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Better Place Bringing $1 Billion Electric Auto Grid to California – First in America

Nerd Grind — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 14:44:43 +0000

Palo Alto’s Better Place company has vowed to bring a $1 billion electric vehicle grid to the Bay Area, California. The company has already set up similar grids in Australia, Denmark and Israel.

The plan has just been endorsed by the San Jose, Oakland and San Francisco mayors. They’ve also agreed to offer incentives to companies that install plug-in stations. The plan will result in 250,000 charging ports, 200 battery-swap stations and a driver service center. Everything should be up and running by 2012. Network planning and permitting will begin in earnest next year and infrastructure deployment will kickoff in 2010.

Here is how it is planned to work: You will receive a discounted price on an electric vehicle when you subscribe to drive a certain number of miles. Better Place will own the batteries. You’ll be, in a sense, renting. This will be America’s first infrastructure of the sort.

Watch the inspirational video below from Better Place to get excited about shedding your old-fangled gas guzzler:

Black and Decker LightsOut IR Gadget Turns Lights Off to Conserve Energy

Nerd Grind — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 13:07:21 +0000

Black and Decker will be releasing the LightsOut, an IR gadget that turns out lights when it stops detecting movement in front of it’s sensor. The device is fairly straightforward and mounts directly on to a light switch, as shown in the photo above. It’s battery powered and instantly turns the lights back on once motion is again detected. The unit also offers the ability to set the time for shut-off, so you can have lights go out thirty minutes after it stops detecting motion instead of just one or two. This could be useful for those that move very, very slowly. The company has yet to issue word on pricing. Click here for more information.

BMW’s MINI E readies for lease

Nerd Grind — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 12:06:43 +0000

BMW is readying the all-electric MINI E automobile. The motor offers 204 hp of pure electric power. The auto boasts a 150 mile range off of it’s 35 kWh lithium-ion battery pack. It can hit 62 mph in 8.5 seconds and completes a full charge in just 2.5 hours. In other words, it’s perfect.

BMW plans on leasing 500 of these bad boys in California, New York and New jersey sometime in 2009. We should wait in line like it’s 1985 and we are trying to snag some Cabbage Patch Dolls.

Sources indicate that the car may get a public unveiling at the upcoming LA Auto Show next month.

Philips Simplicity designs green street lamp

Nerd Grind — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 12:36:14 +0000

Never mind SUVs, everybody knows the real energy hogs of our modern culture. Street lamps. Those insipid gas guzzlers may look inconspicuous, but they are standing there all night every night. Ruining the world one flicker at a time. Philips Simplicity has had enough of that. They’ve unveiled their Light Blossom, a self-sustainable street lamp that is filled with energy-efficient LEDs. It powers itself via solar panels located on top of the lamp. You may have noticed it also looks like a surreal blossoming flower. Once they get enough of these on the streets the world will finally look like a Willy Wonka wonderland. Thank goodness for that.

Vera home automation system helps to conserve energy

Nerd Grind — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 11:49:44 +0000

Mi Casa Verde’s new home automation system hopes to prove to the world that it actually can be easy being green. Sorry Kermit. Vera, a Z-Wave / 802.11 hub with a robust web interface for monitoring energy usage of devices in your home, is the kind of simple gadget we could all use to do our part to reduce energy consumption. The device shuts your gadgets down if they are burning too much power. You can also use it to set any of the devices to power on and off with a timer. Pretty handy.

Vera runs using a modified Linux format and also is touted as being able to operate locks and security cameras. The company also boasts that the system actually saves more power than it uses. Wait a minute, really? Somebody call Obama or McCain. We may finally have a forerunner for endless energy.

The street date is October 31st and the retail price for the unit is set at $299 with a secure remote access gateway running $8 a month. Mi Casa Verde is offering a pre-sale price of $149 with one free year of gateway access, though. Get on it! You carbon footprint is gigantic. Really. It’s huge. People have been talking.

CherryPal delays their Cloud PC again

Nerd Grind — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 18:42:52 +0000

CherryPal has announced that their $249 Cloud PC has been delayed yet again. The new and improved release date has been set in stone for November 4th. By "set in stone" they actually mean probably, hopefully, maybe.

To soften the blow to consumers, the company also announced that the 4GB C100 model has been replaced by the 8GB C114 model. All previously made orders will be upgraded free of charge. Head on over to their website if you want to play the waiting game.

Air-Powered Hybrid

Nerd Grind — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 00:26:52 +0000

Want to fill your car’s tank for three dollars? Want to emit zero emissions? This car which runs on compressed air can do all that.

Ten years ago a French Formula One expert came up with this idea of using compressed air released through the pistons in the engine, and that powering the wheels. He claims prototypes can go 70 mph for about 120 miles.

The idea has merit but can someone work on that vehicle design?

Salty Power?

Nerd Grind — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 21:24:58 +0000

It looks like a Pennsylvanian has found a way to allow saltwater to burn when it’s being exposed to the proper frequencies. Can you say new fuel source?

Energy Saver

Nerd Grind — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 15:11:00 +0000

French designer Gilles Belley has come up with the "Energy Saving Adaptor" which uses modular plugs that link together and hang from the side of a desk. Each module monitors the energy status of a single device and when it goes into standby mode, the lights let you know and 3 minutes later, the module automatically shuts down, saving energy.

NerdGrind - How-to Computer Help - Tutorials - Tech and Gadget News » Green Technology

Better Place Bringing $1 Billion Electric Auto Grid to California – First in America

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Black and Decker LightsOut IR Gadget Turns Lights Off to Conserve Energy

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Vera home automation system helps to conserve energy

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