| Jan 13 , 2009 | Vol. 3. No. 1 |
IN THIS ISSUE: MMPEI IN THE NEWS, U-M IN THE NEWS, ENERGY NEWS, FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES, AND UPCOMING EVENTS
MMPEI IN THE NEWS
U-M and Fraunhofer unite to ignite energy innovations
International research collaborations seeking new ways to fuel transportation will get kick-started by a $2.2 million program sponsored by the University of Michigan and Fraunhofer. The program will award seed money grants of up to $200,000 annually for two years to projects that explore alternative energy innovations for transportation.
14 Teams advance in clean energy prize competition
Fourteen teams - all with connections to the University of Michigan, have advanced to the second round of judging in the Clean Energy Prize competition. The competition was founded this year to help move clean energy technologies from the laboratory to commercial production. DTE Energy, through its DTE Energy Ventures subsidiary, and U-M, are challenging teams from Michigan colleges and universities to develop the best business plans for bringing new clean energy technologies to market. The teams with winning ideas will share $100,000 in prize money, with a grand prize of $65,000.
U-M IN THE NEWS
Battery lab centerpiece of growing U-M and GM technical relationship
Engineers at the University of Michigan have formalized an important relationship with General Motors to accelerate the design and testing of advanced batteries for electric vehicles. A five-year, $5-million award establishes the GM/U-M Advanced Battery Coalition for Drivetrains (ABCD), headquartered at U-M. Three U-M engineering professors are involved, as is a faculty member at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.
U-M professor's start-up attracts funding as it works on advanced lithium-ion batteries to save auto industry
In a modest office near Briarwood Mall in Ann Arbor, Ann Marie Sastry oversees a small group of engineers racing to create what could become the ultimate savior of the U.S. automobile industry: a next-generation lithium-ion battery.
ENERGY NEWS
Steven Chu: New energy secretary big efficiency fan
Unlike former vice-president Al Gore, who believes that the biggest hurdle to a clean-energy revolution is the lack of political will, Dr. Chu thinks the hurdle is still largely technological. Many advocates of renewable energy, such as Mr. Gore, have called for a full-scale energy revolution in the U.S. using existing technology such as wind power, which currently accounts for just 1% of U.S. electricity. Dr. Chu’s Berekely teams have spent the past four years exploring solutions to the thorniest problems in alternative energy, such as figuring out how to make second-generation biofuels more efficiently, or how to store energy from renewable sources like solar and wind.
Hybrid sales plunging more than auto sales overall
More ammunition to combat the nitwits who contend that only Detroit is having auto sales trouble due to our stupidity in building only gas-guzzlers: Sales of hybrid electric vehicles plunged 50 percent in November to fewer than 16,600, Green Car Congress.com reported.
The sunshine solution
It was probably an impossible task: infusing a sense of accomplishment and excitement into the start of an automated sequence of tasks. And when Harry Reid, Senator from Nevada, pushed a button, there was no fanfare, no chords from Also Sprach Zarathustra, nothing to announce that this was a Big Event. Instead, a dozen or so robotic arms, partly obscured from view and placed a safe distance from the assembled dignitaries, began positioning a large mirror and welding together a steel framework.
A new wave-powered generator
SRI International, will demonstrate and test a buoy-mounted, wave-powered generator in the ocean near Santa Cruz, Calif. The generator converts energy from ocean waves to electrical energy.This wave-powered generator is unique in that it uses SRI’s Electroactive Polymer Artificial Muscle (EPAM™) technology, a rubbery material that can generate electricity by simply being stretched and allowed to return to its original shape. This “artificial muscle” technology can generate electricity directly from the motion of waves without the need for complicated and costly hydraulic transmissions that are typically found in other wave-power generators.
FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
Nuclear Energy University Programs (NEUP) R&D Announcement - Due 01/19/09
The Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Energy has announced its 2009 University Programs (NEUP) research and development (R&D) solicitation. The solicitation is open to all U.S. colleges and universities. R&D awards under this solicitation are expected to total between $13M -$50M, based on available funding. Only pre-applications for proposed projects are being requested at this time. The full solicitation is expected to be issued in the February 2009 timeframe.
National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) TIP Competition - Due 01/15/09, 03/15/09
In this call for white papers, TIP is seeking information in all areas of critical national need, but also seeks information to assist TIP in further defining several topic areas under development. White papers may discuss any area of critical national need of interest to the submitter, or may address any of the following topic areas: civil infrastructure, complex networks and complex systems, energy, ensuring future water supply, manufacturing, nanomaterials/nanotechnology, personalized medicine, and sustainable chemistry.
Broad Agency Announcement - Bioenergy (BAA 2008-18): Air Force Office of Scientific Research
The primary objectives of this program are to understand and improve the facility of certain microorganisms to produce biofuels—specifically molecular hydrogen and algal lipids—for use in fuel cells and airbreathing engines, and to utilize other complex or impure biofuels for use in compact power generation.
Scale Biorefinery Projects - Due 04/30/09
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced the issuance of a Funding Opportunity Announcement (DE-PS36-09GO99038) for up to $200 million over six years (FY 2009 – FY 2014), to support the development of pilot and demonstration-scale biorefineries including the use of feedstocks such as algae and production of advanced biofuels such as bio-butanol, green gasoline and other innovative biofuels.
Visit http://www.energy.umich.edu/info/funding.html for additional funding opportunities.
UPCOMING EVENTS
University of Michigan / Fraunhofer proposal workshop
Wednesday, Jan 14, 2 to 4 p.m.
Arthur Miller Theatre - Walgreen Drama Center
1226 Murfin Avenue
University of Michigan North Campus
RSVP: Greg Sadler, Michigan Memorial Phoenix Energy Institute, jgsadler@umich.edu, (734) 764-9981
Visit http://www.energy.umich.edu/info/umf.html for information on this alternative energy innovations for transportation research partnership.
Energy and environment conference
Feb 1 - 4
Phoenix Convention Center, Phoenix, Arizona
Over 450 world leading experts will make presentations on critical issues concerning President-elect Obama's proposed initiatives
RESEARCH AND FACULTY POSITIONS
Visit http://www.energy.umich.edu/careers/facultypositions.html for information on University of Michigan open faculty positions exploring energy storage and social science and energy.
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