1, 1999... The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA, 286 Washington Ave. Extn., Albany, NY 12203-6399; Website: www.nyserda.org) invites short proposals (PON No. 471-99) for projects to research, develop, commercialize, and...

INDUSTRY NEWS: PetroMoly Gets Distribution Deal.
April 1, 1999... Worldwide PetroMoly, Inc. has entered into a nonexclusive distribution agreement with Environmental Fleet Services (EFS) (Los Angeles, CA) to distribute PetroMoly lubrication products to its customers in California and Illinois. EFS...

BP Amoco Creates Biggest Solar Firm.
April 1, 1999... BP Amoco (Britannic House, 1 Finsbury Circus, London EC2M 7BA, U.K.; Tel: +44-171-496-4000, Fax: +44-171-496-4630; Website: www.bpamoco.com) has stepped up its investment in its growing solar energy business by buying the 50% stake it did not...

Unicom Installs Innovative System.
April 1, 1999... Unicom Distributed Energy (UDE, 10 S. Dearborn St., 37th Fl., Chicago, IL 60690-3005; Tel: 312/394-7399, Fax: 312/394-7251; Website: www.ceco.com) has completed the first installation of a TurboGenerator Power System at The Energy Efficient...

AEP Announces Management Initiative.
April 1, 1999... AEP Energy Services, a subsidiary of American Electric Power (1 Riverside Plaza, Columbus, OH 43215; Tel: 614/223-1000), and CPS Utilities (Cleveland, OH) have entered into a joint marketing arrangement to provide energy commodities and energy...

Biodiesel Lowers Fuel Costs.
April 1, 1999... Bio-Diesel is an alternative fuel that is manufactured from agricultural products. Because Bio-Diesel is totally derived from agricultural products, it is a renewable energy resource. Plant oil fuels regenerate every year and can be produced...

RESOURCES: Program Calculates Thermal Insulation.
April 1, 1999... AEA Technology Engineering Software (AEA Technology PLC, Harwell, Didcot, Oxfordshire, OX11 ORA; Tel: +44 (0)1235 821111, Fax: +44 (0)1235 432916; Email: enquiry@aeat.co.uk, Website: www.software.aeat.com) has released a new Thermal Insulation...

Helping Consumers Tap into Solar.
April 1, 1999... Two new publications by the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL; Website: www.nrel.gov) make it easier for people to purchase solar energy systems and tap into energy from the sun. The Colorado Consumer's...

Funds for Small- Scale Researchers.
April 1, 1999... The first grant solicitation notice for small-scale innovative research projects has been released by the California Energy Commission. Maximum amounts of up to $75,000 each will be available under the Energy Innovations Small Grants Program,...

Methods Document Efficiency Gains.
April 1, 1999... Monitoring, evaluating, reporting, verifying, and certifying (MERVC) guidelines are needed for greenhouse gas mitigation projects in order to accurately determine their impact on GHG and other attributes. Implementation of standardized...

CALENDAR.
April 1, 1999... May 25-27, 1999, The World Sustainable Energy Fair, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Contact: European Media Marketing Ltd., Tel: +44 181 289 8989; Email: sustain@emml.co.uk. May 26-28, 1999, Combustion and Global Climate Change: Canada's...