Energy harvesting workshop March 3-4
Vast reductions in the size and power consumption of CMOS (a type of integrated circuit) circuitry have led to focused research efforts on small and efficient power sources. Much of the current emphasis has been on developing on-site generators that transform an available environmental energy (light, kinetic, and thermal gradient) into electrical energy. The 5th Annual Energy Harvesting Workshop will be hosted by Virginia Tech on March 3-4 at the Hotel Roanoke and Conference Center to bring together researchers from academia, industry, national labs, defense agencies, and NASA to review past developments, current challenges, and future goals in the field of energy harvesting and its application to structural health monitoring.
The focus of the workshop is on small scale devices. Presentations in the workshop will concentrate on energy harvesting (piezoelectric, inductive, photovoltaic and thermoelectric), micro batteries, and structural health monitoring. The workshop will feature innovators in piezoelectric energy harvesting and demonstrations of their latest technologies. A special session will cover the research projects at Center for Energy Harvesting Materials and Systems. And the standards committee on energy harvesting will hold their annual meeting.
Learn more at http://www.cpe.vt.edu/ehw/accommodations.html.
For questions regarding the workshop, contact Shashank Priya, associate professor of materials science and engineering at Virginia Tech and workshop chair, at spriya@mse.vt.edu or 540/231-0745.
Grants awarded for community-based energy research
The Office of the Vice President for Research has awarded three Community Action Grants for Energy Research to promote collaboration between Virginia Tech researchers and the community.
Grant recipients are:
- Members of the Conservation Management Institute (CMI) for a feasibility study on converting the Catawba State Hospital oil-fired furnace to biomass. [ PDF of the proposal ]
- John Randolph for a project to help develop a final Blacksburg climate action plan and pilot residential energy assessment program. [ PDF of the proposal ]
- David Dillard and Cortney Martin for a project to demonstrate the feasibility of micro wind–based net metering for Southwest Virginia. [ PDF of the proposal ]
Virginia Tech’s Energy Task Force
Virginia Tech is committed to research and education that provides solutions for the Nation’s energy needs.
In 2006, the Deans' Task Force on Energy Security and Sustainability was formed to assist with university-level efforts in energy research. In the coming year, we will continue these efforts by assisting faculty members with the preparation of large grant proposals in research areas related to energy security and sustainability. We will also seek partnerships that position Virginia Tech as a national and international leader in areas of expertise and will continue to coordinate campus-wide events, such as a speaker series and community engagement activities.
This website is intended to provide a resource to view the university community's significant expertise in the field of energy research. If you are a guest, please review the links to project areas and research centers to gain a better understanding of our expertise in these important areas.*
If you are a faculty member doing energy-related research, please review your information by entering your name or center in the "Search" field. We welcome information about new projects and any updates you would care to make.
Search the Energy Task Force website
Energy-related 
PODCAST: "The Climate Bridge Reaches Blacksburg." Tim Thornton of WVTF news interviews panelists who visited Virginia Tech in September 2009 to discuss "A Transatlantic Perspective on Climate Change and Energy Policy."
Thornton interviews Martin Hoppe-Kilpper, a German energy business leader; Andrea McGimsey, a Northern Virginia energy policy leader; and Jack Wall of SustainFloyd.
The talk was sponsored by the Transatlantic Climate Bridge, an initiative to foster transatlantic cooperation and partnerships between Germany, the US, and Canada on climate and energy policies at the local, the state, and the federal level.
PODCAST: Updating our Electricity Grid (length 0:54). Richard Hirsh, director of the Consortium on Energy Restructuring, talks about how electricity gets from the power plant to your toaster – and what’s wrong with this picture
PODCAST: Electricity and the Internet (length 1:01). Richard Hirsh, director of the Consortium on Energy Restructuring, talks about a better way to distribute electricity – the Internet as a model.
PEOPLE AND THEIR ENERGY RESEARCH ACTIVITIES
For more detailed, technical descriptions of energy research projects, you may want to examine the abstracts of the research posters presented at the Deans' Forum on Energy Security and Sustainability in October 2006 and at the Energy Research Engagement Showcase in November 2006.
Note to the university community: If you see gaps in the resources or other information listed on this site, please send the additional information to Susan Trulove.
Developing better and cheaper clean energy technology will be central to addressing climate change, securing U.S. energy independence and to the creation of new clean energy jobs. Increasingly, nations are seeking to gain competitive advantage in this rapidly growing, high-technology sector and the stakes for the U.S. are significant: will the U.S. largely be an importer of these clean technologies, and lose the jobs related to them, or can the U.S. emerge as a global leader, driving exports and high-wage jobs?
© 2009 Virginia Tech Deans’ Task Force on Energy Security and Sustainability