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Today in Green IT

Pedro Hernandez
Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Lots of coverage in energy storage and batteries today. I spotted two great pieces on combating wind power’s intermittency problem, one is Wired’s profile on some DoE-backed compressed-air storage projects and the other is Earth2Tech’s piece on Xtreme’s “chemical capacitor” technology that will be used to capture electrons from Hawaii’s fickle breezes. The New York Times looks into lithium-rich Latin America and the opportunities therein, but the most exciting news comes from MIT’s Technology Review arXiv blog, which details a new lithium battery quick-charging method from researchers at Mississippi State University. Although it’s way too early and there’s much work to be done, it’s hard not to get excited about the prospect of charging your future EV in the time it takes to gas up your car today.

Obama Vows to Stabilize Fuel Prices, Calls for Reform

President Barack Obama says the country cannot drill its way out of dependence on foreign oil and exposure to chaotic swings in oil prices, in response to Republican attacks calling for loosened regulations on domestic oil extraction. Obama said he was prepared to tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve if needed, but didn't say how high prices would have to get for that to happen.

Submitted by Jeff St. John
Two-Week Deadline for PG&E’s SmartMeter Opt-Out Plan

The president of the California Public Utilities Commission has ordered utility Pacific Gas and Electric to come up with a plan to let customer opt out of getting a wireless smart meter at their home, all within two weeks. While many studies show no reason to suspect the meters are a health risk, a handful of northern California protesters appear to have forced the CPUC's hand.

Submitted by Jeff St. John
EnergyHub Launches Direct to Consumer Home Energy Strategy

Startup EnergyHub plans to start selling its home energy management dashboards directly to consumers for the first time starting on Sunday at the Sough by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas. No word yet on how much it will cost.

Submitted by Jeff St. John
BP Expands in Brazilian Biofuels with $680 Million Buy

BP is spending $680 million to buy an 83 percent stake in a Brazilian sugar cane milling group Companhia Nacional de Acucar e Alcool, more than tripling its Brazilian ethanol production capacity. It's the latest in a series of big Brazilian sugarcane-to-ethanol deals, including Shell's $12 billion deal with Cosan to make both sugar-based and cellulosic ethanol.

Submitted by Jeff St. John
IBM’s New Smarter Buildings Solution: More BAM from Your BMS

Pike Research's Eric Bloom does a deep dive into IBM's latest platforms to link building energy management systems from partners like Johnson Controls and Schneider Electric. It's all part of a larger effort to link cities and companies in an enterprise-level view of resource management — something that companies like Cisco, Microsoft and HP are also working on.

Submitted by Jeff St. John