Energy Highlights
An energy news update from MMPEI
June 2 , 2008
Vol. 2 No. 10
INTHIS ISSUE: U-M News, Energy News, Funding Opportunities, and Upcoming Events
Note: Starting with this issue, Energy Highlights will be switching to a monthly publication schedule. Normal twice-monthly publication will resume in the fall.
U-M NEWS
Seventy Percent Solution Request for Proposals Due 06/30/08
The Office of the Vice President for Research, in cooperation with the Michigan Memorial Phoenix Energy Institute (MMPEI), announces a competition for funds to support interdisciplinary research on The Seventy Percent Solution. In the US, forty percent of greenhouse gas production results from electric power generation, and an additional thirty percent arises from transportation. If a transition could be made to carbon-free transportation and electric power generation, a 70% reduction in America’s greenhouse gas production could be realized. MMPEI and OVPR are soliciting project proposals to develop a better understanding of the interplay between the various parts of the energy system so that the Seventy Percent Solution can be realized.
University Research Corridor (URC) Announces Grant Awards
The University Research Corridor, an alliance of Michigan’s three research universities, announced its first seed fund grants to provide startup support for two energy projects. The first project involved all three universities and will focus on developing bulk thermoelectric materials containing nanostructure with enhanced thermoelectric properties. The second grant awarded is for a MSU/U-M project with Lansing-based Technova Corp. to develop nano-biocarriers to rapidly and efficiently produce low-cost ethanol from switchgrass or corn stover (the leaves and stalks that make up about half of a corn crop).
ENERGY NEWS
IBM Research Could Lead to Reduced Costs in Solar Farm Technology
IBM recently announced a research breakthrough in concentrator photovoltaics (CPV) technology that could significantly reduce the cost of harnessing the sun's power for electricity. By using a much lower number of photovoltaic cells in a solar farm and concentrating more light onto each cell using larger lenses, IBM's system enables a significant cost advantage in terms of a lesser number of total components.The trick lies in IBM's ability to cool the tiny solar cell. Concentrating the equivalent of 2,000 suns on such a small area generates enough heat to melt stainless steel, something the researchers experienced first hand in their experiments. But by borrowing innovations from its own R&D in cooling computer chips, the team was able to cool the solar cell from greater than 1,600 degrees Celsius to just 85 degrees Celsius.
Big Payback for Small Changes to Two-Stroke Engines
A single two-stroke engine produces pollution equivalent to that of 30 to 50 four-stroke automobiles. With roughly 100 million motorcycles in Asia—roughly half of them using two-stroke engines—that translates into as much as 2.5 billion cars’ worth of smog. Bryan Willson, director of the Engines and Energy Conversion Laboratory at Colorado State University (CSU) in Fort Collins, has cofounded a start-up, Envirofit, that sells a retrofit kit for two-stroke engines. The technology reduces hydrocarbon emissions by almost 90 percent while increasing fuel efficiency by as much as 35 percent.
Investing in Efficiency
Generally speaking, energy efficiency is a winner in cutting energy consumption particularly over the long run. A new report from the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE) points out that since 1970 Americans have cut their energy consumption in half through energy efficiency. The report – The Size of the U.S. Energy Efficiency Market: Generating a More Complete Picture – also says that with the right investments in energy efficiency the US can reduce its energy consumption an additional 25-30 percent or more over the course of the next 20-25 years. For information on the report: http://aceee.org/pubs/e083.htm
City Dwellers Produce Less Carbon
Each resident of the largest 100 largest metropolitan areas is responsible on average for 2.47 tons of carbon dioxide in energy consumption each year, 14 percent below the 2.87 ton U.S. average, researchers at the Brookings Institution say in a recent report.
FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
Fuel/Feedstock Flexibility and Combined Heat Power - Due 07/14/08
This goal of this DOE announcement (DE-PS26-08NT0004312-00) to provide research funding for technologies that enable utilization of opportunity fuels and non traditional feedstocks in industrial processes, as well as enable the use of combined heat and power (CHP) in under utilized applications. Industrial processes generate by products containing more than 2 quads of energy per year. This energy is either not used at all or is used in inefficient, out moded processes. Better use of these under utilized streams could replace major amounts of natural gas in entire industries. To maximize overall energy efficiency, these opportunity fuels can be utilized as alternative feedstocks, or combusted as fuels. The areas of interest are: Fuel Flexibility, Feedstock Flexibility in the Chemical Industry and Clean Distributed Generation.
Research, Development, and Demonstration of Fuel Cell Technologies for Automotive, Stationary, and Portable Power Applications - Due 08/27/08
The Department of Energy (DOE) seeks to fund research that will lead to the development of cost-competitive and durable automotive, stationary, and portable fuel cell power systems (DE-PS36-08GO98009). Applications are requested for hydrogen fuel cell systems in seven topic areas: Topic 1, Catalyst Studies; Topic 2, Innovative Concepts; Topic 3, Fuel Cell Degradation Studies; Topic 4, Transport within the PEM Stack; Topic 5, Portable Power; Topic 6, Fuel Cell System Demonstrations; and Topic 7, Market Transformation Activities. Interest extends to SOFCs operating under real-world conditions.
Other funding opportunities are listed on the MMPEI Opportunities Page.
UPCOMING EVENTS
New Mobility Panel Discussion
When: Wednesday, June 11, 2008 (6:30 - 8:30 p.m.
Where: U-M Rackham Auditorium
What: Panel focusing on sustainable transportation and accessibility in city regions of the world and is open to the Public as part of the New Mobility Conference (SMART: Sustainable Mobility & Accessibility Research & Transformation)
Sponsors: U-M CARSS (Center for Advancing Research and Solutions for Society )
8th Annual Ann Arbor Green Fair
When: Friday, June 13, 2008 - 6:00pm to 9:00pm
Where: Main Street - downtown Ann Arbor
.
www.mmpei.umich.edu Subscribe to Energy Highlights Unsubscribe Archive
