Energy Conservation News articles from January 1999

Energy Conservation News archives from January 1999

GOVERNMENT: Portland Exceeds Efficiency Goals.
January 19, 1999... According to Rebuild America, a Department of Energy Efficiency program, the Portland, Oregon, area is leading the nation in boosting energy efficiency with area businesses improving 42.3 million ft2 since 1996. The volume of space that...

INTERNATIONAL: Hydro-Qu_bec Pursues Efficiency.
January 19, 1999... Hydro-Qu_bec Intl. (HQI, 75 Rene-Levesque Blvd. West Montreal, Quebec H2Z 1A4, Canada; Tel: 514/289-2211, Fax: 514/289-3728; Website: www.hydroquebec.com) and Dessau-Soprin have created a new joint venture, Econoler Intl., to develop the...

ENERGY MANAGEMENT/FINANCING ConEd Announces Management Service.
January 19, 1999... Con Edison Solutions (White Plains, NY; Website: www.conedsolutions.com), the energy services subsidiary of Consolidated Edison, Inc. (4 Irving Pl., New York, NY 10003; Tel: 212/460-4600, Fax: 212/673-8616; Website: www.conedison.com) has...

RESIDENTIAL: Solarex Completes "Zero-Energy" House.
January 19, 1999... It is no secret that the Japanese government helped drive the PV market in the past few years. Through government-supported subsidies, the cost of a residential PV system was decreased by a third, making it a very attractive alternative to...

Energy Simulation Tools Available.
January 19, 1999... The Building Design Analysis (BDA) development team (Konstantinos Papamichael, Staff Architect/Scientist, PI, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of California, 1 Cyclotron Rd., M.S. 90-3111, Berkeley, CA 94720; Tel:...

COMMERCIAL: Energy Standard Under Revision.
January 19, 1999... According to information supplied by Jason Glazer, P.E. (GARD Analytics, 1028 Busse Hwy., Park Ridge, IL 60068-1802; Tel: 847/698- 5685, Fax: 847/698-5600; Email: jglazer@gard.com, Website: www.gard.com/), the ASHRAE standard that regulates...

EPRICSG Announces Supermarket Initiatives.
January 19, 1999... EPRICSG, a subsidiary of EPRI (3412 Hillview Ave., Palo Alto, CA 94304- 1395; Tel: 650/855-2354), has announced the availability of a new product - a "smart" controller for timing defrost cycles that minimizes total energy use. Tests in...

INDUSTRIAL: ConduFill System Cuts Heat Loss.
January 19, 1999... Thermal Science Technologies (TST, 7526-R Connelley Dr., Hanover, MD 21076; Tel: 410/760-7241, Fax: 410/760-0028; Email: sales@thermalsciencetech.com, Website: www.thermalsciencetech.com) has completed a ConduFill reinsulation project for...

Tiny Particles Bring Better Catalysts.
January 19, 1999... Argonne National Laboratory (9700 Cass Ave., Argonne, IL 60439-4814; Tel: 630/252-2000, Fax: 630/252-5274) scientists John Harkness and Chris Marshall recently provided a glimpse of their work to develop a process that could allow large-scale...

Solar Production of Aluminum Possible.
January 19, 1999... Aluminum production uses some of the most energy-intensive processes in industry. However, the industry is also a superb candidate for use of solar process heat. Such a change-over (from utility-supplied electricity to solar sources) would...

Microdrilling Cuts Exploration Costs.
January 19, 1999... Department of Energy Los Alamos National Laboratory researchers are currently testing new microdrilling technology that may revolutionize the way underground resource exploration is carried out in the 21st century; and at greatly reduced cost....

TRANSPORTATION: Honda Achieves More Than 70 MPG.
January 19, 1999... Honda (1919 Torrance Blvd., Torrance, CA 90501-2746; Tel: 310/783- 2000, Fax: 310/783-3900; Website: www.honda.com) unveiled its "VV" hybrid prototype vehicle at the 1999 North American International Auto Show in early January and announced...

DOE Doles Out Money.
January 19, 1999... The electric power systems at the heart of tomorrow's advanced automobiles will be more efficient, smarter, smaller, and less expensive due to a $20 million R&D initiative being underwritten by the U.S. Department of Energy. Under the...

UTILITIES/POWER GENERATION Hot New Technology Generates Efficiently.
January 19, 1999... University of North Dakota researchers (Energy & Environmental Research Ctr., University of North Dakota, P.O. Box 9018, Grand Forks, ND 58202; Tel: 701/777-5000, Fax: 701/777-5181; Website: www.eerc.und.nodak.edu) report achieving a radical...

OR at Utility Saves Big Energy Dollars.
January 19, 1999... A complex operations research model that generates 10 different weather scenarios to anticipate customer requirements has been saving the customers of Peoples Energy (130 E. Randolph Dr., 24th Fl., Chicago, IL 60601-6207; Tel: 312/240-4000,...

Low-Emissions Turbine Conversion.
January 19, 1999... The Department of Energy has been co-sponsoring with 5 domestic turbine manufacturers a $250 million, 8-year program to develop an efficient, environmentally superior Advanced Turbine System (ATS). After several years and millions of...

NREL Awards $5 Million.
January 19, 1999... According to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (1617 Cole Blvd., Golden, CO 80401-3305; Tel: 303/275-3000), 4 Colorado companies and 3 research institutions are sharing $5 million in contract awards to continue work on high efficiency,...

APPLIANCES/ELECTRONICS More Efficient than an LED?
January 19, 1999... Scientists at Northwestern University (633 Clark St., Evanston, IL 60208; Tel: 847/491-3741, Fax: 847/491-8406; Website: www.nwu.edu) have provided the first demonstration of lasing in a simple powdered material, suggesting that semiconductor...

MAGRAM Decreases Power Consumption.
January 19, 1999... University of Utah researchers have announced a major breakthrough in the development of a new type of memory. Once realized, the new technology should offer decreased power consumption in portable devices such as laptop computers, cellular...

HVAC: More Communication, Less HVAC.
January 19, 1999... According to an article by David Houghton in the December issue of Architectural Record, if architects and engineers worked in concord, HVAC plants for facilities could be significantly and safely downsized. According to Houghton, engineers...

Geothermal System for Fort Eustis.
January 19, 1999... EVANTAGE (Richmond, VA), a division of Virginia Power (Dominion Resources Inc., 901 E. Byrd St., Ste. 1700, Richmond, VA 23219-6111; Tel: 804/775-5700, Fax: 804/775-5819; Website: www.domres.com/homepage.html), has started a $2.2 million...

Controller Maximizes Heat Pump Systems.
January 19, 1999... EPRI has just announced the SmartLoop 2000, a low-cost, microprocessor-based controller that maximizes the efficiency and performance of water loop heat pump (WLHP) systems. Since the summer of 1997, 2 office buildings near Madison, Wisconsin,...

LIGHTING: Fusion Calls "Time-out" in Sulfur Lamp Race.
January 19, 1999... Fusion Lighting, Inc. is temporarily taking their sulfur lamp off the market while they make fundamental changes to the design. They hope to have an improved lamp on the market in 1999. According to Kent Kipling, vice president of Fusion...

Task Lighting Premiers at P.O.
January 19, 1999... The U.S. Postal Service (475 L'Enfant Plaza, Washington, DC 20260- 0010; Tel: 202/268-2000, Fax: 202-268-3488; Website: www.usps.gov), working with researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, has developed an integrated,...

INDUSTRY NEWS: Europe's First Fuel Cell Plant.
January 19, 1999... ALSTOM SA (38, Avenue Kleber, 75795 Paris Cedex 16, France; Tel: +33- 1-47-55-2000, Fax: +33-1-47-55-2614; Website: www.gecalsthom.com) is investing 25 million ECU to build Europe's first fuel cell technology plant in Dresden, Germany. The...

Williams Jumps into Distributed Generation.
January 19, 1999... In a bid to lower customers' energy costs, Williams' (One Williams Ctr., Tulsa, OK 74172; Tel: 918/588-2000, Fax: 918/588-2296; Website: www.twc.com) business group, Williams Distributed Power Services, Inc. (Website:...

Marketing of Controller Broadening.
January 19, 1999... Power Efficiency Corp. (PEC, 164 South St., Hackensack, NJ 07601-3109; Tel: 201/488-4040) has revealed that Edison Power Technologies, Inc., one of PEC's lead distributors, has reached agreement with Otis Elevator Co. to sell Edison's "Energy...

Cheaper Electricity from Fuel Cells.
January 19, 1999... Plug Power (968 Albany-Shaker Rd., Latham, NY 12110; Tel: 518/782- 7700, Fax: 518/782-7914; Email: info@plugpower.com, Website: www.plugpower.com) has completed the successful demonstration of a natural gas-based proton exchange membrane (PEM)...

RESOURCES: Navy Posts Efficiency Info.
January 19, 1999... The U.S. Navy has recently developed a "Whole Building Design Guide" and supporting information which has some interesting energy efficiency information for all types of buildings and may be of interest/reference to customers seeking...

CALENDAR.
January 19, 1999... February 7-9, 1999, 3rd Industrial Energy Efficiency Symposium and Exposition, Washington, DC. Contact: Meeting Management Services; Tel: 877/648-7967. February 22-26, 1999, Cogeneration Technology, Las Vegas NV. Contact: University of...