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Newsletters March 27, 2020

No. 487: A new academic president, an old telephonic precedent, and innovation saves the world, once again

  Breathe easy: Another workweek under COVID-19’s cruel lash comes to an indistinct end, dear readers, as Friday arrives and another homebound weekend begins. Yes, the kids are going cave-happy and the only thing that seems to change day-to-day is the primetime TV lineup, but consider this silver lining: With fewer planes, trains and automobiles buzzing about, air quality is rapidly improving around the world. Front-row seat: It’s March 27 out there, which is of…

Biotech March 5, 2020

Team effort pushing Allied Microbiata toward pay dirt

By GREGORY ZELLER // Raymond Sambrotto is knee-deep in toxic waste in Delaware, and pretty happy about it. It’s been nearly three years since Sambrotto and co-founder Frana James launched Allied Microbiata, a now-Stony Brook-based biotech with a taste for environmental remediation, and about four months since the startup engaged its most ambitious field test to date, setting its PCB-eating microorganisms upon thousands of pounds of contaminated soil and sediment at a site in Delaware….

Clean Energy January 16, 2020

Island schools to run $20M institute for wind-farmers

By GREGORY ZELLER // The winds of workforce development are blowing again through Long Island’s leading academic institutions, two of which will anchor a new state-sanctioned project targeting the offshore wind industry. Farmingdale State College and Stony Brook University will leverage a $20 million New York State Energy Research and Development Authority grant to create the Offshore Wind Training Institute, a worker-readiness effort focused on the burgeoning clean-gen industry, which looms large over future regional…

Newsletters December 11, 2019

No. 460: On diversity, robotics and Hoosiers – plus, how to warm your whiskey

  Moving right along: It’s Wednesday already, dear readers, as we speed through this latest busy workweek and plow straight toward the big year-end holidays. The hills are alive: It’s Dec. 11 out there, a.k.a. International Mountain Day, when the U.N. would like you to consider the overexploitation of mountainous regions, home to 15 percent of the human population and one-quarter of Earth’s non-marine lifeforms. Level headed: There aren’t many mountains in Indiana, where Hoosier…

Environment November 21, 2019

EPA, bus buddies help Bay Shore schools charge ahead

By GREGORY ZELLER // Long Island’s “first fully electric production line” from iconic school-bus manufacturer Blue Bird Corp. is now rolling through Bay Shore. The Bay Shore Union Free School District has added four 100 percent electric buses to its mix, featuring electric drive trains with 120-mile-per-charge range. The clean-gen carriers come straight from the Blue Bird production line – no hybrids, retrofits or test models, according to a joint statement from the school district…

Newsletters October 11, 2019

No. 445: On masters, laureates and ketchup (with robots and spaceships, too)

  Playoff atmosphere: They’re waving us in, dear readers, as another classic week of autumnal socioeconomic innovation rounds third and speeds toward home. (On the subject of fall classics, with the juggernaut Yankees kicking off yet another American League Championship Series this weekend, consider this argument for a shorter baseball season and longer playoffs.) Equal slice of the pie: It’s Oct. 11 out there, worthy of note for many reasons, including National Coming Out Day…

News October 7, 2019

Albany eyeing ‘qualifications’ for $200M port plan

By GREGORY ZELLER // Hard to port! No, don’t make a quick left turn – but if you’re a waterfront-based enterprise focused on port operations and related markets, you’ll want to turn your attention to Albany’s latest Request for Qualifications. With the offshore-wind industry really starting to howl, marine-support and other waterfront operations will become critical components of the statewide economy – particularly on Long Island, where offshore-wind infrastructure figures to rise fast. To that…

Workforce September 24, 2019

Island set to shine as clean-energy employment soars

By GREGORY ZELLER // Good news for research-rich, offshore-open Long Island: New York’s clean-energy economy is growing at more than double the rate of the overall state economy. So says the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, which on Tuesday announced an 8.9 percent growth in statewide clean energy-related employment since 2016 – exceeding 158,000 employees in 2019, according to NYSERDA, and still climbing. These and other impressive numbers await in the state’s…

Transportation September 17, 2019

In energetic bus-based two-step, an ‘elegant’ e-effort

By GREGORY ZELLER // An ambitious school bus pilot program could ease the summertime burden on regional energy grids (students not included). Suffolk Transportation Service – a Bay Shore-based bus operator boasting a fleet of 1,400 school buses, 80 transit buses and 143 paratransit buses – has submitted a proposal to the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority that would see electric-powered school buses not only replace traditional gas-guzzlers during the school year,…

Newsletters September 11, 2019

No. 436: On Patriots, procurements and busy college presidents (and aliens and cyborgs) 

  New day: Welcome to Wednesday, dear readers, and the midpoint of this late-summer week of socioeconomic innovation. New world: It’s Sept. 11 out there, a date that truly needs no further exposition. Those who lived through it will never forget. Schools and media inform younger generations. And its fallout both strengthens and weakens our nation to this very day. Eighteen years already, unbelievable. New meaning: While Sept. 11 is forever entwined with the 2001…

Sustainability August 20, 2019

Albany plugging $79M into SBU campus efficiency

By GREGORY ZELLER // A variety of state-funded efficiency upgrades – including new lighting, ventilation and operations-management systems – are included in a new Stony Brook University infrastructure-improvement plan. Governor Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday announced a comprehensive $79 million strategy to bring additional energy-efficient improvements to the Long Island jewel of the State University system. Financed and implemented by the New York Power Authority “in partnership with SUNY,” the upgrades target several SBU facilities –…

Clean Energy July 8, 2019

Albany energizes ‘solar-plus-storage’ across LI

By GREGORY ZELLER // State officials are once again supercharging residential and commercial clean-generation energy technologies on Long Island. With Albany having already set parameters for energy-storage technologies – and committed $400 million to advancing said tech – Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced this week that an additional $55 million will be made available over the next five years for cutting-edge energy-storage efforts specifically on Long Island, with the first $15 million available now. The funding – essentially,…

Newsletters May 31, 2019

No. 410: Landing the Eagle, energizing the IGIT and fortifying New York’s grid – plus, free Chipotle! 

  Speed dating: Well, that happened fast, dear readers – Friday already, as this abbreviated week of inventions and investments steams toward another welcomed weekend. It’s May 31 out there, and to our Dayak readers in Sarawak, Malaysia and the Indonesian province of West Kalimantan, a blessed and bountiful Gawai Dayak. Take a breath: It’s probably a downer in North Carolina, but the rest of the planet celebrates World No Tobacco Day today. Copy that:…

The Debrief May 2, 2019

Debrief: Catell, consortium set to blow the doors off

  Robert Catell isn’t so much “busy” as “hyperactive.” Decades after serving as chairman of KeySpan and National Grid’s U.S. operations, the iconic innovator (last Debriefed by Innovate LI in 2016) remains integrally involved in multiple energy-efficiency efforts. As chairman of the New York Smart Grid Consortium and of Stony Brook University’s Advanced Energy Research and Technology Center, Catell is all in on sustainability, a focus reinforced by his leadership of the National Offshore Wind…

Newsletters April 19, 2019

No. 398: The shadows of Mercy, the lessons of JLABS and an arthritis shocker (plus: garlic breath!)

  Holy cow, what a week: Good Friday morning, dear reader, and a good Good Friday morning to those of the Christian persuasion, and a peaceful Passover, too. Whatever your holiday of choice, the blessed end of another busy workweek is upon us. It’s April 19 out there, and on the subject of special observances, a safe and happy Landing of the 33 Patriots Day to our many readers in Uruguay. Double Dutch: Today is…