[September 02, 2011] : Centennial Campus Partner Recognized by Vice President Biden Tweet Sep 02, 2011 (M2 PRESSWIRE via COMTEX) -- Phononics, Inc., a partner on NC State University's Centennial Campus, has been recognized by Vice President Joe Biden as one of five companies that has capitalized on Department of Energy seed funding and received private capital investment. The company is commercializing devices to capture wasted heat produced from factories, power plants and vehicles, and convert it directly into usable electric power. These "thermoelectric" devices can also remove heat to be used as efficient cooling systems. Phononics's thermoelectric devices contain no moving parts or chemicals which might harm the ozone layer. At commercial scale, Phononic estimates its energy efficient thermoelectric devices will eliminate more than 1MM tons of green house gas emissions annually. Phononics received seed funding from the Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). The five companies mentioned by Vice President Biden have received $100 million in private capital investement. "Phononics is a great partner on Centennial Campus," said Dennnis Kekas, associate vice chancellor. "Not only are they an innovative company with tremendous upside potential, but they have always been very supportive of us. We're glad to see they're getting the recognition they deserve." The other entities recognized by Vice President Biden are: Primus Power, OPX Biotechnologies, Stanford University and Transphorm. About Centennial Campus and NC State University Centennial Campus ( http://www.centennial.ncsu.edu ) is an internationally recognized 1,314-acre research park and technology campus owned and operated by North Carolina University. Home to more than 60 corporate, government and non-profit partners, such as Red Hat, ABB, and the USDA, collaborative research projects vary from nanofibers and secure open systems technology to serious gaming and biomedical engineering. Four university college programs also have a significant presence on campus -- College of Engineering, College of Veterinary Medicine, College of Textiles and the College of Education. NC State is one of the top research universities in the country, with expenditures in research approaching more than $325 million annually. The university ranks third among all public universities (without medical schools) in industry-sponsored research expenditures. ( http://www.ncsu.edu ) ((M2 Communications disclaims all liability for information provided within M2 PressWIRE. Data supplied by named party/parties. Further information on M2 PressWIRE can be obtained at http://www.presswire.net on the world wide web. Inquiries to [email protected]. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]