Cleantech

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Tomorrow's Energy Innovations Emerging Today in Research Triangle Region

What do you get when you combine swine manure with heat and pressure? 

A team from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University gets “PiGrid,” glue that holds asphalt together better and more cheaply than petroleum-based products on the market today. PiGrid also captures harmful greenhouse gases in the process, gives hog farmers an eco-friendly way to dispose of waste and offers a new industry opportunity for farmers and rural entrepreneurs.

June 14, 2013 |
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Industry Competitors Collaborate to Grow Triangle Cleantech Cluster

In the marketplace, they compete fiercely for market share and profits. In the Research Triangle Region of North Carolina, they collaborate with equal ferocity to create the smart, clean technologies of the future. And they’re paying $75,000 each for the privilege.

June 4, 2013 |
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Research Triangle Region Shapes the Intelligent Energy Future

Ten years ago, North Carolina’s inaugural Sustainable Energy Conference hosted a few hundred government, academic and nonprofit representatives discussing ways to improve environmental protection and energy efficiency in the state.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago and more than 1,000 people – including executives from top energy companies around the globe – convened to vision and plan how to change the energy landscape for the Research Triangle Region, North Carolina and the world.

May 16, 2013 |
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Person County is an "Energizing" Locations with 5 Electric Producing Plants

Person County is located north of the City of Durham/Durham County and is an energy producing rich county. When Duke Power and Progress Energy recently merged to create the new Duke Energy, the nation’s largest utility, the “new Duke” now has two of Progress Energy’s large steam electric generating plants in Person County.

May 7, 2013 |
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Look at how far we’ve come. Can we sustain it?

In 2004, when NC Solar Center launched the Renewable Energy Technologies Diploma Series, the idea was to create a series of comprehensive, immersive and interdisciplinary workshops that would push the growing community of renewable enthusiasts out of their garages to get them to make a living out of their passion. Even then, North Carolina had one of the best tax credits in the country, and NC GreenPower was the darling program that would expand the market for these green technologies.

March 29, 2013 |
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A new dog is in town, "The Energy Internet"

As budgeting and deficit woes abound both here in the Triangle as well as in Washington, we all often think about the varying roles of government, industry, and academia in domestic innovation and competitiveness.  The Research Triangle Region is well known internationally as one of those regions that has played it's cards well in striking this balance between the three historically throughout the computer and communication age of the sixties through today.

March 14, 2013 |
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Smart Energy…Smart Transportation…Smart Water…

Regular Triangle Chatter readers will be aware of our frequent praise for the 2011 Duke University Center for Globalization, Governance and Competitive report, Smart Grid: Core Firms in the Research Triangle Region, NC, for helping put this region on the global cleantech map.

March 6, 2013 |
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Fuel for the future

Using natural gas as a vehicle fuel is nothing new.  In the United States, it’s been a transportation fuel since World War II.

February 18, 2013 |
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Cleantech, Meet Manufacturing

Innovate, Manufacture, Compete: A Clean Energy Action Plan. That’s the title of a new report out from Pew Charitable Trusts this week and it struck a chord with us as we work to launch the Research Triangle Cleantech Cluster. 

February 6, 2013 |