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Announces plans for nearly $4 billion in technology deployment, monitoring and viability Washington, DC - Vice President Joe Biden, on a visit to Jefferson City, Missouri, today with Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, detailed plans by the Department of Energy to develop a smart, strong and secure electrical grid, which will create new jobs and help deliver reliable power more effectively with less impact on the environment to customers across the nation. As part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the Vice President outlined plans to distribute more than $3.3 billion in smart grid technology development grants and an additional $615 million for smart grid storage, monitoring and technology viability.

President Obama's proposed $9.9 billion Energy Department budget contains up to $28 million for a Pantex wind farm that would be designed to meet the nuclear weapons plant's energy needs. The Pantex Renewable Energy Project would be built on land in the vicinity of the plant and could generate surplus electrical power that could be sold to utilities, according to budget documents. Preliminary plans call for the wind farm to be built by 2012. The project's overall scope would depend on future funding, but plans call for enough wind turbines to generate up to 75 megawatts of electrical generating capacity. Initial funding would only support construction of a 10- to 15-megawatt system.

Energy Intensive Sectors, IT Industry to Receive Recovery Act Funds WASHINGTON, DC - U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced plans to provide $256 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to support energy efficiency improvements in major industrial sectors across the American economy. The funding is targeted at reducing the energy consumption of America's manufacturing and information technology (IT) industries, while creating jobs and stimulating economic growth. These programs will help create manufacturing jobs quickly, along with jobs for technicians and experts who will be needed in the long-term to maintain and operate the new equipment. "Supporting the development of the latest industrial technologies plays an important role in helping U.S. industry to lead the world in energy efficiency and productivity," said Secretary Chu. "Working together with American manufacturing and IT industries, we will be able to create new jobs, reduce industrial energy use and limit damaging greenhouse gas emissions."

The US Dept. of Energy/EIA has released the 2007 edition of Renewable Energy Trends: The report, Renewable Energy Trends in Consumption and Electricity, 2007, provides an overview and tables with historical data spanning as far back as 1989 through 2007 on renewable energy consumption and electricity. As always, you can download the whole report from the above page in one PDF or grab individual chapters, data in Excel spreadsheets, etc.

$300 million infusion reflects Obama Administration's broad, aggressive research and development strategy WASHINGTON D.C. --- U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced more than $300 million worth of investments that will boost a range of clean energy technologies - including carbon capture from coal, solar power, and high efficiency cars and trucks. The move reflects the Obama Administration's commitment to a broad based strategy that will create millions of jobs while transforming the way we use and produce energy. "There's enormous potential for new jobs and reduced carbon pollution just by implementing existing technologies like energy efficiency and wind energy, but we also need to develop transformative new solutions," said Secretary Chu. "As a scientist, I remain optimistic that these breakthroughs are within our reach, and investments like these are an important part of achieving them." Today's actions include:

The US Dept. of Energy has released the State Renewable Electricity Profiles 2007. The web page for the report is here, including a clickable map and direct access to the state-level stats as well as the entire report in a single, 645KB PDF.

Concrete foam insulation is being touted as the latest greenest insulation available. It offers fire resistance, mold and bug resistance and a high R value.

Concrete foam insulation is being touted as the latest greenest insulation available. It offers fire resistance, mold and bug resistance and a high R value.

Oil and gas rigs are some of the biggest moveable structures in the world. Modern rigs cost millions of dollars and can weigh up to 30,000 tons. So what does it take to move these engineering marvels? We ask David Wells, CEO of consultancy, and rig-moving specialists, Aqualis Offshore.

Loan Guarantees Will Help Create New Jobs while Fostering Clean Energy Innovation Washington, DC - U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced today that the Department of Energy will provide up to $30 billion in loan guarantees, depending on the applications and market conditions, for renewable energy projects. Another $750 million will support several billion dollars more in loan guarantees for projects that increase the reliability, efficiency and security of the nation's transmission system. The two new loan guarantee solicitations announced today are being funded partly through the Recovery Act and partly through 2009 appropriations.

What does the future hold for the airport industry? We ask chief operations officer, Arjen Heeres, and business unit director, Marcel Dreef, at Quintiq for their thoughts. In 1997 in the Netherlands, five computer programmers began working on a new scheduling application for an aluminium hot mill operator.