Tag Archives: renewable energy

Energy Projects Could Earn State Funding

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Creative and unique energy conservation programs could earn some funding support from the state. Applications are now open for the 2015 Community Conservation Challenge (CCC) grant program.

Below are a few of the particulars with full details online from the Indiana Office of Energy Development.

  • Available funding: $700,000
  • Application deadline: February 20

CCC projects must be located in Indiana and must use commercially-available technologies. The project must be visible to the public and have at least one community partner, demonstrate measurable improvements in energy efficiency or the use of renewable energy, result in a reduction in energy demand or fuel consumption, or involve the implementation of an energy recycling process.

Eligible Indiana applicants include local units of government, school corporations, businesses, universities, and nonprofits. Applicants may apply for either an Energy Efficiency/Renewable Energy grant or an Alternative Fuel Vehicles grant.

Winners from the 2012 CCC Program included Ozinga Indiana, RMC, which converted six diesel ready-mix trucks to compressed natural gas (CNG); Hoosier Interfaith Power and Light for a solar energy project; the Linton-Stockton School Corporation for a new HVAC system, new roof and boilers; and CNG truck conversions for Bestway.

IUPUI/Purdue Gets Major Award for Renewable Energy

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Good news for the Purdue School of Engineering and Technology at IUPUI, and its efforts to educate tomorrow’s leaders about renewable energy. Westcommonline explains the school is the only one in the state to be selected to take part in the Department of Education industrial efficiency training program:

Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced today that the Purdue School of Engineering and Technology at IUPUI has been selected to receive a $1.3 million Department of Energy award to train undergraduate- and graduate-level engineering students in manufacturing efficiency to help them become the nation’s next generation of industrial energy efficiency experts. The award will help the university provide practical training on core energy management concepts through the DOE’s Industrial Assessment Center Program. IUPUI is the only university in Indiana selected to receive this award.

“This industrial efficiency training program opens the door to good jobs in a growing, global sector for thousands of energy-savvy students while promoting real, boots-on-the-ground progress toward our transition to a clean energy economy,” said Secretary Chu. “The Centers will provide a boost to the next-generation of American workers as well as to the businesses with which they work.”

Through these university-based Industrial Assessment Centers, engineering students will receive extensive training in industrial processes, energy assessment procedures and energy management principles, which will be put to use working directly with small and medium-sized industrial and manufacturing facilities in the surrounding communities. Under the program, the School of Engineering and Technology will train at least 10 to 15 students per year, conduct approximately 20 energy assessments annually and perform extensive follow-on reporting, tracking, implementation, and management-improvement activities.

“The Purdue School of Engineering and Technology at IUPUI is making significant investments in energy engineering education and research,” said Dr. David J. Russomanno, Dean of the School. “Our new B.S. degree in energy engineering, recent additions of experienced faculty members and our Richard G. Lugar Center for Renewable Energy are investments that will enable us to significantly contribute to the goals of the DOE’s Industrial Assessment Center program.”

The School will be utilizing the resources of its energy engineering experts and the Lugar Center for Renewable Energy to form industry partnerships in the Indianapolis community. These partnerships will lead to increased research and scholarship support for undergraduate and graduate students.

Washington Wants Your Help on Clean Energy Development

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Whether you agree or disagree with Washington’s approach to trying to rejuvenate the economy (referring to Recovery Act, stimulus and the like), one thing is clear. When the government is making money available, businesses would be foolish to at least not take a look to see if they could benefit.

The latest entry in that category comes from the Department of Energy (DOE), which last week announced $30 million in funding to help commercialize clean energy technologies. These are really first-time Phase III grants under the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs. If you’ve worked with the government funds before on clean energy projects, here’s the chance to do more — up to $3 million over three years.

The deadline for submission of applications is August 4. Learn more at the DOE’s Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy site. Here are the specific areas where the agency wants to invest:

Biomass Technologies

  • Harvesting/Dewatering Technology for Algal Biofuels Production.

Buildings Technologies

  • Transitional Technology for Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLEDs)
  • SSL Products made from Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLEDs)
  • "Core" Technology for Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLEDs) 

Fuel Cell Technologies

  • Advanced Materials for Fuel Cell Technologies
  • Bio-Fueled Solid Oxide Fuel Cells
     

Geothermal Technologies –  High Temperature Tools and Sensors 

  • High Temperature Downhole Tools 
  • High-Temperature-High-Volume Lifting  
  • High Temperature Downhole MWD Tools for Directional Drilling
     

Industrial Technologies

  • Sensors and Controls  
  • Industrial Membrane Process Systems   
  • Advanced Materials 
  • Integrated Reaction-Separation using non-thermal processes
  • Mitigation of Heat Losses, Fouling, and Scaling in key Manufacturing Unit Operations. 
     

Solar Technologies – Lowering the Cost of Photovoltaics through Innovative Augmentation

  • Lightweight, Flexible and Low Cost Multi-junction Solar Cells
  • Static Module PV Concentrators
  • New Methods of Crystallizing Silicon

Vehicle Technologies

  • Technologies to Address Internal Heating in DC Bus Capacitors
  • Improved Magnetic Materials for Motors
  • Advanced Materials for Lightweight Vehicles
     

Wind Technologies

  • Advanced Wind Power Technologies and Systems  
     

Fossil Energy

  • Pollution control
  • Advanced power systems
  • Stationary power fuel cells
  • Clean fuels
  • Carbon sequestration
  • Recovery of oil, natural gas, and methane hydrates
  • Advances in materials, sensors, monitors, controls, biotechnology, and computational processes
     

Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability

  • Smart Grid Technologies and Systems
  • Electric Transmission Technologies
  • Superconducting Technology for Power Equipment 
  • Advanced Materials for Power Electronics and Energy Storage
     

Nuclear Energy

  • Advanced Instrumentation and Control, Radiation Resistant Sensors, and Wireless On-Line Monitoring Systems for Nuclear Power Plant Applications 

The Environmental Debate: Expect a Whole Lot of Gas in Washington

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The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released an endangerment finding on Friday for greenhouse gases. What does that mean? Two members of Congress have decidedly different views.

Edward Markey (D-Massachusetts), Energy and Environment Subcommittee chairman in the House: "History will judge this action by EPA, along with the Supreme Court decision (which led to the EPA review)  … as the environmental equivalent to what Brown v. Board of Education meant to our nation’s civil rights laws."

James Inhofe (R-Oklahoma), Environment and Public Works ranking member in the Senate: The finding "is the beginning of a regulatory barrage that will destroy jobs, raise energy prices for consumers, and undermine America’s global competitiveness."

President Obama and Democratic leaders want to move forward legislatively with a cap and trade plan, along with renewable energy and efficiency mandates. The House Energy and Commerce Committee will hold four days of hearings this week on a draft plan, including an expected 80 witnesses.

The impact on Indiana, and its reliance on coal, would be enormous. Yes, protecting the environment is important. Doing so at the expense of business and economic development would be devastating.