In the home

When it comes to energy, Intel's biggest concern is keeping a lid on the power used at giant data centers. But Intel researchers are seriously looking at home energy as well.

During the Research@Intel conference yesterday in Mountain View, Calif., Intel set up a Personal Energy Zone that showcased its efforts to use computing to improve efficiency and boost the use of renewable energy sources.

One demonstration scheduled to go into trials soon is the Wireless Energy Sensing Technology (WEST), a device that plugs into a socket and uses a home wireless network to report power usage of … Read more

Oregon is planning to install Level 3 DC fast-charging stations along a portion of Interstate 5, the Oregon Department of Transportation announced today.

AeroVironment was chosen to be the supplier for the electric-vehicle charging stations which will be sprinkled throughout a 150-mile stretch of highway.

Interstate 5 is the main interstate highway that runs north and south through the western U.S. The electric-vehicle charging stations will be placed starting at the California-Oregon state line and up to Oregon's Willamette Valley.

The 480-volt Level 3 chargers are CHAdeMO (Charge de Move) compliant, a standard that is compatible with the Nissan Leaf, Mitsubishi i-MiEV, and Subaru R1e. It's capable of fully charging an electric-vehicle battery in about 30 minutes, according to AeroVironment.

The exact locations for the stations have not yet been chosen.

AeroVironment has also been tasked with researching the best spots in conjunction with local utilities, based on an analysis of things like area traffic patterns and vehicle range. The stations should be in place and available to drivers by the end of this fall, according to the company.… Read more

An innovative concept for the carport of the future was unveiled in Plainville, Conn., this morning.

Conn. Governor Dannel Malloy and GE Energy Industrial Solutions CEO Luis Ramírez unveiled the GE EV Solar Carport, a carport that incorporates solar panels on its roof with electric vehicle charging stations under its cover.

GE partnered with Inovateus Solar, which installed the solar carport.

The solar panels on the carport will produce enough electricity per year to power the equivalent of 20 homes. Not every space in the lot will have an EV station. The solar panels on the carport will … Read more

Consumers should have an easier time comparing the fuel economy of cars and light trucks once new consumer labels unveiled today go into effect.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson unveiled the new set of labels this morning at a live press conference hosted on the Web.

Prior to this, car labels hadn't been updated for 30 years.

Each new label differs slightly depending on the car's drive train or fuel source. (Click for a PDF of all labels.) Labels in the set include those for gas, flex-fuel gas-ethanol blends, … Read more

Americans who receive meter data on their home energy use reduce consumption on average by 1.8 percent after the first year.

That's according to a study of 750,000 households of varied demographics in six states conducted by energy-management software company Opower and sponsored by the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). The study followed homes enrolled in various utility programs that provided home usage data via Web portal, text, or paper reports mailed to consumers' homes.

The figure may not sound like much. But if every home in the U.S. reduced energy consumption by 1.8 percent, nationwide … Read more

Policy promoting green technology may be on the rise, but does that translate into well-developed technology--and, most importantly, more capital--for the states promoting it?

The results of an extensive study released Wednesday by consulting firm Clean Edge offers some answers.

The survey used more than 3,500 data points and 70 major indicators drawing from both municipal and private data sources to evaluate all 50 states in the U.S. for how well they did on policy, technology, and capital when it came to green tech.… Read more

NXP Semiconductors has developed chipsets for CFL and LED light bulbs that allow the devices to be operated remotely via wireless networks and portable devices, the Dutch chipmaker announced this week.

The GreenChip iCFL chipset for CFLs and GreenChip iSSL chipset for LEDs have been adopted by lighting manufacturer TCP.

The bulbs can be turned on, turned off, or dimmed.

Both chips operate at the IEEE 802.15.4 standard, the low-rate wireless personal area network (LR-WPAN) standard for many wireless networks, including ZigBee, used to support home smart meters, smart appliances, and security systems.

But the bulb chipset has … Read more

By the end of this year, people will be able to buy an LED light bulb controllable from an Android device, part of Google's move into home automation.

At the Google I/O conference today, Google demonstrated how Android devices, including tablets and smartphones, can act as a hub for controlling multiple devices in the home, including lighting, appliances, thermostats, and music.

Google concocted a lighting demo system with Lighting Sciences Group, which developed an LED bulb that can talk to Android. It uses a new mesh network wireless protocol rather than Wi-Fi, ZigBee, or the other proprietary home … Read more

Brammo will offer its electric motorcycles with a six-speed transmission beginning in 2012, the company announced today.

The bikes will be unveiled this Friday in Las Vegas shortly before competing in the MiniMotoSX race.

Motorcycle manufacturer Brammo could make a big impact on the motorcycle world with this change.

While electric motorcycles have been around for some time, and even had their own race on the Isle of Man in June 2009, up until now they've mainly been seen as bikes for early adopters interested in green tech, or those who might otherwise consider a moped.

Electric motorcycles are relatively quiet, have a limited range, and arguably offer limited speed and performance when compared to comparable racing bikes with internal combustion engines. They're also fighting an image problem in a market famous for exuding a longstanding sexy, powerful, and adventurous appeal.

"Electric motorcycle design has always been a bit of a balancing act in direct drive systems where great acceleration performance comes at the expense of low top-end speed," Brian Wismann, director of product development at Brammo, said in a statement.… Read more