Innovation on the Cutting-Edge: Advancing Energy Efficiency Through Two ARPA-E Projects at Berkeley Lab

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Press Release:

DECEMBER 03, 2012

Jon Weiner (510) 486-4014  jrweiner@lbl.gov

 10 

 

 

    

News Release

Two Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) research projects were awarded grants by the Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) to advance energy technologies. The two grants total nearly $5 million.
The first grant of $3 million went to the Molecular Foundry’s Delia Milliron for her work on smart window technologies. The project will seek to enhance the energy efficiency of buildings through advanced electrochromic windows with improved performance and low cost.

Delia Milliron (Photo:Roy Kaltschmidt)

The second grant focuses on the creation of a system to “map” a building’s thermal use leading to more efficient design and construction. That grant is led by Environmental Energy Technology Division’s Philip Haves and is supported by $1.94 million from ARPA-E.
On November 28, Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced 66 cutting-edge research projects selected by ARPA-E to receive a total of $130 million in funding through its “OPEN 2012” program.
ARPA-E seeks out transformational, breakthrough technologies that show fundamental technical promise but are too early for private-sector investment. These projects have the potential to produce game-changing breakthroughs in energy technology, form the foundation for entirely new industries, and could have large commercial impacts.

The “Low Cost Solution Processed Universal Smart Window Coatings” project, awarded $3 million in ARPA-E funding, is a collaborative effort between Milliron’s research group at the Molecular Foundry and scientists in Berkeley Lab’s Environmental Energy Technologies Division (EETD), in partnership with Heliotrope Technologies. The team aims to develop a new electrochromic window coating technology, which can respond to changing weather conditions by regulating the amounts of visible light and heat permitted to enter a building, dramatically reducing energy usage. Electrochromics currently on the market lack this flexibility and are prohibitively expensive. This project promises to address both of these issues, resulting in a new window that is scalable for manufacturing and affordable enough to stimulate widespread adoption.
“The ARPA-E proposal review process is highly competitive and selects for innovative concepts with the potential for major impact on the energy landscape. It is a real privilege to be awarded this grant,” says Milliron, Molecular Foundry Deputy Director and Principal Investigator of the electrochromic smart window project.

Molecular Foundry

This new window coating will respond to a small, applied voltage to vary the transmittance of visible light and heat-producing near-infrared radiation (NIR). In this way, the sun’s power can be harnessed to permit maximal light and heat to enter in cold weather, while preventing unwanted heating and glare on hot, sunny days. Ultimately, such dynamic windows would be integrated with an intelligent control system to maximize energy savings and make buildings more comfortable.
This new ARPA-E project has its roots in a collaborative endeavor of Berkeley Lab researchers working across divisions to seek out new approaches to improve building energy efficiency. Milliron’s group previously worked with EETD scientists and ARPA-E co-PIs Stephen Selkowitz and Arman Shehabi to discover that nanocrystal films can selectively modulate the transmittance of NIR while maintaining visible transparency and to analyze the energy savings potential of such spectrally selective electrochromic coatings if deployed across the US. This new optical effect relies on the changes induced in the nanocrystals’ plasmonic properties upon the application of a small jolt of electricity. Now this team will work together to improve the performance of these materials and demonstrate scalable methods for manufacturing window coatings based on this principle.
“In addition to improving coating functionality, our technology utilizes a solution processing technique that will transfer well to large scale manufacturing. This makes commercial production practical and window cost affordable,” says Guillermo Garcia Chief Technology Officer and co-founder of Heliotrope Technologies, a start-up company working with Berkeley Lab to develop the dynamic window coatings.
“The ARPA-E initiative is a unique, highly competitive funding opportunity that allows for exploration of truly groundbreaking innovations,” says Molecular Foundry Director Omar Yaghi. “It is a pleasure to see yet another example of how the Foundry is successfully threading scientists and users with innovative ideas and research.”
Three-dimensional maps of commercial buildings improve energy efficiency

Automated Modeling Backpack

The second ARPA-E grant of $1.9 million is for the “Automated Modeling and Simulation of Existing Buildings for Energy Efficiency” project led by Berkeley Lab’s Philip Haves. Haves, leader of EETD’s Simulation Research Group, will lead a project to develop the sensing and computer hardware for generating physical and thermal maps of the interiors of buildings. The goal is to reduce the energy consumption of existing commercial buildings through computer simulation of building energy use.

Automated Modeling Backpack

“To do this, and do it in a lot of buildings, we need better, cheaper, faster ways to generate computer models of the buildings we want to improve,” says Haves.  He and his team plan to produce three-dimensional indoor maps of buildings using cameras and laser scanners, transferring this data to building simulation software. The cameras and scanners will be mounted on a backpack; a person wearing the instrument package will walk through the rooms in the building to make a video of the building’s interior and exterior. A computer will then turn this video into a digital model of the building.
The computer simulations will allow building architects and engineers to design more energy-efficient buildings. Building simulations can help increase energy efficiency by identifying how a building is failing and what maintenance staff can do to tune up its energy-consuming systems, suggesting equipment upgrades for better energy performance, and ensuring that improvements are installed correctly and are delivering the expected energy savings.
Berkeley Lab’s team is collaborating with UC Berkeley Professor Avideh Zakhor, who leads the Video and Image Processing Lab in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department, and Oliver Baumann of Ebert & Baumann Consulting Engineers in DC. The image processing techniques and the prototype backpack have been developed by Zakhor’s group.
Haves believes this technology can reduce the cost of building simulation by 30 to 40 percent, as well as the time it takes to develop a building model.
# # #
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) addresses the world’s most urgent scientific challenges by advancing sustainable energy, protecting human health, creating new materials, and revealing the origin and fate of the universe. Founded in 1931, Berkeley Lab’s scientific expertise has been recognized with 13 Nobel prizes. The University of California manages Berkeley Lab for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science. For more, visit www.lbl.gov.

TAGS: ARPA-E, awards, energy efficiency, Environmental Energy Technologies Division, Molecular Foundry

Ethanol Debate: E15 Hurt Cars?

AAA warns E15 gasoline could damage cars. Robert Darbelnet, president & CEO of the American Automobile Association, explains.

Video from CNBC (4:48).

Ethanol Debate: E15 Hurt Cars?

GE Press Release:

Renova Energia and GE Sign $394 Million Contract for 230 Wind Turbines

Downloads

December 3, 2012

The 230 Wind Turbines Will Have an Installed Capacity of 386 Megawatts of Energy Sold in the 2010 and 2011 Brazil Auctions

SAO PAULO, BRAZIL—December 3, 2012—GE (NYSE: GE) and Renova Energia, a wind developer leader Brazil with 1 gigawatt installed, have signed a contract worth $394 million for 230 GE 1.68-82.5 wind turbines. All 230 turbines have a 10-year operating contract, which will be managed from GE’s services center.

The purchase is part of Renova’s expansion plans that began in November 2011 with the construction of the Alto Sertão II Wind Farm, comprising 15 parks with a total installed capacity of 386 megawatts, enough to supply power for a city of 1 million people. The contract is to supply energy sold by Renova in the Reserve Energy Auctions (LER) in 2010 and 2011. The Alto Sertão II Wind Farm is in the cities of Caetité, Guanambim and Igaporã, in the southeast of Bahia state, in Brazil.

“Scale and efficiency are increasingly important factors in the wind power segment and they have created a new scenario, which is more complex and which requires internationally recognized partners such as GE,” says Luiz Freitas, legal and purchasing director, Renova Energia. “This contract is the result of the value generated by a joint Renova and GE team in the pursuit of the state of the art in wind power technology in Bahia.”

The partnership between the two companies began in Brazil’s first exclusively wind energy auction in December 2009. “Renova built the largest wind farm in Brazil, and we are proud to take part in this project and to help boost wind power generation in Bahia,” says Jean-Claude Robert, leader of GE’s Renewable Energy business in Latin America. The farm, opened in July 2012, has 184 GE wind turbines producing a total of 294 megawatts.

This year, GE celebrates a decade in wind energy and has 20,000 wind turbines installed around the world. To date, 300 GE wind turbines have been installed in Brazil. In the next two years another more than 600 units will be installed in the country. This contract reinforces GE’s position of leadership in this sector. The company’s wind turbines comply with the requirements regarding Brazilian-made parts as set out by the National Economic and Social Development Bank (BNDES) in order to get credit from the FINAME line.

About GE
GE (NYSE: GE) works on things that matter. The best people and the best technologies taking on the toughest challenges. Finding solutions in energy, health and home, transportation and finance. Building, powering, moving and curing the world. Not just imagining. Doing. GE works. For more information, visit the company’s website at www.ge.com.

About GE Power & Water
GE Power & Water provides customers with a broad array of power generation, energy delivery and water process technologies to solve their challenges locally. Power & Water works in all areas of the energy industry including renewable resources such as wind and solar; biogas and alternative fuels; and coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear energy. The business also develops advanced technologies to help solve the world’s most complex challenges related to water availability and quality. Numerous products are qualified under ecomagination, GE’s commitment to providing innovative solutions that maximize resources, drive efficiencies and help make the world work better. Power & Water’s seven business units include Aeroderivative Gas Turbines; Gas Engines; Nuclear Energy; Power Generation Services; Renewable Energy; Thermal Products and Water & Process Technologies. Headquartered in Schenectady, N.Y., Power & Water is GE’s largest industrial business.

Follow GE Power & Water and GE’s renewables business on Twitter @GE_PowerWater and @GErenewables.

GE Press Release:

GE, MetLife and Union Bank Invest Nearly $247 Million in Wind Capital Group’s Kansas Wind Farm Powered by GE Turbines

Downloads

December 3, 2012

WICHITA, Kan., Dec. 3, 2012 – A group comprising GE (NYSE: GE) unit GE Energy Financial Services, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE: MET), and Union Bank, N.A., has invested nearly $247 million in Wind Capital Group’s recently commissioned 201-megawatt Post Rock wind farm. Wind Capital Group, supported by its parent company, NTR plc, maintains a substantial equity stake and serves as managing member of the project, located 80 miles outside Wichita, Kansas, in Ellsworth and Lincoln Counties. Additional details of the transaction were not disclosed.

“We are very pleased to be working with this well-established investor group and look forward to working together in the future. They each played an integral role in making the project a success,” Wind Capital Group Chief Executive Officer David Boyce said today.

Michael McNicholas, Chief Executive Officer of NTR plc, added, “Support from this group of investors has been critical to the success of Post Rock and underscores the importance and commercial viability of renewable energy projects. This is an important milestone for Wind Capital Group, and for NTR, which has identified renewable energy as core to our future growth strategy.”

In addition to providing 134 of its workhorse 1.5-megawatt machines – the world’s most widely deployed wind turbine – GE is providing operations and maintenance services for Post Rock. The project is selling its electricity to Westar Energy, the largest electric utility in Kansas, under a long term power purchase agreement. Post Rock is Wind Capital Group’s second facility in operation using GE’s turbines. Together, the 201-megawatt Post Rock project and the 150-megawatt Lost Creek wind farm have a capacity to power approximately 120,000 Midwest homes.

“This project enabled us to expand GE’s already strong industrial partnership with Wind Capital Group,” said Kevin Walsh, managing director and head of power and renewable energy at GE Energy Financial Services. “In addition to our own investment, we are very pleased to partner with MetLife and Union Bank to round out the equity investor group.”

Post Rock’s benefits are wide-ranging. Wind Capital Group estimates that this project created approximately 150 jobs, attracted more than $1.5 million in economic activity for local businesses during development and construction, provides a new source of revenue for rural Kansans and helps the state meet its renewable energy portfolio targets. Post Rock is capable of powering more than 70,000 average homes and displacing about 815,000 tons per year of greenhouse gas emissions, the equivalent of taking 145,000 average US cars off the road, according to US Environmental Protection Agency methodology.

“Investing in the Post Rock wind farm enabled MetLife not only to support an important renewable energy initiative, but also provide economic development opportunities to the Wichita area," said Steven J. Goulart, executive vice president and chief investment officer of MetLife, Inc. "We are proud to support endeavors like Post Rock, which align with MetLife’s overall high-quality investment approach and build upon the more than $2.5 billion we've already invested in renewable energy projects.”

“This is a great example of three entities coming together to help finance an energy project that will provide clean, affordable power to Kansas residents,” said Lance Markowitz, Union Bank senior vice president and head of its leasing and asset finance division. “This is Union Bank’s third wind project in Kansas and we now have provided financing to more than 60 renewable energy projects in North America. Our 30-plus years in the energy business helps bring these types of projects to completion. We’re thrilled to partner with MetLife and GE.”

This is GE Energy Financial Services’ third investment in Kansas, following its 2009 investments in a 201-megawatt wind farm in Meridian Way and a 101-megawatt project in Smoky Hills. It expands the GE unit’s global wind portfolio, which comprises equity investments and debt financings for projects spanning 17 US states and five countries, totaling almost 9,800 megawatts in operation or under construction. GE Energy Financial Services’ wind investing supports GE’s broader ecomagination strategy to create value for customers by solving energy, efficiency and water challenges.

CCA Capital, LLC served as financial advisor to MetLife on this transaction. Neither GE Energy Financial Services nor Union Bank used financial advisors.

About Wind Capital Group
Formed in 2005, Wind Capital Group is an American company committed to harnessing a clean, renewable source of energy - creating jobs, generating economic opportunity and building a strong foundation for domestic energy independence. Wind Capital Group’s model is built on forming responsible partnerships with the communities in which we operate and providing long-term value for our investors.

Currently, Wind Capital Group is developing and operating utility-scale wind farm projects across the U.S. and has offices in St. Louis, Missouri; Madison, Wisconsin; and Chicago, Illinois. Wind Capital Group is a subsidiary of NTR plc.

For more information about Wind Capital Group, visit www.windcapitalgroup.com.

About NTR
NTR plc is a leading investor in renewable energy and sustainable waste management businesses. Founded in 1978, NTR has evolved from being a developer and operator of infrastructure in Ireland to an international developer and operator of renewable energy and sustainable waste management businesses in the USA and Ireland. For more information, visit www.ntrplc.com.

About GE Energy Financial Services 
GE Energy Financial Services—GE’s energy investing business—works as a builder, not just a banker, to help meet the world’s power and fuel needs. We offer more than money—expertise—for essential, long-lived and capital-intensive power, oil and gas infrastructure—GE’s core business. Drawing on GE’s energy technical know-how, financial strength and risk management, we see value where others don’t and take on our customers’ toughest challenges with flexible equity and debt transaction structures. Based in Stamford, Connecticut, GE Energy Financial Services holds an approximately $20 billion global energy portfolio. More information: www.geenergyfinancialservices.com

Follow GE Energy Financial Services on Twitter: @GEEnergyFinServ 

About GE Power & Water
GE Power & Water provides customers with a broad array of power generation, energy delivery and water process technologies to solve their challenges locally. Power & Water works in all areas of the energy industry including renewable resources such as wind and solar; biogas and alternative fuels; and coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear energy. The business also develops advanced technologies to help solve the world’s most complex challenges related to water availability and quality. Numerous products are qualified under ecomagination, GE’s commitment to providing innovative solutions that maximize resources, drive efficiencies and help make the world work better. Power & Water’s seven business units include Aeroderivative Gas Turbines; Gas Engines; Nuclear Energy; Power Generation Services; Renewable Energy; Thermal Products and Water & Process Technologies. Headquartered in Schenectady, N.Y., Power & Water is GE’s largest industrial business.

Follow GE Power & Water and GE’s renewables business on Twitter @GE_PowerWater and @GErenewables.

About GE
GE (NYSE: GE) works on things that matter. The best people and the best technologies taking on the toughest challenges. Finding solutions in energy, health and home, transportation and finance. Building, powering, moving and curing the world. Not just imagining. Doing. GE works. For more information, visit the company's website at www.ge.com.

About MetLife
MetLife, Inc. is a leading global provider of insurance, annuities and employee benefit programs, serving 90 million customers in over 50 countries. Through its subsidiaries and affiliates, MetLife holds leading market positions in the United States, Japan, Latin America, Asia Pacific, Europe and the Middle East. For more information, visit www.metlife.com.

About UnionBanCal Corporation & Union Bank, N.A.
Headquartered in San Francisco, UnionBanCal Corporation is a financial holding company with assets of $88.2 billion at September 30, 2012. Its primary subsidiary, Union Bank, N.A., is a full service commercial bank providing an array of financial services to individuals, small businesses, middle-market companies, and major corporations. The bank operated 402 branches in California, Washington, Oregon, Texas, Illinois, and New York as well as two international offices, on September 30, 2012. UnionBanCal Corporation is a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd., which is a subsidiary of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc. Union Bank is a proud member of the Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG, NYSE:MTU), one of the world’s largest financial organizations. Visit www.unionbank.com for more information.

Team led by Argonne National Lab selected as DOE’s batteries and energy storage hub

Press Release:

Team led by Argonne National Lab selected as DOE’s batteries and energy storage hub

November 30, 2012 

• Mary Beckman, PNNL, (509) 375-3688

PNNL contributes expertise to 5-year $120 million Joint Center for Energy Storage Research

• Download Original Image
  PNNL contributes expertise to 5-year $120 million Joint Center for Energy Storage Research.

RICHLAND, Wash. – Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is part of a team led by Argonne National Laboratory that will receive $120 million from the Department of Energy to establish a new batteries and energy storage research hub called the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research, or JCESR. PNNL will receive $15 million over five years. The announcement was made earlier today by DOE.

JCESR will combine the R&D firepower of five DOE national laboratories, five universities and four private firms in an effort aimed at achieving revolutionary advances in battery performance. Advancing next generation battery and energy storage technologies for electric and hybrid cars and the electrical grid are critical to help reduce America's reliance on foreign oil and lower energy costs for U.S. consumers.

PNNL will tap into its extensive experience in fundamental and applied sciences, including advanced materials synthesis, characterization and modeling, as well as electrical grid infrastructure, grid storage and management, to help improve the performance, reliability and life-span of batteries. PNNL will also play an important role in developing new technologies for stationary storage to enable widespread use of renewable energy.

Unique research tools and imaging expertise from researchers in EMSL, DOE's Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory at PNNL, will help the team understand complex electrochemical reactions as they occur within working batteries, as well as determine why batteries ultimately fail.

PNNL's expertise in materials synthesis and processing will also contribute to the development of low-cost, high-capacity electrode materials for advanced batteries with unprecedented energy density and power.

"This is a partnership between world leading scientists and world leading companies, committed to ensuring that the advanced battery technologies the world needs will be invented and built right here in America," said Energy Secretary Steven Chu. "Based on the tremendous advances that have been made in the past few years, there are very good reasons to believe that advanced battery technologies can and will play an increasingly valuable role in strengthening America's energy and economic security by reducing our oil dependence, upgrading our aging power grid, and allowing us to take greater advantage of intermittent energy sources like wind and solar."

JCESR will integrate efforts at several successful independent research programs into a larger, coordinated effort designed to push the limits on battery advances. Advancements in batteries and energy storage technology are essential for continued efforts to develop a fundamentally new energy economy with decisively reduced dependence on imported oil. Improved storage will be vital to fully integrating intermittent renewable energy sources such as wind and solar into the electrical grid. It will also be critical to transitioning the transportation sector to more flexible grid power.

Selected through an open national competition with a rigorous merit review process that relied on outside expert reviewers, JCESR is the fourth Energy Innovation Hub established by the Energy Department since 2010. Other Hubs are devoted to modeling and simulation of nuclear reactors, achieving major improvements in the energy efficiency of buildings, and developing fuels from sunlight. A fifth Hub focused on critical materials research was announced earlier this year and is still in the application process.

JCESR will be centered at Argonne, outside of Chicago. The State of Illinois will provide $35 million to construct a 45,000-square-foot home for JCESR.

JCESR will bring together some of the most advanced energy storage research programs in the U.S. today. JCESR partners include:

• DOE research centers: Argonne National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories and the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.
• Research universities: Northwestern University, University of Chicago, University of Illinois, Chicago, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and the University of Michigan.
• Industry: Applied Materials, Clean Energy Trust, Dow and Johnson Controls.

---

From Washington's Congressional delegation

Congressman Doc Hastings: "PNNL's world-class scientists and unparalleled facilities like EMSL will make significant contributions to this project. Whether it's in the fields of energy, national security or Hanford cleanup the Lab's work here in the Tri-Cities is important to our community and our nation — and this mission is no exception."

Senator Patty Murray: "Energy storage is a transformational technology that can help bring new clean resources onto the grid," said Senator Murray. "Competition for this award was stiff, and I'm thrilled the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is part of the winning team. I'm proud to have supported federal funding for this effort, because I know America will lead the world in developing this game-changing innovation for our energy system and our economy."

Senator Maria Cantwell: "I applaud the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and its partners for submitting the winning proposal for the Department of Energy's new Batteries and Energy Storage Innovation Hub. Improving energy storage is an essential building block of a smarter, cleaner, and more diverse electricity system. I strongly support developing new and innovative ways to increase U.S. energy capacity and reliability. This significant investment into PNNL's efforts will help ensure Washington state continues to be at the vanguard of this emerging economic opportunity."

Tags: Energy, Fundamental Science, EMSL, Batteries, Catalysis

EMSL, the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, is a national scientific user facility sponsored by the Department of Energy's Office of Science.  Located at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Wash., EMSL offers an open, collaborative environment for scientific discovery to researchers around the world. Its integrated computational and experimental resources enable researchers to realize important scientific insights and create new technologies. Follow EMSL on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

Interdisciplinary teams at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory address many of America's most pressing issues in energy, the environment and national security through advances in basic and applied science.  PNNL employs 4,500 staff, has an annual budget of nearly $1 billion, and has been managed for the U.S. Department of Energy by Ohio-based Battelle since the laboratory's inception in 1965.  For more, visit the PNNL's News Center, or follow PNNL on Facebook, LinkedIn andTwitter.

ORNL develops lignin-based thermoplastic conversion process

News Release

Follow     RSS     Print     Photos     Video     Share

Media Contact: Ron Walli Communications and Media Relations 865.576.0226

ORNL develops lignin-based thermoplastic conversion process

OAK RIDGE, Tenn., Nov. 30, 2012 — Turning lignin, a plant's structural "glue" and a byproduct of the paper and pulp industry, into something considerably more valuable is driving a research effort headed by Amit Naskar of Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

In a cover article published in Green Chemistry, the research team describes a process that ultimately transforms the lignin byproduct into a thermoplastic - a polymer that becomes pliable above a specific temperature. Researchers accomplished this by reconstructing larger lignin molecules either through a chemical reaction with formaldehyde or by washing with methanol. Through these simple chemical processes, they created a crosslinked rubber-like material that can also be processed like plastics.

"Our work addresses a pathway to utilize lignin as a sustainable, renewable resource material for synthesis of thermoplastics that are recyclable," said Naskar, a member of the Department of Energy laboratory's Material Science and Technology Division.

Instead of using nearly 50 million tons of lignin byproduct produced annually as a low-cost fuel to power paper and pulp mills, the material can be transformed into a lignin-derived high-value plastic. While the lignin byproduct in raw form is worth just pennies a pound as a fuel, the value can potentially increase by a factor of 10 or more after the conversion.

Naskar noted that earlier work on lignin-based plastics utilized material that was available from pulping industries and was a significantly degraded version of native lignin contained in biomass. This decomposition occurs during harsh chemical treatment of biomass.

"Here, however, we attempted to reconstruct larger lignin molecules by a simple crosslinking chemistry and then used it as a substitute for rigid phase in a formulation that behaves like crosslinked rubbers that can also be processed like plastics," Naskar said.

Crosslinking involves building large lignin molecules by combining smaller molecules where formaldehyde helps to bridge the smaller units by chemical bonding. Naskar envisions the process leading to lower cost gaskets, window channels, irrigation hose, dashboards, car seat foam and a number of other plastic-like products.

A similar material can also be made from lignin produced in biorefineries. The paper, titled "Turning renewable resources into value-added polymer: development of lignin-based thermoplastic," is available athttp://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlepdf/2012/gc/c2gc35933b?page=search

Other ORNL authors are Tomonori Saito, Rebecca Brown, Marcus Hunt, Deanna Pickel, Joseph Pickel, Jamie Messman, Frederick Baker and Martin Keller. The research was funded by the Laboratory Directed Research and Development program.

Part of the polymer characterization work was conducted at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, one of the five DOE Nanoscale Science Research Centers supported by the DOE Office of Science, premier national user facilities for interdisciplinary research at the nanoscale. Together the NSRCs comprise a suite of complementary facilities that provide researchers with state-of-the-art capabilities to fabricate, process, characterize and model nanoscale materials, and constitute the largest infrastructure investment of the National Nanotechnology Initiative. The NSRCs are located at DOE's Argonne, Brookhaven, Lawrence Berkeley, Oak Ridge and Sandia and Los Alamos national laboratories. For more information about the DOE NSRCs, please visit http://science.energy.gov/bes/suf/user-facilities/nanoscale-science-research-centers/

UT-Battelle manages ORNL for DOE's Office of Science. The Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit http://science.energy.gov/.

GE Press Release:

GE Lighting Illuminates Major Hotel Chain in Malaysia

Downloads

November 30, 2012

• 2,876 light points across three Tune Hotels in Malaysia were retrofitted with energy-efficient lighting solutions
• Tune Hotels will save an estimated 30-40 percent in energy and maintenance costs for a payback period of approximately 1.6 years
• Tune Hotels’ energy savings reduces greenhouse gas emissions from power plants by an amount equivalent to planting 102.3 acres of new trees

BEIJING — Nov. 30, 2012 — (NYSE:GE) — GE Lighting and the Tune Hotels chain, headquartered in Malaysia, are jointly exploring and implementing energy-efficient solutions across Tune’s portfolio of hotels. GE will assist the business in reviewing, planning and designing properties currently under construction by contributing its knowledge and expertise in the areas of low-cost operational modeling, cost-saving infrastructure and energy-efficiency technology.

GE Lighting retrofitted 2,876 light points with energy-efficient LED lights across three Tune Hotels in Malaysia so far. With new lighting solutions—both exterior and interior—the three Tune Hotels stand out with high-quality illumination while enjoying energy savings and lower maintenance costs.

Tune Hotels is Asia’s leading “limited-service” hotel chain, providing value accommodations in 26 operational hotels across Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and the United Kingdom, with an ambitious development pipeline in the works. GE’s collaboration with Tune Hotels is its first partnership with a major budget hotel chain in Asia and beyond.

“For Tune Hotels, it is very important for us to operate efficiently and the savings will directly benefit our customers. We needed a global partner that understands our needs and has the scale to support us in all the countries that we want to go into,” said Tune Hotels CEO, Mark Lankester. “In Malaysia, we aim to be the firstbranded budget hotel chain in Asia to be certified to the standards of the country’s Green Building Index,” he added.

Creating a “Home Away from Home” Ambience for the Hotel InteriorsThe GE team aimed to create a comfortable, welcoming interior that would encourage guests to relax and enjoy their stay at Tune Hotels.

For the three hotels, LEDs were installed in common areas, such as the lobby and corridors, as well as the bathrooms and guest rooms. The LEDs were used as the main ambient lighting and were able to achieve the luminance level required by the customer while providing greater energy savings and more uniform light distribution compared to the fluorescent lighting used previously.

Lighting for Distinctive Urban LandmarksEach Tune Hotel tends to be the distinctive landmark of the city that it is in. To add a brilliant glow to the exterior façade and signage, the GE team used the Tetra Signage system that utilizes high luminance, energy-efficient LEDs that offer a consistent color tone across the signage, enabling the true representation of the image of Tune Hotel. The high reliability of the Tetra Signage system also significantly reduces the maintenance cost of signage, which tends to be in hard-to-reach areas.

Reaping Returns and Reducing Environmental Impact“It is exciting to work with a client like Tune Hotels who shares our vision and commitment toward energy-efficient technology,” explained Country Manager of GE Lighting Malaysia, O Swee Aun. “While providing good, quality illumination to meet our clients’ needs, we also look forward to offering them greater savings while conserving natural resources used in energy production. Given GE’s global presence and the breadth and depth of our range of products and technical expertise, we are a premier one-stop lighting solutions provider for all types of environments,” he said.

With GE Lighting’s new lighting solutions, Tune Hotels will enjoy estimated savings of 30-40 percent in terms of energy and maintenance costs. This translates to a payback period of approximately 1.6 years. From an environmental perspective, the reduced energy consumption can eliminate 824,999 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions per year, which is equivalent to planting 102.3 acres of new trees.

About Tune Hotels
Tune Hotels is part of the lifestyle business conglomerate Tune Group. Founded by Tan Sri Tony Fernandes and Dato’ Kamarudin Meranun in 2007, Tune Group aims to break down affordability barriers in various aspects of daily life via Tune Talk, Tune Money and Tune Hotels. Since Tune Hotels was first launched in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in 2007, over 4 million guests have stayed at its properties. The company now has 26 hotels across Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and the United Kingdom. Visitwww.tunehotels.com for more information.

About GE Lighting
GE Lighting invents with the vigor of its founder Thomas Edison to develop energy-efficient solutions that change the way people light their world in commercial, industrial, municipal and residential settings. The business employs over 15,000 people in more than 100 countries, and sells products under the Reveal^® and Energy Smart^® consumer brands, and Evolve™, GTx™, Immersion™, Infusion™, Lumination™ and Tetra^®commercial brands, all trademarks of GE. General Electric (NYSE: GE) works on things that matter to build a world that works better. For more information, visit www.gelighting.com.

Contact Information

Name

David Schuellerman

Division

GE Consumer & Industrial

Phone

+1 216 266 9702

Mobile

+1 216 513 6236

Email

david.schuellerman@ge.com