Carlos Ghosn & The Coalition Push for more, more, more
Nissan-Renault CEO Carl Ghosn seems to be taking career advice from Frank White lately; wherever there is an opportunity to start making some money, he wants in. Recognizing that full size vehicles were a cash cow in the U.S., Ghosn wanted his cut. Shortly after taking the reins of Nissan in June of 1999, he built a factory in Mississippi to start churning out big trucks like the Titan and the Armada.
Now, the field has… Continue Reading
GreenBeat speaker EcoFactor takes top honors Cleantech Open
Making the rounds of Smart Grid events (and there are quite a few of them this season), smart thermostat company EcoFactor nabbed the $250,000 grand prize in yesterday’s Cleantech Open business plan competition. EcoFactor’s Scott Hublou will be speaking today at GreenBeat 2009.
Based in San Francisco, the company provides software allowing two-way thermostats to automate HVAC systems according to consumer preferences. After EcoFactor is installed — which it soon will be for a pilot-sized group… Continue Reading
Smart Grid Index-based Fund launches on Nasdaq
The NASDAQ OMX Group has launched a new exchange traded fund (ETF). Called the First Trust NASDAQ(R) Clean Edge Smart Grid Infrastructure Index Fund (Nasdaq: GRID). Based on their Smart Grid Infrastructure Index (QGRD), the ETF is managed by First Trust Advisors and listed on NASDAQ.
QGRD is a market capitalization index that includes companies whose chief concern is the U.S. electric grid. This includes software development, network, hardware and metering companies, as well as others… Continue Reading
GreenBeat dives into the Smart Grid in T-3 hours!
The seminal conference on the Smart Grid has arrived.
Our two-day inaugural GreenBeat conference kicks off this afternoon at the San Mateo Marriott, bringing together 400 utility, finance, political and entrepreneurial leaders working to make our electrical grid cleaner, reliable and more efficient.
This is the first time we’ve seen the entire Silicon Valley community converge around a cleantech issue. And we’re not just talking about the usual suspects. Everyone from big corporate hitters like Cisco Systems… Continue Reading
GE wins with new China railway deals
General Electric’s latest in a string of joint ventures with China is a plan to transition its manufacturing of train-based engine components to Beijing.
By the end of 2011, testing and re-building of components like turbochargers and power assemblies will take place in China. Starting in 2013, engines will be assembled, tested and rebuilt in Beijing as well. Providing these components keeps approximately 120 manufacturing jobs in the U.S., though jobs in the test and rebuilding… Continue Reading
GreenBeat: Google’s Lu, OPower’s Yates join the program
There’s one day to go before GreenBeat 2009 takes off, and we’re still adding Smart Grid experts to the agenda. Rounding out the program, we have Google PowerMeter engineer (and former astronaut!) Ed Lu, and OPower CEO Dan Yates, each adding their own brand of expertise to the conversation on consumer-facing energy management solutions: What will change consumer behavior? What do people really want to know about their energy use? Hear answers to these questions… Continue Reading
Honeywell partners with SoCal Ed to run demand response
Honeywell announced that it has been awarded $11.4 million dollars in grant money from the U.S. Department of Energy. This grant is part of the single largest power infrastructure investment in U.S. history, totaling $3.4 billion. Honeywell is one of the four non-utility companies to receive grants.
Honeywell will be using the money to support demand response programs to be enacted in cooperation with Southern California Edison (SCE). The program will support almost 700 customers (primarily… Continue Reading
U.S., China announce clean energy pact
President Barack Obama is in Beijing today, working with Chinese President Hu Jintao on a number of issues pertaining to U.S.-China relations. One of the prime areas of concern: Climate change — how the two biggest emitters of greenhouse gases can collaborate to turn around global warming. As a start, the two leaders announced an ambitious list of agreements to accelerate the transition to clean energy in both countries.
The U.S. Department of Energy has listed… Continue Reading
Widetronix goes nuclear to build a 25-year battery
A company called Widetronix has developed a 25-year battery. Reminiscent of Heinlein’s micro-fission reactors that could be worn on a belt, beta voltaic battery cells last 25 years or more, using semiconductors to turn high energy electrons known as beta particles thrown off by radioactive decay into a usable current.
The technology is 50 years old, but semiconductors back in the day required more radioactive substances to achieve the same (tiny) power output. This made them… Continue Reading
Nissan’s wireless EV charging could leave Coulomb, Better Place in the dust
Electric vehicles have come a long way in the last two years. Tesla Motors and Fisker Automotive have proven that EVs can be fast and decently ranged, even sexy. Nissan is promising to make them fairly cheap. General Motors is working on something any flag waving urban American would be proud to drive. But there’s still one hitch: battery technology — we don’t have anything better than the lithium-ion cells currently in use, and only… Continue Reading
Has ERRA just launched the future of advanced batteries?
In energy storage, fantastic claims of game-changing technologies launch, peak and fall rapidly – only rarely does an actual product result. In a press release, ERRA Incorporated of San Antonio, Tex., announced their acquisition of a set of rights and patents for a “breakthrough battery technology” to be marketed as the YESS (Your Energy Storage Solution) Battery from ERRA, Inc. The press release made no mention of the battery’s chemistry, only that it was “Simply… Continue Reading
PG&E lawsuit spreads down Smart Grid supply chain
Last week, we reported on the lawsuit being filed against Pacific Gas & Electric for price hikes seemingly caused by installation of smart meters in the Bakersfield area of California. Now the plaintiff’s attorneys say that PG&E’s suppliers should also be sued — a who’s who of Smart Grid companies including General Electric, meter maker Landis+Gyr and communications provider Silver Spring Networks.
The original plaintiff, Bakersfield resident Pete Flores, filed the suit after his electric bill… Continue Reading
Power to the People: Giving consumers more control over energy will pay off big
[Editor Note: Pilgrim Beart is the CEO of AlertMe, maker of hardware and software for holistic home energy management. Based in the U.K., the company recently partnered with Google PowerMeter to deliver British citizens with energy consumption data directly on the iGoogle interfaces. If all goes well, it will be a big name in the U.S. too by the end of next year, Beart says.]
Timely information is essential when you’re operating in a competitive marketplace…. Continue Reading
Chinese Suntech eyes panel assembly site in Arizona
Chinese solar company Suntech Power Holdings is primed to become the first recipient of Arizona’s property tax reduction and tax credit incentives policies. With a 100,000 square-foot solar panel manufacturing facility in the works outside of Phoenix, it hopes to ramp up production by fall 2010.
Suntech says the plant will employ 75 people full time from the moment it opens its shipping bay doors. If north American demand for solar panels follows the trrack Suntech… Continue Reading
Electric drag-races: The trend toward performance-focused EVs
Acceleration is a U.S. tradition, harkening back to a time when Main Street on a Friday night was an endless series of drag races a la American Graffiti. Back then, a 1974 GTO ran a quarter mile in 16.4 seconds. But today, the car market is seeing a strong trend toward MPG rather than MPH. Still, there are a few diehards out there who long to be pushed back in their heat when they hit… Continue Reading
GreenBeat 2009: Hot opportunities for startups, investors
GreenBeat 2009 may be the first conference we’ve hosted in the environmental space, but it wouldn’t be a VentureBeat event without emphasis on investors and innovators. Our Innovation Competition will spotlight some of the most promising technologies and business models in the Smart Grid business, hopefully attracting the right backers.
On Thursday, Nov. 19, our “Follow the Money” panel will give some of the most active investors in the grid a chance to talk about what… Continue Reading
Hohm vs. Powermeter: A side-by-side rundown
Much has been written about how the bitter rivalry between Google and Microsoft has extended to their respective home energy management systems, Google PowerMeter and Microsoft Hohm. But most of these stories make it sound like the tools render the same service: reporting how much energy people are using and how much it is costing them. Few have sussed out their subtler differences.
With so many smaller players in the home energy monitoring field (think OpenPeak,… Continue Reading
Renewable energy policy to result in 1.9M jobs, study says
The Obama administration’s progressive support for renewable energy will result in about 1.9 million green collar jobs, according to a new report published by three U.S. universities. It will also elevate the average household income by more than $1,000 and America’s GDP by $111 billion by 2020.
This sets Obama on track to create 5 million green (not just renewable energy) jobs over the next decade. Granted, he made this promise early in his campaign, all… Continue Reading
Solar panel demand finally catching up with supply
One of the biggest, most depressing stories in the solar industry has been the oversupply of panels, which drove down prices and discouraged investors for most of 2009. Now, new research out of trade research firm iSuppli, suggests that demand will catch up with supply by the end of next year — good news for the growing number of solar panel and component makers.
One of the forces deflating demand was a rollback of solar subsidies… Continue Reading
DOE, USDA hand out $24M to biomass projects
Biomass is often overlooked in favor of sexier renewable energy sources like solar and wind — it’s dirty, capital intensive and not emissions free — but it is one of the only drop-in technologies in the alternative fuel space (meaning that it will work with legacy technology, traditional gas tanks and the like). Finally, it has captured the attention of the Department of Energy, which partnered with the Department of Agriculture to give out $24.4… Continue Reading