http://www.greentechmedia.com/ Headlines, Blogs, and Other Content from Greentech Media en info@greentechmedia.com Copyright 2009 2009-11-20T21:41:52+00:00 http://www.greentechmedia.com/green-light/post/korea-wants-30-of-smart-grid-worldwide/ http://www.greentechmedia.com/green-light/post/korea-wants-30-of-smart-grid-worldwide/ The South Korean government has declared its intention to help its home industries win 30 percent of the global smart grid market, Reuters reported Friday. But to start, the government will spend a relatively small 37 billion won ($32 million) to test smart grid systems from a consortium including SK Telecom, LG Electronics, Hyundai Heavy Industries and national utility Korea Electric Power Corp., or KEPCO. The test will on be on Jeju Island, a volcanic island between Korea and Japan with about 565,000 residents. State-run Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning will coordinate the project, which is expected to start next year. The project will include a "smart transportation" system aimed at power and communications for electric vehicles, as well as a "smart renewable" side to integrate solar and wind energy, Reuters reported. It will also include two-way communications between the utility and customers to improve energy efficiency. Eventually, the government wants to see its 68 trillion won ($58.3 billion) electricity market connected in a smart grid, it announced in July. That could save it about $10 billion a year in energy import costs, according to the country's Ministry of Knowledge Economy (see Korea Times). But Korea's declared goal to snap up nearly one-third of the global smart grid market – which could be anywhere from $20 billion to $160 billion or so over the coming decades, according to various estimates – might get more attention. At the same time, Korea is being approached by smart grid-related offers from overseas. General Electric wants to deploy about 300,000 smart meters with Korea's NURI Telecom, and San Jose, Calif.-based Echelon is working with Samsung electronics for devices that monitor energy use in apartments in Korea, as well as in China (see GE Dives Into Korean Smart Meter Market With NURI Telecom and Echelon Beefs Up LonWorks). On the distribution grid side, Devens, Mass.-based American Superconductor is selling its superconducting wires to Korea's LS Cable for a project it's doing with KEPCO (see Green Light post). News, Grid, Smart Grid 2009-11-20T21:41:52+00:00 http://www.greentechmedia.com/green-light/post/after-steep-rise-a123-systems-stock-heading-back-toward-ipo-price/ http://www.greentechmedia.com/green-light/post/after-steep-rise-a123-systems-stock-heading-back-toward-ipo-price/ Nearly two months after its successful initial public offering, A123 Systems seems headed back to its roots. The company's stock has traded at around $15 today and has dipped into the high $14 range. (I noticed this after getting a stock quote for a report that Tesla may file for an IPO.) A123 went out at $13.50. Stocks are currently being whacked, so it's natural that the battery maker would take a hit. Still, it's been a wild two months. The company's stock climbed to nearly $20 on the first day of trading, a 45 percent increase. A little while later, it climbed past $28 and stayed in the $20 plus range through most of October. But November has brought a spate of bad news and a gradual slide downward. First, Fiat announced it had revamped and trimmed back Chrysler's electric car plans. Chrysler had picked A123 to make its batteries. A week later, A123, in its most recent quarterly report, posted a $22.9 million loss but an increase in revenue. On the plus side, the company completed a utility energy storage project in Chile. News, Other Topics, Transportation 2009-11-20T19:47:47+00:00 http://www.greentechmedia.com/green-light/post/tesla-prepping-for-ipo-speculates-reuters/ http://www.greentechmedia.com/green-light/post/tesla-prepping-for-ipo-speculates-reuters/ Tesla Motors is preparing to move forward with an IPO, according to unidentified sources at Reuters. There is no S-1 on file right now, according to the SEC's website, but that would be the first step. Many have waited for Tesla to start moving on an IPO. It is one of the most visible green companies and, with its loan from the government, will likely be able to fulfill its ambitions of bringing out a sedan in a few years. The A123 Systems IPO likely had an effect as well. A123's stock zoomed up the first day of trading and sparked hopes that more would follow. (A number of people, in fact, sent Musk news articles on the A123 IPO the day it occurred, I'm told.) Of course, not everything goes as planned. Although A123 nearly hit $20 on the first day of trading, it is now wallowing around $15. The company went out at $13.50.   Other Topics, Transportation 2009-11-20T19:35:57+00:00 http://www.greentechmedia.com/green-light/post/johnson-controls-whats-hot-in-green-building/ http://www.greentechmedia.com/green-light/post/johnson-controls-whats-hot-in-green-building/ Johnson Controls will informally refer to itself as the IBM of green building and in many ways the analogy is apt. Both companies have extensive histories. The Milwaukee-based company just announced another quarterly dividend, the latest in a streak that stretches back to 1887. And, like IBM, the company is pervasive in its field. Johnson is one of the principal contractors behind the retrofit of the Empire State Building. It also employs 800 LEED-accredited employees. Thus, what the company does will have some impact on the market. (It also received a $299 million grant to develop transportation batteries earlier this year.) We recently spoke to Don Albinger, vice president of renewable energy solutions. Here's what's on his mind: • Performance-based contracts continue to gain popularity, particularly with public sector companies like schools or government agencies. In these agreements, a contractor performs a retrofit and then guarantees certain reductions in energy consumption, etc. If they miss, the owner gets a refund. The contracts are similar to energy services contracts, in which the contractor gets paid through a portion of the energy saved, but there are differences. • Industrial solar steam is taking off. In these systems, heat from the sun is exploited to run industrial boilers. "It is about a 40 percent efficient process. Solar thermal has advantages we need to capitalize on," he said. • Although biomass has been gathering interest in some parts of the country, it is being challenged by the relatively low price of natural gas. • One of the next waves in the industry will involve around tying building energy management systems to other enterprise applications. HVAC will be linked to building security applications and both will be integrated into financial and other applications. This will make energy savings and efficiency more dynamic and easier to measure. The company worked on a project like this with the state of Missouri, which has helped cut millions out of operating budgets. • And of course, customers looking at ways to cut power bills should always think about reducing consumption before putting up solar panels. "You've got to stop the building from losing energy before you start putting in new capital equipment," he said. Enterprise, Green Building 2009-11-20T19:15:54+00:00 http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/smart-grid-interoperability-panel-who-to-call/ http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/smart-grid-interoperability-panel-who-to-call/ The federal smart grid standards-setting effort has a new advisory board. Google’s Vint Cerf shares honors with industry giants in leading the group. News, Grid, Smart Grid 2009-11-20T19:15:00+00:00 http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/india-wants-20gw-of-solar-by-2020/ http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/india-wants-20gw-of-solar-by-2020/ The government approves a $19 billion program to boost manufacturing and generation, but getting to that goal might not be so easy. News, Solar, Projects, Startups, Policy, Manufacturing, Technology 2009-11-20T18:10:07+00:00 http://www.greentechmedia.com/green-light/post/ontario-may-follow-california-with-tv-energy-standards/ http://www.greentechmedia.com/green-light/post/ontario-may-follow-california-with-tv-energy-standards/ Two days after California passed energy efficiency regulations for TV, government officials in Ontario say they might go the same direction. "We're always looking at ways we need to improve standards with appliances," Energy Minister Gerry Phillips told the Star. "Over the next few months we'll be looking at whether we need to set some additional new standards." Whether and how quickly another government might follow California was one of the big questions following the 5–0 vote by the California Energy Commission to adopt regulations that set standards for energy efficiency. Under the new California rules, TVs measuring 58 inches or less will have to become 33 percent more efficient by 2011 and 49 percent more efficent by 2013. The annoucement likely already sent members of the Consumer Electronics Association to Expedia to book flights to Canada's home of greentech. The California regulations came after a long, hard battle. Many TVs already meet that standard. Panasonic already makes plasma TVs, for instance, that consume 142 watts. Hitachi and others have also begun to show off technologies – like automatic shut-off and TVs with energy efficient lighting schemes – that could lead to TVs that consume less than 100 watts. In fact, 1,000 TVs already meet the standard, the CEC pointed out. True, but it's the unintended consequences that scare manufacturers. Integrating a hard drive into a TV so that it can record TV shows invariably will increase power consumption. However, a TV with a built-in DVR might consume less energy than TVs and DVRs sold separately. The regulations, thus, could increase power consumption. Energy efficiency can also add to the cost of TVs. Enterprise, Energy Efficiency 2009-11-20T17:59:15+00:00 http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/pges-bakersfield-problem-getting-the-customer-on-board/ http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/pges-bakersfield-problem-getting-the-customer-on-board/ Pacific Gas & Electric could offer early lessons over how to prevent customer backlash against smart grid spending. News, Grid, Advanced Metering 2009-11-20T17:00:05+00:00 http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/swapping-cigs-for-silicon/ http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/swapping-cigs-for-silicon/ AQT plans to launch production of its thin-film cells that will look like conventional silicon cells but at much cheaper price, its CEO says. News, Solar, Startups, Manufacturing, People, Technology 2009-11-20T13:00:17+00:00 http://www.greentechmedia.com/green-light/post/gore-white-house-shooting-for-climate-bill-by-spring/ http://www.greentechmedia.com/green-light/post/gore-white-house-shooting-for-climate-bill-by-spring/ SAN MATEO, Calif. -- Former Vice President Al Gore says the White House will try to get a climate bill passed by late spring 2010 or earlier. "The window for 2010 probably closes around when spring ends," he said during a speech at GreenBeat taking place in San Mateo. Things are looking a bit up. Senators Joe Lieberman (Gore's former running mate) and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina are already working with Democratic senators to write a piece of legislation that will get at least some bipartisan support. It will probably include more subsidies for nuclear power, but otherwise will be similar to the Waxman-Markey bill that the U.S. House of Representatives passed earlier this year. If the White House can get a Spring victory, it can go to a international conference in June with a solid U.S. position on climate legislation. Otherwise, the next big international event for the White House to present what the U.S. has accomplished comes in Mexico City in late 2010. While green power is important, Gore added that infusing the grid with intelligence will likely have a larger impact. "The single largest solution is efficiency," he said. "The reason efficiency is the largest source of low carbon or no carbon energy is the fact that we waste so much energy." Distributed generation and power will also increase the need for grid improvements. The average age of transformers in the U.S. is 42 years old. Lots of new products, jobs etc. Whirlpool has smart appliances coming. Right now it takes 1 gigawatt worth of power just to provide power to TVs that are plugged in yet turned off, Gore stated. Things will outnumber people on the internet, he stated. By early next year, there will be one billion transistors for every person in the world. Other highlights of the speech so far: We face a masssive climate change and he used to listen to Minnie Pearl on the Grand Ol' Opry. News, Grid, Smart Grid 2009-11-20T00:27:02+00:00 http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/vinod-khosla-smart-grid-hard-to-invest-in-and-win/ http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/vinod-khosla-smart-grid-hard-to-invest-in-and-win/ Green VC Vinod Khosla doesn’t see most smart grid investments paying out, unless they can get ahead of the ‘me-too’ solutions to the grid’s problems. News, Other Topics, Finance and VC 2009-11-19T23:24:57+00:00 http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/greentech-for-social-good/ http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/greentech-for-social-good/ A group of entrepreneurs have developed portable power generators and irrigation systems to serve some of the poorest communities in the world. News, Enterprise, Energy Efficiency, Other Topics, Other Energy, Air & Water 2009-11-19T23:08:06+00:00 http://www.greentechmedia.com/green-light/post/google-powermeter-its-our-gift-to-humanity/ http://www.greentechmedia.com/green-light/post/google-powermeter-its-our-gift-to-humanity/ Ed Lu, the former astronaut who now works as a program manager for advanced projects at Google, says that Google does not see PowerMeter, the software it created for monitoring energy in your home, as a way to make money. "We are not trying to build a business model around it," he said. The project comes out of Google.org, the company's philanthropic arm, so Lu gets rated on things other than profit, he explained to an audience at Greenbeat taking place in San Mateo. Data collected through PowerMeter is yours to keep. "Customers should control it. They can delete it," he said. Saying things that people don't have to take seriously is one of the hallmarks of success in corporate America. Apple, Intel, Microsoft, General Motors have all at one point in their histories enjoyed the gift of ludicrous shamelessness. (Disclosure: I used Google for adjectives.) Lu, though, did make a good point. Google has helped popularize some energy management products. The Energy Detective, a device for managing power from a South Carolina company, has been selling devices for a while. It suddenly sold out after it partnered with Google and Google mentioned the company on its blogs. More companies will support PowerMeter, he added. Ideally, companies will be able to adopt PowerMeter without even having to talk to a human at Google. But the good-as-business goal does raise some interesting conflicts. Tendril has a tested and highly rated energy management system. Tendril, however, is not part of Google's PowerMeter alliance. Why not promote them anyway? Why not promote Microsoft's Hohm? Good of humanity and all. News, Grid, Home Area Networks 2009-11-19T21:32:52+00:00 http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/data-centers-that-feed-power-to-the-grid/ http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/data-centers-that-feed-power-to-the-grid/ Locust Storage, which came out of stealth at the GreenBeat Conference, says it has a data storage system that can deliver power to the grid, and cut down IT power. News, Enterprise, Green IT 2009-11-19T21:10:58+00:00 http://www.greentechmedia.com/research-blog/post/following-the-money-in-the-smart-grid/ http://www.greentechmedia.com/research-blog/post/following-the-money-in-the-smart-grid/ Camille Ricketts of Venture Beat moderated a panel on VC investment in smart grid at the Greenbeat event this morning.Here are a few notable observations and quotes from the investors on the panel.Peter Wagner of Accel Partners: He's very interested in the issues in the charging and control of EVs. He encourages entrepreneurs to find customers who are not the utility – go direct to a consumer. Wagner is looking for the company that looks like Opower meets Playfish – bringing social networking plus energy monitoring direct to the consumer "Wouldn't be surprised to see Cisco acquire Silver Spring Networks – although Cisco is probably tired of being extorted in the M&A market." (See Tandberg.) The negative with government smart grid funding is the risk of "false positives" – chasing pools of dollars that seem to exist but are really a mirage. Don Wood of DFJ on greentech exit action in China: Wind turbine blade manufacturer "Tang Energy will go public" and I think you will see an EV company go public in 2010."   2009-11-19T21:06:56+00:00 http://www.greentechmedia.com/green-light/post/following-the-money-in-the-smart-grid/ http://www.greentechmedia.com/green-light/post/following-the-money-in-the-smart-grid/ Camille Ricketts of Venture Beat moderated a panel on VC investment in smart grid at the Greenbeat event this morning.Here are a few notable observations and quotes from the investors on the panel.Peter Wagner of Accel Partners: He's very interested in the issues in the charging and control of EVs. He encourages entrepreneurs to find customers who are not the utility – go direct to a consumer. Wagner is looking for the company that looks like Opower meets Playfish – bringing social networking plus energy monitoring direct to the consumer "Wouldn't be surprised to see Cisco acquire Silver Spring Networks – although Cisco is probably tired of being extorted in the M&A market." (See Tandberg.) The negative with government smart grid funding is the risk of "false positives" – chasing pools of dollars that seem to exist but are really a mirage. Don Wood of DFJ on greentech exit action in China: Wind turbine blade manufacturer "Tang Energy will go public" and I think you will see an EV company go public in 2010."   2009-11-19T21:06:13+00:00 http://www.greentechmedia.com/green-light/post/microsoft-turns-sacramento-on-to-hohm/ http://www.greentechmedia.com/green-light/post/microsoft-turns-sacramento-on-to-hohm/ Microsoft turned on the data feeds to its Hohm home energy monitoring platform at a third utility on Thursday – the Sacramento Municipal Utility District. SMUD has 1.4 million customers, and all will now be able to see their monthly power bills through the Hohm web-based platform, Microsoft planned to announce Thursday morning at the utility's Sacramento, Calif. headquarters. Microsoft has already enabled similar functionality at two other utilities – Xcel Energy, with 3.4 million customers, and Seattle City Light, with about one million customers (see Green Light post). The monthly data – which doesn't require a smart meter to be delivered to customers – can be linked with information customers can input themselves about their household energy use. Hohm merges it all to give homeowners tips to help save energy (see Microsoft Launches Home Energy Site, Sees Devices, Demand Response in Future). It's a model a bit more like energy efficiency tip websites, though Microsoft would like to see more frequent smart meter data incorporated into the system as it becomes available. That's the route most other home energy management platforms are taking. That includes Google, which has signed up about 10 utilities, smart meter maker Itron, and home energy gear makers The Energy Detective and AlertMe to provide data to its web-based PowerMeter platform (See Green Light post and Google, British Gas Help AlertMe Launch Home Energy Control). Google and Microsoft have other differences in how they approach the home energy management market (see Green Light post for a list). Of course, there are also dozens of startups such as Tendril, Control4, OpenPeak, EnergyHub, Onzo, and many others attacking the home energy management space. Two notable ones, Greenbox and Lixar, have been acquired by richly funded smart grid startups Silver Spring Networks and GridPoint, respectively, and meter data management software maker eMeter has launched its own platform as well (see Green Light post, Silver Spring Swallows Greenbox and stories here, here, here and here). News, Grid, Home Area Networks 2009-11-19T17:07:06+00:00 http://www.greentechmedia.com/green-light/post/news-corp.-picks-hara-for-carbon-accounting/ http://www.greentechmedia.com/green-light/post/news-corp.-picks-hara-for-carbon-accounting/ Hara, the carbon and energy accounting software that's landed such clients as Coca-Cola and the cities of Palo Alto and San Jose, has gained another big client – Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. Hara will provide its Environmental and Energy Management platform to help the media giant measure and analyze energy and emissions information from hundreds of facilities around the world, the two announced Thursday. Chalk it up as another big win for the two year old, Menlo Park, Calif.-based startup, which came out of stealth mode in May with news that it had raised $6 million from VC powerhouse Kleiner Perkins, Caufield & Byers (see Energy Management Startup Hara Lands Coke as Client, $6M From Kleiner). Since then, Hara has added $14 million to its war chest with a Series B financing including Kleiner and new investors JAFCO Ventures and Nth Power (see Hara Grabs $14M, Seeks International Markets). Hara is one of the best-funded startups competing in the nascent, but primed-for-growth business of carbon and energy accounting software. Others include CarbonFlow, Planet Metrics, Carbonetworks and CSRWare (see Carbon Accounting: It's All About Appearances). Analysts say these startups will need deep pockets to compete against enterprise software giants such as SAP and CA that are entering the field – some by purchasing startups of their own – as well as others with a long history of helping companies manage energy and environmental data (see Giants vs. Startups: SAP Stakes Carbon Accounting Claim). Hara and News Corp. did not disclose financial terms of the deal announced Thursday. But News Corp. has set a goal of making all its business units carbon neutral by next year – down from 641,150 tons of carbon dioxide equivalents it emitted in the 52 countries in which it operated in 2006 – so it looks like Hara will have its work cut out for it.   News, Enterprise, Carbon Management 2009-11-19T16:50:39+00:00 http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/duke-energy-wants-to-own-every-piece-of-the-smart-grid/ http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/duke-energy-wants-to-own-every-piece-of-the-smart-grid/ Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers sees the utility owning and controlling solar panels and energy management systems in customers’ homes. News, Grid, Smart Grid 2009-11-19T16:00:00+00:00 http://www.greentechmedia.com/green-light/post/video-cleaning-the-ocean-with-carbon/ http://www.greentechmedia.com/green-light/post/video-cleaning-the-ocean-with-carbon/ SAN FRANCISCO -- Here's something you don't expect to see. A-Z Comp, a startup from Russia, wants to use graphene, a type of carbon molecule, to clean up oil spills. When oil spills into the ocean, it sticks together in a muddy pool. You can actually move a tiny slick around with your hand. When graphene is sprinkled onto the slick, the oil slick breaks up. The oil bonds to the solid and then gets swept out of the water when the graphene gets sucked up. Picking out the graphene is like pulling out sand. Watch it in the video. There was no oil left in the bucket. Another cool thing: Graphene is incredibly light. The spice jar full of graphene weighed only a few ounces. Far less the salt. "Scientists in labs can make graphene, but we are the only ones to produce it in production quantities," said Alisher Abdul, the CEO. News, Other Topics, Biofuels 2009-11-19T13:05:23+00:00