Green Tech

After Cape Wind, deep challenges for offshore wind

A Rhode Island project vying to beat out Cape Wind as the first offshore wind farm in the U.S. hit a major roadblock this week, a sign of the tough technical and economic issues developers face as they go farther offshore.

The state's Public Utilities Commission on Tuesday blocked a power purchase agreement to purchase electricity from an eight-turbine installation off the coast of Block Island. Regulators ruled that the proposed purchase price--24.4 cents per kilowatt-hour in 2013, which is almost double the retail rate in the state--was too high, a move which casts doubt on whether the project will move forward.

Cape Wind, meanwhile, on Wednesday announced plans to purchase 130 turbines from Siemens Energy. Developers of the controversial project are still negotiating a power purchase agreement with utility National Grid and are waiting a ruling on final federal approval from Interior Secretary Ken Salazar later this month.

Having seen the opposition to Cape Wind, other wind developers are choosing to go farther offshore and into deeper waters, as they did in Rhode Island. That helps address complaints over the visual impact of wind mills, but it also adds to the technical complexity and cost of offshore wind, according to experts.

"The clear trend has been for projects proposed in federal waters (farther off shore). Part of that is due to wind resources and part of it is due to an effort to minimize opposition," said Matt Kaplan, an analyst at Emerging Energy Research. "The clear trend has been to minimize the visual impacts as much as possible."

The proposed location of Cape Wind--in the Nantucket Sound south of Cape Cod--was chosen as much for its wind resources as its waters depth. Building on a shallow shoal in the middle of the sound would allow construction crews to use monopile foundations, which work in depths of about 75 feet. This technology is used in hundreds of locations in eight European countries.

By contrast, the Rhode Island project, which had been pushed heavily by the state's governor, would have required a different type of foundation suitable for deeper waters. Wind developer Deepwater Wind in August last year installed a barge to test the ocean floor in advance of plans to install its jacket foundation, which can operate in 150 feet of water and doesn't require special vessels to transport components to offshore sites.

VW's BlueMotion wins green award

The 2010 World Green Car of the Year award has not gone to one model but to three--all featuring a system of efficiency technologies.

Volkswagen was given the award Thursday morning at the 2010 New York International Auto Show for its BlueMotion technology available on three VW models: the Golf, Passat, and Polo.

The BlueMotion brand label is given to VW cars that add efficiency technology to a model's engine, transmission, braking system, and aerodynamics among other parts. The combination creates the lowest CO2-emitting version of each car. BlueMotion purports to improve a car's existing combustible engine, whether more

Think's electric cars to roll into New York

Think will begin selling its all-electric City cars in the New York metropolitan area within the coming months, the company said Thursday.

Think's City model is a highway-legal electric vehicle that runs solely on a lithium ion battery system and gives off zero emissions. The car, which has a top speed of 60 mph, can be charged from either a standard U.S. 110-volt household outlet, or a fast-charging 220-volt station that can be installed for home use. The small two-door car, clearly intended for city driving and parking, has a battery system with a range of about 112 more

Porsche gives the Cayenne an electric boost

NEW YORK--The Porsche Cayenne may be one of the fastest SUVs around, but Porsche aims to make it one of the cleanest around, too, with its new hybrid system. Porsche unveiled the Cayenne S Hybrid at the 2010 New York auto show, a full hybrid capable of driving under electric power up to 35 mph.

Porsche gave the Cayenne a general update for the 2011 model year and added the hybrid version to the model line alongside the base model, S, and Turbo. Although the new Cayenne is almost 2 inches longer than the previous version, a de-emphasized grille and more

Hyundai comes out with its first hybrid

NEW YORK--After showing hybrid concepts over the last few auto show seasons, Hyundai finally shows the real deal with a hybrid version of its Sonata midsize sedan at the New York auto show. The standard Sonata got an update at the 2009 Los Angeles Auto Show, radically restyling it with Hyundai's new fluidic sculpture design language. Now fitted with Hyundai's Blue Drive hybrid system, the car gets significantly better mileage.

The Sonata Hybrid is the first production hybrid to use lithium polymer batteries, which have more power density over nickel metal hydride batteries used in hybrids from Toyota, more

Report: Energy storage market to double by 2015

The market for electric-vehicle energy storage devices is expected to grow from $7.7 billion in 2010 to $14.5 billion in 2015, according to a report from Lux Research. But that's not the most interesting part of the analyst report that was released last month with seemingly little notice from the media.

Lux Research said that the predicted big growth in the overall market for batteries, fuel cells, and ultracapictors is not going to come from an increase in electric vehicles, but from the explosion of smart grids. In its report "Emerging Technologies Power a $44 Billion Opportunity for Transportation and Grid," more

Raise high the 'smart roof' carpenters

A group of scientists with funding from the Department of Energy has presented a new type of roof coating that would allow all the benefits and none of the drawbacks of black and white roofs combined.

It's long been agreed that a white roof, because it naturally reflects sunlight, reduces the amount of heat a building absorbs in extremely hot and sunny situations, thus, contributing to keeping the building cool (think Greece). Some have even gone as far as to propose white "green" roofs as a geoengineering idea for reducing global warming because they may both reduce air conditioning more

Ford taps Microsoft Hohm for electric-car charging

Ford Motor and Microsoft are collaborating on software for consumers to manage how and when to charge electric vehicles.

Executives from both companies at the New York Auto Show on Wednesday announced that drivers of Ford's electric cars will use Microsoft Hohm, a Web-based home energy management application.

The 2011 electric Ford Focus will be the first car to use Hohm, which company executives said will let consumers take advantage of cheaper electricity rates. That will also help utilities manage the added load of electric vehicles which can be substantial if many people in a neighborhood charge up at more

Survey: Timeline for smart-grid payoff unclear

In-home displays that give customers more detailed information on their energy consumption are low on utilities' priority list, according to a study conducted by an energy efficiency company.

Comverge on Tuesday published results of a survey of 100 attendees of the DistribuTech utility conference last week which also found that few could agree on when the benefits of the smart grid will take hold.

About one quarter said that there will be measurable benefits from smart-grid investments in one to three years, while almost 30 percent said that it would take more like 10 years.

However, over three-quarters of respondents more

Electric Nissan Leaf priced at $33,000 in U.S.

Nissan said on Tuesday it will begin taking orders on April 20 in the U.S. for the electric Leaf sedan which will be priced starting at $32,780 before subsidies.

The all-electric car, which has four doors and a hatchback, will start shipping in 20 areas in the U.S. in the first half of next year and be available nationally later next year. A lease costs $349 per month.

In addition to the purchase price, it's recommended that consumers have a home charging station, made by Aerovironment, installed for an average cost of $2,200, according to more