npower is to launch the first smart-meter trial in Britain to offer a Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGO) multi-energy service, providing customers with an innovative ‘single credit balance’ function and the ability to top up their credit directly via the in-home Customer Display Unit (CDU) or even via a text message. Designed for customers using npower’s PAYGO tariffs, Continue reading →
energy usage
The 33,000 citizens of Erding, Germany, will benefit from the environmental advantages of GE smart grid technologies in a major step toward managing energy and water consumption. Stadtwerke Erding, the city’s public works department, is implementing a groundbreaking pilot installation that will consolidate and report data to homeowners on energy and utility usage, including electricity, Continue reading →
The smart grids are coming, and this elegantly designed box will be there to show you what an energy hog you’ve become. The box is called Vision, and it’s made by Tendril, a hot startup that’s developing its Tendril Residential Energy Management Ecosystem (TREE), a smart grid setup that lets you interact with your electric Continue reading →
As more smart meter deployments are planned for the American west, utility executives worry about how to effectively and efficiently collect and analyze the avalanche of data that will eventually be generated by the smart electric technology. Southern California Edison (SCE) has begun installing smart electric meters throughout the San Gabriel Valley, located east of Continue reading →
From the private homeowner to the business owner, the smart grid is not only a smart idea, it is increasingly becoming a necessary one as well. From reducing energy costs and usage to helping find newer and better energy solutions, the smart grid is going to eventually change the way that the world does business, Continue reading →
Privacy advocates are warning that “smart meters” intended to precisely measure and control home electrical consumption could erode the privacy of daily life unless regulators limit data collection and disclosure. In a joint filing this week, the Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) urged the California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to Continue reading →
BTi Energy Management announced today that they will be spearheading the commercial and industrial energy management metering and reporting business in North America in a new partnership with Wescon Technology. The core of the BTi Energy Management offering is a leading edge multi-circuit electric meter with a built in web-server and more standard communication options Continue reading →
Whether you are planning to live “off the grid” and free yourself from energy bills or just “kick back” and enjoy lower energy bills, the first step is always to understand your home’s energy usage and employ good old fashioned energy conservation techniques. via There’s No Substitute for Smart Energy Conservation.
California’s big utilities have some tough deadlines to meet to give their customers the useful — if at times potentially unwelcome — energy usage data being collected by the millions of smart meters they’re deploying across the state. In a largely overlooked ruling, the California Public Utilities Commission said in December that Pacific Gas & Continue reading →
Do you want your fridge talking about you behind your back? With the rapid adoption of a North American “smart grid” aimed at helping consumers conserve electricity, it’s also possible that smart appliances will be able to transmit information about their activities (and yours) through the power lines. Your electricity utility may not yet be Continue reading →
The EU has ambitious plans for more efficient energy usage across the continent that integrates renewable sources into a secure power grid that emits far less CO2. These goals, if they are to be reached by 2020, are heavily dependent on a successful smart grid deployment. The smart grid will bring about a number of Continue reading →
Thousands of area residents with electric meters that transmit usage data wirelessly soon will be able to examine their power habits online. CenterPoint Energy, along with other distribution utilities and IBM, is expected to launch an online portal, www.smartmetertexas.com, this month that will allow customers to monitor usage in real time regardless of which retailer Continue reading →
Smart metering, a key element of the so-called Smart Grid, has been touted as a great bright hope that will enable residential electric customers to cut their usage, thereby reducing greenhouse gases as well as their monthly bills. By providing immediate feedback to customers as to how much power they are using, what their annual Continue reading →
More than 1 million U.S. households now receive reports on how their energy consumption compares with their neighbors as utilities encourage conservation, some with smiley faces for those doing well. The reports — deployed by 25 utilities, including six of the 10 biggest — have resulted in households cutting energy use an average of 2% Continue reading →
Intel has unveiled its latest Home Automation System that runs on the company’s energy-efficient Atom processor and features a large 11” touch-sensitive OLED display. The OLED panel is expected to be developed by Sony. via Intel’s Atom-powered Home Automation System Helps Save Energy – Ecofriend.
Would you wash your dishes at 2 a.m. if it meant significant savings on your electric bill? What if your dishwasher could be programmed to kick on at 2 a.m., and you could stay in bed? Now we might be talking. That’s the sort of futuristic energy use for which the city of Naperville is Continue reading →
If you think it’s impossible to actually keep track of your electricity use, how you use it, or when you use it, think again. Green Tech reports that it’s only a matter of time before many of us will have access to a wealth of information about our energy usage. According to Pike Research, by Continue reading →
Advancing technologies and proliferation of wide ranging electrical and electronic gadgets are driving up the consumption of electricity at a high rate, market research firm TechNavio Insights reportedly found. via Smart Grid.
Britain is to shift to a smart energy system, including a national smart grid, which should pave the way to a low carbon future that includes large wind farms, more efficient heating systems and electric vehicles. The government said smart meters, which provide real-time information to consumers about energy usage, and smart grids, which give Continue reading →
Microsoft’s Hohm home energy platform will soon be able to deliver monthly energy use data for all of Xcel Energy’s 3.4 million customers across eight states, all without smart meters. The two companies plan to announce the news on Friday at an event at Microsoft’s campus in Fargo, N.D., a Microsoft spokesperson said Thursday. Xcel Continue reading →
