I recently took delivery of my Tesla Model S, and it brings me back to a time when the word ‘electric’ stood for cool, as in electric fantastic, electric banana, electric kool-aid. So last month, I decided to hit the electric highway, and try out smoke-free driving from Washington through New England and back. Family… Keep reading →
Energy companies love to brag about being the world’s largest, first or producing the most of something and the bragging is about to begin. The Shams 1 concentrated solar plant located in the UAE’s Western Region is currently the world’s largest, but not for long, as an enormous project in the US western desert is… Keep reading →
Electric car manufacturer Tesla has announced plans to dramatically expand its electric vehicle charging network – the company claims that within six months, it will connect most major metropolitan areas in the US and southern Canada. [Forbes] In somewhat related but perhaps slightly less dramatic news, the US Navy has unveiled its first solar-powered EV… Keep reading →
A proposed Bloom Box fuel cell project falls apart because of financing. News on Bloom Energy continues to roll in. Last week we reported on the $130 million round of funding for Bloom, the decade-old fuel cell firm that has drawn down more than $1.1 billion in venture capital funding. (Also see last month’s detailed update on the fuel cell industry.)… Keep reading →
The mobile internet revolution has been driven by customers rather than companies, with the most innovative work being done for consumers who often then turn around to companies and ask why they can’t use the same tools at work.
Now – thanks to Google and GE – they can. The two companies have launched a partnership for the utility business that leverages the combination of Google’s customer-facing approach with its ease of use and intuitive maps functions with the deep sector knowledge of GE. Customers accessing GE’s information on energy assets can now load that data on top of Google’s maps functions rather than requiring separate custom-built technology with accompanying training hurdles and potential bugs or mismatches. Keep reading →
Like many firms before it, Google has come to realize that policy and regulation are the biggest obstacles to grid modernization. As Michael Terrell, one of the firm’s senior lobbyists explains on a company blog, “the challenge is that the rules governing electricity distribution were written for last century’s grid.”
Until recently, Google has often preferred to go its own way when seeking to influence policy. This time around, it has decided to fund the Energy Foundation with a $2.65 million grant to support policy reforms in three areas: Keep reading →
Companies are at the leading edge of wind globally, not least in the US. Starbucks recently sent a joint letter with 18 other US companies to Congress to request an extension of the Production Tax Credit which has helped grow installed capacity.
Ben & Jerry’s, Clif Bar, Johnson & Johnson, Levi Strauss & Co, The North Face, Sprint, Starbucks, Symantec, Timberland and Yahoo! are just a selection of household corporate names that understand the value of a sustainable wind industry to the consumer and the bottom line. Keep reading →
With 30% coal generation in NRG Energy’s fleet, chief executive David Crane cannot exactly be hailed the Sun King. But the photovoltaic roof over the top tier of the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey is a crowning solar achievement for what may become the largest independent electricity generator in the US after its pending merger with GenOn is approved.
“Not all renewables are created equal and solar has versatility lacking in other technologies such as wind,” said Crane. “To NRG, solar is the gamechanger.” Keep reading →
Collaboration between utilities and third party software developers will be crucial in the implementation of the smart grid, bringing innovation to large energy suppliers and reliable customers for data firms.
Large utility companies need to embrace “big data analytics” to better understand the “health of our assets,” Karen Austin, the senior price president and chief information officer at Pacific Gas and Electric, said. Keep reading →
‘Delta Boys’: An Energy Documentary Review
By Jared AndersonMany oil and gas analysts know Nigerian energy fundamentals like backs of their hands, effortlessly rattling off statistics like the country’s 2.4 million barrels per day of 2011 oil production accounted for about 3% of the world’s total or the fact that Nigeria was tied with Australia as the world’s fourth largest LNG exporter that same year. And the soon-to-be released documentary “Delta Boys” begins much the same way, identifying Nigeria’s place in the global oil and gas producer hierarchy.
However, few analysts truly comprehend the situation as it exists on the ground. The same goes for the millions of news consumers worldwide that follow the complex web of human rights, environmental, political, economic and energy supply issues that pulse throughout the resource-rich region. Keep reading →