Smart Grid Library

Buildings consume an extraordinary amount of energy in the USA.  Commercial, industrial, or residential expend their energy in different categories, but numerous studies have shown that energy efficiency and intelligent building technologies reduce energy bills.  Not only that, but smart buildings can have a strong multiplier effect in terms of shifting expenditures from utility bills [...]

The recent announcements about the retirements of Google’s PowerMeter and Microsoft’s Hohm are not causes for concern for Home Energy Management Systems (HEMS) vendors.  These were early starts that helped educate the market about the value of energy consumption data.  However, like many pioneers, they contributed knowledge that will benefit other Smart Grid solution vendors.  [...]

It’s not easy to accurately predict the future, as a disappointed group of Rapture wannabes recently learned.  However, we can use history and examples of similar solutions to help us consider how new technologies could be incorporated into popular use.  Therefore, we should be thinking about what’s been done with cars and apply the same [...]

Consumer privacy concerns are an important focus of many Smart Grid conversations.  Everyone agrees that consumers need to be educated about the entirely new types of energy use data that can be created with Smart Grid technologies.  While we must ensure that consumers are aware of their rights and responsibilities regarding energy use data, there is [...]

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 [...]

New technologies challenge our ability to manage them.  Do you recall that many users of social networks like MySpace and Facebook were chagrined to discover that their personal information has achieved immortality on the Internet?  In many cases, users failed to appreciate the ramifications of their decisions about sharing information.  The harm in some cases [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

The Smart Grid standards that are under development require solid testing and certification processes to build confidence with all stakeholders and accelerate the adoption of technologies to help us all reduce electricity and carbon emissions.

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, [...]