Internet search engine and global tech giant, Google Inc., has officially entered the electric utility game, although don’t expect to be writing a monthly check to Google for your electric bill any time soon. In a unanimous vote the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has approved a request by Google to buy and sell electricity, Continue reading →
powermeter
Google is making it tough to keep up. There is so much innovation in so many areas that tech journalists have been complaining they can’t digest it all. As an entrepreneur I’m trying to see where there is opportunity to dive in and where there is a higher likelihood to get crushed (been there, done Continue reading →
There is no doubt about it but Google is a disruptive company. First Google disrupted search, then advertising, then video (with their acquisition of YouTube), and then Office applications with the launch and continued development of Google Apps for Domains. Most recently Google has disrupted the mobile phone industry, first with the launch of their Continue reading →
Google has joined the IPSO Alliance, a consortium of technology vendors promoting the use of the Internet Protocol for “smart object communications,” once referred to as “the Internet of things.” The vision of this group is that everything from appliances to cars are plugged into an IP network and can communicate via private networks or Continue reading →
“What gets measured gets managed.” You may have heard that one at work… numerous times. It applies at home, also, and numerous products exist to help you measure your electricity use, and manage it in a more efficient manner. You may have used a Kill-a-Watt, or read about Google Power Meter with anticipation. Yesterday, a Continue reading →
On Wednesday of last week, first:utility, a UK energy company, announced that it had become the first UK partner for Google’s PowerMeter. As we covered in a previous blog, PowerMeter is an application that allows users to see a near real-time display of their energy first:utility is a new residential energy supplier, having launched into Continue reading →
AlertMe, the award-winning home energy management service, today announced the launch of AlertMe Energy, giving consumers the ability to monitor their home energy usage online and act on that information to reduce their bills and carbon footprint. AlertMe Energy includes easy-to-install hardware and an online service that can be accessed from any Web browser. It Continue reading →
Energy dashboards were a big subject at West Coast Green this year. But the buzz wasn’t as much around new devices on the market as it was pondering how energy dashboards – and the simple fact of making energy consumption data available to consumers – can change our habits for the better, for good. Not Continue reading →
One of the biggest hurdles standing between Google and wide adoption of its home energy management system PowerMeter — a service that makes your electricity consumption and pricing data available on the web — is that it depended on the broad roll out of smart meters (advanced meters capable of transmitting data to utilities and Continue reading →
When Secretary of Energy Stephen Chu visited the Daily Show with John Stewart last week, he couldn’t give Stewart an honorary membership to the National Academy of Sciences, so instead Chu gave Steward a “Nerds of America Society” t-shirt. Secretary Chu, a Nobel Prize winner who recently joined Facebook, was on Comedy Central boosting the Continue reading →
There have been increasing concerns that the Smart Grid may be vulnerable to cyber attack. Now Ontario’s information and privacy commissioner warns that the grid may represent a significant privacy threat as well. Ann Cavoukian, Ontario’s information and privacy commissioner, told the Toronto Star that the Smart Grid could present very serious privacy concerns. She Continue reading →
More than any utility on the planet, Germany’s Yello Strom has embraced the intertwining of energy and home broadband connections. The company manages its smart meter service directly via its customers’ broadband connection; it’s the first European utility to offer its customers access to Google’s energy management tool PowerMeter; and it tells us this week Continue reading →
While broadband service provider networks and utilities’ two-way smart grids belong together, the utilities are acting like a reluctant bride in an arranged marriage. Reasonable adults can see that combining the two is a good idea, but utilities and communications companies are oftentimes miles apart over standards, access and security. As a result, utilities are Continue reading →
n recent weeks many utilities have announced major deals with third-party developers of smart grid software. One that hasn’t made such an announcement is Pacific Gas & Electric. Andy Tang, senior director of the Smart Energy Web at PG&E spoke with Reuters this week about why the company has not chosen a third-party developer. Tang Continue reading →
German utility Yello Strom announced that it has developed a prototype where smart meters “tweet” customers’ energy consumption information. The forward-thinking energy provider is already the first in Europe to offer access to Google’s PowerMeter service and has successfully integrated broadband Internet with energy management. Yello Strom, a subsidiary of the third largest German utility, Continue reading →
Nearly four years ago, Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates told me the software giant had no interest in playing a direct role in the development of “smart-grid” technologies. In fact, he seemed rather uninformed about its potential. That, of course, was before the U.S. Department of Energy set aside nearly $4 billion (U.S.) to throw Continue reading →
Google has expanded its PowerMeter home-energy management software into Europe in its new partnership with German utility Yello Strom. The announcement made this morning on the official Google.org blog marks the ninth utility — and the first European one — to partner with the giant search engine company. In its blog post about the partnership, Continue reading →
Eight utilities in the U.S., Canada and India are teaming up with Google in smart meter projects that will enable customers to monitor their energy use online and better manage their power consumption, the Internet giant announced. In Southern California, San Diego Gas & Electric is among the first of the utilities to launch its Continue reading →
Google PowerMeter, an online widget that monitors your home’s power usage in real time, is one of those ideas that really should’ve caught on by now. Well, it’s starting to! Google has announced its first partners for the project, who either do or will provide their customers with the “smart meters” necessary for Google widget Continue reading →
