home energy management
Like Google and Microsoft before it, Cisco has decided to remove its eggs from the home energy management basket. Writing in Cisco’s blog, Laura Ipsen — the company’s senior vice president and general manager for smart grid — this week delivered the news in the usual “we’re-getting-out-of-the-home-energy-monitoring-business-because-it’s-better-that-way” way:
smart metering
Elster will be helping a regional distribution grid company in Kazakhstan deploy advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) for high- and medium-voltage substations. The company will be working with Karagandy Zharyk, which supplies electricity to more than 1.5 million customers in central Kazakhstan. Elster Metronica, an Elster Group company, completed an
energy analytics
Energy analytics firm Onzo says it’s on track to record and process more than one trillion (1,000 billion) energy readings by the end of this year. The data from those readings can help utilities to gain new insights into how their customers are using electricity at home and
efficiency
IT efficiency firm 1E has released a new version of its Nomad Enterprise software that further minimizes the amount of data sent across wide area networks (WANs) and reduces network bandwidth requirements. According to the company, version 4.0 of the software offers additional stability during the data transfer process
utilities
Alcatel-Lucent and China’s State Grid Information & Telecommunication Company (SGIT) are teaming up to develop smart-grid technologies for utilities. The collaboration aims to help utilities better manage peak electricity demand, identify opportunities for power savings and cut down on energy use. The focus will be on increasing the intelligence
electric cars
The US Department of Energy (DOE) plans to spend more than $175 million over the next three to five years to speed up the development of electric cars and other advanced vehicle technologies. Funding is set to go to 40 projects across 15 states working to improve the fuel efficiency
lighting
The Northern Canadian Tsay Keh Dene First Nation is turning to solar-powered LED (light-emitting diode) lighting to illuminate an airfield that serves a remote village in British Columbia. The new lights from Carmanah Technologies will help supply and medevac aircraft that fly into and out of the village airfield. One
Beacon Power Corporation has received a $5-million state grant toward construction of a 20-megawatt (MW) flywheel energy storage plant in Hazle Township, Pennsylvania. “This is remarkable new technology that will help lower the cost of electricity in the long run,” said US Representative Lou Barletta (R, Pennsylvania). “Storing energy and
green design
A team of environmental groups, architects, urban planners, financial advisors, community groups and other organizations envisions transforming the site of a 60-year-old coal-fired power plant into a green, mixed-use community. The $450-million plan for “Potomac River Green” was unveiled by the American Clean Skies Foundation (ACSF), a Washington, DC-based non-profit.
utilities
Autodesk has released two new additions to its portfolio of software for building information modeling (BIM) for sustainable infrastructure: Autodesk Infrastructure Modeler 2012 and AutoCAD Utility Design 2012. Both releases are designed to complement the Autodesk Infrastructure Design Suite 2012 aimed at helping industry professionals increase efficiency and remove waste
Smart Grid
By Tory Patrick Although the implementation of smart meters has elicited varied opinions from the areas impacted, the bottom line is that restructuring our infrastructure will be beneficial for everyone in the long run. Hence, the increasingly competitive smart-grid marketplace, where there are new technologies sprouting up on a weekly
microgrid
Boeing and Siemens are joining forces to develop and market smart-grid technologies for the US Department of Defense (DOD). The collaboration is aimed at improving energy access and security for the DOD, which is the largest energy consumer in the federal government. The companies will focus their efforts on providing
