HNEI team wins $7 million DOE energy modernization project

UH’s Hawaii Natural Energy Institute, in cooperation with General Electric, Hawaiian Electric Company, Inc., Maui Electric Company, Columbus Electric Cooperative, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Sentech, and UPC Wind, will explore the management of distribution system resources for improved service quality and reliability, transmission congestion relief, and grid support functions. The 3-year project will be deployed at the Maui Lani Substation on Maui and will also involve $8 million in non-federal funding. See the State of Hawaii news release. Contact Terry Surles or Rick Rocheleau for more information.

Sewage sludge makes a good charcoal!

Read more about how HNEI's Flash Carbonization™ process was most recently used to convert sewage sludge from the Ewa treatment plant into a biocarbon material (charcoal) - see the photograph for a view of what the resultant charcoal looks like. See the News Item for details and contact Dr. Michael J. Antal, Jr. for more information

6th International Workshop on Methane Hydrate Research and Development

The objective of this workshop is to bring together scientists from those nations who are actively engaged in methane hydrate research and development, in order to foster the considerable advantages of international collaboration. The workshop will provide the opportunity for national representatives to introduce their programmes, share their expertise and seek opportunities to collaborate on a multi-disciplinary basis. Read more...

HNEI partners with mainland company to win DOE Small Business Innovation Research grant for biodiesel production

HNEI's Dr. Michael Cooney has partnered with Community Fuel's Chris Guay to investigate the heterotrophic production of biodiesel from yeast and microalgae (see photo of Chlorella prototheocoides microalgae on the right). In addition to culture techniques, Dr Cooney and Guay are interested in novel solvent technologies for the direct transesterification of biodiesel from microbial cells. Contact Michael Cooney for more information.

HNEI researcher's presentation on global warming - a HOT seminar!

As part of HNEI's seminar series recently, Terry Surles gave a detailed presentation on global warming. Key evidence included the factual growth of CO2 and other greenhouse gases plus the linking of these gases with warming and, most likely, extreme weather events. He indicated the need for new energy technology portfolios for improved carbon management. Projected fossil fuel use is enormous. Options for dealing with the CO2 problem are available, but systems are complex and there is no silver bullet. The global warming issue is clearly real and very serious - we need to deal with it NOW! See the Global Warming presentation. Contact Terry Surles for information.

Charcoal fuel cell generates power!

HNEI researchers have built a fuel cell that consumes charcoal and directly generates electrical power. This biocarbon fuel cell has the potential to achieve 100% efficiency! Read more about the biocarbon fuel cell...

HNEI team shares in a $4 million Multi-University Research Initiative project

HNEI's enzymatic bio-fuel cell team led by Drs. Cooney and Liaw is participating in this recently awarded DOD Air Force project led by the University of New Mexico. The enzymatic bio-fuel cell program is also supported by ONR HEET funds as well as a DCI Postdoctoral Fellow Research Program award, in which a prestigious postdoctoral fellow position is now available. Potential candidates wishing to apply should visit this site: http://www.hnei.hawaii.edu/employ.asp?view=vacancy, or Contact Drs. Cooney cooney@hawaii.edu or Liaw bliaw@hawaii.edu for more information.

New dynamic fuel cell test stand arrives – next phase of fuel cell testing is ushered in

A FuelCon dynamic fuel cell test station just arrived and is already installed at the Hawaii Fuel Cell Test Facility, with checkout operations begun. This equipment will be used for hardware-in-loop (HiL) testing, with a hydrogen fuel cell operating in the stand in conjunction with a fuel cell vehicle simulation program. HiL work will lead to rapid prototyping capability for new cell development. Contact Bob Moore for information.

U.S. Navy inaugurates Hawaii’s largest Federal solar electric system

Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Hawaii (NAVFAC Hawaii) and PowerLight Corporation celebrated the installation of a 308 kW solar electric rooftop system, located atop Ford Island’s Building 54 at Pearl Harbor (see photo). During the daytime, this system generates energy equivalent to that normally used to power over 300 homes. HNEI, partnering with NAVFAC Hawaii, installed their monitoring equipment to collect data and analyze the effectiveness of the solar array. See the news release for details. Contact Eric Miller for information.