On October 9, Indianapolis-based EnerDel unveiled a new Lithium-ion battery pack for hybrid-electric vehicles.

“We believe that our battery technology is a pivotal advancement that will enable HEVs and eventually PHEVs (plug-in hybrids) and EVs (electric vehicles) to become the predominant forms of transportation in the world,” said Charles Gassenheimer, Vice Chairman of Ener1, EnerDel’s parent company. “Over the next five and ten years, we expect that the conversion of the consumer automobile fleet to HEV, PHEV and EV will have the single greatest impact on the reduction of fossil-fuel energy consumption and greenhouse gases of all alternative energy technologies. EnerDel has developed a safe, high-powered Lithium ion battery for HEVs that we will manufacture in the United States, creating ‘Green Collar’ jobs for our economy.”

The EnerDel battery pack is a green technology. It could reduce pollution. It’s shiny.

“Next on the agenda is to deliver a working HEV with our battery pack in late December 2007 for on-the-road testing,” said Ulrik Grape, Chief Executive Officer of EnerDel.

EnerDel is a relatively new company, formed in 2004 when Delphi and Ener1 joined their lithium battery divisions.

“This product protects the electronics in portable devices — cell phones, PDAs, whatever — from damage from electrostatic discharge,” said Michael Markowitz, spokesman for STMicroelectronics.

I would never have guessed what the 600W high-temperature clamping diode does. I just know it’s shiny.

Electrostatic Discharge, or ESD damage is a significant danger to electronics. High voltages generated by quick static buildup and discharge can destroy semiconductors and leave your favorite gadget worthless. That’s where the 600W high-temperature clamping diode comes in. It’s a static defender, right when you need one the most.

“The product might be purchased by consumer electronics manufacturers or the contract assemblers, for inclusion on the circuit boards that they build,” said Markowitz. “In practice, any electronic circuit could use a clamping diode like this to protect it from damage.”

Unlike the devices it protects, the 600W high-temperature clamping diode only costs about a dime, and it’s a small price to pay if you ask me.

Sun Microsystems recently completed energy efficient data centers in US, UK and India, reducing Sun’s energy costs by 60 percent and earning the company nearly $1 million in rebates and awards, a company statement said in August. They’re also shiny.

“Put into operation between January and June of this year, all three data centers were built using breakthrough designs and next-generation energy efficient systems, power and cooling,” the statement said “Sun estimates that the company’s data center efforts will save the planet nearly 4,100 tons of CO2 per year and trim 1% from Sun’s total carbon footprint.”

The 76,000 square foot Santa Clara center is the largest of the three. The efficient data center greatly reduced power consumption while actually increasing the computing power there.

“There are many projects, big and small, that businesses can begin today to make a difference,” said Dave Douglas, Vice President of Eco Responsibility for Sun Microsystems. “It doesn’t have to be complicated and the ROI can be larger than you’d imagine,”

The push for efficiently led Sun to reduce its 267,000 square feet of data center space worldwide into approximately 133,000.

“New standards in data center design and management are not only good for the environment, but they are also good for a company’s bottom line,” said Bob Worrall, Sun’s CIO “Most CIOs don’t even see an energy bill, which makes little sense given that data centers can consume a significant portion of a company’s total energy draw.”

In the Sun Eco Innovation line, the Sun Fire/Sparc Enterprise T1000/T2000 server is three to five times more energy efficient than its nearest competitor, Sun says. The new data centers run Solaris on T1000/T2000 servers as well as x64 servers. For more info and even more pictures, take a look at this.

I’m pleased to announce a new component to Blast Magazine. For a bonafide nerd, there’s nothing exciting than a bunch of circuits, wires, boards, lights and plugs — especially when you have no idea what they do.

That’s just what we’re going to celebrate. Our new feature “Shiny Things” looks at all things in the realm of complicated technology and showcases them in photo and in easy-to-read words.

That brings us to our first contraption; 10-Gigabit enterprise-level fiber optic networking devices from CXtec.

“These are products that fit in the Data Center environment. This environment usually houses a company’s storage area network, mainframe, or other mission critical applications and devices,” said Lisa Belodoff, Director of Strategic Marketing for CXtec.

These types of products, branded under the CABLExpress name are used by large financial institutions, phone/cable companies and others that have the need for this type of thing. “Even smaller and mid-sized organizations are finding a need for these products, traditionally found in the larger data centers,” Belodoff said. If you’re really interested in learning more about the finer points of fiber optic networking, peruse this article.

Besides being shiny, these products don’t run cheap. A full-scale system runs $12,000 and up, while smaller units can run you $2,000.

“The unique thing is that we also have an asset recovery program where customers can trade in their old Cisco, Nortel, 3Com and HP gear for credit towards this type of product or other products we sell (network equipment, cables, etc.),” Belodoff said. “Typically we look for networking – switches, routers, etc. Or voice products – phones, line cards, pbx components, etc.”

Mmm…more shiny things.