The large amount of power and money we lose to vampire power is startling, and it is good to see that some serious work is finally being done in the direction to prevent this huge waste of power. While things like the Fair Energy Clock could help fight off the problem, the clock happens to be mechanical, and would possibly require a lot of human intervention. That is where the ZERO charger from AT&T scores, it does not require any human intervention to cut off vampire power.

This eco-friendly charger automatically looks for connected devices, and if none is found, it disconnects to minimize energy wastage. Since it does its work without any human intervention, it is a lot more effective; because if we were quite willing to unplug devices ourselves, vampire energy wouldn’t have been such a problem in the first place. A USB connector in the charger ensures that its compatibility to a number of gadgets. AT&T plans to release the charger in May.

Source: GeekSugar

Two companies that provide solar power systems have decided to expand the availability of solar leases with no down payments. The company Sungevity has just launched a new 10-year residential solar lease, which has no upfront costs.

The fee covers absolutely all costs related to maintenance, monitoring, cleaning as well as insurance of the panels, and the company has also made some changes to the way it operates with its customers.

It now provides the proposals for solar systems to their customers within 24 hours, regardless what day of the week it is, and now they’re using satellite maps instead of personal visits to the homes in order to odesign the systems. They also have consultants available 12 hours a day.

The other company, TXU Energy, are delivering solar power to Texas residents, making it possible via a partnership with SolarCity. Again, there’s no upfront cost for the lease, and it’s all covered by a monthly fee, which comes down to approximately $35, according to the company itself.

[ Via GreenBiz ]

Sweden is set to build 2000 new wind turbines during the next ten years, as a part of its project aimed at dramatically increasing the country’s production of renewable energy – this was all revealed in a statement by Enterprise and Energy Minister Maud Olofsson on Tuesday.

According to him, Sweden’s prospects for increasing the production of renewable energy are extremely good, especially when you consider burning biofuels, cogeneration plants, as well as windpower.

The country will build 2000 new turbines, which will use the size that’s common today – and the project will be finished before 2020. Sweden will also expand its use of other sources of renewable energy, such as biofuel and solar power, which should increase its output from such sources by at least 25 TWh.

Sweden currently gains about 20 percent of its total power production from renewable sources, and its aim is to increase this production to 50 percent – not a bad goal, considering the importance of renewable energy nowadays.

[ Via Yahoo! Green ]

Bloom Energy had generated a lot of interest in its micro power plant, even before the Bloom Box was officially unveiled. And its unveiling today apparently justified all that interest. And to make matters more interesting, the “miraculous” box has an impressive clientele full of praise, the like of Google, eBay and Wal-Mart, who have been using the box for sometime now, are all impressed.

Oficially unveiled today by Bloom’s CEO, K.R. Sridhar, the box relies on “advanced” use of fuel cells. The basic unit is a ink-coated floppy-disk-size ceramic tile made from beach sand. These tiles are stacked into small blocks, which in turn are placed in a unit the size of a refrigerator. The unit is fed oxygen from one side, and fuel from the other; the fuel can be fossil fuels like natural gas, or even landfill gas, bio gas and solar. No combustion is involved, a chemical reaction occurs inside the cell to produce electricity.

While the unit produces cheap electricity, going as low as 8 cents per kWh, the initial cost for a unit may be as high as $3000. That aside, the technology promises to change things, and it appears that a lot of major players are interested in trying it out.

Source: Bloom Energy, GreenTech Media, cnet News

The idea of generating power from the sun with solar panels directly in space is certainly nothing new – in fact, it’s over thirty years old, and perhaps that’s why it doesn’t really sparkle any interest when it’s suggested anymore. However, Europe’s biggest space company seems to be looking for partners to launch an actual demonstration solar power mission.

The company, EADS Astrium, have developed a satellite which can harvest solar energy with equipped solar panels, and beam it back to Earth using infrared lasers.

It’s obvious how if this technology turns out to work, it will benefit humanity greatly – we’ll no longer be dependent on the day/night cycle to provide ourselves with clean, renewable energy. Plus, the cells should be able to generate much more power when they’re that close to the Sun, as opposed to when they’re down on Earth.

Skeptics are questioning the system’s effectiveness though, especially considering the huge costs associated with producing the satellite required.

[ Via Treehugger ]

Green energy is still not very widely available from official government outlets – the best you can do right now is to sign up for green power with your local utility, but that’s about it. Colorado is planning on changing that soon though – a state representative from Boulder made a statement announcing plans to introduce a bill legalizing “solar gardens”.

According to the new plan, people who’re unable to provide their own solar panel installments will be able to buy into solar gardens built for this purpose, while still benefiting with the tax incentives associated with using green power. The green energy credits will be provided by Xcel Energy.

This bill will hopefully encourage more people to switch to green energy sources, as now those who can’t use their own installments for one reason or another can simply outsource their power production to solve their problems.

We can only hope this won’t be the last we hear of such cases, and other states – and countries – will follow closely behind.

[ Via Treehugger ]

Home energy management seems to be quite a popular subject for development lately, as indicated by the projects launched by companies like Google, Apple, Microsoft – and now Intel too. They’ve recently launched a website based around one of their latest concepts, aimed at energy-conscious home consumers.

Intel’s project is called the Home Dashboard Concept, which is a touchscreen device used to control the energy in your home. It will use an Atom processor, and will support video recording so family members can exchange messages – and even browse the Internet with the appropriate applications.

Intel are confident that computers will advance into home use much more beyond the desktop computer, and this is just one step towards the inevitable future.

One thing’s worrying about all this – with so many companies venturing into the home energy management business at once, the market may get a bit too flooded with products – but let’s hope this won’t happen.

[ Via CNET ]

Control4 have ventured into the home energy management market lately, and this caused utilities to seek partnership with them, due to their experience with home networking. The company produces home automation software, and displayed the Energy Management System 100 at CES 2010.

The system combines a Zigbee-enabled thermostat with a touchscreen energy controller, so you can view energy data about your home and access various other applications as well. It’s set to be completed in April.

The company was contacted by utilities, because there’s already a good retail channel to distribute the home media networks, and also, Control4’s technology can be easily upgraded with new features over the course of a few years.

The EMS aims at helping people minimize their energy use by seeing data about what sucks up the most power, Consumers can also take part in energy efficiency programs where they can agree to, for example, raise the air conditioner’s thermostat for 20 minutes, as well as various other similar programs.

[ Via CNET ]

Photoluminiscent exit signs were designed with the idea of being energy-efficient and a green alternative to regular exit signs. A recent publication by the National Electrical Manufacturers Association indicates that the signs aren’t as effective as their manufacturers try to make them out to be.

The main selling point of these signs is the fact that they practically don’t use any existing power supplies. The problem is that the sign needs to accumulate light energy to produce its own, and often, the energy required to produce that light exceeds the energy that would be needed to power just the sign.

The International Building Code, as well as many other sets of standards, states that exit signs need to be illuminated at least 60 minutes before the building is occupied, something which is impossible to achieve without extra energy if you’re using this type of exit signs.

They also raise some eyebrows when it comes to safety, losing about 80% of their light intensity in the first ten minutes of operation.

[ Via Buildinggreen ]

Fuel cell technology has been discussed for years, but it seems that this year may finally mark the introduction of it to the public. Horizon have been hinting about various products that utilize such technology for a while now – and while their latest announcement is still just a promise on paper, they seem to be very confident that the product will actually be released this year.

The product’s called Hydrofill, and Horizon describe it as a “personal hydrogen station”, which converts water into hydrogen gas. The gas is then accumulated into catrdiges, called Hydrostik. It’s supposedly crystallized to prevent any combustion as a result of chemical reactions.

The cartridges can then be used in rechargers such as the Minipak, which can charge USB-enabled devices. Horizon released a toy kit about a year ago to demonstrate their technology, and it used water and ehtanol to power a small propeller. Surely, this one will be much more powerful – and we hope it marks the beginning of a true fuel cell era.

[ Via Engadget ]