Several green patent lawsuits have been filed in the last two weeks in the areas of smart grid, wastewater treatment, and emissions reduction technology.

In addition, the U.S. International Trade Commission decided to move forward with an important investigation regarding solar panel mounting (more…)

Dynamic pricing for electricity has long been the holy grail of the smart grid, particularly for smart metering. The rationale is that if the retail price of electricity actually reflected the true time-based costs instead of a blurred monthly average, then consumers would become more efficient buyers, benefiting themselves, (more…)

In June, the surprise stars of a White House event on smart grid policy were a couple of high-school seniors who had convinced their school to finance the installation of submetering technology and software that allowed them to measure their school’s energy consumption in unprecedented detail. They (more…)

Two green patent lawsuits have been filed in the last few weeks in the areas of smart grid and solar.

Smart Grid

Sensus USA Inc. v. Nxegen LLC

Sensus USA filed a complaint (Sensus-Nxegen_Complaint) against Nxegen on October 19, (more…)

SmartSynch is a Jackson, Mississippi, provider of smart grid solutions and one of the few such companies which leverage existing cellular networks.

SmartSynch owns at least 14 patents and pending patent applications, including at least two patent families relating to wireless data transmission and (more…)

U.S. utilities are getting smarter, and smart grids are making the difference. This theme permeated the recent Autovation 2011 conference in suburban Washington, D.C., which provided an overview of trends and recent developments.

How smart? No one from the utilities admitted (more…)

A couple of weeks ago, I came back to my office from a seminar in Seoul. When I stood in front of the elevator door, the light in the hall went out, along with the elevator sign lamp. The elevator indicators quickly recovered in few seconds. I thought that the lobby lights would also shortly be turned on, but the (more…)

Several green patent lawsuits have been filed in the last two weeks in the areas of biofuels, energy storage, smart grid, LEDs and environmental remediation.

Biofuels

Genifuel Corporation et al. v. Oyler (more…)

Itochu Corporation is a Japanese general trading company that is based in Tokyo and Osaka. As the mission is that “The Itochu group respects the individual, society, and the future in its commitment to the global good,” it has been involved in the clean technology industry, including renewable energy and energy (more…)

When it comes to understanding the environmental impact of our personal choices, the EPA’s model of rating car fuel efficiency is a good lead to follow. Greenhouse gas emissions are tied to how much fuel is burned, and we all know how much gas our car burns thanks to the omnipresent MPG ratings. Many (more…)