Weekly Clean Energy Roundup:July 16, 2003

*News and Events

DOE Kicks Off New “Smart Energy Campaign”

*Site News

Solar Living Institute

Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham said on July 9th that all Americans should practice smart energy use, and he launched a new DOE public awareness campaign to educate businesses, homeowners, and consumers on ways they can cut energy bills. The Smart Energy Campaign emphasizes DOE’s new Energysavers.gov Web site and features a series of public service announcements and a four-city Smart Energy Tour led by Secretary Abraham. The tour began on July 9th at Long Island City, New York, and wound through Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Columbus, Ohio; and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 10th. The campaign will be supported by electric utilities through announcements inserted into utility bills, and DOE is encouraging state governors and the media to support the campaign. DOE will also hold a series of regional summits on energy use, with the first to take place in Atlanta. See the press releases from July 9th, 10th and 14th on the DOE Web site at:
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See also the new Energysavers.gov Web site at: [sorry this link is no longer available]

A collaborative that aims to coordinate state and federal energy research and projects is offering $2.6 million for energy efficiency projects proposed by qualified state entities. The DOE-funded solicitation was announced last week by the State Technologies Advancement Collaborative (STAC), which comprises DOE, the National Association of State Energy Organizations (NASEO), and the Association of State Energy Research and Technology Transfer Institutions. See the NASEO press release, in PDF format only, at: [sorry this link is no longer available]

The American Solar Challenge is now underway! Teams of students from 20 universities are racing their solar-powered cars along 2,300 miles of historic Route 66. The road race began in Chicago and winds its way down to northern Texas, then across the desert Southwest, ending in Los Angeles on July 23rd.

Future contenders in the American Solar Challenge are having their own day in the sun — actually, a whole week — as the Dell-Winston Solar Challenge is now underway. Open only to high school students, the Dell-Winston Solar Challenge began in Round Rock, Texas, on Tuesday and will run east for eight days and 1,500 miles, ending in Cocoa, Florida. This year, only one car is racing in the “classic” division, and four cars are competing in the “open” division, which allows the use of high-efficiency solar cells (within cost limits) and hub-mounted motors. Like the American Solar Challenge, the Dell-Winston Solar Challenge Web site features daily updates of race standings, photos, and videos, and also includes a GPS-based system that displays the cars’ locations in real time. See the Dell-Winston Solar Challenge Web site: [sorry this link is no longer available]

The McKnight Foundation, a private philanthropic organization, announced in late June that it will devote $8.1 million over the next three years to promote renewable energy development in seven Upper Midwest states: Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Wisconsin, and North and South Dakota. McKnight will work with the Energy Foundation to administer the program, which will focus on wind power and build on its existing “Wind on the Wires” program. See the June 26th press release from the McKnight Foundation at: [sorry this link is no longer available]

U.K. Seeks 6,000 Megawatts of Offshore Wind Power

The United Kingdom opened three large offshore areas to wind power developers on July 14th, creating the potential to add as much as 6,000 megawatts of new offshore wind power. The U.K. Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has asked the Crown Estate, which manages the U.K. sovereign lands, to invite developers to bid on leases within the three areas, all located off the shores of England. A previous request limited each offshore wind project to 30 turbines, but has resulted in 17 projects that would total 1,500 megawatts in capacity, if they are all developed. DTI has not set a size limit in the latest round and claims that some developers are interested in projects as large as 1,000 megawatts. Once developers arrange for their offshore lease, they will still need to develop detailed project proposals, conduct environmental impact statements, and apply for approval from the U.K. government. See the announcement on the DTI home page at: [sorry this link is no longer available]