Recently Filed in Green Technology

It was bound to happen sooner or later. And no sooner than some limited “smart grid” programs get underway, there are security and Big Brother-like privacy concerns. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the Center for Democracy and Technology jointly filed comments with the California Public Utilities Commission on March 9, asking for the adoption of strong rules to protect the privacy and security of customers’ energy-usage information. Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) is currently in the process of installing “smart meters” that will collect… View this story
Industry • Green Technology • Info and Answers

I’ve recently come across a few energy-saving devices you’ll be seeing in the not-too-distant future. Here are three. ThinkEco Modlet Plug your computer or an appliance into this two-outlet smart plug, and it sends energy usage data to a computer with a wireless receiver. It can also cut power to appliances when they’re not being used, cutting down on vampire loads. The computer software recommends savings programs, and you can share your savings ideas with other. Look for this around the fourth quarter of 2010.… View this story
Power Management • Green Technology • Product News

Venture capitalists at the GoingGreen East conference in Boston this week are high on energy efficiency companies, as also reported in a recent survey. But that doesn’t necessarily mean a ton of money will flow into companies producing energy efficient technologies in the home. “There are massive opportunities for technologies to drive efficiency,” said Joe Dews, director and head of CleanTech Banking at ThinkEquity. “There are tons of low-hanging fruit,” concurred Samuel Newell, principal of the Brattle Group, financial and economic consultancy. Great news for… View this story
Power Management • Green Technology • Info and Answers

Magnolia Audio Video is making sure customers know where to go for solar panel installations as part of its new design center located inside the Costa Mesa Best Buy store in Orange County, Calif. The store, which is one of only eight Magnolia A/V design centers, has alternative energy equipment prominently located in the showroom. There is a six-foot vignette containing a large solar panel, along with a video loop about solar technology and literature. “It’s the first time we’ve done it, but it’s a… View this story
Green Technology • Retailers • Product News

More good news and not-so-good news about consumer attitudes toward energy-efficiency initiatives—this time in regard to the smart grid. The good news: Consumers on the whole seem to want to save energy. The not-so-good news: Many are still largely ambivalent and unknowledgeable about how. That’s the result of a Harris Poll of 2,576 adults surveyed online between January 18 and 25, 2010, by Harris Interactive. Here are some of the numbers: Two thirds of Americans have never heard the term Smart Grid (68 percent), and… View this story
Green Technology • Info and Answers

The results are in for the Greener Gadgets Design Competition, and it’s safe to say the apps craze has been noted by the green and sustainable crowd. Energy-saving and sustainable home electronics, however, were considered rather harshly. The 2010 Greener Gadgets Design Competition winner is a smartphone app, called AUG Living Goods, that scans a code on supermarket produce to determine where it came from and if it is locally grown. Click here to view all finalists. The second-place winner is the Empower glider chair… View this story
Power Management • Gadgets • Green Technology • Info and Answers

You may have heard of Bloom Energy. The fuel-cell company was featured on 60 Minutes on Sunday, and claims to have a fuel cell that will liberate us from the electric grid. The 60 Minutes spot raised perhaps more questions than is answered, such as: How does it work? No one seems to know exactly, but natural gas or “directed biogas” (methane and carbon dioxide produced by decomposition of waste) reacts with stacks of catalyst plates coated with Bloom’s secret sauce to produce electricity. Does… View this story
Power Management • Green Technology • Info and Answers

Talk about après ski. Once Olympic athletes and fans are off the slopes they can hit the Home of the Future in downtown Vancouver. The demo home, part of BC Hydro’s environmentally focused Power Smart Village celebration site, features GE Appliances & Lighting’s Smart appliances and energy management technologies. The home was designed to demonstrate to visitors how emerging technology can help curb energy use. The Smart Grid-enabled products are able to react to energy-use information distributed to the home via utilities. For example, during… View this story
Green Technology • Product News

The Greener Gadgets conference in New York on Feb. 25 is almost upon us, and the winners of the now-annual Greener Gadgets Design Competition will be announced. Last year, the winner was Tweet-A-Watt, which—you guessed it—is a modified Kill-A-Watt home power meter that a device plugs into and which will send its energy consumption info to all your followers on Twitter.  Of the entries this year, I’m encouraged to see a couple of home energy management devices, a sustainable subwoofer (really)—and there are several fledgling… View this story
Power Management • Gadgets • Green Technology • Shows and Expos • Info and Answers • Slideshows

As California goes, so goes the nation. That old saying now applies to state regulations setting energy-efficiency standards for TVs. On the heels of the California Energy Commission (CEC) approving TV energy usage regulations, Maryland, Massachusetts (House Bill 3124, New York (Assembly Bill 9387), Washington (House bill 2416 and Senate Bill 6489 concerning electronics) and Wisconsin (Senate Bill 450 and Assembly Bill 649 concerning electronics) have introduced similar energy-efficiency legislation that regulate TVs, according to the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA). The bills in Massachusetts and… View this story
Green Technology • Manufacturers • Info and Answers

Calling it “The Jetsons Meet Big Brother,” the Australian government is looking for volunteers to live rent free in a smart home in Sydney for one year. John Robertson, the minister for energy in New South Wales, says the family will be testing the latest technology to save energy and water. “This trial is about taking smart green technologies out of the lab and putting them to the test in the real world with a real family,” Robertson told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. “We’re looking… View this story
Home Control Systems • Green Technology • Product News

An energy monitoring system from control company Control4 was featured on the popular TV show, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, this past Sunday. A Buffalo, N.Y., home featured on the show has a whole home control, energy management and entertainment solution by Control4 and Panasonic, and installed by integrator Shawn Lemay and his Buffalo-based firm Sound & Theater. Lemay and team integrated major subsystems in the home such as lighting, HVAC and security to provide a safe and energy efficient dwelling. The homeowner, Delores Powell, had… View this story
Power Management • Green Technology • Product News