power outages
“Heat-related underground cable failures.” They’re the type of problem that can take out power for thousands or tens of thousands of electricity customers when people need it most: during oppressively hot weather that quickly turns non-air-conditioned offices and apartments into Easy-Bake Ovens. A Pepco failure of that sort, for
solar energy
If you think about it, it’s crazy for us not to try and find every way possible of harnessing energy from the sun. After all, the sun is pretty much the source of every other power source we’ve tapped: wood (try growing a tree without sunlight), oil (brewed
nuclear energy
Nuclear power has a funny effect on people, especially when something in the industry goes awry. Guardian columnist George Monbiot was an anti-nukes kind of guy until the Fukushima Daiichi disaster in Japan, after which he began beating the drum for nuclear energy. On the other hand, German Chancellor Angela
nuclear energy
Here’s a clear, straightforward — and, we’re guessing, heavily caffeine-fueled — explanation of what went wrong at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami:
smart metering
Everyone’s talking about smart electricity meters, but does anyone who hasn’t had one installed yet know what they look like? Following is a gallery of some of the latest meters being deployed by the leading smart-grid technology companies. Echelon’s NES ANSI IP smart electricity meter can be
smart metering
Elster’s AS220 electronic smart meter allows for remote service connections and disconnections, and also supports wireless communications for home-area networking (HAN) applications. Designed to meet the latest energy requirements by the European Commission, the Elster meter can accommodate up to four different energy and demand tariffs, and can even
smart metering
Itron’s OpenWay CENTRON smart electricity meter for residential use is ready to operate with third-party technologies and supports two-way communications for advanced control and configuration. It also provides wireless in-home networking so it can be integrated with smart thermostats, smart appliances and other home-area networking technologies. Among the utilities
smart metering
Landis+Gyr, recently acquired by Toshiba for $2.3 billion, offers a variety of smart meters and smart-grid technology, including the Landis+Gyr E120Gi. The company describes this meter as the “most advanced GPRS meter for the residential metering segment.” The E120Gi enables wireless communications between meter and utility, as
natural gas
Gas-fired power continues to expand as the technology for getting energy from natural gas keeps improving and growing “cleaner.” One of the latest projects to enter the pipeline in the US is Competitive Power Ventures’ (CPV) Sentinel power plant, a $900 million project whose backers have just closed the financing
concentrating solar power
How does concentrating solar power work? Here’s a brief introduction:
The internet of things, as the ultimate version of the smart grid is often described, could bring with it one of the downsides of today’s internet: hacker attacks. The widening deployment of smart electricity meters has already raised concerns about security — ie, the possibility that someone with bad intent
green economy
A new series of reports, “Towards Green Growth,” recommends ways in which governments can best make the transition to greener, more sustainable economies. As they were released by the well respected Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the reports will carry some clout in helping the 34 member countries
