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BloombergNEF’s Julia Attwood to Discuss Key Composite Growth Markets in a Post-COVID World 


Join us October 7 as we kickoff our Virtual Fall 2020 Members Meeting and welcome featured speaker Julia Attwood’s return! 


Julia leads the Advanced Materials team at BloombergNEF in New York where she is also responsible for research on how composites, innovative materials, and advanced manufacturing will affect company sustainability and the environment. 


During our meeting, she will share: 

  • Predictions on how COVID-19 will continue to affect composites and which applications will need to adapt 
  • Dive into Bloomberg NEF’s long-term electric vehicle forecast and how composites can take advantage of these market changes 
  • Forecasts for composites demand in onshore and offshore wind energy. 
  • Composite investment trends and uncover where the money is going in the industry. 

Based in New York, Julia is BNEF’s former expert in lithium-ion battery technologies, costs and supply chain. Before joining BNEF, Julia developed educational materials on energy generation systems and researched advanced polymer composites.  She holds a PhD in Materials Engineering from the University of Cambridge. 


IACMI’s two-day meeting will showcase additional high-level speakers, impactful programs, working group sessions and networking opportunities. 


REGISTER TODAY!

DOE Issues Request for Information for Materials that Withstand Harsh Environments

 

On Aug. 19, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced a request for information (RFI) about advances in components, systems, and products that can withstand harsh environments and extended service lifetimes.

 

Equipment used in the American energy production, transportation, and industrial sectors regularly operates under conditions that are high-temperature, corrosive, oxidizing, mechanically wearing, embrittling, or that involve thermal cycling. These environments present material stability and durability challenges that constrain the implementation of energy-efficient, cost-effective, and high-performance products and processes.

 

DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s Advanced Manufacturing Office and the Advanced Energy Systems Division within the Office of Fossil Energy issued this RFI.

 

IACMI intends to submit a response before the deadline on Sept. 21.

 

Read full story here.

IACMI Welcomes Deborah Robbins as New Communications Specialist

 

Deborah Robbins recently joined IACMI as Communications Specialist. In her new role, she is supporting all aspects of planning and executing communications while telling IACMI’s story of driving innovation in advanced composites, leading collaborative partnerships, and elevating workforce development. Deborah is editor of the institute’s newsletter and plays a key role in writing and developing content for the website, social media channels, news releases, and marketing materials. She also supports special events and stakeholder engagement.

 
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A Tennessee native, Deborah has a BS in journalism and electronic media from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. She gained invaluable experience as a television news producer, and she most recently served as a media relations coordinator for a strategic communications firm specializing in energy and technology. 

CHZ Technologies’ Managing Director’s family experiences composite pole benefits first-hand 

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IACMI friend and consortium member Chuck Ludwig of CHZ Technologies shared with us a family update of sorts, after helping his daughter and son-in-law get a new composite pole installed on their property. Ludwig’s family members live in Houston and over time the high humidity and environmental conditions were taking a toll on a wooden utility pole installed in the couple’s backyard.

Rotting and desperately needing replacing, the local utility company was at a loss due to the 50 foot height and 2,000 pound weight of the wooden pole being nearly impossible to service. On top of that, the residential location itself was a challenge. Utility service employees were faced with several obstacles including fencing from surrounding properties and the need to bring in heavy equipment.  

But Chuck had just the answer and recommended a composite pole as a solution. That was back around Thanksgiving (2019), but we just received word earlier this month that the composites pole has since been installed. The installation took only two days, including digging out the old one and replacing the wires and connections. 

 

Instead of transporting a large, singular pole to the backyard, utility crews ended up hauling the new composites pole in multiple, manageable sections by hand dolly and installed it one piece at a time. 
 
Composite poles have several benefits including longer life spans with virtually no maintenance needed. They make an attractive option for utilities faced with frequent repair or replacement of poles due to rot and corrosion from harsh environmental conditions. 

Former IACMI Intern Making the World More Sustainable  

Making the world more sustainable. That’s one of Darren Foster’s goals for the future. And he’s doing just that, thanks in part to his internship at IACMI. Darren, who graduated from the University of Tennessee in 2019 with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, says he has always been environmentally conscious. “Going through the engineering program at UT, as well as working in a research laboratory, opened my eyes to the true cost of manufacturing – especially when it comes to energy consumption,” Darren says. “There is also a severe underutilization of green energy across the board, and I want to be part of the solution.”

 
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Read the full story here.

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Colorful Colorado Keeps America’s Energy Efficiency Robust, Vibrant, and Innovative

 

Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette gave a shoutout to IACMI in a recent DOE blog. Secretary Brouillette stopped by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Colorado to discuss with NREL’s experts the importance of innovation in supporting American energy producers and manufacturers as the country rebuilds from COVID-19’s impact. NREL’s work aligns with the current administration’s policy to produce more clean energy, all while supporting domestic manufacturing and economic growth. Citing IACMI’s five-year manufacturing funding opportunity through DOE’s Advanced Manufacturing Office, NREL was on the winning team that now leads IACMI’s wind-turbine technology projects. Together IACMI and NREL are developing advanced composites manufacturing for turbine components including blades, hubs, and nacelles. 
 
Read more here.

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Celebrating Composite Materials and Composites Manufacturing  


The goal of National Composites Week is to celebrate and bring attention to the myriad ways that composite materials and composites manufacturing contributes to the products and structures that shape the American manufacturing landscape today. Learn how you can participate in this year's National Composites Week.

 

Visit www.nationalcompositesweek.com  

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Register Today

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The Composites and Advanced Materials Expo

 

Register Today

In The News

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Vartega Company Profile

 

Founder and CEO Andrew Maxey is working to close the loop for carbon fiber and high-performance plastics. "I realized carbon fiber was just a high-value textile and we could apply some of the processing from oil and gas, using some of the equipment I was familiar with to recover that," he says. "I did a bunch of market research and came to realize how much waste there really is . . . and realized there was an opportunity there with some technology."

 

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How a Wind Turbine Works

 

Did you know that wind turbines turn wind energy into electricity using the aerodynamic force from rotor blades and that those blades work like an airplane wing or helicopter rotor blade? The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy's popular "How a Wind Turbine Works" animation can help expand your knowledge of how this renewable energy source works.

 

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IACMI - The Composites Institute

2360 Cherahala Blvd.

Knoxville, TN 37932

 

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