Energy Conservation News articles from June 1998

Energy Conservation News archives from June 1998

Two Patents Affect Appliance Loads
June 1, 1998... U.S. Patent Number 5,758,040 was issued on May 29, 1998 to Inventors Minori Ichimura and Shoji Okabe for their work on an energy-saving unit that allows a facsimile machine to enter and exit an energy- saving mode. A main control unit controls...

LIGHTING: MagneTek and MyTech Market Lighting Controls
June 1, 1998... MagneTek, Inc. (26 Century Blvd., PO Box 290159, Nashville, TN 37229; Tel: 615/316-5100) has made a minority investment in MyTech Corporation (706 Brentwood St., Austin, TX 78752; Tel: 512/450-1100), a developer of occupancy sensors and adaptive...

GE/Toshiba Develop Advanced Power Plant
June 1, 1998... GE (1 River Rd., Schenectady, NY 12345; Tel: 518/385-2211) and Toshiba Corporation have signed a risk and revenue sharing agreement covering all future sales of the H System, the world's largest advanced combined-cycle power block. The H System...

APPLIANCES: BYU Team Develops Hi-Power Microbattery
June 1, 1998... A team of engineers at Brigham Young University and a Provo-based company, Bipolar Technologies (4724 Brentwood Cir., Provo, UT 84604; Tel: 801/225-1974), have invented a tiny battery as thin as a strand of human hair that one day may be used to...

Saving Energy and Money-On-line
June 1, 1998... In yet another on-line energy management initiative, a utility company, San Diego Gas & Electric (101 Ash St., San Diego, CA 92101; Phone: 619/696-2000), is offering a free on-line audit mechanism to measure home energy use and plan savings. The...

OUTLOOK: UK Calls for Energy Saving
June 1, 1998... UK Energy Minister John Battle suggests that Europe use combined heat and power (CHP) systems to limit emissions of greenhouse gases. CHP systems, which use heat produced during manufacturing operations, could help the EU meet its carbon dioxide...

DOE About to Issue Fuels Cells Solicitation
June 1, 1998... The DOE (Chicago Operations Office, 9800 South Cass Ave., Argonne, IL 60439) plans to issue a solicitation for financial assistance applications on or about July 1, 1998 for research and development on automotive fuel cells, direct injection...

Ballard Forging Ahead with New Contracts
June 1, 1998... Ballard Power Systems' subsidiary Ballard Generation Systems has signed a detailed memorandum of understanding with EBARA Corporation (11-1 Haneda Asahicho, Ohta-ku, Tokyo, 144-8510, Japan) to create a joint venture company with exclusive rights...

TRANSPORTATION: Steel Frame Makes Cars More Efficient
June 1, 1998... Specialty steel producer Armco, Inc. (301 Grant St., Pittsburgh, PA 15219; Tel: 412/255-9800) and Autokinetics (1711 West Hamlin Rd. Rochester Hills, MI 48309; Tel: 248/852-4450), a design engineering firm, are developing a stainless steel...

DOE Funding for State Efficiency Programs
June 1, 1998... According to the Pardalis Report, the Department of Energy (1000 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20585; Tel: 202/586-2319) has just announced a second round of funding for 1998 State Energy Program special projects. As options offered...

GOVERNMENT Finding Ways to Keep Cities Cool
June 1, 1998... Three U.S. cities will partner with NASA and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to study how strategically placed "urban forests" and the use of reflective surfaces may help cool cities and lower energy bills. Baton Rouge, LA; Sacramento,...

CALENDAR
June 1, 1998... August 17-18, 1998, Fundamentals of Cogeneration & On-site Generation, World Trade Center Boston, MA. Contact: Association of Energy Engineers (AEE), 4025 Pleasantdale Road, Suite 420, Atlanta, GA 30340; Tel: 770/925-9633; Fax: 770/381-9865....

UTILITIES/POWER GENERATION DCH to Commercialize PEM Fuel Cell
June 1, 1998... DCH Technology, Inc. (27811 Avenue Hopkins, Valencia, CA; Tel: 805/775- 8120) is signing a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) to commercialize a patented Circular Fuel Cell Stack....

RESOURCES: CADDET Offers Motor Drive Report
June 1, 1998... CADDET (Centres for the Analysis and Dissemination of Demonstrated Energy Technologies) has issued an Analysis Report entitled, "Learning from Experiences with Industrial Electric Motor Drive Systems." This 202-page report covers all aspects of...

ENERGY MANAGEMENT: E-Commerce for Energy Management Services
June 1, 1998... InfoMation Publishing Corp. (a subsidiary of CMG Information Services, Inc., 100 Brickstone Sq., Andover, MA 01810; Phone: 978/657-7000) and XENERGY, Inc. (a subsidiary of Energy East Corp., Ithaca-Dryden Rd., Ithaca, NY 14850; Phone:...

Utility Ends Program as Builders Pocket Savings
June 1, 1998... After 4 years of operation, Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. (BG&E, 39 W. Lexington St., Baltimore, MD 21201; Tel: 410/234-5000) has announced its intention to end its EnergyWi$e program which affected home construction. The utility will instead...

RESIDENTIAL: Litigation Over Foam System
June 1, 1998... Owners of residential properties clad with Exterior and Finish System components (EIFS) sold by Senergy, Inc. a subsidiary of Harris Specialty Chemicals, Inc. (10245 Centurion Pkwy., North Jacksonville, FL 32256; Tel: 904/996-6000) may be...

Breaking the Meter "Barrier"
June 1, 1998... Conectiv Energy and Southern California Edison (SCE, 2244 Walnut Grove Ave., Rosemead, CA 91770; Tel: 818/302-1212) have agreed to vend an energy information system based on Conectiv's information system technology. This new system will allow...

HVACR Customers Could Lose $2 Billion
June 1, 1998... According to a just-published study by Richard C. Carlson, chairman of Spectrum Economics (Palo Alto, CA), cross-subsidization of utility entry into the heating, ventilation, air-conditioning and refrigeration industry (HVACR) is a growing...

AEP Launches Energy Management Tool
June 1, 1998... AEP Communications (1 Riverside Plaza, Columbus, OH 43215; Tel: 614/223-1000) has developed an energy management tool called Datapult (see http://www.aep.com/datapult), which will enable multisite companies to track and manage usage of...

TransAlta Wins Cogen Project
June 1, 1998... The major power-consuming industries in the Sarnia area, working with the Sarnia-Lambton Office of Economic Development, have selected TransAlta Energy Corporation (Sarnia, Ontario) to pursue developing a $400 million cogeneration opportunity. If...

INDUSTRY NEWS: GE Completes Microturbine Agreement
June 1, 1998... GE Power Systems has finalized its agreement with Elliott Energy Systems (EES) for the distribution and servicing of EES's new line of Turbo Alternators, or microturbines. EES (Stuart, FL) is a joint venture 80% owned by Elliott Turbomachinery...

Ergenics Delivers Storage Vessels
June 1, 1998... Ergenics, Inc. (247 Margaret King Ave., Ringwood, NJ 07456; Tel: 973/962-4480) has delivered its 300th custom metal hydride/hydrogen storage vessel for use with fuel cells. Fuel cell hydrogen storage is the fastest growing market for Ergenics'...

MOTORS: Surprising Conclusions on Optimal Voltage
June 1, 1998... According to a paper titled, "Energy-Efficient Induction Motors Performance Characteristics and Life Cycle Cost Comparisons for Centrifugal Loads," published in IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications, (Volume 33, No. 5), researchers Paul S....

Daylighting for Office Occupants
June 1, 1998... Once developed, new energy-efficient technologies must be proven before they are introduced to the building industry in order to ensure performance and to reduce real, as well as perceived, risk. In a new report titled, "Office Worker Response to...

Gas-Fueled Heat Pump Demonstration
June 1, 1998... Within the scope of the DOE's NICE3 program, DOE reports that contract negotiations are going on with Acurex Environmental Corporation to develop a gas-fueled absorption heat pump that provides freezing, domestic hot water or boiler preheated...

HVAC: Strategy and Tools for HVAC Design & Analysis
June 1, 1998... The Trane Company (3600 Pammel Creek, La Crosse, WI 54601; Tel: 608/787-2000) and Bentley Systems, Inc. (690 Pennsylvania Dr., Exton, PA 19341; Tel: 610/458-5000) are aligned on a software strategy with software tools for HVAC design and...

Here's the Smallest Transistor Ever
June 1, 1998... A research team at the University of Maryland has created the world's smallest transistor. This innovation could enable trillions of transistors to fit on one computer chip - 100 times more than is possible with today's technology. Using a...

Duke/NIPSCO Offer Low Cost Generation
June 1, 1998... Duke Energy Industrial Asset Development, a subsidiary of Duke Energy Corporation (422 S. Church St., Charlotte, NC 28242-0001; Tel: 704/594-0887), and Primary Energy, a subsidiary of NIPSCO Industries, Inc. (5265 Hohman Ave., Hammond, IN 46320;...

Cogen Saves for Holiday Inn
June 1, 1998... The Holiday Inn Conference Center (Batavia, NY) has selected Strategic Resource Solutions Corp. (SRS, 5625 Dillard Dr., Suite 101, Cary NC 27511; Tel: 888/575-7878) to provide a co-generation energy solution that is projected to reduce its energy...

COMMERCIAL Solar-Powered Stadium in Works
June 1, 1998... BP (200 Public Square, Cleveland, OH 44114; Tel: 216/586-4141), the world's largest solar company in terms of revenue, and Newcastle United are planning to build the world's largest solar-powered sports stadium. The 350kW solar project is part of...

INDUSTRIAL: Kawasaki to Market Efficient Steel Furnace
June 1, 1998... Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. has gotten into the electric furnace business. The company has announced that is has sole Japanese rights to produce an energy-efficient electric furnace developed by Fuchs Systemtechnik GmbH of Germany. Kawasaki...

Polaroid Initiates Efficiency Upgrades
June 1, 1998... Planergy (Barton Oaks Plaza 2, Suite 495, 901 MoPac Expressway South, Austin, Texas 78746; Tel: 512/327-6830) has begun several projects to install energy efficient equipment at Polaroid's (549 Technology Sq., Cambridge, MA 02139; Tel:...

Producing Power with Paper Lowers Costs
June 1, 1998... Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (7201 Hamilton Blvd., Allentown, PA 18195; Tel: 610/481-4911) and Kvaerner ASA's subsidiary, Kvaerner Chemrec, have entered into a cooperative agreement to supply oxygen-based Black Liquor Gasification (BLG)...