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Focus on European Smart Grids by Michael Setters, Smart Electric News London, UK [RenewableEnergyWorld.com] A host of initiatives across Europe has led to an explosion in interest into how -- and where -- smart grids will be implemented and deployed. According to Jose Antonio Vanderhorst-Silverio, a leading voice in the Electricity industry, "It is clear that dramatic change is coming in the future for the electric utility industry...the way energy is generated, delivered and consumed [is] substantially changing the whole business model. This change is coming to a piece of the industry that hasn't been known for radical change over its 120 plus year history... Implementation of the Smart Grid will require a complete rethinking of the utility business model and business processes."

"Donald Sadoway: The missing link to renewable energy Tweet this talk! (we'll add the headline and the URL) Post to: Share on Twitter Email This Favorite Download inShare Share on StumbleUpon Share on Reddit Share on Facebook TED Conversations Got an idea, question, or debate inspired by this talk? Start a TED Conversation, or join one of these: Green Home Energy=Hydrogen Generators-alternative sources Started by Kathleen Gilligan-Smith 1 Comment What is the real missing link in renewable energy? Started by Enrico Petrucco 8 Comments Comment on this Talk 60 total comments Sign in to add comments or Join (It's free and fast!) Sort By: smily raichel 0 Reply Less than 5 minutes ago: Nice smily raichel 0 Reply Less than 5 minutes ago: Good David Mackey 0 Reply 3 hours ago: Superb invention, but I would suggest one more standard mantra that they should move on from and that is the idea of power being supplied by a centralised grid. This technology seems to me to be much more beneficial on a local scale, what if every home had its own battery, then home power generation becomes economically more viable for everyone. If you could show that a system like this could pay for itself in say 5 years then every home would want one. Plus for this to be implemented on a large scale requires massive investment that could be decades away. Share the technology and lets get it in homes by next year. Great ted talk. Jon Senior 0 Reply 1 hour ago: I agree 100%. Localised energy production would also make energy consumers more conscious of their consumption and encourage efforts to reduce it. We can invent and invent all we want, but the fast solution to allowing renewable energies to take centre stage is to reduce the base energy draw. With lower baseline consumption, smaller "always on" generators are required to keep the grid operational. Town and house-l

The SERC (State Electricity Regulatory Commission) has released stricter technical regulations, especially for LVRT (Low Voltage Ride Through) reformation. Additionally, 18 industry standards have been released in November 2011 by the National Bureau of Energy. There are two immediate effects of the regulatory changes. Adding a LVRT capability will increase the cost of the Chinese turbines. This, coupled with slower demand, will lead to a squeezing out of the marginal producers who won't be able to afford to fit new equipment. Thus, the domestic wind power manufacturing sector in China is poised for tough times, when consolidation may even change the positioning of the top five players.

When the idea of a low carbon economy first raised its head some expected a sea change in public attitudes. This change would impact the regulatory framework, acknowledge the responsibilities of businesses,  encourage development of sustainable practices and generally save the world from itself. It seems that some observers are surprised at the slowness of the sea change. Perhaps the level of innovation required is not materialsing because the need, in fact, is not urgent enough in the minds of business, government or consumers. Over the last decade, governments have put in place frameworks for action, but the timing is over many years - a serious commitment which should encourage. On the other hand, perhaps we should not expect a huge change in lifestyle look and feel as we grow into an efficient low carbon society.

The recently released LEED version 3 has undergone some significant changes, but for the health care industry the new changes do not go far enough. The U.S. Green Building Council's LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is widely recognized as the preeminent green building certification standard in the U.S. A dozen municipalities have even incorporated LEED standards into their building codes.

Wind energy's 32% growth rate in 2009 as an example of "the impressive growth rate of renewables" The total global potential for renewable energy "is substantially higher than both current and future projected global energy demand" is the message of the Special Report on Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation released by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) today in Abu Dhabi.

Rio Tinto : Climate Change Report 2020

"Global Trends 2030 is intended to stimulate thinking about the rapid and vast geopolitical changes characterizing the world today and possible global trajectories over the next 15 years."

At this year's BHGE annual event, Energy Forward: What The Future Demands, in Florence, Italy, BHGE vice president and CTO John Kerr sat down with us to explain how the company's approach works, and why this is important for a changing industry.

"Which content caught the attention of 35.000 Automotive IQ members? Check out the top 5 content-pieces for December 2016! EV Charging: Now and the Future EV Charging: The Role of the Supermajors How Automotive Seating is Changing Proposed Sounds for Electric Vehicles Top 5 Mergers & Acquisitions in Automotive History"

A new era for commodities Cheap resources underpinned economic growth for much of the 20th century. The 21st will be different. NOVEMBER 2011 * Richard Dobbs, Jeremy Oppenheim, and Fraser Thompson Source: McKinsey Global Institute, Sustainability & Resource Productivity Practice In This Article Exhibit: In little more than a decade, soaring commodity prices have erased a century of steady declines. About the authors Comments (2) Has the global economy entered an era of persistently high, volatile commodity prices? Our research shows that during the past eight years alone, they have undone the decline of the previous century, rising to levels not seen since the early 1900s (exhibit). In addition, volatility is now greater than at any time since the oil-shocked 1970s because commodity prices increasingly move in lockstep. Our analysis suggests that they will remain high and volatile for at least the next 20 years if current trends hold-barring a major macroeconomic shock-as global resource markets oscillate in response to surging global demand and inelastic supplies. Back to top Demand for energy, food, metals, and water should rise inexorably as three billion new middle-class consumers emerge in the next two decades.1 The global car fleet, for example, is expected almost to double, to 1.7 billion, by 2030. In India, we expect calorie intake per person to rise by 20 percent during that period, while per capita meat consumption in China could increase by 60 percent, to 80 kilograms (176 pounds) a year. Demand for urban infrastructure also will soar. China, for example, could annually add floor space totaling 2.5 times the entire residential and commercial square footage of the city of Chicago, while India could add floor space equal to another Chicago every year. Such dramatic growth in demand for commodities actually isn't unusual. Similar factors were at play throughout the 20th century as the planet's population tripled and demand for various resource

According to NREL's Renewable Electricity Futures Study, the increased electric system flexibility needed to enable electricity supply-demand balance with high levels of renewable generation, can come from a portfolio of supply and demand side options, including: · Flexible conventional generation · Grid storage · New transmission · More responsive loads · Changes in power system operations