electric cars
Siemens and Volvo have announced a new partnership aimed at advancing the technical development of electric cars. The two companies plans to jointly develop electrical drive technology, power electronics and charging technology, as well as find ways to integrate those systems into Volvo’s C 30 electric cars. The first
home energy management
IBM and the city of Dubuque, Iowa, plan to spend the next six months testing an electricity portal that lets residents access information about their energy use and share ideas for saving. The internet-based “Smarter Energy Cloud” is available now to volunteer households across the city. The portal is part
smart metering
Metering firms Elster and Landis+Gyr plan to work together to jointly develop integrated advanced metering hardware for smart-grid applications. Under a new agreement between the companies, each firm will work to integrate communication functions into advanced meters with the goal of providing utility customers with a choice of meter
concentrating solar power
A massive concentrating solar power (CSP) plant that’s just received a partial guarantee for an $852-million loan from the US Department of Energy (DOE) is expected to increase the nation’s currently installed CSP capacity by about 50 percent. The 250-megawatt (MW) Genesis Solar Project is set to be
networking
Several companies and universities in Israel have come together to create a new group aimed at developing next-generation unified communication and smart-grid management networks for utilities. Founding members of the ISG Consortium include ECI Telecom, Motorola Solutions Israel Ltd., CEVA, Yitran Communications, PowerCom, RUGGEDCOM, Control Applications, Ben-Gurion University, the Hebrew
electric cars
Chinese technology firm BYD, which makes internal combustion and electric cars (EVs), rechargeable batteries and solar-energy technology, is teaming up with rental car operator Hertz to promote the development of the EV market in China. Through their new partnership, the companies aim to help develop new energy applications to support
recycling
If using renewable energy rates an 9 on the sustainability scale, and coupling it with energy storage brings that to 10 … well, the Canadian province of Manitoba plans to test energy technologies that could, in the words of Spinal Tap guitarist Nigel Tufnel, “go to 11.” Working with the lithium-ion
big data
Efficiency-focused IT solutions provider Telvent will engineer, design and implement a SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) system to help Progress Energy Florida improve its services with real-time information from the field. Progress Energy Florida (PEF) provides electricity to more than 1.6 million customers. Telvent says its SCADA system,
carbon capture and storage
Construction has begun on the US’s first large-scale industrial facility for capturing and storing carbon dioxide. Being built in Decatur, Illinois, the project is being built with the support of federal stimulus funds from the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The facility is designed to capture and
Utility companies need to get back to communications basics and keep human psychology in mind when trying to engage customers in energy conservation efforts and smart-grid technology projects. Currently, many people around the world still don’t understand even the basics of how electricity is priced, much less concepts like
smart metering
Smart-grid firm Sensus is partnering with Ecologic Analytics, a meter data management system (MDMS) provider, to provide a communications solution for electricity customers using Sensus’ FlexNet smart-meter system. The solution provides a way for meter reading and control data to be exchanged between Sensus’ radio network interface (RNI) head end
efficiency
Data center efficiency software firm Sentilla Corporation has raised $15 million in new financing to help it expand sales and marketing. “Sentilla’s technology of maximizing business value from IT organizations addresses a critical need — not just for the telecommunications industry, but also in other enterprises that are looking to
