Archive for the ‘evironment’ Category
Control4 displays to monitor energy in smart-grid project
September 1st, 2009 | 
Author: Control4 Energy Systems, one of a growing number of home energy display providers, said on Tuesday it will supply energy monitors in a planned smart-grid project in rural Texas.
The home energy monitor–a five-inch-wide monitor that resembles a car GPS unit–will display electricity usage in real time and provide consumers the ability to program a thermostat, according to Will Holford, the public affairs manager at Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative.
The system works by using Zigbee wireless networking within the home to connect the monitor to the thermostat, which communicates with the utility via a smart meter. Other providers in the project, which the utility hopes to begin work on in the second quarter next year, include smart meter provider eMeter and Silver Spring Networks which provides a networking card for the meter.
Control4, which is perhaps better known for its home media management systems, raised $17.3 million in July to expand into the energy monitoring business.
Control4’s display for managing home energy along with home media.
(Credit: Control4.)
Home energy monitors, or in-home displays, are a key piece of the more advanced smart-grid programs being pursued by utilities. By providing more data and ways to program appliances, utilities hope that consumers will be able to find ways to shave back on consumption.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10322885-54.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
Posted in evironment, Green, software, Tech | 
Tags: Control4 Energy Systems, energy monitor, Green | 
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Photos: Turning food waste into energy
Food waste is one of the least recycled materials in municipal solid waste systems, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. But at least one organization in the San Francisco Bay Area is trying to change that.
The East Bay Municipal Utility District is experimenting with innovative techniques to convert raw food waste into usable energy, taking some of the massive amounts of food waste generated by local restaurants and using it to power its operations in Oakland, Calif.
In 2007, EBMUD was awarded a $50,000 grant from the EPA as part of the Resource Recovery Program to explore new ways of digesting food waste to produce methane gas.
Today, the facility is home to a million-dollar facility that is generating usable methane and producing nearly 100 percent of the power needed to operate the regional wastewater treatment operation.
Full Story :
http://news.cnet.com/2300-11128_3-10001426.html?tag=rsspr.6250028&part=rss&subj=news
Posted in evironment, Green, recycle |
Tags: energy, food waste, Green, recycled materials, wastewater |
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