smart metering
Smart-metering and smart-grid companies tout their technologies as a cutting-edge way to boost efficiency, but a blunter, lower-tech type of efficiency has taken center-stage at Itron, which this week announced a series of cuts and other measures to cut spending. The “restructuring” aimed at increasing corporate efficiency and lowering manufacturing
marine energy
Wind and wave energy might be clean and renewable, but they’re not without their downsides. Land-based wind turbines create noise and vibrations that bother some people to the point their complaints have been dubbed “wind turbine syndrome.” If the science behind those complaints is still poorly understood, even less
smart cities
A Crystal is sprouting up in East London that Siemens hopes will become the city’s newest landmark … as well as an international center for sustainable urban technology. Officially named during a “topping-out” ceremony today, the £30-million Crystal is being built as part of Siemens’ sustainable cities initiative. When it
concentrated solar
Four months after it began operation, the largest concentrated solar power plant in North America has now been officially commissioned. The Hatch Solar Center, located in Hatch, New Mexico, has a generating capacity of five megawatts. Owned and operated by NextEra Energy Resources, the plant produces electricity that is sold
Utilities need to change how they deal with customers as they roll out more smart-grid technologies, but they can avoid pitfalls by paying attention to what other energy companies — and other industries — have done so far. That’s the main message in the latest report from the Smart Grid Consumer
news
A company that uses analytics software to help buildings improve their energy use has added a heavy-hitter in the cleantech sphere to its board of directors. FirstFuel Software’s newest board member is Phil Giudice, who was previously a commissioner with the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER), as well
smart metering
Residents and businesses in Kansas City, Kansas, are getting “smart-grid appliances” designed to help them better manage their energy and water use. They’re not the types of appliances we typically think about — dishwashers, dryers, coffee-makers, etc. — but a bundle of hardware and software put together in a partnership between
cap and trade
In a first for the US, the state of California plans to put in place a cap-and-trade system to control the emission of greenhouse gases. Adopted this week by the California Air Resources Board, (ARB) the system is part of the state’s overall program targeting climate change. Other climate-focused
energy efficiency
California has fallen from its first-place position as most energy-efficient state, with Massachusetts taking over the title. That’s not a sign that California is doing badly at efficiency, though, but an indication of how many more states are recognizing the importance of saving energy … and money. In fact, the
green roofs
Air travel isn’t exactly green yet, but airports are becoming far more efficient than they used to be. Officials at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, for example, have been working for years to improve the facility’s use of resources to cut costs and boost sustainability. Among the
power purchase agreements
Utah-based Vivint Solar, a new division of a home automation company, has partnered with a subsidiary of US Bancorp to establish a $75 million fund to help finance the installation of photovoltaic panels on residential rooftops. The commitment of renewable energy tax equity from US Bancorp will enable Vivint Solar
demand response
The US is way ahead of Europe on demand response. So much so that while the two big US demand response companies, EnerNOC and Comverge, are being forced to look elsewhere for business as their home market nears saturation point, here in Europe, demand response is only just beginning to
