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Mitsubishi Electric to build net zero energy building test facility

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Mitsubishi Electric Corporation plans to build a new test facility for its broad and integrated portfolio of technologies for net Zero Energy Buildings (ZEB) at its Information Technology R&D Center in Kamakura, Japan.

The facility will accelerate the company’s development, evaluation and demonstration of ZEB technologies to meet the growing demand for buildings that combine comfort and superior energy savings.

Mitsubishi Electric’s ZEB technologies are part of the company’s wide-ranging effort to help achieve the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The new facility, which will cost approximately 3.6 billion yen, is scheduled to start operating in June 2020.

[Read more…] about Mitsubishi Electric to build net zero energy building test facility

Johnson Controls and CBRE to test open-source software for building retrofits

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Johnson Controls has entered into an agreement with CBRE, World Resources Institute (WRI) and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) to test and deploy an open-source, web-based energy analysis tool to identify energy efficient retrofit opportunities in commercial buildings.

The initiative is part of the Johnson Controls and CBRE Innovation Lab, which was established three years ago to evaluate, connect and leverage products, services and energy data to create value for occupiers and investors of real estate.

The initiative also supports the Building Efficiency Accelerator, a public-private collaboration that accelerates local government implementation of building efficiency policies and programs where Johnson Controls serves the role of co-convenor along with the World Resources Institute.

[Read more…] about Johnson Controls and CBRE to test open-source software for building retrofits

Hanwha Q Cells is No.1 in German solar module market

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Hanwha Q Cells Co., Ltd., one of the largest solar cell and module manufacturers in the world, achieved top market share in Germany’s solar module market in 2018, according to the survey, Global PV InstallerMonitor 2018/2019 by EuPD Research.

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), Germany’s electricity production from solar energy accounted for 6.1% of the total electricity generation in 2017, while electricity production from renewable sources reached 33.6%.

In 2018, renewables overtook coal to become Germany’s main energy source, supplying just over 40% of electricity production according to research from Fraunhofer.

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Siemens inaugurates new building technologies headquarters in Switzerland

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Siemens has inaugurated its new campus in Zug, Switzerland last week. The Siemens Zug campus features a new office building with 1,000 workspaces and a newly constructed production building.

The investment volume for new buildings, renovations and related measures amounts to $250 million.

The campus is the international headquarters of the Siemens Building Technologies Division, which has 29,000 employees. Last year it posted worldwide sales of $7.5 billion. As Siemens reference projects, the company says the buildings feature “innovative building technology”.  [Read more…] about Siemens inaugurates new building technologies headquarters in Switzerland

Smart city technology developer Quantela to receive $10 million investment

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Quantela, a smart city automation and artificial intelligence developer, says it is receiving a $10 million equity investment from Digital Alpha to scale its global business.

Digital Alpha will also fund innovative revenue-sharing financing for key public sector customers around the world.

Silicon Valley-headquartered Quantela is using the $10m investment by Digital Alpha for market expansion and to enable a deeper presence in strategic locations across the US and Europe.  [Read more…] about Smart city technology developer Quantela to receive $10 million investment

Computer games-obsessed Japanese local authorities decide to model their home town on SimCity

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The Japanese, of course, are widely known to be fanatical about computer games. But planning a real-world city based on a fictional place inside a computer game might be going a bit too far. 

Kobayashi City, in Miyazaki Prefecture, and computer games giant Electronic Arts have agreed the establishment of “Kobayashi City Department of SimCity BuildIt”.

The partners are calling it “a unique regional planning partnership project”, which may well be true as we don’t know of any other city in the world which is modelling itself on a computer game.  [Read more…] about Computer games-obsessed Japanese local authorities decide to model their home town on SimCity

Hitachi launches water supply and sewerage cloud service using IoT

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Hitachi is to launch “O&M Support Digital Solution” on 1 October for the water supply and sewage industry.

This service is said to contribute to the stable operations of plants by collecting and analysing a range of data using digital technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT), and by supporting visualisation of the state of facilities and operation and maintenance work.

This Service uses Hitachi’s IoT platform Lumada. Hitachi will expand the functions of this service gradually in the future, and provide it for water supply and sewerage business entity as a comprehensive digital solution to help solve management issues in overall water supply and sewerage business.

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Smart cities: Enticing visions of super-clean, safe and high-tech cities of the future

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Smart cities promise enormous improvements in the quality of life and huge efficiencies in the way large, metropolitan areas are run. 

Technologies are being developed and implemented now that can help monitor and manage almost everything in a smart city, from waste and energy, to traffic and crime.

But, according to a McKinsey report, we are still currently “seeing only a preview” of what technology could eventually do in the urban environment.  [Read more…] about Smart cities: Enticing visions of super-clean, safe and high-tech cities of the future

Continental begins construction of its first plant in Lithuania

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Continental is expanding its European production capacities, celebrating the groundbreaking ceremony for its first plant in Kaunas, Lithuania.

From the second half of 2019, electronic components for the European market will be manufactured in the technology company’s new electronics plant.

Components will include door and seat control units as well as gateways and units for intelligent glass control, whose film technology allows the vehicle glazing to be darkened automatically or via user input.

[Read more…] about Continental begins construction of its first plant in Lithuania

ABB wins $150 million order to grid-connect world’s largest offshore wind farm

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ABB has won orders worth over $150 million from Danish energy company, Ørsted (previously Dong Energy), to supply technologies for the grid connection of Hornsea Project Two, slated to be the world’s largest offshore wind farm.

Hornsea Two is a 1,400 megawatt (MW) project under construction in the North Sea about 100 kilometres off the Yorkshire coast. Upon completion, it will be able to deliver enough clean electrical power to meet the needs of more than 1.3 million homes annually.

The additional power supply will support economic growth in the UK’s Humber region, and help the UK meet its target of generating 15 percent of energy needs from renewable sources by 2020.

[Read more…] about ABB wins $150 million order to grid-connect world’s largest offshore wind farm