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Utility Green Pricing – Palo Alto Achieves 10% Enrollment Goal

Less than 18 months after unveiling its 'PaloAltoGreen' renewable energy program, the City of Palo Alto Utilities (CPAU) announced that it has reached its goal of enrolling 10% of its customers in the program, making it the second utility green pricing program to achieve a double-digit customer participation rate. Currently, about 2,780 residential and business customers participate in the program through which customers can purchase green energy from wind and solar energy resources at an extra cost of 1.5/kWh above standard rates. CPAU also recently announced that Roche, a Swiss-based healthcare group that employs about 1,000 people within the city, has committed to purchase 1.8 million kWh of renewable energy annually through the 'PaloAltoGreen' program, or enough to meet 5% of the power required for its Palo Alto facilities.

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Evergreen Solar Unveils Thin Wafer Breakthrough for Its String Ribbon Technology

Thin Ribbon Technology Will Cut Silicon Requirements to 33% of Industry Norm Evergreen Solar, Inc. (Nasdaq: ESLR), a solar panel manufacturer, announced it has achieved a major advance in its String Ribbon(TM) manufacturing process, giving it the potential to produce silicon wafers thinner than 150 microns. "Evergreen Solar's mission since its inception has been to produce high-quality solar products at a fraction of the cost of conventional methods," said Richard M. Feldt, President and CEO. "With the latest enhancement to our Gemini II double ribbon growth process, we have demonstrated in pilot operations that we can manufacture wafers using one third of the silicon required by conventional methods – significantly reducing the overall cost of producing solar panels. The ability to produce the thinnest wafers in the solar industry affords our Company with a decided competitive advantage that no other company has demonstrated. This breakthrough demonstrates the robustness of our String Ribbon manufacturing process." "By changing the growing conditions in our Gemini II furnaces, we can produce wafers that are half the thickness of our current standard," said Dr. Brown F. Williams, Vice President, Research and Development. "This achievement directly cuts the use of silicon in half for us and […]

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PolyFuel Receives Award from the World Economic Forum

PolyFuel Inc. has been chosen as a 2005 Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum. Technology Pioneers are selected for developing and applying the most innovative and transformational technologies worldwide. This year's honorees are at the leading edge in fields such as nanotechnology, drug development, renewable energy and wireless technology, and have the potential to significantly impact business and society. PolyFuel, which is a leader in engineered membranes for fuel cells, has pioneered technology that has the potential to change both the economics and the performance characteristics of fuel cells for portable devices and for automobiles. PolyFuel's technology, a sophisticated film of "plastic" that is the heart of the fuel cell — and dictates its performance — is a breakthrough. The membrane uses a new chemistry, based on hydrocarbons, instead of an older one based upon fluorocarbons — used in most commonly available membranes until now. Polyfuel received other recognition this year as well. It received a grant from the US Department of Energy to work on a portable fuel cell application alongside Intel Corporation, and from Frost & Sullivan, which named the company's technology "Enabling Technology of the Year for 2004 for Power Supplies and Batteries." To date, PolyFuel […]

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