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Sustainable Industries Daily Update
Sustainable energy powers today's update.
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- Plug and play solar could be considered a holy grail of the solar industry. Imagine a set up that homeowners can buy, install and use all on their own without the hassle of signing agreements with utilities, hiring installers, getting inspections or learning the ins and outs of panel efficiency, inverters and other stalwarts of solar usage. That is the vision of Seattle-based Clarian Technologies which is working on developing plug and play solar panels it hopes to release by Spring 2011. The company's arrays are planned to cost about $800 and will likely produce just 600 watts. Still, that's enough to power one of a home's major appliances and, if it's as easy as planned, could be a major breakthrough for home-based solar power.
- On the other end of the energy spectrum, traditional coal plants are experiencing a construction boom. More than 30 have been built in the United States since 2008 at a cost of 10 times the amount the government invested in "clean coal" technologies.
- But, back to efforts to expand the use of sustainable energy. Bonneville Power Administration is testing a plan that would store wind energy in residential hot water heaters. The experiment includes outfitting homes with a device that "tells" the hot water heater to switch on when there is excess capacity on the grid thanks to high winds. The pilot runs for a year. The Northwest is a hotbed of smart-grid research and the feds are turning up the heat. DOE released half of the $178 million in funding for the Pacific Northwest Smart Grid Demonstration Project last week.
- In not-directly related to energy news, more than 60 companies have completed the road testing of new global standards designed to help measure the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of their products and supply chains. The two new GHG Protocol standards –the Product Lifecycle Accounting and Reporting Standard and the Scope 3 (Corporate Value Chain) Accounting and Reporting Standard – provide methods to account for emissions associated with individual products across their life-cycles and of corporations across their value chains. The companies that road tested the Product Life Cycle Accounting and Reporting Standard reported they had little difficulty completing an inventory in conformance with the requirements and found the guidance provided in the draft helpful, according to World Resources Institute. Companies also, "found it achievable to complete a Scope 3 inventory and many companies believe it practical to complete one on an annual basis."
- The range of the Tesla Roadster could be reduced by 30 percent from 200 miles in between charges in one fell swoop, according to a report on AutoBlogGreen. The method the Environmental Protection Agency uses to measure driving range for vehicles.
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