SolarCraft has been selected by the Novato Chamber of Commerce (NCOC) as the inaugural recipient of its Green Business of the Year Award. In business since 1984, SolarCraft celebrates its 26th year providing renewable energy services to the North Bay. They offer full-service solar electric, solar pool heating and solar hot water, including consulting, design, sales, installation, monitoring and maintenance.

Smart grid development continued to pick up momentum in 2010.  The new year promises to be the biggest yet for the young industry.  Big industrialists introduced new products and technologies in January. 

Last month GE announced it was introducing a new energy information panel in partnership with OpenPeak, an expert in communications technology.  The new device is able to wirelessly communicate with smart meters, smart appliances, and other ZigBee or Wi-Fi enabled devices.  The smart panel keeps the energy consumer informed about fluctuating energy prices throughout the day so adjustments can be made accordingly.

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While utility companies may see lower profits after establishing a global smart grid that uses and manages power more efficiently, other companies responsible for applications, devices, data, and building the new infrastructure stand to reap significant financial rewards. Cisco is one of those companies poised to be major player in smart energy.

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SunEdison a subsidiary of MEMC Electronic Materials has activated the first phase of its 16-megawatt (MW) solar farm in Davidson County, N.C.The first phase of the project represents 4 MW of generation capacity and is comprised of more than 14,000 solar panels. The complete system is expected to go online by the end of the year.

Massive global Smart Grid infrastructure upgrades have also spurred investments in cyber security to protect the electric grid from hackers and terrorists. Pike Research expects those investments to reach about $21 billion within five years.

As utilities around the world have initiated major smart grid infrastructure upgrades over the past several years, cyber security has become a critical priority. Security measures are designed to protect the electrical grid from attacks by terrorists and hackers, as well as strengthening its resilience against natural disasters and inadvertent threats such as equipment failures and user errors. According to a new report from Pike Research, the intense focus on smart grid cyber security from utilities, infrastructure vendors, standards bodies, and world governments is spurring a surge in revenue growth, and the cleantech market intelligence firm forecasts that the sector will increase from $1.2 billion in 2009 to $3.7 billion by 2015.

The Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) issued the second draft of its Smart Grid Cyber Security Strategy and Requirements, which now identifies more than 120 interfaces that will link diverse devices, systems, and organizations engaged in two-way flows of electricity and information and classifies these connections according to the risks posed by a potential security breach. This document will undergo public review, ending on April 2, 2010. After reviewing the comments received and completing ongoing analyses of requirements and relevant standards, the working group will finalize the Smart Grid cyber security strategy. NIST expects to issue a completed report by early summer.

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Residents in Sebastopol, California are worried that the installation of smart meters by Pacific Gas and Electric is a health hazard. The city held a town hall meeting to hear consumer concerns over radiation from the meters’ electromagnetic fields.  Dozens of peope addressed the City Council, many wearing “Smart Moratorium” buttons. “This is a matter of choice,” explained Nancy Hubert. “They are not allowing us a choice. I think this is pretty outrageous actually.”

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The Global Wind Energy Council this week announced that the world’s wind power capacity grew by 31% in 2009, adding 37.5 gigawatts (GW) to bring total installations up to 157.9 GW. A third of these additions were made in China, which experienced yet another year of over 100% growth. The main markets driving this significant growth continue to be Asia, North America and Europe, each of which installed more than 10 GW of new wind capacity in 2009.

How can we make people more interested in saving the environment?

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