Oregon State University startup Waste2Watergy is partnering with Widmer Brothers Brewing in Portland, Oregon to test its patented microbial fuel cell, which cleans industrial wastewater while generating electricity and saving water. Full story.

Beaverton-based Puralytics has developed a solar-activated stormwater purification system that can float on retention ponds like large water lilies, purifying the water using a nanotechnology mesh actived by sunlight. The company is working with researchers at Oregon State University's Institute for Water & Watersheds to test the product. Full story.

CSD Nano is working with Oregon State University researchers at the Oregon Process Innovation Center for Sustainable Solar Cell Manufacturing (a signature research facility of Oregon BEST) to develop a new window coating that protects against heat loss while allowing more natural daylight to enter buildings. Full story.

Northwest Renewable Energy Corp. is tapping research expertise at Oregon Tech to generate test data that will enable expanded national sales of the company's “smart” solar powered, rooftop ventilator that can lower energy costs in industrial buildings from big-box stores to agricultural barns. Full story.

Developing a solar energy system capable of harvesting about 50 percent more energy per square foot of commercial building rooftop space than conventional systems, Inspired Light, LLC is working with Oregon State University researchers at the Oregon Process Innovation Center for Sustainable Solar Cell Manufacturing, a signature research facility of Oregon BEST. Full story.

To help expand sales into the commercial construction market, ShelterWorks, Ltd., manufacturer of insulated building blocks made from recycled pallets and cement, is working with seismic researchers and tools at Portland State University’s infraStructure Testing & Applied Research (iSTAR) Lab, a signature research facility of Oregon BEST. Full Story.

Specialized research and engineering expertise at Portland State University is helping quantify the benefits of Columbia Green Technologies’s eco-roof system in managing urban stormwater runoff so the product can become an integral part of stormwater mitigation in new commercial construction. Full story. Video.

Applied Exergy

Applied Exergy, Inc., developer of an energy storage technology that captures and stores energy as an icy slush then uses a heat source to discharge the stored energy when needed, is getting help from Oregon State University researchers to enhance the heat exchanger component and demonstrate scaleability from 100 KW to 100 MW or more. Full story.

Oregon bioenergy startup HM3 Energy is developing a biomass torrefaction technology that converts forest waste biomass into energy-dense briquettes that can be used as a low-emissions alternative to coal at coal-fired power plants. Full story.

Oregon BEST teamed with OWET to award M3 Wave LLC a grant to speed commercialization of the company’s submerged wave energy technology and to position the firm for future scale-up funding from the U.S. Dept. of Energy and private investors. Full story.

Stevens Water Monitoring Systems, Inc. is working with Portland State University researchers to accelerate commercialization of a wireless water, air and environmental sensing technology that integrates data collection with web-based analysis to help users more efficiently monitor and utilize resources. Full story.

An innovative window insert technology developed by Indow Windows was a finalist at Angel Oregon, placed second at the Bend Venture Conference, won the Innovation in Sustainabile Product Award from the Portland Business Journal, is a national finalist in the Clean Tech Open competition, won approval from Clean Energy Works, and was named a 2011 "Top 10 Product" by Sustainable Industries Magazine.

Trillium FiberFuels was awarded a $150,000 Phase 1 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Grant in March 2011 to Develop Cellulosic Ethanol Technology (more), and the company was awarded another SBIR Grant in September, 2011 (more).

Philomath, Ore.-based Corvallis Tool Company is working with the Green Building Materials Lab, an Oregon BEST signature research facility at Oregon State University, to develop a new wood processing technology that could turn softwoods into valuable products for the sustainable built environment. Full story.

Portland startup Green Lite Motors is using an Oregon BEST Commercialization Grant to work with researchers at Oregon Tech to refine its 100-mpg hybrid gas-electric vehicle technology. The grant has leveraged additional funding from the Oregon Transportation Research and Education Consortium (OTREC). Full story.