The Oyster in the waters off Scotland is the only hydro-electric device producing power, according to its maker.
(Credit: Aquamarine Power)Wave energy got a boost with the connection of the Oyster hydro-electric device to the electricity grid in Scotland last Friday.
Aquamarine Power activated the connection of the Oyster in the waters off Orkney, marking one of the few ocean power devices to be producing electricity.
The device is a hydraulic pump operated by a "hinged flap," where a large metal piece moves back and forth from the motion of the waves. The movement moves a hydraulic piston that pumps water underground to a hydro-electric turbine that drives a generator to make electricity.
The peak power output of the Oyster 1 is about two megawatts, depending on the location. The company, which received research funding from the U.K. government, is now working on a second-generation device.
There are a number of technologies being pursued to convert wave or tidal energy into electrical energy, including underwater generators. The advantage of the pump design is that it's relatively simple and many components, such as gear boxes and generators, are not exposed to the water.
Twenty Oysters, which are attached to the seabed at about 10 meters of water, could produce enough electricity to power 9,000 homes in the U.K., according to Aquamarine Power.
In the U.S., the Seadog Pump uses a similar approach of pumping water offshore to a hydro-electric turbine to make electricity.
The Oyster was tested at the European Marine Energy Centre. In the U.S., there is an effort to establish an ocean power research center in southern Massachusetts.
Norway opened on Tuesday the world's first osmotic power plant, which produces emissions-free electricity by mixing fresh water and sea water through a special membrane.
State-owned utility Statkraft's prototype plant, which for now will produce a tiny 2 kilowatts to 4 kilowatts of power or enough to run a coffee machine, will enable Statkraft to test and develop the technology needed to drive down production costs.
The plant is driven by osmosis that naturally draws fresh water across a membrane and toward the seawater side. This creates higher pressure on the sea water side, driving a turbine and producing electricity.
"While salt might not save the world alone, we believe osmotic power will be an interesting part of the renewable energy mix of the future," Statkraft Chief Executive Baard Mikkelsen told reporters.
Statkraft, Europe's largest producer of renewable energy with experience in hydropower that provides nearly all of Norway's electricity, aims to begin building commercial osmotic power plants by 2015.
Here is the company's illustration of how the plant works.
(Credit: Statkraft)The main issue is to improve the efficiency of the membrane from around 1 watt per square meter now to some 5 watts, which Statkraft says would make osmotic power costs comparable to those from other renewable sources.
The prototype, on the Oslo fjord and about 40 miles south of the Norwegian capital, has about 2,000 square meters of membrane.
Future full-scale plants producing 25 megawatts of electricity, enough to provide power for 30,000 European households, would be as large as a football stadium and require some 5 million square meters of membrane, Statkraft said.
Once new membrane "architecture" is solved, Statkraft believes the global production capacity for osmotic energy could amount to 1,600 to 1,700 terawatt hours annually, or about half of the European Union's total electricity demand.
Europe's osmotic power potential is seen at 180 terawatts, or about 5 percent of total consumption, which could help the bloc reach renewable energy goals set to curb emissions of heat-trapping gases and limit global warming.
Osmotic power, which can be located anywhere where clean fresh water runs into the sea, is seen as more reliable than more variable wind or solar energy.
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SAN FRANCISCO--Technology giant Intel is seeing big opportunities in wind forecasting for power generation, and in information management for electric vehicles, John Skinner, Intel's director of marketing for its Eco-Technology division, said Tuesday.
Intel already sells microprocessors to wind turbine manufacturers and this would be an expansion of that business.
Adoption of wide-scale wind power would rely on accurate forecasting, such as when the wind would blow and how fast, he said.
"There's a lot of opportunities for sensor technology and high-performance computing," he said in an interview on the sidelines of an industry conference. "We are starting to explore it."
Intel has said it wants to grow its processor and software presence outside the traditional markets and has invested in a number of green technology companies through its venture capital arm, Intel Capital.
Wind and solar power have gained in popularity but mass adoption has been hindered by the fact that neither power works around the clock. Solar panels don't work at night and wind turbines only spin when the wind blows.
"We see numerical forecasting [in wind] as very interesting opportunity," he said, adding that "every extra bit of granularity and predictability" on wind power is very valuable.
Another sector that Intel is eyeing is electric vehicles.
Skinner said that transportation industry is "very ripe" for the application of microprocessors.
"Electric vehicles are going to contain a lot of electronics," he said, adding that Intel could see itself being involved certain aspects of the electric car such as energy management and range prediction.
"It would be an extension of our business in telematics," he said.
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LOS ANGELES--Kleiner Perkins and Khosla Ventures-backed solar-thermal start-up Ausra is in talks with three potential buyers to sell itself, two sources familiar with the company told Reuters on Friday.
The buyers could take a majority stake or snag the whole company and the discussions are at a "very aggressive level," said one source familiar with the company, who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
Both sources said the interested companies were global conglomerates in the power generation business but declined to name them. The companies already have various power products, such as steam and gas turbines, and are committed to renewable energy. One interested party has engaged with Ausra previously, one source said.
Ausra declined to comment.
A sale of the high-profile Silicon Valley start-up that has raised $130 million in venture capital would add to a string of recent deals and growing consolidation in the solar-power industry.
Chinese solar-wafer manufacturer ReneSola plans to buy Dynamic Green Energy while silicon maker MEMC Electronic Materials plans to acquire privately held SunEdison, which installs, maintains, and finances commercial solar systems.
Privately held Ausra, which is based in Mountain View, Calif., launched as a solar-thermal developer in 2006, when solar power and other clean technology were luring venture capitalists.
Two years ago the company landed a power purchasing agreement with California utility PG&E, a unit of PG&E Corp., for a 117-megawatt solar-thermal plant. Solar-thermal plants use the sun's rays to heat liquid to create steam, which drives turbines and generates electricity.
Earlier this year, the company switched tracks, saying it would move away from developing projects and focus on supplying large-scale solar steam generators.
This month Ausra said that it canceled its agreement with PG&E and sold the project's land to the largest U.S. solar-power company, First Solar, maker of thin-film solar cells.
Ausra also has deals in Jordan and Australia and other investors include Starfish Ventures and KERN Partners.
One source familiar with the company said that "extensive work" has been done at various stages of completion with the interested buyers.
"We're talking about meetings with dozens of people involved," said the person, who also was not authorized to speak publicly about the discussions.
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Green Plug's twist port universal charger.
(Credit: Green Plug)Start-ups Green Plug and WiPower are working together on a universal wireless charger for portable devices, the companies said Thursday.
The partnership makes sense since GreenPlug has developed a protocol to allow power sources and portable devices to communicate, while WiPower has invented technology to transmit power wirelessly over short distances.
Green Plug's universal chargers allow portable electronic devices containing its embedded Greentalk chip to be charged from a universal port. Once a device is plugged in to a Green Plug charger port, the charger's Greentalk protocol reads the chip inside the device to determine the power supply needed to charge it. It then tunes its power output to charge the device accordingly.
WiPower has a developed technology that can transmit power over short distances wirelessly. You can place a device on a WiPower pad in any position, and it automatically begins recharging.
Powermat makes a wireless charging dock that works with cases made for specific devices.
(Credit: Powermat)Here's the caveat. For this to become a reality, manufacturers must opt to embed Greentalk chips into their products instead of offering individual power adapters for each model they make.
The idea is considered green because millions of chargers are thrown away each year when people buy new devices and discard the old chargers. Embracing the Greentalk chip could theoretically prevent millions of chargers from being manufactured in the first place.
The idea is not entirely unique, though. Powermat makes a pad for wirelessy charging any Powermat-enabled device. In order to work with it, the device must be placed inside a special case that houses a Powermat receiver programmed to work with the charger and a specific device's needs. Users can also buy a cube with eight different types of ports that can sit on the mat and be plugged in to compatible devices.
Updated on November 13 at 1:11 p.m. PT to clarify and correct technical details.
Big levitated spinning disks will provide electricity to the grid in a project set to begin next month.
Flywheel energy storage company Beacon Power on Tuesday said it plans to begin construction of a 20-megawatt storage facility in Stephentown, N.Y. Provided on a continuous basis, twenty megawatts could power thousands of homes. But flywheels are used only for providing power for short periods.
Rather have many hours of stored energy on standby, the flywheels will store and dispatch bursts of electricity for what's called frequency regulation in the utility industry. Because of fluctuations in power demand, power generators need to deliver power to the grid to maintain a steady signal frequency. Beacon Power's flywheels are designed to provide one megawatt of power for 15 minutes.
George King, supervisor of flywheel assembly at Beacon Power, stands next to the company's 100-kilowatt flywheel.
(Credit: Beacon Power)With flywheels, electrical energy is converted into mechanical energy and stored by the spinning disks. By absorbing electricity and dispatching it for quick bursts of a few minutes, utilities can maintain the frequenc with a system that uses no fossil fuel and responds quickly, according to Beacon Power.
The project will help the utility better use renewable energy that supplies electricity intermittently to the grid, according to the New York State Public Service Commission.
The installation in upstate New York will be the first large-scale use of Beacon Power's technology, according to the company. The Tyngsboro, Mass.-based company secured a Department of Energy loan guarantee in July for $43 million to partially finance the project.
Until now, Beacon Power has operated two smaller 1-megawatt facilities, where 10 flywheels are placed in a shipping container-size structure. The wheels themselves are made of carbon fiber composites, rather than metal, and spin at 16,000 revolutions per minute. To reduce friction, the mechanical components are stored in a vacuum and levitated with a permanent magnet, according to the company.
Another idea that has been pursued by Google for frequency regulation is using networks of electric-vehicle batteries. Rather than dispatch stored energy from batteries, plugged-in cars could have the charge rate throttled back, which a grid management system could use to maintain frequency.
Google PowerMeter software monitors home energy usage in real time and can be accessed from a person's iGoogle home page.
(Credit: Google)U.K. residents will now be able to monitor and regulate their home energy usage from any Web-enabled phone or computer regardless of whether their energy provider uses smart meters.
Google announced two U.K. partnerships this week concerning its PowerMeter software, one of which completely bypasses the need for cooperation from an energy provider.
Since the U.K. electricity and gas supplier First Utility began offering customers free smart meters in September 2008, it has had 30,000 customers take them up on the offer. Now, as a result of a Google partnership announced Tuesday, First Utility smart meter customers will have the option of allowing their info to be relayed to Google's PowerMeter so their smart meter data and control can be Web-accessible. The service will become available to Midlands customers in early November 2009, and eventually extend it to the entire U.K.
Google also announced Wednesday that its PowerMeter software will be compatible with AlertMe, a U.K. self-install energy monitoring system that works regardless of a resident's energy provider or the type of meter installed in the home.
Unlike smart meters, the AlertMe system does not communicate with an electricity utility's smart grid to advise on low-peak usage hours. It consists of a meter reader that clips on to a home's existing electric meter, smart plug adapters for appliances, and a wireless hub that plugs into a home's broadband connection. The hub wirelessly communicates between the meter reader, smart plugs, and AlertMe service.
AlertMe's smart plug, meter reader, and wireless hub.
(Credit: AlertMe)The device's non-evasive nature makes it an option for renters as well as homeowners. And AlertMe is clearly attempting to target that renter market by pointing out in its quirky infomercials (see video below) that its device is unobtrusive. Unlike smart meters, it does require the usual landlord permission to be installed.
The kits costs 69 British pounds ($113) plus a required 12-month contract for its 2.99 pounds-per-month ($4.90) communication service, which requires that the home have broadband access. The total cost, including one free month of service, comes to 101.89 pounds ($167.55).
On Wednesday, the company also announced the start of its trial with British Gas on an AlertMe kit for monitoring and controlling heating from gas that will tie into the gas utility's smart meters. Since AlertMe monitors are now compatible with Google's PowerMeter, the software will be available to British Gas customers who join that smart meter program.
The Google PowerMeter software that ties in to First Utility, AlertMe, and (by default) the British Gas trial program, is currently free. It makes real-time usage data collected from the companies available by cell phone or computer. The data can then be charted in hourly, daily, monthly, and yearly segments for analysis, allowing users to basically conduct their own personal green-living and energy-usage experiments.
A person could test if shutting off their TV and its electronic accouterments for one week, as opposed to leaving them in standby mode, really makes a dent in their home's overall energy consumption. AlertMe subscribers could also use the PowerMeter software to remotely turn specific appliances on or off.
Both AlertMe and First Utility have said they've found their consumers really do tend to adjust their usage habits to save energy and money, once they come face to face with their own usage data.
"At the end of the day, if you can't measure and view your energy use, it's very difficult to make savings," First Utility's CEO Mark Daeche said in a statement.
Renew Blue's Seadog pump, which uses wave and tidal power to produce electricity and can be harnessed for desalination, is about to be put to the commercial test off the coast of Texas.
Earlier this month, Renew Blue, a subsidiary of the Minneapolis-based Independent Natural Resources, was granted the first-ever state off-shore wave energy lease from the Texas General Land Office. On Thursday, Renew Blue announced that it has licensed its technology to Texas Natural Resources and that they will partner to develop an off-shore facility for 18 Seadog pumps that will both produce power and desalinate seawater for drinking.
A Renew Blue sketch demonstrating how an 18-pump Seadog plant could work.
(Credit: Independent Natural Resources)Texas Natural Resources plans to build the facility one mile off the coast of Freeport, Texas.
Water produced from the off-shore plant will initially be bottled in compostable plastic bottles produced from corn byproducts. It will be sold under the brand Renew Blue and marketed as "environmentally friendly bottled water."
"However, the greater goal of the Seadog pump field is to demonstrate what the technology can do in providing electricity and clean water at a municipal level to regions all over the world that lack fresh water and energy but have an abundance of ocean waves along their coastline," the companies said.
The project will be a test to see how scalable the technology is for widespread use.
In addition to providing electricity, the plant will initially desalinate 3,000 gallons of water per day and hold 30,000 gallons of fresh water at a time to be transported for bottling. But the plant could be designed to eventually desalinate millions of gallons per day for municipal use, according to statistics provided by both companies.
Cornell University house chose to use three Cor-Ten steel silos to reflect their rural landscape of upstate New York.
(Credit: Martin LaMonica/CNET)WASHINGTON--If you designed a net zero-energy home, would it be a science experiment or something you'd move into as soon as it was done?
At this year's Solar Decathlon student competition, both approaches were on display: high-tech homes that cost well over $700,000 and simpler ones that could be made for as little as $80,000.
The contest pits 20 colleges against each other to build the
Student competitors said the whole point was to show what's possible with existing solar and energy-efficiency products, either from established providers or green-building start-ups. And a look at these 800-square-foot structures shows you the huge variety of possibilities in net zero-energy buildings.
Teams Germany, Spain, and Ontario/BC built sophisticated and relatively expensive homes that used a number of innovative techniques, such as solar cells built into the homes' siding and high-tech heat sinks using "phase-change materials" that retain heat or cold to lower energy use.
Santa Clara University, which came in third in the 2007 competition, teamed up with California College of the Arts, to focus on changing the image of a green home.
"The big idea is that living green is not a compromise. You can have all the amenities of a modern house--you don't need to give up you high-definition TV," said Richard Navarro, an electrical engineering student at Santa Clara University. "If you go into this house, you wouldn't believe that it's just 800 square feet. It feels much bigger."
Many students said they designed buildings that they wanted to see back home. Penn State, for example, used solar collectors that work well with diffuse light and are well suited for their climate. Rice University's Zerow house will be installed as a low-income in Houston and Iowa State designed a home for seniors. The team from the University of Arizona, too, set out to build the "home of the future" tailored for their native state.
IT and building tech
On the technology side, the homes act as a showcase for tried-and-true products but also as test cases for relatively untested green building gear.
Many buildings used well established air-source heat pumps for heating and cooling buildings, which are considered efficient systems. Standard equipment in all these buildings included efficient home appliances and LED lighting, both of which keep the overall electricity demand down. Sensors were put in to automatically turn lighting--or even TVs--on and off.
Some student teams found ways to put cutting-edge products to work. Penn State's solar panels came from California start-up Solyndra, which makes arrays of curved tubes made of thin-film solar cells. Team Illinois worked with a young local company called Lamboo that makes lumber from bamboo--a plant that replenishes quickly. Bamboo is already used for flooring in new buildings, but Lamboo makes structural beams.
Many homes had advanced home-automation control systems, which are widespread in commercial buildings but rarely used in residential buildings. Ohio State, for example, has a system that knows how much power each outlet and appliance in the home is drawing. That data is collected and displayed on a touch screen so people can understand their usage patterns to find ways to be more efficient.
"The touch-screen energy display is not just cool technology. It's also a conservation tool," said Jared Lairmore, a graduate student in architecture at Ohio State.
But for all the focus on high-tech mechanical systems, students clearly also wanted these buildings to be attractive and fit in to their environments, rather than look like a "spaceship," as Kimberly Gould, a civil engineering student at University of Calgary and member of Team Alberta, put it.
A number of buildings used reclaimed materials, including planks from old barns, the core-ten steel used in corn silos, or, in Puerto Rico's case, teak from old wooden benches. Every home had a system to collect rainwater for their gardens, with Team California using a filtering system to clean drain water from the shower and kitchen sink.
"Energy efficiency doesn't mean it's different or not good to look at," said Chad Gallas, a graduate architecture student at the University of Kentucky. "It looks just like a home that could be done anywhere in Kentucky."
After the competition, some homes will be used as test labs or display back home. In the meantime, contestants are hoping to get the most points and share their ideas with the public.
"The way I look at it is we're building a Nascar (race car)," said Mark Taylor, assistant professor of architecture at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. "We put everything we could in, but you as the public can take what works for you."
The tentative date for the announcement for the overall winner is Friday, October 16. You can see the current standings here.
The University of Minnesota's house on the National Mall.
(Credit: Martin LaMonica/CNET)Google has connected a home electricity-monitoring device to its Web-based PowerMeter application, part of Google's strategy to seed the market for home energy tools.
Google on Monday said that PowerMeter works with TED 5000, a small-screen monitor that provides a real-time read-out of home electricity use. TED, which stands for The Energy Detective, is one of many monitors aimed at giving consumers more detailed information so they can find ways to reduce energy use.
Google's PowerMeter energy monitor working on a smart phone.
(Credit: Google)In combination with PowerMeter, a person can view details, such as real-time electricity use and weekly trends from a Web browser or using a smart phone running iGoogle.
Until now, Google has been working with utilities that are installing smart meters that communicate usage information in regular intervals rather than just once a month. Now, a person can use PowerMeter without having to have a smart meter installed.
Although it's straight forward, installation of the TED 5000 is not for everybody. It requires a technically savvy or an electrician to remove the cover of a home's electrical panel.
Google is looking to expand the number of devices that work with PowerMeter. It also intends to expand beyond simple energy monitoring. Planned features include ways to control home appliances to take advantage of off-peak electricity rates and demand-response programs, Dan Reicher, the director of climate and energy initiatives at Google.org, said in May.
