Energy Conservation News articles from November 2000

Energy Conservation News archives from November 2000

OUTLOOK: Fuel Cells Garner Government Funding.
November 1, 2000... The Department of Energy will have more than $100 million for fuel-cell related programs in the new fiscal year, $10 million above the President's request. The money is contained in the Interior Appropriation Bill signed by President Clinton in...

Uppsala Foresees Imminent Solar Parity.
November 1, 2000... On the basis of recent laboratory breakthroughs, researchers at Uppsala University's Thin Film Solar Cell Research Group (Box 256, 751 05 Uppsala, Sweden; Tel: (+46 (0)18-471 00 00) claim that solar power from certain cells could compete in...

As Power Rates Fall, So Does Efficiency.
November 1, 2000... According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA Reports, U.S. Department of Energy, Washington, DC 20585), the average price of electricity in the United States decreased in 1999 for the sixth consecutive year to the lowest level since...

GOVERNMENT: California Funds LEDs, Other Programs.
November 1, 2000... The California Energy Commission will be accepting applications for its Light Emitting Diode Traffic Signal Conversion Program (CEC, Nonresidential Buildings Office, 1516 Ninth St., M.S. #26, Sacramento, CA 95814-5512; Tel: 916/654-4008, Fax:...

ENERGY MANAGEMENT/FINANCING Module Enables SFC Load Following.
November 1, 2000... Sustainable Energy (Suite 200, 422 - 11th Ave. S.E., Calgary, Alberta T2G 0Y4, Canada; Tel: 403/508-7177, Fax: 403/205-2509) has successfully field-tested its power management module for residential stationary fuel-cell (SFC) systems. The power...

"Click" to Get Power Savings.
November 1, 2000... The operator of New England's bulk electric power grid has announced the launch of a pilot program for New England that will provide quantifiable load response capabilities with the click of a computer mouse. The voluntary pilot program,...

Focus on Load Management Services.
November 1, 2000... Navigant Consulting, Inc. (615 N. Wabash Ave., Chicago, IL 60611; Tel: 312/573-5600, Fax: 312/573-5678; Website: www.navigantconsulting.com) and Powerweb Technologies, Inc. (415 E. Baltimore Pike #2, Media, PA 19063-3538; Tel: 610/627-9600;...

Free Access to Load Profiles.
November 1, 2000... Regional Economic Research, Inc. (RER, 11236 El Camino Real, San Diego, CA 92130-2649; Tel: 858/481-0081; Website: www.rer.com) has released eShapes, a free online service designed to help energy professionals understand how electricity and...

Savoy WebEngine Gets Grant.
November 1, 2000... EFI, Inc. (Boston, MA; Website: www.EFInc.com) has teamed with Savoy WebEngines, Inc. (Website: www.savoywebengines.com), and been awarded a $524,952 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to bring to market the Internet-based energy...

RESIDENTIAL: Water Heat Pump Studied at ORNL.
November 1, 2000... With water heating consuming about 17% of the energy for a typical household, it's a good place to start when cutting costs. The Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Building Technology Center is assisting in developing a heat pump water heater...

COMMERCIAL: 2000 ACEEE Summer Study Highlights.
November 1, 2000... The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE, 1001 Connecticut Ave. N.W., Suite 801, Washington, DC 20036; Tel: 202/429-8873) recently concluded its 11th biennial Summer Study on Energy Efficiency. The conference was devoted to...

CoGenAirHeat Provides Back-Up.
November 1, 2000... After a summer of skyrocketing electric bills, brownouts, and shortages, many business owners are frustrated and concerned about the future. But a new application of a well-proven technology may offer a solution. The Power Save Intl....

Neiman Marcus Implements EEM.
November 1, 2000... The Neiman Marcus Group, Inc. (27 Boylston St., Chestnut Hill, MA 02467; Tel: 617/232-0760, Fax: 617/739-1395; Website: www.neimanmarcus.com) has selected Silicon Energy's energy technology software, EEM Suite, to better control costs and risks...

INDUSTRIAL: Toolkit Offers Efficiency Solutions.
November 1, 2000... The Manufacturing Institute, the research and education arm of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM, 1331 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W., Washington, DC 20004-1790; Tel: 202/637-3000, Fax: 202/637- 3182; Email: manufacturing@nam.org), has...

Emerging Industry Energy-Savers.
November 1, 2000... New technologies that are likely to offer energy-saving alternatives to current technologies and practices in the industrial sector are profiled in the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy's (ACEEE) new report, Emerging Energy-...

TRANSPORTATION: Can Engines Evolve More Efficiently?
November 1, 2000... Could Charles Darwin's rules of evolution help engineers design high-performance engines of the future? Computer models developed at the University of Wisconsin (UW)-Madison are doing just that by using genetic algorithms to simultaneously...

32% More Range with Ultracapacitors.
November 1, 2000... A Solectria Corp. (33 Industrial Way, Wilmington, MA 01887-3433; Tel: 978/658-2231, Fax: 978/658-3224; Website: www.solectria.com) Force electric sedan equipped with Maxwell Technologies' (9275 Sky Park Ct., San Diego, CA 92123; Tel:...

Ventilation May Cut A/C Fuel Penalty.
November 1, 2000... The vehicle auxiliary loads reduction team of the Center for Transportation Technologies and Systems (CTTS) at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), is leading a new experiment to test passive and active ventilation techniques for...

UTILITIES/POWER GENERATION EPA Showcases Fuel-Cell Power Plant.
November 1, 2000... The most efficient onsite power plant in the world - a fuel- cell/gas turbine "hybrid" power system - is slated to power one of the federal government's principal environmental laboratories beginning in 2002, according to Secretary of Energy...

250-kW Generator Tested at NTT.
November 1, 2000... Ballard Power Systems' (9000 Glenlyon Pkwy., Burnaby, British Columbia V5J 5J9, Canada; Tel: 604/454-0900, Fax: 604/412-4700; Website: www.ballard.com) subsidiary, Ballard Generation Systems, has delivered its fourth 250-kW stationary fuel-cell...

Getting Energy from Poultry Manure.
November 1, 2000... DukeSolutions (526 S. Church St., Charlotte, NC 28202-1904; Tel: 704/594-6200, Tel: 800/873-3853, Fax: 704/382-3814; Website: www.duke-energy.com) is working with Harmony Products, Inc. (2005 Old Greenbrier Rd. #101, Chesapeake, VA 23320-2649;...

New Peaking Unit Might Shave Costs.
November 1, 2000... At the POWER-GEN International conference held in Orlando, Florida, Wartsila North America, Inc. (201 Defense Hwy., Suite 100, Annapolis, MD 21401; Tel: 410/573-2100, Tel: 800/676-9945, Fax: 410/573-2200; Website: www.wartsilausa.com) announced...

APPLIANCES: Lucent Chip Uses Less Power.
November 1, 2000... Lucent Technologies' Microelectronics Group (Lucent Technologies, Room 30L-15P BA, 555 Union Blvd., Allentown, PA 18109) has developed a high-speed, low-power, IEEE-1394A FireWire physical- layer interface (PHY) chip for use in a broad range of...

Wireless Age Mandates Lower-Power Circuits.
November 1, 2000... Purdue University engineers have designed an innovative circuit shown to drastically reduce the amount of power needed to run a computer's memory. The technology is aimed at saving energy, enabling portable devices to run longer on a single...

Intel Flash Memory Cuts Energy by 60%.
November 1, 2000... Intel Corp. (2200 Mission College Blvd., Santa Clara, CA 95052- 8119; Tel: 408/765-8080, Tel: 800/628-8686, Fax: 408/765-6284; Website: www.intel.com) has introduced a new flash memory chip designed to enhance the performance of next-generation...

LIGHTING: EnergySaver Attracts More Interest.
November 1, 2000... A microprocessor-controlled lighting controller, dubbed the EnergySaver, seems to be catching on here in the States after long use in Europe. The EnergySaver, which is manufactured by the Electric City Corp. (1280 Landmeier Rd., Elk Grove...

INDUSTRY NEWS: AstroPower Hit with Big Lawsuit.
November 1, 2000... The U.S. Justice Department has sued AstroPower, Inc. (Solar Park, 461 Wyoming Rd., Newark, DE 19716-2000; Tel: 302/366-0400, Fax: 302/368-6474), the photovoltaic manufacturer, seeking up to $7.9 million in damages for 100 allegedly false...

Capstone Makes Big Strides with Turbine.
November 1, 2000... Capstone Turbine Corp. (21211 Nordhoff St., Chatsworth, CA 91311; Tel: 818/734-5300, Fax: 818/734-5320; Website: www.microturbine.com), a producer of low-emission microturbine systems, had revenue of $6.2 million for the third quarter ended...

Praxair Pushes Energy Conservation.
November 1, 2000... Praxair, Inc. (39 Old Ridgebury Rd., Danbury, CT 06810-5113; Tel: 716/879-4077, Tel: 800/772-9247, Fax: 716/879-2040; Website: www.praxair.com) has formed a separate metals technologies business, called Praxair Metals Technologies, dedicated to...

RESOURCES: Energy Services Companies Examined.
November 1, 2000... A new book by Fairmont Press, A Guide to Energy Services Companies, by Cary Bullock and George Caraghiaur, provides a comprehensive examination of the energy services industry. Energy services companies (ESCOs) comprise an industry started in...

CALENDAR.
November 1, 2000... February 26-28, 2001, RESNET: National Conference on Home Energy Ratings and Residential Energy Efficiency Financing, Coca, FL. Contact: RESNET; Email: resnet@earthlink.net. April 21-25, 2001, FORUM 2001, Solar Energy: The Power to Choose,...