Alternative Energy

UM Native American Lab Snags Big Green Energy Grant

Big dollars for green energy -- and for a unique University of Montana program -- arrived this week at the UM Native American Research Laboratory (NARL), considered the only such research facility in the nation for Native college students.

NARL Director Michael Ceballos said the laboratory has received a $300,000 two-year grant from the National Science Foundation to develop a new process that boosts the efficiency of ethanol production. The goal is to perfect an enzyme technology that makes celullosic ethanol -- a high octane, renewable fuel produced from the stalks and stems of plants -- easier to make and cheaper to buy.

Boulder Becomes 'Smart Grid City'

The Grid Gets a Brain

If all goes as planned Boulder will become the world’s first “fully integrated Smart Grid City,” says regional utility Xcel Energy. Envisioned as the first true innovation in electricity distribution in close to a century, the Smart Grid movement is essentially developing ways to bring digital Internet-based technology to power lines, giving utilities and business and residential customers greater control and efficiency in the flow of electricity.

Ultimately, once the Smart Grid takes over a significant chunk of the existing power distribution infrastructure, utilities and governments will be able to use the power of the Web to better manipulate how electricity is generated and delivered.

In other energy news: Democrats ready populist energy legislation; Colorado eyes fine print on electricity bills; and O&G executives foresee oil-price downturn by the end of the year.

6degrees Astroblog

What Should be Taught in Science Classes

For nearly a century a battle has raged in our country over the nature of science and how it should be taught to public school students. When Charles Darwin published “On the Origin of Species” in 1859 based on his observations of various animal species during his voyage on the H.M.S. Beagle, it immediately crystallized a growing disagreement between the proponents of a divinely inspired origin to life on Earth and those who looked for a natural explanation for the multitude of species.

NewWest.Net Conferences

Designing the New West

The Designing the New West: Architecture and Landscape in the Mountain West Conference is wrapping up here in Bozeman at the historic Gallatin Gateway Inn. Put on by NewWest.Net and sponsored by the Sonoran Institute, the conference brought together designers from all over the country to explore innovative design ideas, identify best practices, and better understand how to bridge the gap between good architectural theory and sometimes-messy building practices in the fastest growing region in the nation.

A mix of presentations and engaging panel discussions tackled pressing Western issues like sustainable development, land design and the special challenges of urban, rural and resort design, historic preservation and affordable housing.

Click on the photo or here for a slideshow of the days' events. Click "more" for a recap of the conference.

New Company will be MeiYa Technology

Micron Makes Deal With Taiwanese Chipmaker

Boise's NBC affiliate KTVB is reporting that a deal between Micron Technology and Nanya Technology of Taiwan will create a joint venture to make Dynamic Random Access Memory.

The joint-venture company will be known as MeiYa Technology Corporation.

According to KTVB, "Each company is putting $550 million toward the joint venture through the end of 2009 – and both Micron and Nanya will own a 50% share in the operation."

Dynamic random access memory (DRAM) is the most common kind of random access memory (RAM) for personal computers and workstations.

Protecting The Groundwater

Uranium Mines A Step Closer

The Colorado legislature pushed forward yesterday a bill that aims to protect groundwater and other natural resources from possible uramium mining in Colorado. HB1161, sponsored by state representatives from the Fort Collins area, would "require uranium miners to prove they could return groundwater to either pre-mining conditions or levels in line with existing state standards," reports Jason Kosena of the Daily Coloradoan.

While this bill, which is expected to clear the full Senate, is viewed as a victory for environmental activists, it could clear the way for the long-awaited rebirth of Colorado's dormant uranium industry.

In other energy news: new oil reserves in North Dakota will boost domestic production; Ken Salazar intros legislation to end the Roan Plateau drilling controversy; and natural gas prices shoot up in the region.

Commercializing Energy From The Sun

DOE Funds Cheap-Solar Research

Aiming to jump-start the U.S. solar-power industry, the Dept. of Energy will put up $13.7 million in the next three years to support university-led projects to bring less expensive solar technology to market.

Hit in recent months by falling stock prices and the cost of commercializing sophisticated photovoltaic technology, the solar industry needs to find ways to hasten the development of cheap, wide-spread arrays. Under its "Solar America" initiative, the Bush Administration has set a target of bringing the cost of solar energy down to levels competitive with conventional electricity production by 2015.

All together, the projects could reduce the cost of electricity produced by photovoltaic systems from the current levels, 18-23 cents per kilowatt hour to 5-10 per Kw/hour.

In other energy news: Sen. Salazar sponsors a bill to recover and treat "produced water" from oil and gas production; Colorado lawmakers finally figure out how to distribute revenues from federal mineral leases; Colorado School of Mines' mountainside 'M' goes green with LEDs.

energy

Outcry Muted Over New Colorado Oil and Gas Rules

After all the griping and gnashing of teeth over the new rules for oil and gas production in Colorado, it was perhaps inevitable that the actual draft regulations, which were released this week, were less inflammatory than the industry rhetoric would have led you to believe.

Brian Macke, regulatory compliance manager for Denver-based Delta Petroleum, told The Denver Post his company is "encouraged" by certain aspects of the proposed regulations, which call for more scrutiny of the potential environmental aspects of proposed drilling, among other changes.

The Colorado Oil and Gas Association, the most vociferous opponent of the new regime, was not mollified.

In other energy news: state legislature tries to save federal mineral leasing revenue for higher ed; NASA scientist James Hansen challenges Duke Energy CEO; Bank of America adopts clean –energy principles.

energy

Despite Demand, Oil and Gas Value Drops

With the price of a barrel of oil zooming past $106 and likely to continue rising, you would think that the value of the oil and gas coming out of the Rocky Mountain West would be setting records. That's not happening, mainly due to a lack of transport options to get the fiuel to big markets in the Midwest and East.

Colorado produced $6.63 billion worth of oil and natural gas in 2007, dropping 24 percent from '06, according to the Colorado Geological Survey.

Meanwhile, the opening of new pipelines from the producing fields of the Mountain West should relieve the pressure on prices.

In other energy news: state legislators over energy-efficiency bill; wind power producer relocates to Northern Colorado; coal demand soars, outstripping supplies.