In the news this week, IBM offered an app for electric vehicle (EV) charging, while seven major automakers agreed on a common DC fast-charging platform; a Canadian company floated a trial balloon, underwater, to save renewable energy; a Norwegian company finagled financing for subsea power cable projects; the DeLorean car has literally come “Back to the Future” — and much, much more.
IBM and its partner EKZ have put together an app, compatible with most smart phones, tablets and Web browsers, that displays a vehicle’s battery level and range of travel distance in real time; as well as vehicle location, charge schedule, and current energy costs. Several electric vehicles, including a Renault Twingo, are being used for pilot road testing.
Audi, BMW, Daimler, Ford, General Motors, Porsche, and Volkswagen have agreed on a single standard for DC fast-charging in Europe and the United States. All charging scenarios have been integrated into one vehicle inlet/charging connector by the combined charging approach of the system. Vehicles can, therefore, communicate with the charging station in identical ways. HomePlug (News - Alert) Green Phy will be used as the communication protocol. Integration of the electric vehicle into future smart grid applications will be facilitated through this approach.
A Canadian company called Hydrostor has come up with a simple but ingenious solution for storage of renewable energy: Excess energy from wind turbines is being converted into air compressed into a balloon sunk underwater. This is currently being tested with offshore wind turbines. If it is successful, it could be a technology that could be used on both a smaller and larger scale. It would be an efficient solution for storage for both as a commercial power producer or a home power generator.
Statnett, which is the Transmission System Operator of the Norwegian electric power system, has signed a 16-year maturity loan with the Nordic Investment Bank to partially finance the Skagerrak 4 and Oslofjord power cable projects.
Totaling more than $228 million, the loan will help to upgrade the 13km subsea cable across the Oslofjord and also help in the construction of a new High Voltage Direct Current power connection across the Skagerrak strait, known as Skagerrak 4. As a result, a new subsea cable 240km long will be laid between Norway and Denmark, out of which l40km will be under the seabed. The cable will have a capacity of 700 MW.
Those readers who remember the DeLorean sports car of the early 1980s probably still can visualize its gull-winged, stainless steel, anachronistic splendor. Although only 9,000 originals ever rolled off John Z. Delorean’s Belfast-based production line, the car earned a place in popular culture when a modified version was “cast” as a time machine in the 1985 movie blockbuster, "Back to the Future." After the spectacular crash and failure of the original DeLorean enterprise, car lover and investor Stephen Wynne launched another DeLorean Motor Co. — this one, in Humble, Texas. Now, the company has debuted a new version of the old favorite — a prototype DeLorean powered entirely by electricity. Plans are to start selling built-to-order electric DeLoreans around 2013. The sticker price (if you need to look, you can’t afford it): about $90,000.
We already know what Facebook (News - Alert) can do: It can keep you connected; it can keep you informed; it can keep you entertained. But can it keep you green? It would like to, apparently. The social networking giant announced a new feature this week—an app that was designed to help you “live green” by practicing energy savings in your home. Essentially, you'll be able to track your energy use and compare your data with that of other users of the app (making energy savings a sort of “competition”). It will be complete and offered to Facebook users next year.
IBM is ubiquitous: In addition to launching its new app for EV charging, the computer giant has joined a European consortium of 16 partners from ten countries to support the EcoGrid EU project, which will demonstrate a smart energy grid that will enable smart devices to use renewable electricity based on near real-time pricing and availability. The proposed energy grid uses at least 50 percent of renewable energy sources, such as wind power, solar energy, and biogas. The EcoGrid EU project will be piloted on the Danish island of Bornholm with 2,000 residents and commercial users, representing approximately every tenth house on the island, according to IBM officials.
Sprint Nextel has yet again reached an environmental milestone by signing up new climate protection commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions with World Wildlife Fund’s Climate Savers program. This announcement was made by Sprint (News 
- Alert) CEO Dan Hesse at CTIA, who said, "Joining the Climate Savers program is an important part of our ongoing climate protection efforts. My hope is that our commitment encourages other companies to follow.” There are 28 other companies participating, including (the apparently ever-present) IBM, The Coca-Cola Company, and Johnson & Johnson.
Dow has announced its intentions to “raise the roof” throughout America—elevating it from a utilitarian protective covering for homes to an innovative, cost-effective, energy generating platform that still looks traditionally attractive. Dow Solar, a division of The Dow Chemical Company, launched U.S. sales of its new Powerhouse Solar Shingle in Colorado this month. D.R. Horton, a nationwide homebuilder, will make a 3-kilowatt Powerhouse shingle roof a standard feature on 50 new homes in the Spring Mesa community outside Denver. Dow expects sales of solar shingles to, ahem, go through the roof—bringing in as much as $10 billion by 2020. The company said there will be substantial benefits for consumers, too. The cost of the innovative solar shingles is expected to be as much as 15 percent lower than that of traditional solar panels. About a dozen U.S. states have been targeted for introduction of the product between now and the end of 2012.
Finally, Satcon Technology has crossed a significant milestone in Southern California Edison's Solar Photovoltaic Program. Satcon has delivered more than 48 megawatts of its PowerGate Plus 500 kW solution to date. The company has also completed multiple projects with additional utilities— and, when combined, they bring Satcon's sales for utility owned solar power generation in California to more than 100 megawatts. Earlier this year, Boston-based Satcon was selected by Bangalore -based Wipro (News - Alert) EcoEnergy for the most extensive privately developed solar project in India to date.
Cheryl Kaften is an accomplished communicator who has written for consumer and corporate audiences. She has worked extensively for MasterCard (News - Alert) 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.
