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GreenMonk news roundup 11/08/2008

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  • How to Make Water from Thin Air : CleanTechnica

    EWA Technologies Group has developed a new technology that harnesses the natural humidity in the air, and converts that moisture into drinking water. The process works in three stages: Adsorption of water from the air (getting the water out of the air); desorption of the water (releasing the water out of the containing material); and condensation of the drinking water.

    tags: water, drinking water, water production

  • Solar Cells Set New Performance Mark | LiveScience

    Researchers have announced a solar energy breakthrough that could lead to its more widespread use with their achievement of the highest efficiency ever for one type of solar cells.

    The photovoltaic cells, called dye-sensitized solar cells or Gräztel cells, could expand the use of solar energy for homes, businesses and beyond, the researchers say.

    tags: graztel, graztel cells, photovoltaic, solar energy

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

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GreenMonk interviews AMEE and thinks about collaboration!

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Gavin Starks, founder and CEO of AMEE, is one of the speaker’s presenting at this year’s it@cork Green IT conference on November 26th. GreenMonk are a sponsor of the conference, hence our interviewing the speakers in the run-up to the conference.

We have written about AMEE several times before on GreenMonk because we are strong believers in their philosophies.

From the AMEE website:

AMEE is a neutral aggregation platform to measure and track all the energy data on Earth. This includes aggregating every emission factor and methodology related to CO2 and Energy Assessments (individuals, businesses, buildings, products, supply chains, countries, etc.), and all the consumption data (fuel, water, waste, quantitative and qualitative factors)

Because AMEE provides standardised access to emissions factors and methodologies you have to think they are a natural partner for many companies/organisations and indeed they currently count the UK govt, the Irish govt, Google, Radiohead and Morgan Stanley among their users!

Thinking about my recent trip to San Antonio for the SAP for Utilities conference, AMEE would seem an obvious choice to help SAP with their Energy Capital Management program.

AMEE keeps global factors and methodologies updated and maintained as a managed service, saving its clients time and resources, so there is logic for SAP to use AMEE for this service, for example.

Since AMEE also enables its clients to add their own methods, AMEE’s API approach is a valuable consolidation platform.

Collaboration could help stimulate new markets that cross-over between smart-grids, business footprinting, consumer initiatives, and policy trends. AMEE could support and compliment the aims of the Lighthouse Council, by extending the reach and demonstrating best practice.

This would enable (controlled) data mining and benchmarking in a collaborative environment, whilst maintaining privacy.

A collaboration between SAP and AMEE could demonstrate thought-leadership and generate new data marketplaces. It would also present a tangible way to accelerate reductions and efficiencies through data portability and by increasing transparency in the system.

The output could inform corporate strategy and government policy. This may be particularly timely and relevant to the new US administration.

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GreenMonk news roundup 11/07/2008

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Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

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Doug Neal on reducing the 98%

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it@cork are holding their annual conference this year on the theme “Green IT: Reduce CO2, Raise profits”

We here in GreenMonk are sponsoring the event and as part of the sponsorship we are interviewing many of the speakers in the run-up to the conference.

In this interview, I chatted with Doug Neal, research Fellow at The Leading Edge Forum about his presentation.

We talk about how although IT is only responsible for 2% of the world’s carbon emissions, it can act as a huge lever on reducing the other 98%.

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GreenMonk news roundup 11/06/2008

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  • Eco-Friendly Tips We All Need To Know! | Modern Eco Homes

    US-centric view on how to use less hazardous materials in the home and how to safely rid yourself of such materials if you have already used them. Before you launch into a weekend of cleaning out your cabinets or the garage, stop for a refresher course on disposing of all that leftover paint, used motor oil, expired medications, dead batteries and other items considered “hazardous household waste”. You may realize you have more hazardous junk then you thought.

    tags: hazardous household waste, disposal

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

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GreenMonk interviews Stefan Engelhardt about SAP’s vision for Smart Grids

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One of the more interesting keynote talks at the recent SAP for Utilities conference in San Antonio TX was the one given by Stefan Engelhardt, SAP’s Head of Industry Business Unit Utilities.

In his keynote he discussed decarbonisation and SAP’s vision around Smart Grids and Smart Meters. I asked him if he’d be willing to come on camera to talk about some of these topics and he very graciously agreed.

With the vast majority of the world’s utilities using SAP’s software, they have their fingers firmly on the pulse of this sector. What was pleasantly surprising to me was the amount of interest SAP is seeing from their utility client companies in Smart Grids. As Stefan himself said in the interview:

For the next couple of years we see a clear trend towards the deployment of Smart Metering technology in the Utilities industry… and that means we have to adapt the existing business processes to this new technology

It was also fascinating to hear Stefan’s predictions around how Smart Grids will be rolled out gradually by utilities. Polling of smart meters by utilities will be ramped up bit-by-bit from maybe once a day to once every 10-15 minutes and this will have huge implications for the amount of data utilities will have to manage. Previously they may have collected 1 terabyte every 10 years. With smart meters reporting energy usage every 10-15 minutes they could be collecting 1 terabyte every month, or less!

With the roll-out of Smart Grids, utility companies will be able to publish energy prices in realtime based on supply and demand. This is important because electricity is more plentiful when renewables are contributing to the mix, so cheaper electricity should also track closely with Greener electricity!.

Utilities will now be able to offer new products like critical peak pricing for peak shaving in times of electricity shortage and even demand stimulation, to encourage people to consume electricity when supply is exceeding demand. This will encourage people to shift some of their loads to times when renewables are contributing more, thereby reducing the CO2 emissions associated with that load.

[Disclosure – SAP covered my expenses to attend this conference]

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GreenMonk news roundup 11/05/2008

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Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

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Smart Grid management software

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One of the key challenges for any new technology, like Smart Grids, is finding intelligent ways to manage them.

Smart Grids contain new assets for utilities (Smart Meters) which collect data about energy usage and pass it back to the utility. They should also be capable of receiving data from the utility (price signals) and communicating that with the household.

Because this is an extremely immature technology as yet, there are many new entrants in the field with solutions around managing Smart Grids.

At the SAP for Utilities conference, I spoke to Krishna Kumar of Space-Time-Insight and he demonstrated their Smart Grid management software. I was impressed at the way the software used Google Maps and was able to zoom in or out to report at the city/block/individual residence level!

The fact that it also allows for the management of assets like wind turbines makes this an interesting piece of software for utilities, I suspect.

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GreenMonk news roundup 11/04/2008

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Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

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Maximizing Wind and Solar Energy: Live Webinar Nov. 5!

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The Energy Collective

The Energy Collective


This coming Wednesday, Nov 5th, sees the second installment in the Energy Collective‘s Fall Webinar Series!

Up next:
Wind and Solar Come of Age: Making Renewables Full Partners in Our Energy Future – Wednesday, November 5 @ 1 PM Eastern / 10 AM Pacific, Featuring Scott Sklar of The Stella Group and Tom Raftery of GreenMonk (that’s me!).

Scale, advances in technology, and the rising cost of fossil fuels mean wind turbines and solar panels are no longer novelties. But getting the most out of solar and wind involves more than new installations. In this Webinar, we’ll examine the challenges and opportunities associated with integrating peak-load, distributed power sources in our base-load-expectant society with an electrical infrastructure built for centralized generation. More info here.

And, don’t forget the final Webinar in the Series:
Decarbonization and Nuclear Power? – Thursday, November 13th @ 11 a.m. Eastern/8 a.m. Pacific, Featuring Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers, Dan Yurman of Fuel Cycle Week and Ashton Poole of Morgan Stanley’s Global Power and Utility Group

This controversial energy source appears to promise massive benefits, but also presents some serious obstacles. Our panelists will explore the possibility of a nuclear future in America, discussing the costs of adding new nuclear plants, the potential impact of carbon pricing, and whether NIMBY politics and regulatory barriers can be overcome. More info here