With technology vendors from small device startups to Microsoft and Google moving into the home energy management (HEM) market, and with governments and utilities investing billions of dollars into smart grid and smart meter deployments, sales of HEM systems will grow rapidly over the next several years. Offering energy information displays (EIDs) and other energy management technology will be a key aspect of smart grid initiatives for utilities, which will become the prime distribution channels for these systems, according to a recent report from Pike Research.
eids
While the market for these devices is growing at a rapid pace, there are still some hurdles to be overcome before it becomes a mature, stable retail environment.
Fragmentation of Regulations
One of the problems facing consumers is the fragmentation of regulations governing these devices and their applications. Called EIDs, for energy information displays, these devices must meet a range of fiscal and regulatory regimes, both from a product design perspective and from a utility regulation viewpoint, which may vary from province to province, from state to state, and from one country to another.
via Home Energy Management Takes Off: Interest High for Devices and Applications to Monitor Energy Use..
Earth2Tech has been closely following the flurry of activity in the home energy management arena in recent months, of which Energy Information Displays (EIDs) are a key component. Product offerings in this burgeoning space range from robust home automation and control systems from companies like Agilewaves and Tendril Networks to the high-profile announcements by Google and Microsoft that they will launch web dashboards to enable better consumer management of home energy usage. Other vendors actively pursuing this opportunity include Control4, Energate, EnergyHub, Greenbox Technology, GridPoint, and Onzo.
Pike Research recently conducted a survey of 1,041 consumers to gauge interest in, and willingness to pay for, EIDs and related services. The full results are detailed in our GigaOM Pro report, “Home Energy Management: Consumer Attitudes and Preferences” (subscription required). The survey found that consumer interest in EIDs is strong: 52 percent stated that they would be “extremely” or “very” interested. Of these interested parties, nearly half said that they would prefer to take an active role in monitoring and controlling their home’s energy usage settings on a regular basis. Even more telling, 66 percent of respondents expressed a willingness to pay for EID functionality, either in the form of a one-time purchase or on a subscription basis.
via Energy Information Displays: Moving to a Free Model? | Reuters.
