Top Stories
Al Gore: Our next power grid will be like the
Net.—reliability high.
In a recent speech Al Gore "made comparisons to how the advent of the
so-called smart grid will enable the kind of solutions and business
innovation that the Internet brought during the 1990s. 'The analogy to
the Internet is quite an exact one. Not completely exact, but it's very
relevant for lots of reasons. We are moving inexorably toward a widely
distributed energy generation and storage model. We are still locked
into the old centralized energy generation model,' Gore said. 'The
rapid development of new generations of new smart storage systems are
going to make a tremendous difference in connection with the smart
grids.' " From
CNET News.
America, China and climate change.—reliability
high.
President Obama and Danish prime minister, Lars Lokke Rasmussen, have
admitted the obvious--there is no chance of finalizing a new global
climate treaty at the upcoming meetings in Copenhagen. Article
discusses the reasons why, and covers recent Obama/Hu agreements. "they
announced a raft of practical measures on energy—both its production
and its use. Some were more aspirational than operational. But they may
show the way forward, by focusing on concrete measures to be taken
today rather than distant goals." Agreements include a "Sino-American
clean-energy research centre and an electric-vehicles initiative. They
also include a plan to increase energy efficiency, especially in
buildings" and a "promise, to work together on 'cleaner coal' [and] to
co-operate on extracting natural gas from shale." "The interplay
between international negotiations and the Senate’s deliberations is
delicate. Senators are unwilling to vote for caps in America without a
commitment from China, China is unwilling to make one without an
ambitious target for cuts from America, and the administration is
unwilling to antagonise the Senate by seeming to cave in to foreign
pressure. But there are ways round the impasse." From
The Economist.
Green Buildings Do Double Duty: Reduce Energy
Use, Lower Financial Risk.—reliability high.
A KPMG "study finds that energy consumption in buildings can be cut by
30 to 50 percent and still produce a positive return on investments.
Plus, real estate groups can get a business boost from green buildings
by attracting the best deals, strategic investors, and marquee anchor
tenants, according to the report." "study cites several benefits to a
'green' building. These include easier facility zoning and permitting,
reduced tax burdens, and potentially lower insurance premiums." See
Environmental Leader. KPMG press release here.
Study: Asia Surging in Clean-Tech
Manufacturing.—reliability medium.
"If the United States government does not invest more money in clean
technology, it risks losing out to China, South Korea and Japan,
according to a new study from two American policy institutes. Over the
next five years, those three countries will together spend $509 billion
in clean technology through 2013, compared with $172 billion by the
United States" See
New York Times Green Inc. blog. Access the report here.
Companies,
Industries, Markets and Supply Chains
3 Next-Gen Applications for Smart Grid 2.0.—reliability
high.
"As Khosla Ventures partner Vinod Khosla put it today, he’s searching
for the Twitters and Facebooks of the smart grid." "Here’s 3 companies
that have developed next-gen smart grid services that were at the
GreenBeat show:" Locust Storage, Building IQ, R2EV. See
earth2tech.
Iranian Tanker Firm to Cut Fuel Use 28%.—reliability
high.
"National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) aims to cut energy use 28
percent, to be achieved by improvements in operational efficiency,
fleet management, traffic control, cargo handling and energy
efficiency, reports Maritime Global Net." See
Environmental Leader.
Utilities eye their own 'iTunes App Stores'
for Smart Grid apps.—reliability medium.
"essentially, every major utility, in order to be at the cutting edge
of the Smart Grid, will need to have a full portfolio of applications
that can help their customers trim their energy use and their monthly
bills. This has become vitally important, especially for utilities
operating in deregulated markets, like Texas, where customers can
decide which energy vendor to use based on the breadth of services they
provide." From
GreenBeat.
Ecobee iPhone App is live.—reliability
medium.
"I just got word that the Ecobee iPhone app has been released and
downloaded it today. If you have an Ecobee and an iPhone, just go
to the app store and search for 'Ecobee'. If you don’t know what
an Ecobee is, then you should read my post, 'Ecobee Programmable Smart
Thermostat: I love adjusting my thermostat over the internet.'" See
MapAWatt blog.
Cisco Plans to Introduce Smart Grid Products
Early Next Year.—reliability high.
Laura Ipsen, Senior Vice President of the Smart Grid for Cisco says
"Cisco plans to launch some products directly in the smart grid market.
Ipsen was entirely vague on specifics, but said Cisco sees itself
playing at all critical points of the network of the power grid in the
areas of 'enhancing operations, manageability, and scalability.' You’ll
see products from Cisco in those areas early next year, said Ipsen.
While Cisco engineers are hard at work on smart grid products, Cisco
could also 'acquire,' 'partner,' with or 'invest' in companies
developing new tools, she said." From
earth2tech.
Government and
Regulation
EPA strengthens SO2 standard.—reliability
high.
"For the first time in nearly 40 years, the US Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) is proposing to strengthen the US sulphur-dioxide (SO2)
air-quality standard to protect public health. . . . The EPA is taking
comment on a proposal to establish a national one-hour SO2 standard
between 50 and 100 parts per billion (ppb). This standard is designed
to protect against short-term exposures ranging from five minutes to 24
hours. Because the revised standards would be more protective, the EPA
is proposing to revoke the current 24-hour and annual SO2 health
standards. . . . The public comment period will be open for 60 days
after the proposal is published in the US Federal Register. The agency
will hold a public hearing on 5 January 2010, in Atlanta. The EPA must
issue final standards by June 2, 2010." From
The Engineer. [If
you burn fossil fuels, or if you transport your raw materials or
products by burning fossil fuels, this could be important to you.]
[Crossposted from HaraBara.com courtesy of HaraBara, Inc. Copyright © 2009 HaraBara, Inc.]
