Stanley Marcus declared Helen Corbitt "the Balenciaga of Food." Earl Wilson described her simply as "the best cook in Texas." Lyndon B. Johnson loved her stroganoff and wished she would accompany him—and Lady Bird—to the White House to run the dining room.

This is the Newsletter for DOE Biofuels Program. Articles are presented on collection and use of corn stover for bioethanol production, the state workshop program on ethanol, and a subcontract to Genencor for improvement of cellulase enzyme production.

Houses built by Pulte Homes as part of DOE's Building America program in Las Vegas, Nevada, save money for the homeowners by reducing electric air conditioning costs and gas heating costs with little or no additional investment. And, the houses have better indoor air quality than typical new construction.

The daily choices made as consumers affect the environment and the economy. Based on the state of today's technology and economics, Colorado consumers can include energy efficiency and renewable energy into many aspects of their lives. These choices include where they obtain electricity, how they use energy at home, and how they transport themselves from one place to another. In addition to outlining how they can use clean energy, Colorado's Clean Energy Choices gives consumers contacts and links to Web sites for where to get more information.

The State Energy Program was created in 1996 by an act of Congress through the consolidation of the State Energy Conservation Program (SECP) and the Institutional Conservation Program (ICP). Formerly, SECP provided funding for a variety of energy efficiency and renewable energy projects, and ICP assisted schools and hospitals with technical analysis and installation of energy conservation measures. Through these programs, more than 8,000 specific State conservation projects have been implemented since 1983 and more than 69,000 buildings have been made more energy efficient since 1979. The Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy recognized the value of delivering programs through the States and created Special Projects in 1996. This report is an overview of State Energy Program operations, strategic focus, activities and accomplishments.

Measurements of circular dichroism (CD) in the UV and vacuum UV have used photoelastic modulators (PEMs) for high sensitivity (to about 10{sup -6}). While a simple technique for wavelength calibration of the PEMs has been used with good results, several features of these calibration curves have not been understood. The authors have calibrated a calcium fluoride PEM and a lithium fluoride PEM using the National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS) at Brookhaven National Laboratory as a light source. These experiments showed calibration graphs that are linear bit do not pass through the graph origin. A second ''multiple pass'' experiment with laser light of a single wavelength, performed on the calcium fluoride PEM, demonstrates the linearity of the PEM electronics. This implies that the calibration behavior results from intrinsic physical properties of the PEM optical element material. An algorithm for generating calibration curves for calcium fluoride and lithium fluoride PEMs has been developed. The calibration curves for circular dichroism measurement for the two PEMs investigated in this study are given as examples.