ASERTTI News
SAVE THE DATE: ASERTTI Fall
2010 Meeting, October 4-7, 2010
Please mark your calendars for the fall 2010
ASERTTI meeting, which will be held October 4-7 in
Long Island, New York. This
year’s meeting will be hosted by Brookhaven National
Laboratory. More information
regarding the agenda and registration will be coming
soon. Please continue to check
the
ASERTTI website for the latest updates.
Senate Panel Approves
Reauthorization of America COMPETES
The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science,
and Transportation approved the America COMPETES
Reauthorization Act of 2010 (S. 3605) Thursday, a
continuing effort with the U.S. Senate Committee on
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions and the
Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
The America COMPETES Act
reauthorization focuses on three primary areas of
importance to increase American innovation and
competitiveness: (1) increasing science and research
investments, (2) strengthening science, technology,
engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, and
(3) developing an innovation infrastructure.
The House of Representatives passed a
five-year reauthorization of the landmark
legislation in May of this year.
ASERTTI has expressed continued support for the
overall passage of this bill. In
particular, ASERTTI has stressed the importance
several key elements of the bill, including the
Energy Innovation Hubs, ARPA-e, and the Clean
Technology Innovation Consortia Pilot Program.
These programs, combined with improved
regional collaboration among the U.S. Department of
Energy, State Energy Research Institutions, and
State Energy Offices are essential to accelerating
technology advancement and delivering greater
economic growth, environmental quality, and energy
security to the states and the nation.
ASERTTI will continue to keep members
informed on the status of the reauthorization of
America COMPETES. Please
click here for a summary of the America COMPETES
legislation as well as a link to the full text.
DOE Announces $30 Million for
Energy-Efficient Housing Partnerships
The U.S. Department of Energy recently announced
15 research and deployment partnerships to help
dramatically improve the energy efficiency of
American homes. These highly-qualified,
multidisciplinary teams will receive a total of up
to $30 million for the initial eighteen months of
the projects to deliver innovative energy efficiency
strategies to the residential market and address
barriers to bringing high-efficiency homes within
reach for all Americans. A total
of up to $20 million per year will also be made
available for the partnerships for three potential
one-year extensions. These research and deployment
partnerships will provide technical assistance to
retrofit projects and will leverage industry
expertise and funding to support DOE's energy
efficiency retrofit programs.
This effort will support the Department's Retrofit
Ramp-Up initiative, announced by Vice President Joe
Biden in April, which brings communities,
governments, private sector companies and non-profit
organizations together to deliver energy-efficiency
upgrades - or retrofits - to whole neighborhoods and
cities. Please
click
here for the story and a description of the
selected teams.
California Team to Receive up
to $122 Million for Energy Innovation Hub to Develop
Method to Produce Fuels from Sunlight
As part of a broad effort to achieve breakthrough
innovations in energy production, U.S. Deputy
Secretary of Energy Daniel Poneman recently
announced an award of up to $122 million over five
years to a multidisciplinary team of top scientists
to establish an Energy Innovation Hub aimed at
developing revolutionary methods to generate fuels
directly from sunlight. The Joint
Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (JCAP), to be
led by the California Institute of Technology (Cal
Tech) in partnership with the U.S. Department of
Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
(Berkeley Lab), will bring together leading
researchers in an ambitious effort aimed at
simulating nature's photosynthetic apparatus for
practical energy production. The goal of the Hub is
to develop an integrated solar energy-to-chemical
fuel conversion system and move this system from the
bench-top discovery phase to a scale where it can be
commercialized.
The Fuels from Sunlight Energy Innovation Hub is
one of three Hubs that will receive funding in FY10.
In May, the Department announced that a team led by
Oak Ridge National Laboratory will establish a Hub
on modeling and simulation for nuclear reactors. The
selection for the remaining Hub will be announced
over the coming months. The Hubs are large,
multidisciplinary, highly-collaborative teams of
scientists and engineers working over a longer time
frame to achieve a specific high-priority goal. They
will be managed by top teams of scientists and
engineers with enough resources and authority to
move quickly in response to new developments.
Please
click
here for the full story as well as a link to
more information on the hubs.
National Grid and LIPA
Reduce Air Pollutant Emissions at Northport and Port
Jefferson Power Plants
In their ongoing commitment to energy efficiency
and improving Long Island’s environment, National
Grid and ASERTTI member, the Long Island Power
Authority (LIPA), recently announced the completion
of the first phase of the Nitrogen Oxide (NOX)
reduction/turbine efficiency project at the
Northport Power Station. The project which is
designed to reduce emissions and fuel use from these
units has been completed on Northport Unit 3.
The $100 million investment involves the
implementation of new steam turbine technology at
the Northport plant as well as installing advanced
(NOX) control systems at the Northport and Port
Jefferson Plants. NOX is a precursor to ozone (smog)
formation that occurs during the summer months; this
project resulted in a 40 percent reduction in
emissions. A projected reduction
of 25,000 tons of CO2 will result from each unit,
which is the equivalent of taking 4,200 cars off the
road. Please
click here for the full story.
NC Solar Center Installs New
Skystream Demonstration Wind Turbine System to
Enhance Training and Development Programs
ASERTTI member, the North Carolina Solar Center
(NCSC), is the proud recipient of a new Southwest
Windpower Skystream 3.7 small wind system – one of
the most widely deployed residential/small wind
turbines on the market. It is located at the Solar
Center’s test and training facility adjacent to
North Carolina State University’s McKimmon Center.
This system has a rated capacity of 2.4 kW, which
includes remote monitoring of system performance. A
wind turbine system of this size should offset up to
half of a typical home’s electricity usage each
month. The turbine, installed by
Baker Renewable Energy, is mounted on a 45-foot,
tilt-up, segmented monopole tower located in the
training annex at the Solar House. This addition to
the training facility will enhance two major NC
Solar Center training and development program areas.
Please
click here for the full story.
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