Secretary of Energy Steven Chu has announced that a team of Montana students was chosen as the national winner of the America’s Home Energy Education Challenge, a national student competition designed to encourage students and their families to take action to start saving money by saving energy. The winning students are from five schools in rural Carter County, Montana - Alzeda Elementary School, Carter County High School, Ekalaka Elementary School (K-8th grade), Hammond School (K-8th grade) and Hawks Home School. They successfully reduced their home energy use by 3.4 percent, worked with local utility companies and the community, and kept students engaged throughout the process. The five schools will share the $15,000 they won as both a regional winner and as the national champion. Read the full story at www.doe.gov/articles/energy-secretary-chu-announces-montana-schools-win-national-student-efficiency-competition.

The Mineral Community Hospital in Superior has installed a new biomass energy system that will rely on pellets to provide heating to its primary facility. The biomass system replaces an aging fuel-oil system and is expected to reduce heating and cooling costs by nearly $50,000 each year. A ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held April 25 to unveil the new system. Montana Lt. Governor John Bohlinger is scheduled to speak at the event. Read the full story at http://www.mineralcommunityhospital.com/mineral-community-hospital-announces-ribbon-cutting-ceremony-for-new-biomass-system-lt-governor-plans-to-attend.html

John Jackam, an instructor at the Montana Tech College of Technology, has recently secured a patent on a new process for producing biodiesel. According to a press release from Montana Tech, the US Patent and Trademark Office granted patent number 8,088,183 to Mr. Jackam and his co-inventors Joel Pierce and Jeffrey Jones. The patent is titled “Production of biodiesel and glycerin from high free fatty acid feedstocks.”

“We focused on the idea of producing diesel fuel from fatty byproducts left over subsequent to the slaughter of feedstock cattle,” said Mr. Jackam. “We used some sophisticated chemical processes and proved that these byproducts could be harvested and recycled to produce diesel fuel - or as we call it ‘biodiesel.’” Read the press release at http://go.mtech.edu/page.aspx?pid=258

Montana Advanced Biofuels has received an air quality permit from the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, which marks a milestone in the company’s efforts to build a plant just outside of Great Falls. According to a report by KRTV News, the proposed wheat and barley biofuels plant has been in the planning phase for almost 20 years. The project is expected to create up to 700 construction jobs and will employ about 100 people when complete. Read the full story at
www.krtv.com/news/montana-advanced-biofuels-gets-green-light-for-great-falls-facility/

Senator Max Baucus is advising the wind energy industry to think “very seriously” about backing a proposal to phase out a tax credit for building more energy-generating turbines, according to a report in Bloomberg Business News. Baucus, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said in an interview that phasing out the credit might be the most realistic way to keep it from expiring altogether at the end of the year. The credit is scheduled to sunset the end of 2012. Read the full article at www.businessweek.com/news/2012-03-20/wind-industry-should-consider-tax-credit-phase-out-baucus-says.