February 08, 2012

As part of the Obama Administration’s blueprint for an American economy built to last, today U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced over $12 million to speed solar energy innovation from the lab to the marketplace through the Energy Department’s SunShot Incubator program. The funding will accelerate American innovation in solar energy and manufacturing by supporting advancements in hardware, reductions in soft costs, and the development of pilot manufacturing and production projects. Continue reading →

CALL FOR PAPERS: The Sun Grant Initiative National Conference on Science for Biomass Feedstock Production and Utilization. The Sun Grant Initiative is organizing a national conference on the “Science for Biomass Feedstock Productionand Utilization.” It will be held October 2–5, 2012, at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside in New Orleans, Louisiana. The conference will highlight recent advances in the science and technology contributing to the deployment of advanced biofuels from agricultural and forest systems. The Initiative is currently seeking proposals for presentations that further the vision of the bioeconomy. Continue reading →

Article by Vicki Miller, Research Communications, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Energy research at UNL should double within three to five years with the Nebraska Center for Energy Sciences Research as a catalyst.

That’s the vision of the center’s new director, Mike Nastasi. An accomplished materials scientist, Nastasi joined UNL in January from Los Alamos National Laboratory where he directed the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Frontier Research Center for Materials at Irradiation and Mechanical Extremes.

Nastasi sees great potential for NCESR and UNL.

A combination of factors puts UNL in prime position to expand the breadth and impact of its energy research, Nastasi said. These include the center’s early successes, a strong partnership with Nebraska Public Power District, Chancellor Harvey Perlman’s plan to increase enrollment and research, and plans for Nebraska Innovation Campus.  These pluses and the chance to play a role in improving the energy outlook for Nebraska and the nation drew Nastasi to Nebraska.  “I’m impressed with the positive and upbeat outlook at UNL,” he said. “Things are coming together. This is a bright spot in
the middle of the country.” Continue reading →

Today@UNL   Thursday, December 15, 2011

Materials scientist Mike Nastasi will become director of UNL’s Nebraska Center for Energy Sciences Research on Jan. 3.

Nastasi also will be a professor of mechanical and materials engineering and will hold the Elmer Koch Professorship. He comes to UNL from Los Alamos National Laboratory where he was a longtime researcher and, since 2009, directed the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Frontier Research Center on Materials at Irradiation of Mechanical Extremes. For more information, go to  http://newsroom.unl.edu/announce/todayatunl /839/5117

Nebraska Center for Energy Sciences Research
Post-Secondary Curricula for Next-Generation Biofuels
Application Deadline:  02/06/2012

This RFP seeks proposals for curricula development in the area(s) of ‘next-generation’ biofuels (e.g. new or emerging technologies) to create a skilled workforce that, in part, may attract business development and create employment opportunities within the state of Nebraska.

Federal funds were granted to the Nebraska Department of Labor and made available for this purpose to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

The Request for Proposals (RFP) is attached: RFP Post-Secondary Curricula for Next-Generation Biofuels

Bill Fehrman, a UNL graduate in civil engineering and current president and chief executive officerof MidAmerican Energy Company, will speak at a seminar from 3:00 to  4:30 p.m., on Wednesday – September 28, 2011.  He will will discuss how MidAmerican is dealing with 20% generation from wind and related topics.  The seminar will be held in 237 Scott Engineering Center.  For question or more information, contact Electrical Engineering at 402-472-3771.Fehrman seminar – Sept 28

Dr. Michael Nastasi, Director U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Frontier Research Center on Materials at Irradiation of Mechanical Extremes will make a public presentation on Wednesday, August 31, 3:30 p.m., in room 212 at the Jackie Gaughan Multicultural Center in Lincoln, NE.  The Visitors Center is located next to the city campuns union on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus.

Since 2009, Dr. Nastasi  has been director of the Department of Energy’s Center for Materials at Irradiation and Mechanical Extremes at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Previously, he was the nano electronics and mechanics thrust leader in DOE’s Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies.

Dr. Nastasi earned doctoral, master’s and bachelor’s degrees in materials science and engineering from Cornell University.  His research interests include ion-solid interactions, irradiation induced phase transformation and irradiation effects in nanostructured materials. He is a Fellow of the Materials Research Society and the American Physical Society. Dr.  Nastasi was one of the top 50 most-published authors at Los Alamos National Laboratory from 1996 to 2005. Dr. Nastasi CV.

For Immediate Release:August 17, 2011

For participant registration help contact: Terri Donahue at NE Farmers Union (402) 476-8815 terri@nebraskafarmersunion.org

For exhibitor or sponsor registration help contact: Paula or Tom Steenson at (402) 346-3950 ppresents@aol.com

(LINCOLN) – Wind Power 2011, the fourth annual wind conference sponsored by the Nebraska Wind Working Group (NWWG) will be held November 15-16 in Kearney at the Younes Conference Center in Kearney. The NWWG is a state and federal partnership funded by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Wind Powering America to help develop the state’s wind resources. The NWWG received the “Outstanding State Wind Working Group” in the nation award from Wind Powering America for their work in 2011. The Wind Power 2011 dates and location were previously announced at last year’s conference. All participant, exhibitor and sponsorship levels will be the same as last year with pre-registration at $60 and at the door registration at $75. Continue reading →

August 16, 2011

President Obama today announced that the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Energy, and Navy will invest up to $510 million during the next three years in partnership with the private sector to produce advanced drop-in aviation and marine biofuels to power military and commercial transportation. The initiative responds to a directive from President Obama issued in March as part of his Blueprint for A Secure Energy Future, the administration’s framework for reducing dependence on foreign oil. The biofuels initiative is being steered by the White House Biofuels Interagency Work Group and Rural Council, both of which are enabling greater cross-agency collaboration to strengthen rural America.Biofuels Initiative Continue reading →

**REMINDER**
2011 Wind Turbine Reliability Workshop
August 2-3, 2011

The Sandia’s CREW (Continuous Reliability Enhancement for Wind) database project will release an extract of results from the first public U.S. Wind Energy Reliability Benchmark, scheduled for publication in early fall, 2011.  The CREW database is the result of a DOE-funded program to establish a national reliability database containing a sufficiently large sample of wind plants to benchmark the operation and maintenance experience of the US fleets.  This public benchmark represents the first analysis of US wind fleet performance based on aggregated fleet reliability data.   The presentation at the SNL Reliability Workshop will provide an initial look at a system-level failure pareto, and provide information regarding the data collection and analysis process utilized for the fall report. Continue reading →