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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, Google describes the meeting with Yello Strom’s CEO and the demo of its Sparzähler meter as “fate.” And in a cursory glance at the Sparzähler, it certainly looks like a good match for Google PowerMeter.
For one, it opens Google to the European market. Yello Strom, a subsidiary of Energie Baden-Wurtternberg, one of Germany’s largest energy companies, has more than 1.4 million customers and offers commercial smart meters. It’s Sparzähler meter — meaning savings counter or meter — has broadband connectivity that allows Google PowerMeter users to see 15-minute interval data in nearly real time, according to the Google.org post.
via Google PowerMeter Snags First European Utility Partner | BNET Energy Blog | BNET.
Google’s PowerMeter
What it does: PowerMeter will take data from smart meters and process it into the PowerMeter interface, enabling consumers to see their energy consumption over time. Since smart meters are being rolled out by utilities, the tool will largely rely on utility deals. But Google has also said it is looking at ways to use energy data without smart meters, as well as working with third-party device and application makers.
Microsoft’s Hohm
What it does: Hohm is a tool that will enable consumers to see their energy consumption over time and recommend ways to save energy. If Microsoft hasn’t hooked up with your utility yet, you can still enter some basic information into Hohm about location and home, and it will use predictive algorithms to predict your energy consumption. If Microsoft has partnered with your utility, Hohm will integrate your historical energy use, and you will eventually see data from smart meters once they have been rolled out. Like PowerMeter, Hohm will eventually be integrated with applications built by third parties.
via CHEAT SHEET: Google-Microsoft Energy Smackdown, PowerMeter vs. Hohm.
Comverge Inc. (Nasdaq: COMV) and Itron (Nasdaq: ITRI) today announced the successful integration of Comverge’s Web-based demand management platform, Apollo(TM), and OpenWay(R), the advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) solution from Itron, enabling interactive, two-way communication between the utility and its customer, a significant step toward the smart grid.
This integration will enable utilities investing in AMI to expand energy efficiency and demand response programs. Leveraging the OpenWay infrastructure, Apollo allows utilities to communicate with energy management devices to perform demand response events and send and receive price and rate signals. The integration will aid in reducing strain on the electric grid during times of peak demand and help customers manage their energy costs.
“This development is another realization in the promise of our Apollo platform and is a significant step toward the smart grid vision of the future,” said Comverge Chief Technology Officer, Bud Vos. “The Apollo/OpenWay collaboration will facilitate a utility’s adoption of AMI by providing a secure, real-time communication between utility and customer. The combination of these smart grid technologies enables a true two-way dialogue that will engage the consumer and utility and provide them with the necessary tools to use energy more efficiently.”
via Comverge, Itron Collaboration Further Advances the Smart Grid.
Today, Microsoft took the wraps off a new Web service dedicated to managing energy use. Called “Hohm” (presumably, a play on the combination of “home and “Ohm”), the product will take advantage of smart grid data on energy use when it’s available. Even when it’s not, however, Hohm will allow users to input their own details and share the results of their efficiency efforts, adding a bit of a Web 2.0 sheen to matters. The move comes after a number of other major IT powers, including Google and Cisco, have announced their own efforts in the area, suggesting that a lot of people think this market is about to take off.
The Hohm service itself is a bit of a hybrid of a number of services. From the smart grid perspective, a growing number of hardware makers are producing equipment that uses standardized methods of structuring and reporting data. That allows just about anyone to plug into the data, provided they’re willing to work with utilities to obtain it. At the moment, Microsoft has lined up four utilities that will work when the service starts up, but they’re certainly going to be working hard to bring more on before then. Two smart meter companies were also in on the announcement, indicating that Microsoft has already started validating the input from some of the existing hardware.
The data, however it’s obtained, will be stored using Redmond’s cloud offering, Windows Azure. The people behind Hohm have undoubtedly benefited from the experience of those who’ve built Microsoft’s medical records service, which also uses Azure.
via Microsoft wants your Hohm to use the smart grid – Ars Technica.
Xcel Energy Inc. is one of four utility companies partnering with Microsoft Corp. on a Web-based tool that helps people track and reduce their energy use.
Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft announced Wednesday it’s launched Hohm, an online product that examines a household’s energy consumption — taking into account details such as the type of appliance a person is using — and recommends specific strategies for cutting back on power use. Consumers can enter data themselves, but will eventually be able to automate the process if they are a customer of a partner utility such as Minneapolis-based Xcel (NYSE: XEL).
Hohm also helps utilities provide energy-consumption data to consumers, in turn helping them take advantage of incentives related to reducing energy use. Microsoft also provides utility partners with software-development kits.
“By adopting Microsoft Hohm, we can provide our customers vital energy consumption data that not only positively affects individual behavior, but that collectively benefits the environment as a whole,” said Dick Kelly, Xcel Energy president, chairman and CEO in a statement.
Other utilities partnering with Microsoft include Puget Sound Energy, Sacramento Municipal Utility District and Seattle City Light.
Microsoft also is working with Landis+Gyr, a Zug, Switzerland-based company with Minnesota ties that helps utilities collect data from power meters, on the project. Landis has an operation in Pequot Lakes, and its parent holding company has invested in Bloomington-based Ecologic Analytics.
via Xcel partners with Microsoft on energy-use tracking tool – Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal:.
