Could Shaking Batteries Power Gadgets?

What if you could recharge batteries simply by shaking them? Japan's Brother Industries thinks its prototype rechargeable batteries could shake up the gadget market.

Brother showed off the prototype Vibration Energy Cell at Techno-Frontier 2010 this week in Tokyo, demonstrating it in a TV remote control, LED flashlight, and a remote lamp switch.

The generator comes in AA and AAA formats (either in a single case or as a battery attached to a generator, seen above) and produces up to 3.2 volts with a coil, magnet, and condenser.

The juice is enough to power a remote control. By leaving the battery in a remote control and shaking it, the cell will be recharged. It's unclear how long (or vigorously) you'd have to shake it, but I doubt it would require shaking your fist at the TV for an entire episode of your most hated show.

Brother says it developed the Vibration Energy Cell to reduce waste from disposable and rechargeable batteries. But if it gives me another incentive not to hurl my remote at the tube, I'd go for it.

First public EV charging station opens in NYC

Coulomb Technologies installed its first public electric charging station in New York on Wednesday. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg attended the unveiling of the ChargePoint charging station, which is located in a public parking lot near Port Authority.

It's the first installation of Coulomb Technologies' $37 million project, funded in part by a $15 million grant administered by the Department of Energy, the Associated Press reported. The company will install thousands of public charging stations in nine U.S. regions: Austin, Texas; Detroit; Los Angeles; New York; Orlando, Fla.; Sacramento, Calif.; the San Jose/San Francisco Bay Area; Redmond, Wash.; and Washington, D.C.



The Campbell, Calif.-based company began testing its pay-per-use charging stations in San Jose two years ago. By September 2011, Coulomb Technologies plans to install 4,600 chargers to recharge the new mass-production EVs that will join the Tesla Roadster on the streets later this year. The Chevrolet Volt, Ford Transit Connect Electric, and Smart ForTwo Electric Drive will be available at the end of 2010. The Nissan Leaf and Ford Focus Electric should debut in 2011.

Charging times will vary for each vehicle depending on the size of the battery, the amount of recharge needed, and the charging level of the station. But completely drained batteries should take approximately 4 hours to reach a full charge using ChargePoint's Level 2 chargers. Instructions for how to use these new charging stations can be found on the company's Web site.

Another perk of this new technology is that this ChargePoint station may also serve as some of the cheapest parking near Midtown: the first month will be free to customers. After that, the owner of the station will determine the rates. Users can sign up to use the station through the ChargePoint Web site.

'Smart' Thermostats To Get Test Run In Texas

A thermostat technology that's intended to significantly reduce energy bills is about to become available for use in actual homes.

EcoFactor, the developer of a software platform for a two-way "smart" thermostat, announced Thursday its dynamic system for regulating home heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems will be offered through a pilot project in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, metro area.

In addition to turning heat or air conditioning on and off at set times or specified temperatures, the system monitors the thermal behavior of the home, as well as daily outdoor temperatures and weather forecasts. It analyzes the data as well--according to EcoFactor, that includes "24,000 points of data each day from individual homes, local weather stations and numerous other geographic inputs." EcoFactor has said its program, which requires an Internet connection, can make an HVAC system 20 percent to 30 percent more efficient then a thermostat set by humans alone.



EcoFactor uses a wireless thermostat and a receiver connected to the Internet to monitor and regulate a home's climate.
(Credit: Carrier)

While the system allows users to log in from any Internet-connected mobile phone or computer to check and change usage habits, the thermostat system can also be set to self-regulate as it learns a home's habits without users having to monitor it.

In one test trial, a home's thermostat was programmed to activate air conditioning as needed throughout the day to maintain a specific temperature, and reset the house to a cooler temperature one hour before residents returned. The EcoFactor system determined that for the thermal characteristics of that particular home, it was actually more efficient to keep the air conditioner off completely during the day, and have it turn on one hour before residents returned to reach the desired temperature.

The self-regulating system can even cool a home in anticipation of a predicted heatwave, but people also have the ability to override the system as they wish.
But the energy savings come at a price. For its Dallas-Fort Worth program, EcoFactor will charge $19.95 per thermostat installation and offer the first 6 months of monitoring for free. Users subsequently will be charged $8.99 per month, so it would behoove consumers to check whether the thermostat saves at least that much in energy bills per month as a result of the installation.

EcoFactor, which was started in 2006, garnered recognition last year when it won a $100,000 national award from the CleanTech Open, one of the leading environmental start-up competitions in the U.S. It's believed the technology could have a significant impact since home heating and cooling makes up at least half of the average U.S. home energy bill.

Oncor, a Texas electric utility, is sponsoring the pilot project as part of its "Take a Load Off, Texas" campaign to promote lower energy consumption. It's also backed by Texas is Hot, a nonprofit organization aiming at reducing the state's energy use. The thermostat installations will be overseen by Service Experts.

While the home climate factor is unique, EcoFactor is certainly not the only provider of home energy monitoring. A slew of possible user-friendly options for monitoring homes were showcased at the Consumer Electronics Show in January. Many of them are directed toward monitoring and regulating home electricity use and appliance behavior to take advantage of off-peak electricity rates.

Tesla Shares Sink Below Original Offering Price

After an impressive debut, Tesla Motors shares have sunk below their original initial public offering price of $17 per share.

As of this writing, Tesla shares are trading at $15.70. That's a steep decline from the company's ending price on June 29, when the stock was made public. On that day, shares ended up 70 percent at $23.89 per share. On June 30, the stock hit a high of $30.42 per share.

From a purely financial perspective, some might not think Tesla the most viable investment target. The green automaker sells expensive cars, headlined by its $109,000 Roadster, that have yet to catch on across the world. According to Tesla, it's sold about 1,000 Roadsters since the company's inception. And in documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, it said it it expects "the rate at which [it] will incur losses to increase significantly" as the company continues to expand its operations.

That doesn't typically inspire confidence in investors, especially when the company lost $55 million last year alone.
Tesla did not immediately respond to request for comment.

Cisco enters home smart-grid fray with energy display

Cisco Systems on Tuesday introduced a home energy management system, which it will test with customers of utility Duke Energy and which it plans to offer to other utilities.
The two companies said that Cisco will supply a home energy "controller," a countertop touch-screen display that allows people to monitor electricity usage and to program home energy to reduce waste and take advantage of off-peak pricing.
Duke plans to pilot-test the devices and related back-end services for a year starting this summer with customers in Charlotte, N.C., and in Cincinnati who already have smart meters installed.

Cisco's home energy controller, a touch-screen display for monitoring energy and cutting energy waste.
(Credit: Cisco)
The controller will act as a hub for home-networked devices, which can report their energy use and be controlled from the display wirelessly. Existing appliances can be connected using two-way thermostats or smart plugs, which talk to the controller via the Zigbee protocol. Cisco said it plans to support other wireless protocols over time.

The device will also allow people to participate in demand-response programs, through which the utility offers a rebate for cutting electricity usage during peak times. For example, a dishwasher could be timed to run in the middle of the night or a water heater could be turned down temporarily to lighten grid load during a hot day.
Cisco plans to sell the $900 product bundle to utilities, which will make it available to consumers as an energy efficiency tool. Duke and Cisco said they plan to work with manufacturers of appliances and electronics so that they can connect other gear into the home automation network.

Although a number of utilities are moving ahead with installation of smart meters, there's growing recognition in the industry that meters need to be coupled with home energy management tools so that consumers can take advantage of the real-time capability of two-way meters.

Duke said that the Cisco home energy controller is designed to be easy to use and not require a significant amount of time or attention. "Customers want to save money on their energy bills, but it has to be easy. With Cisco's proven expertise in Internet Protocol-based, open system networks, we're confident our collaboration with them will result in a solution that provides customers back-of-mind simplicity and real, back pocket rewards," Gianna Manes, Duke Energy senior vice president and chief customer officer, said in a statement.