The news this week is all about turning on, plugging in, and connecting – in the Rain Forest, at gas stations and campgrounds, through telephone lines and street lighting, in data centers and on rooftops. In addition, we may be seeing a “tipping” point in home energy – and one tiny EV company has rolled over and requested bankruptcy protection. Finally, one “divine” new car is being custom-produced for a crowd-pleasing excursion on the Continent.
Perseus Telecom, a leading telecommunications provider, has supplied a high-speed connection to Palladium Energy in Manaus, Brazil, which is located in the center of Amazonia. Palladium Energy's Manaus manufacturing site situated in the largest tropical rainforest on earth was on the lookout for a better connection to enable them to increase their productivity.
Juniper Networks, a global networking provider, connected with Hess Corporation, a global energy company, and gained a multimillion-dollar contract. Together with software major IBM, Juniper Networks will provide energy-efficient networking services to Hess. Hess will incorporate IBM's implementation and staging services coupled with Juniper's integrated switching and security solutions.
Cincinnati Bell (News 
- Alert) Energy, a based provider of affordable, green retail energy, has partnered with Viridian Energy, a retail energy supplier that provides greener electricity at an affordable price. The partnership with Viridian Energy will allow Cincinnati Bell to deliver a service package including energy, entertainment, Internet, and phone that is 100 percent green. According to Cincinnati Bell, the service is the state's first green energy option offered at a discount to the local utility—and this makes the company the first telecom provider to offer retail energy supply along with other services. The marriage between telecom and energy is a dramatic first for both industries.
The Romanian city of Brasov has decided to reap the cost and efficiency benefits from investing in smart street lighting infrastructure, selecting Echelon’s energy control technology for the deployment of smart, networked street lighting systems in the city over the next three years. “We couldn't be more pleased with the early results …. We have cut our energy costs by nearly 30 percent without even changing the existing lamps or ballasts. Based on this success, our plan over the next three years is to deploy this solution for the entire Brasov street lighting system, which includes 18,000 luminaries,” said Miklos Gantz, Vice-Mayor of Brasov.
Interxion (News - Alert), a premier Pan-European provider of carrier neutral collocation data services, has furthered its commitment to “Go Green” by converting its Belgian data center to use energy only from renewable sources. As a result of such an initiative, the data center will be utilizing only hydroelectric, wind, and solar power for all its requirements. Located in Brussels, the 5,000 square-feet facility works off a 15 MVA grid connection.
A consortium of leading financial, real estate, and renewable energy companies – Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Prologis, and NRG Energy – has received an offer of a conditional commitment from the U.S. Department of Energy's Loan Programs Office to help finance the largest distributed rooftop solar generation project in the world. The loan guarantee supporting $1.4 billion of debt facilitates a total project size of about $2.6 billion, which is being financed entirely by the private sector over the next four years. This distributed solar project will generate employment across 28 U.S. states and will create the equivalent of more than 10,000 full-year jobs. Once fully funded and completed, these installations are expected to provide approximately 733 megawatts (MW) of distributed solar energy, which is enough clean, renewable energy to power approximately 100,000 homes.
Atlanta-based General Electric Energy and its venture capital partners will invest $63 million in ten innovative home energy technology companies – marking the second round of funding as part of the $200 million GE Ecomagination Challenge. This phase of the Ecomagination Challenge, Powering Your Home, was launched in January. GE’s venture capital partners include Emerald Technology Ventures, Foundation Capital, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) and RockPort Capital and Carbon Trust (News - Alert).
Spotting technologies’ “next big thing” is always exciting and problematic. Case in point is the home automation/smart home market. It has been just around the corner as the next big thing since it was a highlight of the 1939 New York World Fair. However, reading the recent tea leaves, it is possible that the announcement on June 20 that iControl got a fourth round of funding of $50 million may signal one of those infamous tipping points. See Green Technology World Senior Editor Peter Bernstein’s seven reasons why smart home technology is ready to take off.
And from smart homes, it’s not a large leap to smart buildings. Digi International (News - Alert) announced that Efficient Energy America, Inc., known as E2America, will be using its iDigi Device Cloud, ConnectPort X4 gateways and XBee ZB ZigBee modules to wirelessly enable the E2 intelligent commercial building control system. E2America’s Smart Grid efficiency technology has been installed in restaurant chains and other commercial buildings in the U.S. They help reduce energy consumption and demand by optimizing HVAC efficiency, resulting in annual savings to the tune of $7,000-$8,000 per site.
Toshiba Corporation, the Tokyo-based electronics titan, has been selected by the Ford Motor Company to supply automotive inverters for its hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs). Ford plans to start mass production of new models of both kinds of vehicle in 2012, including the C-MAX Energi, a PHEV, and the C-MAX Hybrid, an HEV. Toshiba (News - Alert) will support Ford with a new inverter production line at its plant in Mie Prefecture, Japan. The new line will have a production capacity of 150,000 inverters a year and be ready to start supply in April 2012.
Looking for a charge? The Ocean Lakes Family Campground in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, has set up two stations for electric vehicles near the entrance of the mega oceanfront complex in Horry County. The campground intends to serve guests who tow their electric cars to the beach and even non-guests who need a charge. Campground guests can charge for free, while others will pay $5 to get in the campground and can use the campground's snack bar, store, or other amenities while they wait the four hours for the charge.
Electric automaker Think Global AS has filed for bankruptcy protection in its home market, Norway, after failed attempts at recapitalization and restructuring. This is the fourth time that Think has collapsed financially in its 20-year history. Ener1, the New York City-based Lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery producer that led a capital increase of Think last year, said that it planned to take a charge on its earnings worth about $35 million relating to loans receivable from the company.
There will be electricity in the air – and in the Popemobile – when His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, visits Germany next September. The Vatican has reportedly confirmed that he will be using a new “holy roller” – most likely, a Mercedes-Benz M-Class plug-in hybrid. With its massive amount of armor plating, bullet-proof glass and other modifications, the Popemobile, much like President Barack Obama's famous Cadillac limousine – aka The Beast – is, like its occupant, larger than life. In fact, it's so huge that the Vatican questioned whether a pure electric power train could provide enough velocity to get His Holiness out of trouble in an emergency situation. For now, details on the plug-in hybrid Popemobile are scarce, as neither the Vatican nor Mercedes-Benz is willing to release info on the vehicle for security reasons.
Cheryl Kaften is an accomplished communicator who has written for consumer and corporate audiences. She has worked extensively for MasterCard Worldwide, Philip Morris USA (Altria), and KPMG, and has consulted for Estee Lauder and the Philadelphia Inquirer Newspapers. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.
