Latest project announcements and innovations across NC

North Carolina is leading the Southeast in the emerging new energy economy and our state's valuable sustainable energy businesses, local community leaders and organizations, educational institutions, and others are ready and eager to start new projects to make us a national leader. Below are just a few of the recent major announcements and innovations from across our state. (Click on each hyperlink below to read more about each project.)

North Carolina ranks eighth in the US, and the highest in the Southeast, with the greatest potential for economic development through energy-efficiency policies, according to a report by a national think tank and an energy-investment firm.

Battery manufacturer Celgard recently broke ground on its 150,000-square-foot plant in Concord, which will create more than 200 jobs at the plant and more than 1,000 jobs through the company's contractors and suppliers. This is the latest example of Concord and Cabarrus County taking the lead in creating green jobs.

With millions of dollars invested in outfitting residence halls with solar collector panels, Guilford College is kicking off its "Green and Beyond" year of sustainability theme with some seriously green initiatives.

Wake Forest University’s New South Residence Hall looks like a typical college dormitory. But inside, it’s the most energy efficient building on campus and one of the greenest in the US.

Fayetteville's Dupont, which has several products used in photovoltaics, is expandingand expects their solar business to account for more than $1 billion of its sales in 2011 and $2 billion by 2014. In the second quarter of this year, the company said, its photovoltaic sales rose 150 percent.

Maple View Farm in Hillsborough consists of more than 400 acres of farm land, about 300 cows, an on-site milk-bottling operation and now a 780-panel solar field, which recently came online.

The City of Raleigh has installed large cisterns that collect rain water at nine Raleigh fire stations, one Wake County station and a county EMS facility. Officials expect to save more than 100,000 gallons of drinking-quality water annually.

Duke Energy's new headquarters has been named the 'Smartest Building in America.' The Platinum LEED certified building is expected to use 22% less energy than a similar sized building.