Economic Development Blog

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The company called Lehigh Technologies has raised approximately $16 million dollars for the development of rubber materials which are sustainable.

Lehigh is known as a sustainable material company and has completed the financing with support from capital firms such as Kleiner Perkins, Leaf Clean Energy and NGP Partners. The majority of the funding will be allocated towards expanding the geographical reach of the company. The money will also be utilized for development and research purposes. A demand for the micronized powder technology has increased so Lehigh must keep up. The MRP (micronized powder technology) utilizes post-industrial rubber and end of life tires to generate the new material which can be used for construction materials and industrial plastic goods.

Some of the benefits of the MRP include:

1. Lower Cost
2. Sustainable Replacement for synthetic polymers which are priced higher

The brand new MRP material will lead to lower product costs while also improving the sustainable profile of the company. Nearly 140 million tires have been produced with the MRP technology. Chairman Alan Barton elaborates on how the financing partners are assisting immensely as the company continues to grow and advancements are made in the rubber technology. CEO Alan Barton states that the company is working with many customers to support the MRP technology. The funding will help to advance the technology roadmap as the facilities are expanded.

A board member for Lehigh pinpoints that the second investment from Kleiner Perkins is going to lead to much better market opportunities. The approach by Lehigh breaks the conventional notion of how post-consumer materials are changing how new products can be produced. Vice President Matthew Fedor’s states that performance; safety and quality should not be sacrificed as the sustainable material is utilized.

Overall, the new financing is going to be beneficial to the rubber industry and Lehigh Technologies.

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www.conserve-energy-future.com/

Many American Scientists are stating that cheaper solar energy is expected in the near future.

The sustainable roof tiles will be utilized to generate renewable energy. Many scientists are excited about the future of solar energy as the tiles will use the power of the sun to generate electricity for many homes across America.

The new technology focuses upon utilizing solar cells which are made from material that is “earth-abundant” which will result in photovoltaics being transferred to brand new areas in business buildings. A sustainability symposium was held in which the ACS (American Chemical Society) discussed a variety of sustainability matters.

A participant of the symposium stated that new technology needs to be developed which can ultimately lead to production over the long term. The brand new photovoltaics will utilize much cheaper metals such as zinc and copper. Rare earth metals such as gallium and indium will no longer be needed. Many of the foreign countries produce many of the rare earth metals so the U.S will no longer be reliant upon other countries. James Stevens and Dr. Atwater elaborated on how cheaper sustainable materials will ultimately replace the expensive earth metals. Stevens and Atwater both worked together to research and develop the electronic materials which can be utilized for solar power generation.

After the research was conducted, the Zinc and the Copper had high efficiency rates and produced electricity at a cheaper cost. Dr. Stevens is also known for developing a solar shingle which was utilized by DOW. All of the shingles also utilized copper photovoltaic technology. Dr. Stevens wants to also utilize the abundant materials for the brand new shingles that are created. Stevens elaborates on how there is 69 billion square feet of rooftops which can generate nearly 50 percent of the electricity for the nation.

Overall, the cheaper materials are going to be beneficial to the solar energy sector.

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www.californiagoldenblogs.com/

The University of California in the region of Davis has been ranked as the number one school for sustainable practices.

The sustainable survey was conducted by the Endowment Institute known as the Sierra Club. The Princeton Review and the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability combined the rankings for the first time in the past year.

The Editor of the Sierra Magazine elaborates on how U.C. Davis puts much money and time into the sustainability effort. According to the Editor, everything that is bought for the University is specifically for the advancement of sustainability.

U.C. Davis is known for its trash diversion policy which aims to keep garbage out of many landfills. Davis is also known for having approximately 20,000 bikes on the campus at any given time.

The top five Universities that ranked include:

1. Stanford University
2. University of Connecticut
3. University of Washington
4. Georgia Institute of Technology
5. University of California, Davis

The 96 colleges that took the survey offered information on environmental efforts, transportation, diversion of trash and sustainable foods. All of the results from the survey were taken and ranked based on who was putting in the most effort and who had an overall rounded approach. The Sierra Club has ultimately been responsible for ranking schools based on sustainable practices for the past 6 years.

Some of the Universities that took the top spot in the past years include:

1. University of Washington
2. Green Mountain College
3. University of Colorado at Boulder

Many of the institutions on the West Coast are known for dominating in the sustainable development field. The University of Georgia Tech is also known for its reliance on sustainability as nearly 260 courses are offered. All of the surveys conducted by the Sierra Club led to the conclusion that many of the students want an environment that is much greener.

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www1.eere.energy.gov/

Developing solar energy, wind power and geothermal energy is important for the future of the United States.

Some of the best states for renewable electricity potential include: Colorado, California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah and New Mexico.

Many of the mentioned states have sunny skies, deserts for turbines and heat perfect for the generation of geothermal energy.

Smaller scale technologies also have potential such as energy efficient improvements and solar panels. Many of the states can hold clean energy projects which can ultimately provide nearly 34 gigawatts of geothermal, solar and wind energy over a time period of two decades.

The development of the energy can ultimately lead to the generation of nearly $137 billion in investments in the energy sector and the creation of nearly 209,000 jobs while also providing electricity to nearly 7 million homes across the United States. Many of the electricity goals can be efficiently met with the proper collaboration. American West currently leads the way in renewable electricity projects which is ultimately spurred by electricity standards and investments from the government.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics conducted a study and determined that “green goods and services” led to the generation of:

1. 49,717 jobs in the state of Arizona
2. 338,445 jobs in the state of California
3. 72,452 jobs in the state of Colorado
4. 17,254 jobs in the state of Nevada
5. 21,267 jobs in the state of New Mexico
6. 27,948 jobs in the state of Utah

Nearly 527,083 jobs were created in total across the 6 states. The employment factor pinpoints that renewable energy is a key component to the success of the economic future across various states in the U.S. A poll was conducted in which nearly two thirds of the voters agreed that renewable energy resources will create new jobs across the United States.

Overall, the future of the U.S is dependent upon wind power, geothermal and solar energy.

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Data centers are migrating towards the freezing cold. The latest evidence to support this theory comes from Google, which has put down another $180 million for an expansion of its Hamina data center in Finland.

Hamina Data Center (Photo – Google)

Hamina was Google’s first attempt to retrofit an existing building into a data center.

They bought the 60-year old Summa Paper Mill from Finnish paper company Stora Enso in March 2009 for 40 million euros and converted it into a €200 million data center.

The original constructed required 18 months and some 2,000 workers, mostly from various Finnish companies who were contractors. Google now has some 90 people working at the data center, most of whom are technicians and engineers. The new $180 million expansion is likely to take another 18 months.

Another relevant facet of this data center, which is now active and serving Google users in Europe, is that it has a high-tech cooling system that uses cold seawater from the Bay of Finland to reduce energy usage while still keeping Google’s servers running smoothly at a controlled temperature. It is the first such data center of its kind anywhere in the world.

But Google is not alone in moving its data center operations to colder climes to reduce energy needs. Facebook is building a data center on the edge of the Arctic Circle in Lulea, Sweden.

Both Google and Facebook have set examples of how to make data center operations greener and more energy efficient. As per Google, its data centers are twice as efficient as the average data center.

The efficiency of data centers is measured with a unit called PUE, or power usage effectiveness. The optimal PUE is 1.0, with anything more indicating overheads (for cooling, power distribution, etc.) above the wattage required for the IT equipment being used by the data center.

Google’s average PUE across the board and in all seasons is 1.13, while the data center industry average is 1.92, according to the U.S. EPA. Google’s latest PUE for the first quarter in 2012 dropped further to 1.11, perhaps bolstered by the extreme efficiency of the seawater-cooled Hamina data center.

Arctic climactic conditions used to provide natural cooling for data centers may become a significant factor in the near future in terms of site selection. But it is still not a major issue that will call for relocation of existing data centers from clusters with power problems in places like California‘s Silicon Valley, because operating data centers at or above 80 degree temperatures is now considered quite normal.

In fact, the main aim behind the high-tech cooling systems is to prevent temperature variations rather than maintaining a super-chilled data center. Facebook is actually transporting its servers to Lulea in temperature controlled heated trucks to prevent the rapid change in temperature and condensation on the electronics when it lands in Lulea.