smart cities
What does a really smart and connected city look like? If no one quite knows yet, officials in the Florida city of Jacksonville want to find out. The city has launched into a pilot program with Cisco to try and connect its many different technology systems into a more unified
Energy
California’s Butte College has become the first college in the US to go “grid positive,” which means it will generate more electricity from its solar arrays than it consumes, delivering that excess power back into the electric grid. Butte College, located 75 miles from Sacramento, expects to save between
The British government and distribution network operators need to work together more cohesively to ensure cyber-security as the nation’s electricity infrastructure moves toward a more networked, “smart” grid. That’s the conclusion of a report, “UK Smart Grid Cyber Security,” from the Energy Networks Association (ENA), which represents the
green cities
San Francisco is the most sustainable city in the US and Canada, according to a new analysis of 27 major metropolitan areas in both countries. One of San Francisco’s greatest green strengths is waste, where it ranked number one among all the cities studied. It was the first community
high concentrating photovoltaics
Semprius, a developer of high-concentration photovoltaic (HCPV) solar modules, has secured $20 million in funding to pay for the construction of a pilot module manufacturing plant. “Demand for CPV is expected to grow exponentially over the next several years to greater than 6 gigawatts by 2020,” said Joe Carr, president
building integrated photovoltaics
A three-year, $18-million pilot project between Dyesol and Tata Steel aims to develop Dyesol’s dye-sensitized solar cell (DSC) technology so that it can be integrated into building materials, effectively turning structures into power plants. “Our relationship with the built environment is evolving,” said Marc Thomas CEO of Dyesol and
heat energy
A new type of thermoelectric tube can capture heat from a variety of sources — from hot springs to industrial waste heat — and convert it efficiently into electric power. Converting heat into energy using thermoelectric technology could prove to be an important source of renewable power. Conventional thermoelectric generators, however, have
photovoltaics
Photovoltaics company First Solar has received around $4.5 billion in conditional loan guarantees to support three new solar power facilities. The funding from the US Department of Energy (DOE) will help pay for the construction of three alternating-current, cadmium-telluride (Cd-Te), thin-film photovoltaic (PV) installations: Antelope Valley Solar Ranch 1
smart metering
Will British consumers set to receive smart gas or electricity meters cut their energy use as much as officials expect? That’s one of the questions that needs better answers before the government actually goes ahead with its planned nationwide smart meter deployment, according to a new report from the
smart metering
IBM has become the latest member of a new cross-industry group set up to promote a smarter energy grid in the UK. Launched earlier this month, SmartGrid GB includes companies in the energy and information/communication technologies sectors, as well as consumer advocacy groups and government. agencies. The organization’s
energy storage
The UK and China are collaborating to deliver the first-ever pilot demonstration of a liquid air energy storage system. The cryogenic energy storage plant being built near London by Highview Power Storage is scheduled to become operational next month. Engineers from the Chinese manufacturers of the technology are currently on-site
smart grid data
Nashville Electric Service (NES) has turned to EMC to improve the performance, efficiency and scalability of it s 90-percent virtualized information infrastructure. EMC’s VNX unified storage replaces the utility’s previous 100 terabytes of NetApp storage. One of the US’s 12 largest public electric utilities, NES distributes electricity
