At BroadbandBreakfast.com’s breakfast club this week, experts in the smart grid field said issues such as consumer adoption, environmental benefits and privacy concerns would decide the future of grid development.
In Nick Sinai’s keynote speech, he stressed the importance that broadband will play in creating a smart, strong and secure electrical grid system.
via BroadbandBreakfast.com: Smart Grid’s Future Relies on Consumer Acceptance, Environmental Benefits.
The United States Department of Energy has initiated a new smart grid information clearinghouse Web site to provide a forum where information on smart grid technologies can be shared. The beta version began July 7 and provides information on technologies, standards, rules, training and best practices. for smart grid technologies that use sensors, infrastructure and communications devices to better monitor and control energy use.
From interactive smart grid project maps to cyber-security requirements, there's a new website on the block that intends to be a one-stop shopping destination for all things smart grid.
Virginia Tech recently released a beta version of its Smart Grid Information Clearinghouse, which was funded by the Department of Energy, with plans for a formal launch later this year. The site is both straightforward and incredibly useful, while also slightly lacking in style and a little dry.
United States utility giant Con Edison has released an animated video on the company’s Web site to promote the smart grid and to educate the public on the technologies being employed and deployed to modernize the electric grid such as self-healing capabilities, two-way data exchange between customers and utilities, and real-time information on energy use.
The movement toward a cleaner, more efficient electrical grid has hit a wall recently. The first phase for most electric utilities has been to roll out thousands of smart meters — meters capable of wirelessly beaming energy-consumption data to utilities and consumer devices — as fast as they can to as many households as possible. But this hasn’t been a universally welcome change.
Since a band of residents in Bakersfield, Calif. decided to file a class-action suit against Pacific Gas & Electric alleging rate hikes linked with new smart meters, a lot of utilities have been slowing their once ambitious metering rollouts. The stall probably won’t last, but it has inspired a a new emphasis on consumer education and engagement around smart grid development.
via AEP picks OPOWER to hook consumers into the smart grid | VentureBeat.
Last week my favorite southern city earned its nickname, “Hotlanta,” as the place was simply sizzling with one of the hottest topics these days: Smart Grid. It was the second stop in the six-cities-in-six-months tour that (in full disclosure) my company, Siemens, has been sponsoring.
The goal of this tour is to educate the folks that work in the power industry on one of the most complicated, but vitally important, technological advances the industry is grappling with these days. Smart grid is a short term, but it is long on implications, since the power grid literally connects generated power with buildings and homes far away.
via Smart People, Smart Technology, Smart Mayor, Smart Grid.
Just as the bamboo-munching bears put a cute face on the campaign for endangered species, the digital devices known as smart meters have been hailed by experts as the interface to educating consumers about their electricity use as the nation aims to overhaul its grid and energy use.
But the smart meter has not been the cuddly and beneficial device smart-grid enthusiasts promised, or need, to win public interest.
via Utilities Learning to Mind the Gap Between Smart Meters, Consumers – NYTimes.com.
The disgruntled backlash over the installation of smart meters in a couple communities in the U.S. (currently Bakersfield, Calif., and Dallas, Texas) has rattled utilities, tech vendors and smart grid startups. In an attempt to start to create a better way to communicate with and educate consumers about smart grid technology, companies and utilities plan to launch the Smart Grid Consumer Collaborative (SGCC) on Tuesday.
via The Smart Grid Industry’s Answer to the Consumer Problem.
“Smart Grid” may be a common enough term to folks in cleantech, but most people don’t know anything about it beyond notice that their utility is replacing their old dusty meters with digital smart meters. The lack of market education has led to backlashes and dead ends. But now a group of companies and organizations with a stake in the Smart Grid have banded together to change the tide.
Spearheaded by the leadership team at Control4, maker of a home energy management and automation dashboard for regular consumers, the new Smart Grid Consumer Collaborative (SGCC) includes big names like General Electric, Best Buy, IBM, Silver Spring Networks, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and the GridWise Alliance. Together, they are going to support programs that build consumer understanding and confidence in the changes being made to build a cleaner, more efficient electrical grid.
via Control4 leads consortium to teach consumers why the Smart Grid is important | VentureBeat.
Last week, the Obama administration introduced a proposal that every college student in the country should know about. It represents the nation’s first comprehensive federal program for clean energy education, and it is a critical step toward regaining American leadership in one of the most important industries of our time.
via Innovate America: Educating the Energy Generation | Stanford Daily.
With a vision to cut down the losses as well as disruptions in the power grid, and to meet the future challenges facing the power sector, the Ministry of Power, MDI and the private sector decided to come together to start a Smart Grid course at MDI, School of Energy management.
MDI becomes the first B-School in the world to start a course on Smart Grid.
A recent survey concluded that in order for smart meters and smart grids to fulfill their potential, consumers need to be smarter about the emerging energy technologies. Chartwell’s Smart Grid Customer Engagement Research Council surveyed 1,500 utility customers in the United States and Canada and the majority of respondents claimed to have never heard of a smart meter. Of those respondents who said they had heard of it, half could not identify what is was. Ten percent believed it was a surveillance device that enabled utility companies to monitor homeowner’s movement in their homes.
via Smart Meters 101.
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