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Energy

UK energy firms kept £400m when customers closed accounts

Big six thieves[/caption]The “big six” energy firms have been told to hand back more than £400m owed to customers when they switch accounts and forget to reclaim overpayments from regular monthly payments.

Credit left in customer accounts when people and businesses move or switch suppliers has accumulated over the last six years, energy regulator Ofgem said today on BBC Radio.

The energy regulator, which says its estimates are the minimum owed, has called the amount “unacceptably large”. Industry lobby group UK Energy claimed that it can be hard to trace customers who move, but did not deny that they never even try.

Ofgem thinks 3.5 million domestic and 300,000 business accounts are affected.…

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February 28, 2014 No Comments
Energy

New type of battery ready for market

While Tesla revolutionises the business model for batteries, the basic product remained the same. Now a small upstart company has come along with a brand new way to store energy, a new chemistry. It will hasten the death spiral of the traditional grid.

The novel battery uses a water-based electrolyte that allowed developer Aquion Energy Inc. (Pittsburgh, Pa.; www.aquionenergy.com) to achieve a low-cost and safe battery with long cycle life, although more suited to stationary energy-storage applications because of large size. The Aquion battery technology, now entering its commercial launch process, employs an aqueous sodium-sulfate electrolyte. …

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February 27, 2014 No Comments

Tesla Motors aims to disrupt the $1tr electricity industry

Tesla Motors Inc. might be on the verge of disrupting two industries—autos and batteries say analysts at Morgan Stanley.

Tesla this week is expected to announce with corporate partners a plan to build a new battery factory that would take in raw materials and produce finished batteries, lowering its cost of buying and assembly individual battery cell components. Mr. Jonas said Tesla’s battery cell production has the potential to make it a major competitor in the electrical grid storage business.…

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February 26, 2014 2 Comments

Chinese solar farm $2m crowd-funding

A state-backed firm teamed up with Chinese online financiers to fund off-grid solar facility in Qianhai, near Shenzen, southern China.

United Photovoltaics Group, controlled by state-backed finance-to-logistics conglomerate China Merchants Group, aims to raise 10 million yuan through what it claims to be the world’s first megawatt-scale, off-power-grid solar farm project funded by an internet “crowd fundraising” platform.…

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February 20, 2014 2 Comments

Power giants hate solar in Australia

The Australian solar industry is preparing for what it calls a “David and Goliath” battle against the country’s biggest generators and network operators. The outcome will likely decide the immediate fate of rooftop solar in Australia, and the pace of the so-called “democratisation of energy” — a contest that pitches households and their solar modules against the centralised utilities that have dominated the industry for a century or more in Australia and across the developed world.…

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February 7, 2014 1 Comment
Greenpeace is greenwash
Energy

Real Climate Deniers Are the Greens

The author of this piece, Robert Bryce is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. This is excerpted from his forthcoming report for the institute on America’s energy advantages.

For years, greens and many others have insisted that widespread adoption of renewable energy will create jobs and stimulate the economy. An example: In September 2008, then-candidate Barack Obama claimed at a speech in Golden, Colo., that his planned investments in “green” energy would create “five million new jobs that pay well and can’t ever be outsourced.”

It was all bunk.

Proof came last month when the European Union and the German government announced separately that they were both rolling back aggressive subsidies and mandates for renewable energy. The reason: staggering costs.…

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February 4, 2014 4 Comments
Communities

ArkPak battery box review

PICT0008

Just before Christmas, I received a device called an ArkPak. It’s referred to as “The world’s most advanced battery box”. And that is exactly what it is, it’s a portable battery box, inverter, smart charger all in one.

It is pretty simple/easy to work, the battery fits right in, the cords/cables are color coded and easy to hook up, I liked the LCD screen. Once I installed the battery and turned it on, it asked me if it was a new battery, I answered NO, it then took a few seconds then told me the charge condition of the battery, it was sitting at 84%. I like the fact that it has the ability to tell me about my battery condition, that is a very important thing.
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February 2, 2014 No Comments
Energy

Profs warn world will go off-grid

A pair of academics have warned that brownouts will take place with increasing severity around the world, as demand for electricity for gadgets soars amid inadequate investment.

Soaring demand for air-conditioning, iPads and increasingly electric cars, combined with a growing population and inadequate investment in creaking power networks, is pushing the world towards frequent blackouts, the academics warn in a paper published last week.

The authors, Hugh Byrd of Lincoln University in the UK and Steve Matthewman of Auckland University in New Zealand, argue that the west needs to abandon the idea of uninterrupted electricity supply.…

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January 27, 2014 1 Comment

Vodafone India

Vodafone India has about 70 million off-grid customers. Now it is taking its phone base stations off-grid at an impressive rate.

It recently announced a partnership with The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) in India, a non-profit, scientific and policy research organization, working in the fields of energy, environment and a whole range of sustainable initiatives.

Under the partnership, Vodafone and TERI will further embed and promote sustainability in Vodafone India’s operations. Vodafone said environment care will be one of its key initiatives along with social empowerment and education in rural areas, regions where most of the company’s 150 million customers live.…

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January 7, 2014 No Comments
Communities

Stock up on LED lights now!

halfoff

Christmas is over and the after Christmas sales have started, one thing to grab up now before they all vanish is LED light strings, yes the ones that are sold for Christmas lighting, they are being marked down right now, stores have to make room for the next big holiday, meaning that you can get some major bargains right now.

All month long, I have been looking at my local Alco store (it’s like a small Target/dollar store with less stuff), I have been eyeballing the LED Christmas light strings, but have been biding my time knowing the price would drop dramatically after Christmas. Sure enough, a few days ago when I dropped in, I made a beeline to the back of the store for their Christmas section, I saw the sign, ALL CHRISTMAS DECORATION 50% OFF, that’s all I needed.…

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December 29, 2013 1 Comment

Battery storage company

A US startup aims to lower energy costs by balancing the power grid with batteries charged during cheaper non-peak hours. It just received $15 million in funding from General Electric and the Spanish renewable energy company Iberdrola.

Stem, an energy storage company in San Mateo, CA, is part of a trend that will lead to cheaper, better batteries and load balancing kit that will assist the off-grid movement.The premise of Stem’s business model is the inefficiencies in the current utilities industry.…

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December 17, 2013 No Comments

Power Predictor

Here’s a useful gadget for sizing your green energy investment.

Spending thousands on solar panels or sticking a wind turbine on your roof requires a serious leap of faith.

You can research how good an investment it should prove, but until most people splash out they will never know. So, it’s no wonder that green energy has gained a reputation for being the domain of those who can afford to have a conscience – or at least enough cash lying around to stump up for an installation lump sum.…

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December 11, 2013 No Comments