Business Partnership Will Make Home Appliances More Energy-Smart

A new busines partnership will make home appliances smarter and more energy efficient and contribute to the smart grid.

Camille Ricketts at Greenbeat reports:

"General Electric’s Consumer & Industrial division finalized a deal with home energy management startup Tendril today to improve broadband communication between demand response appliances in the home, smart meters and utilities. Ideally, the result of this tandem project will be a wide range of appliances that respond automatically to utility signals — programmable thermostats that shut off by themselves during peak hours, for example, or dishwashers that run only when electricity is cheapest." See full article.

New York City Icon Goes Green

The Empire State Building is going green. Energy retrofits are a major way to cut green house gases and save costs in older high-rises.

Reuters and MatteR Network report:

"Today the building is still iconic, but is has also become symbolic of New York City's unbelievable consumption of energy and the fact that buildings contribute almost 80% towards the city's total Greenhouse Gas emissions.

In April, the owners of the building announced a major undertaking- the Empire State Building is going green and earning back its previous reputation for modernity and technological progress. The project will cost $25 million, but the investment will be recouped by savings on energy bills within 5 years. The fifth floor of the building is being turned into an on-site "factory" where the original windows will be taken for thermal-resistant glazing. The radiators will all be altered to ensure that heat stays trapped in the building, rather than being released into NYC." See full article.

New Module Concentrates Solar Power to "10 Suns"

A team has developed a module for homes and buildings that intensifies the power of the sun as a source of power.

Science Daily reports:

"This system has been developed by Daniel Chemisana, member of the research group in Agrometeorology and Energy for Environment, leaded by UdL lecturers Manel Ibáñez and Joan Ignasi Rosell.

This thermal-photovoltaic modular system has a solar concentration of 10 suns, that is, it only needs a tenth part of a standard system’s active surface to produce the same energy, be it electricity, heat, or both simultaneously. Besides the reduction in the surface of used solar cells and the cost reduction this implies, this new technology can generate cold by connecting a heat pump to the system." See full article.