Batteries for the electric F-150 may be in short supply due to an import dispute involving the Korean supplier Ford is using.
The International Trade Commission (ITC) has banned Korea-based SK Innovation from importing batteries to the US for 10 years, according to Bloomberg. The ruling comes as a result of an accusation from Korea-based LG Chem, accusing SK Innovation of stealing trade secrets. The seemingly harsh ban was the result of SK Innovation destroying evidence LG Chem needed to prove its case.
The ITC did provide a grace period to give automakers, including Ford and Volkswagen, time to make alternate arrangements. SK Innovation can import components for the F-150 for four years, and for the Volkswagen’s MEB line for two years.
There are two factors that could play to SK Innovation’s favor. The company is building a factory in Georgia that will become operational later this year. While some components are still slated to be imported, when faced with a 10-year ban, the company may try to move all production to the US.
As Bloomberg highlights, President Biden could also overrule the ITC’s decision on public policy grounds. Given the front-and-center focus climate change and green energy is taking in the new administration, it’s entirely possible SK Innovation’s ban may be seen as too damaging to electric vehicle endeavors.
Google announced today that it has reached an agreement with the Grand River Dam Authority (GRDA) to green the energy supply to its Oklahoma data center. This includes 48 MW of wind energy from the Canadian Hills Wind Project in Oklahoma, which Google says will come online later this year.
“We’ve been working with GRDA, our local utility, to procure additional renewable energy since we ‘plugged in’ our data center in 2011, and in February of 2012, GRDA approached us about purchasing power from Canadian Hills,” explains Gary Demasi, director of Google’s Global Infrastructure team. “In conjunction with the electricity GRDA already supplies Google to operate its data center, Google will pay GRDA a premium to purchase renewable energy generated by Canadian Hills. This brings the total amount of renewable energy for which Google has contracted to over 260 MW.”
“This agreement is a milestone for GRDA because it’s their first-ever wind energy project,” adds Demasi. “It’s also a milestone for Google because it’s a little different from the previous Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) we’ve signed, where we agreed to buy the energy directly from the developer who built the wind farm. This agreement, by contrast, marks the first time we’ve partnered with a utility provider to increase the amount of renewable energy powering one of our data centers.”
IBM has just won a contract with the United States Federal Government to develop and install smart energy-efficient building technology in 50 of the governments highest energy-consuming buildings. The US General Services Administration (GSA) contract with IBM will feature cloud-based technology to improve efficiency and save taxpayers up to $15 million each year.
The new system will allow for building energy consumption to be monitored all over the country and have the information streamlined to one source for analysis and control. The goal is to cut government building energy consumption by at least 30% before the year 2015. Under the contract IBM will monitor and stream the data which will be viewed in real-time.
GSA Acting Public Buildings Commissioner Linda Chero comments on the contract to bring green energy to government facilities:
“The development of this industry-leading smart building system begins a new era in how GSA manages our nation’s public buildings and will prove the feasibility of this technology for the larger industry,”
“This program connects existing building technologies in new ways to improve building efficiency in over 32 million square feet of real estate. Awarding this contract benefits taxpayers, as it will reduce maintenance and operating costs of the federal building portfolio — saving taxpayers an estimated $15 million annually.”
IBM Vice President of Industry Solutions Dave Bartlett comments on green building technology:
“We are at a tipping point in terms of advancing the greening of our buildings and making them smarter,”
“When you look at buildings holistically, with end-to-end visibility across all systems, you can more clearly see the connections, the interactions, and opportunities for efficiency among the various systems. Using analytics, we can make better decisions about how to best visualize and optimize these systems. The data exists – it’s a matter of understanding and responding to what the data is telling us, and that’s what we’re helping GSA to do.”
Take a look at this video from the GSA on smart buildings:
Steven Chu is the Secretary of Energy for the United States, he is also a Nobel Prize winner for Physics. Now he can add movie reviewer to his resume. Today he went on Facebook to talk about the movie that has made over 1 billion dollars so far.
I’m going to give everyone here a big SPOILER ALERT, because a lot of his statements about the movie might give away a little of the plot. SO if you haven’t seen the movie yet, move along…nothing to see here. If you have seen the movie, then read on!
Apparently when Nobel prize winner Secretary Chu is too busy for the “the Avengers”, so he talked to his “buzzing” staff about the movie. What he got from his staff was the Tesseract and how it would have real world implications to have a perpetual energy source. He also loved that the Avengers kicked ass while having 2 scientists on the team. The rest of his post is pro green energy, bad traditional energy. As an Obama appointee, what else would you expect as this has been a driving point in his administration.
Here is the entirety of the post from his Facebook page:
I can rarely find the time to make it to the movies, but my staff is buzzing about The Avengers, which focuses on a new, limitless clean energy source called “The Tesseract.” In the film, there is evidently an intergalactic struggle to claim this new resource – one we can only win by relying on heroes like Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Black Widow, and the Incredible Hulk. Naturally, the group includes a couple scientists!While the “Tesseract” may be fictional, the real-life global competition over clean energy is growing increasingly intense, as countries around the world sense a huge economic opportunity AND the opportunity for cleaner air, water, and a healthier planet. This is now a $260 billion global market, a sum that would impress even Tony Stark. According to the International Energy Agency, last year — for the first time — more money was invested worldwide in clean, renewable power plants than in fossil fuel power plants.Given how big the opportunity is, and how fast it is growing, it is no surprise that 80 countries have adopted policies or incentives to capture a share of the clean energy market. The good news is that we have an advantage every bit as powerful as the Incredible Hulk: Americans’ talent for entrepreneurship and innovation is unrivalled by any other country in the world. We have world-leading scientific facilities that would make Bruce Banner green with envy, and the investments we’re making today in groundbreaking new technologies can help American businesses stay ahead of the curve.Ultimately, however, the clean energy prize is still up for grabs and countries like China are competing aggressively. It’s not enough for us to simply invent the technologies of the future, we need to actually build and deploy them here as well. As President Obama noted recently, one step Congress should take immediately is to renew the expiring tax credits for clean energy – a step that will create jobs and help American companies compete. When it comes to clean energy, our motto should be: “Invented in America, Made in America, Sold Around the World.”(image)
NASA’s newest research center is going to be the greenest and most self-sustaining government building ever built. Innovations are all courtesy of space travel quality technologies and conveniences. For instance, the water treatment system uses forward osmosis to reuse grey waste water, the ceiling panels cool the air, and shades open and close automatically to make the most efficient use of natural light and heat.
Integration with nature is essential to the design of the base and the engineers have taken great care in connecting the inner workings of the building with the external landscapes. To be at one with nature, there are as many outdoor meeting spaces as indoor and large open rooms are meant to facilitate a fresh holistic-type environment.
The structure is located in Moffett Field, California on the campus of NASA’s Silicon Valley Ames Research Center. It really doesn’t cost a huge amount of dollars more to construct a facility of this magnitude, according to NASA, as many of the innovations, such as the geothermal well, will pay for themselves in efficiency over time.
The research center will become NASA’s premier place for testing green and energy efficient technologies. Building technology is a crucial part of what NASA does, and the idea of creating more friendly, efficient, and enjoyable work environments was at the forefront of design and engineering when the plans for the center were conceived.
Take a look at USA Today’s coverage of the building site:
Many people consider going solar to help offset the cost of electricity in their homes, but very few ever go out and buy the solar panels required to harness the suns rays. It’s a rare personality who takes the plunge, so I thought it would be worth taking a look at.
This handy little infographic from One Block Off The Grid provides us with a comprehensive look at who solar panel users are and what motivates them to take advantage of this wonderful renewable power source. Many of the statistics are surprising.
For instance, many of the users aren’t the green revolution hippies we would think they’d be. Almost three quarters said they wouldn’t pursue solar energy if it wasn’t for the economic benefits. In fact, most of them aren’t what we would consider wealthy by any means. A majority of them fell in the seventy-five to one hundred thousand dollar a year range.
So if you’re considering going solar, or you sell solar energy products for a living, you should dig into this graphic. It can really open your eyes to who these consumers are and what drives them to make the jump to green energy. Enjoy!
With the price of gasoline on the rise almost daily many consumers have decided to fork over the extra cash and upgrade to an electric vehicle. There is a lot of buzz around electrics today, but my angle has always been that they cost way too much and offer way too little. However, as the market becomes more competitive and the government offers more incentives to buy these vehicles, prices are becoming more affordable, especially with the promise of saving some money at the pumps.
It’s also worth noting that there is a lot of brand loyalty out there, and many who are still die-hard fans of the big three, namely Ford, Chevy, and Chrysler. In the spirit of American craftsmanship I thought it would be nice to showcase what they have to offer consumers in the way of green, affordable transportation.
Now, there are some limitations here. Ford is offering the Focus as an electric and Chevy has their popular Volt, but Chrysler is lagging behind, as usual and their electric hasn’t arrived yet. What will it be? It won’t exactly be a Chrysler at all, but for the purpose of the article it will serve. Chrysler aims to offer a hybrid from their newest partner company Fiat. The Fiat 500 Electric could be offered as soon as this year.
First of all Ford claims you’ll never need an oils change or need to burn any fuel, I like it already. It basically looks like any other late model Focus, which isn’t exactly handsome, but it has come a long way since the model was first introduced. The interior features a standard cloth composed of 100% recycled material. Even the foam cushioning is derived from a biological plant oil-base. This could be interesting? Actually the interior stylings look really nice.
Apps, apps, apps. Ford offers them for the Focus. You can optimize charging and maximize range with an array of apps for your phone which allow you to remotely adjust air conditioning levels, charging option, and heater temperatures before you even leave your parking spot. It will be ready to roll. Another nice feature is designed into the brake rotors, which actually operate as a power generator when breaking is engaged. Basically, it charges every time you stop…bonus!!!
The best part is, it offers charging times nearly half of its major competitor, the Nissan Leaf. The car is packed with features and offers a lot in the way of environmental friendliness and curb appeal. The real downside is the nearly $40,000 starting price, ouch! I wish I had time for more, but we have to move on the the Volt.
The Chevy Volt is a little different because you still have the option to extend your driving range with a gasoline motor although it only boasts 83 horsepower and requires premium fuel. Impressively the electric motor sports over 270 lb. ft. of torque. The electric motor will only carry you about 36 miles on its own, but when coupled with the gas engine it extends that range about 350 miles.
I see two downsides to the Volt already. First off, on top of charging you still have to stay on top of things like cooling systems and oil changes. I don’t like that. It also features a very small range, 36 miles on the electric motor. Secondly, like the Focus it costs $40,000. But this is deceiving, many readers have written in telling me about wonderful government incentives to purchase vehicles like the Focus and Volt.
Again the Volt has some decent curb appeal and offers just as many modern and stylish features as the Focus Electric, but also offers leather and heated seats. Very Nice if you live in the colder climates! Of course both Ford and Chevy offer you great navigation options which I am sure many of you already know about. Sorry to be brief, but we have to move on to the Fiat 500, our substitute for Chrysler’s lack of effort or partnership, if you will.
So I am at a disadvantage here, Chrysler has yet to bring the Fiat 500 Electric to our market here in America. All I can really do is tell you a little about what the Fiat 500 currently offers consumers and hope that Chrysler will be proactive in giving us a real competitor for Ford and Chevy’s offerings; sooner rather than later, hopefully!
First off, Fiat is currently offering their base model in a lease for zero down and $199. per month. They have my attention there, low lease rates are just as good as money saved at the pump, in my opinion. The vehicle does offer mileage in the high 30’s as well so it’s reasonably economical anyway. Of course you’ll have to perform the standard engine maintenance on this one, oil changes, coolant, etc. Major negative here: not American, sorry Chrysler, you lose again!
The interior is not as plush or friendly as what the Focus and Volt offer by any means, it definitely has a utility-based appeal though. I guess what you get with Fiat 500 is affordable economy all the way around. Like I said, Chrysler is absent in this category, so they offer their Fiat brand partner. It’s an economical solution, but Motor Trend can do a better job than me, so check out the following video:
A fun story for those of us who think are cars suck because we’re poor and we can’t afford anything better. Consumer Reports purchased the new Fisker Karma, electric hybrid plug-in to test and evaluate for their readers. It cost them nearly $108,000 and as they put it, “It is super sleek, high-tech—and now it’s broken”.
They only have around 200 miles on the odometer and haven’t finished checking it in to get it ready for their normal series of road tests and intense analysis before they report back to readers what they’ve found. Apparently they pulled it out into the track to calibrate the speedometer, which is a common test, and the transmission deactivated as the dash flashed an alarm claiming there was a “major fault”. That doesn’t sound good?
After letting it sit, the light went out, but the transmission still wouldn’t engage. That left them with just two options- park and neutral. According to the staff, they don’t recall a time, even after purchasing over 80 automobiles, that one has ever left them stranded like this. So don’t feel bad if your decade-old ride is giving you trouble. It seems even spending $100,000 doesn’t buy you the peace of mind you’d think it would.
Check out their video:
The car looks awesome! I don’t feel like this is a good bit of press for an up and coming car company. The dealership was 100 miles away from Consumer Reports test track, so that’s not exactly convenient for anyone. I hope it gets sorted out, I would really like to hear them review the car. As for the rest of us, we can just be happy our POS are getting us to work everyday. Thanks for the entertainment Consumer Reports.
