1. Power Up Without a Plug
30/07/2010 17:26

A Virginia company called Evatran has debuted their prototype for an EV charger that works without plugs, cables or a flow of electricity between the vehicle and the charger.

This new charging system doesn\'t work by magic, but by induction. To recharge an EV with this system, the vehicle pulls up to the charging station and parks over a floor-mounted parking block. An adapter fitted to the vehicle and the parking block both contain metal coils that become aligned by magnetic sensors. The control tower for the charging station converts electricity into the right frequency for the charger and when the coils are aligned, the electricity creates a strong magnetic field in the parking block\'s coils that induces a flow of electricity in the coils in the vehicle\'s adapter, which charges the battery.

Induction is what\'s used in electrical transformers and has been used for charging smaller devices like cell phones and electric toothbrushes, so it was only a matter of time before we saw it used in EV charging.

The company is running a pilot program throughout the year and hopes to commercially release the system next April. So far, Evatran has been able to achieve an 80 percent efficiency with the induction charging, but hopes to hit 90 percent by the time production units are released.

via PhysOrg
2. New York State Drafts Major Solar Thermal Plan
29/07/2010 18:43

New York has big plans for solar thermal heating. A new program paves the way for the installation of one million systems by 2020, amounting to a 2 GW capacity.

In New York, where winters get mighty frosty, 60 percent of energy consumed in buildings goes to heating and hot water, so this new plan could have a major impact. The state could see annual savings of 6 million gallons of oil, 9.5 million cubic feet of natural gas and 320 GWh of electricity. The financial savings would amount to $175 million each year.

These systems would be spread among residential and commercial buildings throughout the state, making hot water and creating steam for heating systems, with residential buildings making up a much larger chunk at 70 percent of the systems installed.

The plan, which was drafted by the state\'s Solar Thermal Consortium, includes incentives for installing the technology, education and training for installers, research and development for better technology and improvements in the permitting process. It sounds amazing; let\'s hope the state government implements it.

via Renewable Energy World
3. Microsoft Hohm Launches Real-Time Wireless Meter Reading
28/07/2010 18:07

Users of Microsoft\'s Hohm energy management software can now access real-time meter readings from anywhere with a wireless signal. The company has partnered up with Blue Line Innovations, which will provide a wireless sensor that links your meter to your Hohm account.

While the online Hohm service has been free, the Blue Line upgrade will cost extra. It\'s $250 for the package, which includes the sensor that mounts to the meter, a wireless in-home energy monitoring device and a WiFi gateway. But the benefits include being able to see energy usage data in real-time and make adjustments, like turning off lights or electronics, if needed.

Before now, users could monitor their energy use only through analyzing past data provided by their utilities or by manually entering information from energy bills. This upgrade will likely show the true value of energy management software: the ability to instantly see the impact of your energy use, at any time, any where.

The only downer is that while Hohm has been accessible by any browser or operating system, the upgrade will only work with a Windows machine.

via TechFlash
4. California Breaks Ground on Nation\'s Largest Wind Farm
27/07/2010 22:10

A huge 3-GW wind project planned for outside of Los Angeles has received a boost in funding and is now on track to be operational by next year. The Alta Wind Energy Center will be the largest wind project in the country, capable of powering 600,000 Southern California homes.

Terra-Gen Power LLC, the company building the project consisting of five separate wind farms, just secured $1.2 billion in funding, which has kicked construction into high gear. The project just broke ground today in the Mojave Desert foothills, just 75 miles north of Los Angeles. The first phase, which will produce about 570 MW, should be up and running by next year, while the full project will be completed in about a decade.

Southern California Edison has already committed to 1,550 MW of electricity produced by the project over 25 years. Just that slice of energy is twice the capacity of the largest existing wind farm, a 735-MW one in Texas.

via LA Times
5. GM Announces MSRP for Chevy Volt, EV Competition Heats Up
27/07/2010 20:23

The unusual electric car concept that we started following a few years ago is now close to arriving at auto dealerships as the 2011 Chevy Volt. And today, Chevrolet announced the manufacturer\'s suggested retail price for the Volt will be $41,000. With the full $7,500 federal tax credit, the price comes down to $33,500, and even lower with additional state incentives.

Nissan has tried to position itself as the competitor to GM with its all-electric Leaf, and that is playing out in a number of ways. While the list price of the Volt is several thousand dollars more than the Nissan Leaf, both vehicles will be available for lease at almost identical cost: $350/month for the Volt or $349/month for the Leaf.

Furthermore, on the same day that GM announced the pricing for the Volt, Nissan fired back with an announcement that it, too, would offer a warranty similar to the eight year, 100,000 mile warranty GM has announced for the Volt\'s battery systems.

The initial markets selected by each company are also interesting to compare: Nissan plans to roll out the Leaf in Texas and Hawaii in January of 2011, then in North Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Virginia, Maryland, South Carolina, Alabama and Washington, D.C., in April 2011 and eventually nationwide by the end of that year. None of these are particularly cold-weather states. The Volt will initially be available in California, New York, Washington, D.C., Texas, Michigan, Connecticut and New Jersey in late 2010, and will be expanded into nationwide availability (as well as to Canada) in the following 12 - 18 months.

This will be interesting to follow as both companies (as well both existing manufacturers and new startups with other electric vehicles and hybrids) push the industry further along in developing alternatives to simple internal combustion drive vehicles.