The Department of Energy Wednesday released a report highlighting the benefits of the Recovery Act to small businesses throughout the renewable energy industry and environmental management sector.

The report found that as of early March 2010, small businesses have been selected to receive nearly $5.4 billion in funding across a number of Recovery Act and related programs, including loans, loan guarantees, grants, contracts and tax incentives, in partnership with the Department of Treasury.

The report highlights 26 small businesses in a range of clean energy technologies, such as wind, solar, biofuels, along with critical new infrastructure, like Smart Grid, advanced batteries, energy storage, and energy efficiency tools. It also notes small businesses that are helping advance responsible environmental clean-up efforts.

Some success stories highlighted in the report include:

UQM Technologies, Inc. of Frederick, Colorado is a supplier of prototype electric propulsion and generator systems, including electric rotating machines and drive electronics. In 2006, UQM completed an R&D project with the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Vehicle Technologies Program to design a power-dense motor for use in electric drive vehicles. UQM is now positioned to take its technology into production, establishing a U.S. volume manufacturer of electric drive systems. The $45 million grant that UQM received under the Recovery Act will enable UQM to establish manufacturing facilities for production volumes of 120,000 electric drive systems per year, powering all-electric, hybrid-electric, plug-in hybrid-electric passenger cars and hybrid-electric trucks and buses, creating up to 3,000 jobs.

Silver Spring Networks, based in Redwood City, CA, did not receive a direct grant under the SGIG Program, but it is still a big winner through its partnerships with many utilities around the country, DOE said. For instance, Florida Power & Light (NYSE: FPL) received a $200 million grant for its Energy Smart Miami project, which represents the foundation of a $700 million investment to deploy Smart Meters to every residential FPL customer in Florida. Silver Spring provides the hardware, software and services that connect every device on the grid, creating a unified Smart Energy Platform. Other utility clients of Silver Spring who received SGIG grants include Pepco Holdings, Inc (NYSE: POM), Oklahoma Gas & Electric and American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP).

Solazyme Inc., is a San Francisco-based company founded in 2003 by a scientist and entrepreneur that were among the first people to focus on algae as an alternative to conventional fuels. The company pioneered a new technology to produce biodiesel from algae oil. With a $21.8 million ARRA grant under the Biomass Program, Solazyme plans to build its first integrated algae fuel refinery.

FloDesign Wind Turbine Corp. is a fledgling start-up that won an MIT clean energy competition last year. The company is developing a new high efficiency shrouded wind turbine capable of delivering more energy per unit of swept area. FloDesign Wind received an $8.3 million ARPA-E grant.

Universal Display Corporation received a $4 million ARRA grant from DOE, under the Building Technologies Program (BTP) to scale and transfer its technologies to a partner pilot organic light-emitting diodes (OLED) manufacturing line to be set up in the U.S. The project will facilitate the growth of the embryonic OLED lighting industry by providing prototype lighting panels to U.S. luminaire manufacturers to incorporate into products, to facilitate testing of design and to gauge customer acceptance.

Read the full report at the link below.

Website: http://www.energy.gov/news/documents/Small_Business_Memo_Mar2010.pdf

Reprinted with permission from SustainableBusiness.com

While the high cost of next generation lithium ion batteries is viewed as an obstacle to adoption of pure electric cars, lithium might be the key to making conventional hybrids more affordable. Bloomberg reported Thursday that Honda—which has focused its hybrid marketing strategy on making hybrids nearly as affordable as gas-powered cars—is swiftly moving to put lithium batteries in the Civic Hybrid and its other hybrids.

Honda hopes that shifting its hybrid battery technology to lithium ion—which packs more power in a smaller space—will help the company gain an advantage over Toyota. In addition to moving to lithium batteries, Honda is planning to increase hybrid production in small and large cars and to introduce Acura luxury hybrids. Toyota’s recent safety troubles have created an opportunity for other producers of hybrid cars. Honda hybrid sales have been lagging in recent years. Yet, February 2010 sales of the Honda Insight and Civic Hybrid increased by 54 percent and 37 percent respectively, compared to the previous month. Sales of the Toyota Prius dropped by 6 percent in February—although the model still dominates the US and Japanese hybrid markets. Koichi Kondo, Honda executive vice president, told Bloomberg that Honda could put lithium ion batteries in the Civic Hybrid “within the next two to three years.”

By contrast, Toyota believes that lithium batteries do not justify the higher cost, and that current hybrid battery technology—nickel metal hydride—is best suited for conventional hybrids. The company came to that conclusion last fall after conducting three years of “secret tests” on 126 Toyota Priuses equipped with lithium ion batteries.

In a Twist, Lithium Ion Is Cheaper

While similarly sized lithium ion batteries may cost 30 percent more than the current nickel metal hydride batteries, carmakers could use lithium batteries to reduce battery costs by building smaller packs. In an interview with HybridCars.com in December, John German—who worked as an environmental engineer for Honda for 11 years and is now a senior fellow for the International Council for Clean Transportation—said the next wave of lithium ion batteries will help conventional hybrids hit the mainstream.

“Lithium ion batteries will reduce the cost of the battery pack for conventional hybrids, but they’re not going to reduce the cost of the battery pack for plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles,” German said. German believes lithium ion batteries will alleviate the need for automakers to make hybrids with oversized nickel-based battery packs. The packs are currently sized for delivering enough power rather than for storing sufficient energy. German said, “The reason they’re oversized is that with nickel metal hydride, you’re limited in how fast you can take energy in and out of a battery without causing significant deterioration.” As a consequence, today’s hybrid batteries hold a lot more energy than they need to, and are therefore more expensive than they need to be. “With the new high-power lithium ion batteries, they can cut them down to their actual energy requirements and still get all the power they need,” German said.

Eventually, all carmakers are expected to make the shift to lithium ion batteries for hybrids. If Honda’s strategy works, and other carmakers start using smaller more affordable lithium ion hybrid batteries, the higher purchase price of gas-sipping hybrid gas-electric cars could be slashed, dramatically increasing their popularity.

Reprinted with permission from HybridCars.com

By Nick Chambers

The hydrogen economy. It sounds so good on paper. All of our vehicles driving around emitting nothing but water vapor fueled from hydrogen produced by power from the sun. It’s been a dream since before I was born.

I remember reading a copy of Popular Mechanics when I was in 7th grade that said the hydrogen economy was realistically a decade away… that was in the 80s. As each decade has come and gone since then, the hydrogen economy seems to be perpetually a decade away.

Is the hydrogen economy something we should just throw in the towel on (at least for now), or should we continue funding this area of research even though other technologies are more promising for the time being?

Back when George W. Bush took office and used his first State of the Union address to tout the hydrogen economy and announce increased funding for hydrogen research, hydrogen experienced a bit of a rather short-lived rebirth. According to the movie, “Who Killed the Electric Car?”, that rebirth was one of the most important factors for the death of the first wave of modern battery-powered electric cars (remember the EV1?).

But ever since then, hydrogen has started to fall out of favor again. So much so, that when Steven Chu took over as the head honcho at the US Department of Energy just over a year ago, he drastically cut funding for all hydrogen research saying that it made much more sense to focus on battery powered electric cars. Of course, that funding was reinstated under pressure from industry, but now hydrogen has been marked, and is ever under the knife.

GM, having invested billions of dollars in hydrogen research over time, is, apparently, loathe to give up the farm on this one. Last September GM introduced a next generation fuel cell platform designed to take up only the space required by a traditional four-banger combustion engine and should be much cheaper to produce (some say current generation fuel cell vehicles cost as much as $1 million dollars each to build).

Well, now GM’s saying that this new fuel cell stack will reach production by 2015 and be placed into vehicles in GM’s already existing “Project Driveway” — a limited group of fuel cell test drivers. In a way, you gotta give it to them for sticking with it in the face of overwhelming odds. But you also wonder when they’ll finally say “enough is enough”? Even if some group of politicians further down the road says “Oh hey, what about that hydrogen thing?” and decided to give it some more funding again, you never know when that support will end as another group of politicians turns up.

There’s simply not enough stability in political opinion about the hydrogen economy to make it a good business plan to continue dumping money into research when the required government investment (infrastructure, research money) is so inconsistent. Plus, to be honest, if they are going to focus on spending money on only one thing to fix our problems, battery powered electric cars certainly make much more sense right now.

Even with that though, my own personal opinion is that we should continue to do research on ALL solutions because you never know when you’ll be up a creek without the right paddle and that one fuel cell in your back pocket will get you home. But I’m afraid that argument does not work on the political popularity battlefield where politicians are increasingly held to the fire for “unwisely” spending money.

Reprinted with permission from Gas 2.0

Fidelis Energy Inc. (FDEI.PK) signed a long-term solar module agreement to supply 207 MW of solar modules to TinSol Energy (pty) Ltd. (TSEL) of Johannesburg, South Africa.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

TSEL plans to use the modules in the development and build-out of several solar parks in Africa.

Fidelis will begin shipments against this contract during 1Q11. Product will ship from Fidelis's Chinese manufacturing plant, which is scheduled to come online during 4Q10.

This is the first multi-hundred megawatt deal for Fidelis. CEO James Poole said additional agreements are in the works.

Fidelis Energy announced up to $80 million of new financing in February 2010, for the purpose of expanding its photovoltaic manufacturing capacity. Fidelis plans to expand its annual manufacturing capacity by approximately 150 MW in each of the next several years.

Fidelis owns a unique patent pending solar cell technology based on photovoltaic cells with integral light-transmitting wave guides in a ceramic sleeve. Fidelis says the advantage of this technology is the efficiency of less exposed surface area being required to generate electricity. The light-transmitting particles act as wave guides and allow the sun-exposed conversion area of the solar cell to be shifted readily from horizontal to vertical to capture more sunlight. The ceramic sleeve eliminates the need for expensive vacuum chambers, thereby allowing less expensive materials to be used in solar cell production.

Competitors' processes that use vacuum chambers (instead of a ceramic sleeve) generally don't allow for material substitution because of contamination issues. Fidelis says its technology will also allow manufacturers to quickly and economically shift to new materials if a shortage of any one type of material occurs.

Website: www.fidelisenergyinc.com

Reprinted with permission from SustainableBusiness.com

By Timothy B. Hurst

As the average U.S. home size shrinks and buyers look greater efficiency and use of green building products, the likelihood for fraud or misleading claims about the green-ness of those homes rises. While there are some green building codes on the books, The International Code Council yesterday took the codification of green construction a step further and announced the release of Public Version 1.0 of the International Green Construction Code (IGCC) to regulate construction of new and existing commercial buildings.

The purpose of the IGCC code is to significantly reduce energy usage and greenhouse gasses by addressing site development and land use, including preservation of natural and material resources. Enforcement of the code will improve indoor air quality and support the use of energy-efficient appliances, renewable energy systems, water resource conservation, rainwater collection and distribution systems, and the recovery of graywater. “We talked to communities who indicate that their voluntary green building programs reach only, but an important, 30 percent of the built environment,” Code Council CEO Richard P. Weiland said in a statement. “This means that there is a clear need for a regulatory tool to establish a baseline to help jurisdictions meet their sustainability goals.”

With governments across the U.S. and around the globe clamoring for a green code to complement voluntary rating systems, the IGCC code, if adopted, can immediately to reduce energy usage as well as the resulting carbon footprint of thousands of commercial building projects. The IGCC initiative was launched in 2009 with Cooperating Sponsors the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and ASTM International.

The work of the ICC/AIA/ASTM team in developing the new International Green Construction Code is now combined with the Standard developed by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES).

“Green building codes and standards working complementary to one another is a critical step towards advancing green building,” said Rick Fedrizzi, President, CEO & Founding Chair, USGBC. “This collaboration will accelerate the adoption of green building codes and standards developed jointly by ICC, ASHRAE, USGBC and IES, across the country and around the globe as we work collectively towards transforming building design, construction and operations to green practices.”

The International Green Construction Code Public Version 1.0 is free and available for download at the IGCC website.

Reprinted with permission from Earth and Industry

By Susan Kraemer

On Tuesday a bipartisan coalition of governors from 29 states will descend upon Washington to urge congress to pass the legislation America needs to boost wind power, providing clean safe permanent energy and the jobs that go with it. They are bringing their recommendations in a report titled “Great Expectations.”

To bring the lessons they have already learned in pioneering this legislative path forward for the nation with state Renewable Energy Standards, the Governors’ Wind Energy Coalition governors are coming to offer advice as the Senate sponsors of a climate bill prepare to unveil their own comparable Federal legislation, perhaps as soon as this week.

The coalition chairman, Iowa (15% powered by wind) Democratic Gov. Chet Culver says they come in peace. “We offer our assistance in working with Congress and the administration to achieve one of the nation’s principal energy goals, energy independence, and increasing the role that wind energy plays in meeting that challenge.”

The governors are predominantly from the states that have either passed aspirational goals or that have already passed a Renewable Electricity Standard (RES), requiring electric utilities add more renewable power to the grid.

The RES has been extremely successful, and the states that have gone the furthest have the most green job growth. California, with a 33% requirement by 2020, has 36% green job growth, in an otherwise dismal job market. The RES states have lowered greenhouse gases the most. The Northeast states that added an average of 17% to the grid to meet state RES are some of the same states that have achieved greenhouse gas levels almost like Europeans, to below Kyoto 1990 levels.

Because these standards vary considerably from state to state, compliance by the electric-power and renewable-energy industries is made more difficult than it need be if there was a uniform standard.

Among their recommendations:
Fast tracking a national Renewable Energy Standard, beginning with 10% by 2012.
Developing new infrastructure for electricity transmission
Enabling transmission to distant renewable energy resources. Funding technology to develop wind energy in “wind-rich” coastal areas.
Streamlining the permitting process for wind energy projects. Extending an economic stimulus grant program for wind projects
Providing a long-term extension of the wind energy production tax credit.

The governors like the House cap and trade bill (Waxman-Markey ACES) in its Renewable Energy Standard (RES), and urge the Senate to provide comparable legislation. Senator Boxer’s original CEJAPA and the Republican-favored fossil “energy-only” bill (that failed its CBO report) do have a RES, the popular (cap and dividend) CLEAR Act doesn’t – yet. The much touted Bipartisan bill-to be is yet unknown.

Source: FoxNews11

Reprinted with permission from Cleantechnica

By Timothy B. Hurst

On a recent flight into Los Angeles International Airport, I was struck by what appeared to be a region being virtually consumed by giant warehouses. In fact, if you have flown into any of southern California’s major airports, one thing you may have noticed is that there is no shortage of prime rooftop real estate. And one of the largest utilities in the U.S., Southern California Edison (SCE), is taking advantage of that available real estate with an ambitious project to bring 500 megawatts of new solar capacity onto the grid over a five year period.

In a partnership with San Jose-based solar panel maker SunPower inked just last week, SCE will lease rooftop acreage for 200 MW of new solar PV generating capacity — most of which will come in the form of 1-2 million watt rooftop installations.

Under California law, investor-owned utilities are required to secure 20 percent of electricity from renewable energy sources by 2010 and 33% by 2020.

The payouts to the property owners for their otherwise unused roof space will be nothing to sneeze at either. SCE will lease each roof for about $40,000 per year.

Eventually, the two installation tracks will add a total of 500 megawatts to the solar generating capacity of Southern California’s power resources – making it the largest U.S. photovoltaic program ever undertaken.

“The SunPower cost structure will allow us to meet our commitment to increasing our customers’ supply of renewable energy while reducing the cost of installed solar photovoltaic power in California,” said SCE communications manager Gil Alexander in a phone interview on Friday.

“In other words,” said Alexander, “we have estimated a final cost of $3.50 per installed watt vs. the state average of $7. The SunPower agreement means we are on target to fulfill that commitment.”

SunPower T5 Solar Roof Tiles chosen for light weight, efficiency

For eighty percent of Southern California Edison’s 250MW commitment, the utility opted to purchase the SunPower T5 Solar Roof Tile product. The T5 is one of the lightest products and considering the load bearing characteristics of the roofs are not designed for massive solar installations, overall weight is important.

The T5 was also selected, because its design is ideal for flat or low-slope rooftops. The T5 is made from an engineered glass-filled polymer that is non-reactive, integrating solar panel, frame and roof mounting system into a single unit and eliminating the need for electrical grounding of the array. In essence, the solar tiles require no framing or rack to fasten to the roof, they are the rack. And when you’re talking about installations of 1 million to 2 million watts, efficiency in the installation process is paramount.

SCE’s Alexander estimates “the combined solar project – 250 MW of utility owned and operated generation and 250 MW of independently owned generation under contract to SCE and its customers – will create roughly 1,200 new green jobs in the solar installation industry.”

The request for proposals for the independent “twin track” of 250 MW of independently owned solar PV will begin in a few weeks. After CPUC goes through their review process, contracts and construction would likely begin some time in spring or summer 2011.

Reprinted with permission from EarthandIndustry.com

The US Departments of Treasury and Energy announced that grants under the $3.4 billion Smart Grid Investment Grant program will not be subject to federal taxes.

Under the guidance released Wednesday, the Internal Revenue Service is providing a safe harbor under section 118(a) of the Internal Revenue Code for corporations receiving Recovery Act funding under the program.

With the determination, corporate utilities can now launch investments with a clear indication of the tax status for their projects.

The Department of Energy said it can now move forward quickly to finalize grant agreements over the coming weeks.

The $3.4 billion Smart Grid Investment grant program is the largest single energy grid modernization investment in U.S. history. Through this Recovery Act-funded program, one-hundred private companies, utilities, manufacturers, cities and other partners are receiving funding to implement a broad range of technologies that will spur the nation’s transition to a more efficient and reliable electric system.

Awardees have stated that the projects will create tens of thousands of jobs. Implementing the smart grid is expected to promote energy-saving choices for consumers, increase efficiency, and foster the growth of renewable energy sources like wind and solar.

Reprinted with permission from Sustainable Business

Fact: Carnegie Mellon University Professor Paul Fischbeck, a risk expert, calculated the risk of driving a recalled Toyota and found that the accelerator problem increases the driving risk by 2 percent—which is already very low. In other words, the chance of dying in a year because of the accelerator problem is about two in a million. This is the same as flipping 19 coins one time each and getting 19 heads. Fischbeck says that you are almost 20 times more likely to die while walking than driving a recalled Toyota.

National Public Radio reported that you are 30 times more likely to get hit by lightning than you are to die in a crash involving a Toyota with a sticky gas pedal.

So, the chances of driving a runaway Prius are extremely unlikely. But still, what if it happens? The remaining myths and facts come from Paddocktalk.com, a website dedicated to racing news.

Myth: In the event you encounter a runaway vehicle, the first thing you should do is to turn off the ignition.

Fact: No, the first thing a driver should do is to put the transmission in Neutral. A driver can place the Prius in Neutral by moving the shift lever to the “N” position—to the left side of the shift gate, and hold it there for a second. This separates the driveline from the wheels, and gives the driver instant speed control over the vehicle, and allows the driver time to assess what is happening. Shifting into Neutral at full throttle will not damage the engine.

Myth: The start/stop button on the dash will not turn off a Prius while it’s running.

Fact: Pressing the start/stop button does shut down the car, but it's a backup choice—behind shifting into Neutral—because it will also shut down power brakes and steering. On models with a push-button smart key system, pushing and holding the button on the dash for about three seconds will shut off the ignition system on the vehicle, bringing the car to a stop—even if it’s in gear and moving along the roadway.

Myth: The brake system on my Toyota Prius is not able to stop the car at speed with a wide-open throttle condition.

Fact: If you apply firm, steady pressure on the brake pedal—use two feet if needed—the vehicle will come to a halt. Do not pump the brakes. All Priuses have a brake system program that reduces gasoline engine power if both the throttle and brake pedals are depressed at the same time. Prius has multiple back-up systems to force the use of hydraulic brakes, in the extremely unlikely event that the electronic brakes fail.

Myth: The parking brake is effective in stopping a vehicle at speed.

Fact: The parking brake may be helpful, but placing the transmission in Neutral and using firm steady pressure on the brake pedal will be the best way to bring the vehicle to a stop.

Reprinted with permission from HybridCars.com