07-01-11 BPU RPT 07 - Laserfiche WebLink

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RIVERSIDE PUBLIC UTILITIES Board Memorandum PUBLIC UTILITIES BOARD OF PUBLIC UTILITIES DATE: July 1, 2011 ITEM NO: 7 SUBJECT: SEIZING OUR DESTINY - THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE'S PROPOSAL FOR THE RIVERSIDE PUBLIC UTILITIES' ENERGY INNOVATIONS GRANT ISSUE: The University of Califomia Riverside is seeking a grant in the amount of $99,000 to fund research on designing efficient, miniaturized energy-storage devices. RECOMMENDATION: That the Board of Public Utilities approve and recommend that the City Council approve the University of California Riverside (UCR) request for an Energy Innovations Grant in the amount of $99,000 for FY 2011- 12 to research designing miniaturized, efficient and low-cost energy storage devices. BACKGROUND: One of Riverside Public Utilities' (RPU) programs funded from the Public Benefits Funds is the Energy Innovations Grant (EIG) Program. This program was developed for the funding of research, development, and demonstration programs for the public interest to advance science or technology in electric related projects in the institutions of higher education within the City of Riverside. Participation in the EIG Program is restricted to public or private post-secondary institutions whose primary activities fall within the City limits. The grant funds must comply with the relevant portions of California Public Utilities Code (PUC) Section 385 related to the use of Public Benefits Funds. University of California Riverside (UCR) has been awarded grant funds through this program in the past for nine separate projects: 1] Clean Automated Electric Power, Heating, and Cooling from Urban Waste; 2) Novel Energy Efficient Coatings Based on Transition Metal Oxide Sol-Gel Films; 3) The Control of NOx (nitrogen oxides), Sox (sulfur oxides), and Particulate Matter in Biological Filters; 4) Polymer-zeolite nanocomposit High-temperature Proton-exchange-membrane (PEM) for Fuel Cells; 5) Low Power Operated Light Emitting Displays; 6) Solar Charged Flexible Batteries; 7) Solar Powered Proto-Type Devices; 8) the establishment of the Southern California Research Initiative for Solar Energy (SC-RISE); and 9) a second request for funding to support outreach programs, research and development opportunities, and the development of strategic collaborations in the area of renewable and solar energy for SC-RISE. To date, the college has received a total of $1,562,110 in grant funding through this program. A new proposal was recently submitted for grant funding by Professor Mihri Ozkan, Department of Electrical Engineering and Professor Cengiz Ozkan, Department of Mechanical Engineering. In this proposal, the applicants' intention is to fabricate miniaturized, efficient and low-cost energy storage devices such as super-capacitors and batteries utilizing a novel 3-dimensional (3-D) carbon based film developed recently in their laboratory. Such 3-D engineered carbon networks can provide fast charging and discharging rates that can sustain millions of cycles. In addition, the total surface area of these electrodes can be tuned with a pore, sized to fit the size of ions of the electrolyte with angstrom accuracy. This will provide flexible, printable and wearable super-capacitors that are likely to be integrated into smart clothing, sensors, wearable electronics and drug delivery systems. They also can provide sufficient volumetric energy density for nomad electronics, wireless sensor networks, biomedical implants, active radiofrequency identification (RFID) tags and embedded microsensors.