[newsclips]
Carbon XPRIZE Goal: Solutions for Greenhouse Gas Emissions
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5/2017 6/2016 10/2017 2/2020 Designed to encourage research into ROUND 2 ROUND 1 TEST FACILITIES ROUND 3 SUBMISSION breakthrough technologies that will SUBMISSION DEADLINE OPEN TO TEAMS OPERATIONAL DEADLINE LATE SUBMISSION PERIOD ENDS 9/2015 convert carbon dioxide emissions DEADLINE LAUNCH from power plants and industrial facilities into valuable products, 3/2020 9/2016 9/2017 5/2019 3/2016 the Carbon XPRIZE was launched WINNERS ANNOUNCED SEMIFINALISTS FINALISTS ANNOUNCED ROUND 3 REGISTRATION AND GRAND PRIZE ANNOUNCED AND MILESTONE PURSES OPERATIONAL DEADLINE by the California-based XPRIZE PURSES AWARDED ROUND 2 BEGINS AWARDED AND PERIOD BEGINS Foundation with the help of the ROUND 3 BEGINS country’s electric cooperatives. Among the initiators is Colorado electric co-op power supplier Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association in Westminster. Also pledging significant support are Basin Electric Power Cooperative in North Dakota and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, the co-ops’ national trade association. The 4.5-year contest will take two tracks — one focused on testing technologies at a coal-fired power plant owned by Basin and one at a natural gas generation facility in Calgary, Alberta. Financial backing for the $20 million global Carbon XPRIZE comes largely from NRG Energy and Canada’s Oil Sands Innovation Alliance. According to Jim Spiers, NRECA vice president for business and technology strategies, the three most likely technologies to become finalists are bio fuels, bio mimicry (building materials) and graphene, a carbon “miracle material” that could make silicon a has-been as a semiconductor.
For more information on this push to “reimagine CO2,” visit carbon.xprize.org.
Electric Co-ops Work to Bring Light to Ethiopia About 65 million businesses and households (two out of three people) lack access to reliable electricity in the African country of Ethiopia. Electric co-ops, through the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association’s nonprofit international foundation, are working to change that. NRECA International and the World Bank signed a contract to help the government of Ethiopia draft a strategy to expand access to electricity. In October, a team from NRECA International began work in Ethiopia’s capital city of Addis Ababa on plans to improve the country’s electric infrastructure. “An increasing number of world leaders now recognize that reliable access to electricity is critical for sustainable economic growth,” said Dan Waddle, NRECA International senior vice president.
coloradocountrylife.coop
DECEMBER 2015
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