Posted by jumperhead on April 30th, 2008
Could you imagine going into a supermarket, plonking your shopping down at the checkout only for the cashier to scrunch up her face, scratch her chin in contemplation, then say ‘Yeah, that’ll be 80 quid please” without ringing it up on the till? Could you? I don’t know about you, but Greenbang likes to know what she’s paying for and that she’s paying on the nose and no more.
Well, this same estimate approach to working out your electricity and gas bill will continue for the foreseeable. The government has decided to not back proposals suggested in last year’s Energy White Paper to compell energy companies to provide their customers with ’smart meters’.
Unlike your traditional display only meters, Such smart meters could provide up-to-the-minute info on how much electricity and gas you’ve burnt your way through and the size of the carbon footprint you’ve made. This info could be beamed to your laptop, mobile or straight to your brain (probably, when the technology is ready).
According to the Energy Retail Association, smart meters are what the Great British public is crying out for. It’s own YouGov poll found that 82 percent of us aren’t down with the ‘guestimate’ system of billing and would rather have smart meters to tell us what we owe.
So the government won’t introduce mandatory smart metering. Here’s what it will do though:
- request electricity suppliers to provide on a voluntary basis real-time display devices to particular customer segments, but will not pursue proposals for provision of such devices when a meter is replaced or newly-installed or for provision ‘on-request’ (Section 3);
- require electricity and gas suppliers to provide smart meters to all business customers above a certain usage threshold by 2013 (section 4);
- to complete further economic assessment work and consultation to finalise policy position in respect of smart metering for small businesses and domestic consumers
The Energy Retail Association, rather than being a bit disappointed about the whole lack of meters, has turned its frown upside down and said this, via its chief exec Duncan Sedgwick:
It is encouraging to see that the Government has listened to the concerns of both the industry and consumer groups and tabled an amendment to the Energy Bill that has effectively opened the door for smart metering. The Government’s backing for smart meters rather than the lesser prize of electricity display devices will also be vital in keeping costs low for consumers and providing customers with what they really want: accurate billing.
Posted by jumperhead on April 30th, 2008
Thin film firm Xunlight might not win any prizes for spelling (but might be useful in Scrabble) but they know how to win the hearts of VCs and assorted moneymen.
The US solar mob has got itself on the business end of $22 million in Series B financing, led by Trident Capital with existing investors, Emerald Technology Ventures and NGP Energy Technology Partners also joining in.
Xunlight says it will use the investment bonanza “to build commercial manufacturing capacity” for the production of its thin film modules.
In its acceptance speech, Xunlight gave a nod to state of Ohio’s Third Frontier Project, which backed the company in its early life - originally a spinoff of the university of Toledo.
And that’s not all Xunlight has been up to. Along with Dr. Alvin D. Compaan, a physics professor at the University of Toledo, it’s formed Xunlight 26 Solar, which will “develop and commercialise lightweight and flexible solar cells based on cadmium telluride and other II-VI compound semiconductors”.
The state of Ohio has also backed this latest Xunlight venture, dishing out a $997,000 grant under the alternative energy program.
Posted by jumperhead on April 30th, 2008
If Greenbang was to ask you what your favourite oxymoron is, what would you say? Sporting personality? Drink responsibly? Well, Greenbang’s would have to be US Army Intelligence. She doesn’t immediately think of trigger-happy cannon fodder as being able to solve hard-rated sudokos, nor being able to pick up a copy of A Brief History of Time< and get past page three.
Nonetheless, US Army Intelligence has made the smart move of buying 50KW wind power plant for its HQ in Fort Huachuca in Arizona. Mass Megawatts Wind Power will supply the goods.
The wind power plant, which also goes by the catchy name of Multiaxis Turbosystem, will be built using Mass Megawatts’ newly developed augmenter technology which it claims put it on a price par with coal and gas powered electricity.
US Army Intelligence HQ’s wind farm is part of the US Army’s first steps into using renewable energies to power its war machine and achieving energy independence. There is a ready market if the project is successful, with the US mainland alone hosting more than 50 Army installations.
Greenbang wonders if this will put the wind up its enemies.
Posted by jumperhead on April 30th, 2008
When oil folk go shopping, what do they buy? If Dallas is anything to go by, kidney-shaped pools, shoulder pads, ten gallon hats and even more gallons of gin for the good old gals to drown their sorrows in. If this week’s news is anything to go by, they buy stakes in carbon abatement companies.
Oil conglomerate Vitol has decided to take out its wallet and avail itself of a 25 percent stake in Carbon Resource Management, a company which develops wind, biomass and coal mine methane projects which can then “enable developing countries to develop carbon abatement initiatives, with the certificates of qualifying projects being sold into industrialised countries to fund the initiatives”.
As well as putting in cash now, Vitol will be funding future development of the carbon negating goodness.
CRM is doing a lot in China on the carbon front, where it’s got one-sixth of the certified emission reductions market. It’s recently got the thumbs-up to go ahead with 12 projects in the country, including three biomass projects, seven windfarms, a hydropower scheme and a coal mine methane project.
Posted by jumperhead on April 30th, 2008
Ah, Microsoft. You’ve got to love them. They’ve come up with such great computing innovations as Clippy. You know - that annoying paperclip that used to pop up and say stuff like ‘it looks like you’re writing a letter. Can I help?’
But that’s not Microsoft’s only contribution to computing, oh no. It’s putting its not inconsiderable cash resources towards making datacentres that little bit more energy efficient, using two methods: pay for play, where energy consumption is lowered when a machine is idle or not doing that much, and improving energy efficiency for machines at peak load through the likes of better hardware design, software, networking, benchmarking, analysis, virtualisation or anything else it can think of.
It’s announced this week it’s giving out grants worth to $500,000 four academic computing projects which aim to cut the power that datacentres suck up.
After a slight fumble with the gold envelope, Greenbang can tell you the lucky winners are:
•“Control-Theoretic Power and Performance Management for Green Data Centers”; University of Tennessee; aimed at developing frameworks for integrating power and performance improvements in virtualized datacenters
•“Building a Building-scale Power Analysis Infrastructure”; Stanford University; for the design and deployment of a dense sensor network for power analysis, producing data for future research on power-aware computing
•“A Synergistic Approach to Adaptive Power Management”; Harvard University; for the development of a dynamic runtime environment that ensures that power consumption is proportional to the computational demands made on the system
•“Simulating Low Power x86 Architectures with Sooner, a Phoenix-based Simulation Framework”; University of Oklahoma; for the development of a simulation framework that supports the study of low-power microarchitectures for innovative multicore systems
Posted by jumperhead on April 29th, 2008
Greenbang has mentioned her titanic hatred of the Olympic (can we have the good TV back now please?) Games on more than one occasion so she’ll be quiet about it from now on in. She’ll just rock back and forth silently with barely suppressed rage instead.
Still, if you’ve been watching the progress of the Olympic Torch and wondering what’s the point (aside from giving the Chinese security folk a bit of a workout), then let Greenbang relay this little nugget, from Slate.
Slate reckons the flame - which, like any controversial celeb gets its own private airplane - will cover 50,000 miles in 20 countries and burn up 270,000 of jet fuel.
That’s the equivalent carbon footprint of 624 Chinese citizens for one year.
And that doesn’t even take into account all the gas generated by the propane-burning torches themselves.
Dear Olympics people,
When it comes to the London Olympics’ torch journey, can we just not and say we did?
Love, Greenbang xxxx
Posted by jumperhead on April 29th, 2008
Greenbang’s always been fond of the story about Kerry Packer, the now deceased Aussie multi-billionaire, media mogul, inventor of one day test cricket and renowned gambler.
Once while at a casino, the mega-rich Aussie offered to play heads or tails with a loud mouth Texan for his entire $100 million fortune. The Texan - presumably realising Packers’ were bigger than his own - declined.
For US company Broadwind Energy, however, raising $100 million has taken a little more effort than calling heads or tails.
Broadwind, the owners of a clutch of engineering and manufacturing companies that provide components for the wind energy industry, has raised the sum by selling 12.5 million shares to investment funds handled by Tontine Associates. It also hopes to raise additional funds by entering into a “non-binding letter of intent with a strategic partner”, but has yet to reveal who or for how much.
According to Broadwind’s COO Lars Moller, the money will help Broadwind speed up its expansion plans. Here’s what it will do with the cash:
• Invest in additional regional operations and maintenance centers in a “hub and spoke” strategy to service the growing wind energy market.
• Expand gear and tower production capacities at current locations and through
“greenfield” facilities strategically located throughout North America.
• Hire additional employees at the corporate and platform levels.
• Continue to acquire businesses that complement Broadwind’s growth strategy.
Posted by jumperhead on April 29th, 2008
If you’ve already turned your excess carbon into a new CD library and you’ve still got a bit left over, Greenbang suggests you get your pet scientist to turn it into a new diamond. If you’ve still got a bit spare, you might want to reduce your footprint - or ask Newcastle Uni what to do with it.
A team from the University, headed up by Michael North, Professor of Organic Chemistry, has whipped up a way of turning all that unloved carbon into cyclic carbonates.
Greenbang will assume that everyone knows what cyclic carbonates are, so no need to recap. Oh alright then, for the bloke in the back with his hand up: cyclic carbonates are used in the manufacture of stuff including solvents, paint-strippers, biodegradable packaging, as well as having applications in the chemical industry, according to Newcastle.
They can also be used as an additive to make fuel burn better. Presumably, the carbon from the fuel is then used to make cyclic carbonates, which are added to petrol, over and over again, like a crazy petrol MC Escher painting.
According to North, there’s a 48 million ton market for cyclic carbonates - that’s the equivalent of four percent of the UK’s carbon production.
Here’s how it all works, according to the Uni:
The conversion technique relies upon the use of a catalyst to force a chemical reaction between CO2 and an epoxide, converting waste CO2 into this cyclic carbonate, a chemical for which there is significant commercial demand.
The reaction between CO2 and epoxides is well known, but one which, until now, required a lot of energy, needing high temperatures and high pressures to work successfully. The current process also requires the use of ultra-pure CO2 , which is costly to produce.
The Newcastle team has succeeded in developing an exceptionally active catalyst, derived from aluminium, which can drive the reaction necessary to turn waste carbon dioxide into cyclic carbonates at room temperature and atmospheric pressure, vastly reducing the energy input required.[….]
Professor North compares the process developed by his team to that of a catalytic converter fitted to a car. ‘If our catalyst could be employed at the source of high-concentration CO2 production, for example in the exhaust stream of a fossil-fuel power station, we could take out the carbon dioxide, turn it into a commercially-valuable product and at the same time eliminate the need to store waste CO2′, he said.
Posted by jumperhead on April 29th, 2008
Unless scientists come up with a way of connecting irate commuters and one-legged pigeons up to the national grid, then London isn’t going to be the biggest generator of renewable energy. Scotland however might have more of a chance, with all those windy hillocks and stormy seas. However, in an exemplary piece of logic, some Scots power generators would have to pay the grid to take the electricity, whereas a (presumably fictional) London power station would get a handout.
It’s not gone down well with the Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond, who told The Herald:
“There is no justification for charging a power station in Longannet £33m when it would pay - not charge - an equivalent power station in London £13m. Similarly, Peterhead would be charged £30m while a power station in Seabank, in the South West of England, would be paid £3.05m. […]
“Such extremes of charging can have no justification and similar examples were put to me from Shetlands and the Western Isles.”
It’s not all bad news though. According to the Herald, Salmond has been chatting with the head of the national grid Steve Holliday, who wants to see the laws that cause the daft charging regime overhauled.
And that’s not all: Holliday apparently wants to see the system of planning applications for renewable projects overhauled and undersea electric cables built connecting Scotland to England and Wales.
Posted by jumperhead on April 29th, 2008
Greenbang must have been having a quick snooze when Rolls Royce was talking up its latest renewables investment this month. It’s still an interesting deal - not to mention a chance to fall back on some lazy ‘it’s the Rolls Royce of energy deals!’ puns - so Greenbang feels obliged to share it with you today.
Rolls has decided to take a 23.5 percent stake in TGL (or Tidal Generation Limited), a privately owned tidal energy firm, which it reckons will tie up nicely with its own efforts in the world of water energy. It’s not the first time Rolls has put its hand in its pocket for TGL: it’s already invested £1.5 million and some technical help in the company.
And it’s not alone: the UK government has also contributed some cash to help fund development.
So just what is it developing? A 500kW and 1MW demonstration model of its wave power electricity system, designed to operate in deep water - between 35 and 100 metres deep - without bothering shipping or wildlife. So now you know.
