It’s always good to hear about smart meter startups gaining ground. Eka is just such a start up, and it has landed a deal with GE Energy to integrate GE meters with Eka’s wireless smart meter system.

GE recognizes that smart meters and smart grid systems are coming and might as well get ahead of the curve by providing desired equipment and software. To that end, GE is pairing up its I-210+ meter family with the EkaNet Smart Network Advanced Metering Infrastructure solution.

The system provides the ability to network utilities, including electric, water and gas with smart grid devices so customers can monitor usage and utility companies can figure out more intelligent structures for pricing and access to resources. So we’re that much closer to an ubiquitous smart grid.

Via Earth2Tech

For those who always insist on looking at the bright side of life, here?s one positive from the gloom and doom of global warming. Destruction of the planet is reducing the outbreak of the plague, in the western U.S. at least. Yes, that plague, as in the Black Death, the one that killed about 50 million people back in the 1500s.

According to scientists, global warming reduces the likelihood of an outbreak of the plague in the U.S. because it will be just too hot and dry for the disease. Since 1950, there have been 430 cases of death by the plague, or about seven per year. The most common carriers of the plague bacteria to human are fleas living on rats. Dampness and warm weather are a boon for both rats and fleas, says the U.S., Swedish and Norwegian scientists who prepared the study published in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters. That's the scenario if things get worse.

Scientists say that other outbreaks of plague in the U.S. that were previously unexplainable could be linked to climate change in the Pacific Ocean. Outbreaks occur during times of warm, wet conditions and all of the 430 cases of the plague in the U.S. were in the west. With future climate change, the western U.S. can expect drier conditions and more heat waves means fewer fleas.

But the flip side is that global warming could spread plague outbreaks in other parts of the world, such as Africa, faster with the shift to moister conditions. I think this is one instance where given the option of ignoring global warming in favor of a plague outbreak is a no-brainer. Fleas and rats, rest easy.

Via Reuters, RedOrbit

Feast your eyes on these cool phones. But that’s as close as you’ll be getting to Siemen’s eco-taunting of how green a cell phone can be.

Siemens, the German engineering giant, commissioned design firms to come up with the ultimate in green phones. Formwelt and Hans-Henning Brabänder dreamed big and envisioned something bold and green.

The Leaf is made of raw recyclable materials of eco-plastic and liquid wood and plant-based fiber. The invisible OLED display is embedded in the translucent casing which gives the phone a futuristic look.

The Solar is the high-end phone and uses solar cells harnessing sunlight as a natural energy source. The phone has detachable materials like metal, plastic and eco-glass. The neatest component of the solar is its eco-index, a touch pad that breaks down how environmentally-friendly the phone is, from its 92% recyclability to its organic LED.

There’s no word if Siemens will ever actually make these phones.

Via Treehugger, Yanko Design, MobileWhack

Looks like the LG solar Bluetooth charging kit is getting some competition. Not surprising. The Iqua Vizor SUN is a kit that clips to your sun visor and at full charge can provide 20 hours of talk time, with 500 hours of standby. All dependent, of course, on how much sunlight it can consume...which depends in part on if your visor is flipped up or down. The whole set up is rather unclear from photos – it looks a bit like it won’t get much sun at all, considering it looks like it flips to the interior side of the visor. It is priced roughly the same as the LG kit, coming out in September at around $110 - but you might hold of spending that until we find out if the thing can actually get a charge.

Via GoodCleanTech

Regardless of the realistic possibility or usefulness of such concepts, I love kinetic energy concept devices. The Revolution Door is just such a one from Fluxxlab. The idea is that revolving doors at the front of buildings should be hooked up so that they generate useful energy from the force of someone pushing through them. We’ve debated the possibilities of kinetic energy here on EcoGeek several times before, but for a second every so often, I like to put physics aside and say, “Wouldn’t it be cool if we could power a building in part by walking through a door….” Via CoolGreenGadgets

IBM’s Institute for Business Value has interviewed 125 anonymous car industry executives from 15 countries and has come to the conclusion, among several conclusions, that by 2020, all new cars will be hybrids.

The report, Automotive 2020: Clarity Beyond the Chaos, underlines insiders’ views that the auto industry is making some rapid, fundamental changes and hybrids are included in that change.

The report also highlights the growth in cellulosic ethanol, that average CO2 emissions for vehicles will dip to 97 g/km (lower than the Prius), and that hydrogen, despite all the crowing of advocates, will decidedly not be a major player in 2020.

Can we believe it? Every new car a hybrid? In 12 years? Well, looking at the rate we’re going on improving hybrid cars, and looking at the fluster surrounding the oil industry, the flagging economy, the growing awareness of climate change, as well as green trendiness, among consumers…yes, I have to say it is a distinct possibility. Twelve years is a long time in car years. Battery technology is improving, biofuel technology is growing, and consumers’ mindsets are shifting. So, yep, I have to say I definitely am willing to entertain the notion.

I think it’ll take a whole lot longer than 12 years to get all the gas-powered cars, trucks, and SUVs off the roads; but as for new cars on the lots, I’m optimistic they’ll all be hybrids of one form or another.

The whole report is well worth a solid read-through, but you can skip to page 8 for the specific info about hybrid production.

Via gas2; Photo via wildtexas

IBM is no slouch when it comes to going green. Now they’re helping others to do the same. The company has started up a Green Sigma consulting practice that coaches businesses on how to reduce their energy and water usage to save tons of money, improve their image to customers, and of course help out the environment.

The system uses networked sensors and data analysis software that watches how much is used at a company’s facility as well as its supply chain partners, monitors the numbers, and suggests ways to cut back.

The system is in pilot project mode right now, but we can be pretty sure that if it is relatively successful, companies will be able to utilize it soon. And it has been relatively successful so far. IBM made some big conservation moves of its own and at two of its facilities and at two customers’ facilities to save $310 million. One solution of instituting a work-at-home program saved 8 million gallons of gas. IBM improved energy efficiency at its Dublin, Ireland operation by 20%.

Companies are under serious strain to save money in our crummy economy, and show increasingly aware consumers that they’re green at heart so that people will keep buying their product or service. Reducing consumption is really the easiest way to kill two birds with one stone.

Having a company like IBM launch a really serious platform with which to do this on a large scale is encouraging, since it hopefully means we’ll see some actual conservation happening soon.

Via cnet; photo via IBM