Alternative Energy : Innovation + Job News

Three research scientists from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Tennessee were welcomed to Lima by officials of the Ohio Energy and Advanced Manufacturing Center (OEAMC). The visit came on the heels of an OEAMC trip to Oak Ridge earlier this year.
 
“They were very interested in some of our work,” says Judith Cowan, President of the OEAMC. Cowan was on the team that visited Oak Ridge earlier this year. “The Department of Energy was intrigued with our story and recommended that we make a trip to the DOE.”
 
Cowan and her team met with several key staff members from the Oak Ridge facility, including Dr. Craig A. Blue, Director of Energy Materials, Dr. Alan L. Liby, Deputy Director of the Energy Materials Program and Dr. William H. Peter of the Material Processing and Titanium Division.
 
The group toured several of Lima’s manufacturing plants, including the Husky Lima Refinery, the Ford Lima Engine Plant, Trinity Motor Sports’ carbon fiber lab, General Dynamics' Joint Systems Manufacturing Center and two American Trim facilities. Bio feedstocks, digital dispense printing and carbon fiber layups were among the topics of discussion.
 
All this, Cowan hopes, will lead to new developments between the two organizations. “We are in discussion with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) scientists on the development of a relationship defined by specific technology projects,” she explains.
 
“The leaders of the ORNL were very complimentary of all the manufacturing plants they visited during their visit to Lima,” says Cowan. “Every plant we toured is involved in bringing new technologies to their facilities and to Ohio.”
 
 
Source: Judith Cowan
Writer: Joe Baur

The Tech Belt Energy Innovation Center (TBEIC) has announced a $3.1 million plan to renovate the Kresge Building in Downtown Warren for their headquarters. The building will serve as a mixed-use facility for early stage companies in the field of energy technologies.
 
Launched in 2009, TBEIC has secured funding from the United States Department of Energy, the State of Ohio Board of Regents, and local corporate and private groups in the City of Warren and surrounding Trumbull County. Their mission to attract and cultivate talent nationwide is finally coming to fruition.
 
“[TBEIC] is working to increase high-impact technology businesses and career opportunities in the Mahoning Valley by establishing a shared resource center and technology business incubator focused in the energy and natural resource industries,” explains Dave Nestic, Chief Executive of Regional Operations, adding the group’s hope to be a national draw. “The shared resource center will be available to entrepreneurs and existing industry participants from all over the country seeking access to TBEIC’s specialized equipment and infrastructure.” The idea stems from the belief that increased interaction among entrepreneurs increases the likelihood of success.
 
Nestic says the decision to locate in Downtown Warren was a strategic move to allow their startups to be surrounded by the amenities of a city – restaurants, parks and summer events. “This makes for a good, creative working environment for engineers and technologists,” he says, adding, “Warren is located in a region central to five Northeast Ohio research universities and two Pittsburgh universities, all within about an hour drive or less.”

When complete, the 39,000 square foot building will house a business incubator/accelerator and a technology center focused on grid-connected technologies.

Nestic sums it ups, saying, “TBEIC will be a powerful business attraction tool for the Mahoning Valley for startups and industry participants playing in the energy and natural resources space.”


Source: Dave Nestic
Writer: Joe Baur

Tremont Electric has released its nPower PEG Energy Charger after releasing a prototype in 2010 and making improvements to the current model. The nPower charger is the first passive kinetic energy charger that can be used to power handheld devices. The device can be placed in a backpack or bag and harvests the user’s energy during walking, running and biking. That energy can then be used to charge smart phones, MP3 players, GPS systems or any other handheld device.
 
“There’s a loop at the top to hang it from a backpacks, it has a much larger battery pack with more available capacity,” says Tremont Electric founder and CEO Aaron LeMieux. “It can power a 3G device 100 percent, and a 4G device 80 percent.”
 
The nPower is manufactured almost completely in Ohio and distributed through a company in Streetsboro. “Anything we can get locally, we use,” says LeMieux.
 
Tremont Electric now has seven employees. LeMieux most recently hired two engineering technicians. He expects the company to continue to gain momentum. “We’re awfully busy these days,” he says. “We expect the next year to be pretty robust.”

 
Source: Aaron LeMieux
Writer: Karin Connelly

Fueled by a US EPA grant, University of Cincinnati faculty and students are leading an effort to transform cooking grease into biodiesel on a regional scale.

This project is a collaboration among UC, the Cincinnati Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD) and Bluegrass Biodiesel of Falmouth, Ky. The partners will test three methods to extract oil from the grease, including one the University is planning to patent.

Longer term plans are that this oil could be used in a biodiesel mixture to power diesel equipment and vehicles.

Grease hauling is an industry vital to restaurants, which pay haulers to dispose of used cooking grease. But the grease has to disposed of, usually in landfills.

"MSD receives grease from haulers," says project leader Mingming Lu, UC associate professor of Environmental Engineering. "The grease -- a mix of solid and liquid -- are from restaurant grease traps. MSD also has grease from the waste water it receives. The two kinds of grease are mixed, skimmed and condensed. This is called trap grease. It's stored in a pond and then sent to a landfill."

The EPA awarded the biodiesel effort an $87,000 grant during the the 8th Annual National Sustainable Design Expo on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. in May. The project was chosen from among 300 presented by college and university innovators across the country.

Up to seven UC students will be involved in the effort, Lu says. It's set to start in September and should last two years. It will include pilot demonstrations and a 100-gallon pilot treatment facility in collaboration with MSD.

"This is technology verification. We will try several technologies and see which one is the most effective for MSD," Lu says.

By Feoshia Henderson
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Brian Wildes, founder and CEO of Ecolibrium Solar, is a big believer in sustainable business practices, and the name of his Athens-based company reflects that.

“I named it Ecolibrium because we have to realize that our economics have to be in line with our ecology in order for sustainability to be reached,” he explains.

The company’s product, EcoFoot, is the first 100 percent recycled plastic mounting system for flat-roof solar arrays. It provides a systematic arrangement of solar panels in rows and columns.
 
Wildes got the idea for EcoFoot while working as an engineer for a solar panel installation company. “We were always in search of new and better products and not satisfied with what existed in the marketplace,” he recalls.
 
There are three types of applications for solar panels – a flat roof, a pitched roof and ground mounting. EcoFoot is designed for flat roof mounting only.
 
According to Wildes, his product represents a big step toward enabling grid parity. “That will occur when the solar industry will match the cost of grid-delivered electricity without price subsidy,” he explains. “EcoFoot saves both time and money for solar panel installations.”
 
Wildes established Ecolibrium Solar by himself in April 2010. Since then, he has added six employees and is ready to roll out EcoFoot 2 in a couple of months. “This will be significantly different from the first version,” he says. “It will have a lower ballast weight, integrated grounding and wire management and will be more durable.” The materials in both products are recyclable, he adds.
 
“We stack up well against our competitors,” Wildes notes. “We’re leading the trends of material changes in the industry.” He plans to increase his sales force for more penetration of national and international markets.
 
Ecolibrium has received funding from TechGROWTH Ohio.


Source:  Brian Wildes
Writer:    Lynne Meyer

The Athens-based company Eco2Capture has been awarded $100,000 by the Ohio Third Frontier for its project, Demonstration of Advanced Polymer Membranes for Algal Growth Enhancement, which will showcase how to mass-produce algae for the CO2 capture and biofuel markets.

“We’re commercializing some technology developed at Ohio University to enhance the amount of carbon dioxide that is taken from the air or from a gas, like at a power plant, and transfer it into the water where algae grows,” explains Dr. David Bayless, President of Eco2Capture. “In theory, you can grow more algae with more carbon dioxide and that really changes the economics of algal growth, because the more algae you can grow within a fixed system, the better your return.”

Algae is used for fuel, Omega-3 fatty acids, proteins, nutraceuticals, and all kinds of dyes. The ECO2Capture membranes will be used to increase the productivity of algae for commercial algae growers by providing very inexpensive, just-in-time carbon dioxide to promote photosynthesis. The just-in-time delivery will also significantly lower variations in water acidity and promote algae culture health.

The technology, which Bayless characterizes as “quite simple,” is a membrane technology that accelerates the amount of carbon dioxide in the air, which in turn accelerates its acceptance into the water. Dr. Bayless and his supporting staff of Jesus Pagan and Dr. Ben Stuart will demonstrate the technology at four different sites at two different levels. First is an initial exam showing people that it works.  “The other is to actually do some eco-productivity measurements and analysis of the algae.”

Dr. Bayless and his team are excited for the opportunity. “It’s a big step and without that funding from the state of Ohio, it would have been a real challenge for us to try to get pre-seed funding to do this demonstration,” he says. “This technology is very interesting, but it has not been proven at a very large scale. What we’re trying to do is take it out of the university environment and turn it into something that is actually practical.”


Source: David Bayless
Writer: Joe Baur

There's a reason why Ohio Supercomputer Center's new $4.1 million,  HP Intel Xeon, processor based system has been dubbed the Oakley Cluster. Like the legendary Ohio-born sharpshooter and social advocate Annie Oakley, it's fast as hell, doesn't miss a shot and is improving the lives of Ohioans.

Just ask Ashok Krishnamurthy, Executive Director of the OSC, a facility that is funded by the Ohio Board of Regents and has been in existence since 1987. "We have more than 2,000 academic users across the state, and they're discovering new materials and developing advanced energy applications," he says. "To be competitive, we must provide the highest performance system, and this represents a new level of capability."

OSC's new supercomputer can achieve 88 teraflops, which is tech speak for 88 trillion calculations per second. Yes, in case you're wondering, that's lightning fast.

OSC's new system will help to achieve its mission of assisting academic and business users. Large companies such as Proctor and Gamble and Rolls Royce use OSC as a "second level system when they have needs beyond what their systems can support," says Krishnamurthy. OSC helps small and midsize companies develop and test prototypes virtually rather than investing in actual models, while academics use the system to complete their cutting-edge research.

"We give them access to software and expertise," says Krishnamurthy. "Once they understand the value of what this can do, it changes how they do business."

As one example, Krishnamurthy cites an Ohio company that is developing an LED projector small enough to fit inside a phone. How do they convince various manufacturers that their device can handle the projector's heat without testing every single one? That's where OSC's computer modeling comes in.

"You can simulate how the heat is dissipated," he says. "It's an easy, low-cost way to show potential customers how your design can be incorporated into their products."

OSC has also helped to develop courses for students at community colleges and four-year colleges and universities, as well as professionals who are seeking continuing education. "OSC is in a fairly unique position," says Krishnamurthy. "It is the most consistently state-funded center of its kind in the country."


Source: Ashok Krishnamurthy
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Someday, perhaps, we'll power our ever-growing number of personal electronic devices with something sustainable like biofuels or sunlight. Until then, the nPower PEG (personal energy device) will do nicely. Tremont Electric's clever gadget converts the motion of walking or running into energy, which it stores in a battery until you're ready to recharge your cell phone or iPod.
 
Cool, right? The only problem to date has been getting hold of one.
 
"The last 18 months have been pretty challenging," says vice president Jill LeMieux. The supplier of the custom battery used in the original design proved unable to keep up. At present there are about 2,000 nPower PEG's in use -- and 5,000 on back order. That's an encouraging but precarious situation for a small company.
 
But things should improve in late March; that's when Delta Systems in Streetsboro begins mass-producing nPower PEGs. Would-be owners' reward for waiting will be greater energy efficiency in the new models -- which Tremont Electric founder and CEO Aaron LeMieux attributes to advances in microprocessors -- and a standardized battery that holds twice the charge of the older ones.
 
Delta Systems has been "very supportive," Jill adds, fronting the tooling costs until sales ramp up. She expects to sell at least 1,000 units per month. In the near future they'll only be available through the website, but some retailers already are expressing interest. The product is a natural for stores serving runners, hikers and campers.
 
"What we've seen since the rollout of this product is overwhelming demand for it," says Aaron.
 
The company hears frequently from users who "love" the PEG, including servicemen in Afghanistan, who report that it has worked "flawlessly." And like the deal with Delta, a military order would be another big, energy-generating step forward for the tiny company. The PEG is also a finalist in the Edison Awards, which will be announced April 26. Tremont Electric also continues to work with universities and others on deploying buoys that would convert the motion of waves into large-scale energy production.
 
Notes Aaron, "It's going to get interesting around here, I can say that much."
 
 
Sources: Jill and Aaron LeMieux
Writer: Frank W. Lewis