In a nod to Earth Day activities everywhere today, the Design News bloggers are joining in with relevant updates from the green and sustainable technology fronts. Here’s what’s been cooking in the automation sector recently:

Siemens Energy announced that it has been commissioned to provide electric vehicle (EV) charging stations in Loudoun County, VA’s new commuter park and ride lot in Scott Jenkins Memorial Park. Loudon County is located 30 minutes outside of Washington, D.C.,

Siemens will install five multi-level charging stations for Loudoun County’s park. Siemens’ multi-level charging stations deliver Level II charging and Level I charging through two separate outputs. Both outputs can deliver energy simultaneously. Siemens’ EV charging stations will be equipped with connectivity via the ChargePoint Network. The open-system EV charging network allows access to all manufacturers of vehicle charging stations, provides 24/7 station monitoring and driver support and is equipped with mobile apps for real-time station status and charging notifications.

The charging stations are scheduled to be installed at the Loudoun County park by May 2011. You can read more about Siemens’ EV initiatives here.

In general automation business news, ABB’s most recently completed fiscal quarter ended with orders up 18 percent and revenues up by 6 percent. According to the company, manufacturers purchasing products and services to increase their energy efficiency are among the three primary drivers behind its increase in revenues.

Last month, I reported on Belden’s (a well-known provider of cables and connectors) moves into the signal transmission market with its acquisitions of Hirschmann and GarrettCom (you can read that report here). In that report I indicated that the resources now available to Belden would result in the near-term availability of some new technologies.

One of the first such technologies to be introduced is the Magnum 10ETS Ethernet terminal server, which is designed for large substation installations with large numbers of serial instruments. The terminal server provides up to eight Ethernet ports or up to 32 serial ports for protection and SCADA devices and IRIG-B time coding. It is an IEC 61850-compatible networking device and is also, reportedly, the only terminal server with a built-in firewall.

Ports can be configured in varying combinations with either a maximum of 8 10/100 copper or fiber Ethernet ports with multiple connector options (and up to 28 serial ports), or a maximum of 32 serial ports, with either DB-9 or RJ-45 connectors (and 4 Ethernet ports). Routing is available on all Ethernet ports for use with complex networks, such as the smart grid.

The terminal server’s MNS-DX firewall protection ensures that data from serial devices will be subjected to the same security management rules as data coming from the rest of the network. This capability ensures compliance with NERC/CIP requirements anticipated in the future.

The security and port configurability aspects of this terminal server are key to helping integrate existing substation serial instruments onto smart grid systems.