Friday, 15 January 2010 06:13
 Image: www.freefoto.com At an event today in Columbus, Indiana, United States Secretary Chu announced the selection of nine projects totaling more than $187 million to improve fuel efficiency for heavy-duty trucks and passenger vehicles. The funding includes more than $100 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and with a private cost share of 50 percent, will support nearly $375 million in total research, development and demonstration projects across the country. The nine winners have stated their projects will create over 500 jobs, primarily researchers, engineers, and managers who will develop these new technologies. By 2015, the projects expect to create over 6,000 jobs - many in manufacturing and assembly. Currently, the transportation sector accounts for 28 percent of total U.S. energy use. As these vehicle technologies are adopted broadly across the country, they could save more than 100 million gallons of gasoline and diesel per day, and reduce carbon emissions from on-road vehicles by 20 percent by 2030.
"By investing Recovery dollars in next generation fuel efficient trucks here at home, we're not only creating new job opportunities now, but helping lay a new foundation to keep American auto manufacturers competitive in the 21st century global marketplace," said Vice President Biden. "Through strategic public-private investments like these, the Recovery Act is helping lay the groundwork for an expansion of our clean energy economy."
United States
efficiency
truck
vehicle
Last Updated on Sunday, 07 February 2010 03:19
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Tuesday, 12 January 2010 15:22
 Source: Baxi Baxi welcomes today's announcement by Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband that they are supporting the boiler scrappage scheme as details of how the scheme will work are revealed. The scheme, announced by the Chancellor in his December Pre-Budget Report, will help to improve energy efficiency and tackle fuel poverty by offering £400 for up to 125,000 households to upgrade their old boilers to the latest efficient models. Mark Kelly, CEO Baxi Group UK and Ireland, said: "The boiler scrappage scheme gives a real opportunity for households to upgrade their current boiler to the most efficient available. Whilst considerably lowering the carbon footprint of each household it will also save families over £200 per year in fuel costs. "Baxi is pleased with the timing of this announcement as we have just launched a high efficiency version of the old Baxi Bermuda back boiler, which is one of the G band boilers. Previously, a replacement meant re-siting the boiler, re-routing all the pipe work and redecorating; the new high efficiency model is a genuine, simple replacement which fits into the same place with minimum disruption."
Baxi
boiler
scrappage
Saturday, 26 December 2009 11:26
 Image: www.freefoto.com The United Kingdom is about to introduce a new generation of smart meters. These devices will allow people to monitor exactly how much energy they are using, which is hard to find out using current billing practices. Smart meters will make electricity bills more accurate and therefore saving energy should become easier. In the next decade, these new meters will be installed in millions of homes in England, Wales and Scotland. The idea is that consumers can money on their energy bills, since they can easily break down their electricity usage. People can monitor exactly how much energy they are using at different times, which facilitates thinking about how energy usage can be cut. Bill estimates and meter readings will no longer be necessary, because people instead get charged according to exactly how much energy they have used and during which part of the day. Zoe McLeod, energy expert at Consumer Focus: "Basically they're a new generation of meter with a range of additional functions. For the consumer, they'll be provided with a separate standalone display, so you'll be able to see how much energy you're using at any given time in the home. So if you turn your television off standby, you should see the amount of energy showing that you're using on your display come down." At the same time, the government is planning the introduction of a smart grid. The objective is to help save energy, reduce operating and transmission cost and increase reliability of the power network. Download the video.
Source: Directgov
United Kingdom
energy bill
smart meter
Last Updated on Sunday, 07 February 2010 03:28
Wednesday, 16 December 2009 13:08
 Image: www.freefoto.com In Asia, the utilities industry is growing at an incredible rate. Investments globally in the sector have lead to more available jobs, predicting the return to pre-recession levels of employment by Q1 2010. However, with such substantial growth comes opportunities which have to be managed correctly to sustain long-term development. With the world's investors looking at Asia to see how such a developing region can deal with governmental pressures on Green Technology, a meeting of the leading names in Asian and Pacific Utilities firms have agreed to meet at the illustrious NGU APAC summit.
The Copenhagen Climate Change meeting will dramatically change the utility landscape. Carbon Reduction will mandate energy-efficiency upgrades in homes and businesses across Asia. To relieve Government pressures Companies are looking into smart grid solutions and superior technology to improve efficiency, performance and reliability. "Australia, Singapore and China all have smart grid initiatives underway and Korea has recently announced that it wants its industries to win 30% of the smart grid market globally. The smart grid makes sense for all countries in Asia?" Rick Nicholson - VP Research, IDC Energy Insights.
Asia
smart grid
summit
Last Updated on Wednesday, 10 February 2010 16:25
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Sunday, 06 December 2009 23:36
 Image: www.freefoto.com All British homes will be given smart meters by their energy suppliers by the end of 2020. It is hoped this will save consumers money, make electricity use more efficient and cut carbon emissions. The government has announced that every home in Britain will be provided with a smart energy meter by the end of 2020. By providing British homes with smart meters it is hoped that consumers will be able to save money, use electricity more efficiently and cut their carbon emissions. The government's plan to achieve this aim includes making energy suppliers responsible for installing smart meters in their customers' homes, supplying a display device with meters to make it easy for consumers to see and understand their energy use and carbon emissions, and centrally co-ordinating the communications between smart meters and the utility companies to make switching between suppliers easy for consumers. Energy and Climate Change Minister Lord Hunt said: "A global climate deal in Copenhagen needs all countries to make the most ambitious commitments possible, but it will also require all of us to change how we lead our lives and how we generate our energy. Smart meters will put the power in people's hands, enabling us all to control how much energy we use, cut emissions and cut bills."
Source: Directgov
United Kingdom
energy savings
smart meter
Last Updated on Wednesday, 10 February 2010 16:52
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