Tagged: Energy

Transportation officials from eight states are meeting in Raleigh today to brainstorm how to accelerate the use of electric cars.

Asma Khalid: If you drive around Raleigh-Durham, you've probably noticed a few electric car charging stations.  But, that's not typical for most states. Since January 2011, approximately 30,000 electric vehicles have been sold in the entire country. So, clearly the Triangle is ahead of the curve. Judi Greenwald is with the center for Climate and Energy Solutions. Her group is cosponsoring the Raleigh meetings.

RTI International has been awarded 4-point8-million dollars to develop technology to help reduce the energy needed to power manufacturing facilities.

Leoneda Inge:  RTI International will partner with Duke University and Veolia Water Solutions in Cary to develop a system that will allow heat from industrial processes to treat waste-water.  David Danielson is Assistant Secretary of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy for the US Department of Energy.  He says his office is funding 13 projects in this first round.

Raleigh is hoping to build another sustainable energy facility. This one would be a hydroelectric plant at the Falls Lake Dam.

Dave DeWitt: Raleigh already generates power by harnessing methane gas at its landfill. Now, city officials are hoping to turn the Falls Lake Dam into a power plant. It would be small, generating electricity for just a few hundred homes. But it could also be profitable.

The U.S. is more energy dependent on Canada than you might think. That's why Duke officials say they've planned a conference tomorrow on the U.S.-Canada energy relationship. Stephen Kelly is the associate director of Duke's Center for Canadian Studies. He says most people don't realize how big a role Canada plays in our energy supply.

Emergency officials are meeting today in Raleigh to plan for a possible energy disaster. The two-day event is being sponsored by the Department of Energy and includes representatives from 12 states across the southeast as well as Puerto Rico and The Virgin Islands. James Mercer of the Raleigh Emergency Management Office is coordinating the event.