UO E-clips, Oct. 28

UO says public buildings could use wood heat (Associated Press, appearing in The Oregonian, KWG News, KTVZ News, Alternative Energy Retailer Magazines and other publications): A new University of Oregon energy guide encourages public institutions to consider heating buildings by burning the millions of tons of waste wood from logging and forest fuel reduction that is otherwise discarded. The idea of burning wood is nothing new, but fears about air pollution have been largely remedied thanks to modern burners, said Marcus Kauffman, a program manager at Resource Innovations, a program in the Institute for a Sustainable Environment at the university. "These are not your grandmother's wood stoves," he said.

Oregon Research Institute study suggests eating pleasure lags for the overweight (Plain Dealer): Few foods stir brain cells like the chocolate milkshake. "It's the cocaine of food," says Eric Stice, a senior scientist at the Oregon Research Institute in Eugene. "It's really good at firing up reward circuitry." But not so much in overweight people. For them, sipping a chocolate shake just makes them want more, because it fails to jolt the brain's reward centers sufficiently, a new brain-imaging study suggests. ... Here's where chocolate milkshakes enter the picture. Stice and colleagues at the University of Oregon and two other centers wanted to compare how the brain's reward center responds to pleasing foods in obese and lean individuals.

U of O awarded research grant (KPTV Channel 12 Portland, similar story on KOIN Channel 6 News Portland): The University of Oregon has been awarded some green to help keep the state looking green. The school will receive more than $3 million to conduct research to protect the northwest was climate change. A team of researchers will study potential threats to prairie ecosystems in Oregon and Washington. Another team will study the effects of urban growth and how that affects the heavily populated Willamette Valley. The four-year studies are being funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation.

Eugene, Ore.-area financial leaders see little economic optimism (TCMnet.com): Springfield Chamber of Commerce executive Dan Egan asked 130 people at a chamber event how many of them expect the economy to recover in 2009. Fewer than five raised their hands. Or, as one of the speakers at Thursday's breakfast meeting said: "I'm trying to have a really cheery outlook, but it's just not possible." University of Oregon economist Tim Duy added that he expects "at least four quarters at this point of profound economic weakness." Duy was joined by Mick Reynolds, Pacific Continental Bank's chief financial officer, and Ed McMahon, executive vice president of the Home Builders Association of Lane County, who were invited to speak to chamber members about "Understanding the Challenges of Our New Economy."

OSU, UO get grant for green chemistry center (Associated Press, in The Coos Bay World) :Oregon State University and the University of Oregon have received a $1.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation to create a new Center for Green Materials Chemistry. The schools say research at the new center should lead to advanced electronics with a reduced environmental footprint, higher performance and lower cost. Researchers say that many manufacturing processes for electronic devices are wasteful, sometimes require toxic or carcinogenic materials, and result in high levels of greenhouse gas emissions. If the joint research program at Oregon and Oregon State is successful, the new center could be eligible for another $25 million in federal funding.