Green Building & Manufacturing Articles
24M Technologies Launched to Develop Next Generation Energy Storage.
24M Technologies has been launched as a new venture focused on commercializing next-generation energy storage systems based on technology out of A123 Systems, a developer and manufacturer of advanced Nanophosphate(TM) lithium ion batteries and systems, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The company also announced that ARPA-E has awarded a total of $6M to a collaborative effort between 24M, MIT and Rutgers to further develop its technology, on top of previous funding to MIT from DARPA. 24M Technologies has secured $10M in Series A financing from Charles River Ventures and North Bridge Venture Partners to target high energy density applications at radically lower cost than previously attainable.
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Baldos II - Support Swedish Students By Getting 357 MPG In Your Car
Should you happen to be in Washington, D.C. in October and at House of Sweden, the Swedish Embassy, you will get a chance to see a fireball red colored car that delighted Europeans who like tiny red cars earlier this year.
It's called the Baldos II and it is a hybrid auto built by engineering students at Luleå University of Technology in Sweden. So what?
The fuel tests show it can run 152.2 kilometers on a liter of fuel, whatever that means - in Sweden, they use some primitive system invented during the French Revolution to stick it to the English, so I am not certain but that sounds like 357 MPG. Or approximately 12X my tiny convertible's mileage!
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Revolution in Retrofit: Cost-Effective Triple Pane and Low-e Storm Windows
With the launch of a new volume purchase program in 2010, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is making affordable, high performance windows available to the marketplace for the first time. The Highly Insulating (R-5) and Low-e Storm Windows Volume Purchase Program aims to transform the market by increasing awareness and use of these windows to achieve greater energy savings.
Prior to DOE's effort, it was difficult for an individual window manufacturer to invest in the production capacity necessary to produce cost effective products. As a result of a solicitation issued in December 2009, more than 40 qualified vendors were selected to provide R-5 and low-e storm windows at a competitive price. A new Volume Purchase Web site listing vendors and pricing-along with a helpful energy-savings estimator tool-provides a glimpse into the window of savings this program provides.
Program Promotes Energy and Cost Savings Benefits
The program focuses on highly insulating windows with a U-factor requirement of 0.22 or less, which is in accordance with the National Fenestration Rating Council (NFRC). DOE refers to these windows as "R-5" to highlight the performance differences to a non-technical audience. Additionally, the program is targeting low-e storm windows, which previously tended to be niche products that were cost-prohibitive. By promoting volume demand and supply, DOE seeks to promote the large energy and cost savings potential of these products.
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Building America Research in Action: Air Sealing in Existing Homes
In 2006, Americans spent more than $95 billion to heat and cool their homes, according to the 2009 Buildings Energy Data Book. A drafty house literally means money out the door. For the past 15 years, the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Building America research teams have worked to improve the energy efficiency of new and existing U.S. homes. Through their research, they have identified air sealing as one of the most cost-effective ways to reduce building energy loads.
When it comes to air sealing, Building America teams follow the dictate, "Build tight, ventilate right," to achieve the proper balance of air sealing and ventilation for energy savings, comfort, and healthy indoor air quality. This article introduces a new report that outlines effective air sealing techniques and highlights recent team retrofit projects using air sealing to achieve big energy savings.
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Scientists Help Explain Graphene Mystery
ScienceDaily (Aug. 23, 2010) - Nanoscale simulations and theoretical research performed at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory are bringing scientists closer to realizing graphene's potential in electronic applications.
A research team led by ORNL's Bobby Sumpter, Vincent Meunier and Eduardo Cruz-Silva has discovered how loops develop in graphene, an electrically conductive high-strength low-weight material that resembles an atomic-scale honeycomb.
Structural loops that sometimes form during a graphene cleaning process can render the material unsuitable for electronic applications. Overcoming these types of problems is of great interest to the electronics industry.
"Graphene is a rising star in the materials world, given its potential for use in precise electronic components like transistors or other semiconductors," said Bobby Sumpter, a staff scientist at ORNL.
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200-Fold Boost in Fuel Cell Efficiency Advances 'Personalized Energy Systems'
ScienceDaily (Aug. 23, 2010) - The era of personalized energy systems -- in which individual homes and small businesses produce their own energy for heating, cooling and powering cars -- took another step toward reality today as scientists reported discovery of a powerful new catalyst that is a key element in such a system.
They described the advance, which could help free homes and businesses from dependence on the electric company and the corner gasoline station, at the 240th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society, being held in Boston.
"Our goal is to make each home its own power station," said study leader Daniel Nocera, Ph.D. "We're working toward development of 'personalized' energy units that can be manufactured, distributed and installed inexpensively. There certainly are major obstacles to be overcome -- existing fuel cells and solar cells must be improved, for instance. Nevertheless, one can envision villages in India and Africa not long from now purchasing an affordable basic system."
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LEDs Promise Brighter Future, Not Necessarily Greener
ScienceDaily (Aug. 24, 2010) - Solid-state lighting pioneers long have held that replacing the inefficient Edison light bulb with more efficient solid-state light-emitting devices (LEDs) would lower electrical usage worldwide, not only "greenly" decreasing the need for new power plants but even permitting some to be decommissioned.
But, in a paper published in the Journal of Physics D, leading LED researchers from Sandia National Laboratories argue for a shift in that view.
"Presented with the availability of cheaper light, humans may use more of it, as has happened over recent centuries with remarkable consistency following other lighting innovations," said Sandia lead researcher Jeff Tsao. "That is, rather than functioning as an instrument of decreased energy use, LEDs may be instead the next step in increasing human productivity and quality of life."
The assumption that energy production for lighting will decline as the efficiency of lighting increases is contraindicated by data starting with the year A.D. 1700 that shows light use has remained a constant fraction of per capita gross domestic product as humanity moved from candle to oil to gas to electrical lighting. Thus the societal response to more efficient light production has been a preference to enjoy more light, rather than saving money and energy by keeping the amount of light produced a constant.
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How to Get Prompt Payback From an Aging Icon That Guzzles Energy
NEW YORK -- Most Manhattan office buildings are designed for paper pushers, but there is a new factory running at the end of a long dim corridor on the fifth floor of the Empire State Building. Here machines are whirring, a furnace is roaring, and dozens of blue-collar workers are bustling about.
They are setting up to dismantle the building's 6,514 double-hung window frames, to reuse the glass and make them anew. It is part of one of the nation's most ambitious and symbolic energy-efficiency programs: a $20 million effort to cut the skyscraper's overall energy use by 38 percent.
Along the way, its planners hope to reduce the 79-year-old building's carbon footprint and shrink its $11 million annual utility bill. But the most ambitious part of their scheme calls for the suite of upgrades to pay for itself in just three years.
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Homeowners band together to go solar
SALEM, Ore. - Nancy Arntson spent a year thinking about installing solar panels at her home.
It wasn't until her neighbors decided to take the plunge together - generating significant savings - that she made up her mind to do it.
"It takes the right financial incentive to make it happen," Arntson said.
The group of neighbors, called "Solarize Salem," is the latest in a wave of grass-roots efforts around the country to connect homeowners interested in solar power.
The homeowners attend educational workshops, buy solar panels in bulk and negotiate a group discount with a panel installer. The practice can save 10% to 30% off the cost of installation. Additional savings come from local, state and federal rebates and tax deductions, which can bring down costs significantly.
In Salem, Arntson will pay $2,067 for a 12-panel system with a price tag of about $18,000, after state and federal tax credits, she said.
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A Smart Approach to Sustainability
Once you push past the myths relating to sustainability and green design, you'll find several strategies that will work for your commercial buildings, no matter what your location
Myth and misinformation surround the topic of sustainability, clouding its definition and purpose, and blurring the lines between green fact and fiction. "Some [facilities professionals] think that a green building will require sacrifice in terms of comfort. That's certainly understandable ... it goes back to Jimmy Carter wearing his cardigan and telling us all to turn down the thermostat. But, we've come a long way since then; there are strategies today that can provide the same level of comfort with much less energy use," says Ralph DiNola, principal, Green Building Services, Portland, OR.
Along with the assumed forfeit of comfort also comes apprehension about the way a green building might look. "There are opportunities for creative architects and engineers to make a building 'look' very green - if that's what the owner wants to do. But, there are also so many things you can do with a building that are nearly invisible or that can be seamlessly integrated with the design. You can have a green building that doesn't really 'look' any different than any other building," says Alan Scott, principal, Green Building Services, Portland, OR. Simply designing a green building that looks "normal" can be a unique way to achieve a level of sustainability. "People don't really talk about the value of aesthetics in terms of the longevity of a building. A beautiful building will be kept by a culture much longer than an ugly building. Aesthetics is very much a part of longevity, and longevity is key to sustainability," says DiNola.
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Getting Everyone on Board
Keeping everyone on your team engaged and up to speed on your building's energy management and sustainability initiatives helps ensure successful programs
Solid energy management and sustainability plans are important and can provide a great benefit to the company and to the environment. But, these plans can't work properly if not everyone on your team is on the same page. In order to keep their teams involved in energy management and sustainability practices, some companies have implemented a number of successful programs and projects.
Spreading awareness of sustainability and energy management initiatives is no easy task: Jeri King, assistant to the associate vice president at the University of Iowa's facilities management department, says that, "In earlier days, probably one of the biggest challenges for a large department with various units was making sure that everyone on staff had access to current information about what and how the department was doing." According to King, "By moving from a printed staff newsletter every other month to an intranet that is updated continually, staff members are more connected."
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Five Tips for Putting Integrative Design into Action
Integrative design is the way to create truly green, high-performance, healthy buildings. According to Bill Reed of Integrative Design Collaborative, "the shift from a fragmented worldview to a whole systems mental mode is the significant leap our culture must make - framing and understanding living system interrelationships in an integrated way." The key to doing integrative design is "Everyone. Everything. Early." Here are five tips for putting integrative design into action, taken from The Truth About Green Business (FT Press) by Gil Friend, noted sustainable business expert and CEO of Natural Logic Inc.
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Energy Use Is the Most Important Aspect of Green Building
Material Selection Hardly Matters
Most articles on green construction, including those provided by GreenBuildingAdvisor.com, contain information on a wide range of topics, including material choices, indoor air quality, landscaping, and the VOC content of paint. This wide array of information can convey a false impression - namely, that the covered topics are equally important.
If you're building a new house, most of these topics turn out to be irrelevant. From an environmental perspective, the most important factor by far is energy use - not energy efficiency, but actual energy consumption. Consider the following information:
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Recovery Act Project Boosts Hydropower Plant Output
Project expected to keep local factory in business
The U.S. Department of Energy today helped kick off a hydropower facility modernization project at the Cheoah Dam in Robbinsville, North Carolina that will produce over 28% more power from existing water resources. This project is supported by $12.9 million in funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and $110 million from the private sector. The Cheoah Dam supplies power to Alcoa Inc.'s primary aluminum production factory in Alcoa, Tennessee and surrounding communities. This upgrade will deliver low-cost renewable electricity that will keep the aluminum factory in business for years to come.
The operators of Cheoah Dam estimate that this project can save the 40 hydropower operation jobs and 1,600 aluminum production jobs that would be lost if this facility's 90-year old equipment, which has exceeded its typical useful life, were to fail. This upgrade is also estimated to create 70 direct jobs during its approximately two-year construction phase.
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The Home Depot Brings the First Affordable LED Bulbs to Market: Assortment Starts at $19.95
The Home DepotÆ, the world's largest home improvement retailer, has announced that it now offers the first affordable 40W equivalent LED - and the widest selection of -- high powered, light emitting diodes (LEDs) bulbs on homedepot.com, leading the lighting revolution well ahead of the 2012 legislation phasing out the use of select incandescent light bulbs.
"The Home Depot has stepped forward with the most cost-effective LED, employing the latest and most advanced LED technology available," said Craig Menear, executive vice president for Merchandising. "Our partnerships with leading LED manufacturers including: Philips, Lighting Science Group and Cree have enabled us to be the first in the market to offer affordable options for a wide array of fixture types for a consumer's home."
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The death of HVAC
The death of HVAC can lead to the rise of thermal environmental engineering. Here are some thoughts on the effectiveness, efficiency, and installation and operating costs of modern air conditioning systems
Today we stand at the 100th anniversary of Willis Carrier's introduction of the science of psychrometrics to ASME and of the introduction of air conditioning systems to the United States. It is a good time to analyze and synthesize recent building mechanical systems from a building science and engineering principles standpoint. We will examine systems from the fundamental concepts of human thermal comfort and health requirements, the current and future cost, and the availability of energy in the 21st century, along with the lifecycle costs of installation, operation, and remodeling.
The history of modern air conditioning systems over the past 40 years is not a story to be proud of. The energy crises of the 1970s should have spawned a flurry of innovation in energy conservation and the introduction of systems prudent both in installation and operating costs. This has not been the case. The 1990 study on air conditioning systems in government offices authored by Amory Lovins found that newer mechanical systems cost more to install, cost more to maintain, used more energy, and were less comfortable than older systems.
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BACnet: Setting the new standard
BACnet has to be specified correctly to be fully interoperable. The BACnet Protocol Implementation Conformance Statement is designed to aid in this process.
BACnet - A Data Communication Protocol for Building Automation and Control Networks was developed under the auspices of the ASHRAE. BACnet is an American standard, a European standard, and a national standard in more than 30 countries. It also is an ISO global standard.
As part of a push toward a more energy-efficient nation, building efficiency codes and standards are in the spotlight. Energy policies to improve building efficiency often favor voluntary, incentive-based approaches. But at the beginning of a building's lifecycle, the permitting process for new construction and retrofits increasingly involves mandates that embed efficiency into the infrastructure.
The goal to improve equipment efficiency from the start has put some manufacturers, integrators, and engineers in the hot seat. For this reason, codes and standards have been identified as important steps toward more efficient buildings.
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Electricity Collected from the Air Could Become the Newest Alternative Energy Source
ScienceDaily (Aug. 26, 2010) - Imagine devices that capture electricity from the air ? much like solar cells capture sunlight ? and using them to light a house or recharge an electric car. Imagine using similar panels on the rooftops of buildings to prevent lightning before it forms. Strange as it may sound, scientists already are in the early stages of developing such devices, according to a report presented at the 240th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS).
"Our research could pave the way for turning electricity from the atmosphere into an alternative energy source for the future," said study leader Fernando Galembeck, Ph.D. His research may help explain a 200-year-old scientific riddle about how electricity is produced and discharged in the atmosphere. "Just as solar energy could free some households from paying electric bills, this promising new energy source could have a similar effect," he maintained.
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1,000-Megawatt Plant in Calif. Marks New Milestone in Solar Expansion
Federal regulators are nearing final approval of what would be the largest solar power plant in the world, a milestone that sets a new standard for the industry and marks a major advancement in the Obama administration's efforts to expand renewable energy production nationwide.
The Bureau of Land Management has issued a final environmental impact statement (EIS) for the Blythe Solar Power Project in southeast California. When fully operational, the solar thermal power plant would have the capacity to produce 1,000 megawatts of electricity -- enough to power roughly 800,000 homes.
The final EIS, which is considered the last federal regulatory hurdle before a record of decision authorizing construction, is open for public comment through Sept. 18. The California Energy Commission, which must also render a decision on the Blythe plant, formally recommended this month that the project be approved.
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Video: Siemens talks Energy Efficiency and Smart Grid Technology
Siemens sits down with CSE to discuss energy efficiency and Smart Grid Technology
Patrick Lynch, Project Manager and Editor with Consulting-Specifying Engineer magazine sits down with Senior Marketing Director Jeff Kosiorek with Siemens Building Technologies (SBT). Kosiorek describes how Siemens develops energy-efficient building systems solutions along with proper integration into a building. Kosiorek also details the changing Smart Grid marketplace. For more information on energy efficiency in commercial buildings, visit the following channels on CSE's site:
* Green Buildings & Energy Efficiency
* Codes and Standards
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'Greening' Your Flat Screen TV: Engineers Develop an Organic LED Light Source for Home Electronics, Medicine and Clean Energy
ScienceDaily (Aug. 27, 2010) - Electronic products pollute our environment with a number of heavy metals before, during and after they're used. In the U.S. alone, an estimated 70% of heavy metals in landfill come from discarded electronics. With flat screen TVs getting bigger and cheaper every year, environmental costs continue to mount.
To counter this, a new Tel Aviv University solution applies a discovery in nano-technology, based on self-assembled peptide nanotubes, to "green" the optics and electronics industry. Researchers Nadav Amdursky and Prof. Gil Rosenman of Tel Aviv University's Department of Electrical Engineering say their technology could make flat screen TV production green and can even make medical equipment -- like subcutaneous ultrasound devices -- more sensitive.
Inspired by a biomaterial involved in Alzheimer's disease research discovered by Prof. Ehud Gazit of the university's Department of Microbiology and Biotechnology, the scientists developed a new nano-material, applying the scientific disciplines of both biology and physics. This biological material is the basis for their new, environmentally-friendly variety of light-emitting diodes (LED) used in both consumer and medical electronics.
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Climate change is bad for nuclear power, industry needs a shrinking cap on carbon to survive
Nuclear reactor developers have a compelling reason to support a cap on carbon pollution: the effects of climate change could make it to impossible to run nuclear reactors. For example, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has drastically reduced power generation at the Browns Ferry nuclear plant this summer:
The Tennessee Valley Authority has lost nearly $50 million in power generation from its biggest nuclear plant because the Tennessee River in Alabama is too hot….
"All the radiant heat gets in the river when you have a summer as hot as this has been," TVA President Tom Kilgore said.
Browns Ferry is located on the Tennessee River in Alabama and uses river water for cooling. To protect wildlife in the river, TVA is not allowed to raise the river's temperature above 90 degrees. But this year's record heat have already raised the river temperature to near 90, so TVA can only use small amounts of water, which limits how much power they can produce. In fact, the air temperature has stayed below 90 only three days since June 9, far above the historical norm. In the 1990s, the TVA decided not to build extra cooling towers because they "estimated that the chance of exceeding the 90-degree temperature limit in the Tennessee River was very rare."
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Can the World Be Powered Mainly by Solar and Wind Energy?
ScienceDaily (Aug. 25, 2010) - Continuous research and development of alternative energy could soon lead to a new era in human history in which two renewable sources -- solar and wind -- will become Earth's dominant contributor of energy, a Nobel laureate said in Boston at a special symposium at the American Chemical Society's 240th National Meeting on August 24.
Walter Kohn, Ph.D., who shared the 1998 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, noted that total oil and natural gas production, which today provides about 60 percent of global energy consumption, is expected to peak about 10 to 30 years from now, followed by a rapid decline. He is with the University of California, Santa Barbara.
"These trends have created two unprecedented global challenges," Kohn said. "One is the threatened global shortage of acceptable energy. The other is the unacceptable, imminent danger of global warming and its consequences."
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