Energy & Utilities : Innovation + Job News

Unless they're unplugged, your television or DVD player are never truly off.

Through what's known as "passive" or "phantom" energy, household appliances drive up your energy bill even after you flip the off switch. And unless you unplug those appliances, there's no easy way to stop it.

That could change if a team of young Cincinnati entrepreneurs gets their energy-saving power outlet on the market. The PowerGenie, envisioned as a smart version of a traditional power strip, is the first product under development by Sustain-A-Watt Energy Solutions.

Passive energy is a big money and energy waster. It can add up to $40 a month to an average home's energy bill, or $5 billion a year across the U.S., says company co-founder and recent University of Cincinnati grad Rod Ghavami.

Appliances plugged into the PowerGenie can be turned off through a smart phone application that users can control from any location. The patent pending PowerGenie is still in the early development stage, but has won several business and innovation competitions. Most recently, it was a winner in the Cincinnati Innovates competition, winning the LPK Design and Branding Award.

"We have a proof-of-concept prototype, basically a Frankenstein prototype," Ghavami says. "Since graduation, some of the people on our team earlier have disappeared, and we've brought on some new people who are excited about the project and want to work on it."

The PowerGenie started as a class project for the electrical engineering student.

"As part of our senior design project, we came up with the idea of monitoring real-time electricity consumption from an outlet. That's how the PowerGenie came to be," Ghavami says.

After winning a Green Energy Business competition, the idea was further refined.

"We realized we could turn this into a real product and help the average person save energy," he says.

The PowerGenie is designed for residential use, but the technology could be expanded eventually for business use, Ghavami adds.

LPK will be soon working with the company on marketing and consumer design. The company is also seeking angel investment and is working on a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds. The goal is to create a product ready for production by early next year.


By Feoshia H. Davis

Local businesses and labor leaders, elected officials, landowners and others gathered at the Log Cabin in downtown Warren last month to tout the economic benefits and job creation resulting from the development of shale oil and natural gas.
 
Tony Paglia, VP of Government and Media Affairs at the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber, says the event, hosted by the Mahoning Valley Coalition for Job Growth and Investment, was held as a counter-presence to an anti-shale development demonstration that was simultaneously held on Warren’s Courthouse Square. “We wanted to get out the word that the Mahoning Valley welcomes oil and gas development in our area,” Paglia explains. “Most of the demonstrators against oil and gas were from outside the area and the state.”
 
Characterizing oil and gas development as an economic “game changer” for the Valley, Paglia says, “We have gone from one of the worst economies in the U.S. to an economy that is creating good paying jobs and providing a resurgence for our manufacturing sector.” In total the Chamber estimates upwards of 4,000 direct and indirect jobs have been created in addition to “billions of dollars in investment in the Valley region.”
 
Critics have said the risks associated with shale and natural gas drilling on the environment far outweigh any economic benefits. But after 30 years of economic decline, local leaders are ready to accept shale development as an opportunity to change the region’s fortunes. “We’ve all studied the pros and cons of shale development and believe with strong and effective environmental and safety laws that the risks of the industry can be managed, allowing for continue economic growth and investment,” says Paglia.
 
Pro-shale groups predict full development in the Valley in 2014. This means a large increase in drilling as supply chain companies continue to move into the region and local companies expand their operations.
 
Paglia sums up his defense and support of shale development by pointing to a recent Business Facilities Magazine ranking that put the Youngstown-Warren region sixth in the Economic Growth Potential category among metro areas with less than 450,000 employment. “Ten years ago," says Paglia, "the Youngstown-Warren area would probably have been sixth from the bottom in economic growth potential.”
 
 
Source: Tony Paglia
Writer: Joe Baur

The region's fifth annual Cincinnati Innovates competition comes with a federal twist, a global challenge and a $10,000 prize opportunity.

By partnering with the US Environmental Protection Agency, Innocentive, the Cincinnati Metropolitan Sewer District and Northern Kentucky's Sewer District 1, the newly announced Water Challenge competition focuses on the development of low-cost, low-maintenance sensors able to monitor sewer overflows. 

Sewer overflows, which spill untold gallons of raw sewage into waterways after heavy rainfalls, remain a major challenge for cities and a major barrier to compliance with Clean Water Act regulations. Cincinnati Innovates founder Elizabeth Edwards explains this first-ever Cincinnati Innovates/government initiative:

Why is the sewer system ripe for innovation and why Cincinnati?
Cincinnati, like many other major metros, is faced with major infrastructure improvement costs to maintain our 100-plus-year-old sewer system.

Is this the first time you've partnered with a governmental agency and what do you think that signals? Why do you think the EPA is reaching out to basically "crowd source" innovations in how we handle water overflows?
This is the first time Cincinnati Innovates has partnered with a government agency.

The EPA's Water Research Lab here in Cincinnati is one of the largest in the world. This partnership is just another example of the EPA's efforts to commercialize water technologies in the region.

Contests spur innovation. The EPA's partnership with Innocentive and Cincinnati Innovates is just one way the EPA is sourcing innovation.

How did this partnership come about and what was the process?
We've been working for several months together with Innocentive to create a prize and a process that makes sense. In defining the prize, we worked with water utility experts on both sides of the river.

What impact could this competition, and the products it support, have on the people of Cincinnati--and beyond?
This competition could save Cincinnati and cities like it millions of dollars a year - and improve safety and water quality. 

The competition is open and online now.


By Elissa Yancey

The University of Akron is investing in more solar panels as part of the school’s commitment to comply with a pending energy bill to cut 20-percent of all consumed energy by 2014.
 
The project comes at the end of Akron’s search for a project with high visibility that required little to no infrastructure changes while making a noticeable impact the school’s sustainability habits. “This new array will offset one percent of all energy consumed and nearly five percent of our demand profile during peak grid congestion,” explains Ralph Morrone, Manager of University Sustainability.
 
Akron’s investment is a marked improvement on the campus’ lone 28KW array. Morrone says the new array is 650KW – more than 23 times the installed capacity. “The existing array is barely enough to light one floor of the building that it currently resides atop,” quips Morrone, adding the initial project was created simply to promote the technology.
 
The project is also a win for nearby Carbon Vision, a Shaker Heights-based renewable energy analysis and project development firm that won the bid to produce Akron’s solar arrays. Carbon Vision offered the “turnkey solution” for the university’s needs, including a plan to design, fund, install, and maintain the solar array at their cost for the duration of the contract and Power Purchase Agreement. “The only cost to the university during the contract is the cost of power generated from the array, which will be entirely consumed by the university’s electrical demand on its internal electrical grid,” says Morrone, who will be working with Carbon Vision to ensure their contract is met and that the project is properly coordinated.
 
For Morrone, the solar arrays project is also an investment in education, illustrating to current and future students that the university is “committed to thinking outside of the box to employ new strategies to lessen our burden on the environment and its carbon footprint.” He concludes, “In allowing students to see, touch, and measure the capabilities of green and energy producing technologies, the University of Akron is directly influencing students’ experiences and further enriching skillsets needed to compete in a global and technologically advanced labor market.”
 
 
Source: Ralph Morrone
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

Ohio University’s Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs has collaborated with the Ohio Development Service Agency Office of Energy on a new solar energy supply chain database to promote Ohio companies.
 
Scott Miller, Director of Energy and Environmental Programs at the Voinovich School, says technological innovators as well as Ohio manufacturers stand to benefit “by knowing first and foremost who else applies to their specific niche.” For example, if a company is looking for specific grades of material or wiring harness, the database will provide a list of options to select from. “It’s folks who are in the material processing industry who make silica wafers or make unique applications for solar panels who will find this very useful,” explains Miller.
 
The project was financed by the development agency to capture and catalogue all the different companies and individuals that are involved in the solar supply chain within the state of Ohio. Miller says an existing database recorded only 50-75 companies. “We’ve come up with 275 companies.” An online mapping program highlighting the new database is available at ohiosolarenergy.org.
 
Not only does the database aim to assist those in existing technological fields, but aid in the discovery of something new. “Folks may find there are opportunities that aren’t being met, and they can use this database to identify what those unmet needs are and grow new services or new techniques, new materials that may help advance the industry,” says Miller, noting there’s still much to be done.
 
“I think we’ve only begun to scratch the service in terms of using tools like this for identifying unique applications in the state and nation.”
 
 
Source: Scott Miller
Writer: Joe Baur

Conservation has always been a major concern for zoos, from habitat conservation to protecting animal populations with dwindling numbers. Two Ohio zoos, though, are leading the way into another branch of conservation--energy conservation.
 
The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Gardens and the Columbus Zoo & Aquarium have both made headlines in the last two years for their green technology efforts, investing millions while enlisting help from the state's green industry to become leaders in the field.
 
Over the past five years, the Cincinnati Zoo has invested $1 million in energy improvements, upgrading 73 buildings--including elevating five to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification and other initiatives like switching to energy-saving LED lights for its annual holiday display.
 
The biggest splash in the Ohio zoo green movement is just starting to pay off, though. Earlier this year, the zoo completed construction on an $11 million, four-acre, 15-foot high "solar canopy" that covers 800 spaces in its parking lot. The system, billed as the largest, publicly accessible urban solar array in the country, consists of 6,400 panels that generate 1.56 megawatts--providing nearly 20 percent of the zoo's energy requirements.
 
Along with saving the zoo millions in energy costs, the project also includes education benefits. It funds 10 scholarships at Cincinnati State's Green Workforce Development Program and includes an onsite kiosk that shows the array's performance and extolls the virtue of solar energy. The zoo began using the array in April, soon after completion.
 
Melink Corp., owned by green technology activist Steve Melink, designed the structure and served as developer. It also secured the financing for the array, and will operate the array for the zoo. The Milford-based company jumped onto the "green bandwagon" early, specializing in high-efficiency restaurant exhaust systems since 1987 before moving into solar projects over the past decade.
 
Thane Maynard, executive director of the zoo, said there was no better place to showcase solar technology.
 
"As the greenest zoo in America, there is no better place to showcase this technology and to help the public understand that not only is this technology the right thing to do for our energy future," he said, "but it makes absolute financial sense as well."
 
The Cincy Zoo might have a battle on its hands for the "greenest" title, though.
 
Just up I-71, the Columbus Zoo & Aquarium announced in October plans for a solar array to surpass its Cincinnati counterpart. Construction starts next year. 
 
"We're excited about the solar array," says zoo director of planning Barbara Revard. "Everything's still in the planning stages, but I think we're comfortable in saying that we think it will be somewhere between a 2.5-to-3 megawatt system."
 
Taking the lead in the project is Athens-based Third Sun Solar, one of the state's fastest-growing solar firms. Founded in 2000 by the aptly named Geoff and Michelle Greenfield and operating out of the Innovation Center at Ohio University, the company has become a regional leader in implementing solar technology. It's been named to Inc. magazine's “Inc. 5,000" for three years in a row.
 
The planned solar array isn’t the only trick in Columbus zoo's green hat, however. Three years ago, it opted to utilize geothermal technology in another of its projects, the Polar Frontier exhibit. Opening this past May, the $20 million exhibit circulates 300,000 gallons of water to a tank that serves as home to polar bears. The mostly underground system keeps the water at a constant chilled temperature, using a fraction of the energy of other options.

The zoo has also "gone green" in other areas, from pioneering use of new Flux Drive pump products that have led to a 40 percent reduction in energy costs, to recently installing "smart skylights" in one of its buildings.
 
The skylights, produced by Ciralight Global out of Corona, Calif., consist of motorized mirrors and sensors that rotate the mirrors to catch sunlight and reflect it inside, where its needed. The result is an electricity-independent, natural light source that provides better light at less cost.

"We joke that we're finding things in the warehouse that we didn't even realize were there," says Revard.
 
Columbus-based Energy Solutions Group worked with the zoo on bringing the "flux drive" and skylights into the fold.
 
Both the Cincinnati and Columbus zoos are leaders in implementing green technology, but they're far from alone. Every few months, representatives from all Ohio's zoos get together to talk about moving toward more environmentally friendly initiatives. The group, called the Ohio Zoo Green Consortium, consists of about 30 representatives from around the state, said Revard.
 
"The fun thing for us all is working together and talking about what we're doing, what's working well and what's next," said Revard. "It's our hope that we can not only share that information with other zoos in Ohio, but also serve as a model to zoos outside the state."