U.S. Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson recently announced an $11.8 million government-industry partnership to reduce energy use and environmental impacts in the U.S. glass industry. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has selected four firms to participate with an Energy Department national laboratory in a three-year program of cooperative technology research and development agreements that will enhance the economic competitiveness of the nation's glass industry. Under the cooperative agreements to be negotiated with the selected companies, the private sector cost share will be a minimum of 50%.

The following projects were selected for negotiations leading to awards: Energy Research Co., Staten Island, N.Y., measurement and control of glass feedstocks; Gallo Glass Co., Modesto, Calif., monitoring and control technologies in glass melting furnaces; PPG Industries, Pittsburgh, Pa., development of process optimization strategies, models and chemical databases for online coatings of float glass; and Techneglas, Inc., Columbus, Ohio, development and validation of an advanced multiphase glass furnace model that can completely characterize the interaction between glass melt and combustion space.