FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
November 30, 2006
For more information contact:

Eugene (Gene) Watson, Program Manager
Wyoming SBIR/STTR Initiative
Phone: 307.742.7162, 307.760.0456 cell

Kevin M. Luke
Z4 Energy Systems
Phone: 307.766.5044

Jack Morgan Kelly
Windmill Video Productions, LLC
Phone: 307-635-7643

Zachary Gray
Wyoming Silicon, LLC
Phone: 307.752.2615

Three Wyoming businesses receive Phase 0 awards

CHEYENNE – Three Wyoming firms including Z4 Energy Systems of Laramie, Windmill Video Productions LLC of Cheyenne, and Wyoming Silicon, LLC of Sheridan, have each secured $5,000 Phase 0 awards through the Wyoming Business Council and the Wyoming SBIR/STTR Initiative (WSSI).

The Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Phase 0 award will enable Z4 Energy Systems to develop a U.S. Department of Energy SBIR Phase I proposal to continue development of the company’s wind turbine. The next stage would create an efficient, grid-tied power converter for small-scale, variable speed wind turbines. Using some of the Phase 0 funding, Z4 has secured a consultancy agreement with University of Wyoming Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering Professor, Dr. Stanislaw F. Legowski, with expertise in power electronics.

Z4 Energy Systems began in January 2005 with the idea that incorporating solar or wind power generation into the home should be no more difficult, and require no more maintenance, than adding a new clothes dryer or outside flood light. For houses already connected to a grid, net metering laws in Wyoming and other states allow homeowners to use the grid as the perfect battery. Whenever users generate excess power, they will be credited with that energy to be used at other times of the year. With renewable energy incentives and innovative, reliable, cost-effective designs, the aim is that these systems will pay for themselves in five to ten years and provide free energy to customers for many years.

Windmill Video Productions, LLC of Cheyenne received a Phase 0 award for its preparation of a television series proposal that promotes better eating in the workplace. This project synchronizes with the National Institutes of Health (NIH)/Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) “5 A Day Program,” which emphasizes the consumption of fruits and vegetables on a daily basis. The program also correlates the relationship between diet and the prevention and control of diseases.

Windmill Video teamed with Panamax35 LLC, also of Cheyenne, and with Dr. K. Shane Broughton, a nutrition specialist at the University of Wyoming, to prepare a Phase I proposal. The proposal includes an outline of the contents of a pilot show as well as marketing strategies to reach the maximum number of employees in the workplace. The purpose is to gradually change and improve the eating habits and company cultures in the United States.

Wyoming Silicon’s Phase 0 Award will enable the company to apply for a Phase I Award from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). If they receive the Phase I Award, the funds will be used to develop a new miniaturized archival tag to track marine mammals in their native ocean habitat. Data gathered will assist marine biologists in understanding where marine mammals travel and what types of ocean conditions they experience.

The proposed project is to design and fabricate a miniaturized electronics package optimized for ocean research of migratory marine animals. It will interface with a wide variety of analog and digital sensors, and provide an extended deployment lifetime. Additionally, it will augment existing geolocation tracking with GPS and inertial movement data.

The SBIR Phase 0 Program helps Wyoming companies develop competitive proposals for the federal SBIR and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs. The SBIR Phase 0 Program is a project of the Wyoming SBIR/STTR Initiative (WSSI). The WSSI receives funding from the Wyoming Business Council and gives out $120,000 in Phase 0 awards each year.

The federal Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs make up the WSSI alliance and provide more than $2 billion annually in Research and Development (R&D) awards and contracts to qualified small businesses.

Eleven federal agencies are required by law to provide these funds by setting aside 2.5 percent of their annual extra-mural R&D budgets for use exclusively by U.S. small businesses for new product R&D. Hence, these programs provide a unique source of start-up and seed capital for small businesses to develop new innovative product concepts.

The mission of the Wyoming Business Council is to facilitate the economic growth of Wyoming. For more information, please visit the Web site at www.wyomingbusiness.org.

###