Wind tunnel breezes onto Portland State’s campus February 15, 2010

A new wind tunnel at Portland State University could bolster the city’s green cache by bringing top-level researchers to the city.

The custom-designed wind tunnel is being constructed in Wisconsin and will be shipped to PSU in March. It will be installed in a first-floor lab of the school’s new engineering building, 1930 S.W. Fourth Ave.

The tunnel is generating excitement in Portland design circles. Sustainability advocates expect the $500,000 tunnel to encourage high-level research into wind energy.

Having a research-grade piece of equipment in Portland will be immensely helpful to architects and engineers, said John Breshears, associate partner with Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects.

ZGF designed rooftop wind turbines for downtown Portland’s Twelve|West office-and-apartment project for Gerding Edlen Development Co. The four wind turbines installed in 2009 were among the first to be placed in an urban setting in the U.S.

For that project, ZGF and its partners did their research at Oregon State University’s two wind tunnels. Bringing precision research equipment to Portland will encourage similar innovation.

“I don’t know that many universities or cities that have that level of research. It will enable us to do more of the kinds of research we need to do,” said Breshears, who said the firm is interested in researching wind patterns so it can install turbines at its other projects.

ZGF also is interested in using it to study green roofs, an increasingly popular feature in sustainable design. Little is known about how they interact with the environment.

NASA and the National Science Foundation are providing the initial funding to operate the equipment and direct research, though the school is looking for additional partners and projects.

Raúl Bayoán Cal, an assistant professor in PSU’s Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, leads the wind-tunnel project.

The effort is getting an assist from Oregon BEST, which has pledged to match any grants he secures and is linking him with industry, said David Kenney, president and executive director. The 2007 Legislature created the Oregon Built Environment & Sustainable Technologies Center to develop and promote Oregon’s green industry cluster.

Kenney said that as the North American home to wind energy leaders such as turbine manufacture Vestas-American Wind Technology Inc. and wind power provider Iberdrola Renewables, it’s important for Portland to gird its favorite new business sector with solid research capabilities.

“It’s a great connection,” he said.

The wind tunnel channels carefully controlled wind through a five-meter chamber where researchers duplicate the conditions they’re trying to study — temperature, pressure, ground configuration and so forth.

Lasers record how the air moves through the chamber.

Doctoral candidates will use it for high-level research, but it is also a teaching and recruitment tool to attract undergraduates and high school students to the hard sciences by giving them a hands-on experience.

“There’s nothing cooler than that,” he said.

It already has helped attract talent to Portland.

Max Gibson, a Ph.D. candidate studying under Cal, came to Portland from Mississippi by way of Canada. The wind tunnel, he said, is hugely attractive to students.

“This is going to put us on the map,” he said.

Wendy Culverwell, Portland Business Journal - http://portland.bizjournals.com/portland/stories/2010/02/15/story7.html?b=1266210000^2877541

WSU Scientists receive $1.1 million for biofuels research January 14, 2010

WSU scientists based in the Tri-Cities and Pullman are getting a combined $1.1 million for biofuels research from the U.S. Department of Energy.

DOE announced $80 million for biofuels projects, split between three consortia. WSU is one of several groups involved in the consortia and will receive funding as part of the two groups co-led by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, which is getting $14 million. For more details, see the DOE press release.

For WSU Tri-Cities, this means $620,000 of research funding as part of the National Advanced Biofuels Consortium. The work will be done by the WSU Center for Bioproducts and Bioenergy team based at the Bioproducts, Sciences and Engineering Laboratory (BSEL) on the Richland campus.

“This is only the start of more great things to come in the BSEL building,” said Birgitte K. Ahring, director of WSU’s Center for Bioproducts and Bioenergy and Battelle Distinguished Professor. “This opportunity lays the groundwork for amazing partnerships nationwide and will help us find new ways to make fuels from non-food plants.”

The BSEL opened in May 2008 on the Richland campus. Construction of the $24.8 million facility was a partnership between WSU and Battelle, which operates PNNL for the U.S. DOE. The building allows the organizations to work together to develop solutions to some of the nation’s largest energy problems, to strengthen opportunities to move technology into industry and to provide students with a hands-on educational experience.

For the Pullman campus, $495,000 from the National Alliance for Advanced Biofuels and Bioproducts consortium is for algae research to be conducted in the WSU College of Agriculture, Human and Natural Resource Sciences, under Professor David Kramer with the Institute of Biological Chemistry.

Kramer is a WSU “innovator” whose research focuses on increasing plant productivity and redirecting photosynthetic energy toward new and efficient biochemical pathways in effort to harness bioenergy.

More details on Kramer’s research can be found here.

By Melissa O’Neil Perdue, WSU Tri-Cities - http://wsutoday.wsu.edu/pages/publications.asp?Action=Detail&PublicationID=17660&TypeID=1

WSU to help implement Smart Grid December 13, 2009

Though the stimulus bill is no longer making headlines, its ripples are being felt throughout the country, even in Pullman.

WSU is partnering with Avista and Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories for the $38 million Pullman section in the Pacific Northwest Smart Grid Demonstration Project.

“We are involved because the whole system on campus will be automated,” WSU electrical engineering professor Anjan Bose said. “There will be communication between our grid and the control room at Avista.” Smart Grids use the automation to route power based on where it is needed. Both WSU and Schweitzer will serve as microgrids for Avista to study, Bose said.

WSU was chosen because of its electrical engineering college and its current grid, WSU Energy Systems Director Terry Ryan said.

“The electrical engineering college is well known throughout the area,” he said. “They will be able to consistently develop new tests for the grid and analyze the data.” The project was officially announced by the Department of Energy three weeks ago. Before the project can officially begin, WSU’s grid needs to be upgraded, Bose said.

“It’s a tree of projects, and we will begin working on it early next year,” he said. “Everything needs to engineered and installed. It will take at least two years before everything will be online.” The goal of the system is to make the grids more efficient by having more sensors relaying more data to computers that analyze the data in real time. The grids can then adjust and transfer power were it is needed, Ryan said.

“We have a generating plant and supplies on campus,” Bose said. “If Avista were short on power in certain areas, the grid could turn on our generator and transfer power to where they needed it. It would work the same way if WSU was short on power.” While there is no way to predict if the system will reduce costs, a smart grid system should cut back on hidden costs, Ryan said.

“It should reduce the impacts of power outages and improve the reliability of the system,” he said. “It is definitely a behind-the-scenes improvement.” The project is costing WSU nothing at this point, but that could change throughout the project’s course, Bose said.

Ryan Horlen, The Daily Evergreen – http://www.dailyevergreen.com/story/30457

Pullman will be ‘smart grid’ model city November 29, 2009

Avista will lead a smart grid demonstration project that will create the first “smart community” in the Pacific Northwest. Matching funds for the $38 million project are part of a U.S. Department of Energy grant for a larger $178 million regional project which is administered by Battelle.

According to an Avista news release, the company will team up with several regional entities for the Pullman project. Participants include the City of Pullman, Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Washington State University, Itron, Hewlett Packard and Spirae. Avista’s portion of the matching funds will be $12.9 million.

According to Avista, the project involves automation of many parts of the electric distribution system using advanced metering, enhanced utility communication and other elements of smart grid technologies. Once the work is completed, customers in the City of Pullman and nearby Albion are expected to experience greater reliability, shorter outage times and access to their own energy use information, allowing them to better manage energy expenses.

“This project will demonstrate the viability of modernizing our electric system with proven technology, and it will prepare us for things to come in the future,” said Scott Morris, Avista chairman, president and CEO.

“I have to especially thank Senator Maria Cantwell for her outstanding leadership in making smart grid a national priority,” Morris added. “I would also like to express my appreciation to the rest of our congressional delegation and to Governor Chris Gregoire for their support on this initiative.”

The project is expected to help move the region and the nation closer to establishing a more efficient and effective electricity infrastructure that is intended to help contain costs, reduce emissions, incorporate more wind power and other types of renewable energy, increase power grid reliability and provide greater flexibility for consumers.

A group of Washington State University researchers will be working with Avista on the project.

As part of the project, WSU along with Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories are set to serve as ‘micro-grids,’ locally-based, electricity producing power grids, says Anjan Bose, Regents Professor in the WSU School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS). Serving as a micro-grid, WSU will communicate with Avista to improve electric power efficiency throughout the community.

WSU has its own generating plant, which runs on natural gas and diesel fuel. The generating plant is used primarily to produce steam to heat buildings on campus, but it also includes back-up generators which produce electricity. The campus back-up generators are used to provide power to critical facilities and systems in the event a utility power outage occurs. As part of the smart grid project, WSU will be communicating with Avista for the first time to optimize power generation throughout the community, so that the WSU power-producing facilities might be called upon to provide electricity if the Avista power grid should become unstable or over-loaded.

WSU will also identify loads which could be temporarily shed in response to Avista signals to assist with stabilizing the power grid. The EECS power engineering researchers and students will be involved in research, development, design, testing, and data analysis of the ‘micro-grid’ system.

“The micro-grid provides a local way of controlling electricity production and distribution and should make the whole system more responsive to people’s needs,’’ says Bose. “This is a good demonstration project of one of the ways that we can make the grid smarter.’’

“This Smart Grid project allows WSU to take a important role in addressing our nation’s most critical challenges in energy and the environment,’’ says Candis Claiborn, dean of the College of Engineering and Architecture. “I look forward to a future in which these smart grid innovations being studied here at WSU will lead to cleaner and more efficient energy use for all of us.’’

In addition to Bose, other EECS researchers on the project include Mani Venkatasubramanian, Dave Bakken, and Carl Hauser. Terry Ryan, director of WSU’s energy systems operations, has also taken a leading role on the project. In addition to WSU and Avista, other team members on the Pullman project include Schweitzer Engineering, Itron, Hewlett Packard, and Spirae.

Work is expected to begin by the end of 2009 and should be completed in 2014.

KLEW (TV) – http://www.klewtv.com/news/local/73024247.html

Ellensburg to join in ‘smart grid’ effort November 29, 2009

The city of Ellensburg will more than triple the size of its renewable energy park under a unique grant that taps a team from around the Northwest to build a “smart-grid” demonstration project.

The city will receive about $600,000 from the project, which
was announced this week by the U.S. Department of Energy.

The larger project is called the Pacific Northwest Smart Grid Demonstration Project and includes utilities and energy companies from Washington, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Wyoming.

Estimated to be a $178 million project, it will be managed by Battelle, which operates Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland.

Smart grid is the general concept of applying technological innovations to improve power delivery and enable such communications as real-time monitoring of electric use.

“Smart grid really has a lot of definitions,” said Bob Titus, Ellensburg’s energy services director. “Our focus is on distributed energy, which is expected to be much more prevalent in the future.”

Through the city utility company, customers can invest in renewable energy and receive a credit on their power bill. The city started the renewable energy park in 2006 on the west edge of Rotary Park, adjacent to Interstate 90. It is composed of about 60 kilowatts of solar panels.

With the grant, the city will add another 72 kilowatts of solar energy from different types of panel technology and 80 kilowatts worth of small wind systems.

Titus said that by expanding the park, more residents will be able to reap the benefits of solar and wind power.

“We’re making it so individuals can recognize same benefits as if the installation was on their own property,” he said.

Titus hopes to have all the paperwork associated with the project completed this spring so the installations can start in the summer, with a targeted completion date of 2011. Central Washington University will be involved in analyzing data from the project.

Leah Beth Ward, Yakima Herald-Republic – http://www.yakima-herald.com/stories/2009/11/26/ellensburg-to-join-in-smart-grid-effort

OSU Researcher receives grant for Renewable Energy/Grid research November 16, 2009

Five researchers in the College of Engineering at Oregon State University have been recognized this year with National Science Foundation CAREER Awards. The 2009 award recipients are Thinh Nguyen, Ted Brekken, and Bechir Hamdaoui, Desiree Tullos, Michael Scott.

Each award provides funding of at least $400,000 for a new research project with an educational/outreach component.

Brekken is studying improved ways to deliver electricity from renewable but highly variable resources, such as wind, wave or solar energy, to the power grid. This could help reduce reliance on fossil fuel-based power

Gazette Times – http://www.gazettetimes.com/news/local/article_3b85ca20-d2d8-11de-9351-001cc4c002e0.html

WSU gets $1M for transmission grid research and development October 23, 2009

Researchers from WSU’s College of Engineering and Architecture have been working on developing better power grid technology.

Sen. Patty Murray included $1 million for transmission grid research and development at WSU in the 2010 Energy and Water Development appropriations bill.

The Senate passed the bill Oct. 15.

Eli Zupnick, Murray’s deputy press secretary, said he expects President Barack Obama to sign the bill into law soon.

“Our nation’s transmission system is badly aged and vulnerable to disruptions,” Zupnick said. “WSU researchers are working to develop faster, more advanced technologies that will ensure the stability of the power grid.” WSU’s specialty is creating computer and communication systems that allow the power grid to function in real time and increase efficiency, reliability and stability, said Anjan Bose, a co-principal investigator and Regents professor in the College of Engineering and Architecture.

The technology helps to avoid and anticipate major blackouts as well as incorporating renewable sources of energy such as wind and solar, Bose said. The grant will be used to create a platform to simulate the behavior of the large grid to test the computer and control algorithms being developed for the smart grid.

“This platform should be running in about a year,” Bose said.

Other professors from the College of Engineering and Architecture, Dave Bakken, Carl Hauser and Mani Venkatasubramanian, will work with Bose as the other co-principal investigators for the transmission grid research and development.

Last year, the professors received a similar grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, and with a team of graduate students, research associates and postdoctoral fellows, they started researching and developing this summer, Bose said. They are having the first of many meetings with the DOE on Monday.

WSU has also been working with local companies like Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Inc. and Avista Corp. on similar projects.

Improving the electric grid to smart grid technology is a national focus, and an initiative for the smart grid was included in the $819 billion stimulus package passed by the House of Representatives on Jan. 28.

Avista has paired with other regional partners, such as Battelle, and proposed implementing smart grid technology through the Pacific Northwest Smart Grid Demonstration Project. The project would make Pullman the region’s first smart grid community to be followed by the rest of the Northwest. The companies hope to get matching stimulus money from the DOE to pay for the total implementation cost of $178 million.

If approved, this would create benefits for students as well as Avista customers, Avista spokesman Hugh Imhof said.

Avista customers’ rates would remain the same, but new technologies, like a smart-meter, would allow consumers to better control and cut down their usage and essentially save them money, Imhof said.

“People don’t realize how much they can save by making a few adjustments,” he said.

WSU is one of the multiple partners that would participate in the smart grid project for Pullman, and the university already has a lot of interaction with Avista, Imhof said.

Kerry Gugliotto, The Daily Evergreen – http://www.dailyevergreen.com/story/29871

INL’s Center for Advanced Energy Studies tests new wind energy system October 18, 2009

Blackhawk helicopters accomplish our nation’s missions every day. Now, Idaho National Laboratory’s Center for Advanced Energy Studies (CAES) is supporting a new kind of Blackhawk to develop energy solutions.

Researchers from the Blackhawk Project LLC are testing and monitoring a new Blackhawk Tilt Rotor (TR-10) Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT) recently installed at CAES. This wind system, developed by Blackhawk, represents what could be a significant evolution in wind energy technology.

“One of the reasons we chose Blackhawk is that it invites involvement from students and faculty,” said Raymond Grosshans, program coordinator at CAES. “And it supports economic development in Idaho.”

Blackhawk’s unique design distinguishes it from traditional wind energy systems. The most obvious distinction is that its helicopter-like wings, known as airfoils, rotate parallel to the ground, unlike most commercial turbines.

The airfoils attach to a patent-pending tilt rotor in the center of the turbine. The slanted rotor allows the turbine to self-start without any external devices. This passive-control system offers power generation without the noise, clutching, electronics, tower heights or heavy blades often associated with common wind machines.

The TR-10 is part of The Blackhawk Project’s prototype series and produces around 1.5 kilowatts of power — enough electricity to supplement a home, power a workshop or drive other small applications.

The power generated from the system will feed directly into CAES, but supplying the building with extra electricity is not why the center agreed to test the Blackhawk.

“CAES’ main focus is to create opportunities for research collaborations between Idaho National Laboratory researchers, the  Idaho research universities and the private sector,” Grosshans said.

Students and researchers at CAES will be monitoring the turbine’s performance, acoustic profile, strength, safety and durability.

A student crew chief will oversee maintenance of the turbine, which, Blackhawk says, is more durable than traditional windmills because it has fewer electronic gadgets and parts. Plus, the long arms of the turbine create such a high degree of torque that the unit is able to produce more power with fewer revolutions per minute (RPMs), which reduces wear and tear. When the turbine does need repairs or maintenance, locking magnets hold the rotor in place and prevent accidental spinning, creating a built-in safety feature.

Students also will be responsible for developing operation and procedure manuals for the turbine and helping write grants for the company.

“Collaboration with our company is a natural fit,” said Dawn Cardwell, Blackhawk’s project manager. “The data-collection capabilities and access to universities and researchers is something we don’t have.”

The project also provides learning opportunities for high school students.

A Web cam streams video to high schools all over the country, and telemetry gives students of all levels easy access to real-time data from CAES’ grid-type system.

“Students, faculty and researchers can use it for instrumentation, developing modeling tools and to support ongoing classroom activities,” said Grosshans.

Developers have found that the VAWT can produce electricity in winds as light as 7 mph. Propeller-type wind mills typically require speeds of 12 to 15 mph.

Pushrods and elastomeric bands, which Grosshans describes as “high-tech rubber bands,” are attached to the airfoils and help protect the turbine from storm damage. These rods adjust to the wind and allow the rotor to tilt without overworking the turbine. These features have allowed the turbine to successfully function in wind speeds as high as 101 mph.

Blackhawk hopes the data tracked at CAES will narrow the commercialization gap for its system, which the company bills as a low-cost, low-maintenance alternative to horizontal-axis residential turbines currently on the market.

The entire turbine fits in the back of a pickup and takes about three hours to install. With a mere 10-foot diameter, the TR-10 is set to enter the small-turbine industry targeting farms, shops and homes in rural and semirural areas.

“We can be the market leader for bang-for-the-buck,” said Bruce Boatner, Blackhawk’s lead engineer.

Ryan Weeks, INL – https://inlportal.inl.gov/portal/server.pt?open=514&objID=1269&mode=2&featurestory=DA_521418

Tidal Energy Project Anchors Near Whidbey Island April 17, 2009

Researchers at work on a tidal energy project near Whidbey Island are exploring new terrain. Not only in the field of renewable energy, but also along the dark bottom of Puget Sound.

University of Washington researchers spent part of last week testing the waters in Admiralty Inlet. The area is a possible site for underwater turbines that could generate power from the tides.

U.W. Oceanographer Jim Thomson says the recent trip provided a deeper view of the area, thanks in part to a new research assistant.

Thomson: “This is basically an underwater robot. And so here at the front it has color and blank–and–white cameras. I has a small robot arm that can grab things.”

The robot recorded video of the ocean floor. That gives researchers a better picture of whether this spot is appropriate for the underwater windmills.

Thomson: “Well it’s kind of a boring, rocky bottom — a dark, boring, rocky bottom, which is kind of ideal for a tidal turbine. So, at first pass there is nothing that would indicate that this is not the right site, but now we’re digging a little deeper.”

Snohomish County P.U.D. is heading up this pilot project. If it’s successful, the P.U.D. plans to develop five sites for tidal energy in Puget Sound.

The P.U.D.’s Craig Collar says, altogether, the sites could produce enough energy for up to 70 thousand homes.

Collar: “Our load is growing, and resources like wind and traditional hydro power simply aren’t going to be enough to meet those needs. And there’s a lot of energy out there in the Sound, so if there’s a way to effectively harness it in a responsible way, it could be a really significant contributor to meeting those challenges.”

The P.U.D. plans to work with the University on several more studies before any turbines go in the water. The studies will look at how the turbines affect fish, marine habitat and the underwater environment.

Liz Jones, KUOW News – http://kuow.org/program.php?id=17328

Salem area may get biodiesel research campus March 25, 2009

A Willamette Valley consortium plans to turn the area’s only commercial biodiesel plant into a research and education campus. With the new emphasis on renewable energy and economic stimulus, backers feel the time is right.

Chemeketa Community College, Pacific Biodiesel Technologies and developer Wildwood Inc. submitted a proposal for $10 million in funding to Oregon’s congressional delegation.

The project would be built over three years and could create 450 jobs, said Travis Henry, vice president of Wildwood.

The 30,000-square-foot facility, which would adjoin Pacific Biodiesel’s existing Salem plant, would include classrooms, test laboratories and pilot programs. Researchers hope the facility will help identify new biodiesel fuel sources.

The collaboration will involve Chemeketa students in every step in the process, said Chemeketa spokesman Greg Harris. “We see this opportunity as a unique chance to get talent developed for a growth industry,” he said.

Pacific Biodiesel processes used cooking oil and canola grown in Eastern Oregon, along with some tallow, said Will Smith, process engineering manager.

The expansion would allow the company to use different sources, including gatropha, a tropical nut, grease trap oil, algae oils and water treatment wastes.

“Imagine anything that’s rancid and disgusting and oily,” Smith told the Portland Daily Journal of Commerce.

Pacific Biodiesel could incorporate new biofuel sources into its existing mix.

“If they’re able to demonstrate the technology in a pilot scale, it could attract private industry, (which) could then build a full-scale production plant somewhere else,” he said.

The educational value relies on the close working relationship with Pacific Biodiesel, however, Henry said. “What makes this program so special is that you have students who are able to participate in all steps of the process.”

The project could get started within weeks of securing funding, said John Miller, president of Wildwood. “Our site is more than shovel-ready,” he said.

“Looking at what the priorities of what the new administration seem to be, the dire circumstance of the Oregon economy and the interest in building infrastructure for the new green economy, this fits with all of that,” Harris said.

The Associated Press – http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/03/salem_area_may_get_biodiesel_c.html

OSU researchers attempting to turn microbes to hydrogen fuel March 25, 2009

Searching for an environmentally friendly way to produce cheap hydrogen as a fuel, researchers at Oregon State University are turning to microbes that have been doing the job for billions of years.

Their work could one day lead to a new kind of solar-derived energy that, instead of producing electricity directly through photovoltaics, would use the ancient process of photosynthesis to churn out the hydrogen to power clean-energy fuel cells. All it would take is sunlight, hydrogen-producing bacteria and a bit of high-tech coaxing.

Hydrogen power has become a holy grail in the alternative energy industry. In a hydrogen fuel cell, hydrogen combines with oxygen to give off energy and water. The problem the industry faces is that it needs a power source — typically anything from coal or natural gas to nuclear or hydroelectric power — to make hydrogen. The OSU team is hoping for an environmentally benign route to hydrogen production.

A team led by OSU’s Roger Ely, a professor of biological and ecological engineering, has shown that the concept is feasible. Their work was published recently in the International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, and the team received a $938,000 grant to be split between researchers at OSU, the University of Oregon and Indiana University.

Catherine Page, a chemistry professor at UO, is one of the scientists working to develop the idea.

Ely and his colleagues are trying to harness blue-green algae — a single-celled organism known as cyanobacteria — to produce hydrogen, which the bacteria has been doing happily for the past several billion years. But hydrogen is only a byproduct of the process, and Ely’s team is hoping to learn enough about how the bacteria work to engineer ways to increase and harvest the hydrogen production.

“Nature’s been working on this for about 3½ billion years and so has a considerable head start on us with respect to the research and development,” Ely said. “These processes go on around us all the time. There are millions of metric tons of hydrogen that are produced biologically in the world per year. It’s really a matter of learning how we can tap into it, how we can harness it and try to make best use of it.”

Cyanobacteria are busy organisms that typically reside in the ocean and use photosynthesis to take energy from the sun and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to make the food it needs to grow. The major byproduct is oxygen — which, a couple of billion years ago, gave us a breathable atmosphere — but the process also leaves a little bit of leftover hydrogen.

The trick for researchers is to get the cyanobacteria to pay more attention to making hydrogen. That’s a challenge because the microbe isn’t really adapted for hydrogen production and doesn’t take on the job readily.

Researchers are trying to get around that by “encapsulating” the bacteria in a solid matrix that limits growth. That way, they can direct the cell’s energy into making hydrogen instead of the carbohydrates it would otherwise make to fuel growth.

“When we essentially milk them for hydrogen, it’s sort of like a hydrogen milk cow in a sense. What we do is penalize them in terms of growth,” Ely said. “So they don’t like that. But if they’re encapsulated they can’t grow anyway. What were trying to do is take advantage of that.”

The solid framework used to encapsulate the bacteria is material that resembles a glass sponge. It limits growth, isolates the microbes from the environment, and protects them from contamination so they can perform longer and make more hydrogen. But that’s only the first step.

“Based on what we’ve done and seen so far, I think that we have proven the concept that you can encapsulate these cells, you can put them inside of this material and they survive and they make hydrogen,” Ely said. “So that’s good. The only question then is how far can we go with it and what are the limits. And we don’t know yet what those are.”

The ultimate goal is to engineer a relatively small package in which cyanobacteria take sunlight and produce useful quantities of hydrogen. There’s still a lot of work to be done, but Ely believes that perhaps in five to seven years they could come up with a prototype.

One of the biggest advantages to a bacterial hydrogen production is that it carries few, if any, environmental downsides. And even though it would take some very high-tech advances to harness it, the process at its root is the same one used in nature. And that, Ely said, is a good way to go.

“One of the things that’s really important is that we try to stay as close to natural process as we can,” he said. “Because we have a lot of issues in the world related to environmental quality and environmental sustainability, and if we can try to stay close to natural processes and use solar energy directly in some way, I think that’s an advantage.”

“It’s really a matter of learning how we can tap into it.”

— Roger Ely, OSU professor of biological and ecological engineering

By Greg Bolt, The Register-Guard – http://www.registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/web/news/cityregion/10200315-41/story.csp

Proposed ‘Wave Energy Research Center’ at OSU and Newport March 11, 2009

Here is the mention in the Associated Press article :

The <$410 billion spending> bill <Congress has sent to President Barack Obama> includes $2.3 million to establish a National Wave Energy Center located both at Oregon State University and a site near Newport.

Click the link below for the entire story.

The Associated Press - http://www.oregonlive.com/newsflash/index.ssf?/base/news-30/1236743946180660.xml&storylist=orlocal

Emerging Tech: Hydrogen Fuel From Woodchips And Other Non-food Sources February 12, 2009

Researchers at Virginia Tech, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), and the University of Georgia have produced hydrogen gas pure enough to power a fuel cell by mixing 14 enzymes, one coenzyme, cellulosic materials from nonfood sources, and water heated to about 90 degrees (32 degrees Celsius).

The group announced three advances from their “one pot” process: 1) a novel combination of enzymes, 2) an increased hydrogen generation rate — to as fast as natural hydrogen fermentation, and 3) a chemical energy output greater than the chemical energy stored in sugars – the highest hydrogen yield reported from cellulosic materials. “In addition to converting the chemical energy from the sugar, the process also converts the low-temperature thermal energy into high-quality hydrogen energy – like Prometheus stealing fire,” said Percival Zhang, assistant professor of biological systems engineering in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Virginia Tech.

“It is exciting because using cellulose instead of starch expands the renewable resource for producing hydrogen to include biomass,” said Jonathan Mielenz, leader of the Bioconversion Science and Technology Group at ORNL.

The researchers used cellulosic materials isolated from wood chips, but crop waste or switchgrass could also be used. “If a small fraction – 2 or 3 percent – of yearly biomass production were used for sugar-to-hydrogen fuel cells for transportation, we could reach transportation fuel independence,” Zhang said. (He added that the 3 percent figure is for global transportation needs. The U.S. would actually need to convert about 10 percent of biomass – which would be 1.3 billion tons of usable biomass).

The research is supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research; Zhang’s DuPont Young Professor Award, and the U.S. Department of Energy.

Science Daily - http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090211162026.htm

WA and Nor Cal Wave-Energy projects halted February 11, 2009

A small wave-energy project off Washington’s northwest coast won’t be built after its British Columbia-based developer decided to halt all wave-energy projects and focus instead on wind power.

The one-megawatt project planned for Makah Bay in the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary was the country’s first wave-energy project to receive an operating license. Its developer, Finavera Renewables, also pulled permits for a larger project it had planned off the Northern California coast.

Such projects use buoys equipped with turbines that harness the power of the rolling waves to generate electricity.

Finavera declined to comment about why it decided to give up its wave-energy projects, but officials said its most pressing concern is finishing a handful of wind projects in Canada and Ireland.

The company’s wave-power buoy sank unexpectedly during a test run more than a year ago off the Oregon coast, and the plans to place four buoys in Makah Bay have lagged because of state and federal permitting.

Finavera’s decision isn’t surprising given the wave-energy industry’s infancy compared with wind, which now has honed its turbine technology and lowered power costs, said Roger Bedard, ocean-energy leader with the nonprofit Electric Power Research Institute.

Bedard said he was optimistic that wave-device testing and planned commercial projects by different companies and Oregon State University off the Oregon coast will propel the young field forward.

By Michelle Ma, Seattle Times – http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008730967_waveenergy11m.html

Montana State campuses get grant for wind turbines January 21, 2009

Montana State University-Great Falls College of Technology announced Tuesday that it has received a $2 million federal grant to implement its wind turbine program and develop wind energy programs at other campuses around the state.

“We’ve been researching wind energy technology and industrial technology for more than a year now,” said Joe Schaffer, interim dean of MSU-Great Falls. “We’ve also been kicking around the idea of a regional program.”

Though MSU-Great Falls was awarded the $1.97 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor, they will share it with MSU-Northern in Havre, MSU-Billings College of Technology and Montana Tech in Butte.

Wind turbines will be erected at each of the campuses and curriculum will be developed for a wind energy technical program at each campus. The three-year grant will allow campuses to develop programs and collectively share resources. MSU-Great Falls applied for the grant.

“I’m still surprised it was funded,” Schaffer said. “But I believe it was funded because of the collaborative partnerships.”

MSU-Great Falls is in the process of building its own 120-foot wind turbine and has received approval from the Great Falls planning board and the Montana Board of Regents. A feasibility study conducted by Western Community Energy out of Bozeman indicated it will cost approximately $200,000 to build a turbine on the campus.

Schaffer said the 50-kilowatt turbine will power the college’s industrial trades building.

Several other partners in the project include the Wind Application Center at MSU-Bozeman; wind industry representatives; the state’s Workforce Investment Board; workforce centers in Great Falls, Havre, Shelby and Cut Bank; the Montana Electrical Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committee; Great Falls Public Schools; the Energy Systems Technology and Training Center; Centralia College in Washington; Opportunity Link and Rural Dynamics Inc.

The “Wind Montana” project will develop a one-year certificate program in general industrial trade to include general electrical and mechanical job skills. Those who choose could then continue on in a more specific wind technician program that would award an associate of applied science degree.

This was the only project in Montana to be funded under the grant program.

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/article/20090121/NEWS01/901210311/1002/news01

University Research: Energy-Efficient Water Purification Made Possible January 16, 2009

Water and energy are two resources on which modern society depends. As demands for these increase, researchers look to alternative technologies that promise both sustainability and reduced environmental impact. Engineered osmosis holds a key to addressing both the global need for affordable clean water and inexpensive sustainable energy according to Yale researchers.

Yale doctoral student Robert McGinnis and his advisor Menachem Elimelech, Chair of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, have designed systems that harness the power of osmosis to harvest freshwater from non-potable sources, including seawater and generate electricity from low-temperature heat sources, such as waste heat from conventional power plants.

Yale University is commercializing their desalination technology through a newly-established company, Oasys. Their approach, which requires only one-tenth the electric energy used with conventional desalination systems, was featured in the December issue of Environmental Science & Technology.

“The ideal solution,” says Elimelech, “is a process that effectively utilizes waste heat.”

According to the authors, desalination and reuse are the only options for increasing water supply beyond that which is available through the hydrologic cycle — the continuous movement of water on, above, and below the surface of the Earth. However, conventional desalination and reuse technologies use substantial energy.

Using a new twist on an old technology, the engineers are employing “forward osmosis,” which exploits the natural diffusion of water through a semi-permeable membrane. Their process “draws” pure water from its contaminants to a solution of concentrated salts, which can easily be removed with low heat treatment — effectively desalinating or removing contaminants from water with little energy input.

Another application of engineered osmosis the Yale researchers are pioneering, the osmotic heat engine, may be used to generate electrical energy. Elimelech and McGinnis say that it is possible to produce electricity economically from lower-temperature heat sources, including industrial waste heat, using a related method — pressure-retarded osmosis. In this closed loop process, the “draw” solution is held under high hydraulic pressure. As water moves into the pressurized draw solution, the pressure of the expanded volume is released through a turbine to generate electrical energy. The applied hydraulic pressure can be recovered by a pressure exchanger like those used in modern reverse osmosis desalination plants.

“The cost of producing electricity by this method could be competitive with existing means of power production” says Elimelech.

The research was funded by the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program, the Office of Naval Research, and the NSF Science and Technology Center, WaterCAMPWS (Center for Advanced Materials for the Purification of Water with Systems).

Citation: Environmental Science & Technology

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090114172310.htm

WSU report says state should focus on biofuels from waste products, not food December 23, 2008

A Washington State University report says the state should focus on producing biofuels from waste products instead of food products.

The report released Monday by WSU economists was requested last year by state lawmakers.

The team from the WSU School of Economic Sciences says incentives to produce biofuels from corn, sugar beets and canola are not likely to be cost effective. The team says the state should focus on using farm and logging residues or city solid wastes.

The team also recommended a tax on greenhouse gas emissions to promote research and fuels with low carbon emissions.

http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/northwest/story/575737.html

New System Captures Significantly More Wave Energy December 20, 2008

MIT researchers are working with Portuguese colleagues to design a pilot-scale device that will capture significantly more of the energy in ocean waves than existing systems, and use it to power an electricity-generating turbine.

Wave energy is a large, widespread renewable resource that is environmentally benign and readily scalable. In some locations — the northwestern coasts of the United States, the western coast of Scotland, and the southern tips of South America, Africa and Australia, for example — a wave-absorbing device could theoretically generate 100 to 200 megawatts of electricity per kilometer of coastline. But designing a wave-capture system that can deal with the harsh, corrosive seawater environment, handle hourly, daily and seasonal variations in wave intensity, and continue to operate safely in stormy weather is difficult.

Chiang Mei, the Ford Professor of Engineering in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, has been a believer in wave energy since the late 1970s. After the recent oil-price spike, there has been renewed interest in harnessing the energy in ocean waves.

To help engineers design such devices, Professor Mei and his colleagues developed numerical simulations that can predict wave forces on a given device and the motion of the device that will result. The simulations guide design decisions that will maximize energy capture and provide data to experts looking for efficient ways to convert the captured mechanical energy to electrical energy.

Read More: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081216114102.htm

Scientists zero in on turbulance factors with large wind farms December 20, 2008

Scientists zero in on turbulance factors with large wind farms

While harnessing more energy from the wind could help satisfy growing demands for electricity and reduce emissions of global-warming gases, turbulence from proposed wind farms could adversely affect the growth of crops in the surrounding countryside.

Solutions to this, and other problems presented by wind farms – containing huge wind turbines, each standing taller than a 60-story building and having blades more than 300 feet long – can be found blowin’ in the wind, a University of Illinois researcher says.

“By identifying better siting criteria, determining the optimum spacing between turbines, and designing more efficient rotors, we can minimize the harmful impacts of large wind farms,” said Somnath Baidya Roy, a professor of atmospheric sciences at the U. of I. “Through careful planning and testing, we can avoid some of the worst pitfalls altogether.”

In recent years, wind-power technology has progressed from small, isolated windmills to large wind farms that contain vast arrays of giant turbines plugged into existing power-distribution networks. A wind farm in northwest Iowa, for example, has more than 600 wind turbines, and provides power to more than 140,000 homes.

“If wind is to be a major player in global electrical production, however, we have to think in terms of even larger scales– of say, thousands of turbines per wind farm,” Baidya Roy said. “Such a wind farm could replace ten coal-fired power plants, but with so many turbines, turbulence could generate huge problems.”

Read More: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081216104307.htm

Unique Towers Could Be Urban Answer to Wind Turbines December 16, 2008

Wind power has so far been relegated to areas off-shore and rural, but a Cleveland State University professor wants urban centers to be able to join in on the fun too. Dr. Majid Rashidi has designed a helical wind tower that can harness wind from atop city buildings.

The spiraling towers, outfitted with miniature turbines at each spire, are expected to have a power generation ratio of 4:1, which would power the tower itself as well as contribute power to businesses, hospitals, schools or residential buildings.

While turbines are still the most efficient technology for harnessing wind, these towers would allow wind power to be generated in places where large, open space isn’t available and could help bring renewable energy to where large populations live. One of the major drawbacks of wind power has been the transfer of energy from rural areas to populated areas. These towers allow electricity to be generated onsite, which is usually far more efficient.

Dr. Rashidi stresses that the towers aren’t a replacement for turbines, only a way to complement them in urban settings.

http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/2388/86/

researchers test new above ocean wind turbine design December 9, 2008

At the University of Maine’s Advanced Engineered Wood Composites Center, researchers are designing, manufacturing and testing windmill blades and towers in search of a solution.

Habib Dagher, director of the center, said he is working with a number of companies on developing wind turbine technology that is suitable for conditions that are found where waters are hundreds of feet deep, out of sight from land. Out there, waves can swell 40 feet high and winds can roar at 80 mph or more.

First, Dagher said, such a wind turbine must be big – a 300-foot tower from the water to the hub of the turbine with blades that are 200 feet long. By comparison, land-based windmills are typically about 240 feet tall with 130-foot blades.

It also must be strong, because of the powerful offshore winds and waves – even the threat of hurricanes. And to cut down on maintenance, it must resist corrosion associated with an ocean environment.

Inside a warehouse testing center, Dagher is overseeing testing of wind blades made of fiberglass, balsa wood and carbon fiber. The balsa makes the blade light, the carbon fiber is stronger than steel, and the lack of metal significantly reduces corrosion.

For the turbine tower, Dagher’s research is focusing on composite materials and new manufacturing techniques so they can be built on site – out at sea – eliminating the need to build unwieldy and heavy structures on land and then transport them 20 miles or more offshore.

Testing is centered on inflatable towers that are injected with resin and filled with a low-cost substance like concrete. Similar structures are also being tested for bridge construction.

Deep-water energy farms are years or even a decade or more away, but Dagher is convinced they’re an answer to the nation’s future energy needs.

“What we’re looking at are long-term solutions for this country,” he said.

http://www.theolympian.com/business/wire/story/692779.html

New Machine Draws Energy from ‘Slow Water Currents’ November 21, 2008

Slow-moving ocean and river currents could be a new, reliable and affordable alternative energy source. A University of Michigan engineer has made a machine that works like a fish to turn potentially destructive vibrations in fluid flows into clean, renewable power.

The machine is called VIVACE. A paper on it is published in the current issue of the quarterly Journal of Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering.

VIVACE is the first known device that could harness energy from most of the water currents around the globe because it works in flows moving slower than 2 knots (about 2 miles per hour.) Most of the Earth’s currents are slower than 3 knots. Turbines and water mills need an average of 5 or 6 knots to operate efficiently.

VIVACE stands for Vortex Induced Vibrations for Aquatic Clean Energy. It doesn’t depend on waves, tides, turbines or dams. It’s a unique hydrokinetic energy system that relies on “vortex induced vibrations.”

Vortex induced vibrations are undulations that a rounded or cylinder-shaped object makes in a flow of fluid, which can be air or water. The presence of the object puts kinks in the current’s speed as it skims by. This causes eddies, or vortices, to form in a pattern on opposite sides of the object. The vortices push and pull the object up and down or left and right, perpendicular to the current.

These vibrations in wind toppled the Tacoma Narrows bridge in Washington in 1940 and the Ferrybridge power station cooling towers in England in 1965. In water, the vibrations regularly damage docks, oil rigs and coastal buildings.

http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/546753/?sc=rssn

Recording Towers to Measure Missoula’s Wind Potential November 20, 2008

Missoula, MT will have at least five wind-reading devices within the month to measure wind flow in hopes that data collected will prove favorable for installing energy turbines in the future.

New Montana wind technology projects in construction will almost double the current amount of wind energy the state produces, according to American Wind.  Wind farms like Judith Gap Wind Energy Center, located in the central-eastern part of the state, opened in 2005 as the first industrial wind farm in Montana.
The center will provide about 7 percent of the electricity needed to serve NorthWestern Energy’s 300,000 customers in Montana, according to data from the state government.

Here is the Link

OSU Physics Dept to tackle Winds biggest Flaw November 19, 2008

Wind energy production costs are increasingly competitive and the technology of wind turbines is already sophisticated and nearing optimal levels, experts say. But due to associated costs, much less has been done to develop more advanced energy storage systems and coordinate their use with a natural energy source that can be highly variable – a major impediment to greater use of wind power.

A new $725,000 research project will help address that, with $358,000 in support from the Bonneville Power Administration, and other cost-share funding from the Central Lincoln People’s Utility District, OSU and the Oregon Built Environment and Sustainable Technologies Center. The goal of the initiative is to find ways to smooth out the peaks and valleys of wind energy so it can more fully take its place as a dependable form of alternative energy for Oregon and the nation.

“The high variability of wind energy production is the primary limiting factor to using more of it in our electrical system,” said Annette von Jouanne, a professor of electrical engineering at OSU. “For short periods wind can disappear almost without notice. Because of that, electric utilities right now are reluctant to use wind as more than 15 percent of their overall energy resource because of its variability and lack of adequate energy storage systems.”

http://www.physorg.com/news146246413.html