Student Energy Inventors - Information Session - Dec 3rd

HAVE A GREAT ENERGY IDEA FOR A STARTUP?

Does it involve? Renewable energy, Energy efficiency, Green energy, Mentor from Industry...

Chances to win: $125,000 MIT Prize. $100,000 DOE Prize. Or three $25k Prizes. Mentor from industry...

Learn more about MIT CEP competition:

  • Website
  • Deadline Feb. 8, 2015
  • Please contact Rutgers Rep. Matthew Purri with any questions - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Please note that faculty can be involved as mentors, but the competitors should be undergraduate and graduate student teams.

REI Member on new NRC committee on the Future of Atmospheric Chemistry

Anne Marie Carlton , assistant professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences, has been appointed to a newly established ad hoc National Research Council committee on the Future of Atmospheric Chemistry , whose goal is to identify priorities and strategic steps forward for atmospheric chemistry research for the next decade.  The Committee will study the need for supporting a comprehensive U.S. research program in atmospheric chemistry, including how research in this area contributes to advancing our understanding of climate change, air quality, the carbon and nitrogen cycles, the energy and water cycles, and the overall role of the atmosphere in Earth system science.

Rutgers Professors Receive Fulbright Grants for Research and Teaching Abroad

Eric Lam, professor in the Department of Plant Biology and Pathology, and  director of the Biotechnology Center for Agriculture and the Environment, School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, Rutgers University¬–New Brunswick, received a Fulbright Grant for research and teaching in Brazil.  Eric Lam, also a member of the Rutgers Energy Institute, will continue his work on improving biofuel production by enhancing plant sources. Learn more

Robert Kopp selected as a 2015 Leopold Leadership Fellow

Robert Kopp, associate professor in the Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences and associate director of the Rutgers Energy Institute, has been named a 2015 Leopold Leadership Fellow for his exceptional scientific qualifications, demonstrated leadership ability, and strong interest in sharing his knowledge beyond traditional academic audiences. Learn more

Introduction to Bioenergy Technologies Course Online for the Spring

Are you interested in learning about bioenergy technologies online?

Course 11:776:112 Introduction to Bioenergy Technologies will be offered in the Spring 2015 semester and focus on biomass and bioenergy technologies and their sustainable applications.

 

An Earth Scientist's Urgent Mission Takes Shape at Rutgers

Robert Kopp builds a multidisciplinary response to climate change:  Professor Robert Kopp handles many roles: Earth science researcher, gifted teacher, associate director of Rutgers Energy Institute. An increasingly influential public scholar, he brings experts from different fields together to form a unified response to climate change. Read this story and learn how Kopp worked as the lead scientist on a major environmental project organized by Michael Bloomberg and other key figures. Learn more

DOE Better Buildings Residential Program Solution Center

The U.S. Department of Energy has launched the Better Buildings Residential Program Solution Center , an online resource for residential energy efficiency program administrators and home performance professionals. The Solution Center serves as a repository for examples, ideas, and resources for residential energy efficiency programs, drawn from Better Buildings Neighborhood Program partners, Home Performance with ENERGY STAR® Sponsors, and other residential energy efficiency programs.

New SunShot CSP Funding Opportunity Now Open

Funding Opportunity Announcement: Concentrating Solar Power: Advanced Projects Offering Low LCOE Opportunities
 
Funding Number: DE-FOA-0001186 Funding Amount: $25,000,000
 
Description: The Concentrating Solar Power: Advanced Projects Offering Low LCOE Opportunities (CSP: APOLLO) funding opportunity announcement (FOA) seeks transformative projects targeting all components of a concentrating solar power (CSP) plant. Projects should seek to meet the targets set out in the SunShot Vision Study, enabling CSP to become fully cost-competitive with traditional forms of electric power generation. Projects can address challenges in any technical system of the plant, including solar collectors, receivers and heat transfer fluids, thermal energy storage, power cycles, as well as operations and maintenance. The total federal funding for this opportunity will be about $25 million with a minimum 20% required awardee cost share. Individual awards are expected to range from $250,000 to $5 million.  
 
  • Learn more
  • Mandatory concept paper is due on November 26, 2014; 5:00pm ET ET
  • Submission Deadline for Full Applications February 20, 2015; 5:00pm ET  

AVERT - new tool to estimate emmision benefits

EPA’s State and Local Climate and Energy Program has launched a new tool that estimates the emissions benefits of energy efficiency and renewable energy policies and programs. The AVoided Emissions and geneRation Tool (AVERT) is a free tool with a simple user interface designed to meet the needs of state air quality planners and other interested users. Non-experts can easily use AVERT to evaluate county-level reductions of electric power plant emissions due to energy efficiency (EE) and renewable energy (RE) policies and programs.

State air quality planners, energy office staff, public utility commission staff, and other organizations interested in knowing the emission benefits of EE/RE policies and programs can use AVERT to: • Quantify the nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulfur dioxide (S02), and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions benefits of state and multi-state EE/RE policies and programs. • Examine the regional, state, and county level emission impacts of different EE/RE programs based on temporal energy savings and hourly generation profiles. • Include AVERT-calculated emission impacts of EE/RE policies and programs in air quality modeling and Clean Air Act plans used to meet the National Ambient Air Quality Standards, with the concurrence of the appropriate EPA regional office. • Compare the emissions impacts of different types of EE/RE programs, such as the emissions impacts of wind installations versus solar installations. • Understand the emissions impacts of different EE/RE policies and programs during high electricity demand days. • Analyze the emissions benefits of EE/RE programs implemented in multiple states within an AVERT region. • Share information about location-specific emissions benefits in easy-to-interpret tables and maps.  

Read more

Rutgers Chemists Develop Technology to Produce Clean-Burning Hydrogen Fuel

teddy-asefa.jpgNew catalyst based on carbon nanotubes may rival cost-prohibitive platinum for reactions that split water into hydrogen and oxygen

Rutgers researchers have developed a technology that could overcome a major cost barrier to make clean-burning hydrogen fuel – a fuel that could replace expensive and environmentally harmful fossil fuels. electrolysis catalyst Image: Tewodros Asefa A new technology based on carbon nanotubes promises commercially viable hydrogen production from water.

The new technology is a novel catalyst that performs almost as well as cost-prohibitive platinum for so-called electrolysis reactions, which use electric currents to split water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen. The Rutgers technology is also far more efficient than less-expensive catalysts investigated to-date.

“Hydrogen has long been expected to play a vital role in our future energy landscapes by mitigating, if not completely eliminating, our reliance on fossil fuels,” said Tewodros (Teddy) Asefa, associate professor of chemistry and chemical biology in the School of Arts and Sciences. “We have developed a sustainable chemical catalyst that, we hope with the right industry partner, can bring this vision to life.”

 

 

REI Scientist Bob Kopp Co-Leads Report on Economic Risks of Climate Change

Rutgers Energy Institute associate director Robert Kopp served as co-leader on a prospectus, the first report to provide a national set of estimates of costs of climate change to key sectors of the state economies.

bob_kopp_small_frame.jpgThe American economy faces major risks from climate change, including damaging coastal storms, growing heat-related mortality, and declining labor productivity, according to an independent report released June 24 by business, education and political leaders.

The report, titled Risky Business, relies upon research also released today in the American Climate Prospectus: Economic Risks in the United States(ACP). Like a financial prospectus, the prospectus assesses the risks and opportunities for the United States associated with ongoing and future climate change.

The ACP, co-led by  Rutgers climate scientist Robert Kopp, along with colleagues from the University of California, Berkeley, and from the private consultancy Rhodium Group, is the first to provide a national set of estimates of costs to key sectors of the state economies.  

2014 SolarWorld Junior Einstein Award

SolarWorld, the largest solar manufacturer in the U.S. and Europe, is now accepting applications for the 2014 SolarWorld Junior Einstein Award. Now in its ninth year, the Junior Einstein Award is the oldest and most prestigious prize for young scientists doing research relevant to the photovoltaic industry.

Graduate students in electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, renewable energy, engineering, chemistry, physics, process engineering or a similar discipline with a thesis focused on solar technology or a related area are eligible to apply. The applicant’s scientific thesis in German or English must have been written between June 2013 and April 2014. The application deadline is April 15, 2014.

A jury composed of well-known photovoltaic experts will choose the recipient of the prize, which will be presented this year during Intersolar, a premier solar-industry trade show, in Munich, Germany. More information and the application form are available at: http://www.einstein-award.de/en/junior-award .  

 

Vehicle fuel economy up 5.1 mpg since 2007

The average fuel economy (window-sticker value) of new vehicles sold in the U.S. in February was 25.2 mpg--up 0.1 mpg from the revised value for January, and up 5.1 mpg from the value for October 2007 (the first month of our monitoring). For a description of the calculations and the recent mpg values, please click here.

The University of Michigan Eco-Driving Index (EDI)--an index that estimates the average monthly emissions of greenhouse gases generated by an individual U.S. driver--stood at 0.78 in December (the lower the value the better). This value indicates that the average new-vehicle buyer produced 22% lower emissions in December 2013 than in October 2007. The EDI takes into account both vehicle fuel economy and distance driven (the latter relying on data that are published with a two-month lag). Please click here for a brief description of what the EDI is, how it is calculated, and the current and recent values of the EDI.

Pond-Dwelling Powerhouse's Genome Points to its Biofuel Potential

Duckweed is a tiny floating plant that’s been known to drive people daffy. It’s one of the smallest and fastest-growing flowering plants that often becomes a hard-to-control weed in ponds and small lakes. But it’s also been exploited to clean contaminated water and as a source to produce pharmaceuticals.

Now, the genome of Greater Duckweed (Spirodela polyrhiza) has given this miniscule plant’s potential as a biofuel source a big boost.

In a paper published February 19, 2014 in the journal Nature Communications, researchers from Rutgers University , the Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute and several other facilities detailed the complete genome of S. polyrhiza and analyzed it in comparison to several other plants, including rice and tomatoes.