Businesses move on green tech sans Washington
LAGUNA NIGUEL, Calif.--In the absence of leadership from the federal government, businesses are the best vehicle for slowly transitioning society away from fossil fuels.
That's one of the themes from the Fortune Brainstorm Green this week, a conference to explore environmental sustainability at corporations.
Innovation is the only way to address the "technology gap" that exists between the price of fossil fuels and clean-energy technologies, such as solar, wind, and electric vehicles, said Michael Shellenberger, the president of the Breakthrough Institute.
"This huge gulf that still exists between fossil fuels and clean tech has got to be overcome to do anything about climate," Shellenberger said. "We can make low-carbon, less polluting technologies a lot cheaper through innovation." Policies geared at raising fossil fuel prices are unlikely to work, but he suggested a combination of policies, such as military procurement and government programs to accelerate technology development, could bring ... Read full post & comments
Texas revs up eVgo chain of charging stations
Walgreens will host eVgo stations at 18 of its Houston-area stores.
(Credit: eVgo)The eVgo chain of charging stations for electric vehicles will have its official coming-out party today at a Dallas event whose speakers include Texas Gov. Rick Perry.
The first U.S. commercial chain of charging stations, eVgo (pronounced ee-vee-go), is set to announce that it will have a total of 60 electric-vehicle charging stations in place by Labor Day. It is owned by NRG EV Services, a subsidiary of NRG Energy, one of the largest electricity providers in Texas.
NRG EV Services and eVgo will also likely announce their specific pricing structure and plans for station customers. So far, eVgo has said it plans to offer a subscription service through which customers get unlimited access to its stations for a set monthly fee, and it is developing a smartphone app that will alert users to nearby charging ... Read full post & comments
ALTe Powertrain Tech retrofits trucks as plug-ins
Even as the big automakers start making plug-in electric vehicles, ALTe PowertrainTechnologies is one of many companies seeking to carve out a business converting fleet vehicles to plug-in hybrids.
The Auburn Hills, Mich.-based company said today it has signed a partnership with Manheim, which sells autos through online auctions, to market retrofit trucks and vans to be extended-range electric vehicles.
ALTe Powertrain Technologies plans to convert trucks, such as a Ford F-150, into a hybrid and increase fuel efficiency by as much as 200 percent. The major components of its powertrain are a 20 kilowatt-hour lithium ion battery pack, generator, and hybrid controller.
The company projects that a truck can go 30 miles in all-electric mode and another 275 miles on charge-sustaining mode without loss of performance and increased torque compared to a V8 engine. It can be charged ... Read full post & comments
Studying a second life for electric-vehicle batteries
When a lithium ion battery reaches the point at which it can no longer be used in an electric car, it still has the potential to be used in other applications. But exactly what are the best uses for them?
The U.S. government is backing a comprehensive study to determine just that, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) announced Tuesday.
"To date, no one has comprehensively studied the feasibility, durability, and value of Li-ion batteries for second-use applications," NREL said in a statement.
The California Center for Sustainable Energy (CCSE) will lead the research project which will explore the best applications for used lithium ion batteries. Potential uses include employing used batteries as energy storage devices for variable electricity sources like wind and solar that could also tie in to the electric grid.
"The NREL award to the CCSE team leverages an ongoing UC Davis-CCSE-TSRC study funded by the ... Read full post & comments
GE to build massive thin-film U.S. solar plant
GE plans to manufacture 400 megawatts worth annually of thin-film solar cells made with cadmium telluride.
(Credit: GE)General Electric plans to build a thin-film solar factory in the U.S. that will produce solar cells that have an efficiency of 12.8 percent, the company announced today.
In conjunction with this news, GE also announced that it has acquired PrimeStar Solar, a company GE has had a stake in since 2008.
The thin-film solar cells to be manufactured using cadmium telluride were developed by PrimeStar through a cooperative research program with Department of Energy's National Center for Photovoltaics. The cells were given a 12.8 percent efficiency rating, through a verification process conducted by the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL).
Even though others have achieved higher efficiencies in the lab, that 12.8 percent efficiency rating is significant in the world of thin-film solar technology manufacturing. Cells made ... Read full post & comments
Google to invest $5 million in German solar plant
Google plans to invest 3.5 million euros, or about $5 million, in a solar photovoltaic power plant in Germany, according to an announcement today.
The power plant has a capacity of 18.65MWp and is located on a 116-acre site--previously used as a Russian military training ground--in Brandenburg an der Havel, approximately 50 miles from Berlin.
Google said it will provide clean energy to more than 5,000 homes in the surrounding area. The proposal still requires the formal approval of the German competition authorities.
Read more of "Google to invest 3.5m euros in German solar plant" at ZDNet UK.
Bill Joy chases green-tech breakthroughs
LAGUNA NIGUEL, Calif.--Six years into green-tech venture investing, Kleiner Perkins continues to see the potential for green technologies to leapfrog incumbent energy systems, according to tech luminary Bill Joy.
In an onstage interview today at the Fortune Brainstorm Green conference here, Joy said Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, where he is a partner, seeks out disruptive technologies that could change energy much the way that technologies, such as PCs and mobile devices, shook up the IT industry.
Bill Joy
(Credit: Martin LaMonica/CNET)The famed Silicon Valley venture capital company, which funded Amazon, Google, and many other IT companies, has made about 60 green-tech investments, including in fuel-cell manufacturer Bloom Energy, smart-grid company Silver Spring Networks, and FloDesign Wind Turbines.
Joy said new technologies can offer a different cost reduction curve than incumbent products, he said. FloDesign Wind Turbines, for example, uses a jet engine-like construction, unlike traditional propeller-like wind ... Read full post & comments
Microsoft and Toyota partner on smart-grid tech
Toyota Motor has agreed to develop and deploy telematic services, including its smart-grid technology for running electric systems more efficiently, on Microsoft's cloud-based Azure technology.
Toyota wants to use the technology to give customers navigation and diagnostic services, much like General Motors' OnStar service. Toyota also envisions scenarios in which drivers would be able to turn on heaters or air conditioning at their home with voice commands from their car. "We'll boost the value of today's vehicles by making them information terminals," Toyota President Akio Toyoda said at a press conference today, which was Webcast.
The service, a centerpiece of Toyota's green initiative, will provide energy management technology for Toyota's electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles in 2012. Drivers will be able to choose to charge those cars when energy consumption is lowest and prices are cheapest. "We must find a planet-friendly way of using energy," ... Read full post & comments
Cree claims LED production cost, color solution
MR-16 bulb components that go with new Cree XM-L EasyWhite LEDs.
(Credit: Cree)A manufacturing breakthrough will result in lower costs for better color LEDs, LED manufacturer Cree announced Wednesday.
Cree says it's been able to apply a new method of color mixing to produce an LED light that's akin to an incandescent light bulb in color and uniformity.
The LED light uses 4 watts of power while offering 340 lumens at 3,000 degrees Kelvin (warm white) and operating at a temperature of 85 degrees Celsius.
The LEDs are intended for use in fixtures that would normally take a 20- to 25-watt halogen bulb, such as track lighting, picture lights, projection light fixtures, and chandeliers.
LEDs (light-emitting diodes) are essentially silicon chips that produce light and are more energy efficient that CFL or incandescent lighting. But they have been hampered by the fact that they do not ... Read full post & comments
Shift fossil fuel subsidies to back clean tech: IEA
Fossil fuel subsidies worth $312 billion should be realigned to ensure the growth of renewable energy and curb the world's reliance on carbon-intensive fuels, the International Energy Agency said in a report.
Demand for fossil fuels is outstripping the deployment of cleaner technologies. Renewable energy has seen growth rates of 30 percent to 40 percent over recent years but coal has met 47 percent of global new electricity demand over the past decade, the IEA said in its "Clean Energy Progress Report" (PDF) today.
To change this, the IEA suggests realigning fossil fuel subsidies to support clean energy, providing more incentives for private sector investment and market mechanisms.
Fossil fuels received $312 billion in subsidies as of 2009 compared to $57 billion for renewable energy, the report said.
"A number of countries have shown that achieving rapid transition to cleaner technologies is possible and can be done from the ... Read full post & comments
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