The Answer, My Friend, Is Blowin' In The Wind

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

EVs are also called “Yes but cars.” As in “Yes, but the power needs to come from somewhere. Usually from a dirty plant with a huge smokestack..” Several companies don’t want to hear that anymore and develop a smart grid that powers houses and cars entirely from renewable energy sources. At least that’s the plan.

According to The Nikkei [sub], Toyota, Panasonic and Japan Wind Development have each built two energy-saving smart homes in the Japanese village of Rokkasho, Aomori Prefecture. These houses are not for sale: Engineers will live in these homes, watch the recharging of cars and batteries, and look for areas for improvement. Once the engineers don’t experience extended power outages and can drive their cars whenever they feel like it, the system should be ready for prime time.

Toyota will test a system where plug-in hybrid vehicles double as storage batteries for the homes. They will install solar panels and small wind turbines on the houses to find out whether multiple energy sources can be mated easily with battery chargers.

Hitachi will install smart meters that will transmit data on power generation and energy consumption to a control center via a communications network.

The pilot smart grid will use power generated at existing Japan Wind Development wind farms in the village as well as a 100kw solar power plant constructed by Hitachi. The firms hope to control the power supply by making use of storage batteries at the power plants, in the homes and in the cars.

General Electric, IBM and Siemens are working on similar projects.

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

More by Bertel Schmitt

Comments
Join the conversation
5 of 31 comments
  • Reclusive_in_nature Reclusive_in_nature on Sep 14, 2010

    I don't care if the rest of the world wants to power it's cars with clubbed seals as long as gasoline stays below $3.

  • NulloModo NulloModo on Sep 15, 2010

    Wind isn't the answer now, though with advances in the technology it may become more cost effective. Right now the best source of clean energy is Nuclear power. We should be on a building spree for Nuclear power plants, but boneheaded people too easily influenced by exaggerated risks and flip-flop politicians too eager to court votes from the uneducated keep that from becoming a reality. We should implement a system where you need a high school diploma to vote, a bachelor's degree gets you two votes, a master's three, and a doctorate four, then we might actually have some forward thinking progress in this country. Nuclear does produce some waste, sure, but we have places to store it, and eventually we will figure out controllable fusion and have limitless clean energy (and plenty of helium).

    • Timothy Barrett Timothy Barrett on Sep 15, 2010

      NulloModo: That last paragraph about 'controllable fusion' is certainly a valid point, and is more in line with the direction we should be headed. Now, as far as who should be voting, I don't agree. In a couple of weeks I will be marking a full three score on this wonderul blue marble, and during my time here I have found that the people who have the least informed opinions/ideas regarding whom they should vote for are the ones who start with a list of their acedemic qualifications. They may have impressed their teachers in college but that has nothing to do with the real world. They just think it does. It's life-as-it-happens that gives you the smarts required to cut through the BS that politicians pewk out and swear is the truth. Now, if only we could come up with some way to make sure that they actually answer the questions they are ASKED instead of the ones they imagine they heard, the everyday citizen would probably get it right in the polling booth. Maybe the politicians could be made to supply the "wind" on those days the turbines need it.

  • Kjs Kjs on Sep 15, 2010

    NulloModo: +1 on nuclear power. One of the few instances in which France should be a model. -1 on voting. I have a bachelor's degree from a top-tier private university; I should have more votes than the schmuck who got his BA from Cal State Bakersfield! ;)

  • Niky Niky on Sep 15, 2010

    So what do we do about the "honorary doctorates" that schools love to give out to anyone with enough media pull or money?

Next