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US DOE awards KiOR loan guarantee supporting a more than $1B biofuels project; drop-in fuels from wood biomass

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a developer of a catalytic pyrolysis process to produce renewable oil from biomass, has received a term sheet for a loan guarantee from the US Department of Energy’s Loan Guarantee Program supporting a more than $1-billion biofuels project. The project would convert wood biomass into drop in biofuels such as gasoline and diesel fuel.

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Wolfspeed wins 2016 R&D 100 Award for wide bandgap underhood inverter for HEVs/EVs

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Underhood inverters convert the DC power stored in hybrid, plug-in hybrid, or all-electric vehicle battery packs to three-phase AC power that can be used to energize one or more electrical loads, and traditionally employ industry standard silicon semiconductors. —John Palmour, Wolfspeed’s chief technology officer.

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USDA establishes four additional Biomass Crop Assistance Program project areas

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The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has established four additional Biomass Crop Assistance Program ( BCAP ) project areas to promote the cultivation of crops that can be processed into renewable energy. A project area must have specific boundaries that are approved by the Secretary of Agriculture.

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Lux: future use of wide bandgap materials in power electronics will reduce EV cost

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They also offer greater efficiency in converting AC to DC power and in operating the electric traction drive during vehicle use. Applied in an EV, WBG materials could cut electricity losses by 66% during vehicle battery recharging, the DOE says. As just one example of government funding, the US DOE is contributing $1.8 million to a $3.8-million

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ARPA-E awards $30M to 21 projects advance new class of high-performance power converters

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CIRCUITS project teams will accelerate the development and deployment of a new class of efficient, lightweight, and reliable power converters, based on wide-bandgap (WBG) semiconductors. data center energy consumption and operating cost while creating a high-volume commercial market for SiC-based power converters. Earlier post.).

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