analytics
As the European Union rolls out smart electricity meters and other grid-modernizing technologies, utility companies are facing more challenges than ever. To help them better manage outages, bring on renewable energy sources and juggle a host of new applications, Echelon and Oracle are teaming up to offer them a new,
lighting
A growing number of business owners are coming to understand that energy-saving, efficient technology is good for the bottom line. But at a time when enterprises — commercial or otherwise — are watching every penny, it can be hard to justify the upfront expense, even when such improvements more than pay for
solar energy
Think about the uses solar energy can be put to, and what comes to mind? Solar panels for making electricity, certainly. Solar thermal for heating water. Solar chargers for powering up cellphone and laptop batteries, maybe. But what about using solar energy to help pull more crude out of aging
electricity transmission
A $2.25 billion project to bring electricity to parts of India that need it most has won a $750 million loan package from the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The project is aimed at spurring growth, reducing poverty and helping energy supplies keep up with rising demand in the fast-developing
Austin-based research group Pecan Street Inc. has started working with several new partner companies to test smart-grid consumer products and advance development of the Texas city’s smart-grid demonstration project. Based at the University of Texas (UT), Pecan Street researchers will be working with Best Buy, Check-It, Chevrolet, Freescale, Intel,
smart cities
Deutsche Telekom and smart-city technology company Living PlanIT are teaming up to develop ways to allow a wide variety of devices to communicate with one another to build “an intelligent, interconnected urban infrastructure.” A smooth transfer of data between devices will be critical to enable an era of smart cities
photovoltaics
More than 150,000 multicrystalline solar panels from Suntech Power Holdings are now generating energy at two new solar power plants in central California. The 15-megawatt (MW) plant in Five Points and the 20-MW facility in Helm were both built and engineered by Cupertino Electric Inc.’s Energy Alternatives Division.
clean energy
“Heat batteries,” fuel from pine trees and alternatives to increasingly expensive rare earth materials are among the quests of 60 research projects set to receive $156 million from the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). The funds, allocated in the department’s Fiscal Year 2011
big data
Oracle says in-house testing has shown its smart meter data management systems can handle one billion meter reads per hour. Running its utilities meter data management software through its database machine and cloud platform, Oracle says it was able to process the equivalent of four consumption measurements per hour coming
solar thermal energy
While other companies are testing solar thermal technology on a utility scale, healthcare services company DaVita has found a different way to benefit: using the sun’s energy to provide power for kidney dialysis. The Denver-based company began testing a solar-thermal-powered dialysis clinic at its facility in Scottsburg, Indiana, in
electricity grids
South Korea’s power grid now has something no other grid in the world has: the longest-yet distribution-voltage superconductor cable system, capable of carrying around 50 megawatts of power. That’s enough electricity to meet the annual energy needs of some 50,000 US homes. A joint effort of Korea
renewables
Over the past year, the UK has seen a significant increase in the amount of energy it gets from renewable sources, with one contributing factor being a return to higher, more normal wind speeds and rainfall. Nearly 10 percent of all Britain’s power is now renewably generated. Low wind
