Verdantix Blog

One of the criticisms frequently levelled at electric vehicles is that they merely shift emissions from the tailpipe to the power station by increasing demand for electricity which is generated from fossil fuel burning power stations. Better Place, the global EV infrastructure firm, aims to directly answer this criticism head on. It has recently signed a $60m deal with ActewAGL, an Australian utility, to supply renewable energy to its electric car charging network in Canberra, Australia for the next 10 years....

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Smart cities use technology to create more sustainable urban developments. Great in theory, but creating a solid business case is challenging because of critical uncertainties about which technology will be adopted by the population. The city of Amsterdam is finding this out through its program of 18 pilots (see Verdantix Defining The Sustainable Urban Development Market). It is in this context that on May 26 2011 Fujisawa City announced a partnership with a consortium of nine firms to redevelop a 19 hectare brownfield site located 50 kilometres from Tokyo....

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Will power utilities in the United States move beyond smart meter programmes to wider smart grid implementation? Through the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009, the Obama administration directed $4.5 billion to fund smart grid projects, matched by $5.5 billion in private funding. Almost all of this was channelled into smart meter projects which are considered the first step to implementing a smart grid. In reality, to maximise the grid’s efficiency, reliability and flexibility, they have to form part of a wider smart grid programme including smarter distribution and substation automation systems, grid sensors and controls....

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EU member states are committed to reducing their GHG emissions by 20% compared to 1990 levels, and ensuring 20% of electricity consumption is from renewable energy by 2020. With cities concentrating large amounts of energy consuming assets and transport links, the European Commission launched the Smart Cities and Communities Initiative and the European Energy Efficiency Fund (EEEF) which aim to assist EU member countries in meeting these targets....

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A recent development in the global energy services market saw testing and certification firm DNV acquire a controlling 74.3% stake in energy consultancy Kema to form DNV Kema Energy & Sustainability. The firm gained regulatory approval to operate on 29 February 2012 and is headquartered in Arnhem, the Netherlands. With 500 employees from DNV and 1,800 from Kema, across 30 countries, the new company increases DNV’s former energy and sustainability employee headcount by 460%....

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The energy efficiency market consistently reports that the greatest barriers to enabling retrofits of the existing built stock are the split incentive between landlord and tenant, the inability to make a business case because of flawed data and financing. SCIenergy is now tackling two of these, continuing the trend for acquisitions of specialist energy management assets. SCIenergy, the energy management software and services firm, announced on March 13th 2012 the acquisition of retrofit financing specialist Transcend Equity for an undisclosed sum. Transcend Equity’s 7 employees have joined the SCIenergy team where post integration Transcend founder Stephen Gossett Jr. will lead SCIenergy’s new financing team....

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How do you engage consumers in managing the energy in their homes? This is a question which has increasingly occupied the minds of technology firms, telecoms firms and software start-ups eyeing revenue opportunities for their businesses. Power utilities also see opportunity as home energy management offers the possibility of reducing peak load and thereby removing the need for investment in new generation capacity....

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