December 19, 2007

Solar energy is getting a jumpstart. Energy suppliers scattered throughout the Southwest have asked bidders to submit proposals to build a 250 megawatt solar power project.

The consortium plans on picking a winner by June 2008 so that the project would be completed by 2012. It would be "concentrated solar power" that focuses sunlight, usually with mirrors, to heat a fluid to high temperatures to drive the engine -- something that proponents say can be used for large-scale solar power generation. That differs from the more traditional approach of photovoltaic solar power systems in which light interacts with sheets of semiconductors to generate electricity. That solar technology is more suitable for smaller projects.

Companies should be preparing for carbon labeling, according to the latest edition of MIT’s Supply Chain Strategy newsletter, developed by the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics. In response to the green trend of environmental responsibility, the newsletter says that companies may soon be required to show consumers how much carbon their products have generated.

"The supply chain is an integral part of these labeling systems, because it is here where much of the basic information carried on labels is gleaned," Edgar Blanco and Anthony Craig write in the article. "Research is under way to find a robust methodology for defining this information. Supply chain leaders need to keep abreast of this work and understand the intricacies of carbon labeling before their products come under the microscope."

December 17, 2007

Global climate change and overpopulation are combining to threaten fresh water supplies. To avert vast shortages, scientists are trying new ways to desalt seawater to bring clean drinking supplies to communities all over the world.

While desalination technologies are advancing they still remain cost prohibitive. A number of methods now exist to purify saltwater that include solar power and fossil fuels. But nuclear energy might be a more efficient method of removing contamination and saltwater because it can do so efficiently and on a large-scale basis without adding to concerns over global warming.

12/13/2007 - Farmington Hills-based Lumecon LLC said Wednesday that it had won a contract with the city of Ann Arbor to supply more than 1,000 LED retrofits in the city's move to 100 percent LED street lighting downtown.

Lumecon was founded earlier this year as the sales and marketing arm of Relume Technologies Inc., which was founded in 1994 as an LED research and development company.

The Relume LED retrofit system is based on XLamp LEDs from Durham, N.C.-based Cree Inc.

The city's contract was awarded after a 25-fixture evaluation installation showed a 50 percent energy savings and a 3.8-year payback on the initial purchase and installation price of the new lamps.