Energy Conservation News articles from August 1998

Energy Conservation News archives from August 1998

OUTLOOK: AGA Projects 14% Savings.
August 19, 1998... According to a just-released study conducted by Science Applications International Corp. (1710 Goodridge Dr., McLean, VA 22102-3701; Tel: 703/821-4300) for the American Gas Assoc., electric industry restructuring will result in an average...

Some Efficiency Funding Restored.
August 19, 1998... After a 212 to 213 loss on a roll call vote on the Fox-Skaggs Amendment to restore efficiency funds, Rep. David Skaggs (D-CO) and Rep. Jon Fox (R-PA) pulled a victory out of the jaws of defeat the next day, restoring DOE funding for energy...

GOVERNMENT: Greens Say Fed Overlooked Savings.
August 19, 1998... Global Green USA (3002 Hyde Park Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90043-4259; Tel: 213/778-8288) has just released a set of recommendations that they claim could save the federal government up to $1 billion in costs associated with public and assisted...

ComEd Opposes Efficiency Legislation.
August 19, 1998... According to the Environmental Law and Policy Center (ELPC, 35 E Wacker Dr. No. 1300, Chicago, IL 60601-2110; Tel: 312/759-3400), Commonwealth Edison (Unicom Corp., 10 S. Dearborn St., 37th Fl., Chicago, IL 60690-3005; Tel: 312/394-7399),...

INTERNATIONAL: Huge Solar Plant Proposed for Sydney.
August 19, 1998... British Petroleum Co. (Britannic House, One Finsbury Circus, London EC2M 7BA, U.K.; Tel: +44-171-496-4000) intends to construct a solar cell production plant in Sydney, Australia that has a capacity of 50 MW a year. That represents half of...

ENERGY MANAGEMENT Ford First Site for New Product.
August 19, 1998... Ameren Corp. (1901 Chouteau Ave., St. Louis, MO 63103; Tel: 314/621- 3222) and CellNet Data Systems, Inc. (125 Shoreway Rd., San Carlos, CA 94070; Tel: 650/508-6000) have introduced Ameren Abacus, which is an energy information product that...

WTE System Picks Up Seven Patents.
August 19, 1998... Startec's (6479 Reflections Dr., Dublin, OH 43017; Tel 614/792-9988) subsidiary, Startec Energy, Inc., has acquired seven patents providing a strong proprietary position on the company's thermal vessel separation system, a key component of the...

RESIDENTIAL: EPA Documents 20 to 1 Payoff.
August 19, 1998... According to information just published by Steve Baden in Resnet Notes (Steve Baden, RESNET, 475 College Blvd., Suite 6-210, Oceanside, CA 92057; Email: resnet@earthlink.net), a peer-reviewed analysis to be published in the October issue of The...

Building EnergyStar Infrastructure in NY.
August 19, 1998... NYSERDA is seeking design assistance and implementation services for energy efficiency market transformation programs in New York State for residential appliances and lighting. The purpose of this initiative is to build a viable infrastructure...

COMMERCIAL: Huge Fuel Savings in the Sky.
August 19, 1998... Almost a billion dollars, much of which is jet fuel costs, could be saved annually when new air traffic control software developed by NASA (John Bluck, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035-1000; Tel: 650/604-5026) is in use...

AEP Goes After Solar Roofs.
August 19, 1998... Ohio's first solar energy system under the national Million Solar Roofs Initiative will be installed this summer on an elementary school in Worthington, Ohio. The Million Solar Roofs Initiative is a program created by the DOE, which is leading...

INDUSTRIAL: Results Demonstrate Efficiency Gains.
August 19, 1998... Cree Research, Inc. (4600 Silicon Dr., Durham, NC 27703; Tel: 919/361- 5709), a manufacturer of silicon carbide (SiC) wafers and SiC-based semiconductor products, has demonstrated a power diode with the highest blocking voltage ever reported...

UTC Aims for 25% Energy Cuts.
August 19, 1998... United Technologies Corp. (One Financial Plaza, Hartford, CT 06101; Tel: 860/728-7000) has embarked upon a comprehensive global conservation program that sets aggressive goals for the next decade. Under the plan, UTC will reduce its energy and...

Advanced Dryer Needs Less Fuel.
August 19, 1998... IVO Power Engineering, Ltd. (Rajatorpantie 8, FIN-01019 IVO, Finland; Tel: +358 9 856 1567, Fax: + 358 9 8561 4458), part of the US$ 2.6 billion IVO Group in Finland, has developed a new advanced dryer for fuels such as peat, biomass, waste...

Recovered Energy Runs Steel Plant.
August 19, 1998... Under the management of Exelon on-site energy and services, energy operations at the Fairless Hills steam generating station located on the U.S. Steel (600 Grant St., Pittsburgh, PA 15219-4776; Tel: 412/433- 1121) Fairless Works plant site are...

GRI Research Pushing Efficient Gas Engines.
August 19, 1998... The Gas Research Institute (GRI, 8600 W. Bryn Mawr Ave., Chicago, IL 60631-3579; Tel: 773/399-8100) currently estimates that gas-fired, small generating capacity will grow to nearly 26 gW in 2015, mainly through growth in distributed...

TRANSPORTATION: Car Buyers to DOE: 'Who Cares?'.
August 19, 1998... Illustrating the lack of concern over finite oil reserves, in a recent survey car buyers in the U.S. ranked "fuel economy" a low fifteenth on their list of considerations when purchasing a new vehicle, according to Thomas J. Gross of the DOE....

What's an Alternative Fuel?
August 19, 1998... In late July, the DOE published a proposed rule to add another new substitute for gasoline, called the "P-series fuels," to the regulatory definition of "alternative fuel." P-series fuels are designed to operate in flexible-fuel vehicles that...

UTC Commits to Fuel Cells.
August 19, 1998... United Technologies Corp. (UTC, One Financial Plaza, Hartford, CT 06101; Tel 860/728-7000) has formed a new limited liability company, International Fuel Cells, LLC (IFC), to expand its fuel cell business in the transportation market. IFC also...

Partners Develop Aero Engine.
August 19, 1998... A new aero-diesel engine development program has been initiated by Textron Lycoming (652 Oliver St., Williamsport, PA 17701-4472; Tel: 717/323-6181) and Detroit Diesel Corp. (13400 Outer Dr. West, Detroit, MI 48239-4001; Tel: 313/592-5000)....

UTILITIES/POWER GENERATION Consortium Pursues Decreased Peaking Costs.
August 19, 1998... At a recent meeting in San Francisco, the international sponsors of the collaborative advanced gas turbine (CAGT, 42 Sunrise Ln., Lafayette, CA 94549; Fax: 925/988-0402, Email: geohay3@aol.com) program announced their intention to accelerate...

Siemens Chops PV Costs.
August 19, 1998... Siemens Solar (4650 Adohr Ln., Camarillo CA 93012-8508; Tel: 805/482- 6800) is one of the first companies worldwide to announce series production of solar modules based on copper indium diSelenide (CIS) thin-film technology. The costs of...

APPLIANCES/ELECTRONICS Sapphire Key to Future Chips.
August 19, 1998... Sapphires and rubies may offer the key to faster, smaller and more reliable computer circuits, say scientists at the University of Delaware. James Kolodzey and colleagues in the university's engineering department have found that they can...

Chip Advance Reduces Power.
August 19, 1998... IBM (New Orchard Rd., Armonk, NY 10504; Tel: 914/765-1900) has developed a process, known as silicon-on-insulator (SOI), for building high-speed transistors that can be used to deliver higher performance microchips for servers and mainframes,...

Mitsubishi Cuts TV Stand-by Losses.
August 19, 1998... Later this month, Mitsubishi Electric Corp. (2-2-3 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100, Japan; Tel: +81-3-3218-2111) will introduce five new television models each of which consume only 0.25 W on standby, the lowest in the industry. The new TVs...

HVAC: Water-Cooled AC Saves 30 to 50%.
August 19, 1998... RTI, Inc. (301 Antone Rd., Sunland Park, NM 88063; Tel: 505/589-5431) is participating in the home cooling program funded by the Public Utilities Commission of California (CPUC). The program will pay $730 to home or business owners who install...

More on Pentech's Energy Controller.
August 19, 1998... Previously, ECN has reported on favorable energy savings results attributable to use of Pentech's (Pentech Energy Solutions, Inc., 6048 Cornerstone Ct. W, San Diego, CA 92121-4731; Tel: 619/457-2911) energy recovery controller (PERC). Now, a...

Heat Pump Shipments Gain By 7%.
August 19, 1998... According to the Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Institute (4301 North Fairfax Dr., Suite 425, Arlington, VA 22203; Tel: 703/524-8800) the early summer heat waves, a strong replacement market and record new housing sales, have lead to record...

INDUSTRY NEWS: Hoechst Sells Aerogel Technology.
August 19, 1998... Cabot Corp. (75 State St., Boston, MA 02109; Tel: 617/345-0100) has bought the aerogel technology, patents, pilot manufacturing, and business development interests of Aventis Research and Technologies, a subsidiary of Hoechst AG...

Distribution for MicroTurbine Broadens.
August 19, 1998... Kohler Power Systems (444 Highland Dr., Kohler, WI 53044; Tel: 920/457-4441) and Capstone Turbine Corp. (18700 Oxnard St., Tarzana, CA 91356-1413; Tel: 818/774-9600) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) whereby Kohler will market,...

MOTORS: SatCon Building EV Drivetrain.
August 19, 1998... SatCon Technology Corp. (161 First St., Cambridge, MA 02142; Tel: 617/661-0540) has received a contract to design and develop a low- cost, high-efficiency drivetrain for electric and hybrid-electric vehicles. The $150,000 contract was issued...

Improvements to Variable Speed Drives.
August 19, 1998... ABB's (PO Box 8131, CH-8050 Zurich, Switzerland; Tel: +41-1-317-7334) ACS 600 SingleDrive range of variable speed AC drives has been extended from 630 kW to 3 MW. The power range starts at 2.2 kW. This is the market's widest range of AC drives...

RESOURCES: CD-ROM Explains High-Efficiency HVAC.
August 19, 1998... By the year 2000, water and ammonia will be heating and cooling homes and businesses 50% more efficiently than today's gas furnace technology. Even better, this environmentally friendly energy technology does not cause global warming. A...

CEC Offering Free Advice on ESCOs.
August 19, 1998... The California Energy Commission has prepared a series of handbooks for its energy efficiency project management program. One is titled "How to Hire an Energy Services Co.", publication No. P400-97-001E and is available from the commission. To...

Saving Energy in Mobile Homes.
August 19, 1998... The just-published "Your Mobile Home: Energy and Repair Guide for Manufactured Housing" is the only book available about the unique energy conservation, maintenance, and comfort issues of manufactured homes. According to the book, re-insulating...

Using Biotech to Save Energy.
August 19, 1998... "Biotechnology in the Pulp and Paper Industry--A Route To Energy Conservation" (ISBN 1 85802 246 0) is a new addition to Pira International's paper technology series of titles. This publication examines the energy savings potential of...

CALENDAR.
August 19, 1998... September 21-25, 1998, Cogeneration Technology, Madison WI. Contact: University of Wisconsin-Madison, The College of Engineering, 432 North Lake St., Madison, WI 53706; Tel: 608/263-3371, Fax: 800/442- 4214, Email: custserv@edp.engr.wisc.edu....