The Green (or Sustainable) Building: Part IV – Water and Energy Efficiency

This, the fourth article in our series on green (sustainable) buildings focuses on the twin subjects of energy efficiency and water efficiency two fundamental areas of importance for green buildings. These are important not only because they reduce usage of and promote reuse of these precious resources, but because in so doing to minimize the building environmental impact. A well designed green building, can not only reduce its own environmental impact, but can improve a surrounding environment.

Department of Energy Announces Grants To Establish 46 Energy Frontier Research Centers

The White House announced that the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science will invest $777 million in Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRCs) over the next five years. In a national effort to accelerate scientific advances in critical areas of the new energy economy the United States Department of Energy (DOE) will establish 46 new multi-million dollar Energy Frontier Research Centers (or EFRCs) across the nation.

National ‘Green The City’ Initiative Announce by Black Mayors Group

The National Conference of Black Mayors (NCBM) joined President Barack Obama’s national agenda to promote clean energy innovation and announced its “Green The City” Initiative on Earth Day. This initiative targets three primary areas: city conversion to clean energy vehicles, green-collar job creation and training, and the expansion of biomass energy production. This three-pronged strategy aims to reduce U.S. fossil fuel energy dependence, slow the pace of global climate change and establish a robust green economy in our cities. NCBM Mayors are aggressively moving to organize their communities to fully participate in the Green The City initiative.

National Science Foundation Sustainable Energy Grant

The National Science Foundation is offering the following grant opportunity with a submission deadline of September 15th 2009. The duration of unsolicited awards is generally one to three years. The average annual award size for the program is $100,000. The grant id is: PD 09-7644

The Energy for Sustainability program supports fundamental research and education in energy production, conversion, and storage and is focused on energy sources that are environmentally friendly and renewable. Most world energy needs are currently met through the combustion of fossil fuels. With projected increases in global energy needs, more sustainable methods for energy production will need to be developed, and production of greenhouse gases will need to be reduced.

Full Scholarships for Independent Sustainable Energy Graduate Study at MASDAR Institute of Science and Technology in Abu Dhabi

The MASDAR Institute of Science and Technology in Abu Dhabi is pleased to announce full scholarships to highly qualified graduate students from around the world. The MASDAR Institute is the centerpiece of the MASDAR Initiative, a landmark program by the government of Abu Dhabi to establish an entirely new economic sector dedicated to alternative and sustainable energy. The Institute is located inside the world’s first carbon neutral, zero waste Masdar City which will be powered solely by alternative energy, mainly solar energy.

Green Grid Bill Introduced in Senate

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has introduced legislation to support president Obama’s vision of a green grid. The Clean Renewable Energy and Economic Development Act will promote investments in transmission to facilitate access to renewable power, and also establish a streamlined planning and siting process for transmission lines. This legislation will make it easier for renewable energy suppliers to deliver clean energy from the often remote areas where it is harnessed to major population centers across the country.

2009 Will be a Year of Consolidation in Solar

After a run of some years of heady double digit growth the Solar PV sector in the US has hit a period of slower growth in which some of the weaker players are being shaken out of the market. This year will be characterized by consolidation as more successful firms and better capitalized firms build their market share and absorb weaker players. This shakeout was inevitable and is natural, but it was undoubtedly triggered by the financial crash of late 2008 coupled with the bursting of the oil futures speculative bubble and the temporary collapse in prices on the oil spot markets.

The Green Economy Will Need a Smart Grid…and Building it will be Big Business

Many believe that the green economy will be powered by the wind and by the sun. But fewer people are aware that to make this possible we need to profoundly transform the current electric grid to control and manage renewable energy supplies. Balancing load and demand is a quite a challenge with renewable supplies that are intermittent and depend on the weather. Without a robust ability to continuously balance energy supply and demand, wind or solar energy sources can have a profoundly negative impact on grid operations, reliability and power quality and force grid operators to make costly and inefficient adaptations to current spot conditions.

German Company Investing $1 Billion in Solar Energy Plant in Tennessee

Wacker Chemie AG will build a $1 billion plant in southeastern Tennessee that is estimated to create 500 green collar jobs in the region to manufacture hyperpure polycrystalline silicon, primary material used in the manufacture of solar panels. The company has purchased a 550-acre site about 30 miles northeast of Chattanooga. purchasing the site in Chattanooga will enable it to quickly build up its production capacity outside of the Euro zone in order to meet the projected growth in demand for solar cell feedstock in the US market.

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