In the home

On those occasions when you have to carry your electric bike, instead of the bike carrying you, it certainly can't hurt for the two-wheeler to fold up nice and neat.

With this in mind, we give you the VeloMini fold-and-carry electric bike from ELV Motors, released Wednesday.

The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company already has a significant lineup of electric bikes, scooters, and hybrid motorcycles. The VeloMini adds to the array a 32-pound electric bike that reaches a top speed of 12 miles per hour.

The lithium-ion battery that powers the VeloMini gives the bike a range of about … Read more

Home Star--the program nicknamed Cash for Caulkers designed to kick-start the home energy efficiency services market--stands a chance of passage as part of an offshore-drilling-focused energy bill.

But more than just driving demand for efficient hot-water heaters and insulation, the bill demands that contractors provide data on home efficiency performance for consumers to qualify for the biggest rebates.

The Senate next week is expected to debate a scaled-down energy bill which is largely a response to the Gulf oil spill but includes Home Star and incentives for electric and natural-gas vehicles.

Although passage is not certain, the $5 billion bill … Read more

Ecotality unveiled Tuesday what will be one of the first commercially available charging stations specifically designed for electric vehicles and plug-in electric vehicles.

The Ecotality Blink line of charging stations, which will initially be implemented as part of the national EV Project, consists of a free-standing commercial model and a wall-mountable home model both made to work via a 240-volt AC input.

The Blink Level 2 wall mount charger for the home can be installed in a garage or outdoors in a carport. Ecotality estimates its station will take between two to six hours to fully recharge a vehicle battery.

Ecotality has released information in an attempt to answer the inevitable questions sure to be posed by the average consumer as EV charging station technology is introduced to the general public:

The Blink station is compliant with the national electric code requirements, and the plug part that goes into your car, which is the J1772 standard electric car plug agreed upon by the Society of Automotive Engineers, is "safe in wet or dry use."

The plug and cable can also "withstand being driven over by a vehicle."

The length of the electric cable is about 18 feet long, and the charging station includes a holder for that long cable.

The EV charging station integrates with an EV's drive system, so drivers can't accidentally put the car in drive and attempt to drive away while their car is still plugged in.

The Blink comes with a touch-screen display for operating it.

The machine has a built-in smart metering system to monitor usage.

In addition to introducing America to the basics of a an EV charging station, Ecotality announced Wednesday it has signed an agreement with Qualcomm to implement its technology into Blink stations so that the stations can communicate over cellular networks. The Qualcomm tech will allow the charging stations to use cell networks to transfer usage data, as well as perform firmware updates. But the Blink stations, according to Ecotality specs, will also have the capability to use LAN, wireless IEEE 802.11g, or ZigBee to communicate.

The Blink home station will be able to communicate directly with utilities, and take direction from the user via a Web application or smartphone that will also allow the user to regulate when the charger kicks on. The station itself can also be timed for personal convenience, or to automatically work in sync with off-peak electricity times and rates.… Read more

If you're cranking the air conditioner a lot this summer, a product bundle using Microsoft Hohm will tell you a lot about your upcoming energy bills--maybe even more than you want to know.

Microsoft on Tuesday announced that it has tied its Hohm Web home energy-efficiency application to an electricity monitor called PowerCost Monitor. The combination, which uses a home broadband connection, lets people view home electricity from the Web or from the tabletop electricity monitor.

Whole-home electricity monitors show you how much electricity a house is using at a given moment and how much it's costing you--sort … Read more

Offshore wind installations and connections in Europe are at a record high.

For the first half of 2010, over 118 new offshore wind turbines totaling 333 megawatts worth of capacity became operational in Europe. For comparison, a total of 577 megawatts worth were installed for the entire year of 2009. In addition to those turbines up and running, another 151 turbines have been installed and await grid connection, according to the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA).

Europe now has 948 offshore wind turbines offering a total capacity of 2,396 megawatts in operation.

Of those offshore wind projects connected to the grid in the first half of 2010, EWEA estimates that E.ON Climate and Renewables developed 64 percent of them, while Siemens supplied 55 percent of the turbines.

Of course, Siemens, a major wind turbine supplier, will soon face more competition. GE announced in March that it plans to put $450 million into developing its wind turbine business in Europe over the next 10 years.

Within days of the EWEA report, the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) announced it's forming the Offshore Wind Development Coalition (OffshoreWindDC), a coalition made up of wind developers and supportive organizations whose sole purpose will be to educate the public on the pros and cons of offshore wind, and promote its installation.

They have a good reason to develop a lobby group.

While the residents of the European Union seem to have been sold on the idea that offshore wind can be a significant contributor to their pledge to get 20 percent of their energy from renewable resources by 2020, the U.S. public has yet to embrace it despite predictions of a positive impact.… Read more

AT&T announced Wednesday it's signed an agreement to allow Petra Solar solar panels in New Jersey to communicate with the utility Public Service Electric and Gas (PSE&G) over its wireless network.

In July 2009 the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities approved a $200 million contract between PSE&G and Petra Solar in which the solar company agreed to install over 200,000 photovoltaic panels on existing utility poles throughout New Jersey to tie in to the state's electrical grid.

The solar panels, which are currently being installed throughout six cities and over … Read more

San Diego-based Envision Solar, a manufacturer best known for its solar carports, announced two new products Wednesday that expand on the company's idea to utilize solar energy in unusual places.

The LifeVillage is a series of prefab structures framed with light-gauge steel that employ solar panel roofs and can be deployed quickly to disaster areas to provide temporary shelter and electricity, as well as purified water.

Think of LifeVillage as a low-budget version of a Huf Haus. Only instead of being built by German engineers in a pristine factory, the LifeVillage structures can be built on site by unskilled … Read more

Updated at 11:30 p.m. with corrections.

While you're adjusting the thermostat when you get home at night, why not check in on your solar panels?

That's the idea behind Enphase Energy's Environ Smart Thermostat, which allows people to control their heating and cooling while also tracking performance of their solar panels. People can use a Web-based application from a PC or smart phone to view solar panel production and adjust their thermostat.

The product is made possible by the Enphase Energy's Internet-connected microinverters, devices attached to each solar panel to convert direct current to household alternating current, rather than through a large centralized inverter.

Environ also hints at some of the possibilities of combining home energy management and on-site energy production through a home-area network.

Home energy monitoring systems allow people to monitor energy usage and to control devices to reduce wasted energy or take advantage of off-peak rates.… Read more

Can the consumer-friendly brand of GE put a face on the smart grid?

The industrial giant on Tuesday introduced two products--a home energy management system and electric vehicle charger--which are some of the most tangible aspects of what GE CEO Jeff Immelt on Tuesday called digital energy. The products were announced in tandem with a $200 million award competition to spur smart-grid technology ideas.

Both the Nucleus energy monitor, which will cost between $149 and $199, and WattStation electric vehicle charging pedestal are expected to be available next year.

The Nucleus home energy monitor and energy management system is a … Read more