ConocoPhillips, Penn State announce energy prize

ConocoPhillips and Penn State have awarded the first ConocoPhillips Energy Prize to David A. Gonzales II of San Antonio to further develop the Layered MagWheel, a new technology to provide magnetic acceleration and frictionless braking for vehicles, increasing energy conversion and efficiency.

2008 marks the inaugural year of the ConocoPhillips Energy Prize, which recognizes new ideas and original, actionable solutions that can help improve the way the United States develops and uses energy. The Prize focuses on innovative ideas and solutions in three areas: developing new energy sources; improving energy efficiency; and combating climate change.

Sig Cornelius, senior vice president, finance, and chief financial officer of ConocoPhillips, said "Developing diverse sources of sustainable, reliable energy; reducing greenhouse gas emissions; and significantly improving energy efficiency all require technological advances. Along with our partners at Penn State, we are pleased to recognize David A. Gonzales II and the finalists for their innovative ideas to maximize our existing resources and identify new opportunities."

Dr. William Easterling, dean of Penn State's College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, noted, "Like ConocoPhillips, Penn State believes that the nation needs fundamentally new knowledge and applications of that knowledge to diversify its energy supply, while simultaneously improving the efficiency by which it generates and utilizes that energy. The development and commercialization of energy technologies based on novel ideas, such as those represented by the ConocoPhillips Energy Prize, will assist the United States in meeting its energy needs while spurring economic growth."

More than 300 proposals were submitted for evaluation by a panel of energy and environmental experts, which selected five finalists. Proposals were judged on the basis of creativity, scalability, commercial viability and sustainability.

The first runner-up was Corban Tillemann-Dick and team of the Greater Washington, D.C., area for the Radial Expansion Engine, which increases the efficiency and decreases the weight and cost of internal combustion engines by increasing the percentage of the combustion chamber reacting productively and capturing energy otherwise lost through the exhaust system.