Smart Grid Blog

Smart homes and smart grids are coming, with big players scrambling to meet increasing consumer demand for easy-to-use energy efficiency tools at home. Everyone, it seems, wants to be the first to sell your local utility company on their new energy management system, and the latest is GreenWave Reality.

GreenWave’s energy management platform is built around open-standard Internet Protocol-based communications for long-term compatibility with other sensors and systems and was designed for easy consumer set-up, making use of a patent-pending technology that assists in identifying appliances.

via GreenWave Reality Introduces Smart Grid Tech for Utilities | EarthTechling.

Earning energy independence is no longer the headache of the statesmen alone. The masses are equally interested to learn about the ways in which they can reduce energy consumption and cut on their energy budget.

In a recent survey, international research firm Parks Associates (News – Alert) has pointed out that, more than 80 percent of U.S. consumers are interested in learning about how to cut their energy costs, 50 percent of U.S. households are very interested in an energy-monitoring device, and 80-85 percent of households are willing to pay $80-$100 for cost-saving equipment if they are guaranteed to save 10-30 percent off their monthly electricity bill.

via Watteco Unveils New Software to Ease Home Energy Management for Consumers.

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.

via Home Energy Management to be a Critical Element of the Smart Grid User Experience, Says Pike Research | Earth Times News.

Microsoft's Hohm website, an online service designed to make it easier for people to figure out how energy efficient their house is (and how to make it better), has become a great deal more useful with the new addition of real estate data. Now, anyone in the US can enter their ZIP code and get an instant, if approximate, evaluation of their house’s efficiency.

via Microsoft Hohm home efficiency site slowly becoming useful.

Incenergy LLC, a Smart Grid Demand Management company, and DSI Systems, a distributor of satellite and consumer electronics equipment, announce an exclusive strategic alliance to distribute energy management solutions to homes and small businesses across the US. This alliance allows Incenergy to leverage the mature sales channels and distribution capabilities of DSI Systems when rolling out its utility-branded energy management solutions.

via Incenergy and DSI Systems Team-up to Deliver Smart Grid Energy Management Technology to Homes and Small Businesses in the Rural Market | Business Wire.

Smart grid firm GridPoint says it has scored a deal to provide its energy management system to potentially 2,250 United States Postal Service locations in the U.S. USPS needs all the help it can get when it comes to reducing costs, and has been working on reducing energy use in its facilities by 30 percent by 2015. Using GridPoint’s energy management tools, USPS will be able to track, monitor and manage the energy consumption in its buildings.

via Smart Grid Firm GridPoint Goes Postal.

Leading Asia Pacific-based provider of network equipment and Smart Grid solutions, Billion Electric Co., Ltd. (Taiex: 3027, trading as Billion), will unveil a full range of Smart Grid solutions, including BPL AMI modules, MV/LV concentrators, energy management solutions like PLC adapter and ZigBee gateway, Cyber Security solutions and industrial smart metering solutions at COMPUTEX TAIPEI 2010 to be held June 1-5 in Taipei, Taiwan.

via Billion Unveils Smart Grid, Energy Management, and Cyber Security Solutions for a Green Planet.

Yitran’s Powerline Communication (PLC) IT700 technology is featured by the Chinese State Grid Corp. in their pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo 2010. The pavilion shows Smart Homes and Smart Buildings as part of the smart grid vision and innovations that will be integrated into China’s future. Yitran’s PLC technology is featured in the smart sockets connected to intelligent home appliances for energy management purposes and in home displays that provide accurate real-time status, feedback and analysis of the energy usage profile in the home.

via Yitran’s Technology Featured Inside Smart Grid Technologies Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo 2010.

Google PowerMeter now in prototype, will receive information from utility smart meters and energy management devices and provide anyone who signs up access to her home electricity consumption right on her iGoogle homepage. The graph on the right shows how someone could use this information to figure out how much energy is used by different household activities.

via Google PowerMeter Review.

Intel wants you to take more interest in your energy use but isn’t fussy about how you do it.

The chip giant has developed a broad strategy to make money on smart-grid technologies, touching on everything from high-performance computing to simulate the electricity grid to home energy management systems.

Its efforts have been relatively low-profile because Intel’s microprocessors are embedded in other companies’ products. But the company is seeing some early activity: it expects to pilot test different types of home energy management devices with partners in the next 30 to 60 days in Oregon, said Lorie Wigle, general manager of Intel’s Eco-Technology group, at the Jefferies Clean Tech Conference for investors here on Tuesday.

via Intel powers its way inside the smart grid | Green Tech – CNET News.

Dubbed by Time Magazine as the “Best Invention of 2009,”  EnergyHub’s Dashboard which has the rare ability to “rein in the real power hogs” in a user’s home now teams up with GridPoint, Inc., is one of the respected names in smart energy solutions. At DistribuTECH, the two companies announced that GridPoint’s home energy management solution will support EnergyHub’s Dashboard.

via GridPoint to Support EnergyHub’s Home Energy Management Dashboard.

NStar, the Boston company that transmits and delivers electricity and natural gas to 1.4 million customers in Eastern and Central Massachusetts, said its Smart Grid pilot program has been approved by the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities.

NStar also said it will work on the program with a Colorado company called Tendril, which provides energy management technology to utility companies

via NStar gets state OK on smart grid pilot program – Daily Business Update – The Boston Globe.

The ConnectPort X2 for Smart Energy gateway that connects ZigBee Smart Energy devices from a home area network (HAN) to an energy service provider via broadband has been introduced by Digi International.

It is the industry’s first gateway that connects, controls, or gathers data from ZigBee Smart Energy devices equally well before or with smart meter deployments. When a smart meter is present the gateway can make meter information immediately available to any energy management application. As part of iDigi Energy,  energy service providers can use the ConnectPort X2 for Smart Energy and iDigi platform to easily integrate thermostats, smart meters, in-home displays, load controllers and other ZigBee Smart Energy devices into complete energy management systems.

via www.metering.com | ZigBee Smart Energy gateway introduced.

Control4, a provider of IP-based home control systems, said that the Control4 Energy Management System 100 (EMS 100) has received a 2009 SmartGrid.TMCnet.com Product of the Year Award from Technology Marketing Corp. (TMC) and Intelligent Communications Partners.

According to Company officials, the Control4 EMS 100 is a platform that is designed to enable consumers and utilities to better manage energy use and costs.

via Control4 Energy Systems Wins 2009 SmartGrid.TMCnet.com Product of the Year Award | TradingMarkets.com.

Sustainability and energy management are more than green issues driven by social responsibility. They are becoming economic imperatives in industry and manufacturing. “Smart grid” can help achieve both objectives.

Manufacturing is trying to recover from one of the deepest downturns in recent history. Consumer spending is down, manufacturing plants have closed, and personnel reductions are widespread. Companies are in survival mode and struggling to control expenses. Many are relocating operations to lower cost regions, all the while slashing capital budgets. This is not a time of prosperity for manufacturing and service industries as our economy undergoes major changes. While signs of life conjure up optimism, it is clearly a time for retrenchment.

via ISA | Cover Story: Smart grid, a value proposition for industry.

Digi International (Nasdaq: DGII) today introduced the ConnectPort(R) X2 for Smart Energy gateway. It is a ZigBee Smart Energy certified gateway that easily connects certified ZigBee Smart Energy devices from a Home Area Network (HAN) to an energy service provider via broadband. It is the industry’s first gateway that connects, controls, or gathers data from ZigBee Smart Energy devices equally well before or with Smart Meter deployments. When a Smart Meter is present the gateway can make meter information immediately available to any energy management application. As part of iDigi(TM) Energy, energy service providers can use the ConnectPort X2 for Smart Energy and iDigi platform to easily integrate thermostats, smart meters, in-home displays, load controllers and other ZigBee Smart Energy devices into complete energy management systems.

via Digi Introduces An Industry First Smart Energy Gateway — MINNETONKA, Minn., Feb. 10 /PRNewswire-Asia/ –.

GE is introducing an energy information panel for the home that will grant consumers insight into how they are using energy and the control needed to properly manage energy consumption.  The multi-function unit is designed for the home consumer.

via GE to introduce smart energy interface.

National Grid has proposed a new “smart grid” project to test new technologies that would allow people to more smartly manage their electricity usage.

The project will be located in Syracuse and impact 39,000 customers there.

via National Grid proposes new smart grid project only in Syracuse – The Buzz: Business news – Capital Region business, industry news – timesunion.com – Albany NY.

The energy sector has a new fashion trend. The iPhone App. The German company eQ-3 has written a program window, radiator, light switches and dozens of other things in the budget controlled by finger. The U.S. start-up Control4 provides a home management system that automatically dims the light and Filmegucken PC and TV turns off, as long as the kids homework – even this program can do recently iPhone and iPod Touch control.

And not enough. Similar products offer the company Ecobee, Lutron and Tendril. The company Visible Energy drives the business principle to the extreme – it has now been a published app, although the associated energy management system until Next year will be in stores.

via Switching the heating off with a mobile phone | Fortune 500 Global.

Panasonic Europe is to collaborate with SEAS-NVE, Denmark’s largest consumer-owned energy company, to pilot a smart energy management system that it claims “will pave the way for the eco-homes of the future in Europe”. The system combines Panasonic’s Lifinity Home Energy Management System (HEMS) and SEAS-NVE’s Smart Grid, to intelligently manage the energy consumption of domestic appliances, lighting and heating.

via Renewable Energy Magazine: Latest news – your source for renewable energy news– solar, wind, biomass, biofuel, hydro, CO2, solar thermal, hydro power, climate change, carbon trading...