EERE Network News
December 06, 2006
News and Events
A new solar cell, developed by Spectrolab, Inc. with DOE funding, has a sunlight-to-electricity conversion efficiency of 40.7 percent, a new world record that could lead to more affordable solar power systems.
Crossing the Atlantic in a catamaran seems difficult enough, but a Swiss team is attempting to do so entirely under solar power. Next year, a separate team plans to circumnavigate the world in a biodiesel-fueled boat, while efforts are gearing up for a round-the-world alternative-fuel car race in 2008.
New Mexico has joined with the coastal states of California, Oregon, and Washington in a joint effort to combat climate change. The states will cooperate to develop and deploy low-carbon and renewable energy technologies while promoting energy efficiency, conservation, and demand response.
A collaboration between DOE's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Sage Electrochromics, Inc. has produced a window prototype that integrates several energy efficient technologies.
General Motors is the main newsmaker at the Los Angeles Auto Show, unveiling plans to produce a plug-in hybrid and detailing its near-term effort to roll out a number of new hybrid models. Ford is also in the game with a fuel-cell-powered Explorer and a redesigned Escape Hybrid.
A joint venture of DuPont and Tate & Lyle has begun producing 1,3-propanediol (PDO) from corn in Tennessee. Manufacturing the new bioproduct, called Bio-PDO, consumes 40 percent less energy than petroleum-based PDO. Bio-PDO will be used to make a DuPont polymer and other products.
The latest long-term energy outlook from DOE's Energy Information Administration (EIA) projects a rapid growth in ethanol and biodiesel fuels, as well as flex-fuel vehicles, hybrids, and advanced diesels. It also projects a huge growth in our use of coal.