NH Insider – Staff

SEIA member companies testify on job growth, 10 Million Roofs bill

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, representatives of three Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) member companies testified before a joint meeting of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and its Green Jobs Subcommittee. The hearing was convened by full Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Subcommittee Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-VT) It focused on Senator Sanders’ 10 Million Solar Roofs and 10 Million Gallons of Solar Hot Water Act of 2010. This bill, modeled on California’s Million Solar Roofs initiative, would deploy solar on 10 million rooftops nationwide and increase the capacity of solar hot water by 10 million gallons over the course of the next 10 years.

“We applaud Senator Sanders for his leadership and for holding this hearing,” said SEIA President and CEO Rhone Resch. “The 10 Million Solar Roofs Act would provide key incentives to adopting both photovoltaic solar and solar hot water. From plumbers and electricians to installers, manufacturers and construction workers, we’re getting more people back to work at the jobs that are the backbone of this country.” (Full Article)

Testimony to the US Senate, Environment and Public Works Committee – Jeff Wolfe, CEO, groSolar

I am Jeff Wolfe, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of groSolar. I am also the elected Chair of the Photovoltaic Division of the Solar Energy Industries Association, founding Board Member of several renewable energy associations, and a Registered Professional Engineer with a Mechanical Engineering degree from Cornell University.

groSolar is one of the nation’s largest residential solar installation companies, the largest 100% US owned distributor of solar electric systems, and an installer of large commercial solar electric systems. We were founded in 1998, in Vermont, and now directly operate in 12 states and the District of Columbia, and provide distribution services to most of the other states.

I came here today to speak about solar energy. Solar energy is one of those unusual technologies that can solve a bunch of problems at once. Since I started groSolar 11 years ago with my wife, the technology has been able to provide American-made energy, decrease our dependence on foreign oil, increase our national security, reduce pollution, and fight climate change. And while it is doing all those things, it is also creating jobs, good jobs. Each Megawatt of solar photovoltaic systems deployed annually in the US creates 25 jobs. And most of those jobs are impossible to send offshore, since they are on the ground and on the roof, installing and selling the systems. And it’s simply hard to install solar panels in this country unless you are
in this country. (Full Article)

groSolar – Press Release

Free public solar education seminars to be offered

January 28, 2010, Burlington, Vt. – For many people, “going green” begins with buying locally-grown and organic foods. City Market, Burlington’s only community-owned grocery store, announced today plans to install a solar power system on its roof in downtown Burlington, with the help of VT-based installer groSolar to further its commitment to energy efficiency and green building practices.

The 31 kilowatt system, from 136 solar panels, will cover a small percentage of the 16,000 square-foot building’s overall power load, but City Market was attracted to the project as much for financial reasons as for its commitment to sustainable business practices. Installation is planned for February. (Full Article)

All Business – Publication: ENP Newswire

San Francisco, CA – InsideView today announced its support of an independent study conducted by the Aberdeen Group.

The report details new findings that sales teams using InsideView’s sales intelligence application, SalesView, achieve significantly greater overall sales performance (measuredin revenue¬), quota achievement, win/loss and lead-conversion rates as compared to those not utilizing SalesView. The study included 476 corporate inside sales teams across multiple industries, and for the first time demonstrates the clear advantage sales teams deploying SalesView have over their competition. (Full Article)

Renewable Energy World – Press Release

Jeff Wolfe to report on solar’s potential to drive US job market

Washington, DC – Jeff Wolfe, CEO of groSolar, will testify before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works on January 28, 2010.

Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, and Senator Bernard Sanders (I-VT), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Green Jobs and the New Economy, will convene a joint hearing to examine the efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and create jobs by expanding the use of solar energy.

“I’m honored to be invited to speak on the opportunity that solar presents us today, and the potential this sector has in creating high-paying, in-demand green jobs for America. Solar deployment has enormous potential to be a driver for the US economy, and it’s critical that we seize this opportunity immediately and lead the way to a true economic recovery,” said Wolfe. “We need to get people back to work. Each megawatt of solar power capacity supports 25 jobs, with eight of these jobs in system design, distribution, installation, and services created where the systems are installed.” (Full Article)

Multichannel News – Todd Spangler

Will In-Car TV Shift Into the Fast Lane – Or Is It a Non-Starter?

“Dad, are we there yet?”

Road-tripping parents who hear that familiar plaintive wail from the back seat may soon have a wealth of new entertainment options to put in front of the kiddies.

A number of broadcasters, service providers, car manufacturers, automotive-equipment vendors and other companies are working to provide live TV and on-demand programming through in-car entertainment systems.
(Full Article)

Renewable Energy World – Press Release

Open-source platform connects groEnergy Watch with any inverter or revenue grade meter

White River Junction, Vt. – Smart grids, smart meters and energy monitoring are powerful buzz categories these days in renewable energy. Now, groSolar and Locus Energy, LLC are taking PV system monitoring and whole house energy data to the next level by making a powerful new open-source monitoring platform available to groSolar’s nationwide network of dealer-installers.
The Locus platform integrates with groSolar’s proprietary PV monitoring system, groEnergy Watch, and integrates data from any inverter or revenue-grade meter to provide a complete turnkey monitoring solution for residential and commercial PV installations.

“Locus is excited to integrate our revenue-grade solar metering platform with groEnergy Watch, groSolar’s proven PV monitoring system,” said Mike Herzig, President of Locus Energy. “This is an open-architecture solution, which works with any inverter hardware and can also provide real-time energy consumption data. We think groSolar’s extensive network and history of innovation in renewable energy makes it an ideal partner in this area.” (Full Article)

Virtual Currency Paltforms – Press Release

Virtual Currency Platform Sometrics today announced that they can count 3 new big clients to their portfolio: Aeria Games, Challenge Games, and IMVU. Combined this gives Sometrics the ability to help monetize over 50M users currently playing any of their games and virtual worlds. Previously know as just a Social Ad Analytics company, Sometrics moved on and launched their own virtual currency manager in 2009, providing Rich Media Offers, Distinctive Reporting and Cross Platform support to publishers and developers worldwide. They raised $5,550,000 in 2 rounds to date; investors include Steamboat Ventures, The Mail Room Fund and Greycroft Partners.

Aeria Games has developed more than 20 games to date, most of them being licensed from (primarily) Asian developers to suit a North American audience: Last Chaos, Twelve Sky, Project Torque, Shaiya, Dream of Mirror Online, Megaten, Cronous, Dreamlords, Stone Age 2, Pi Story, Turf Battles , Goldslam, LaTale ,WolfTeam, Luminary, Twelve Sky 2, Hello Kitty Online, DragonSky, Richman Online, and Grand Fantasia. (Full Article)

AT&T – Press Release

Wireless Customers Will Have 24/7 NBC Olympics Winter Games Coverage on Their Mobile Phones

From the first ski jump to the last triple Axel, America will have more ways to enjoy NBC Universal’s world-class coverage of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver with all three AT&T* screens – the TV, the PC and the mobile phone.

“The Olympic Winter Games is always a must-see event that draws in people to watch the world’s best athletes and most prestigious competitions, and AT&T offers the only way to see NBC’s coverage of the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games live on all three screens,” said Dan York, executive vice president of content and programming, AT&T Converged Services. “We’re proud to deliver around-the-clock Games content to more consumers in more places.” (Full Article)

Portland Business Journal – Erik Siemers, Business Journal staff writer

Solar manufacturer will double work force at North Portland plant

Solaicx Inc. plans to spend $60 million to expand its North Portland manufacturing plant. The move will triple the plant’s capacity and enable the company to double the size of its work force.

The Santa Clara, Calif.-based maker of parts for solar panels was among four Oregon manufacturers to receive a combined $105 million in federal tax credits last week for new or expanding solar plants. Solaicx received $18.2 million.

The money cements the state’s position as a leader in solar manufacturing and provides a rare bright spot for the state’s economy.

“Relatively speaking, right now there’s very little going well in the Oregon economy, and this is one of the areas,” said Patrick Emerson, an associate professor of economics at Oregon State University and author of The Oregon Economics Blog.

Solaicx opened its 136,000-square-foot manufacturing plant in the Rivergate Industrial District a little more than two years ago. (Full Article)

San Francisco Chronicle – By David R. Baker

Adobe installs tall turbines to create renewable power

The new wind turbines spinning slowly at Adobe Systems’ headquarters in San Jose could be mistaken for sculpture. In fact, they already have been.

Tall, slender cylinders that hold more air than metal, they look nothing like the giant rotors turning above the Altamont Pass. But they generate power all the same.

“The other day I was standing here, and one of the employees was saying, ‘Don’t you think we’ve overdone it with the art?’ ” said Randy Knox, Adobe’s senior director of global workplace solutions. “I told him it’s not just art.”

At a time when companies throughout California are bolting solar panels to their roofs, softwaremaker Adobe has taken a different approach to renewable power, installing 20 small wind turbines at its headquarters.

Sales of small-scale wind systems have grown rapidly in recent years. So far, they remain niche products, garnering just a fraction of the attention lavished on rooftop solar. (Full Article)

TimesUnion.com – Larry Rulison

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority is awarding $10 million to seven solar energy equipment installers to subsidize solar electric projects across the state.

The companies are Alteris Renewables of Menands; Hudson Valley Clean Energy of Rhinebeck; groSolar of White River Junction, Vt.; Solar Energy Systems of Brooklyn, and Tioga Energy of San Mateo, Calif. (Full Article)

Mercury News – Brandon Bailey, bbailey@mercurynews.com

What’s that on the sixth-floor deck of Adobe headquarters in downtown San Jose? Those slender silver spires, spinning quietly in the breeze, are actually turbines producing environmentally friendly electric power.

Workers installed the 20 wind turbines over the December holidays at Adobe Systems’ high-rise offices at Park Avenue and Almaden Boulevard. Officials at the big software company say it’s part of a larger effort to tap renewable sources for the power they need to keep the lights, computers and other equipment running at Adobe’s facilities here and around the world.

Renewable energy isn’t a new idea for Silicon Valley, where Google, Microsoft and other big tech companies use solar panels to supply some of the power for their local sites. But wind turbines are more typically found in rural or suburban areas. City officials say Adobe is the first to install them on a building in downtown San Jose. (Full Article)

Sustaiable Business – Staff

$2.3 Billion for Clean Energy Manufacturing

President Obama announced on January 8 the award of $2.3 billion in Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credits for clean energy manufacturing projects across the U.S.?Funding for the tax credits, which comes from the Recovery Act, will go to 183 energy enterprises in 43 states involved in manufacturing components and systems relating to solar, wind, and geothermal energy equipment; fuel cells, microturbines, and batteries; electric cars; electric grids to support renewable energy; energy conservation technologies; and carbon sequestration equipment. Companies will produce next-generation wind turbine blades, smart meters, and double-reflective glass for solar panels, among others. ??For example, to boost the smart grid, Itron, Inc. is making one of the first residential smart meters that provides built-in, two-way communications and a remote on/off switch, giving customers more choice while enabling utilities to provide higher reliability at lower cost. (Full Article)

WQAD.com – Staff Writer

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa – A Central Iowa church is helping the environment by “going green.”

The Lutheran Church of Hope in West Des Moines unveiled its new $12,000 wind turbine during the weekend of January 10. It was put into place on January 8 by Renewable Energy Concepts.

It’s built by Mariah Power based in Michigan, which hires unemployed auto workers. They use recyclable materials, including aircraft-grade aluminum.

An anonymous donor paid for the windspire at the church.

The 30-foot tall structure sits next to the church building and turns silently in the wind. Church leaders expect the turbine to cut energy bills by as much as 25%

The wind spire is the first of its kind in the Des Moines metro area and just the second one in the state of Iowa. (Article Available Here)

MocoNews.net – Tricia Duryee

ESPN’s mobile efforts had a stand-out year in 2009. Its ESPN (NYSE: DIS) ScoreCenter was downloaded more than 4.5 million times and was ranked as the top free sports App in iTunes; ESPN was the 8th most-trafficked mobile website, according to Nielsen; and total minutes spent viewing ESPN Mobile TV increased 186 percent over 2008.

John Zehr, the SVP and GM of mobile, also told mocoNews at CES that the mobile division, which consists of 50-or-so employees, is bringing in steady revenues and is profitable. The accomplishments mark a significant amount of progress, considering that the company officially pulled the plug on its MVNO service three years ago. “I don’t think we’d be as strong today without the MVNO. The premise was that people will use mobile data, and that still holds true,” he said.

While ESPN’s mobile efforts today have included the mobile web, mobile TV (via FLO TV and MobiTV) and applications on the iPhone, Zehr says they have not started building apps for other smartphone platforms, such as the BlackBerry and Android. (Full Article)

Renewable Energy World – Press Release

Washington, D.C., United States [RenewableEnergyWorld.com] President Barack Obama last week announced the award of US $2.3 billion in Recovery Act Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credits. One hundred eighty three projects in 43 states will receive that funds that are meant to help create tens of thousands of jobs through the domestic manufacturing of advanced clean energy technologies including solar, wind and efficiency and energy management technologies.

“Building a robust clean energy sector is how we will create the jobs of the future,” President Obama said. “The Recovery Act awards I am announcing today will help close the clean energy gap that has grown between America and other nations while creating good jobs, reducing our carbon emissions and increasing our energy security.” (Full Article)

Silicon Valley Mercury News – Scott Duke Harris

Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of new clean-tech jobs should be created in Silicon Valley in the wake of the Obama administration’s award of $2.3 billion in tax credits for manufacturing projects that both stimulate economic recovery and help curb greenhouse gas emissions.

With the valley’s jobless rate close to 12 percent, the announcement late Friday represents a jolt of financial adrenaline for the region and several specific companies. Valley firms were awarded $260 million in tax credits, or about 11 percent of the overall total.

MiaSolé, a Santa Clara-based maker of solar photovoltaic cells based on thin-film technology, received among the nation’s largest credits, totaling $101.7 million in two chunks. Other valley firms awarded sizable credits for local projects included CaliSolar, Nanosolar, Stion and SunPower. (Full Article)

InsideView – Press Release

InsideView’s On-Demand Sales 2.0 Application Rated Top App by Salesforce.com Customers>

San Francisco, CA (Marketwire – January 11, 2010) – InsideView, Inc. today announced that the company’s leading Sales 2.0 application, SalesView, ended 2009 as the highest rated application available on the Force.com AppExchange from Salesforce.com.

SalesView, the first Sales 2.0 application integrated with Salesforce CRM, had the highest average rating of all of the 871 applications available on the AppExchange at the close of 2009. It has further received over 200 highly positive reviews to-date from SalesForce customers. SalesView’s mash-up with Salesforce CRM provides sales teams with real-time access to relevant news alerts, relationship analysis as well as intelligently aggregated research results from both traditional editorial sources and social media, all available within the Salesforce CRM application.

“We are very pleased to have garnered such consistently high marks from Salesforce.com customers,” said Rand Schulman, chief marketing officer of InsideView. “Our continued recognition as a top application on AppExchange is a great validation for the tangible results that SalesView delivers and the significant value that Sales 2.0 technologies can provide. The Force.com AppExchange has been a great channel for companies like InsideView to work with a broad range of businesses and help them meet and exceed their sales goals.” (Full Article)

ZDNet – Paul Greenberg

Okay, to recap. We’ve so far done the following watchlist parts:

• Part I – The Big 4 – Microsoft, SAP, Oracle, salesforce.com
• Part IIA – CRM Companies – NetSuite, Sage, RightNow
• Part IIB – CRM Companies – Cognizant, Eloqua, Sword-Ciboodle, SAS, SugarCRM, Helpstream, Aplicor

Now we move on to Part IIIA and Part IIIB – The Social Companies and the Social Channels- though I’m not telling you who they are except in the posts themselves (nyah, nyah, nyah).

InsideView – This one is about as slam dunk as any company on the complete list – not just this portion. They have been one of the best and smartest and most focused when it comes to providing something valuable to CRM practitioners and vendors that bridges the gap between the traditional CRM needs and social requirement. Providing highly focused social sales intelligence is an art that they seem to have mastered. With their SalesView service, they provide highly focused sales intelligence that is aimed squarely at one thing – supporting sales optimization.

They don’t have a big product portfolio – their sales intelligence product, SalesView is their only product in fact. It comes in three versions – free, Pro (at $99.00/user/month) and Team (customized pricing). It provides two primary features – first it monitors intelligence about what’s going on in accounts and then it sees who you know in the accounts and monitors what’s going on with them (moves to other companies, promotions, etc). It sources the information from the more traditional data sources such as Hoovers and Reuiters, the contemporary structured data sources like the community driven Jigsaw and the unstructured such as Twitter and blogs. And that’s about it. But they do it well and they are able to use all the resources of the CRM systems they integrate with to optimize the experience that the sales pro has with SalesView. (Full Article)

Wine Spectator – Dana Nigro

Producers look beyond solar for other forms of renewable energy

When planning his new Anaba winery in Sonoma’s Petaluma Gap, proprietor John Sweazey had to give very careful consideration to how to situate the tasting room’s outdoor space. Strong winds come off the ocean two-thirds of the year, and the hills around his site act as a funnel. “On a windy day, it’s not fun to be out there,” he said. Without the shelter of the building and protective glass partitions, “if guests step outside, the wind will blow their wig off, or at least the wine out of their glass.”

That’s exactly what prompted Sweazey to put up a sleek 45-foot-high wind turbine on his 16-acre property in December, making Anaba the first winery in Northern California to do so. He estimates he will save about $1,000 a year on electricity for his tasting room, offices, case storage and irrigation system. The turbine is connected to the utility grid, so when the wind produces more power than Anaba is using, it’s sold to the power company, offsetting the winery’s annual bill. (Full Article)

CNet News – Marguerite Reardon

LAS VEGAS–Mobile TV may finally hit the mainstream when cell phones throughout the U.S. are able to access local TV for free.

The Open Mobile Video Coalition, an organization made up of consumer electronics companies, broadcasters, and mobile TV companies, has finished a standard for new chips that will allow mobile devices, such as cell phones, to receive broadcast TV signals. The new technology is already making its way into prototype devices and is being shown off here at the Consumer Electronics Show.

Starting in March, broadcasters in Washington, D.C., will be the first to test the mobile DTV capability in a proof-of-concept trial with real live consumers. Several device makers, including Dell, LG, and Samsung are making products available for the test.

The devices for the test include a smartphone by Samsung, a Netbook from Dell, a portable DVD player from LG, and a mobile DTV bridge device called the Tivit that receives digital TV signals and retransmits it over Wi-Fi, making free local TV available for devices, such as the Apple iPhone.

Getting TV on mobile phones is nothing new. MobiTV already offers more than 40 channels of daily live TV from several networks including ABC, CBS, NBC, ESPN, and Discovery Networks. It also offers made for mobile videos and video on demand clips to more than five million subscribers on more than 350 mobile devices. Its content is available on several wireless operator networks, including AT&T and Sprint Nextel. (Full Article)

MobiTV – Press Release

LAS VEGAS – Demonstrating mobile video technology that harnesses the power of LTE, MobiTV is a featured developer at the Verizon Wireless Showcase during the 2010 International CES.

Chosen to represent the Verizon Developer Community, MobiTV’s mobile video demonstration highlights how LTE technology opens new possibilities for enhanced viewing experiences, including increased quality with higher bit rate support, opportunities for personalization, and integration with third-party service providers such as social networking and Web video sites.

The demonstration features MobiTV’s enhanced video delivery system, which dynamically adapts video feeds for delivery across multiple networks. The system also has the flexibility to accommodate optimal video delivery over new and evolving networks, making it an ideal platform for the pending LTE rollout. (Full Article)

Greentech Enterprise – Michael Kanellos

Adobe has a green workplace and is putting in small wind turbines right now. Fuel cells could be next.

Software giant Adobe wants to explore the viability of cow power.

The San Jose, Calif.-based company is examining the idea of installing an industrial-size fuel cell that converts methane into electricity and heat at its headquarters in San Jose. And, as part of the program, the company is studying if it would be possible to obtain the methane from manure digesters in California’s Central Valley, according to Randall Knox, senior director of global workplace solutions at Adobe.

“You keep it from off-gassing (the methane) into the atmosphere,” he said. (Full Article)

PR Newswire – Press Release

LAS VEGAS, Jan. 6 /PRNewswire/ — Demonstrating mobile video technology that harnesses the power of LTE, MobiTV is a featured developer at the Verizon Wireless Showcase during the 2010 International CES.

Chosen to represent the Verizon Developer Community, MobiTV’s mobile video demonstration highlights how LTE technology opens new possibilities for enhanced viewing experiences, including increased quality with higher bit rate support, opportunities for personalization, and integration with third-party service providers such as social networking and Web video sites.

The demonstration features MobiTV’s enhanced video delivery system, which dynamically adapts video feeds for delivery across multiple networks. The system also has the flexibility to accommodate optimal video delivery over new and evolving networks, making it an ideal platform for the pending LTE rollout. (Full Article)

PC World – Stephen Lawson, IDG News Service

The Tivit, to be shown at CES, will pick up mobile DTV broadcasts and send them to any Wi-Fi device.

Among the devices supporting mobile digital TV at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week will be a small box designed to bring over-the-air broadcasts to iPhones, BlackBerries, laptops and other devices with Wi-Fi.

The ATSC (Advanced Television Systems Committee) approved a mobile DTV standard for the U.S. in October, but CES is expected to host the first major announcements of devices that can receive the signals. The Tivit, development of which was partially funded by the industry group Open Mobile Video Coalition (OMVC), will pick up a standard mobile DTV signal and transmit it via Wi-Fi to a mobile phone or any other device equipped with Wi-Fi. It is expected to go on sale in the first half of this year for between US$90 and $120. (Full Article)