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Energy Efficiency
Partnerships
The Conn Center for Renewable Energy Research is involved in industrial partnerships to translate technologies into market solutions.
Argos
Argos is a multinational company that produces and markets cement and ready mix concrete through its operations in Colombia, the United States, Central America and the Caribbean. In the concrete business, Argos is the market leader in Colombia and the second largest producer in the United States. It has 389 plants located in Colombia, the United States, Haiti, Panama, the Dominican Republic, and Surinam. Its total installed capacity is 17.9 million cubic meters of concrete per year. The Argos business model focuses on the client and on sustainable development, which means it is economically viable, respects people, and is environmentally friendly and responsible. CCRER is currently partnering with Argos to improve their cement manufacturing process through an award from CESMII.
E-On
E. ON Climate and Renewables North America (E.ON) is one of the world’s largest owners of renewable power projects and is rapidly expanding its wind, solar and energy storage portfolio. The company develops, owns, and operates some of the most efficient, highest performing renewable energy projects in the United States. E.ON provided a $2M endowment to support energy efficiency research.
CESMII
Conn Center is an active member of the $70M clean energy smart manufacturing innovation institute (CESMII). The goal of this institute is to develop smart control systems involving sensors for either reducing energy consumption or improving productivity. As part of this effort, all of the large energy intensive manufacturing industries will be contacted to understand whether they will benefit from the implementation of SMTM platform-based sensors and controls. As part of the inaugural offering, Conn Center’s team has been offered with a $1M project to develop a smart control system for cement manufacturing. Almost all cement manufacturing organizations have shown interest in this effort.
RAPID
Conn Center is an active member of the $70M DOE institute focused on process intensification called RAPID. This institute is managed by American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AICHE). This institute sponsors projects that uses intensification of processes for achieving more productivity with either low cost or less time or less energy or smaller footprint.
EV-STS Industrial Partners
Several industrial partners such as Cummins, LG&E, DGIST (Korea), KY CED are among prominent industrial members of this center and sponsor projects involving PhD level graduate students. The EV-STS Center's mission is to leverage collaborations among corporate, utility, government, and academic stakeholders in the automotive and ground transportation industries to conduct and disseminate applied, pre-competitive research on technologies, methodologies, and tools that facilitate the design, manufacture, deployment, and operation of energy efficient, environmentally sustainable ground vehicles. The mission scope includes passenger cars, light- and heavy-duty trucks, and motorized off-road equipment. It encompasses both vehicle-level technologies and transportation systems, and reflects the inherent complexity and global nature of the automotive and ground transportation industries.
Kentucky Advanced Materials Manufacturing (KAMM) Corp
Wide bandgap materials manufacturing locating to the Louisville area. Currently assisting them in establishing their new headquarters. Already initiated a partnership to identify new market avenues for their products.