As Congress and the new administration weigh sweeping measures to rescue the U.S. auto industry, advanced lithium-ion battery maker Ener1, Inc. is joining dozens of companies that develop and build technology for hybrid and electric vehicles this week to show their latest innovations and discuss how they fit into this changing landscape.

Aleris International, Inc. permanently closed its Tipton, Indiana specification alloys facility, effective Dec. 1. As previously announced, production at this facility was idled on March 30, 2008. Production has been transferred to other Aleris facilities in North America.

Tokyo Electron Ltd. and Novellus Systems, Inc. announced the availability of an integrated copper interconnect solution for the 2Xnm generation and beyond. The co-developed process employs an ionized PVD TaN or Ti barrier capped with an ultra-thin CVD Ruthenium liner.

Hamilton Sundstrand, a subsidiary of United Technologies, and Proton Energy Systems have successfully qualified the next generation electrolysis cell stack for use in nuclear submarine oxygen generating systems. The cell stacks split water into its hydrogen and oxygen elements.

STMicroelectronics has recently joined the Microsystems Industrial Group industry consortium at the Microsystems Technology Laboratories at MIT. ST is the first European company to join the group.

Resin Systems Inc., a provider of advanced composite material products for infrastructure markets, has resumed utility pole production at the Tilbury, Ontario plant.

Apollo Solar Energy, Inc., a vertically integrated miner, refiner and producer of tellurium and high-purity tellurium based metals for specific segments of the electronic materials market in the China, announced that in October 2008, it completed its Phase I construction of the plant. Production began immediately.

State and local representatives joined the management of the IESI Bethlehem Landfill and Pepco Energy Services representatives in Bethlehem, Pa. for the grand opening of a new 5 megawatt landfill gas powered energy plant. The plant houses a combustion turbine that will ultimately produce enough electricity to power 1,900 homes.

Ener1, Inc., maker of advanced lithium-ion battery systems for the next generation of hybrid, plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles, announced the transition to phase two of its research and development contract with the DoD to develop high energy, high performance batteries for unmanned aerial vehicles.

Innovate! Technology and CoorsTek will collaborate on next-generation wideband oxygen and NOx sensors. The agreement combines Innovate's DirectDigital sensor technology with CoorsTek's global high-volume manufacturing capacity.