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Verizon’s ambition to connect more than homes and phones just zeroed in on the automotive market. It announced on Friday it is buying Hughes Telematics for $612 million in cash, gaining the company’s crop of machine-to-machine (M2M) connected car technologies and services. Verizon said it expects the deal to close in the third quarter. Both Verizon and Hughes occupy different segments of the vehicle telematics value chain. Verizon provides raw connectivity via its wireline, CDMA and LTE networks, while Hughes supplies the hardware and software that go into numerous in-car technologies: Remote door locking and unlocking, connected vehicle nav systems, voice command and control technologies, remote diagnostics and vehicle GPS tracking. Click headline to read more--
At a time when we have a record debt, Congress should not continue to give away taxpayer money to the fossil fuel industry. Click headline to access Senator Sander's website to sign up as a Citizen Co-Sponsor of his bill--
Use data, analytics and mapping to help more solar panels get installed on more rooftops — that’s the idea behind startup Geostellar, which this week closed on almost $14 million in equity funding and options, according to a filing. The company lists satellite imaging company GeoEye and Flash Forward Venturesas investors on its site. Two-year-old Geostellar pulls together dozens of different types of data into its solar analytics platform, including information about weather, shadows, roof slope, closest transmission lines, property values, land use, electricity rates, solar subsidies, and solar hazards. All that data (and more) goes into a system that solar installers and utilities can use to search for useful data to target solar customers. Click headline to read more--
For Swiss power company ABB, DC — or direct current — is the future of the data center. This week the company, working with Swiss IT firm Green, officially opened upGreen’s new DC-powered expansion at its Zurich data center, which the companies say is the most powerful use of DC in a data center to date. We live in a world dominated by AC, or alternating current, for electric transmission. But a lot of equipment, like servers and electric motors run on DC. Batteries use DC and solar panels produce DC power, too. These types of devices usually have converters attached to them that convert the AC grid power to DC for the device, and vice versa. For years data center operators and power companies have talked about how DC data centers would be able to run more efficiently, with less energy lost in conversions, and with less space used. All of those factors mean money can be saved. But now DC seems like it’s really starting to crack the data center market. Clk headline to read more--
The solar industry scored a major win Thursday when California regulators more than doubled the number of homeowners and businesses who will get full financial credit for the surplus electricity that their rooftop panels produce. The California Public Utilities Commission unanimously approved changes to a policy known as "net energy metering," which allows solar system owners to cut their utility bills by receiving credit for any excess electricity they send to the state's power grid. The California law that established net metering set a limit on the number of people who could qualify within each utility company's territory, a limit the Legislature later raised. The utilities commission on Thursday changed the way the limit is calculated, greatly expanding the pool of people who will be eligible in the future. Click headline to read more--
HP has unveiled an architecture for datacentre facilities which generate as much power as they consume. The company said that the Net-Zero Data Center plan would rely on a combination of locally-installed renewable power sources and power-conscious management and scheduling tools to optimise performance around available power. "Information technology has the power to be an equalizer across societies globally, but the cost of IT services, and by extension the cost of energy, is prohibitive and inhibits widespread adoption,” said HP distinguished technologist and interim director for sustainable ecosystems research Cullen Bash. "The HP Net-Zero Energy Data Center not only aims to minimize the environmental impact of computing, but also has a goal of reducing energy costs associated with data-center operations to extend the reach of IT accessibility globally ." Under HP's plan, firms will deploy on-site power sources such as solar arrays or biogas-harvesting equipment to supply power which can also be supplemented by local power grids when needed. Additionally, air is collected from outside and used to cool the datacentre. Click headline to read more--
The Church of England is embracing zero-carbon living with the construction of two new eco vicarages in the Diocese of Worcester. The Diocese wanted new vicarages that were cheaper to run and that sent a clear environmental message. It selected Speller Metcalfe to build them according to Passivhaus principles. The company experimented with an extension to an arch-deacon's house to find the most cost-effective methods, then built two five-bedroom vicarages. Speller Metcalfe's design creates optimum conditions for minimising energy loss and increasing solar gain. South-facing solar panels generate electricity, bedrooms and living rooms face south to benefit from sunshine. The annual energy demand will be cut from 26,000Whr in the old vicarages to 8,000Whr in the new ones. The vicarages have built in bird, bat and lacewing boxes on garden trees, hedgehog homes and one even has a new pond. Click headline to read more--
Overhauling Britain's housing to conserve energy could cost more than the money it saves. A social landlord's unique project reveals multiple practical problems and a disinterested public. With 57,000 homes, Affinity Sutton is among the UK's largest housing associations. It launched the £1.2m FutureFit in 102 typical homes to establish the challenges and costs of large-scale home energy improvements and find a model for social housing. The project is providing a unique insight into how to reduce carbon emissions in domestic housing and meet the government's Green Deal challenge promoting energy efficiency from October 2012. FutureFit took three budgets: £6,500, £10,000 and £25,000 and applied them to 22 properties representing 75% of English housing. It revealed a funding gap of £3,000 per property between the cost of works and the value of energy savings. Only 4.8% of householders responded to the offer of free works and 23% dropped out after signing up. There were problems with wall and floor insulation, heat recovery ventilation, weather compensators and huge variation in airtightness. Click headline to read more--
India has become a hot bed of solar activity, thanks to the country’s booming economy, the problems with the domestic coal industry, and the country’s strong solar incentives. And while many of the solar projects are being connected to the grid to generate power for cities, some companies are looking to build businesses off of solar for off-grid rural India — including solar developer SunEdison. This week SunEdison, part of Missouri-based MEMC Electronic Materials, announced a project to bring solar systems to rural Indian villages called “Eradication of Darkness.” The project will focus on building a business model for designing, installing and managing solar projects for 29 villages in India’s Guna District. The 29 projects will be funded through a combo of government grants and private funds from other investors and corporations, says SunEdison. Click headline to read more--
Global demand for water is growing at an astonishing rate – possibly 40% higher than current demand – in the next 20 years. That means utilities will need to find the best ways to manage the finite resource they possibly can. That need translates into a huge jump in smart water meter deployments, according to a report from Pike Research. The report, Smart Water Meters, says we can expect to see a global base of smart water meters using AMI technologies to hit almost 30 million by 2017, an astonishing increase over the 10.3 million in use in 2011. By the end of the forecast period, annual shipments are expected to be 3.3 million, with an annual market value of $476 million. Smart water meters will be a primary tool or utilities that need to manage water as efficiently as possible, keep costs down and keep it affordable for consumers. Click headline to read more and access hot link to the report--
Fukushima s effect on the energy industry has been felt from Taiwan to Germany but, of course, nowhere as much as in Japan. The radioactive element of the earthquake and tsunami-induced disaster of March 2011, when three separate nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant suffered full meltdown, changed decades-old assumptions about how an energy-hungry, resource-poor industrial giant gets its power. The wider catastrophe, in which 19,000 died or went missing, meant total shutdown of an advanced fleet of 56 nuclear power stations, concluding on May 5 with the Tomari 3 plant in Hokkaido. More drastically still the disgrace of Fukushima plant operator TEPCO prised open big energy s grip on political-industrial Japan, a fact of life since the 1960s. For Japan s anti-nuclear campaigners Fukushima came as a blessing in (heavy) disguise. In a different way, the same might also be said for Scotland. That was certainly the feeling at last week s renewable-dominated All-Energy conference in Aberdeen, when a session on the Japanese opportunity was added to the programme. Scotland s international profile in green technologies, assiduously promoted by the current Scottish Government, suggests new trading possibilities with our oldest friends in the Far East. In the aftermath of Fukushima, as Japan races to adopt renewable technologies, and reaches out to countries which have by choice, not necessity, prioritised green power. Scotland is at the leading edge. In Aberdeen last week, Richard Oppenheim, head of energy policy at the British Embassy in Tokyo, was kept pretty busy responding to unprecedented interest from Scottish and UK companies alert to the new opportunities. Click headline to read more--
Remember the Airborne Wind Turbine covered by Gizmag towards the end of March? The creator of the prototype, Altaeros Energies, has been in touch to show us a video of the prototype in operation and we can confirm that a) it flies and b) the turbine goes round. Though we wouldn't typically post an update with relatively scant new information, the combination of this product's uniqueness and the interest the original story garnered among Gizmag readers means we thought this was worth letting you know about. Also, it's nice to have a video without unnecessarily distracting and incongruous music suddenly blasting out of your cans, but perhaps that's just me. Judge for yourself... Click headline to watch the YouTube video--
The development of solar photovoltaic (PV) capacities and the early summer weather brought Germany a new world record for solar power production at noon on May 25th, 2012. Under a cloudless sky on Friday, May 25th, 2012 German photovoltaic arrays for the first time fed more than 20,000 megawatts (MW) of electricity into the grid, as reported by the International Economic Platform for Renewable Energies (IWR) in Münster, Germany. Solar power production reached 22,000 MW at noon, IWR emphasizes. This corresponds to the performance of more than 20 nuclear power plants. "There is currently no other country on earth, which is able to produce solar electric power with a capacity of 20,000 MW," said IWR Director Dr. Norbert Allnoch. Click headline to read more--
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Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder is far from energized about a proposed ballot measure that would obligate the state's utilities to generate 25 percent of their electricity from renewable energy sources by 2025. The Associated Press reports that although the governor has yet to take a formal stand on the issue, he has concerns about the financial viability of using wind, solar, hydropower and biomass to meet Michigan's energy needs. "I'm not sure on the face of it that it makes a lot of sense," Snyder told the AP during an interview at the Detroit Regional Chamber's annual Mackinac Policy Conference. The business interest group announced at the same conference that it opposes the measure. Click headline to read more--
It’s not a good time to be an electric car battery maker. On Thursday lithium ion battery maker A123 Systems issued a going concern warning and saw its shares drop by close to 8 percent in trading. The news isn’t a surprise to anyone that’s been following the company, which has been struggling to survive and sells its batteries to auto makers like startup Fisker Automotive. Earlier this month, A123 posted sharply lower revenues and losses for the first quarter of this year, and about two months ago it launched a program to replace batteries with defective cells. The replacement program cost the company dearly, including $51.6 million in warranty costs and an estimated $15.2 million for replacing defective batteries that were in its inventory. A123 is far from the only battery maker that has struggled in recent months. Click headline to read more--
Local banks have come together to finance Qatar’s first solar-grade polysilicon production plant, a planned $1.1 billion, 8,000-metric-ton facility being built by Qatar Electricity and Water (QEWC) and Qatar Solar Technologies (QSTec), a joint venture of the Qatar Foundation that supports efforts to transform the Gulf Coast country’s economy from a carbon-based to a knowledge-based one. Doha-based Masraf Al Rayan secured financing for the QSTec-QWEC polysilicon plant in Ras Laffan Industrial City, Stage One of which is expected to be completed in the second half of 2013. “The signing of this deal with Masraf Al Rayan is a significant milestone for QSTec and a major step in the development of a new industry for Qatar — the solar Industry,” stated QSTec CEO and Chairman Dr. Khalid Klefeekh Al Hajri. Click headline to read more--
It’s got a dry, sunny climate, an addiction to fossil fuels, and it’s set to become a hot spot for renewable energy development, especially solar. That would be the Middle East, where countries such as Saudi Arabia subsidize electricity generation by using their own oil and where natural gas is the main sourceof power for the United Arab Emirates. The Middle East has generated a lot of media attention in recent weeks when it comes to clean power, particularly since the Saudi government announced a plan to install 41 GW of solar systems by 2032. The country also wants to add wind, geothermal, nuclear and other sources into its mix. Saudi Arabia relies heavily on its own oil and gas for power generation. But with a rising domestic demand for power, the government doesn’t want to use fossil fuels from its wells when it could sell them at far higher prices to the rest of the world. “If Saudi Arabia continues with its business-as-usual scenario, they will have no more oil to export to the world by 2030,” said Shihab Kuran, founder and CEO of Petra Solar in New Jersey. Click headline to read more--
Here's how they did it, and how we can too.
This is what can happen when citizens and government agree that it's worth spending a bit more for clean, carbon-free power:
German solar power plants produced a world record 22 gigawatts of electricity – equal to 20 nuclear power stations at full capacity – through the midday hours of Friday and Saturday, the head of a renewable energy think tank has said ... Norbert Allnoch, director of the Institute of the Renewable Energy Industry in Muenster, said the 22 gigawatts of solar power fed into the national grid on Saturday met nearly 50% of the nation's midday electricity needs. That's right—half of all of Germany was powered by electricity generated by solar plants. That's incredible. It was also world record-breaking. Germany is pretty much singlehandedly proving that solar can be a major, reliable source of power—even in countries that aren't all that sunny. And it's the result, primarily, of two forces: Click headline to read more--
The Sustainable Building Envelope Centre (SBEC) is a £6 million research centre cofounded by Tata Steel, the Low Carbon Research Institute and Welsh Government to accelerate the development of low carbon solutions for the built environment. The SBEC building was fitted with Colorcoat Renew SC® to provide a highly efficient source of renewable energy at a low cost. With up to 75% efficiency converting solar radiation to usable heat energy, the system installed at SBEC has the potential to produce up to 39MWh per year. Click headline to read more and view pictures of the SBEC--
It is one thing to target energy savings – but quite another to invest capital in encouraging others to do likewise. Property owner and manager British Land made just such a commitment in 2010. The real estate investment trust set a three-year deadline to reduce energy use by at least 20% per square meter in 11 of its managed commercial properties. To achieve the target, it partnered with more than 40 occupiers to install an advanced metering system in nine office buildings and two shopping centres. Jointly funded by British Land, occupier service charges and third party contributions, the £1m investment should be recouped after three years thanks to guaranteed cost savings. But energy savings look set to be greater than anticipated. An award-winning trial at British Land's head office reduced energy use by 38% in landlord-controlled areas and by a total of 29% over the first two years.
Quite a few greentech companies closed sizable funding rounds this week, and Battery Ventures is involved in three of them. Is cleantech support holding on in the venture world? Here’s what we’ve seen from Battery and others: Click headline to read about the six featured companies--
The global energy storage market is currently being driven by government investments, renewable energy policies, smart grid deployments, private capital, successful demonstration projects, and government backed research and development aimed at reducing the costs of energy storage technologies. In fact, progressive utilities across the globe are exploring the use of energy storage technologies to provide load shifting, reserve capacity, frequency regulation, renewable energy integration, substation back-up and storage, spinning reserves, and community energy storage solutions. Click headline to read more--
The world's largest wind turbine maker aims to put wind on a par with oil and gas, by publicly rating the renewable energy content of consumer products. In a move to encourage corporations and consumers to demand more use of wind energy in manufacturing and supply, Danish company Vestas Wind Systems created three transparency tools in 2011. Supported by The UN Global Compact, the World Wildlife Fund, Bloomberg, PWC and others, the tools are designed to have a "pull effect". The hope is they will encourage companies to buy more renewable energy and provide consumers with the right information to make sustainable choices. The Corporate Renewable Energy Index (CREX) is described as the first platform to allow companies to disclose their energy consumption. Through it, Vestas claims to have established the "most comprehensive snapshot" of corporate renewable use. Click headline to read more and access hot links--
In a huge win for startup Nest, which makes a connected learning thermostat, Apple has now started selling the Nest thermostat through its online store (hat tip The Verge). If you recall, Nest founder Tony Fadell was the former chief architect at Apple where he led the development of the iPod and the first three versions of the iPhone. He left Apple three years ago to start Nest. Not surprisingly Apple and Nest share a similar design sensibility, and the Nest thermostat can also be controlled via an iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch or Mac. When Nest first launched its thermostat, I called it “a thermostat Steve Jobs would love.” Click headline to read more--
As last year's Fukushima nuclear disaster began to unfold, German Chancellor Angela Merkel responded to the catastrophe by announcing nothing short of an energy revolution in Germany. By 2022, the chancellor said, the country would decommission all of its nuclear power plants, and by 2050, 80 percent of all energy in the country should come from renewable sources. It was a plan that heralded an era of offshore wind farms, solar panels and wind turbines across large parts of the country and pumped-storage hydroelectric plants that would ensure a constant flow of electricity even when the wind isn't blowing and the sun isn't shining. One year after the bold announcement, precious little has happened -- save for painful price hikes that have hit consumers' pocketbooks and companies' bottom lines. Many offshore wind farms aren't connected to the grid yet, and the massive power masts needed to transport the energy haven't been built. To add to the problems, Merkel last week sacked her environment minister, Norbert Röttgen, the very man in charge of implementing the highly ambitious clean energy plans. It appears she was more displeased with his lack of progress on the difficult energy project than his embarrassing loss in a recent state election. Click headline to read more--
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