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Independent Test Exonerates PGE Meters, Blames Customer Service

The Structure Group, an independent organization retained by the California Public Utilities Commission to examine the smart meters installed by Pacific Gas & Electric in Northern California, issued its report today.

The meters worked. Increases in bills were largely due to a 2009 heat wave, which caused air conditioning use to spike.Structure did also not detect manufacturing problems. Structure tested 750 meters and 147 electromechanical meters and in field, meter-to-meter and laboratory tests, Structure found no problems.

With Arch Rock Purchase, Cisco Takes Aim at Silver Spring Networks

The brewing competition between Cisco and Silver Spring Networks just lost its subtlety.

Déjà Vu All Over Again: Offshore Oil Platform Explodes in Gulf of Mexico

Image: Google Maps

Thankfully, No Deaths This Time
An offshore oil platform exploded and caught fire today in the Gulf of Mexico. It is located about 80 miles off the Louisiana coast, west of the site of BP's massive oil spill. All 13 people who were on the rig were evacuated and only one was injured, reports the U.S. Coast Guard....

California Bombs on Plastic Bag Ban

Photo by Taberandrew

Despite San Francisco leading the way on banning plastic bags back in 2007, California senators rejected a proposed plan to ban plastic bags statewide.

New York City Inks Contract for Up to 475 Compressed Natural Gas Buses

Photo: New Flyer

What's the Difference Between CNG and Diesel?
The Board of the New York Metropolitan Transit Authority (the "MTA") has awarded New Flyer of America a contract for up to 475 buses. The contract is for 135 40-foot compressed natural gas ("CNG") heavy-duty transit buses with options for up to an additional 340 CNG buses. We know that buses are a pretty green way to move lots of people around in urban area, but how much better are CNG buses compared to regular diesel buses? The U.S. Department of Energy has some numbers to allow us to compare....

Focus EV to use liquid thermal battery control

Car will take its battery pack temperature, then automatically cool or warm it to optimal temperature range before charging or engaging the battery.

Motor City getting in on electric fever

Coulomb Technologies installs free public electric-charging station in downtown Detroit as part of ChargePoint America program to encourage EV adoption.

CODA to Launch CODA EV in Hawaii in 2011

CODA Automotive intends to distribute the battery-electric CODA Sedan to consumer and fleet customers in Hawai’i in the third quarter of 2011.

On the GreenBeat: Cisco to acquire Arch Rock, Tesla fires back at GM

Cisco delves deeper into the smart grid market by announcing today its plans to acquire Arch Rock Corp, a privately held company that makes IP-based wireless technology company for smart grid applications. This comes on the heels of yesterday’s announcement of their strategic alliance with smart meter giant Itron.

Study Finds That Tripling US LDV New Fleet Fuel Efficiency by 2035 Through Evolutionary Change is Ambitious But Doable

New fleet efficiency horizon in terms of energy intensity and fuel consumption
rate compared to historical fleet averages and recent US regulations. Source: DeCicco 2010.