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REGENERATIVE BRAKING is widely practised, but there have to be other trains around to absorb the surplus power being fed back into the catenary or third rail. Processing the output from trains and pushing it back into the local grid is possible with an AC power supply, but very expensive with DC traction. Too often, power produced by traction motors in braking mode ends up heating resistor banks. The elegant alternative is to store the braking energy on the train. This not only avoids the electrical complications of regenerating through the traction power supply network. It reduces the rated power requirement of that network by lopping demand peaks during acceleration, saves energy by reducing losses in the catenary or conductor rail, and by limiting voltage drop it allows substations to be further apart. NiMH batteries have the necessary energy storage density in terms of kWh/kg, and are slightly more expensive, but their life in terms of charge/discharge cycles in no way matches the LRV requirement for 2million cycles over 10 years. Flywheels have been tried but never caught on for several reasons.

The report presents how climate will change according to climate models concerning the planning and building of electric power networks from the present state to the period from 2016 to 2045. The essential impacts of changes in weather conditions on planning and building of electric network are defined regionally based on the climate change scenarios. The importance of the effects is shown as costs and failure durations for different line structures. Moreover, the influence of the climate change on the loading capacity of the power system components is presented. On the basis of all these factors it will be judged how strong an effect the climate change has in the present electric power network and how one should be prepared for it.

One of the reasons why smart grid is generating so much interest right now is its ability to enable the integration of renewable energy into the electric power network, leading to a broader generation portfolio and potentially beneficial carbon implications. Lots of the discussion of smart grid in policy and media (including places like Greentech Media, Cleantech, EcoGeek, GreenMonk, and the New York Times blogs Dot Earth and Green Inc.) has emphasized the potential economic and environmental value from having investments in the electric power network that make the accommodation of renewables easier, reducing transaction costs and shifting the margin at which investing in renewables is profitable.

seems like just yesterday I was talking about smart grid stuff. There's more news: Tendril Networks, a smart grid start-up, has announced all the goods on its networked in-home energy display, called Tendril Residential Energy Ecosystem (TREE).

This article suggests that 10Gb ethernet (copper) is about to take over the (optical) fibre channel for storage area networks. Caution: these networks are usually physically small and dense so cable lengths are short. The added value is high enough to justify the costs (Cost per switsch port still ~100 times higher than 1Gb, tricky cable installation).The comments at the end of the article that imply that 10Gb will be common are unconvincing.

"The Sustainable Energy Academy promotes education and action to reduce the carbon footprint of buildings and communities. We are currently spearheading Old Home SuperHome - a network of exemplar, old dwellings which have undergone an energy-efficiency retrofit. We aim to create a network of homes that are local and publicly accessible, within 15 minutes, to nearly everyone in the country."

This is a reference hardware design to add wireless capability to 'any' electronic consumer device. This is important because the availability of designs such as this will drive the networking path for smart homes. This is the first I have seen and it is wireless.

effciency connectivity

The process, Current says, lets a utility more efficiently manage the distribution of electricity by allowing two-way communication between consumers and energy suppliers via the broadband network on the power lines. Based on data they receive from hundreds of homes, utilities can monitor usage and adjust output and pricing in response to demand. Consumers can be rewarded with reduced rates by cutting back on consumption during peak periods. And computerized substations can talk to each other so overloaded circuits hand off electricity to underused ones, helping to prevent blackouts.

"CUEN presents the 4th Annual Energy Conference Tuesday, 22nd June 2010 Driving Change: Energy and Transportation in the 21st Century The Cambridge University Energy Network was established to bring together the academic community to share their knowledge and interest in the generation and consumption of energy. It also serves to promote a structured, cross disciplinary approach to teaching and research in sustainable energy."

PG&E may be installing millions of smart meters in Northern California, but the nation of Malta (pop. 400,000) is about to become the world's first smart grid island. IBM is building the island's national smart grid network, which will consist of 250,000 smart meters placed in homes around the country.