| DOE named the University of Colorado as the overall winner of the 2005 Solar Decathlon on Friday in Washington, D.C. After operating their house on the National Mall under cloudy skies all week, the Colorado team defended their 2002 championship by earning 853 points of a possible 1,100. The team took first place in the Documentation and Communication contests and drove the farthest in their electric car: 318.8 miles. Cornell University placed second after earning 826 points and winning the Comfort Zone and Hot Water competitions. California Polytechnic State University finished third with 809 points after winning in both Appliances and Lighting. And despite taking an early lead by winning the Architecture and Dwelling contests, the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University ended up in fourth place with 784 points. See the DOE press release and visit the Solar Decathlon Web site for the list of contest winners. The 2005 Solar Decathlon challenged 18 collegiate teams from 13 states, Puerto Rico, Canada, and Spain to design, build, and operate the most attractive and energy-efficient solar-powered home. DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory is the primary sponsor of the Solar Decathlon, along with the American Institute of Architects, the National Association of Home Builders, BP Solar, the DIY Network, and Sprint Nextel. See photos, a daily journal, and the full scores and standings from the event on the Solar Decathlon Web site. DOE and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released the 2006 Fuel Economy Guide on October 12th to help consumers make well-informed choices when purchasing a new vehicle. Hybrid and diesel vehicles continue to be the fuel economy leaders, with the Honda Insight and Toyota Prius hybrids topping the fuel economy top-ten list, followed by the Volkswagen New Beetle, Golf, and Jetta diesels. Other hybrids making the top-ten list for model year 2006 include the Lexus RX 400h, the Ford Escape Hybrid, the Mazda Tribute Hybrid (which is not yet available), the Mercury Mariner Hybrid, and the Toyota Highlander Hybrid. The only conventional gasoline-fueled vehicle to make the top-ten list is the manual-transmission Toyota Corolla. The newly updated Fuel Economy Web site offers detailed information on vehicle fuel economy, including a complete downloadable version of the 2006 Fuel Economy Guide. See the DOE press release or go directly to the Fuel Economy Web site. Fuel economy estimates, which appear on the window stickers of all new cars and light trucks, are determined by tests conducted by manufacturers and EPA according to EPA specifications. To ensure these estimates continue to remain as reliable as possible, EPA plans to propose updates to its fuel economy test procedures by the end of this year. The EPA also provides the Green Vehicle Guide Web site, which allows consumers to locate the cleanest running and most fuel-efficient vehicles. See the EPA's Fuel Economy program and Green Vehicle Guide Web sites. A clear example of the fuel savings possible through fuel-efficient vehicles and alternative fuels is provided by DOE's Clean Cities Program, which on Friday celebrated a landmark goal: displacing more than 1 billion gallons of petroleum, enough to fuel 2 million cars for a year. The program's 88 Clean Cities coalitions across the country helped achieve the milestone by implementing alternative fuels, alternative fuel vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles, fuel blends, heavy-truck idle reduction technologies, and other fuel economy improvements. See the announcement on the Clean Cities Program Web site. Toyota Motor Sales announced last week that it will carry out a voluntary recall of about 75,000 Prius hybrids sold in the United States due to a software problem. Certain 2004 and early 2005 model year Priuses could enter a "fail-safe" mode that shuts down the engine, allowing only limited operation using the electric motor. The problem, caused by a software error in the Electronic Control Module (ECM) system, triggers up to five warning lights while shutting down the engine. However, the electrically powered brakes and steering will continue to function normally, and the electric motor will provide enough power to allow the driver to pull the vehicle over and away from traffic. Once the vehicle is stopped, the driver may be able to restart the engine by pushing the start button. Beginning in late October, Toyota will send notification letters to owners of the involved vehicles and will reprogram the ECM systems at no cost. See the Toyota press release. For most participants in the DARPA Grand Challenge—a 131.6-mile race of "autonomous vehicles" in the Mojave Desert on October 8th—it was enough of a challenge to design and build a vehicle that could successfully navigate the rugged terrain without help from a driver. Indeed, during the first run of the race last year, the best robotic vehicle traveled less than 8 miles before getting stuck. But this year's race not only featured five vehicles that finished the course, but also included one vehicle that demonstrated fuel economy along the way. The Gray Team vehicle, originally called the "Gray Ghost," is a modified 2005 Ford Escape Hybrid that features solar panels on its roof. The vehicle finished fourth in the race with a time of 7 hours and 30 minutes, a respectable showing, considering that 18 of the 23 vehicles that qualified for the race didn't finish. See the Gray Team's technical paper, which explains why they picked the Ford Escape Hybrid, on the DARPA Grand Challenge Web site (PDF 625 KB). Download Adobe Reader. The Gray Team was led by Michael and Eric Gray, owners of The Gray Insurance Company, Inc. in Metairie, Louisiana. According to Stanford University, the first-place finishers in the race, the Gray Team's performance was particularly impressive, since some team members had lost their homes to Hurricane Katrina, and the entire team lost precious practice time because of the storm. Keeping their sense of humor, the team renamed their vehicle as "KAT-5." See the Gray Team Web site and the Stanford press release. The DARPA Grand Challenge was sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to prove that autonomous ground vehicles can travel long distances at reasonable speeds. The course was kept secret until the last minute, and featured numerous obstacles and a tunnel that prevented the vehicles from relying on GPS (Global Positioning System) signals. The Stanford Team won $2 million for its first-place finish after completing the course in less than 7 hours. See the Grand Challenge Web site. Here's a difficult challenge: how do you bolster U.S. competitiveness in science and technology to create new, high-quality jobs for the rest of this century? A new report from the National Academies examines that question, and finds that U.S. superiority in science and technology is eroding. To solve the problem, the report calls for better science education, tax incentives and credits for innovation, and a strengthened commitment to long-term basic research. Among the specific recommendations is for policy makers to establish an organization called the Advanced Research Project Agency—Energy (ARPA-E) within DOE to sponsor "out-of-the-box" energy research to meet the nation's long-term energy challenges. See the National Academies press release or go directly to the full report. The recommendation is modeled after DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the central research and development organization for the Department of Defense. DARPA pursues research and technology where risk and payoff are both very high and where success may provide dramatic advances for traditional military roles and missions. See the DARPA Web site. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced on Monday a $16 million loan guarantee to help finance an electrical generating plant in rural Arizona that will burn wildfire-damaged timber along with waste wood and paper fiber from a nearby paper mill. Snowflake White Mountain Power, LLC, will build a 20-megawatt biomass power plant 17 miles from Snowflake, Arizona, near the center of the state's border with New Mexico. The announcement marks the first time that USDA has made a loan guarantee through its Rural Development Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency program. In July, the USDA announced it would guarantee up to $200 million in loans for such projects. See the USDA press release. The USDA is also releasing $1.7 billion for voluntary conservation programs on working farms, including $245 million for the Conservation Security Program (CSP), which, among other things, provides funds for on-farm energy management. In late August, USDA announced that 110 watersheds throughout the country and in Guam and Puerto Rico would be eligible for CSP grants in 2006, and that the grants would include a renewable energy component. Eligible farms will receive compensation for converting to renewable fuels such as biodiesel and ethanol and for installing renewable energy systems, including methane production technologies and wind, solar, and geothermal energy systems. See the USDA press releases on the funds and eligible watersheds, and for additional information, see the CSP Web site. |
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