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 →

MarketOverview: Biofuel Needs of the Department of Defense (DOD)
By Dr. Jenny C. Servo
Friday, June 17th from 1:00 – 2:00 PM Central Time

As space is limited, registration to attend the webinar is required. To register, please click on the following link http://www.vbasiliconprairie.com/webinars_register.php . There is no fee to attend this webinar which is offered by the Virtual Business Accelerator for the Silicon Prairie [VBA-SP]. A unique URL and password will be provided to you after registration.

The Nebraska Center for Energy Sciences Research today released its Request for Proposals (RFP) seeking innovative energy sciences research and collaboration ideas from UNL faculty. This is the sixth annual cycle in which UNL faculty can compete in this internal competition for energy research grants.  These grants are considered seed funding to help UNL faculty develop energy-related research capacity and improve their competitiveness for external funding.  Funding for this opportunity is made possible through an investment in energy sciences research by the Nebraska Public Power District.  Click here for a copy of the NCESR Cycle 6 – RFP The deadline for UNL faculty to register their intent to submit a proposal is June 22, 2011.  Proposals are due August 1, 2011.

The 2011 Graduate Student Poster Session, a celebration highlighting graduate student research and creative activity, was held on April 13, 2011 as part of the campus-wide 2011 UNL Research Fair. The purpose of this yearly event is to give students the opportunity to showcase their research or creative activity; to communicate their results to other students, faculty and staff; and to learn about other areas of research and creative activity. The event is sponsored by the Office of Research and Economic Development, Office of Graduate Studies, and the Nebraska Chapter of Sigma Xi.  2011 Energy Sciences Poster Session Continue reading →

April 05, 2011 — U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu and U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar today announced $26.6 million in funding for research and development projects to advance hydropower technology, including pumped storage hydropower. This funding is focused on development of innovative technologies that can produce power more efficiently, reduce costs and increase sustainable hydropower generation at sites not previously considered practical. Continue reading →

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Fuel Cell Technologies Program will host a Webinar with the Clean Energy States Alliance and the Technology Transition Corp. titled “Fuel Cells for Supermarkets” on Monday, April 4, from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. Eastern. The Webinar will focus on the use of fuel cells by supermarkets and will detail the experiences that supermarkets in four different states have had with stationary fuel cells. According to UTC Power, a 400 kW fuel cell at Price Chopper in Albany, New York meets 85% of the supermarket’s energy needs, reduces the building’s carbon footprint by 71 tons, provides reliable energy for perishable items, and saves more than 4 million gallons of water each year. Continue reading →

To support the goal announced by President Obama today to reduce America’s oil imports by one-third by 2025, the U.S. Department of Energy announced that it will be accepting applications for $12 million in funding for laboratory or small pilot-scale projects that support the development of advanced biofuels. Successful projects will develop technologies that will be able to replace refinery feedstocks or directly replace gasoline, diesel, or jet fuels without requiring modifications to vehicles or fueling infrastructure. These projects will continue to accelerate innovations in the renewable biofuels industry as part of the Obama Administration’s efforts to build a cleaner, safer, and more secure energy future for America that ultimately breaks our dependence on foreign oil and moves our nation toward a clean energy economy that creates jobs and boosts U.S. competitiveness. Continue reading →