Energy Highlights
A bi-monthly energy news update from MMPEI
October 1, 2007
Vol. 1 No. 2
U-M News
U-M, PNNL study: Are plug-ins the next wave of hybrid vehicles?
Is America ready for rechargeable cars? Teams of researchers at the University of Michigan and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) will explore this question and others with $2 million from the U.S. Department of Energy's offices of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability and Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy. U-M's Michigan Memorial Phoenix Energy Institute will coordinate efforts among several university departments, industry partners such as General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and DTE Energy, and PNNL.
DOE to Provide Nearly $20 Million to Further Development of Advanced Batteries for Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles
During a visit to U-M, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Assistant Secretary for Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability Kevin Kolevar announced DOE will invest nearly $20 million in plug-in hybrid vehicle (PHEV) research. Five projects have been selected for negotiation of awards under DOE's collaboration with the United States Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC) for $17.2 million in DOE funding for PHEV battery development projects and; DOE will provide nearly $2 million to the University of Michigan to spearhead a study exploring the future of PHEVs.
- Watch a video of the PHEV project announcement featuring remarks by Gary Was, director of MMPEI, Kevin Kolevar, assistant secretary for electricity delivery and energy reliability at the U.S. Department of Energy, Jon Wellinghoff, commissioner of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and Jud Virden, deputy associate laboratory director for energy science and technology at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
MMPEI Energy Day Poster Competition Winners Announced
Students from the College of Engineering, LSA and across campus were on hand to discuss their research during the Energy Day poster competition held in Mason Hall on September 19. Posters were judged based on clarity and conciseness, most engaging display and presentation, and the potential for the work to make a significant contribution towards solving global energy challenges. First place was awarded to Leon Webster, Ph.D. Student, Applied Physics and Peter Aurora, Ph.D. Student, Mechanical Engineering for their poster "Nanostructured Materials for Hydrogen Production from Solar Energy."
Energy News
Plan Uses Taxes to Fight Climate Change
"This is going to cause pain," said U.S. Representative and chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee John Dingell when he proposed a discussion draft of legislation aimed at combating global warming. Dingell says he hasn't ruled out a cap-and-trade system, but for now he wants to float what he believes is a better idea. The tax measures include a 50-cent-a-gallon tax on gasoline and jet fuel to be phased in over five years, a $50 per ton tax on carbon released from burning coal, petroleum or natural gas, and a phase out of the interest tax deduction on home mortgages for homes over 3,000 square feet.
Nuclear Power Reborn
Two reactors at a South Texas nuclear power plant, an hour southwest of Houston, last year churned out 21.37 billion kilowatt-hours. By 2015, its majority owner, New Jersey-based NRG Energy, hopes to at least double that capacity if it gets permission to build two more reactors on the site. The company filed the first application on Monday for a new nuclear power plant—two advanced boiling-water reactors—in more than 30 years.
Green Energy: Solar's Big Boom
California's push for energy from the sun could turn the Golden State into the Saudi Arabia of the solar power industry. The backers of 34 projects that could produce as much as 24,000 megawatts of power have filed right-of-way requests for federal land in California. One megawatt is enough power for 750 to 1,000 California homes.
Energy Firms Launch $5M Fuel Cell Project
DTE Energy Co., Rolls-Royce Fuel Cell Systems Ltd., Detroit’s NextEnergy and a Virginia software and consulting firm are teaming up to test new ways to generate and deliver electricity. The partners, which include Electrical Distribution Design Inc., are participating in a $5 million, three-year research project to explore new technologies for distributed power generation, which is the process of generating power at or near where it’s needed.
Faculty News
New Directions in Energy Economics
At the first MMPEI sponsored Energy Economics symposium early in the semester, Lucas Davis, Meredith Fowlie and Lutz Kilian presented their research from recent working papers and fielded questions from students and faculty from the economics department, the Ross School of Business, the Ford School of Public Policy and the School of Natural Resources and Environment. The focus of the energy-related research went from national to global, with Davis studying the effect power plants have on housing markets, Fowlie examining incomplete environmental regulation and emissions leakage and Kilian investigating demand and supply shocks in the crude oil market.
Funding Opportunities
Woody Biomass Utilization Grant Program - Due 11/02/07
The USDA Forest Service proposals for forest product projects that increase the use of woody biomass from National Forest System lands. The woody biomass utilization grant program is intended to help improve forest restoration activities by using and creating markets for small-diameter material and low-valued trees removed from forest restoration activities, such as reducing hazardous fuels, handling insect and diseased conditions, or treating forestlands impacted by catastrophic weather events.
DOE Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Program - Due 11/27/07
This notice describes Phase I funding opportunities for the Department of Energy Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs for Fiscal Year 2008. This notice also includes some aspects of the Phase II process as reference information.
Solid State Energy Conversion Alliance (SECA) Core Technology and Innovative Concepts - Due 01/15/08
DOE is seeking proposals to develop science and technologies that address specific technical challenges and barriers
faced by the SECA Industry Teams in the Cost Reduction and Coal Based Systems program. Separate announcements have been made for each topic area. Topic 1 - Cathode Electrolytic Activity, Topic 2 - Performance of LSCF Cathodes, Topic 3 - Novel Fuel Cells for Coal Based Systems, Topic 4 - Sealing Systems Based on Viscous Glasses
Upcoming Events
The Road to Sustainable Transportation
When: Tuesday, November 13, 2007 - 4:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Where: Rackham Auditorium
The School of Natural Resources and Environment presents the Seventh Annual Peter M. Wege Lecture on Sustainability featuring William Clay Ford, Jr. Meeting the world’s growing transportation needs while preserving resources and the environment for future generations is the critical challenge facing automakers in the 21st century. In his Wege Lecture remarks, Ford Motor Company Executive Chairman Bill Ford will discuss the dimensions of this challenge and what is being done to meet it, as well as what a sustainable transportation future might look like.
