Energy Conservation News articles from May 1999

Energy Conservation News archives from May 1999

OUTLOOK: DOE Invests $10 Million to Boost Energy Efficiency.
May 1, 1999... Through four competitive solicitations, the Dept. of Energy (DOE) intends to provide roughly $10 million for the targeted research, development, or demonstration of new and advanced industrial technologies. Through its Office of Energy...

ENERGY MANAGEMENT/FINANCING Internet Monitors Small Commercial Buildings.
May 1, 1999... Due to the cost prohibitive nature of most energy management systems, small commercial building owners, be they national chains or single-site owners, have been relegated to the installation of complicated programmable thermostats. As a...

Saving Money at the Online Power Supermarket.
May 1, 1999... Full Power Group, Inc. (14560 Detroit Ave., Suite 313, Lakewood, OH 44107; Tel: 216/227-9835) is moving full speed ahead with its business plan to establish an online power supermarket that will assist energy customers with both energy...

Museum of Fine Arts Cuts Electric Bill Sharply.
May 1, 1999... Exelon Energy Services (2301 Market St., Philadelphia, PA 19101; Tel: 215/841-4000, Fax: 215/841-4188, Website: www.exeloncorp.com) has managed to save the School of the Museum of Fine Arts (Ave. of the Arts, 465 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA...

RESIDENTIAL: Mass Marketing of Controller in the Works.
May 1, 1999... Commonwealth Energy Corp. (15991 Redhill Ave., Suite 201, Tustin, CA 92780) has started marketing the Pentech energy recovery controller (6885 Flanders Dr., No. B, San Diego, CA 92121-2933; Tel: 888-550-PERC, Website:...

'Power Meter on-a-Chip' Means Better Energy Tracking.
May 1, 1999... In late April, Cirrus Logic, Inc. (3100 W. Warren Ave., Fremont, CA 94538; Tel: 510/623-8300, Fax: 510/226-2240, Website: http://www.cirrus.com) introduced a new integrated analog-to-digital converter (ADC) chip that will allow digital power...

COMMERCIAL: Funding Supports Energy Efficient Technologies.
May 1, 1999... The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) has $500,000 available for projects that develop, evaluate, demonstrate, or introduce "green" technologies for residential, commercial, or institutional buildings in New...

INDUSTRIAL: Reducing Methanol Costs by 40 Percent.
May 1, 1999... Cyntech Technologies, Inc. (4305 Derbyshire Trace SE, Conyers, GA 30094; Website: www.cynt.com) has engineered the company's ThermReTec process to reportedly reduce the cost of methanol production by 40%. Costs are based and compared to those...

KeySpan, LIPA Develop New Energy Technologies.
May 1, 1999... KeySpan Energy (175 E. Old Country Rd., Hicksville, NY 11801; Tel: 718/403-1000, Fax: 718/643-2277, Website: http://www.keyspanenergy.com) and the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) have awarded nearly three million dollars to local companies...

TRANSPORTATION: Filter Makes Diesels More Efficient.
May 1, 1999... Diesel engines consume less fuel than conventional engines and emit fewer hydrocarbons, less carbon monoxide and less carbon dioxide. However, diesels are somewhat notorious for particulate emissions and that characteristic has lessened...

Optimized Idle Provides Significant Cost Savings.
May 1, 1999... Detroit Diesel Corp. (13400 Outer Dr. West, Detroit, MI 48239-4001; Tel: 313/592-5000, Fax: 313/592-7323, Website: http://www.detroitdiesel.com) has introduced an optimized idle system for the bus and coach market. Optimized idle, a feature of...

Delphi Energy Develops Engine Technologies.
May 1, 1999... Delphi Energy & Engine Management Systems (5725 Delphi Dr., Troy, MI 48098; Tel: 248/813-2000, Fax: 248/813-2523, Website: http://www.delphiauto.com) has entered into a cooperative agreement with the DOE to research more fuel-efficient...

UTILITIES/POWER GENERATION PEM Collector Plate Breakthrough Reported.
May 1, 1999... Energy Partners, L.C. (1501 Northpoint Pkwy., No. 102, West Palm Beach, FL 33407-1973; Tel: 561/688-0500) has successfully produced composite graphite bi-polar collector plates for PEM fuel cells offering a low cost, high volume manufacturing...

Babcock & Wilcox in Heat Recovery Alliance.
May 1, 1999... The Babcock & Wilcox Co. (20 S. Van Buren Ave., Barberton, OH 44203- 3585; Tel: 330/753-4511, Website: http://www.babcock.com), an operating unit of McDermott International, and Nooter/Eriksen, Inc. (Website: http://www.nooter.com), has formed...

Fuel from Garbage Plant Called a Success.
May 1, 1999... The final report on a demonstration of a technology for turning organic wastes into fuel, energy, and other products calls the project a success and concludes there are no major issues standing in the way of the technology being commercialized...

Geothermal Energy's Potential Promising.
May 1, 1999... A preliminary report from the Geothermal Energy Association, the DOE, and international universities claims geothermal energy could fill 8.3% of the world's electricity demand--if new technologies for harnessing the power of the world's...

APPLIANCES: Work Begins on "Cool" Rotary Prototype.
May 1, 1999... Scientists at DOE's Ames Laboratory are working on a prototype rotary magnetic-refrigeration unit that, if successful, would be the first magnetic refrigerator capable of sustained operation. The technology is based on the magnetocaloric...

Ozone System Has Short Payback.
May 1, 1999... A newly installed ozone laundering system is projected to save a Virginia Dept. of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services facility more than $136,000 in its first year of use, thus paying for itself in 9 months. The...

Reduced Power Dissipation in CMOS.
May 1, 1999... BTG International, Inc. (2200 Renaissance Blvd., Gulph Mills, PA 19406; Tel: 610/278-1660, Fax: 610/278-1605, Email: info@btgusa.com, Website: http://www.btgplc.com), a subsidiary of BTG plc, a global technology transfer company, and the...

ORNL Discovery Lowers Memory Requirements.
May 1, 1999... Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have discovered a transistor layer process that eliminates a major industry barrier to faster semiconductors and computers. The discovery also means that memory devices would experience...

IBM Cuts Disk Drive Energy Requirements.
May 1, 1999... On May 11, IBM Corp. (New Orchard Rd., Armonk, NY 10504; Tel: 914/499- 1900, Fax: 914/765-7382, Website: www.ibm.com) announced that it set a computer disk-drive storage record by packing 20 billion bits of data into a square inch, more than 3...

Low Voltages, High Currents:.
May 1, 1999... A truly electrifying development has been made by researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE) in Freiburg, Germany. Their new 300 W DC/DC converter creates output voltages between 12 and 350 V with a high efficiency...

MOTORS: Borealis Chorus Motor Gives Higher Torque.
May 1, 1999... A new electric motor, developed by Borealis Motor Manufacturing, Ltd. is showing marked torque capability improvements, according to the company. Borealis, newcomers to the motor industry, say their Chorus motor system will be of particular...

Smart Energy Launches Pollution-Fighting Engine.
May 1, 1999... Smart Energy Solutions Pty, Ltd., (North Sydney, Australia) is launching the plasma turbine engine, an energy-efficient alternate fuel engine at Sustain '99, in Amsterdam, May 25-27. The plasma turbine engine has been under development in...

LIGHTING: ComEd Provides Lighting Incentives for Business.
May 1, 1999... ComEd (10 S. Dearborn St., 37th Fl., Chicago, IL 60690-3005; Tel: 312/394-7399, Fax: 312/394-7251, Website: www.ceco.com) is offering a $2.5 million lighting replacement incentive program to encourage the use of energy efficient lighting among...

INDUSTRY NEWS: Texaco to Explore Fuel Cell Systems Business.
May 1, 1999... Texaco (2000 Westchester Ave., White Plains, NY 10650; Tel: 914/253- 4000, Fax: 914/253-7753, Website: www.texaco.com) has formed a venture, Texaco Energy Systems, Inc., to explore opportunities in the fuel cell energy business. Texaco also...

MagneTek to Divest Motor Business.
May 1, 1999... MagneTek (26 Century Blvd., Nashville, TN 37214; Tel: 615/316-5100, Fax: 615/316-5195, Website: www.magnetek.com) expects to sign a definitive agreement for the sale of its electric motor business within the next few weeks. The electric motor...

SatCon to Supply Fuel Cell Electronics.
May 1, 1999... SatCon Technology Corp. (161 First St., Cambridge, MA 02142; Tel: 617/661-0540, Fax: 617/661-3373, Website: www.satcon.com) has received a contract from Plug Power (Latham, NY) to supply power electronics building blocks (PEBB) modules for use...

Evantage Lands Big Energy Services Contracts.
May 1, 1999... Two manufacturers have signed energy supply management contracts with EVANTAGE, a division of Virginia Power (PO Box 26666, Richmond, VA 23261; Tel: 804/771-3000), and a third manufacturer started operations on a previously unannounced...

RESOURCES: Analysis Identifies Efficient Production.
May 1, 1999... LCA has become an integral part of the product development process for the majority of large European and Japanese companies. So far U.S. companies seem to be falling behind this development, mainly due to a lack of reliable U.S. data. An...

New Edition of Fuel Cell Directory.
May 1, 1999... The spring 1999 edition of Fuel Cells 2000's Fuel Cell Directory features more than 620 listings of fuel cell manufacturers, researchers and consultants, suppliers to the fuel cell industry, utilities, associations, and interested government...

Finding Fuel for Your Alternative Vehicles.
May 1, 1999... A new online interactive computer program is taking the guesswork out of finding the fuel needed by the thousands of alternative vehicles on the road today in the U.S. The program, called the Alternative Fuel Refueling Station Locator, was...

MEETINGS: "Bottom Line" on Manufacturing Efficiency.
May 1, 1999... A one-day workshop (Oakland, CA) will bring together business leaders, manufacturers, financiers, and technical experts to share experiences and "make deals." Energy efficiency financing options will be presented by both the private and public...

CALENDAR.
May 1, 1999... June 6-25, 1999, Advanced Photovoltaics Short-Course, Carbondale CO. Contact: Solar Energy International, PO Box 715, Carbondale, CO 81623- 0715; Tel: 970/963-8855, Fax: 970/963-8866. June 12-16, 1999, Solar '99: Growing the Market,...