American history buffs and foodies know the story of the three sisters of agriculture, a brilliant combinatorial planting technique practiced by Native Americans. This uniquely American agricultural invention elegantly illustrates the concept of synergy. Synergy is defined as the interactions of two or more things combined to produce something greater than their separate efforts could Continue reading →
Renewables
SINTEF Energy Research announced a demonstration project, the EcoGrid EU, a €21 million EU project that is being coordinated in Trondheim by SINTEF. Sixteen partners from ten countries are members of the project. The project will raise the ceiling for how far an electricity grid can utilize unpredictable sources such as wind and sun. via Continue reading →
Transmission regulators are thinking big. A federal commission has delivered a 650-page blueprint for transmission planners that emphasizes regional coordination and gives public policy added weight in determinations for the expected build-out. via FERC Rule Dissected | RenewablesBiz.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has ratified the Power NY Act, which is being applauded by both energy companies and environmental advocates as an unprecedented shift to renewable energy. In addition, New York Independent Systems Operator (NYISO), the nonprofit organization responsible for managing the state’s energy distribution revealed plans for a $74 million statewide Smart Continue reading →
Global shipments of smart meters will exceed 100 million this year and forge ahead to more than 250 million by 2016, with Europe being the main constituent of this total installed base. “Robust smart meter uptake in Europe is the result of mandates legislated by European central governments, coupled with heightened development in renewables,” says Continue reading →
What’s it going to take to substantially ramp up the amount of renewables in the electricity system? There are many nerdy discussions of that question on the interwebs, but lemme try to talk about it in reasonably non-nerdy language. There’s a certain amount of demand for electricity that is steady and reliable. Above that, there Continue reading →
California's two new community choice aggregators say they have big plans for renewable energy, though solar will contribute only a small percentage for now. In 2002, in response to the failure of deregulation of the electricity market, the state legislature passed AB 117. Many Californians remember it as a time of rolling blackouts, followed by Continue reading →
The U.S. electrical grid is the largest interconnected machine on Earth: 200,000 miles of high-voltage transmission lines and 5.5 million miles of local distribution lines, linking thousands of generating plants to factories, homes and businesses. The National Academy of Engineering ranks it as the greatest engineering achievement of the 20th century. What it cannot do Continue reading →
Europe could switch to low carbon sources of electricity, with up to 100% coming from renewables by 2050, without risking energy reliability or pushing up energy bills, according to a major new study, ‘Roadmap 2050: a practical guide to a prosperous, low-carbon Europe’, developed by the European Climate Foundation (ECF) with contributions from McKinsey, KEMA, Continue reading →
There are many experts who feel that the market potential of renewable energy will only be fully realized if smart grid technologies and services are successful. But first, we need to define the smart grid. In the broadest sense, “smart” refers to a kind of reactive and interactive capability of the energy transmission and distribution Continue reading →
There is an entrepreneurial and venture capital rush in building out the Home Area Network (HAN). Companies like People Power, Tendril, Google, Cisco, iControl, Lixar (bought by Gridpoint), Greenbox (acquired by Silver Spring Networks), Control4, EnergyHub, EcoFactor, et al. are all working on software and hardware pieces of home and building energy management. The millions Continue reading →
We are currently in, at least, the fourth era of growth and interest in renewable energy. The first two of which I'm aware, in the late 1800's into the turn of that century, and in the 1950's, both concentrated on solar (Photovoltaics and Solar Thermal), with some wind power in the first. The third was Continue reading →
Fluke Corp., a company specializing in electronic test and measurement technology and electrical calibration, has received $1.4 million in federal stimulus funding to support the development of new calibration technology. The company says this technology will be “a catalyst for creating a standard with which electricity flowing into the smart grid will be evaluated.” The Continue reading →
The another option is to turn intermittent renewables – often used for peaking power capacity – into baseload power. Turning peak power into baseload power means adding energy storage capacity. Coal is stored energy. Wind, solar, ocean, tidal current as well as off-peak unsold energy from all sources need to have the ability to be Continue reading →
A key part of the Obama Administration’s green-energy policy is the development of a so-called “smart grid.” This is a new electric power system that would coordinate power demand with the fuel supply — for instance, from solar and wind, which only work when there is sun and wind. Green energy won’t work as a Continue reading →
Some projects are just too big to let the private sector handle them alone. Updating our aging one-way system of centralized power production to a smart grid is one of those projects. Left mostly to its own initiative, the energy industry has done very little in technology innovation during the past fifty years to make Continue reading →
The U.S. Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology on June 18 released for public review a report* that identifies issues and proposes priorities for developing technical standards and an architecture for a U.S. Smart Grid. The Smart Grid is a planned nationwide network that will use 21st century information technology to deliver electricity Continue reading →
Revolutionary energy storage technology selected top ‘Smart Grid Initiative’ by attendees at Connectivity Week WINDSOR, Colo., June 15 /PRNewswire/ — Ice Energy, a leading provider of distributed energy storage and smart grid solutions for optimizing energy system efficiency and improving grid reliability, has been honored with a Buildy Award for best “Smart Grid Initiative” at Continue reading →
By James Kanter India may be gearing to turn itself into the global leader in solar power generation, a sign that major developing nations could become renewable energy hubs to rival Germany and the United States. Dubbed the National Solar Mission, the Indian plan outlines a target for 20,000 megawatts of solar capacity by 2020, Continue reading →
Part of: CC9: Climate conference (Foto: Bo Mathisen/Hafslund) SARPSBORG, Norway – Robert F. Kenney, Jr. riveted the crowd at the CC9 when he spoke about the United States’ revolutionary new energy development plan for the new buzz phrase for electricity transmission – the smart grid – which will allow for the replacement of aged lines Continue reading →
