Superior Energy Performance Program

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of Energy announced the first industrial plants in the country to be certified under the Superior Energy Performance program -- a new, market-based industrial energy efficiency program. The energy management certification program is accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and will serve as a roadmap for industrial facilities to help continually improve their efficiency and maintain market competitiveness. The industrial and manufacturing sectors, which account for roughly one-third of energy use in the United States, include significant opportunities to improve the overall efficiency of their operations. By reducing the energy necessary for their industrial processes, companies can save money, save energy, and help create new clean energy jobs.

Along with support from DOE, the U.S. Council for Energy Efficient Manufacturing (U.S. CEEM) is leading the development of Superior Energy Performance to help make it possible for companies to conform to the upcoming International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 50001 energy management system standard. ISO, the world's largest developer and publisher of international standards, identified energy management as a priority due to the significant potential to save energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. Based on broad applicability across national economic sectors, the ISO 50001 standard could eventually influence up to 60 percent of the world's energy demand.

The Superior Energy Performance will be well positioned to provide a transparent, globally accepted system for validating energy intensity performance improvement and management practices. Consistent with this goal, the program is already serving as the basis for the Global Superior Energy Performance initiative, a multi-country effort to create and harmonize nationally accredited energy performance certification programs. Together, these programs are expected to produce significant global energy and carbon savings.

Read more about the Superior Energy Performance program.

To learn more about industrial energy efficiency, visit DOE's Industrial Technologies Program website.

Green Jobs Conference

The 2011 Good Jobs, Green Jobs National Conference will be held on February 8 - 10, 2011 in Washington, D.C. The 2011 Conference is a leading forum for sharing ideas and strategies for building a green economy that creates good jobs, reduces global warming and other environmental problems, and secures America's economic and environmental future.

Conference Agenda

Workshop Descriptions

Conference Webpage

Registration

TogetherGreen Grants

[From Philanthropy News Digest]

The National Audubon Society has announced TogetherGreen Innovation Grants totaling nearly $1.1 million to forty-three projects in twenty-seven states.

Launched in 2008 with a five-year, $20 million grant from Toyota, the TogetherGreen program supports projects innvolving Audubon Society chapters and community-based organizations that are using innovative approaches and technologies to engage new and diverse audiences and tackle pressing conservation problems. Since its launch, the program has awarded more than $3.5 million in support of approximately one hundred and thirty environmental projects nationwide. For complete list of this year's winning projects, visit the TogetherGreen Innovation Grants program Web site.

“43 Environmental Projects Receive Togethergreen Innovation Grants.” National Audubon Society Press Release 12/09/10.

Energy Export Initiative

WASHINGTON - U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu joined seven other U.S. Government agencies in launching the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Export Initiative, a coordinated effort to promote renewable energy and energy efficiency exports. In partnership with the Department of Commerce, the Department of Energy co-chairs the Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee Working Group of the federal agencies participating in the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Export Initiative.

While continuing to support trade missions, commercial advocacy, and industry outreach, DOE is also investing in instrumental market research and discovery that can help focus U.S. government resources for trade promotion. For example, DOE will identify U.S. manufactured energy efficiency products likely to be competitive in global markets, and in collaboration with U.S. trade associations, DOE will explore the creation of guides for foreign buyers listing technologies and services available from U.S. providers.

"Expanding U.S. clean technology exports is a critical step to ensuring America's economic competitiveness in the years ahead," said Secretary Chu. "The initiatives we are announcing today will provide us with a better understanding of the global clean energy marketplace and help boost U.S. exports."

The Initiative is the country's first-ever Federal government coordinated effort to support renewable energy and energy efficiency exports. Through the implementation of 23 interagency actions, the Initiative will facilitate a significant increase of renewable energy and energy efficiency exports during the next five years, helping to meet the goals of the National Export Initiative and President Obama's challenge to become the leading exporter of clean energy technologies.

The prospects for U.S. technology exports focusing on this industry are vast. More than 100 countries now have policies to encourage the deployment of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies. Many of these countries have substantial deployment targets that will drive demand for renewable energy and energy efficiency for years to come.

The Initiative was developed through the Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee (TPCC) Working Group on Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency, which includes representatives from the Departments of Commerce, Energy, State, and Agriculture, as well as the Export-Import Bank of the United States, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, and the Office of the United States Trade Representative.

The report is available for download on the Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency Exporter web portal.

Conservation Innovation Grant

The purpose of CIG is to stimulate the development and adoption of innovative conservation approaches and technologies, while leveraging the Federal investment in environmental enhancement and protection in conjunction with agricultural production. CIG projects are expected to lead to the transfer of conservation technologies, management systems, and innovative approaches (such as market-based systems) into NRCS policy, technical manuals, guides, and references or to the private sector. CIG does not fund research projects. Projects intended to formulate hypothesis do not qualify. CIG is to apply proven technology which has been shown to work previously. It is a vehicle to stimulate the development and adoption of conservation approaches or technologies that have been studied sufficiently to indicate a likelihood of success, and to be candidates for eventual technology transfer or institutionalization. CIG promotes sharing of skills, knowledge, technologies, and facilities among communities, governments, and other institutions to ensure that scientific and technological developments are accessible to a wider range of users. CIG funds projects targeting innovative on-the-ground conservation, including pilot projects and field demonstrations.

Link to Full Announcement

NRCS Homepage

Environmental Engineering

Expected Number of Awards: 44
Estimated Total Program Funding: $9,400,000
Award Floor: $300,000
In broadest terms, the field of Environmental Engineering is concerned with understanding the impacts of human activities on the public health, natural environmental quality, and natural resources and with developing the scientific basis for identifying, analyzing, solving, mitigating, or managing environmental problems caused by human activities.

The goal of this program is to encourage transformative research which applies scientific principles to minimize solid, liquid, and gaseous discharges into land, inland and coastal waters, and air that result from human activity, and to evaluate adverse impacts of these discharges on human health and environmental quality. The program fosters cutting-edge scientific research based on fundamental science for identifying, evaluating, and developing new methods and technologies for assessing the waste assimilative capacity of the natural environment and for removing or reducing conventional and emerging contaminants from polluted air, water and soils.

Link to Full Announcement

NSF Program Desccription 11-1440

Environmental Sustainability

This program supports engineering research that seeks to balance society's need to provide ecological protection and maintain stable economic conditions. There are four principal general research areas which are supported, but others can be proposed: * Industrial Ecology * Green Engineering * Ecological Engineering * Earth Systems

All proposed research should be driven by engineering principles, and be presented explicitly in an environmental sustainability context. Proposals should include involvement in engineering research of at least one graduate student, as well as undergraduates. Incorporation of aspects of social, behavioral, and economic sciences is welcomed.The duration of unsolicited awards is generally one to three years. The average annual award size for the program is $100,000. Any proposal received outside the announced dates will be returned without review.The duration of CAREER awards is five years. The submission deadline for Engineering CAREER proposals is in July every year. Please see the following URL for more information: http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2008/nsf08051/nsf08051.jsp.Proposals for Conferences, Workshops, and Supplements may be submitted at any time, but must be discussed with the program director before submission.Grants for Rapid Response Research (RAPID) and EArly-concept Grants for Exploratory Research (EAGER) replace the SGER program. Please note that proposals of these types must be discussed with the program director before submission. Further details are available in the PAPPG download, available below. Please refer to the Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG), January 2009, (NSF 09-1) when you prepare your proposal.

Link to Full Announcement

NSF Program Description 09-7643