Community News

EERE Regional Office Web Sites Launch New Look, Offer More Content

The U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) has updated its Web sites for its six regional offices for the new year. The six Web sites incorporate an updated design and added content, including more information about their programs and partners.

EERE's six Regional Offices—located in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Philadelphia and Seattle—provide project management and technology deployment within their regions. They also develop local partnerships to promote EERE technologies within the states that they serve. To check out what your regional office is doing, visit its Web site via www.eere.energy.gov.

EERE 2004 Calendar Features Energy Saving Tips

The Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) has released its 2004 calendar, which provides information on saving energy in the home and at work. Each month offers energy-saving tips on topics such as lighting, windows, solar energy, heating and cooling, new home construction, green power and preparing for a fuel outage. You can print your own copy by visiting www.eere.energy.gov or call 1-877-337-3272.

DOE Implements Project to Introduce Hydrogen-Fueled Three-Wheelers in India

A U.S. Department of Energy-implemented project supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) plans to introduce three-wheel hydrogen-powered vehicles into India. The DOE is interested in testing alternative fuel-efficient systems under congested traffic conditions where transportation pollution is severe.

USAID's US-Asia Environmental Partnership program and its Global Development Alliance program brought the American and Indian partners together and supported them with $500,000 to pursue the conversion of a three-wheeler internal combustion engine to run on hydrogen fuel. Energy Conversion Devices Inc. (ECD), on behalf of Texaco Ovonic Hydrogen Systems LLC, both of Rochester Hills., Mich., is undertaking conversion in the U.S. in a 50-50 joint venture with the unit of ChevronTexaco Corp., San Ramon, Calif. ECD will carry out the project in cooperation with one of India's largest automobile manufacturers, Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd.

According to the DOE, the project could encourage conversion of vast emerging economies to less-polluting hydrogen fuels, introduce key American technology to the immense Asian market, and hasten introduction of hydrogen-fueled transportation into the United States. An attractive factor in this test is the amount of fuel that needs to be stored on an average Indian three-wheeler is one-tenth that needed for automobiles favored by U.S. consumers.

In the project, Mahindra and Mahindra selects two vehicles for conversation and ships them to ECD. ECD will convert the engine to run on hydrogen, design an appropriate metal hydride storage system, integrate the storage system into the vehicle, and perform vehicle testing. ECD will use its proprietary Ovonic metal hydrides, which are alloys that act like a sponge, to absorb hydrogen gas. Waste heat from the engine is delivered to the metal hydride bed to release the hydrogen fuel. One converted vehicle will be returned to India and the second vehicle will remain at ECD for tests and demonstrations in the United States. For additional information, visit www.doe.gov.

DOE-Funded Scientists Decode DNA of Bacterium that Produces Electricity from Waste Matter

U.S. Department of Energy-funded scientists have decoded and analyzed the genome of a bacterium, Geobacter sulfurreducens , which has the ability to produce electricity from waste matter. In an article published in the December 12th edition of Science magazine, researchers at The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, reported that Geobacter sulfurreducens possesses extraordinary capabilities to transport electrons and reduce metal ions as part of its energy-generating metabolism. The results could potentially lead to genetically engineered microbes with an enhanced ability to convert waste into energy.

The Natural and Accelerated Bioremediation Research (NABIR) and Microbial Genome Programs in the department's Office of Science funded the $800,000 G. sulfurreducens sequencing project. The genome sequence is now serving as the basis for detailed investigations, supported by the department's Genomes to Life program, into the ability of Geobacter to reduce radionuclides and metals and to generate electricity. For additional information, visit www.doe.gov.

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