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Three Electric Vehicle Experts: KPCB, Coulomb, AC Propulsion

KP Partner Trae Vassallo on EVs: “We are creating this market”

There's been some heat in the electric vehicle market of late: Government financing, VC funding (Better Place), IPO announcements (Tesla), Ferrari news and some missteps.

Today I'm reporting from an Agrion event on Electric Vehicles.  

Trae Vassallo is a Partner at KPCB with a mechanical engineering degree from Stanford and a focus on the greentech space. 

She said, "We feel very strongly about the transportation sector and the electric vehicle… Read More ›

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TVA Selects SmartSynch For its Renewable Program

The largest public power provider in the U.S. will track renewables via smart meters and cell networks.

The network already largely exists. That's one of the primary reasons that the Tennessee Valley Authority selected SmartSynch to serve as the communications backbone in its renewable program.

The TVA and its 156 electricity distributors are effectively setting up a German-style feed-in tariff in the middle of the country. Under the Generation Partners program, the TVA -- via distributors -- will buy the solar and other renewable power generated… Read More ›

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The Networked Grid 100: Movers and Shakers of the Smart Grid

For those about to rock, we salute you.

The smart grid market continues to grow faster than a young Kareem Abdul-Jabbar -- if not in market size (yet), at least in the number of movers and shakers that are entering the space. That's worth something, right? As such, we've compiled a list of 100 people who are influencing this market on a daily basis, be it through innovating, regulating, evangelizing, planning, deploying, benchmarking, architecting, standardizing, investing,… Read More ›

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A Chat with the Man Who Will Keep Smart Grid on Track

In standards bodies, technology is easy. Psychology is hard.

It can be done.

That's the word from John McDonald, the general manager of the transmission and distribution business at General Electric and the newly appointed chair of the Smart Grid Interoperability Panel Governing Board at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Last September, NIST announced plans to establish 77 smart grid standards over the next few years and finalize 14 priority standards in 2010 alone.

That's a… Read More ›

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Japan Smart Grid Companies Coming to U.S.

It’s like the 80s but different.

The New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization, a government-backed R&D agency in Japan, will begin to participate in smart grid tests at Los Alamos National Labs in New… Read More ›

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Maxwell and the Promise of Ultracapacitors

Maxwell has shipped millions into EV and renewable energy applications

Market researchers predict that the ultracapacitor (a.k.a. supercapacitor or double-layer capacitor) market will grow rapidly in the coming years, reaching $500 million by 2011 or 2012.  This growth will likely be driven by the automotive and transportation sector, as well as by applications in renewable energy, consumer electronics and industrial power management.  

A battery is an energy device, while an ultracapacitor is a power device. … Read More ›

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Hackers Are Inside the Power Plant, Study Says

54 percent of IT professionals surveyed at large infrastructure companies say they’ve been infiltrated. And it’s getting worse.

Security software vendor McAfee and the Center for Strategic and International Studies today released a report at the World Economic Forum that said that 54 percent of security executives interviewed at oil and gas production fields, power plants and other critical installations for a recent survey admitted they've already suffered large-scale attacks from organized crime, terrorists or nation-states. In all, 600 were interviewed for the… Read More ›