Energy Conservation News articles from March 2000

Energy Conservation News archives from March 2000

OUTLOOK: Fuel Cell Concept Vehicles Sprouting.
March 1, 2000... In early March, General Motors Corp. (100 Renaissance Ctr., Detroit, MI 48243; Tel: 313/556-5000, Fax: 313/556-5108; Website: www.gm.com/) introduced yet another advanced fuel-cell stack, saying it is smaller, cheaper. and more efficient than...

GOVERNMENT: Standards Proposed for Lamp Ballasts.
March 1, 2000... On April 18, the DOE will be holding a public hearing in Washington, DC, on proposed standards to improve the energy efficiency of fluorescent lighting in commercial and industrial applications. The proposed standards are based on an agreement...

DOE Seeks Efficient Truck Engines.
March 1, 2000... Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson has announced a new joint effort between the U.S. Department of Energy and three heavy-duty diesel engine manufacturers that is intended to make the diesel engines used for 18-wheelers more fuel efficient....

ENERGY MANAGEMENT/FINANCING : Usource to Deploy Load Profile Metering.
March 1, 2000... Unitil Corp. (6 Liberty Lane W., Hampton, NH 03842-1720; Tel: 603/772-0775, Fax: 603/773-6605; Website: www.unitil.com) and AEP Communications, LLC, a subsidiary of American Electric Power (1 Riverside Plaza, Columbus, OH 43215; Tel: 614/223-...

ALSTOM First in Management Systems.
March 1, 2000... ALSTOM T&D (11120 N.E. 33rd Pl., Bellevue, WA 98004; Fax: 425/889-1700; Website: www.alstom.esca.com) took the number-one position among worldwide suppliers of Energy Management Systems, Supervisory Control and Data Acquisitions (SCADA), and...

Internet-Enabled Meters Will Save Energy.
March 1, 2000... Connect One (2 Hanagar St., Kfar Saba 44425, Israel; Tel: +972-9-766-0456, Fax: +972-9-766-0461; Email: support@connectone.com, Website: www.connectone.com), a provider of Internet-enabling technology solutions, and NAMS, Ltd. (Tel-Aviv,...

AEP, Cutler-Hammer Form Services Alliance.
March 1, 2000... AEP Communications, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of American Electric Power (1 Riverside Plaza, Columbus, OH 43215-2373; Tel: 614/223-1000, Fax: 614/223-1823; Website: www.aep.com), and Cutler-Hammer, a business unit of Eaton Corp. (Eaton...

Honeywell Gets Contracts at Fort Dix.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... Honeywell's (101 Columbia Rd., Morristown, NJ 07962; Tel: 973/455-2000, Tel: 800/707-4555, Fax: 973/455-4807; Website: www.honeywell.com) Home and Building Control business has been awarded $18.1 million in Energy Savings Performance Contracts...

RESIDENTIAL: Power Technologies Still Need Work.
March 1, 2000... Fuel cell technology stocks are hot, but the products are not yet ready to be marketed, according to Russ Burbank, CEO of EPRIsolutions, a subsidiary of EPRI (Electric Power Research Institute, 3412 Hillview Ave., Palo Alto, CA 94304; Tel:...

Insight on Fuel Oil Use.
March 1, 2000... The use of fuel oil has changed over the past two decades, according to the Energy Information Administration's (EIA) Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS). Since 1978, the percentage of households using electricity as their main...

NAHB, PATH Plan Fuel-Cell Tests.(Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... In a public/private research partnership, the NAHB Research Center (400 Prince George's Blvd., Upper Marlboro, MD 20774; Tel: 301/249-4000), the Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing (PATH), and Energy Partners, LLC (1501 Northpoint...

Adding Heating to Fuel Cells.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... Plug Power, Inc. (968 Albany-Shaker Rd., Latham, NY 12110; Tel: 518/782-7700, Fax: 518/782-7914; Website: www.plugpower.com) and GE MicroGen, a subsidiary of GE Power Systems (1 River Rd., Schenectady, NY 12345; Tel: 518/385-2211, Fax:...

COMMERCIAL: Upgraded System Lowers Costs.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... NIST's Building and Fire Research Laboratory (100 Bureau Dr., Stop 8603, Gaithersburg, MD 20899-8603; Tel: 301/975-6131) has refined and expanded its UNIFORMAT II system for standardizing building-related classifications. A new report from the...

TRANSPORTATION : Dodge Demos PNGV Concepts.(Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... The recently unveiled Dodge ESX3 illustrates some of DaimlerChrysler's (Epplestrasse 225, D-70546 Stuttgart, Germany; Tel: +49-711-17-1, Fax: +49-711- 17-94022; Website: www.daimlerchrysler.com) progress toward an ultra-high- mileage car. The...

Efficiency Driving Demand for Aluminum.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... Aluminum consumption in the automotive industry will climb by 2.5 million metric tons, or more than 55%, over the next five years on a global basis, a senior Alcan (1188 Sherbrooke St. W., Montreal, Quebec H3A 3G2, Canada; Tel: 514/848- 8000,...

UTILITIES/POWER GENERATION : Gas Turbine Introduced by GE.
March 1, 2000... GE Power Systems has unveiled an advanced gas turbine that sets a record for power-generating efficiency. GE said that its newest H System gas turbine, designated MS7001H, the most advanced combustion turbine in the world, is ready to cross...

FERCO Biogas Getting Accolades.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... FERCO (Future Energy Resources Corp., 3500 Parkway Lane, Suite 440, Norcross, GA 30092; Tel: 770/662-7800, Fax: 770/662-7807; Email: ferco@future-energy.com; Website: www.future-energy.com) has received a R&D 100 Award for developing a biomass...

FuelCell Energy to Develop Hybrid Plant.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... FuelCell Energy, Inc. (FCE, 3 Great Pasture Rd., Danbury, CT 06813; Tel: 203/825-6000, Fax: 203/825-6100; Website: www.fuelcellenergy.com) has been selected to develop a $3.125 million program by the DOE, including 20% cost sharing, to support...

Field Tests for Small Geothermal.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... According to the March 13 issue of the Commerce Business Daily, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) anticipates issuing a Request for Proposals (RFP) in March 2000 for a new project on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy in...

First Superconducting Power Delivery System.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson recently joined Georgia Governor Roy Barnes and Southwire Co. (c/o Gary Leftwich, 1 Southwire Dr., Carrollton, GA 30119; Tel: 770/832-4242, Tel: 800/444-1700, Fax: 770/832-5374; Website: www.southwire.com;...

Sandia Creates Solar Cell Material.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... Scientists at the Department of Energy's Sandia National Laboratories (Albuquerque, NM) are developing a new semiconductor alloy they say could enable photovoltaic cells with nearly double the efficiency of today's silicon solar cells....

APPLIANCES: MagneTek Patents Energy Saver.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... MagneTek, Inc. (26 Century Blvd., Ste. 600, Nashville, TN 37214-3683; Tel: 615/316-5100, Fax: 615/316-5195; Website: www.magnetek.com) an electronic power company, has received U.S. and European patents covering a digital regulator capable of...

HVAC: HVAC Invention Looking for Market.(QuikBoost refrigerant additive)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... Mainstream Engineering Corp.'s (200 Yellow Pl., Rockledge, FL 32955; Website: www.qwik.com) QwikBoost, an additive for vapor compression refrigeration systems, air conditioners, and heat pumps, results in increased system performance (i.e.,...

INDUSTRY NEWS: Solatube Targets Manufactured Homes.(Raybender Technology skylights)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... Solatube International, Inc. (2210 Oak Ridge Way, Vista, CA 92083; Tel: 800/966- 7652, Fax: 760/ 599-5181; Website: www.solatube.com) has introduced a new series of tubular skylights featuring their patented Raybender Technology, which...

Ballard Reports More Losses.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 1, 2000... Ballard Power Systems, Inc. (9000 Glenlyon Pkwy., Burnaby, B.C. V5J 5J9, Canada; Tel: 604/454-0900, Fax: 604/412-4700; Website: www.ballard.com) reported its financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 1999. All...

RESOURCES: Efficiency Opportunities at Chip Fabs.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... Significant opportunities to save money and improve product quality through water and energy efficiency are available to semiconductor fabrication plants in the Northwest and elsewhere in the U.S. These opportunities are described in detail in...

Good Bye to SIC, Hello to NAICS!(Standard Industrial Classification, North American Industry Classification System)
March 1, 2000... Numerous efficiency-related products were released this month by the Energy Information Administration (Website: www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/mecs/mecs98/naics/naics8.html). In the first release, EIA has incorporated into its 1998 Manufacturing Energy...

Funding for Energy Efficiency.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... According to the February 16 issue of the Federal Register [65(32)], The DOE is announcing a competitive solicitation for applications for cooperative agreements to pursue scientific and engineering research and development (R&D) in enabling...

CALENDAR.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... April 3-6, 2000, Advanced Energy Generation Conference, Newport Beach, CA. Contact: International Colloquium and Exhibit on Environmentally Preferred Advanced Energy Generation; Tel: 949/824-7302. April 4-6, 2000, Electric Power 2000:...