| The Energy Department on July 15 announced awards totalling $6 million for two projects to develop next-generation biofuels that will help drive down the cost of producing gasoline, diesel, and jet fuels from biomass. The research and development projects, located in California and North Carolina, will focus on lowering production costs by maximizing the renewable carbon and hydrogen from biomass that can be converted to renewable fuels and improving the separation processes in bio-oil production to remove non-fuel components. SRI International of Menlo Park, California, will receive $3.2 million to produce a bio-crude oil from algal biomass that will maximize the amount of carbon recovered for use in renewable fuel and reduce the nitrogen content of the product in order to meet fuel quality standards. Research Triangle Institute of Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, will receive $3.1 million to maximize the biomass-based carbon and energy recovery in a low pressure process—therefore lowering production costs, to produce a bio-crude oil that can be efficiently upgraded into a finished biofuel. See the Energy Department news release and the Bioenergy Technologies Office website.   The Energy Department on July 15 announced up to $14 million in funding for 15 research and development projects to support technologies that will contribute to advancing early-stage, breakthrough energy-efficient solutions for buildings and homes. Nine of these projects include Energy Department national laboratories. These projects will help building managers and homeowners reduce energy demand, save money and accelerate the deployment of clean energy technologies. Seven incubator projects will be funded with nearly $6 million to improve heating, ventilation and air conditioning, water heating, sensors and controls, and building energy modeling. Additionally, eight projects will receive $8 million to address energy efficiency in advanced clothes dryers, windows, and building thermal insulation. Cost-shared with a $3 million investment from industry, the projects are intended to dramatically reduce energy consumption in commercial and residential buildings. Among incubator projects selected for funding is one in which Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) will team with Sandia National Laboratories and the University of Maryland to develop a high-performance refrigerator that uses a novel rotating heat exchanger that allows for evaporation and eliminates the need for a defrost cycle. Another project will pair ORNL researchers with GE Appliances to create a prototype of a highly energy-efficient ultrasonic clothes dryer that uses high frequency sound to remove moisture from a range of fabric types. See the Energy Department news release. Energy Department researchers have won 31 of the 100 awards this year by R&D Magazine for the most outstanding technology developments with promising commercial potential. The R&D 100 awards are given annually in recognition of exceptional new products or processes that were developed and introduced into the marketplace during the previous year. To be eligible for an award, the technology or process has to be in working and marketable condition and had to be first available for purchase or licensing during 2013. Of the winning technologies, 11 are primarily devoted to energy efficiency and renewable energy. Those include: -
A chemical solution developed by Argonne National Laboratory chemists to prevent overcharging a lithium-ion battery by electrochemically "locking in" a maximum voltage which is dependent on the chemical structure of the chemical additive and the nature of the battery material; -
The Advanced Electrolyte Model, a powerful tool from Idaho National Laboratory that analyzes and identifies potential electrolytes for battery systems; -
Two projects from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL): NREL worked with the company Crystal Solar to demonstrate the viability of high-efficiency thin monocrystalline silicon solar cells and modules that are less than 80 microns thick and to show that they can be grown at low-cost through an epitaxial process. NREL collaborated with Hewlett Packard to develop the HP Apollo 8000 System, which uses component-level warm-water cooling to dissipate heat generated by a supercomputer, thereby eliminating the need for expensive and inefficient chillers in the data center. Since 1962, when the annual competition began, the Energy Department's national laboratories have received more than 800 R&D 100 awards. The awards are selected by an independent panel of judges based on the technical significance, uniqueness, and usefulness of products and technologies from across industry, government, and academia. See the Energy Department news release and the R&D 100 awards website. The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) on July 2 announced that nearly 80,000 acres off the Maryland coast will be offered for commercial wind energy development in an August 19 competitive lease sale. The Maryland Wind Energy Area, which will be auctioned as two leases, is located about 10 nautical miles off the coast of Ocean City, Maryland. Sixteen companies have qualified to participate in the auction. According to analysis prepared by the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory, if fully developed, the Maryland Wind Energy Area could support between 850 and 1450 megawatts of commercial wind generation, enough electricity to power 300,000 homes. See the DOI news release and the Energy Department's Offshore Wind Research and Development webpage. The Energy Department on June 25 announced a new energy efficiency standard for furnace fans, the latest of eight finalized standards and nine proposed standards issued since the President's Climate Action Plan was announced last year. These efficiency standards cut carbon pollution and save American families and businesses money by saving energy. Furnace fans are used to circulate air through ductwork in residential heating and cooling equipment. Last year, approximately 3 million furnace fans were shipped in the United States. A standard furnace fan for a 70,000-Btu-per-hour furnace consumes approximately 1,000 kilowatt-hours per year, and this standard could reduce energy use by 46%. The new standard for furnace fans will help reduce harmful carbon pollution by up to 34 million metric tons—equivalent to the annual electricity use of 4.7 million homes—and save U.S. residents more than $9 billion in home electricity bills through 2030. Since the beginning of the Obama Administration, the Energy Department has finalized new efficiency standards for more than 30 household and commercial products, including dishwashers, refrigerators, and water heaters, estimated to save consumers more than $450 billion through 2030. See the Energy Department news release, the fan regulations, and the Department's Appliance and Equipment Standards Program. Electricity generation capacity from renewable energy sources in the Americas is estimated to quadruple—growing from 7% in 2012 to 28% in 2030—according to a report released on July 1 by research company Bloomberg New Energy Finance. The report, BNEF 2030 Market Outlook, forecasts that that United States will add 522 gigawatts (GW) of gross new electrical generation capacity by 2030, and that overall North, Central, and South America will add 943 GW of gross new electrical generation capacity. During that span, renewable energy technologies in the Americas attracting significant investment will include rooftop photovoltaics ($231 billion) and land-based wind energy ($200 billion). There will be smaller slices of investment going to biomass-to-power energy systems, offshore wind energy, and large-scale solar energy systems, according to the report authors. The research company's model suggests that energy efficiency gains will mean that U.S. electricity demand rises at just 0.5% per year from 2014 to 2030, much more slowly than U.S. gross domestic Product. In contrast, electricity demand will increase at 3% a year in Latin America on the back of rapid economic development. Globally, the Bloomberg New Energy Finance report forecasts that $7.7 trillion will be invested in new generating capacity by 2030, with 66% of that going to renewable energy technologies, including hydroelectric systems. See the Bloomberg New Energy Finance news release. | 
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