Media Advisory/Photo Opp: U.S. Senators, Governor Help Announce Csu Clean Energy Initiative March 20

WHAT:

Colorado State University will showcase new clean and renewable energy products and discoveries at the state Capitol to demonstrate its progress in the new energy economy. The showcase is part of a major announcement about an innovative model to help move research and discoveries more quickly into the marketplace. The initiative will help create jobs for Colorado as well as help solve some of the world’s most challenging environmental problems. CSU will also tout its progress in offering courses geared to train the new "green collar" worker for Colorado.

WHEN/WHERE:

Thursday, March 20

Announcement: 10 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.

New energy visual displays: 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

West Foyer of the state Capitol

WHO:

U.S. Sens. Ken Salazar and Wayne Allard, Gov. Bill Ritter, CSU President Larry Penley, and CSU clean energy scientist Bryan Willson plan to announce the innovative model for technology transfer at the university and discuss how it will help the state achieve its goals to address global climate change and grow Colorado’s new energy economy.

DETAILS:

Professors and students will showcase clean energy products and startups in the areas of biofuels, solar, clean-burning cookstoves and engines and energy efficiency. Some highlights of the highly visual displays:

-Retrofitting two-stroke engines to dramatically reduce carbon emissions up to 90 percent: The new engines are being introduced through local provinces in developing countries, particularly in Asia where two-stroke engines are ubiquitous. Two stroke engines emit more smoke, carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, and particulate matter than the gas-only four-stroke engines found in newer motorcycles.

-Transforming algae into biodiesel fuel: Solix Biofuels Inc., a CSU startup, is commercializing technology that can cheaply mass produce oil derived from algae and turn it into biodiesel – an environmentally friendly solution to high gas prices, greenhouse gas emissions and volatile global energy markets. Eventually there could be algae farms in Colorado and other states producing clean fuel.

-Cleaning up indoor air pollution: A new cookstove design using technology developed at CSU that eliminates the dangerous smoke that has plagued millions of people in developing countries where cooking on open fires is commonplace. The cookstove was recently featured in the New York Times.

-Photovoltaics/solar panels as an alternative to the traditional power grid: CSU researcher W.S. Sampath, spent 16 years perfecting his solar-cell technology and waiting for the solar market to mature. His spin-off company, AVA Solar Inc., will start production by the end of this year on the pioneering, patented technology that he developed, which is a continuous, automated manufacturing process for solar panels using glass coating with a cadmium telluride thin film instead of the standard high-cost crystalline silicon.

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