From the US Export Bank - US Firm to Build Thin Film Plant in Germany

Photovoltaic Solar Modules / Germany

February 4, 2009

This notice is to inform the public that the Export-Import Bank of the United States has received an application to guarantee approximately $15 million in commercial bank financing for the U.S. export of approximately $31 million worth of photovoltaic module manufacturing equipment and services for the construction of a new thin film photovoltaic production facility in Germany.

The U.S. exports will enable the German company to produce approximately 21.5 megawatts (MW) worth of amorphous silicon thin film photovoltaic modules per year on average during the 8.5-year repayment term of the loan. Available information indicates that all of this new German production will be consumed in Germany.

Please note that this transaction was first posted in the Federal Register on September 25, 2007.

Interested parties may submit comments on this transaction by e-mail to economic.impact@exim.gov or by mail to 811 Vermont Avenue, NW., Room 1238, Washington, DC 20571, within 14 days of the date this notice appears in the Federal Register.

Federal Register Notice
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RIN Numbers Increase in value 20x

Renewable Identification Numbers are becoming increasingly important not just for people in environmental compliance or accounting, but also for those in marketing, investing and sustainability.

By Anduin Kirkbride McElroy in Ethenol Producer Magazine

Passage of the Energy Independence & Security Act of 2007, and the dramatically increased renewable fuels standard (RFS) within it, took Renewable Identification Numbers from a necessary pain to a marketable commodity.

• Between December and late February, the value of RINs grew from 0.25 cents to 5 cents, according to Paul Machiele, fuels center director for the U.S. EPA.
• The program is in its infancy and RINs aren’t well understood, but initial indicators show they have the potential to be a significant environmental currency.

RINs are mechanisms the EPA created to ensure compliance with the first RFS.

• The Energy Policy Act of 2005 mandated that obligated parties, which include refiners, importers and gasoline blenders, fulfill a renewable volume requirement.
• The requirement is that a certain percentage (released by the EPA every November) of each party’s motor vehicle fuel be renewable fuel.
• This necessitated the development of a flexible accounting mechanism to track compliance with the new renewable fuel blending requirements.
• A RIN is a unique, 38-digit serial number assigned by producers to each gallon or batch of renewable fuel produced.
• An obligated party acquires RINs by blending renewable fuel, or it can purchase RINs to satisfy its requirement.

The Rest @ Ethenol Producer Magazine

$3.2 BIllion In Energy Block Grants Issued to Local Governments

DOE announced on March 26 that it plans to invest $3.2 billion in energy efficiency and conservation projects in U.S. cities, counties, states, territories, and tribal lands.

The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant program, funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, will provide formula grants for projects that improve energy efficiency and reduce fossil fuel emissions.

• Funding is based on a formula that accounts for population and energy use,
• to ensure accountability, DOE will provide guidance to grant recipients and require them to report on the:

1. number of jobs created or retained,
2. energy saved,
3. renewable energy capacity installed,
4. greenhouse gas emissions reduced,
5. and funds leveraged.

The funding will support:

• Energy audits and energy efficiency retrofits in residential and commercial buildings,
• The development and implementation of advanced building codes and inspections
• The creation of financial incentive programs for energy efficiency improvements.
• Transportation programs that conserve energy
• Projects to reduce and capture methane emissions from landfills
• Renewable energy installations on government buildings
• Energy-efficient traffic signals and street lights
• Combined heat and power systems
• District heating and cooling systems,
• Other projects.

Cities and counties will receive nearly $1.9 billion under the block grant program.

States and territories will receive nearly $770 million,

More than $54 million will flow directly to tribal governments.

• States will receive and administer funds for those counties and cities that are not large enough to qualify for direct DOE funding.
• In addition, up to $456 million will be made available for local energy efficiency projects under a separate competitive solicitation to be released at a later date.

See the DOE press release and the Web site for the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program

S0urce US Department of Energy EERE Program

The purpose of the North Carolina State University Green Build database is to help you find projects in the State of North Carolina that have implemented specific green building techniques, strategies, or technologies.

"Green building" is sometimes referred to as "high performance building" or "sustainable building." It means that

• energy, water, and materials are used efficiently during the construction and lifetime of the structure
• The health and productivity of occupants is supported;
• The impact of the structure on the local and global environment is minimized.

This database is a collection of case studies, but it is organized in such a way that you can

• identify projects by any one of about 140 techniques, strategies, and technologies related to green building.
• You can also identify projects by location, building type, or site condition.
• New construction and retrofits to existing buildings.

Source NCGreenbuilding.org

HCNG or Hythane

Hythane is a mixture of natural gas and hydrogen, usually 5-7 percent hydrogen by energy. Natural gas is generally about 90+% methane, along with small amounts of ethane, propane, higher hydrocarbons, and "inerts" like carbon dioxide or nitrogen. Hydrogen and methane are complimentary vehicle fuels in many ways.

Methane has a relatively narrow flammability range that limits the fuel efficiency and oxides of nitrogen (NOx) emissions improvements that are possible at lean air/fuel ratios. The addition of even a small amount of hydrogen, however, extends the lean flammability range significantly. Methane has a slow flame speed, especially in lean air/fuel mixtures, while hydrogen has a flame speed about eight times faster. Methane is a fairly stable molecule that can be difficult to ignite, but hydrogen has an ignition energy requirement about 25 times lower than methane. Finally, methane can be difficult to completely combust in the engine or catalyze in exhaust after treatment converters. In contrast, hydrogen is a powerful combustion stimulant for accelerating the methane combustion within an engine, and hydrogen is also a powerful reducing agent for efficient catalysis at lower exhaust temperatures.

Source Hythane.com


Hydrogen fuel enhancement is a term used to describe the supplementation of an internal combustion engine (ICE) fuel with hydrogen. The term is used for onboard hydrogen injection to inject either a hydrogen-enriched mixture, or pure hydrogen into the intake manifold of the engine and for hydrogen / compressed natural gas blends (HCNG or H2CNG which is premixed at the hydrogen station .


HCNG (or H2CNG) is a mixture of compressed natural gas and 4-9 percent hydrogen by energy.[1] Hydrogen contents of less than 50% in the HCNG blend have leakage and flammability risks similar to those of CNG alone. With the hydrogen being part of the mixture, there are no special precautions needed to avoid hydrogen embrittlement of the materials coming in contact with the mixture.[2] Premixing is done at the hydrogen station. HCNG stations can be found at Hynor (Norway) and the BC hydrogen highway in Canada.

Source Wikipedia