Smart Grid Library

The entire electricity grid is undergoing innovations, and one interesting change is occurring in electricity markets and the way we value electricity consumption.  The California Independent System Operator (CAISO) is the not-for-profit corporation charged with operating the majority of California’s high-voltage wholesale power grid.  It serves as the link between power plants and utilities, and [...]

The standard electric meter provides data about how much electricity is used over a defined timeframe, but smart meters provide additional details about consumption.  Do you know which home appliances use the most electricity?   For the vast majority of Americans, the answer is no.  There’s a quote that I’ll reword:  you can manage what you [...]

The Smart Grid industry is a veritable tower of Babel when it comes to terminology, jargon, and acronyms.  There are several reasons for this starting with the number of domains that comprise the Smart Grid.  The conceptual model for the Smart Grid maps out Generation, Transmission, and Distribution, plus Markets, Operations, Service Providers, and Consumption.  [...]

Previous blogs discussed proper introduction of Home Energy Management Systems (HEMS) solutions and In-Home Displays (IHDs) into residential consumer homes.   While these solutions hold great promise to help consumers save money and the environment through participation in energy conservation and energy efficiency programs, the development of a Consumer Enlightenment Model is absolutely critical to successful [...]

I presented a session on Home Energy Management Systems (HEMS) Opportunities and Challenges last week, and one attendee commented that he had not previously heard of HEMS as separate components from Home Area Networks (HANs).  Too often the term HAN is used to describe all the intelligence and activity that occurs in Home Energy Management.  [...]

Technology can’t get more visible and disruptive than Home Energy Management Systems (HEMS). HEMS solutions are one of the most critical components of the Smart Grid – truly game-changing solutions that change the relationship residential consumers have with electricity and with utilities.
HEMS solutions are software solutions that offer direct consumer management of electricity in ways [...]

Update on the CEC TV Energy Efficiency Standards
There was plenty of “whine” on November 4, or to be exact, at 4:55PM on November 3, when the CEA sent a 91 page document 5 minutes ahead of the 5:00PM deadline for comments on the California Energy Commission’s (CEC) proposed TV energy efficiency standards. In order to [...]

I posed two questions last week to a number of Smart Grid-related groups organized within LinkedIn®.  The questions were:  “What do you consider to be the most important security challenges in protecting consumer data in a HEMS application, and what are the most important privacy challenges?” 
I asked this question because this n application will be [...]

Easy energy storage should be integrated into Home Energy Management Systems (HEMS) to encourage the fastest adoption rate by consumers.

Way back in time, we had a decentralized and distributed electricity grid.  Power plants were co-located with users, and transmission was limited to relatively small geographic areas.  Over time and for a number of reasons, as the number of electricity users grew, the grid became more centralized. 
And now?  There’s a trend to distributed generation, evidenced [...]