THINK BIG – GIVE Muhammad Yunus GREEN ENERGY BUSINESS IDEAS 300 Words or Less for YouthinYunus

THINK REALLY BIG Current & Future green entrepreneurs-
Submit as many BIG IDEAS as possible – Student Ideas Welcome!:

In 300 words or less:

Tell Muhammad Yunus your biggest – push the limits – IDEA or GOAL on a green energy business concept with real teeth that you want to see go forward. That’s all. If the idea creates jobs and fits the social business model. That’s even better!
Please provide your name, email and a little information about yourself (include school/year graduated- if appropriate)

Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Solutions are asking and we’re helping.
Your ideas may be published at YouthinYunus and reviewed by Grameen Solutions.

Send these ideas to Halima Aquino- halima@boltonhillconsulting.com ASAP

Register Now! MIT Enterprise Forum of DC & Baltimore Gala 2011 : Celebrating Startups! With Startup America – The White House Initiative & The Public Private Partnership Initiative

Entrepreneur Start-Up Lab on Sustainable Technology Development at 6:30 PM on 6-15-10 at NRECA Headquarters in Arlington, VA with Dr. BP Agrawal, Ashoka, IFC, Egg Energy & Tseai Energy & Herb Simmens

MIT ENTERPRISE FORUM OF WASHINGTON DC & BALTIMORE’S
ENTERPRISE START-UP LAB: Sustainable Technology Development

June 15, 2010 from 6:30 to 9:00 PM at NRECA 4301 Wilson Blvd. Arlington, VA
Many issues face sustainable entrepreneurs. Financial challenges are only one of the many hurdles companies deal with. Social elements, customs, power struggles are among the many elements will be considered by entrepreneurs. This evening’s event focuses on the sustainable companies and the entrepreneurs who start them. Panelists from the NGO & Venture communities will provide feedback from their perspectives.
FEATURED GUEST:

• BP Agrawal is founder and president of the nonprofit corporation Sustainable Innovations which seeds change, nourishes change, and harvests change. Dr. B.P. Agrawal of Sustainable Innovations has won both the $100,000 Lemelson-MIT Award for Sustainability and the 2010 Energy Globe World Award for his community-driven rainwater harvesting system.

PANELISTS:

• IFC Senior Investment Officer in Clean Energy Corinne Figueredo
• ASHOKA Managing Director Stuart Yasgur,
• Agora Partnerships Managing Partner Ben Powell
• Angel Investor Herb Simmens

ENTREPRENEURS :

• EGG Energy Founder Alla Jezmir. Since June 2008, a multi-disciplinary team from MIT and Harvard has been working on an innovative solution to bring affordable power to communities in the developing world. Their goal is to bridge the power distribution gap that keeps 1.6 billion people worldwide in the dark.

• Tseai Energy Unlimited Founder Trevor Young Tseai Energy Unlimited was the undergrad biz plan competition winner last year at UMD. TEU has merged the entrepreneurial spirit with social development and created a sustainable business model that allow underdeveloped communities to produce their own electricity and simultaneously develop their economies. (http://www.mtech.umd.edu/news/press_releases/bpc09_release.html and focuses on

RSVP:http://mitef.org/content.aspx?page_id=87&club_id=582681&item_id=98794

CREATIVE BRAINSTORMING THE MIT WAY

Idea Explorer | MIT World.

This WONDERFUL WATERFALL OF WORDS reflects the range of ideas and concepts discussed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  In keeping with the MIT tradition, the word count is infinite, as new words and ideas are added every day. Want to brainstorm? Go to the site and click on an idea and watch a video on the topic.

GOT AN IDEA? Add it to the infinite list and watch a video on the topic...

Bloom Energy: This Handheld Can Power a House

Today’s Press Conference (February 24, 2010)

For Full Story About Bloom Box (Click Here): THIS HAND HELD CAN POWER A HOUSE

THE BLOOM BOX is a ground-breaking fuel cell start up company (founded in 2002) that has generated a lot of venture capital and media buzz recently. The company has been testing and refining its stand alone fuel generating capabilities for the past few years at several large corporate headquarters, including eBay (EBAY), Google (GOOG), Wal-Mart (WMT), FedEx (FDX), and Staples (SPLS). Bloom Box’s chief scientist and company co-founder, KR Sridhar (see bio below), a 49-year-old scientist-turned entrepreneur,  was profiled on the popular CBS TV show 60 Minutes this past weekend (2-21-10) to build excitement for an all-star, corporate news breaking event on Wednesday (February 24, 2010) at eBay (EBAY) headquarters in San Jose in Silicon Valley.

Testimonials:

1. Patrick Pichette (CFO of Google) included. “For us it’s been really transformative…” he said. Google’s Bloom Box is powering an R&D center.
2. Simon (of Wal-Mart): Bloom Boxes are carrying 60-80% of our energy needs at peak in the buildings where they’re installed.
3. Coke’s President Brian Kelly: We have aggressive goals. We need clean, reliable energy sources that meet customer and community demand. One of the very aggressive goals we have is to measured our carbon footprint and want to reduce it by 2015 . Bloom box is powering a 1/3 of an Odwalla plant.
4. Rob Carter CIO and executive VP @ FedEx. –what was the idea of putting this in our Oakland, CA hub?
   A: We wanted to change the way the world works. This is something cool. Bloom array matches the power of the solar, and is helping us get 100% off the grid.
5. Bill Simon of Wal-Mart. What led you to decide to put these in your operation?
   A: Simon: We aspire to power our buildings in the 100% renewable energy. And in order to do that, it has to be profitable–first and foremost. This is an opportunity to do both those things. We also have scale. The opportunity to provide it for everyone at less cost is a goal of ours.
6. eBay chief John Donahoe says Bloom is “disruptive” just like eBay was. We put solar in, 65,000 feet of it, which powers 18% of our campus on peak. But then we ran into Bloom. Put it in last July, and it’s powering 15% off those 5 boxes.

Q: WSJ asks “have you conducted third party cost analysis?”
Sridhar: Customer proof points. Public companies, costs have been scanned. 10 year life that’s warrantied through Bloom Energy.

Q: NBC asks “is there a particular kWh cost?
Sridhar: Says $.09-.10 per kwh. Customers save compared to grid.

Q: Forbes asks ‘Does $.09-.10 include CA tax cut?
Sridhar says it includes all of the costs. And that no systems installed outside of CA.

MIT Enterprise Forum Gala 2010 at the Canadian Embassy in Washington, DC

The MIT Enterprise Forum (MITEF) of DC & Baltimore’s  2010 Gala on February 18, 2010 was an event to remember for 150+ small and medium entrepreneurs and the larger companies, VCs, Angel Investors and service providers who support and mentor them.

In a town where skepticism is rampant and who you know sometimes seems more important than what you know, the MIT Enterprise Forum of DC and Baltimore refreshingly brought together inspired professionals with knowledge, leadership and hope for the future to talk about international cooperation in launching and growing science based technology businesses. The Gala was held at the beautiful Canadian Embassy on Pennsylvania Avenue and it marked MITEF’s first DC based event. The glass windows of the Embassy looked out onto the Capital which provided a terrific backdrop for the distinguished gathering. One hundred and fifty entrepreneurs, scientists, venture capitalists and service-providers spent three hours mingling and eating, listening and asking questions of two fascinating keynote speakers with first hand knowledge about policy and the investment realities for Canadian and American businesses.

MITEF Gala program

This year’s theme was “Growing Opportunity for Technology Entrepreneurship in Domestic and Emerging Markets: The Role of Innovation in Economic Development” and was chaired by Patrick Mellody, a Director on the MITEF Board.  Jean-Luc Park, the MITEF Chairman and an Associate at the Calvert Fund moderated.

Jean-Luc Park Chairman Chapter of the MITEF of DC & Baltimore

The two keynote speakers were Jean-René Halde of the Business Development Bank of Canada & Phil Auerswald, founder and co-editor of the MIT Innovations Journal (along with Iqbal Quadir, Founder of Grameen Phone) and Associate Professor at George Mason University. The question and answer period went on for 30 minutes which indicated that people were truly engaged with both Jean-René Halde and Phil Auerswald.

Jean-René Halde’s visit with the MITEF was part of a larger business trip to the United States. Mr. Halde told the crowd that he was enjoying his trip and had enjoyed productive meetings with the heads of several private and public American institutions in Washington, DC. As CEO of the Business Development Bank of Canada, Jean-René’s primary goal is to invest in and promote entrepreneurial activity in Canada. He does this with tremendous support from the Canadian government. He is enthusiastic about the many successful entrepreneurial partnerships between American and Canadian companies. Mr. Halde also shared what he believes are new opportunities in a difficult economic environment. Mr. Halde ended the evening by  showing his Canadian pride as this year’s sponsor of the Olympics. He generously awarded several pairs of red mittens adorned with the Olympic symbol to several lucky attendees.

Phil Auerswald came to the Gala hours after meeting with leaders at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York. Mr. Auerswald brought a fresh new perspective to the MIT Enterprise Forum. He asked entrepreneurs to think globally as they create new entrepreneurial partnerships and establish new markets for their products. He asked them to engage foreign nationals to learn more about partnership opportunities in international markets. He also asked entrepreneurs to become more politically involved to protect their interests and grow their range of opportunities both at-home and abroad.

All in all- the evening was a tribute to the spirit of innovation and broad international entrepreneurial partnerships. Event Sponsors included The Canadian Embassy, Honeywell, Connolly Bove Lodge & Hutz, LLP and ProVDN

_______________________________
About The MIT Enterprise Forum
Open to all since 1981, the Enterprise Forum® has promoted the growth, education, and success of the entrepreneur and business community of the greater Washington & Baltimore area. The MITEF is a non-profit, volunteer organization, it provides exceptional quality events that are open to the public.  Its many programs are targeted to local start-ups, high technology businesses, venture capitalists, angels, and the professionals who support them.

The DC  chapter is one of a network of 24 worldwide chapters of the Enterprise Forum , which was created as an outreach educational program of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.).  Participation and membership by the general public, regardless of their affiliation, is encouraged.

The Author, Halima Aquino, is a Director on the Board of the MIT Enterprise Forum. She was also last year’s Gala Chair and this year’s Vice Chair. Halima is the Founder of Bolton Hill Consulting and Clean Tech Market Maker.

Photography and videos supplied by Allan Tone at ProVDN

2010 Goldman Sachs Making Up To $1B Investment in Renewable Energy

Goldman Sachs Environmental Policy Framework

In mid- January (see Bloomberg) Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said that shortages will reappear in the crude oil market as supply fails to keep pace with a recovery in demand. Global oil consumption will return to levels seen before the financial crisis by the third quarter of this year, Goldman analyst Jeffrey Currie said in a presentation in London.  At the same time, projects to bring new oil to consumers are still lagging as a result of the credit crunch, he said. By 2011, the market is back to capacity constraints…The financial crisis created a collapse in company returns which has significantly interrupted the investment phase.”

Goldman Sachs is aggressively seeking market making opportunities in environmental markets. The policy framework that they have laid out explains both their investment strategy and an underlying commitment to protect the environment and indigenous populations. Their specific interests in wind, water, solar, alternative biofuels and sustainable forestry related products are detailed below along with references to existing partnerships and hints of future commitments.

Goldman Sachs “seeks to make a significant positive contribution to climate change, sustainable forestry and ecosystem services through market-based solutions.”

In their own words-  Goldman Sachs’ core competencies include

• Identifying market opportunities,
• Creating efficient market structures,
• Providing liquidity
• Investing capital.

Goldman Sachs will aggressively seek market making and investment opportunities in the environmental markets described below.

• Emissions trading (CO2, SO2),
• Weather derivatives,
• Renewable energy credits, and
• Other climate related commodities

These are Goldman Sachs’ stated objectives:

1. They intend to be  a leading U.S. wind energy developer and generator through their recently acquired subsidiary, Horizon Wind Energy (f.k.a. Zilkha Renewable Energy).
2. They will make available up to $1 billion to invest in renewable energy and energy efficiency projects.
3. They will evaluate opportunities and, where appropriate, encourage the development of and participate in markets for water, biodiversity, forest management, forest-based ecosystems, and other ecosystem features and services.
4. They will continue to devise investment structures for renewable energy and invest alongside our energy clients, such as our wind energy partnership with Shell Wind Energy and our solar energy fund with BP Solar.
5. They will explore investment opportunities in renewable and/or cleaner burning alternative fuels such as renewable diesel (such as our investment in Changing World Technologies), ethanol and biomass.
6. They will seek to make investments in, and create financing structures to assist in the development and commercialization of, other environmentally friendly technologies.

Equator Principles

The Equator Principles serve as a framework for determining, assessing, and managing environmental and social risk in project financing, based on the policies of the World Bank and its private sector arm, the International Finance Corporation. Goldman Sachs will seek to apply the general guidelines to debt and equity underwriting transactions, to the initiation of loans and to investment banking advisory assignments where the use of proceeds is specified to be used for potentially

Goldman Sachs says that they will not knowingly finance

• Any project or initiate loans where the specified use of proceeds would significantly convert or degrade a critical natural habitat.
• Extractive projects or commercial logging in World Heritage sites.ii
• Companies or projects that collude with or are knowingly engaged in illegal logging
• Projects that contravene any relevant international environmental agreement which has been enacted into the law of, or otherwise has the force of law in, the country in which the project is located.

Goldman Sachs prefers to

• Only finance preservation and light, nonextractive use of forest resources for projects in forests whose high conservation values are endangered.iii
• Develop due diligence procedures around key environmental issues for use in evaluating potential financings.
• Protect the highest conservation values in forests with respect to its execution of financings in the logging and forest products industries.
• Use a Forest Stewardship Council or a comparable certification when they finance forestry projects that impact high conservation value forests.
• Examine whether clients process, purchase, or trade wood products from high risk countries and will encourage such clients to have certifiable systems in place to ensure that the wood they process, purchase or trade comes from legal sources.
• Provide training, as appropriate, to our employees on environmental issues and practices.
• Develop training sessions and provide the tools necessary to make informed decisions.
• Finance projects in indigenous areas where free, prior informed consultation results in support of the project by the affected indigenous peoples.

US DOE International Solar Decathlon 2009 Winners & 2011 Rules

U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2011

Innovate and Enter / Participate & Launch!

The next Solar Decathlon will be held in Washington, D.C., in the fall of 2011, when once again teams from colleges and universities from around the world will gather to compete. The request for proposals (RFP), RFP amendments, and draft rules for the 2011 competition are available by clicking the link above.

About Solar Decathlon

2009 Competition: DOE Solar Decathlon: 2009 Final Results.

For three weeks in October 2009, the U.S. Department of Energy hosted the Solar Decathlon—a competition in which 20 teams of college and university students competed to design, build, and operate the most attractive, effective, and energy-efficient solar-powered house. The Solar Decathlon also enabled the public to observe the powerful combination of solar energy, energy efficiency, and the best in home design.

The dates of the 2009 event were:

• Oct. 1—Teams arrive at the National Mall and begin assembly of their houses
• Oct. 8-16—Teams competed in 10 contests
• Oct. 9-13—Houses were open to the public
• Oct. 15-18—Houses were open to the public
• Oct. 19-21—Teams disassembled their houses.

The 10 Contests included the following:

1. Architecture
2. Market Viability
3. Engineering
4. Lighting Design
5. Communications
6. Comfort Zone
7. Hot Water
8. Appliances
9. Home Entertainment
10. Net Metering

Final Results

The final results of the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2009 are presented below. The 2009 Solar Decathlon was held Oct. 9-18 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., and challenged 20 student teams to design, build, and operate the most attractive and energy-efficient solar-powered house.

Overall Winners

First Place: Team Germany (Technische Universität Darmstadt)

The 2007 champions did it again! Team Germany focused on producing surplus energy by using the maximum overall building dimensions allowed, applying photovoltaics to every available surface, and pushing the envelope with new technologies. The team walked away with the Net Metering contest and performed well in several others, including Architecture, Lighting Design, Comfort Zone, and Hot Water. Demonstrating that they are true champions, members of Team Germany were extremely gracious in their victory and recognized the work of their peers.

Second Place: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Gable House was one of the first to be assembled and ran like clockwork the entire competition. The team set out to express its regional heritage and sought to create a synergy between old and new. Traditional techniques in homebuilding, along with great advances in technology, blended to create a house that performed exceptionally well in energy efficiency—as demonstrated by the team’s results in all the objective contests. Focused on performance, this team also achieved elegant simplicity in design.

Third Place: Team California (Santa Clara University, California College of the Arts)

A winning spirit guided this team throughout the 2009 competition. Ranking in the top three of nearly every contest, Team California also excelled in some of the most prestigious subjective contests. It finished first in both the Architecture and Communications contests, achieved second in Engineering, and tied for third in Market Viability. Beautiful in every respect, Refract House broke out of the box and masterfully executed the melding of interior and exterior spaces while offering a consistent and high-quality learning experience to visitors.

Juries

The panel of judges and jurors assembled to evaluate the 20 U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2009 teams and their houses is composed of individuals at the top of their professions. Renowned in their fields of study, they bring academic excellence and practical, in-the-field expertise to each of the 10 contests. Their involvement in the Solar Decathlon will help advance energy efficiency and renewable energy throughout the world.

Using objective and subjective measures to evaluate the team houses, the jurors assign points for every contest that determine each team’s overall score and standing.

• Architecture
• Engineering
• Market Viability
• Lighting Design
• Communications

Architecture

Kevin Burke

Kevin Burke works closely with William McDonough to give form to the eco-effective design principles on an array of project types and scales at William McDonough + Partners. He served as co-designer on several of the projects that have become known as milestones in American sustainable design. His approach is driven by his keen interest in place-making through integrated design solutions. Burke currently manages the 40-person practice, which opened a second studio in San Francisco in 2006. He is a key design leader, heading teams on Fuller Theological Seminary’s Worship Center and Library, the American University School of International Service, and VMware Corporate Headquarters, among other projects. Burke lectures widely about eco-effective design and cradle-to-cradle thinking as the backdrop for the firm’s architecture and its work on guidelines, master plans, and other frameworks. Burke is a LEED Accredited Professional.

Jonathan Knowles

Jonathan Knowles is an assistant professor of architecture at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). He has been teaching at RISD since 2001 and was project director for RISD’s 2005 Solar Decathlon entry. He has initiated a pilot project with the Department of Engineering at Brown University to conduct research into new forms of thermal electric systems. Knowles has taught at the Parsons School of Design, Cornell University, and Columbia University. He is also a practicing architect and passive house consultant in New York City, where he is a partner at Briggs Knowles Studio. The work of the firm has been published in several venues, including the New York Times and Dwell magazine. He is currently overseeing the design and construction of two net-zero homes in New England. His degrees, a Bachelor of Architecture and Bachelor of Fine Arts, are from RISD.

Sarah Susanka

Sarah Susanka is the leader of a movement that is redefining the American home and lifestyle. Through her “build better, not bigger” approach to residential design, she teaches that the sense of “home” we seek has almost nothing to do with quantity and everything to do with quality. She is the author of eight best-selling books, including The Not So Big House, Home by Design, and The Not So Big Life. In March 2009, Taunton Press published Not So Big Remodeling, in which Susanka shows readers how to remodel in a not so big way, making a house more functional, inspiring, and more sustainable. Her books have sold more than 1 million copies. Susanka is regularly tapped for her expertise by national media, including “The Today Show,” CNN, and The New York Times. In January, Builder magazine recognized Susanka as one of 30 innovators in housing over the past 30 years. She is a senior fellow of the Design Futures Council and resides in North Carolina.

Engineering

Richard Bourne

Richard Bourne is in “semi-retirement” as a half-time manager at the Western Cooling Efficiency Center (WCEC) at UC Davis, where he is responsible for retailer affiliate relationships and major research projects to reduce the cost of large radiant floor cooling systems. Bourne has served as director of WCEC, principal of Davis Energy Group Inc., and owner and manager of Solar Concept Development Co. Bourne has been a registered mechanical engineer since 1978. He has been a member of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) since 1975 and served as a chairman on the Radiant Heating and Cooling Committee from 1988 to 1990. As part of his work, he has presented more than 150 special lectures, workshops, and technical papers on energy topics and has 20 United States patents.

David Click

David Click is an alumnus of the 2002 Solar Decathlon and the University of Virginia, where he earned his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in electrical engineering. He then worked for three years at Solar Design Associates near Boston on residential and commercial projects, including a 600-kW system on a warehouse roof and the 120-kW photovoltaic systems installed at the San Francisco Giants’ AT&T Park. Now working for the Florida Solar Energy Center, he helps lead a week-long training course for aspiring solar contractors. He also serves as project support director, working with an affordable housing developer and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (among others) on solar power and energy efficiency projects throughout Florida. Click also serves as a U.S. Department of Energy Tiger Team lead for several Solar America projects, including the City of Orlando and two showcases. He and his wife, Barrie, are the proud owners of a new 5.4-kW grid-tied photovoltaic thermal system.

Ted Prythero

Ted Prythero is a principal in the Denver office of M-E Engineers, an international mechanical and electrical consulting engineering firm. Prior to M-E Engineers, he was a principal with Engineering Economics and a partner in ENSAR Group, a sustainability consulting firm. He has more than 30 years of experience in the design of HVAC systems, with an emphasis on energy conservation and applying innovative and alternative energy systems to buildings. Prythero also has extensive experience in energy management/control systems and energy analysis and has taught energy conservation seminars to design professionals. His interest has been working with other design team members to make more efficient envelopes and incorporate solar features into buildings. He has been involved in numerous exemplary energy-conserving buildings. He has received multiple awards, ranging from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Innovation in Energy award to the American Council of Engineering Companies of Colorado’s Engineering Excellence award. Prythero obtained a Bachelor of Science in engineering at Purdue University.

Market Viability

James Ketter

James Ketter is the engineering manager for GF Development, an arm of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe in Durango, Colorado. He has extensive management experience in commercial and residential planning, design, construction, and operations and is a staunch advocate for sustainable communities. His current work includes the Three Springs project in Durango, a 2,000-unit, mixed-use, sustainably constructed traditional neighborhood development project. Ketter earned a mechanical engineering degree from Ohio State University, is a registered professional engineer, a LEED Accredited Professional with the U.S. Green Building Council, and member of the American Solar Energy Society. Ketter was a founding board member of the Durango Discovery Museum, a planned science and energy museum showcasing energy past, present, and future to be housed in the world’s oldest-known surviving AC steam power plant.

Joyce Mason

Joyce Mason markets new home communities for Pardee Homes, one of the nation’s most prominent multi-regional builders. She developed Pardee’s LivingSmart^® brand to promote energy and water savings, indoor air quality, and use of earth-friendly building materials. A member of the Building Industry Institute Advisory Board for California Green Builder, Mason earned The State of California Earth award for Pardee’s LivingSmart neighborhoods and habitat preservation in San Diego. Pardee Homes has received numerous sustainability awards, including the National Association of Home Builders’ Green Builder of the Year award, several Sustainable Community of the Year awards, and recognition from the U.S. Department of Energy, Environmental Protection Agency, and other local and regional agencies. She also devotes time to HomeAid. On its behalf, she coordinated display of a Pardee-built playhouse at the National Building Museum to teach children about green building.

Paul Waszink

Paul Waszink is a construction cost consultant who specializes in the development of independent cost opinions via personal-attention investigative scope verification, quantity surveying, cost analyses, and related services for real estate development projects. As part of his job, he develops project budgets and cost estimates; provides peer review of construction cost estimates; offers project management at the sub-consultant, pre-construction, and course-of-construction phases of a project; works as a party appraiser in insurance settlement disputes; and provides training for groups and agencies about project funding budgets, cost planning, and monitoring.

Lighting Design

Nancy Clanton

Nancy Clanton is founder and president of Clanton & Associates, a lighting design firm that specializes in sustainable design. She obtained her Bachelor of Science (in architectural engineering with an illumination emphasis) from the University of Colorado at Boulder and is a registered professional engineer. Clanton is chairperson of the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America’s (IESNA’s) Outdoor Environmental Lighting Committee and the Mesopic Committee and is a past member of the boards of directors of the International Association of Lighting Designers and the IESNA. Clanton is currently a member of the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Environmental Quality Technical Advisory Group. She was a topic editor for the IESNA Lighting Handbook, and her committee was responsible for the production of the IESNA Recommended Practice on Lighting for the Exterior Environment. Her firm has authored the lighting criteria for the Department of Defense Unified Facilities Criteria, the Colorado Department of Transportation Lighting Design Guide, and the exterior sections of California’s Title 24 2008 energy code.

Ron Kurtz

Ron Kurtz has been with Randy Burkett Lighting Design since 1990. His responsibilities as a lighting designer and project manager include the development of conceptual design, which involves the determination of both aesthetic and technical requirements, the preparation of contract documents and specifications, and construction phase coordination and field observation. His lighting design experience includes three years with Grenald Associates Ltd. in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. Kurtz is an active member of the International Association of Lighting Designers, serves on the Sustainability Committee, and is a LEED Accredited Professional. He is also involved in the IESNA on local and national levels and participates on the Energy Management Committee. He is a member of ASHRAE’s 90.1 Energy Standards Committee and has been a speaker on a number of lighting topics at professional and educational conferences.

Naomi Miller

Naomi Miller is the principal of Naomi Miller Lighting Design in Troy, New York. Lighting quality, the aging eye, health effects of light, dark skies, sustainability, and energy efficiency are her passions. She has many years of experience working in different facets of the lighting industry but finds lighting to be an ever-advancing field with creative challenges. More than 30 lighting design awards hang on her wall. She earned an undergraduate degree in architecture from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Master of Science in lighting degree from Rensselaer. She chaired the IESNA Quality of the Visual Environment committee for eight years and was a principal member of the writing team for Light + Design: A Guide to Designing Quality Lighting for People and Buildings. She is a fellow of the IESNA, fellow of the International Association of Lighting Designers, and member of the Lighting Research Office’s Technical Advisory Committee.

Communications

Maureen McNulty

Maureen McNulty manages D&R’s outreach on behalf of the Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing, a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development-administered program that works to speed the development and adoption of advanced building technologies. Before joining D&R, McNulty worked as an independent communications and marketing consultant and marketing director for an electronic communications firm. She also has six years of experience in program administration for an education association and several years as an account executive in public relations and marketing agencies. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in writing from George Mason University and a Bachelor of Art from Agnes Scott College.

Jaime Van Mourik

As the higher education sector manager at the U.S. Green Building Council, Jaime Van Mourik guides colleges and universities through the green building planning process and the implementation of the LEED Green Building Rating System. In this role, she directs the development of tools and resources for the sector and maintains customer relations for the council’s portfolio program. Prior to joining the U.S. Green Building Council, Van Mourik worked as a project manager at GreenShape, a sustainable design consulting firm, assisting more than 30 projects pursuing LEED certification. From 2002 to 2007, she worked at the National Building Museum developing, implementing, and managing educational programs about the built environment for an adult audience. Van Mourik is an active member of the building industry community, serves on the American Institute of Architects Washington, D.C., Inter-School Design Competition Committee, and is an Associate American Institute of Architects member and LEED Accredited Professional. She holds a Bachelor of Architecture from Virginia Tech and a Master of Architectural History from the University of Virginia.

Alan Wickstrom

Alan Wickstrom is the president and CEO of BuildingOnline Inc., a Web site design and Internet marketing agency devoted to the residential and commercial building products industries. BuildingOnline designed and hosts more than 120 of the industry’s leading Web sites, offers a building industry search engine and Web site directory, and manages BuildingOnline’s eUpdate, a building industry newsfeed service. He has 20 years of business marketing experience in these industries as well as 14 years of Internet marketing and design experience. Wickstrom has a bachelor’s degree in marketing from National University, San Diego. He is an accomplished speaker on the Internet and in the building industry. Wickstrom is an active Rotarian, serves on the board of the Italian American Opera Foundation, and served as the foundation president of the South Orange County School of the Arts until June 2009.

Video: Pentagon commits to use biofuels- Secretaries Vilsack and Mabus Onboard

The Secretaries of Agriculture and the Navy were at the Pentagon in January 2010, showing their commitment to going green. Secretaries Vilsack and Mabus signed a Memorandum of Understanding committing the two departments to work together to develop biofuels.

In November of 2009- Rear Admiral Phil Cullom spoke plainly at the MIT Innovations Journal event co-organized by Bolton Hill Consulting at the National Academies of Science. The message was clear. The U.S. Navy has a long-standing commitment to the use of biofuels because it makes economic sense. The Navy is the largest consumer of biofuel in the United States. Rear Admiral Cullom controls a 21 Billion dollar budget. He attests that the Navy has used cutting edge clean technology for a long time to save money, increase access to domestic fuel sources and promote American innovation. The talk he gave at this event was riveting because not only is he interested in the topic- he is extremely well-educated (nuclear engineer & Harvard business graduate among other things), well spoken and highly committed to the use of biofuels in multiple contexts. Listen to him in his own words below.

Video provided by Allan Tone at ProVDN

JBEI and LS9 Biotechnology of SF converting Biomass to fuel with microbes: huge money saving potential

The secret to cheap, sustainable fuel from waste is near and natural. We have microbes that can get the job done without expensive chemical conversions.

Read about it in Science Daily.

ScienceDaily (Jan. 31, 2010) — A collaboration led by researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) has developed a microbe that can produce an advanced biofuel directly from biomass. Deploying the tools of synthetic biology, the JBEI researchers engineered a strain of Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria to produce biodiesel fuel and other important chemicals derived from fatty acids.
See Also:
Plants & Animals
Food
Bacteria
Matter & Energy
Fossil Fuels
Energy Policy
Earth & Climate
Energy and the Environment
Renewable Energy
Reference
Biomass
Biomass (ecology)
Biodiesel
Distributed generation
“The fact that our microbes can produce a diesel fuel directly from biomass with no additional chemical modifications is exciting and important,” says Jay Keasling, the Chief Executive Officer for JBEI, and a leading scientific authority on synthetic biology. “Given that the costs of recovering biodiesel are nowhere near the costs required to distill ethanol, we believe our results can significantly contribute to the ultimate goal of producing scalable and cost effective advanced biofuels and renewable chemicals.”
Keasling led the collaboration, which was was made up of a team from JBEI’s Fuels Synthesis Division that included Eric Steen, Yisheng Kang and Gregory Bokinsky, and a team from LS9, a privately-held industrial biotechnology firm based in South San Francisco. The LS9 team was headed by Stephen del Cardayre and included Zhihao Hu, Andreas Schirmer and Amy McClure. The collaboration has published the results of their research in the January 28, 2010 edition of the journal Nature. The paper is titled, “Microbial Production of Fatty Acid-Derived Fuels and Chemicals from Plant Biomass.”
A combination of ever-increasing energy costs and global warming concerns has created an international imperative for new transportation fuels that are renewable and can be produced in a sustainable fashion. Scientific studies have consistently shown that liquid fuels derived from plant biomass are one of the best alternatives if a cost-effective means of commercial production can be found. Major research efforts to this end are focused on fatty acids — the energy-rich molecules in living cells that have been dubbed nature’s petroleum.
Fuels and chemicals have been produced from the fatty acids in plant and animal oils for more than a century. These oils now serve as the raw materials not only for biodiesel fuel, but also for a wide range of important chemical products including surfactants, solvents and lubricants.
“The increased demand and limited supply of these oils has resulted in competition with food, higher prices, questionable land-use practices and environmental concerns associated with their production,” Keasling says. “A more scalable, controllable, and economic alternative route to these fuels and chemicals would be through the microbial conversion of renewable feedstocks, such as biomass-derived carbohydrates.”
E. coli isa well-studied microorganism whose natural ability to synthesize fatty acids and exceptional amenability to genetic manipulation make it an ideal target for biofuels research. The combination of E. coli with new biochemical reactions realized through synthetic biology, enabled Keasling, Steen and their colleagues to produce structurally tailored fatty esters (biodiesel), alcohols and waxes directly from simple sugars.
“Biosynthesis of microbial fatty acids produces fatty acids bound to a carrier protein, the accumulation of which inhibits the making of additional fatty acids,” Steen says. “Normally E. coli doesn’t waste energy making excess fat, but by cleaving fatty acids from their carrier proteins, we’re able to unlock the natural regulation and make an abundance of fatty acids that can be converted into a number of valuable products. Further, we engineered our E. coli to no longer eat fatty acids or use them for energy.”
After successfully diverting fatty acid metabolism toward the production of fuels and other chemicals from glucose, the JBEI researchers engineered their new strain of E. coli to produce hemicellulases — enzymes that are able to ferment hemicellulose, the complex sugars that are a major constituent of cellulosic biomass and a prime repository for the energy locked within plant cell walls.
“Engineering E. coli to produce hemicellulases enables the microbes to produce fuels directly from the biomass of plants that are not used as food for humans or feed for animals,” Steen says. “Currently, biochemical processing of cellulosic biomass requires costly enzymes for sugar liberation. By giving the E. coli the capacity to ferment both cellulose and hemicellulose without the addition of expensive enzymes, we can improve the economics of cellulosic biofuels.”
The JBEI team is now working on maximizing the efficiency and the speed by which their engineered strain of E. coli can directly convert biomass into biodiesel. They are also looking into ways of maximizing the total amount of biodiesel that can be produced from a single fermentation.
“Productivity, titer and efficient conversion of feedstock into fuelare the three most important factors for engineering microbes that can produce biofuels on an industrial scale,” Steen says. “There is still much more research to do before this process becomes commercially feasible.”
This research was supported by funds from LS9, Inc., and the UC Discovery Grant program. LS9 is using synthetic biology techniques to develop patent-pending UltraClean™ fuels and sustainable chemicals. The UC Discovery Grant program is a three-way partnership between the University of California, private industry and the state of California that is aimed at strengthening and expanding California’s economy through targeted fields of research.