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 Acme C3 Powerwise Transformers are 30% better in
efficiency performance than standard TP1 transformers making them
perfect for LEED installations and upgrading older transformers that are
even more inefficient. Thanks to a more efficient core and higher-grade
electrical steel that minimizes losses, these energy-efficient units
exceed the requirements of the U.S. Department of Energy Candidate
Standard Level (CSL) 3 performance standard. Visit www.acmepowerdist.com/C3 for
more information.
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Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced in a Nov. 17 press statement that
the Department of Energy (DOE) is awarding nearly $40 million in funding
from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to Florida and Maine to
support clean energy projects. Under DOE’s Energy Efficiency and
Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) program, these states will implement
programs that lower energy use, reduce carbon pollution, and create
green jobs locally.
“This funding will allow states across the country to make major
investments in energy solutions that will strengthen America's economy
and create jobs at the local level,” said Secretary Chu. “It will
also promote some of the cheapest, cleanest and most reliable energy
technologies we have -- energy efficiency and conservation -- which can
be deployed immediately. Local communities can now make strategic
investments to help meet the nation's long term clean energy and climate
goals.”
Florida will use its $30.4 million in EECBG funding to promote energy
efficiency across the state, including competitive grants to local
cities and counties, energy retrofits for existing state buildings,
rebates for plug-in electric vehicles, and education and training
initiatives that will help reduce energy use and save money statewide.
In addition to awards to smaller cities and counties, Recovery Act
funding will help support the Sunshine State Building Initiative, which
will fund the installation of a variety of energy conservation measures
at existing state buildings. Maine will use 60 percent of its $9.6
million in Recovery Act EECBG funds for energy saving projects, such as
financial incentive programs, energy efficiency retrofits,
transportation programs, energy distribution measures, and the
installation of renewable energy technologies on government buildings.
For a full list of awards to date click here.
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Grainger announced it's closed on the purchase of Alliance Energy
Solutions, an energy services company (ESCO) based in Oxford, Conn.,
with annual sales around $20 million.
Alliance Energy President Kevin Siebrecht and Chief Operating Officer
Matt James will continue to lead the operations under the Alliance brand
name. Working with Grainger's U.S. business, Alliance will leverage the
scale of Grainger's sales network to bring its service capabilities to
more businesses and institutions, said the Grainger release.
"This transaction is the first service-based acquisition we're adding to
our U.S. customer offering and we anticipate it will help us accelerate
our strategy to become our customers' indispensable partner in helping
them keep their facilities safe, efficient and functional," said James
T. Ryan Grainger chairman, president and CEO.
Details
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Cree LRP-38: The LED replacement for halogen PAR
38s
Available in volume, the energy-efficient Cree
LRP-38 has a power input of only 12 Watts. The Cree LRP-38’s low heat,
low UV, and exceptional color quality—a CRI of 92 @ 2700K—is
designed to replace 50W–90W halogen PAR 38s in retail and display
settings and last 50,000 hours in open track fixtures.
To learn
more about the LRP-38 please visit Cree at Greenbuild booth #5322 or www.creeLEDlighting.com
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Thin-film solar cells are rapidly taking market share away from the
established crystalline technology, with their portion of Photovoltaic
(PV) wattage more than doubling by 2013, according to iSuppli Corp., El
Segundo, Calif., a market research firm tracking the electronics
industry. iSupply says thin-film will grow to account for 31 percent of
the global solar panel market in terms of watts by 2013, up from 14
percent in 2008.
“The market viability of thin-film has been solidly established by
First Solar Inc. as it rockets to become the world’s top solar panel
maker this year, with more than a gigawatt of production,” said Greg
Sheppard, chief research officer for iSuppli. “At the same time, the
company has driven its cost of production to less than 90 cents per
watt, keeping its costs at approximately half the level of crystalline
module producers.”
Most solar panels are made of crystalline wafers with 180 to 230 microns
of polysilicon. In contrast, thin-film panels are made by depositing
multiple layers of other materials a few micrometers in thickness on a
substrate. The main tradeoff between the two technologies is efficiency
versus cost per watt of electricity generation. Thin-film panels are
less efficient at converting sunlight to electricity, but they also cost
significantly less to make. At the same time thin-film is at a
disadvantage when installation space is limited, such as on a
residential rooftop. A thin-film installation can take 15 percent to 40
percent more space to achieve the same total system wattage output as
crystalline. This tends to limit its appeal in certain applications. Details
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A Nov. 10 Wall
Street Journal article said sales of green products at Siemens
AG have increased 11 percent over the past year and are expected to
account for 24% of the company’s total 2009 sales. In other green news
at Siemens, the company announced on Nov. 10 that it had nailed a $270
million contract for its wind turbines with Mexican wind energy
developer Grupo Soluciones en Energias Renovables to build 70 wind
turbines for the Los Vergeles wind farm in Tamaulipas, Mexico. The
Wall Street Journal article said the project is intended to
supply more than 200,000 Mexican households with clean power by the end
of 2010.
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The Mars candy manufacturing facility in Hackettstown N.J., that
produces M&M candies and other chocolate treats recently opened an
18-acre “solar garden” with more than 28,000 ground-mounted solar
panels that will produce 2MW of power during peak hours, approximately
20 percent of the plant's peak energy consumption. The solar garden is
the first project completed by PSEG Solar Source, a subsidiary of PSEG.
PSEG Solar Source owns the system, which is located on Mars Chocolate
North America's property, and Mars has contracted for the entire output
of the system. juwi solar Inc., a solar energy company located in
Boulder, Colo., performed the engineering, procurement and construction
services for the system and will also be providing the initial operation
and maintenance services.
Thin film panels were provided by First Solar. PSEG Solar Source
currently owns two other utility-scale solar projects -- one in Florida
and another in Ohio. Those projects, done with juwi solar Inc, total 27
MW and are expected to be completed by the end of next year. These
assets are the first in a planned portfolio of solar facilities
throughout the U.S. to be developed, owned and operated by PSEG Solar
Source.
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Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) has launched a $700 million
motor rebate bill for an energy-efficient motor rebate program advocated
by the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA), Rosslyn,
Va.. This "crush for credit" legislative proposal has been introduced in
the House of Representatives as HR 4031.
According to a press release at www.nema.org,
the bill is similar to a previous legislative proposal and authorizes a
federal rebate program for the purchase of NEMA Premium motors. The
newly introduced bill, however, doubles the authorized amount from $350
million to $700 million. The $700 million legislative proposal creates a
federal rebate program that will provide a $25 per horsepower rebate for
the purchase of NEMA Premium energy-efficient motors. It also provides
for a $5 per horsepower rebate for the proper disposal of the less
efficient, non-NEMA Premium motor.
Said NEMA President and CEO Evan Gaddis, "Since the energy/climate
change bill continues to be held up due to partisan bickering, I applaud
Representative Baldwin for taking a leadership role to ensure that the
crush-for-credit proposal remains active. Not only does this program
incentivize the purchase of NEMA Premium motors, it also vastly
decreases the demand on our electric grid."
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To assist end users in the education, healthcare, military,
municipality and government markets, Hubbell Lighting has published two
booklets intended to guide them as well as lighting specifiers through
the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA).
These books focus on ARRA stimulus plan lighting solutions and
specifications. The specification guide identifies the full spectrum of
Hubbell Lighting fluorescent, compact fluorescent, LED, and HID; indoor
and outdoor lighting fixtures meeting ARRA qualifications. The
specification guide provides catalog numbers and product descriptions
for over 1,500 lighting fixtures from its well known brands. In
addition, it identifies which particular lighting fixtures best serve
the stringent procurement requirements of ARRA funded projects, and
which meet the requirements of the Federal Emergency Management Program
(FEMP).
As part of the $700 billion-plus stimulus package passed by Congress in
February 2009, ARRA is specific about what renovation or new
construction projects qualify for stimulus funding. Among the criteria,
projects should be of a sustainable nature, and projects must have a
demonstrated or potential ability to create programmatic, long-term
public benefits versus a short-term spike in the economy. Navigating
through the ARRA guidelines can be tricky and time-consuming, says Ken
Beale, director of marketing services, Hubbell Lighting. For example,
there are different sets of procurement rules for different types of
projects. One is the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) clauses for
direct federal procurement of funds, and another awards funds to states
and non-federal entities through the Office of Management and Budget
(OMB) for ARRA financial assistance. Click here to get
these books.
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There’s so much chatter about advances in thin-film photovoltaic
cells and crystalline silicon PV cells that folks often forget about
concentrating solar technologies, which focus the suns rays on PV panels
with the use of mirrors or lenses. This New
York Times article offers a good date on what’s happening with
utility-scale concentrating solar technologies.
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Philips Electronics announced
on Nov. 13 that its recently revealed LED replacement for the common
household bulb was named one of the "best inventions of 2009" by
TIME magazine.
Under the heading "The $10 Million Lightbulb," the editors declared,
"With the flick of a switch, Philips Electronics may have just
dramatically lowered America's electric bill... Philips' LED bulb emits
the same amount of light as its incandescent equivalent but uses less
than 10W and lasts for 25,000 hours -- or 25 times as long."
More important to the electrical industry is the fact that this lamps it
the first entrant into the Department of Energy's Bright Tomorrow
Lighting Prize (L Prize) competition, which offers a $10 million
prize.
Following this testing and assessment, Philips intends to bring the LED
replacement to market, at which time the lamp is expected to use 20% of
the energy of an incandescent, while providing the same quality of light
consumers have come to know and expect.
Learn more about the L Prize competition from DOE's LED guru Jim
Brodrick on a great podcast
that aired Nov. 6 on National Public Radio's "Science Friday," hosted
by Ira Flatow.
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Chinese PV giant Suntech Power Holdings Co., will build its first
U.S. manufacturing plant for in the North American market in the
Phoenix, Ariz., area. The plant will have an initial production capacity
of 30MW and is expected to begin production in the third quarter of
2010. According to a company press release, the U.S. market had 356MW of
solar PV capacity installed during 2008 and is expected to grow six-fold
to more than 2GW by 2012. Details
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February 10-12, 2010
Strategies in Light Conference & Expo
Santa Clara, Calif.;
888/299-8016
Registration
info
April 8-10, 2010
PV America 2010
Washington, D.C., Solar Energy Industry Association (SEIA),
More
info
May 12-14, 2010
LightFair 2010
Las Vegas, Lightfair International;More info
May 23-26,2010
Wind Power 2010 Conference & Exhibition
Dallas, American Wind Power Association (AWEA),
www.awea.org 202-383-2512;
Info
Oct. 12-14, 2010
Solar Power 2010
Los Angeles; Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA) www.solarelectricpower.org,
and the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) www.seia.org
More
info
Have an event for the Green Events section? E-mail it to jim.lucy@penton.com
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G-Biz is a twice-monthly newsletter published by Electrical Wholesaling and Electrical Construction &
Maintenance magazines covering the latest news in the green
market of interest to the readers of our magazines.
Twice each month, G-Biz will cover topics such as:
- The latest developments in solar, wind and other
alternative sources of energy
- Utility rebate programs and other finanical incentives
- Federal, state and local energy legislation that creates sales
opportunities for energy-efficent electrical products
- LEED-certified building projects
- New green products
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