Smart Energy News

Tokyo – Toyota unveiled the prototype of a plug-in hybrid version of its Prius model on Monday, and said that the vehicle, which uses lithium-ion batteries, would be available to the general market at an “affordable” price in 2011.

The car is expected to achieve combined electric and hybrid mileage of about 140 miles per gallon of gas, based on Toyota’s preliminary report. Its batteries charge in two hours from a regular household socket, the company said.

The prototype’s battery has a range of about 14.5 miles, after which its gasoline engine kicks in. (Toyota said its tests found that half the drivers traveled in it less than 15.5 miles a day). The vehicle’s gas engine also provides auxiliary power if a driver presses hard on the accelerator for a burst of speed.

Toyota said it will stage the world debut of the plug-in hybrid vehicle on January 11, during the 2010 North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

The company did not provide an expected price tag for the car.

Toyota press release

Boston – Novomer, a Boston-based company developing high-performance plastics, polymers and other chemicals from renewable feedstocks such as carbon dioxide, announced on Monday a “major” commercialization effort co-funded by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). The $800,000 project is the second phase of a partnership with NYSERDA, Novomer said.

The company’s catalyst technology, which was developed at Cornell, will be used to create polypropylene carbonate (PPC) materials for packaging and coating applications from bottles to film, but using as much as 50% less energy than traditional plastics manufacturing and removing significant amounts of carbon dioxide from the environment, according to the company.

In partnership with Kodak Specialty Chemicals and the Rochester Institute of Technology, the effort also will leverage existing infrastructure and expertise, allowing all of the investment to go into manufacturing, creating new jobs in upstate New York, Novomer said.

Earlier this year, the company raised $14 million in its second round of venture capital, which was led by OVP Venture Partners. Other investors in the company include Physic Venture Partners, Flagship Venture Partners and DSM Venturing.

Novomer website

Copenhagen – At the Copenhagen climate conference on Monday, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced the launch of the Renewables and Efficiency Deployment Initiative (Climate REDI), a new program to promote clean energy technologies in developing countries.

The plan includes three new clean energy technology programs and funding for the launch of a renewable energy program under the World Bank’s Strategic Climate Fund.

Climate REDI is a “quick-start” initiative, with a budget of $350 million over five years, to complement broader technology and finance mechanisms of any international climate agreement that may emerge from current multilateral negotiations in Copenhagen, according to the announcement.

The U.S. has committed $150 million to the initiative, while Italy, Australia, the United Kingdom, Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland and other nations have pledged the other $200 million combined.

The goals of the REDI program are several, according to the announcement, including:

1. Quality assurance to guard developing country consumers against sub-standard renewable energy products;
2. Minimum efficiency standards to remove the lowest efficiency appliances from the market;
3. Labeling to guide consumers to quality-assured and high-efficiency products;
4. Financing for scale up of early-stage low-carbon products, to bring down costs and remove barriers to deployment and to catalyze investment by the private sector;
5. Information sharing that enables all energy stakeholders to access state-of-the art information on technology and best practices.

Climate REDI will coordinate closely with other programs that promote clean energy technologies in developing countries, among them the International Finance Corporation’s Lighting Africa initiative; TERI’s Lighting a Billion Lives; the U.S. DOE’s Lumina Project; the Super-efficient Appliance Program, the International Partnership for Energy Efficiency Cooperation (IPEEC); the Collaborative Labeling and Standards Program; EPA’s Energy Star program and the Asia Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate.

DOE announcement

Hartford, Conn. – United Technologies Corp. (UTC), the Hartford-based conglomerate, has signed an agreement to acquire a 49.5% stake in Clipper Windpower, a California-based maker of wind turbines, for about $270 million.

Clipper makes turbines and develops wind power projects. The company has a turbine manufacturing plant in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and research and development facilities in Carpinteria, Calif., and Blyth Harbor, U.K. The company had 2008 revenues of $737 million.

UTC said it expects to work closely with Clipper Windpower to improve the company’s core technology, manufacturing, product quality, and supply management capabilities.

UTC press release

Irvine, Calif. – BlueFire Ethanol, an Irvine, Calif.-based producer of ethanol from non-food cellulosic waste, has been awarded $81.1 million from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for the construction of a refinery in Fulton, Miss.

The company is currently in the licensing and permitting stage for the facility, which will use green and wood wastes available in the region as feedstock. The refinery is expected to produce about 18 million gallons of ethanol per year.

BlueFire’s “concentrated acid hydrolysis” technology converts cellulosic waste materials to ethanol, using urban trash (post-sorted municipal stream waste), rice and wheat straws, wood waste and other agricultural residues. The company plans to locate its biorefineries near markets with high demand for ethanol and to use locally available biomass.

It is one of four companies awarded funding from DOE under the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to construct cellulosic biorefinery production facilities. The company has also completed a 20-month licensing process and is currently awaiting the final financing needed to break ground on its “shovel-ready, fully permitted” ethanol refinery in Lancaster, Calif., the company announced.

The Lancaster facility will use post-sorted cellulosic wastes diverted from Southern California’s landfills to produce about 3.9 million gallons of fuel-grade ethanol per year, according to BlueFire.

Bluefire Website