Solar Power May be Coming to a Home Near You Thanks to Startup’s $2M Funding Deal

By SVM | Published: July 17, 2009

GreenRay Inc., a Massachusetts-based startup working to develop affordable solar energy for the residential market, announced this week that it has completed its Series A financing round. The $2 million investment will enable GreenRay to rapidly move ahead with manufacturing, distribution channel development, and commercial launch.

Founded in 2006, GreenRay develops solar AC modules with fewer parts and simplified installation which reduce the cost of generating renewable solar energy. At the heart of GreenRay’s AC Solar Module is a highly reliable patented micro-inverter paired with energy monitoring.

GreenRay was founded in 2006 by a team of former Schott Solar employees. Since then, GreenRay has received over $3.5 million in government-sponsored funding to demonstrate its AC Module concept, including grants from the Department of Energy and a SEED investment from the Massachusetts Renewable Energy Trust.

Read more at http://www.masshightech.com/stories/2009/07/13/daily21-GreenRay-lands-2M-for-affordable-solar-power-.html

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TRENDnet Introduces Green Desktop Switches

By SVM | Published: July 10, 2009

TRENDnet, a global provider of networking solutions for small and medium size business and home users, has recently launched a line of desktop switches which feature the company’s environmentally friendly embedded GREENnet technology.

The GREENnet switch-based technology reduces power consumptions by supplying the appropriate amount of electrical power to each hardwired switching port as required by the connected device, the port, or by the length of the connected Ethernet cable.

Learn more at http://www.trendnet.com/image/news/articles/processor_070309.pdf

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Blue Energy lands $500 million to convert tidal currents into electrical currents

By SVM | Published: July 7, 2009

Listed by BusinessWeek as #1 out of the top 20 most important technologies of the next 10 years, it looks like ocean tidal power is finally becoming a reality

With all the progress solar panels and wind turbines have made to date, tidal-generated energy sources, arguably the world’s most dependable, predictable and largest untapped renewable energy source, have appeared to take a back seat. With the $500 million in financing that Blue Energy Canada Inc received from New Zealand’s World Energy Research, Blue Energy Canada will be able to commercialize turbines capable of capturing energy from ocean currents.

“The Blue Energy ocean turbine acts as a highly efficient underwater vertical-axis windmill and has several remarkable advantages conferred upon it arising from the following basic science: Sea water is 832 times more dense than air, and it is a non-compressible medium, therefore an 8-knot tidal current provides the equivalent force of a 390 km/hr wind (approximately).”

tidal-1-150x1502tidal-23-150x1501

For more information go to:
http://cleantech.com/news/4671/blue-energy-rolls-500m-tidal-power
or http://www.bluenergy.com/index.html

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And Another…And Another…

By SVM | Published: July 1, 2009

This week Greetechmedia updated their list of the number solar start-ups to a whopping 217!

We all know that green energy is hot – but looking at GreenTechMedia’s Senior Analyst Eric Wesoff’s list of new solar startups (privately held companies with a focus on VC-funded or pre-VC startups) we are are left to wonder just how many of them will survive? While new ideas and ground breaking technology certainly abound the question becomes: Which of these companies can and will either make the critical jump to mass applications or break in to the large established companies that have resources and scope to promote newer energy options? Adoption, commercialization, distribution and differentiation are the next frontiers – may the best startup win!
See the list here:
http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/the-master-list-of-early-stage-solar-startups-the-sequel/

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Green Makeover Planned for Sears Tower

By SVM | Published: June 26, 2009

The iconic Sears Tower in Chicago is set to receive a $350 million green renovation. Wind turbines, roof gardens and solar panels are anticipated to reduce the tower’s electricity use by 80 percent and save 24 million gallons of water a year, according to building owners and architects. There are also plans to add a 50-story privately funded luxury hotel with its own green components next to the skyscraper in 3 1/2 to 5 years.

The project includes the installation of solar panels on the tower’s 90th floor roof to heat water used in the building. Different types of wind turbines will also be positioned on the tower’s tiered roofs and tested for efficiency.

“This endeavor is incredibly important as a role model for others to follow,” architect Adrian Smith said. “We see this as a groundbreaking opportunity.”

Other changes to the 110-story skyscraper, the tallest building in the United States, include improvements to the 16,000 window pieces along the outside of the tower to save heating energy; mechanical system upgrades; updates to the building’s 104 elevators; an advanced lighting control system and restroom renovations aimed at saving water.

Sounds like a great example for other building to follow! Read more at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/24/sears-tower-getting-350m_n_220257.html

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New IBM Supercomputer Also Heats Buildings!

By SVM | Published: June 25, 2009

IBM has created the new Aquasar supercomputer which uses water to siphon off waste heat, and then uses the excess energy to warm up a building. Developed jointly by IBM and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, the Aquasar’s microchips avoid cooling with energy-intensive air conditioning by using water to transfer heat away from the chips. A network of water-carrying “micro-capillaries” take water very close to the microchips, cooling the system at a temperature of 60 degrees Celsius rather than a traditional coolant that requires a temperature of about 20 degrees Celsius, according to IBM researcher Dr. Thomas Brunschwiler.

In addition, the excess heat from the computer will be piped into the building’s heating. The 25 kilowatt system will account for just “a small fraction” of the building’s overall energy demand, but researchers said future applications are promising. According to IBM, Aquasar will reduce overall energy consumption by 40 percent and save up to 30 tons of carbon dioxide a year, which is about the equivalent of driving an average car around the world 10 times!

For more information, see: http://blogs.reuters.com/environment/2009/06/23/ibm-supercomputer-reuses-heat-to-warm-buildings/

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Company Uses Nanotechnology to Develop Lower Power LEDs

By SVM | Published: June 19, 2009

QD Vision, Inc, based in Watertown, MA, delivers a new generation of display and lighting solutions that require less energy. QD Vision’s Quantum Light™ platform promises to offer unparalleled color and brightness and require less power than current-generation LED technologies. How do they do this? QD uses quantum dot (QD) films to generate tunable white emission from blue emitting phosphorescent OLED (Ph-OLED) devices to develop a cost-competitive solution for realizing increased extraction efficiency organic light emitting devices (OLEDs).

In April, QD Vision was amongst fourteen projects to receive solid-state lighting (SSL) funding opportunities from The National Energy Technology Laboratory, on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

Last week the company launched its first commercial product and was also awarded a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II contract by the U.S. Army as part of its Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate (NVESD). With the grant, QD Vision will develop micro-displays based on quantum dot-based light-emitting devices (QLEDs) for NVESD.

QD’s LED bulbs look slightly different than traditional “down lamps,” such as those in home track lighting, but fit standard fixtures using the same “screw-in” mechanism that has been around for decades. The products are expected to be generally available in the fourth quarter of this year.

Find out more at:
http://www.qdvision.com/index.html

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Hot Topic at ConnectivityWeek in Santa Clara Last Week – Which Standard Will Reign Supreme in the Smart Appliance?

By SVM | Published: June 15, 2009

Industry leaders got together lat week at ConnectivityWeek, a collection of events that focus on the application of Information Technology and energy challenges as they relate to the need for better sustainability. The group includes representatives from utilities, manufacturers, and communications technologies working together on issues related to smart grids, smart devices, and smart services.

One hot topic was the fact that GE and Whirlpool plan on adding communications modules in their appliances to give utilities the ability to turn them down during peak power demand times. According to GE Consumer & Industrial vice president Kevin Nolan in a May press release, “GE will help consumers significantly decrease power usage during peak demand periods, which will help the utilities reduce the need for more power generation and help consumers save on their energy bills.” This sounds great, but a major stumbling block remains –what communication standard will be used to get everyone talking in the same language? Will it be ZigBee, WiFi, cellular, a powerline signal, or something else entirely?

It sounds like it’s anyone’s guess. At ConnectivityWeek, GE’s David Najewicz noted that “Some of the early hardware we’re building has three radios in it.”

Obviously, the smart home appliance is on its way, and it’s going to be interesting to watch the different communications technologies jockey for position. With Whirlpool committing to smart appliances by the year 2015, and other manufacturers also jumping on board, a winning standard should emerge soon. We’ll keep watching!

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Telecom Growth is Good for ‘Green’

By SVM | Published: June 11, 2009

With many telecom companies committed to carbon reduction, their anticipated growth in coming years will mean an increasing reliance on “green” network equipment.

Companies are shifting to more efficient base and switching centers and handsets that consume less electricity. Cell phone companies including Sony-Ericsson, Sharp, and Sprint are introducing energy saving handsets and other eco-options.

For mobile phone companies, base stations and switching centers comprise 70-80 percent of total network energy usage. Possible solutions for reducing energy use include improved radio frequency amplifiers, new network architectures, fresh air cooling solutions and sustainable, off-grid energy for remote locations. Pike Research estimates a potential for decreasing emissions 41 percent.

Read more at: http://www.environmentalleader.com/2009/06/09/telecom-growth-to-boost-green-network-equipment/

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Fishing for a Better Solution

By SVM | Published: June 10, 2009

With an average life expectancy of 600 years “virtually every piece of modern fishing line that has ever been lost is still out there” – that’s millions of yards of line causing unfathomable destruction of marine mammals and bird life. A new product called Bioline, biofilament™ addresses this problem. The line, available in 4-, 6-, 8-, 10-, and 12-pound tests, “retains 100% of its tensile strength for 10 to 12 months on a reel and biodegrades to minimal carbon dioxide and water in a period of approximately five years with exposure to naturally occurring elements.” The origins of this technology can be found in the same bio-absorbable materials used in “dissolving” stitches.

Given that anglers are typically conservationists, this sounds like an environmentally friendly products that could catch on. Go to http://www.biolinefishing.com/index.php to learn more.

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