FUMO ANNOUNCES STATE GRANT FOR PSU RESEARCH AT NAVY YARD

     PHILADELPHIA, August 20, 2008 – State Senator Vince Fumo (D-Philadelphia) presented a $40,000 grant to Penn State University to support continued development of the Fuel Cell Education and Research Partnership today at the Building 100 Innovation Center, Philadelphia Navy Yard. David N. Wormley, Dean, College of Engineering, accepted the check on behalf of the school.

     The development of the Fuel Cell Partnership is part of a strategy being pursued at the Navy Yard Keystone Innovation Zone (KIZ) with the support of the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development. The key aim of the KIZ is to leverage Penn State and U.S. Navy research strengths to make the Navy Yard and southeastern Pennsylvania a national headquarters for sustainable energy production and management.
 
     “With increasing concerns about clean air, climate change, and dependency on foreign oil, this is exactly the kind of research we need to secure America’s energy future,” said Fumo, whose senatorial district includes the Navy Yard. Fumo arranged the state grant from Department of Education higher education assistance funds.

     “The Penn State College of Engineering is a major source of research and technology for worldwide industry. Through the Navy Yard KIZ, we are making this resource more accessible to Pennsylvania industry in concert with our regional economic development partners,” Wormley said.

     Fuel cell systems development is a key element of the Navy Yard KIZ strategy. A fuel cell is an electrochemical device that combines hydrogen with oxygen from the air to produce electricity, with water and heat as its byproduct. The conversion process is clean and quiet, and is two to three times more efficient than fuel combustion.

Click here to listen to a brief discussion with Sen. Fumo about fuel cells

     The grant will support continued efforts to develop programs at the Navy Yard that are designed to overcome barriers to the use of fuel cell technology.
The Navy Yard KIZ is a partnership of the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC,) the City of Philadelphia, the Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania (BFTP/SEP), the Delaware Valley Industrial Resource Center (DVIRC), the U.S. Navy and the Penn State College of Engineering.

     Building 100 Innovation Center is part of a multi-year, multi-pronged effort to establish a regional hub for research, development and commercialization of physical and engineering sciences, particularly green technologies, and energy partnerships at the Navy Yard. BFTP/SEP, DVIRC, and PIDC dedicated the building in May of this year.

     “Penn State’s participation in the Navy Yard KIZ is a wonderful thing. It will allow us to combine outstanding academic research with the resources available at the Navy Yard, and to apply them toward developing greater commercial opportunities,” said Peter Longstreth, president of PIDC.

     “The state just enacted an alternative energy spending package, so the timing might be right to position the Navy Yard KIZ to work with economic development agencies and entrepreneurial alternative energy companies to put together a strategy to take advantage of those opportunities,” Fumo said.    
 

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