In an effort to promote energy-efficient innovations from the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation announced the addition of a “Cleantech” branch to its website last Friday, which highlights 46 GLBRC inventions.

“It is important for the entire world to find a more sustainable source of energy and raising awareness about these technologies is a step in the right direction,” WARF Director of Communications Janet Kelly said. “[Finding an alternative energy source] is one of the most important things researchers can do today….”

The GLBRC was created in September 2007 when the United States Department of Energy funded the creation of three bioenergy research centers around the nation.

The center’s goal is to create technology capable of converting cellulosic biomass into ethanol and other advanced biofuels as a form of renewable energy. UW, Michigan State, Iowa State, Illinois State and Toledo make up the members of GLBRC, along with Lucigen Corporation and two national labs — Oak Ridge and Pacific Northwest.

Kelly said by creating a “Cleantech” section of the website, WARF is promoting these technologies to raise visibility for potential future business partners.

Finding commercial partners who will license and develop these environmentally friendly inventions allows the sale of these inventions to benefit the public, which can use them to become more energy efficient, Kelly said.

“The GLBRC has the ability to produce new renewable fuels through our research,” GLBRC Communications Manager Margaret Broeren said. “Although this research will provide progressive innovations to WARF, we need them to be picked up by businesses in order to impact the public.”

Broeren said WARF has always been partners with GLBRC through patenting and licensing GLBRC’s innovations, but only last week did it begin promoting these inventions through the WARF website.

Although no UW buildings are yet taking advantage of these new technologies, We Conserve Director Faramarz Vakili said all new buildings on campus are certified to meet the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Green Building Rating System standards.

According to Vakili, even though all the new buildings are LEED compatible, most of UW’s campus is comprised of existing, non-LEED buildings.

Vakili’s goal is to make these building as energy efficient as possible. Through his efforts, We Conserve saves $7 million in campus energy reductions each year. Vakili said he believes UW ranks highly among the Big Ten in terms of energy efficiency.

Despite these measures to keep the campus environmentally friendly, Vakili recognized there are ways the university could further promote energy efficiency.

“There is a lot that we have done, but there is a lot more to do,” Vakili said. “It is very important for everyone to be involved in finding opportunities to care for the environment and reduce waste and inefficiency….”