10 July/August 2011 | Renewable Energy Focus

News Research:Projects | Full news service at http://www.renewableenergyfocus.com

Elsevier launches biofuel research tool

ELSEVIER, WHICH pub-

lishes Renewable Energy

Focus, has launched a new

online search and discovery tool

for biofuels: the Biofuel Information

Discovery Tool.

Elsevier Biofuel provides biofuel

managers and research develop-

ment professionals instant access

to the scientifi c, industrial, and

commercial biofuel information

needed for continuing innovation.

According to Elsevier, the new

tool should help companies make

key decisions more quickly and

effi ciently, using keywords to pin-

point the exact information needed.

Moreover, with the Elsevier Biofuel

Tree Thesaurus, research profession-

als can navigate through more than

900 journals and 800 books, and

5.8 million patent documents.

Marcus Gay, Biofuels Infor-

mation Consultant for Elsevier

Biofuel, says: “Bioenergy RD&D

(Research, Development and

Demonstration) is a complex

interdisciplinary challenge. As a

former bioenergy R&D manager, I

am acutely aware of the technical,

economic and commercial chal-

lenges faced by professionals in the

industry. We have sought to pull

together scientifi c and commercial

information, enabling research-

ers to have this critical binocular

vision during every stage of the

development process.”

Dr Skye Thomas-Hall, Senior

Scientist for algae-based biofuel

developer Cellana, says: “Having

tested the beta version of Elsevier’s

biofuels discovery tool thoroughly,

it became immediately apparent

how limiting ‘internet-only’ search

is by comparison. The combination

of high quality journal, book and

patent information in one location

increased my effi ciency by at least

15%-20%.”

Inteli Selects Oracle for Portugal’s EVsInteli, a private, non-profi t association, is working with Oracle to install 1,300 slow charging stations and 50 fast charg-ing stations in Portugal, to support the government’s MOBI-E vehicle electrifi ca-tion project, described as the “fi rst true universal and integrated platform for electric mobility”.

Portugal produces 43% of its current electricity from renewable sources.

The pilot project, which is being rolled out across 25 municipalities and main highways throughout the country, will consist of an integrated platform able to deliver electric mobility in a single system, open and easily accessible to each user. Additionally, Portu-gal will host one of Renault-Nissan’s bat-tery plants, which will support the rollout of EVs across Europe.

The MOBI-E platform will include the implementation of Oracle Utilities Customer Care and Billing. This will deliver base rating and billing functionalities, enabling monthly fl at rate and time-of-day rating of electric-ity consumption, network usage and/or additional service charging such as parking, roaming between Electric Vehicle (EV) operators and Energy Retailers, as well as the settlement and clearing of all transac-tions among the service providers.

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