Ford and Microsoft are teaming up to use Microsoft Hohm as a platform to help future owners of Ford's electric vehicles optimize the way they recharge their vehicle and better manage their home's energy use. This is a concept image of how the application could look.
(Credit: Ford)What will happen when millions of electric vehicles plug into the grid at at the same time? If ZigBee Alliance's blueprints for the SmartGrid go according to plan, not much.
The ugly specter of mass blackouts caused by hoards of EVs rolling into garages and plugging in at the same time is just one of the many arguments EV detractors use against electric vehicles and plug-ins. But EV adoption is inevitable, and the smart grid should make sure that energy loads will be balanced and shifted as needed to recharge them without causing widespread power failure. And eventually, ZigBee predicts, electric cars and plug-ins will become part of the energy solution supplying power to the grid.
But let's back up.
If you haven't heard of the ZigBee Alliance, you're not alone. Before I started this article, I'd never heard of it until I was forwarded one of its press releases. Named after a little-known Nordic elf that has nothing to do with wireless networks or energy, the ZigBee is a standard for wireless sensor networks on which the Smart Grid operates. "And the domain name was available," says Bob Heile, who is chairman of the curiously named group and one of the founders of 802.11.
More than 300 metering, computer, chip processing, electronics, and automotive companies are members the ZigBee Alliance. By incorporating ZigBee's technology in their products, many of these companies are laying the infrastructure that will enable utility companies, networked homes and buildings, and appliances to communicate wirelessly and automate metering as part of the smart grid. That includes electric vehicles.
Electric and plug-in vehicles will undoubtedly be a significant drain on the smart grid--each plugged-in EV has the equivalent drain of another house for hours at a time. But they're also uniquely designed to be able to give back.
"They are essentially batteries with wheels," says Heile. "Ultimately, long after the EV infrastructure is in place and consumers adopt them, there will be opportunities to load shift."
This means that at peak hours people can sell the energy stored in EV batteries back to utility companies. But don't think you can offset the cost of a new Nissan Leaf or Chevrolet Volt by becoming a homespun energy trader of sorts--that technology is still years away.
The typical EV and smart meter rhetoric goes something like, "You can charge your car overnight when electricity rates are cheaper." But the technology isn't entirely there to support that rational. Right now if you don't own a smart meter (you would know if you do) and you plug an EV into an outlet, it doesn't know what the device is or who it belongs to, or when to charge it other than right now. But in the future, it will know who you are by the car you drive so that when you charge at a friend's house, you'll get the bill. Or so the theory goes.
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IBM is using its World Community Grid of PC users to drive research to create cleaner drinking water.
(Credit: World Community Grid)IBM is tapping into its own network of PC owners to help figure out how to clean up drinking water.
Big Blue announced Monday a series of high-tech projects related to creating safer drinking water, which IBM notes is a rare resource for at least 1.2 billion people worldwide.
To drive the initiatives, the company is calling on its World Community Grid, a network of PC owners who pitch in computing time to help scientists tackle global problems. People who volunteer for the Grid allow their idle computers to be used by IBM to collectively run simulations and other intensive tasks as part of a huge peer-to-peer network.
Among the several projects planned by IBM, one will simulate how people, wildlife, and the environment interact with one another in watersheds such as the East Coast's Chesapeake Bay. The goal is to learn how to better manage watersheds by analyzing competing interests and needs among different groups.
Another project, dubbed Computing For Clean Water, is eyeing methods to improve water filtering. Launching in China, this initiative aims to find ways to filter and clean polluted water and turn saltwater into drinking water for less money.
A third project run out of Brazil is looking to cure schistosomiasis, a parasite-based disease spread through dirty water. Found in tropical areas, this disease infects around 210 million people and kills from 11,000 to 200,000 every year, according to IBM. Although one current drug has proven somewhat effective, drug-resistance strains of the disease still pose a challenge.
To move the projects, World Community Grid members are letting their PCs calculate numbers, run hypothetical scenarios, and perform simulations. Collectively, the Grid encompasses 1.5 million PCs from around 600,000 volunteers worldwide. Besides the clean water projects, Grid members also have contributed to efforts to design cleaner energy, cure diseases, and create healthier food, IBM noted.
On its end, Big Blue donates the servers, software, and technical skills necessary to run the Grid and also provides free hosting and support.
Anyone who wants to donate idle time on their PCs to the World Community Grid can register at the Grid's Web site. Joining the cause requires the installment of free software compatible with Windows, Mac OS, and Linux.
Separately, IBM is also working with The Nature Conservancy to set up a new Web site called Rivers for Tomorrow. Launching this fall, the site will let watershed managers find, analyze, and share details about freshwater river basins, a task that has proven challenging in the past. The goal is to help them map out and determine how issues like soil loss and carbon production affect the quality of water.
The new projects are part of IBM's strategy to modernize technologies devoted to creating drinkable water. Teaming up with Intel, IBM recently formed a working group to learn how information and technology can be used to better manage water needs and resources.
"I can think of few endeavors more important than making sure people across the globe have ready access to clean water," Stanley Litow, IBM's vice president of corporate citizenship & corporate affairs, said in a statement. "I would even suggest that it's a basic human right, and a hallmark of sophisticated and compassionate societies everywhere."
Below is an IBM video on the topic:
SoloPower's flexible solar modules are designed for cheaper installation on roofs of commercial buildings
(Credit: SoloPower)SoloPower said Tuesday that it has received UL certification for its flexible solar modules, helping the thin-film solar products compete against the incumbent solar technology.
San Jose, Calif.-based SoloPower said that the certification from Underwriters Laboratories is the first for a company making flexible modules from a combination of copper, indium, gallium, and selenium (CIGS).
The flexible solar modules are designed for commercial rooftops where they can be rolled out and attached to roofs without racking systems. Thin-film solar cells are generally less efficient than traditional polycrystalline silicon material, but SoloPower and other thin-film companies say that their installation costs are lower and the reliability comparable.
"The certification of SoloPower's flexible CIGS module is an important step toward the realization of lightweight, high-power, flexible solar modules with potential to expand the roof-top solar market and reduce balance of system costs. It is an important milestone for the industry," said Rommel Noufi, principal scientist of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, in a statement.
SoloPower CEO Tim Harris said that the company plans to add a second manufacturing line to ramp up volume of the modules, which are aimed primarily at commercial customers.
Over the past seven years, dozens of companies were funded by venture capitalists to pursue CIGS solar modules but the technology has still made only a limited commercial impact, in part because of falling prices from silicon and other thin-film solar module makers.
But there are signs that thin-film CIGS cells are making their mark, particularly for flexible modules that can be installed quickly or integrated into roofing materials.
Last week, CIGS maker Global Solar, based in Tucson, Ariz., introduced its own line of flexible solar modules designed for commercial rooftops. Silicon Valley-based Miasole in August announced a deal with Chinese project developer Juwi to supply 50 megawatts worth of panels next year and 600 megawatts over multiple years.
Also in August, AQT Solar had a grand opening for its solar cell manufacturing line in Sunnyvale, Calif., which uses modified
Emerging technology can ease the problem of wind farms causing interference with air-traffic control systems. But deployment of that technology in the U.S. has been slowed by questions over authority and cost.
Since 2006, radar maker Raytheon and National Air Traffic Services, which provides air traffic control in the U.K., have been working on a project to upgrade air traffic radar so it can distinguish between aircraft and wind turbines' spinning blades. Concerns over the disturbances turbines can cause on air traffic control systems are already stunting the growth of wind power: radar and wind turbines conflicts derailed nearly as much as the total amount of installed wind power capacity in the U.S. last year.
In the test, due for completion next spring, Raytheon and NATS are seeking to certify a combination of wind turbine mitigation techniques, including upgrading radar hardware and changing signal-processing algorithms.
"When you start putting a set of turbines across an area, what it looks like to the radar is a whole great field of moving objects," said Peter Drake, Raytheon's technical director for Digital Airport Surveillance Radar, the radar system used for airport terminals. "It's a very real problem."
A military plane takes off at Dyess Air Force base near Abilene, Texas.
(Credit: Abigail Vander Hamm/AWEA)Even though there are technical solutions, it's not clear how quickly they will make it into the field in the U.S. because air safety touches multiple government agencies with different priorities and budgets. "There's a lot of discussion taking place between everybody, but there isn't anybody who is tagged as lead," said Drake.
Mapping clutter
Wind farms can cause interference, or "clutter," on radar systems in more than one way. Spinning blades can appear on radar screens as an airplane, creating a false "target." Or, signals from the turbines can cause legitimate targets, such as an aircraft above a farm, to suddenly jump position, Drake explained.
A few turbines near an airport may not cause serious issues, but having wind farms with hundreds or thousands of turbines is far more challenging, he said. Exacerbating the issue is that wind-rich areas are often located near landing strips.
The problem is particularly troublesome at some military bases. So far, no serious safety incidents have occurred, but concerns with radar conflict have delayed or scrapped a number of wind farm projects in the U.S.
Raytheon began investing in wind turbine mitigation technology years ago in anticipation of the issue coming to a head as governments push for more renewable energy. The same techniques used in the NATS project could be applied to airport terminal radar systems in the U.S., said Brian Smith, the general manager for Raytheon Canada.
One technique, called concurrent beam processing, allows radar systems to discriminate between objects in the air and in the ground. Another creates a more accurate map of what the terrain looks like in all directions to help screen out stationary turbines from moving objects.
Implementing these technical fixes requires upgrading the electronics in radar systems so they can process more data and changes to the software that handles the data. These capabilities could be added as part of radar upgrades done for other reasons. "We're very confident that we have good solutions to solve the problems," said Smith.
Case-by-case mitigation
There are other mitigation strategies in addition to upgrading radar, but people should not think that one single solution is a "magic bullet" that completely solves the problem in every case, said Gary Seifert, a program manager for renewable energy technologies at the Idaho National Laboratories and an expert on wind-radar conflicts.
"Anybody who says they can solve all the problems is probably overstating," he said. "You can't just put in a magic box and have all the radar clutter disappear without impacting some performance issue."
Seifert recommends that each location be evaluated individually and that potential problems get identified early on in the process, so that wind developers' projects are not scuttled at the last moment.
Often, reducing the density of turbines can help address the issue, he said. In other cases, relatively straightforward software upgrades can greatly improve the ability of radar systems to filter out turbines.
Turbine manufacturers, including Vestas, are working on "stealth turbines" that have a material on the blades that cuts down on their reflectivity and cuts the amount of noise on radar systems.
Many other aerospace companies are working on the issue as well. Lockheed Martin, for example, is working on a long-range radar system that has more pinpoint control over radar performance near wind farms, said Seifert. Air traffic controllers could also use neighboring radars to improve the overall picture.
Even promising technologies, however, take many months or years to certify, whereas wind farm developers may have tight deadlines to keep costs under control. Also, there's the question of who will pay for the technical fixes: should it be taxpayer-funded agencies or wind farm developers?
The American Wind Energy Association said that there needs to be an increase in cooperation between wind developers and government agencies, such as the Federal Aviation Authority, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Homeland Security. Without it, the U.S. will not be able to meet a Department of Energy goal of getting 20 percent of electricity from wind, it said in a paper from April (click for PDF).
"I can't imagine a better example of everyone wanting to do the right thing and nobody doing it," aviation consultant and former FAA official Howard Swancy told The New York Times. "We need an infrastructure-size development plan."
Greenpeace has launched an effort to pressure Facebook to stop polluting with coal, but Facebook counters by saying its newest data center will be a model energy efficiency.
On Wednesday, Greenpeace executive director Kumi Naidoo sent a letter sent to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, urging him to take steps to lighten Facebook's environmental footprint.
Naidoo said that the environmental watchdog group was dismayed by Facebook's plans to build a large data center in Prineville, Oregon. Due to Facebook's rapid growth, that facility will be twice as large as first anticipated and the local utility runs an "electricity mix that is disproportionately powered by coal, the largest source of global warming pollution," Naidoo wrote.
Since February, meanwhile, Greenpeace has been running an "Unfriend Coal" protest on Facebook that has gathered more than 500,000 people. Backed by its supporters, Greenpeace wants Facebook to commit to phasing out coal-powered electricity, lobby for climate change and clean energy policies, and disclose its greenhouse gas emissions inventory.
On Thursday, Facebook's director of policy communications, Barry Schnitt, responded, saying that Facebook's planned Oregon facility was chosen with energy efficiency in mind. Also, he noted that Facebook, like any other company, doesn't have control over the fuel source for its electricity.
It's true that the local utility gets 58 percent of its power from coal, compared to a national average of about 50 percent, Schnitt said. But the location was chosen because of its temperate climate, which allows Facebook to use more efficient evaporative coolers rather than the traditional power-hungry mechanical chillers.
Also, by consolidating into a single location, rather than leasing space at various locations, Facebook can design for efficiency. He said that the Oregon facility will have a Power Usage Effectiveness rating of 1.15, far below the industry averages for efficiency. Google, considered an industry leader, was about 1.17 in the past quarter.
"We strongly believe that the best way to minimize our impact is to concentrate on efficiency and building servers that work towards that goal," Schnitt wrote.
The director of Greenpeace's Cool IT program then responded to Schnitt, arguing that Facebook and other Internet providers need to take a more active stance on energy policy.
"Efficiency is certainly important, but is only the beginning of taking responsibility for your rapidly growing energy and environmental footprint," wrote policy analyst Gary Cook.
The back-and-forth, done publicly to maximize exposure of the anticoal campaign, sheds some light on the reality of procuring huge amounts of electricity to run data centers.
Google, Facebook, Yahoo and others are investing billions of dollars to build out data centers to meet growing demand for Web services, adding to the pollution from computing.
Given that energy is a cost, these Web providers have a financial motivation to use as little electricity as possible. That, and growing environmental concerns, has led to designs that optimize cooling, which is about half the energy used in data centers.
But Web companies have far less control over the sources of power and, in general, they are more concerned about the availability of sufficient power to ensure they can run their operations.
Google has gone to great lengths to buy wind energy by setting up a Google Energy subsidiary and investing in a wind farm. But ultimately, even a giant power consumer like Google or Facebook draws the available electricity from the grid, which is a mix of sources. (See latest Energy Information Administration data here.)
Of course, these tech companies could lobby more on clean energy policy, as Greenpeace says, but energy policy moves slowly in the U.S. If they are trying to lighten their energy footprint, the most immediate and effective option for Facebook and its ilk is efficiency.
An independent review of smart meters installed in Northern California by utility Pacific Gas & Electric found no technical flaws, but a poor roll-out with customers.
The California Public Utilities Commission on Thursday released the evaluation of PG&E's controversial smart-meter program, which was conducted by consulting company The Structure Group.
After PG&E installed two-way meters in Bakersfield, Calif., customers complained that their utility prices shot up, which they blamed on the new meters. Since then, there have been questions over PG&E's handling of the program by regulators and push-back from various communities in its territory.
Earlier this summer, the CPUC contracted with Structure, which tested 750 smart meters and 147 old electromechanical meters. The test found that smart meters reported accurately and that customer billing matched the expected results.
A smart meter from PG&E
(Credit: PG&E)However, Structure identified problems in PG&E's customer service. In reviewing 1,378 customer complaints, Structure said PG&E didn't meet industry standards, leading to people receiving multiple bills or not having questions about smart meters answered.
"The report is encouraging in terms of the performance of actual meter hardware. However, I am very concerned about PG&E's performance in terms of industry best practices and how in some of the best practices areas, PG&E's performance has actually declined," CPUC Commissioner Dian Grueneich said in a statement.
PG&E's rocky experiences in rolling out smart meters in California has taken on national significance with other utilities trying to learn from PG&E's missteps in introducing the new technology. PG&E's meters allow people to view their energy usage on a daily basis, which helps people better understand their consumption and save energy.
In another case, smart meter installations by utility Oncor in Texas have created complaints from consumers over prices. A review found that that those meters are accurate.
Earlier this year, PG&E released an internal report identifying problems with its smart meter program, which led to a revamp of its customer service operations aimed at better educating customers. About 6.6 million gas and electric meters have been installed so far and the company plans to install 10 million by 2012.
Apart from the accuracy of meters, consumer groups are raising health concerns about the electromagnetic field from smart meters, which transmit information once an hour using a radio frequency.
On its Web site, PG&E says that radio frequency emissions from smart meters are lower than other common electronic devices, such as Wi-Fi routers and cell phones. At a press conference on Thursday, PG&E's Chief Customer Officer Helen Burt echoed those statements and pointed to experts on this question.
A number of cities and towns in PG&E's territory have considered moratoriums on smart meter installations. Senior Vice President of Corporate Affairs Greg Pruett said that PG&E is holding open houses with customers and other groups. "We genuinely believe as we work and talk with customers and show that we are genuinely interested in listening to them...ultimately those cities and counties considering moratoriums will reconsider that desire," he said.
Owners of the new Ford Focus Electric won't have to worry about going out to warm up the car before driving on a winter's day, the car will warm up its battery pack automatically if left plugged in.
Ford announced Thursday its Focus Electric, due out next year in the U.S., will contain a lithium ion battery pack with a liquid-based thermal management system.
In addition to keeping the car's battery within a preferred temperature range while engaged, the system also kicks in to cool or warm the car's battery pack as needed while it's plugged in for a charge.
Focus Electric
(Credit: Ford Motor)The closed loop system reacts to external temperatures and the battery pack's temperature, then heats or chills the car's battery coolant accordingly before circulating it through the battery pack. On a cold day, the system heats the liquid then pumps it through the battery pack's cooling channels to warm up the battery. On a hot day, the coolant is chilled then circulated through the same system, but in this instance absorbs battery heat and then disperses it through a radiator.
When plugged in to charge, the Focus Electric will always first check its battery pack's temperature, according to Ford. The company explained earlier this month that both the Focus Electric and Transit Connect Electric will have a sensor system using Internet and wireless technology to collect real-time performance data on the car and monitor its battery.
If on a winter's night a traveler, for example, plugs in the Focus Electric to charge and the battery pack is too cold to optimally accept a charge, the car will not engage in charging mode. It will instead have the liquid thermal system warm the battery up to an optimal temperature, then allow the charging to begin. It will then continue to maintain its battery pack's temperature as needed throughout the charging.
Ford calls this preconditioning the battery, a step it says is crucial in maximizing a battery's efficiency and range, as well as elongating the overall battery life.
The lithium ion batteries for the Focus Electric will be made by Compact Power, a subsidiary of LG Chem, Ford announced in July.
While the technology is undoubtedly innovative, Ford is not alone in its choice to use a liquid thermal management system to maintain battery pack temperature. General Motors, which is using batteries supplied by LG Chem in South Korea for the Chevy Volt, also chose to use a liquid heating and cooling system for the battery pack. Tesla has also said it's using a liquid-based cooling system for its electric car battery packs.
Nissan, meanwhile, has said it uses an air-cooling system for the battery pack in its all-electric Nissan Leaf. The method of battery cooling was publicly criticized by Tesla's Elon Musk as "primitive," though some have questioned the validity of Musk's Nissan "trash talk."
The all-electric Focus Electric, which will be built in Ford's Wayne, Mich., assembly plant, will have a range of about 100 miles per charge. It is expected to be available to U.S. consumers in late 2011, and to European consumers in 2012.
Coulomb's ChargePoint stations unlock for use when presented with a smart card or key fob recognized by the station's RFID reader.
(Credit: Coulomb Technologies)Coulomb Technologies unveiled its latest electric-vehicle charging station on Thursday morning in Detroit.
The Motor City is the first locale in Michigan to get a charging station for public use as part of ChargePoint America, a $37 million program to install public and residential stations throughout the U.S. to encourage adoption of plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles.
ChargePoint is funded in part by U.S. Department of Energy as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Automakers Ford Motor, General Motors, and Smart USA are also partners on the project. The automakers have a vested interest in making charging stations publicly accessible--they're all pushing to sell their newly introduced plug-in hybrid and all-electric cars to the American public.
The first Detroit station is located downtown at the headquarters of NextEnergy, a nonprofit company that facilitates and brokers technology-sharing research projects and deals between academic, government, and corporate entities.Any interested company or municipality in the country may apply to be considered for a charging station for their property. Who gets one depends on whether the site fits several criteria in keeping with the program's goal of encouraging EV adoption.
"The objective is to get highly visible, publically accessible, geographically dispersed locations from which we can provide the DOE and our automobile partners a lot of data on the usage of these charging stations," according to ChargePoint.
Coulomb has been installing charging stations throughout the U.S. in places including Orlando, Fla., San Francisco, Chicago, and New York City, with thousands more planned in the coming year. A total of 4,600 electric-vehicle charging stations throughout nine regions of the U.S. are to be installed, along with a number of charging stations going into the homes of plug-in hybrid or EV owners.
The architecture of Arch Rock's wireless communications for utility networks.
(Credit: Arch Rock)Cisco Systems on Thursday said it intends to acquire wireless sensor maker Arch Rock, a move that beefs up Cisco's smart-grid and data center businesses.
San Francisco-based Arch Rock makes a system for collecting information from mesh networks of IP-based wireless sensors, routers, and servers. Its sensors are placed in data centers and buildings to monitor heat and other environmental conditions to optimize cooling and improve the overall energy efficiency.
Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Privately held Arch Rock is also developing wireless communications for utilities called Phy-Net Grid. The system is designed to use Arch Rock's radio-based sensors to shuttle information over utilities' networks back to their data centers. The wireless communications can also be embedded within thermostats and home energy controllers, which Cisco makes.
Cisco said it intends to use Arch Rock's IPv6-based wireless sensors as part of its smart-grid product set. "This acquisition further positions Cisco as a strategic partner to utilities," Laura Ipsen, general manager of Cisco's Smart Grid business unit, said in a statement.
Although Arch Rock is a small company, the technology could play a significant role in Cisco's overall smart-grid strategy, providing the hardware to connect grid equipment, such as smart meters and sensors on transmission lines, over utilities' networks. Cisco has already developed routers and switches to send data from utility substations.
On Wednesday, Cisco announced a deal with meter maker Itron to develop communications products that use the Internet Protocol, rather than proprietary protocols for sending information from meters back to utilities. The deal calls for Itron to embed Cisco's IP networking in its meters and neighborhood networks.
Networking giant Cisco Systems announced Tuesday a deal with meter maker Itron to advance Internet Protocol-based communications for the power grid.
The two companies will create a reference design for using the IPv6 networking protocol to connect everything from people's homes to power distribution equipment on the grid. That reference design will form the basis for gear installed in smart meters, sensors, and computing systems inside utilities, Cisco executives said.
(Credit:
Martin LaMonica/CNET)
As part of the deal, Itron will license and embed Cisco's IP technology in its meters and distribute Cisco hardware as part Itron's smart-grid deployments.
Right now, communications on the grid is done with many proprietary protocols, but Itron and Cisco executives said using IP, the transport protocol of the Internet, will speed up grid modernization.
"We feel the market will accelerate when standards are in the market. We see it as a way to stimulate and broaden the market, which ultimately benefits us all," said Philip Mezey, senior vice president and chief operating officer of Itron.
The companies will develop a system which uses IP for neighborhood area networks, also called field networks, to bring data from smart meters back to utilities, said Paul De Martini, the chief technology officer for smart grid at Cisco.
The reference design will also address a number of grid-related applications, such as demand response, automation of power distribution equipment, managing energy storage, and distributed generation like rooftop solar panels, he said.
Major move by Cisco
Cisco has said that it considers the smart grid a $100 billion dollar market but it has only released a few products so far, including a home energy management controller and routers and switches for substations.
Although the companies were vague on product details and timing, the partnership is a much more significant move into the smart grid by Cisco, said Bob Gohn, a smart-grid analyst at Pike Research
Partnering with a significant meter manufacturer committed to using IP for data transport opens the way for Cisco to provide a number of add-on products, such as security and network management, he said.
"If they can sprinkle some of their own bits of intelligence as a software widget into various end devices (on the grid), it gives Cisco a better chance of providing the overall solution," Gohn said. "The parallel with the enterprise computing space is pretty easy to draw."
Itron has historically used proprietary communications technology in its meters, but having IP advocate Cisco as a partner improves its credibility on standards-based communications, Gohn added.
