What makes a smart grid pilot a success — even when it’s a failure? General Electric and Accenture spent an hour Wednesday with some energy industry big shots at the World Economic Forum in Atlanta and explained it all to us. Read more »
Lockheed Martin has turned to the smart grid with a vengeance. The gigantic defense contractor has been helping utilities design, manage and secure smart meter networks, distribution grid sensor systems and microgrids for years, but in the past year has ramped up its efforts. Read more »
Schneider Electric likes to say that 70 percent of the world’s electrons flow through its equipment. What’s it doing to make those electrons flow more intelligently? Read more »
GE is gunning for First Solar’s turf with a new line of thin-film solar panels, saying it hopes to grow its solar business to match its $6 billion-a-year wind power dominance. Read more »
A state court has ruled that the IC was wrong to allow utility Commonwealth Edison to pass on certain costs to its customers, including the $5 million passed on to customers in 2008 for a smart grid pilot project now getting underway. Read more »
Smart meters get all the attention, but smart distribution grid and substation projects are actually taking the lead in smart grid spending across the nation, and corporate giants are reaping the benefit. That’s the gist of a Cleantech Group report released by the DOE Thursday. Read more »
Not even the iPhone 4 could stem the tide of Android, at least according to the latest rolling average for U.S. smartphone market share from comScore. The report, which measures smartphone market share in the U.S. among those 13 and older, saw Android increase five points. Read more »
Look out, smart meter startups with IPO dreams — the granddaddy of power metering is plugging into the public markets. Elster Group, the German electric, gas and water metering giant founded in 1848, announced this week that it was filing to go public. Read more »
Echelon has launched a new software-hardware combo to control the distribution portion of the grid. The product has two notable aspects: it’s open to third-party developers, and its first customer will be utility Duke Energy. Read more »
The official verdict is out — Pacific Gas & Electric’s smart meter technology has been working properly, but its customer service hasn’t. That’s the conclusion of a state-ordered report released Thursday from independent analysts at the Structure Group. Read more »
There are many tech-paved roads that lead to reduced energy use in data centers, from software-centric solutions to those that put sensors on every server and fan. But the paths to commercializing those technologies are, by comparison, relatively few. Read more »
Startups might not be able to convince the FAA to try out a new, fuel-saving way to guide planes to their landings at airports around the country, but what about GE?. On Thursday, AA flight 1916 used technology based on the work of startup Naverus. Read more »
After weeks of testimony, Baltimore Gas & Electric has gotten itself back into the good graces of Maryland state regulators. The utility announced Monday that the Maryland PUC approved the redrawn project on Friday, meaning BG&E won’t have to return a $200 million DOE stimulus grant. Read more »
Last month, General Electric announced that it would be taking submissions from inventors and entrepreneurs seeking a piece of a $200 million smart grid investment fund. Now GE says it has received 950 submissions from around the world. Read more »
Looks like bad news for First Solar. The Washington Post reported Thursday that the thin film solar PV leader may not have actually secured that 2-gigawatt solar farm planned for China’s desert, which it announced back in September of 2009. Read more »
Today’s end-users are very vocal about the freedom they experience with their iPhones as consumers versus the frustration they feel in the workplace with limited device choices and a lack of apps. This research brief (the first in a two-part series) addresses the issue of how consumers can connect personal mobile devices to the enterprise, and also looks at how IT can play a pivotal role in harvesting such a capability. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
ECOtality CEO Jonathan Read described the company’s new Blink smart charging stations for electric vehicles as a “Swiss army knife of telecommunication,” designed to connect with local area networks, Wi-Fi, Zigbee and cell phone networks. Can Read build a business with these stations? Read more »
In the second quarter of 2010, greentech startups scored record venture capital and increased spending despite a weak economy. Solar power retained its lead in greentech venture financing, while global investment for clean energy asset financing fell. China, meanwhile, underscored its rising might in the greentech industry, raising billions of dollars in green energy financing. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Many users shy away from using IRC as it’s perceived to be complex and difficult to use — an impression not helped by the design of many IRC clients. Colloquy is different — it’s an open-source IRC client for OS X that’s easy-to-use and looks great. Read more »
China has historically been a tough market to crack for foreign companies, and cleantech companies, too, face a number of hurdles in that space. Here’s what you need to know to start doing green business in China, and how to make the right ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Cisco has gone beyond talking about its plans for the smart grid, but competing for space in utility substations will involve more than simply hardening some routers and ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Spring Design is now shipping the Alex reader, an e-book reader with both a six inch e-Ink screen and a 3.5 inch color touchscreen. The Alex runs Android, and it shows to be a solid reader after initial testing. Here’s the first look at the Alex. Read more »
Automakers from Detroit to China to Silicon Valley have plug-in vehicles slated for commercial launch between 2010 and 2012. A lively ecosystem of technology developers, equipment makers and would-be service providers for these vehicles has started to emerge in preparation for an influx of electric cars. ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Despite the build out of smart grid infrastructure, there’s still a variety questions that remain unanswered when it comes to just what will a next-generation smart grid network look like? Here’s 5 points of debate that we’ll be addressing at our Green:Net conference on April 29: Read more »
Distributech, the once-sleepy power grid trade show, has been transformed into a high-profile smart grid showcase over the past couple of years — this year’s show in Tampa, Fla. is no exception. Here’s 10 things you should pay attention to coming outta Distributech this year. Read more »
I knew it was only a matter of time until some developer figured out a way to turn the big trackpad on the MacBooks into a little tablet. The folks at Ten One Design have stepped up to the plate with Inklet, a program that does […] Read more »
2009 was a pretty good year for me, as it consisted of some big, positive changes, among them joining the GigaOM team to take over the reigns here at WebWorkerDaily. I’m not planning on making any major new changes in 2010, just a few subtle tweaks […] Read more »
As I was using my iPhone 3GS last night, I saw an update in the iTunes App Store for the e-book software called Shortcovers. I noticed the app went through a name change to Kobo, which had me scratching my head in thought. Why would such […] Read more »
TPI Composites, which builds lightweight wind turbine blades, on Thursday announced it completed a $26 million round of funding. The deal was led by Element Partners and included participation from existing investors Landmark Growth Capital Partners, NGP Energy Technology Partners, Angeleno Group and GE Capital, the investment […] Read more »
Apparently, you can buy a decent external iPhone battery solution for $15 — or less. Fellow geek, Josh Bancroft, was leery of the MonoPrice offer, but decided to take the low-cost risk. And after reading his thoughts as well as some other reviews, I’m ready to […] Read more »
General Electric started churning out plans earlier this year for cleaner heavy-haul locomotive technology, announcing its intention in May to produce batteries for hybrid trains in upstate New York and unveiling a new, more fuel-efficient locomotive model. This morning, the conglomerate has announced a set of […] Read more »
General Electric has never hidden its intention to gobble up startups with promising technology in order to expand its business. The conglomerate followed through on that promise again on Monday with the announcement that its energy division has acquired ScanWind, a Norwegian developer of advanced drive […] Read more »
Homer Simpson is on Twitter — for real! Well, in an account written by the folks on the digital team at Fox, with the handle HomerJSimpson. That’s the word from Hardie Tankersley, VP Online Content & Strategy at Fox Broadcasting Company, who we spoke with today […] Read more »
Data centers are a critical component of many businesses these days, but because of the amount of electricity they consume, they are extremely expensive to run. However, a great deal can be done both to cut costs and reduce their environmental footprint, simply by making them more energy efficient. Online technologies and applications are creating skyrocketing demand for new data centers, and most enterprises are now seeking “greener” solutions, both in their own facilities, and in the facilities with which they do business. This report looks at innovations in green data center design and identifies key players — from major data center operators to startups solving specific issues — leading the charge. Read more »
Echelon might not have the biggest name in the smart meter biz, but it has scored an initial deal with one of the largest utility partners. The company, which has been a strong seller in the European market for several decades, said Monday that it signed […] Read more »
