Julia Gillard this week gave a glimpse of what the smart grid of the future might look like. Regulatory reform is crucial, but energy utilities need to get this right. If they don’t, it won’t be just Californian pot smokers and the US Marines leaving the grid. And we’ll be watching utilities disappear down a “bottomless vortex”
Tesla
How to make green more macho
Men are self-conscious about using canvas shopping bags, or driving Prius hybrids. They think green is too feminine. Where is the green Marlboro Man?
Battery innovation continues, despite cautious cost projections
Projected prices for battery technologies are lower than current prices, but fall substantially short of expectations perpetuated by the likes of Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
Mitsubishi to offer plug-in option on every model within four years
…and if its plan is successful, Mitsubishi will become the first major automaker to complete a full transition to electric power.
Solar Insights: Is solar PV only for the rich?
The plunging costs of solar PV and the arrival of new financing options is demolishing the idea that the technology is just a privileged plaything of the rich. Welcome to mass-market solar PV. The irony, however, is that it’s the very wealthy who are helping make this possible.
Hot news in cleantech: Direct current servers; tapping canal power
DC servers to slash data centre power usage; award-winning Sydney Uni technology delivers smart power solution; small-scale hydro for canals.
Solar PV will do to grids what mobiles did to telephony
A leading US utility chief predicts that solar PV will have as big an impact on electricity grids as the mobile phone did on the fixed line telephone business. Throw in smart meters and electric vehicles, and there are big changes afoot.
Mixed Greens: Solar shakeout claims more green jobs
LDK Solar cuts 22% of staff; bankruptcy shelves crowd-funded UK wind project; German solar installations double; SolarCity to float; RECs regulatory body established.
Mixed Greens: Land of the rising solar
Solar set to boom under Japan’s new policy; German solar subsidy cuts could be 30%; Tesla shares bounce; Melbourne’s double-decker solar EV charge station.
Mixed Greens: A battery-powered peak solution?
New claims lithium-ion power storage could challenge nat gas in peaking power by 2016; Tesla faces wider losses.
