2nd Green Revolution » Business

Power Outages Show Weakness of the Grid; Poor Response

Justin Manger — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 13:19:41 +0000

On Sunday, the Washington, DC metro region got slammed by 60-70mph winds and heavy rains over a brief period of about 20 minutes. The storms were caused by a cold front moving through the region and bumping up against the record setting heat we’ve had here due to the Bermuda High. The cold and hot air masses clashed, producing fierce winds that toppled trees and downed numerous power lines. Two days after the storm, there were still 100,000 people without power. Even today, four days later, there remain people without power in Montgomery County, MD. The Capital Weather Gang is a great weather site that has updates on outages and lots of resources. Here is the latest power outage update from Pepco.

The U.S. may have some of the cheapest electricity prices in the world but the system is utterly slow at responding to downed power lines and quickly restoring power. Talking with Japanese colleagues of mine, they can’t believe the power actually goes out FOR DAYS in America. These outages are not confined to the summer heat. While living in St. Louis, Eric was once out of power for six days in the middle of winter due to an ice storm. That is unheard of in Japan, where electricity rates are high but responses to outages are quick and efficient and the power is ever only out for a few hours at most.

Perhaps solar panels and Bloom Boxes will one day allow Americans to have a green option for backing up their grid connected electricity supplies or allow for completely independent power generation. Until then, urban camping will be the norm until the power comes back on after violent storms.

[Image Credit]

GM Announces Volt Plug-in Hybrid Price

Justin Manger — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 21:44:55 +0000

$41,000. That’s the price of the new 2011 GM Volt plug-in hybrid vehicle. That price is also near the National Average Wage Index, so out of reach of most consumers. A $7,500 tax credit can take the price down to a more affordable $33,500. That’s still pricey. However, GM is pushing a leasing program that will allow drivers to get the Volt for $350 per month with $2,500 due at signing. GM will initially ship only 10,000 units, aimed at high-end first adopters. Announced today, the press release includes these main points:

Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price starts at $41,000 ($33,500 net of full federal income tax credit, which ranges from $0 to $7,500); Lease payment on a 36-month lease at MSRP as low as $350 per month with $2,500 due at lease signing including security deposit

OnStar provides unprecedented connectivity through Volt mobile app; five years of OnStar (Directions and Connections)service standard

Volt’s eight-year/100,000-mile battery pack warranty provides added peace of mind

Volt can be your primary car; approximately 340 miles of total range provides freedom to drive wherever, whenever.

Detailed information and answers about the car that can go 40 miles without using gasoline can be found here.

At first the Volt will only be available in California, New York, Michigan, Connecticut, Texas, New Jersey, and the Washington D.C. area before rolling out nationwide. GetMyVolt.com will let you know which nearby dealers have the car and can start processing your application today.

[Image Credit]

Governor Ritter Launches Colorado Industrial Energy Challenge

Eric Wilson — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 22:57:01 +0000

Last week, Colorado Governor Bill Ritter announced the Colorado Industrial Energy Challenge. Beginning with 13 participants, the challenge is “a voluntary program open to industrial facilities with more than $200,000 in annual energy costs.” In order to take part, “companies agree to set a five-year goal of reducing energy use, reporting total energy consumption for the base year, and in following years demonstrating progress. By joining the program, a company can receive free technical assistance to achieve its energy reduction goals.”

The press release names the following companies as comprising the 13: Amgen, Aspen Skiing Company, Avago Technologies, Crested Butte Mountain Resort, Encana, Frito-Lay, MillerCoors, New Belgium Brewing Co., Roche Colorado Corp., Rocky Mountain Bottle Company, Rocky Mountain Metal Container, Sandoz and Woodward.

New Belgium already stands as a leader in the fields of energy conservation, on site energy production, and energy efficiency. They capture waste heat from the brewing process and use it to melt snow on the loading dock in their distribution center.

To help the challenge, the United States Department of Energy awarded “the Governor’s Energy Office (GEO) … a competitive grant.” Other collaborators on the challenge include The Southwest Energy Efficiency Project and Colorado State University’s Industrial Assessment Center, which “will provide most of the technical assistance to partner companies, with additional technical support from the ETC Group, an environmental engineering firm based in Salt Lake City.”

[Image source]

Five Friday Facts: The Greenness of Direct Deposit

Justin Manger — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 10:02:25 +0000

A company with 300 employees issuing paychecks every other week only via direct deposit would:

save 121 pounds of paper, 1,159 gallons of wastewater and 45 gallons of gas annually.
Getting rid of paper paychecks would translate to a $57,000 annual savings for a company employing 300 people.
PayItGreen shows that 72% of employees in the US receive their paycheck via direct deposit
Only 40% of small business employees use it, as compared to 86% of employees working for large companies.
PayItGreen claims that 55% of employees using direct deposit find its environmental benefits motivating. But the convenience of not having to cash a check seems to be a larger motivating factor.

Sources: Payitgreen and TechCrunch

“Super-Rapid Charging” System Could Help EV’s Take Hold

Justin Manger — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 22:17:19 +0000

I touched down Saturday in Tokyo so the posts over the next week may have a Japan bent to them. I’ll get to some general observations about the differences between U.S. and Japanese approaches to energy use and conservation later but first wanted to mention a Japanese quick-charging technology for electric cars that may help herald in mass adoption. JFE Engineering says it has developed a charger that needs just 3 minutes to charge a car’s battery 50% and reaches 70% full charge in 5 minutes. As reported on TechCrunch:

In tests JFE conducted with the device, Mitsubishi’s electric car i-MiEV was able to drive for 80km continuously after a 5-minute charge (the vehicle has a driving range of 160km on a full charge). JFE also developed a low-cost version of its charger, which doesn’t require a power transformer and therefore costs just $60,000 to install (roughly half the usual amount). Both that device and the high-cost model meet the specifications of the CHAdeMo standard for electric cars that was brought to life by a group of Japanese and international companies back in March.

The company’s statement about the device is vague, telling us only that “The charging device stores power at night-time in a storage battery incorporated in the device. This power is then transferred to a separate special battery, which discharges to the EV almost instantaneously, enabling charging in a short time of only 3 minutes.”

The company is optimistic about its prospects, however. By March of 2011 JFE expects its charger to be used mainly at gas stations and convenience stores all over Japan.

[Image Credit]