Wireless Charging Available For Leaf & Volt – Never Plug In Your Nissan Leaf Or Chevy Volt Again!

Plugless Power is now offering wireless charging stations for Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt electric vehicles, and that comes with 6 months of free electricity to charge them.

The price is $3,500 to $4,000 for all of the necessary equipment.

 

Wireless charging stations offer primarily the convenience of not having to lift a finger to charge your vehicle by plugging in, since it charges automatically when you park it in the garage. However, there is an important pragmatic benefit that stems from this convenience:

People often forget to charge their battery-powered devices, so the batteries die when in public, just because of forgetfulness.

Since vehicles are parked in people’s garages (if they have any) every day, by using wireless charging, they automatically get charged every day.

Another benefit of wireless charging is that it can be set up to charge specifically during off-peak hours, when electricity prices are lowest, so you don’t have to remember to plug in your vehicle at specific off-peak times.

The Main Drawback of Wireless Charging

The initial cost of the charger is the biggest drawback of wireless chargers. If you can remember to plug your vehicle in overnight and that isn’t difficult for you, then don’t bother to buy a wireless charger. Wireless chargers are very expensive and unnecessary products. If you find that you can’t remember to plug it in daily, then you should consider a wireless charger.

Efficiency

Additionally, the efficiency of wireless chargers is not quite as high as the 85% that typical wired chargers achieve, but it is close. The small efficiency boost of wired chargers can surely add up over time, though, and save you a bit if money.

Source: Autoblog Green

 

 

Scotland’s first minister Alex Salmond recently revealed the government’s new target to get half of Scotland’s electricity from renewable sources by 2015.

Scotland beat its 31% target for 2011 by about 4%.

 

“When I became first minister in 2007, I inherited a target for 50 percent of Scotland’s electricity to be produced by renewable sources by 2020,” said Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond. “We now know that we can achieve much more than that, more quickly, having already exceeded our 2011 target.”

As the first minister said, the renewables industry is really a “massive economic opportunity,” not something that would be a negative for the country.

The new target could add up to the 11,000+ green energy jobs in Scotland, especially after this last year, a “bumper year” for investment, with an estimated £2.3 billion investment in renewables projects.

Scotland plans to meet these ambitious goals by further development of offshore wind farms and wave and tidal power projects. The country is also aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 42% by 2020.

Source: Business Green

Image Credits: Scotlandvia Wikimedia Commons

 

 

Critics of solar and wind power often point out they are intermittent power sources, and they are correct about that. Cloudy and still days mean low or no energy and that is the major drawback of solar and wind power. However, new hybrid solar and wind power systems in California may offer a viable alternative.

The 140-megawatt Pacific Wind Farm is in the Tehachapi-Mojave region. It is already operational and supplying electricity to SDG&E customers. The wind facility uses 70 German-built REpower MM92 turbines and is located on about 8,000 acres in Antelope Valley. EDF constructed the plant and operates it.

Nearby, a 143-megawatt Catalina solar power station is being finished and should be running by the end of 2012. When the wind is blowing, the turbines will generate electricity. (In California, winds usually are stronger at night.) During daylight hours, the solar plant will generate electricity. On days when there is strong wind and sunlight they will be active simultaneously, to the tune of about 283 MW of capacity. Also, having them close together allows EDF to take advantage of a new transmission line to send electricity to western population centers.

EDF isn’t done in the region, though – it is beginning to construct another renewable energy plant employing both wind and solar with a capacity of about 300 MW. 200MW will be from wind and the remainder from solar power. The Avalon energy plant will use the same transmission line the Pacific Wind Farm and Catalina Solar do. EDF explained, “Avalon Wind Project will connect into the 230kV transmission line that is currently under construction for the Catalina Solar and Pacific Wind Energy Projects, ultimately connecting to the SCE Whirlwind Substation located at the corner of Rosamond Avenue and 170^th Avenue.”