Schneider Electric is a well known French global company offering energy efficient solutions for both homes and businesses around the world. As the “Global Specialist in Energy Management,” Schneider Electric provides the technology and solutions needed to fully optimize energy usage in all commercial, industrial and residential buildings. Schneider Electric has been committed to increasing sustainable development that will assist in lowering energy consumption and making the world a much better place. Here are some of their top initiatives in the field of clean technology.

1) Schneider Electric Partners with Alstom for New Cleantech Fund. In 2010, Schneider Electric and fellow electricity company Alstom partnered to co-launch a new venture capital fund for new investments into energy and environment start-up companies. It will be based in Paris, France and will have over €140 million at its disposal.

2) Schneider Electric Tasked with Supplying Largest Solar Inverter in North American History. In July of 2011, Schneider Electric’s Renewable Energies Business was selected by a company to supply them with photovoltaic inverters throughout the 2011 calendar year. It will provide over 100 megawatts and be the largest order in Schneider Electric’s history and the largest order in the North American market.

3) Schneider Electric Receives Missouri Energy Efficiency Contract. In October 2010, Schneider Electric received a contract to implement $800,000 in energy system improvements throughout the Marceline, Missouri Marceline R-V School District. These improvements will increase energy efficiency, lower cooling and heating costs, and increase overall student comfort. Some improvements include replacing the boiler in the Marceline High School with a new energy efficient HVAC system. Windows will also be replaced to improve heating efficiency throughout the elementary school.

4) Schneider Electric Collaborates with IBM for Building Energy Efficiency Improvements. In October 2010, Schneider Electric collaborated with IBM to improve energy efficient in buildings and help businesses and organizations decrease energy operating costs by up to 30 percent. The collaborated efforts are available to government facilities, hotels, hospitals, universities and schools. The two companies integrated Schneider Electric’s systems with the Green Sigma Analytics from IBM and their Business Services Manager and Maximo Asset Management for Energy Optimization. This will offer organizations the information they need to make beneficial decisions regarding energy use.

5) Schneider Electric Partners with the Masdar Initiative. In early 2010, Masdar, the renewable energy company in Abu Dhabi, teamed up with Schneider Electric for a strategic partnership agreement for a number of initiatives. These initiatives include a number of renewable energy and energy efficiency solutions within Masdar City, Abu Dhabi’s cleantech cluster. Schneider Electric will assist in building the “living laboratory” Innovation Center, which will includes a research and development facility and a technical center of excellence. The strategic agreement will have Schneider Electric providing a number of turnkey solutions for solar farms within Masdar City and the creation of the Schneider Electric Innovation and Application Competency Center.

6) Schneider Electric Delivers Transformational Energy Management Capability with Cisco. In July 2011, Schneider Electric partnered with Cisco Systems, Inc. to supply a comprehensive and innovative energy management solution monitoring and managing energy consumption throughout buildings. The combined solution will allow building managers and owners, as well as contractors, architects and IT personnel to optimize energy efficient strategies within business operations to save energy. The combined solutions will allow businesses and organizations to “Monitor, report and manage energy usage across the entire corporate network or real estate infrastructure; create an energy-efficient architecture for the IP/IT domain outside of the data center; better control where and how energy is being used to more intelligently and efficiently respond to smart grid signals; [and] realize a new source of energy savings to fulfill corporate sustainability requirements, free up capital resources and improve an organization’s overall bottom line.”

7) Schneider Electric Signs Agreement with EMT to Develop Electric Vehicle Charging Stations in Estonia. July 2011 saw a partnership between Schneider Electric and Estonia-based mobile operator EMT to build an electric vehicle charging solutions for the Estonian market. The agreement will offer both companies a great opportunity to assess the currently market for charging and payment. Schneider’s quick-charging infrastructure technology will allow batteries to charge 80 percent in less than 15 minutes. This infrastructure allows vehicles to charge their batteries safely and in an optimized fashion.

8 ) Schneider Electric Displays their new One Megawatt Dual Voltage Solar Farm in Tennessee. In July of 2011, Schneider Electric announced that it would be putting up a one megawatt dual voltage solar farm over six acres at its manufacturing plant in Smyrna, Tennessee. It will generate approximately 1.3 million kilowatt hours of electricity, which is 25 percent of the total energy use for the facility. Jeff Drees, US country president for Schneider Electric, said, “The issues around reliability and availability of energy sources coupled with today’s rising energy costs are driving increased awareness for the benefits of alternative energy sources. Schneider Electric sees renewable energy sources – particularly solar energy – as a key driver in addressing today’s energy challenge. Through this investment, we hope to serve as an example for other businesses and provide a test bed for the development and design of solutions that enhance the deployment of renewable power.”

9) Schneider Electric Partners with Parkeon to Develop Electric Vehicle Charging System. In June 2010, Schneider Electric and Parkeon signed a new agreement to work together in the development of an EV charging system. In the agreement, the two companies will develop a technical and commercial offer for pilots on EVs and related charging infrastructures in North America and Europe. The goal is to start installing the infrastructure for the charging stations by 2011.

10) Schneider Electric Supplies EV Chargers for Strasbourg Trial. In April 2010, Schneider Electric supplied 135 chargers for a plug-in hybrid vehicle trail in Strasbourg. The chargers are to be placed in the parking lots of a number of partner companies and some participating Strasbourg residents. This system will allow vehicle batteries to charge according to the needs of the vehicle and the power made available by the energy grid.

Article by Shawn Lesser, Co-founder & Managing Partner of Atlanta-based Watershed Capital Group – an investment bank assisting sustainable fund and companies raise capital, perform acquisitions, and in other strategic financial decisions. He is also a Co-founder of the GCCA Global Cleantech Cluster Association ”The Global Voice of Cleantech”. He writes for various cleantech publications and is known as the David Letterman of Cleantech for his “Top 10″ series. He can be reached at shawn@watershedcapital.com

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Electric vehicle batteries don’t deal well with heat. Like the Lithium-ion battery in your laptop, if the battery in your EV overheats, it can shorten its lifespan or even cause it to simply stop working. While there haven’t been as many examples of spontaneous combustion in Li-ion batteries in electric vehicles as there have been in laptops, the EV industry is looking for ways to improve battery performance under all kinds conditions and real world environments, including under extreme heat, where batteries are so heavily taxed by vehicle air conditioners. And there may be no better place test EV performance under hot, urban environments than in the extreme heat of Abu Dhabi, where summertime temperatures can reach 120 degrees, and there just happens to be a graduate research institute and technology research platform built for precisely this kind of testing.

Launched in late January, Masdar, the multi-faceted clean energy company backed by the Emirate of Abu Dhabi is conducting a pilot project with Mitsubishi to test a fleet of 10 Mitsubishi i-MiEVs in Masdar City, the planned sustainable city and cleantech hub. During the pilot, Masdar will test and validate the performance of EVs and various charging solutions in the context of the region’s severe climate conditions. The pilot will also test the feasibility of integrating EV technology as a point-to-point solution into the city’s zero-carbon transportation network, a network that includes planned light rail and passenger trains, as well as Personal Rapid Transit, the automated, single-cabin electric vehicles already operational in the Masdar City.

“This project will provide regional reference to the car-manufacturers, battery and other technology providers,” said Buthaina Al Mazrui, Project Manager in Strategic Partnerships at Masdar.

As an open technology platform where testing of clean technologies from renewables to advanced energy management systems has already begun, Masdar City has plans to work with several electric car manufacturers and related technology and hardware providers to find new ways to integrate sustainable transportation systems. In the case of the EV test platform, not only is the Mitsubishi i-MiEV the first car to partner with Masdar, Mitsubishi’s intelligent IT infrastructure system will act as the pilot’s platform from which the vehicles will be managed.

“Masdar City provides a real-life setting for residents to use our new vehicle technology, and to begin to rely on electric-powered forms of transportation – as the future will depend on it,” said Mr. Kinya Watanabe, of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ Abu Dhabi office.

The i-MiEV has a range of about 85 miles and is being billed as the first mass-produced, 100% electric vehicle on the market. Masdar is testing ten i-MiEVs over the first three months of the one-year pilot with Mitsubishi.

Article by Timothy B. Hurst, appearing courtesy Earth & Industry.
Disclosure: My recent trip to Abu Dhabi was paid for by Masdar.

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“Our project takes clues from the way the wind caresses a field of wheat, or reeds in a marsh; our hair on a gusty afternoon”. With these words, the team that presented the “Windstalk concept” at the 2010 Land Art Generator Initiative competition described the aesthetics of a project that gave them the second place mention from the jury.

The “Windstalk concept” consists of 1203 stalks made of carbon fiber reinforced resin poles that generate kinetic energy when moved by the wind. Each stalk is anchored to the ground using concrete bases that contain a chamber with a generator. A series of piezoelectric ceramic discs surrounded by electrodes are located in each hollow pole, and cables connect even and odd electrodes separately. When wind blows, the movement generated in the poles forces the compression of the ceramic discs, hence generating a current through the electrodes. The generator placed at the base of each pole converts the kinetic energy into electricity.

Since the wind does not always blow, the team has designed two chambers located under the area covered by the poles that play the role of batteries. These chambers are used to store the energy produced and a series of pumps move water from the lower chamber to the upper one. When wind stops blowing, water flows down from the upper chamber, turning the pumps into generators. The owners of the concept estimate that the overall output of the project is the same of a wind turbine array.

The beauty of the project is completed by the LED lights placed at the top of every pole (stalks are 55 meters high). The lights glow and dim depending on wind strength, and poles look dark when wind does not blow. Vegetation grows wild among the bases of the stalks, watered by the scarce rain that flows down the bases and concentrates within these green spaces.

The “Windstalk concept” was presented by New York based Atelier DNA, a studio started in 2008 with the aim of reaching equilibrium between humans and the world we live in, and designed for Masdar city, the clean technology cluster in Abu Dhabi.

The team was formed by Darío Núñez Ameni and Thomas Siegl, creators and designers of the concept from Atelier DNA ; Ian Lipsky, ecological and renewable energy consultant from eDesign Dynamics; Radhi Majmudar, responsible for the structure and engineering from ISSE Innovative Structural and Specialty Engineering; and Gabrielle Jesiolowski, who provided the narrative and poetics.

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It all sounds very grandiose and really too good to be true, but a number of  Persian Gulf states, including Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Bahrain and Qatar are hoping to be able to satisfy a good portion of their massive energy needs through alternative and renewable energy sources, instead of relying mostly on oil.

In a part of the world that experiences some of the hottest summer temperatures, averaging above 44 degrees Celsius during at least 4 months of the year; and whose energy growth use is growing by more than 10% per annum, these countries have their work cut out for them to be able to realize 70% of their total energy needs  from alternative and renewable energy by the year 2030.

By trying they definitely are, and with unique sustainable environment projects like Abu Dhabi’s zero-carbon Masdar City and Qatar’s carbon-neutral Energy City being able to produce a good part of their required energy needs may not be as far fetched as it seems.

In the two noted examples, both Abu Dhabi and Qatar plan to use a combination of renewable energy power sources to provide electricity and other energy needs for these pilot projects which will be the basis for the gradual switching from conventional power sources to those such as solar energy and wind power, geothermal and hydrogen (which also can be used to power cars and other vehicles).

In regards to geothermal power which utilizes energy from volcanoes and hot springs, and is now said to be more economical than either coal or natural gas, the UAE and other Gulf States may find it worthwhile to do business with an Israeli company, Ormat Industries, which is now said to be involved in a large geothermal energy project in Indonesia.

Indonesia is the world’s largest Muslim country and one that does not have diplomatic relations with Israel. If Indonesia can do business with an Israeli company like Ormat (which is also involved in solar energy projects), so can countries like Abu Dhabi and Qatar.

In order to generate more interest in renewable and alternative energy projects in the UAE and other Gulf states, various international conferences and exhibitions are being held there, including the Alter Energy 09 Convention, recently held last month at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Center, with the theme of developing and implementing alternative and renewable energy to reduce dependence on conventional energy sources.

And then there is the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi,   in January 2010, that will feature the concept of environmentally sustainable “eco-cites” of which Masdar City will be one of when completed.

Fortunately for these Gulf countries, most of them have enough remaining oil wealth to finance these projects without having to apply for crippling loans from the World Bank (whose theme is a “world free of poverty”) or other financial institutions.

These countries are also acutely aware that they need to wean themselves off dependence on petroleum for both their livelihood and primary energy source;  for they are aware of the reality that in regards to oil, it won’t last forever.

Article by Maurice Picow appearing courtesy of Green Prophet

[photo credit: Ioan Barbulescu]

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Abu Dhabi is going far beyond its borders to build a zero carbon footprint city in Masdar. Clean technology leaders from across the global are helping to build Masdar City, which is being designed to use only renewable power and convert its waste to energy.

The innovative city of 40,000 will have no cars and recycle all of its waste, and is scheduled for completion in 2016.

An Australian firm, LAVA architects, recently won the bid to design the city center of Masdar with a European-style plaza.

America’s General Electric has a prominent role in Masdar, partnering with the Mubadala Development Company on financing programs and clean energy research. GE is also establishing an “ecoimagination” research center in Masdar.

European firms have won several contracts as well. The master plan for the city being built near Abu Dhabi is being led by London architectural firm Foster + Partners. Germany’s BASF is participating in the building of Masdar by contributing sustainable construction materials that lower the energy needs of buildings.

As reflective of the global support for the $22 billion development effort in Masdar, the nascent International Renewable Energy Agency has chosen Abu Dhabi as it home.

Abu Dhabi’s decision to invite global participants underscores the reality that there currently is a scarcity of top-flight experts with extensive experience in clean energy, green design and large-scale sustainability projects. Organizations with extensive financial resources are likely to acquire and retain top talent until the many sustainable projects currently underway provide the necessary experience. For the short term, established green energy and building consultants may likely be able to charge a premium.

Universities around the world are ramping up efforts to fill the void in sustainability expertise with undergraduate and graduate programs. Abu Dhabi is looking to create its own talent pool by establishing the Masdar Institute, which recently welcomed its initial class.

The engineering and environmental Institute, which will teach all classes in English, has 82 students from 16 countries. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) helped to develop the research-oriented institute. As with any university, Masdar Institute hopes that students exposed to a region for the first time may be interested in remaining there after they graduate. Since work on Masdar will continue through 2016, jobs will likely be waiting for graduates.

Appearing courtesy of Matter Network.

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