GE Press Release:

GE’s Albeo™ LED High Bay Lighting Fixture Wins 2013 Product Innovation Award

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March 20, 2013

• Albeo™ LED High Bay lighting recognized with third award in two years from Architectural SSL magazine

EAST CLEVELAND, Ohio – March 20, 2013 – (NYSE:GE) – GE Lighting’s Albeo™ ABHX-Series LED High Bay Lighting fixture, a product of its recent acquisition of Albeo Technologies, has earned a 2013 Architectural SSL Magazine Product Innovation Award. The award recognizes cutting-edge LED and solid-state luminaires and fixtures.

The ABHX-Series LED lighting fixture can replace a range of legacy lighting systems—400-watt to 1500-watt HID and four- to eight-lamp T5/T8 HIF high-bay lighting—in warehouses, storage areas and other commercial spaces with high ceilings. It can be equipped with wireless and motion controls, and it offers more lumens from fewer modules compared to the original award-winning H-Series, which was the first one-for-one LED replacement for up to 1500-watt metal-halide systems.

"Winning the Product Innovation Award from SSL validates our distinct way of approaching the high

bay market,” said Jeff Bisberg, CEO of Albeo Technologies, a GE Lighting business. “LED high

bay lighting has significant growth potential for industrial buildings and warehouses because of its tremendous light quality and cost savings. We are committed to offering the very best high

bay products that will save business owners in maintenance and energy costs while fulfilling their unique lighting needs."

The original H-Series was recognized by Architectural SSL in 2012 in the High Bay and Special Citations categories as the most innovative optical and control system.

Two dozen designers and lighting specialists comprised the judges panel, which recognized manufacturers for outstanding products with attributes, qualities, functionality and/or performance beyond industry standards.

Architectural SSL is published by Construction Business Media, which also produced Architectural Products, Illuminate, and Net Zero Buildings magazines.

About GE LightingGE 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 about 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™, Albeo™ 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.

50 Years of LED InnovationOct. 9, 1962, GE scientist Dr. Nick Holonyak, Jr., invented the first practical visible-spectrum light-emitting diode (LED). In the 50 years since, GE has been on the forefront of LED innovation. The company has released inspired LED products for both residential and commercial settings, from the first ENERGY STAR®-qualified A19-shaped LED bulb to LED street lighting that illuminates cityscapes the world over.

New book highlights pressing need for hydrogen-powered vehicles

Not, strictly speaking, a report about renewable energy or energy efficiency, but still of possible interest.

Sandia Labs News Releases

March 20, 2013

New book highlights pressing need for hydrogen-powered vehicles

LIVERMORE, Calif.— Sandia National Laboratories reveals the breadth of its hydrogen fuel expertise in the recently published Hydrogen Storage Technology – Materials and Applications.

Sandia researcher Lennie Klebanoff is confident that the book’s content will give readers a sense of urgency about the need to get zero-emission hydrogen fuel cell vehicles on the road, and to get other hydrogen-based power equipment into the marketplace.

Sandia National Laboratories' Lennie Klebanoff says he feels a personal responsibility to inform technical readers and the public about the urgent need to get zero-emission hydrogen technology into the nation’s vehicles and other carbon-producing applications. (Photo by Dino Vournas) Click on the thumbnail for a high-resolution image.

Klebanoff, who serves as the book’s editor and co-wrote half the chapters, knows his topic well. He was director of the Metal Hydride Center of Excellence (MHCoE), one of three U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Hydrogen Storage Centers of Excellence dedicated to solving the problem of storing hydrogen on automobiles. This Center, competitively selected and funded through DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), included 21 partners from industry, academia, and national laboratories from 2005 through 2010.

In addition to Klebanoff’s own background, he drew upon the considerable hydrogen expertise at Sandia/California to complete the book. Sandia’s Daniel Dedrick, Terry Johnson and Vitalie Stavila each contributed to various chapters, and now-retired Sandia hydrogen program manager Jay Keller co-wrote a pair of chapters as well. “It was a real team effort and clearly shows the level and breadth of hydrogen knowledge here at Sandia,” Klebanoff said.

In addition to the Sandia authors, 21 others contributed, including authors from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and from other countries including Canada, China, and the United Kingdom. “I felt strongly it was important to have an international perspective, as our energy issues are global and interconnected,” said Klebanoff.

Climate change, other factors drive need for hydrogen use

In addition to his work with the MHCoE, Klebanoff also led a successful effort to develop a fuel cell mobile lighting system, so it didn’t come as a shock when publisher Taylor & Francis asked if he’d edit this book on hydrogen storage.

He agreed, realizing that work in the MHCoE and the other two Hydrogen Storage Centers of Excellence had resulted in a great deal of technical data that was ready to be compiled and shared with researchers. In addition, Klebanoff said he feels a personal sense of responsibility to inform technical readers and the public about the urgent need to get zero-emission hydrogen technology into the nation’s vehicles and other carbon-producing applications.

“Not only does this book go into significant technical details, it can also help consumers, political leaders and even some scientists get a better understanding of how bad the global climate change problem really is, and that it has been with us for a century,” Klebanoff said. The book also discusses fuel resource insecurity and political energy insecurity as viable reasons for the nation to convert to hydrogen-based vehicle and power technology. Klebanoff defines political energy insecurity as the political difficulties that can emerge when the energy resources that one country needs depend on another country.

Hydrogen Storage Technology addresses such technical issues as the chemistry of hydrogen storage materials, codes and standards, pressure vessels and engineered hydrogen storage systems. A chapter led by Johnson reviews a recent General Motors/Sandia project that developed the first engineered hydrogen storage bed that could satisfy the fuel demands of real automotive drive cycles.

Storage not a barrier for fuel cell vehicle commercialization

Klebanoff himself said storage isn’t the technical hurdle some believe it to be.

“We actually make the argument that storage is not a huge barrier,” he said. “All of the major car manufacturers have produced hydrogen vehicles, and they can all run for at least 240 miles, and in one case, even up to 430 miles.”

He acknowledged that the research community must work harder to meet the government and industry consumer vehicle target of at least 300 miles across a range of vehicle types and sizes.

“However, there is no technical hydrogen storage barrier preventing the roll-out of the first hydrogen-powered vehicles today,” Klebanoff asserted.

Independent reviewers of the book have been enthusiastic. Professor Klaus Yvon from the University of Geneva, an international leader in the hydrogen storage community, has called it “a breath of fresh air in the field of hydrogen storage research. This book is unique in that it combines materials science, physics and engineering aspects on various hydrogen storage methods into a single volume, while not forgetting application issues.” Yvon added that “it should be treated as compulsory reading for students and researchers in the field.”

Partial support for the work resulting in the book came from the EERE’s Fuel Cell Technologies Office. More information about Hydrogen Storage Technology – Materials and Applications is available directly from the CRC Press website.

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Sandia National Laboratories is a multi-program laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin company, for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration. With main facilities in Albuquerque, N.M., and Livermore, Calif., Sandia has major R&D responsibilities in national security, energy and environmental technologies and economic competitiveness.

NREL Assembles Industry Working Group to Advance Solar Securitization Webinar focusing on SAPC to be held on March 22

News Release:

NREL Assembles Industry Working Group to Advance Solar Securitization

Webinar focusing on SAPC to be held on March 22

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE)'s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) recently convened the Solar Access to Public Capital (SAPC) working group with a mission to enable securitization of solar PV assets and associated cash flows in the marketplace.

SAPC's primary efforts center on the standardization of power purchase agreements, leases, and other documents relevant to residential and commercial deployment, and the development of robust datasets to assess performance and credit-default risk. These activities are designed to allow projects to be grouped into tradable securities. Securitization is expected to attract additional investors to the solar asset class, enabling the industry to tap a larger and more liquid pool of capital than currently available. The working group includes over 60 members representing some of the leading organizations in the fields of solar deployment, finance, counsel, and analysis.

"It's exciting to see the industry come together to build the foundation to a securitized market," says NREL Senior Financial Analyst Michael Mendelsohn. "Access to low-cost public capital offers the potential to significantly lower the cost of solar energy."

SAPC will also provide a forum for some of the leading voices in the industry to discuss the range of barriers, risks, opportunities, and best practices in the creation of a solar securities market. Public capital vehicles can take various forms including asset-backed securities, master-limited partnerships, real estate investment trusts, or various debt products. The NREL-led effort is funded under the DOE's Sunshot Initiative.

On March 22, at 10 a.m. MT, SolarTech and NREL are cosponsoring a Webinar, "Can Finance Be Easier." The webinar will kick off with an SAPC Project overview by Mendelsohn. Then he will be joined by a panel of solar industry leaders in a round-table discussion of solar financing including: Moderator, David McFeely, SolarTech; Paul Detering, Tioga Energy; Tim Keating, SCS Renewables; Dirk Michels, K&L Gates. Anyone interested in viewing the Webinar can register online at:https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/241390118.

Questions about SAPC can be forwarded to SAPCinfo@nrel.gov. Please add your name to the Interested Parties list to maintain ongoing updates.

SAPC participants include:

Altus Power Management
Bank of America Merrill Lynch
Bingham McCutchen LLP
Borrego Solar
CalCEF
Capital Fusion Partners
Chadbourne & Parke LLP
CleanPath Ventures
Coronal Management LLC
Clean Power Finance
Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank
DOE
EcoPower Capital
Ed Feo (formerly with USRG Renewables)
Enfinity
K&L Gates LLP
Kroll Bond Ratings
kWh Analytics
Locus Energy
McCauley Lyman LLC
Nancy LaPlaca (formerly with the Arizona Corporate Commission)
OneRoof Energy
Orrick, Herrington, & Sutcliffe LLP
Rabobank
Recurrent Energy
Rocky Mountain Institute
Rosendin Electric
SCS Renewables
Sidley Austin LLP
Smart Energy Development
SolarCity
Solar Electric Power Association
SolarTech
Standard and Poor's
Stoel Rives LLP
Sungevity
SunPower
SunSpec
Sunrun
Tioga Energy
TÜV Rheinland Group
Union Bank

NREL is the U.S. Department of Energy's primary national laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency research and development. NREL is operated for DOE by The Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC.

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IBM News Release:

IBM Selected by CenterPoint Energy to Enhance Customer Engagement with New Service Platform

360-degree view to improve two-way communication for 5 million metered customers

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ARMONK, N.Y. - 19 Mar 2013: IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced that it has been selected by CenterPoint Energy to develop a new Customer Vision Platform that will enhance the customer experience and drive operational efficiencies. The integrated platform will consolidate services across the business, providing CenterPoint with a 360-degree view of its five million metered customers.

An energy delivery company with operations primarily in six states, CenterPoint Energy sought a solution that would transform its service model and provide the tools to address customers quickly and efficiently.  

The new Customer Vision Platform will streamline customer interactions across all channels in CenterPoint Energy’s natural gas distribution, electric transmission and distribution, and Home Service Plus businesses. This will allow the company to simplify and enhance communication methods and interact with customers for general transactions as well as outage and service notifications. 

CenterPoint Energy will also integrate data analytics as part of this project, with the goal to improve the customer experience and overall operations. The company will combine data from smart meters and distribution and outage management systems to provide better customer information. Additionally, this scalable service-oriented architecture offers the flexibility for future growth.

“Our goal is to provide an exceptional customer experience by taking full advantage of our technology platforms across our businesses,” said Gregg Knight, division vice president of customer services for CenterPoint Energy. “The Customer Vision Platform will provide the insight we need to focus on the total customer experience to make it more convenient to do business with us and to provide even more valued services.” 

Customers will have access to expanded web-based services and the option to select how they prefer to be contacted by CenterPoint–whether by phone, the portal, text or email. For example, in the event of a planned outage, customers will receive notification based on their communication method of choice. Additionally, the solution will integrate a range of customer service technologies to ensure requests and queries are focused on the customer’s needs. 

 “By creating an integrated, interactive platform, CenterPoint Energy will have more precision and insight to improve service quality levels and drive business growth,” said Michael Valocchi, Vice President, Global Energy & Utilities Industry Leader for IBM Global Business Services. “Meanwhile, for it's five million metered customers, they will reap the benefits of a personalized and consistent experience –communication at a time and in a way they request.” 

CenterPoint selected IBM as the lead system integrator, and SAP Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software, IBM server and storage technology, as well as real-time analytics solutions.  

IBM recently received the SAP®North America Partner Excellence Award 2013 as top services partner and top channel partner.  

For more information about Smarter Energy at IBM, please visit:www.ibm.com/press/smarterenergy. Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Verizon’s ‘MAGIC’ Buses Reduce Number of Company Vehicles on New York City Streets and Cut CO2 Emissions

News Release is not, strictly speaking, about renewable energy but it is still of possible interest.

Verizon’s ‘MAGIC’ Buses Reduce Number of Company Vehicles on New York City Streets and Cut CO2 Emissions

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SWANA Chapters Eligible to Join the Applied Resear - REW - Renewable Energy from Waste

SWANA Chapters Eligible to Join the Applied Resear - REW - Renewable Energy from Waste