GE Creates Home Energy Unit In Smart-Grid Play

General Electric has created a Home Energy Management business in a bid to apply digital technologies to energy efficiency in consumers' homes and the electric grid, the company said today.

The business unit, part of GE Appliances & Lighting, combines "smart" appliances and an Internet-based home energy management system called Nucleus, which is set for release next year.

By making a single business unit for home energy, GE is trying to focus its efforts on consumer interest in smart-grid technologies geared at using energy more efficiently, the company said.

"It makes economic and environmental sense for the world to better utilize the power we already generate rather than create more capacity to meet our escalating peak-power needs," GE Home Energy Management general manager Dave McCalpin said in a statement. "If we can better manage when and how we use power, we can control the demand without compromising people's lifestyles."

GE's vision for home energy management revolves around networked devices that can give consumers more information on energy consumption and communicate with the utility through a smart meter.

The Nucleus home energy management system is a small gadget about the size of mobile phone charger and acts as a network hub, connecting to a thermostat, smart meter, and other networked appliances. Using a PC or smart phone, people can see how energy is being used and control appliances to, for example, program a thermostat or turn on the heat during a drive home.

GE is developing a line of appliances that can be connected to a home network as well. Once connected, they can be remotely controlled from a smart phone or PC. But the energy savings from smart appliances comes from communicating with a utility via a smart meter.

Utilities, which have regulatory incentives to use less energy, are eager to find ways to lower energy use during peak times, typically in the late afternoon and early evening.

Through voluntary demand-response programs, a consumer can agree to have a clothes dryer, for example, take longer to complete its job in order to lower energy use. GE's hybrid hot water heater already has a Zigbee networking chip in it, and the company plans to introduce more appliances that can be connected to the grid.

GE is enthusiastic about home energy management systems not only because it's a new business area that can help sell appliances, but because GE also makes power equipment to utilities, including smart meters and transformers.

The company has said that with on-site power generation and an energy efficient home, a household could be a net zero energy consumer. GE plans to introduce thin-film solar panels next year as well as an electric-vehicle charging station.


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India, U.S. To Cooperate On Clean Energy

India and the United States have agreed to cooperate on energy projects, including shale gas and clean energy, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and U.S. President Barack Obama told a press conference today.

The two countries will set up a research and development center for clean energy in India and will provide annual funding of $5 million each for five years, with matching investment from the private sector, they said in a joint statement made in India during Obama's three-day visit there.

"We agreed to deepen our cooperation in pursuit of clean energy technologies, including the creation of a new clean energy research center here in India, and continuing our joint research into solar, biofuels, shale gas and building efficiency," Obama said.

The statement said initial priority areas for the research center would be "solar energy, second-generation biofuels and building efficiency." The agreement initially runs for 10 years.

India, which has one of the world's lowest power-consumption rates per capita, has set a power generation target of 62,000 megawatts by March 2012. It now has around 165 gigawatts of installed generation capacity.

Around two-thirds of the country's electricity is generated from thermal power now, using coal, gas, and liquid fuel.

India is looking at alternative sources of energy to plug gaps in its supply and demand for electricity that lead to frequent power cuts.
Nuclear and hydro electricity generation account for less than a quarter of India's total output currently.

Its crude oil needs are met largely through imports, with make up around four-fifths, as near double-digit economic growth gobbles up energy. So far, its own oil exploration has provided insufficient flows.

The agreement on shale gas calls for the United States to carry out studies on resources and for cooperation on identifying areas with shale gas potential. Indian personnel will be trained in assessing resources.

Story Copyright (c) 2010 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.


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Logitech Keyboard Goes Solar

Just when you thought solar was headed everywhere--rooftops, utility poles, and deserts, to name a few places--it's coming to your keyboard too.



Logitech's solar-powered K750 keyboard
(Credit: Logitech)

Logitech today launched a wireless solar keyboard, its first. The K750 powers itself via integrated solar panels. Without light, the $79 keyboard can operate for three months.

The keyboard's tech sounds very familiar to what you can find in a watch. Logitech's solar keyboard is powered by integrated solar panels across the top and comes with an app that will be available November 15. The app tracks battery levels and has a meter to alert you when power is low.


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