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Siemens Adds To Smart Grid Portfolio With eMeter Purchase

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The burgeoning global smart grid industry is beginning to consolidate as governments around the world look to use their energy resources more efficiency and limit carbon emissions without sacrificing electric reliability.

Siemens announced on Monday that it would acquire its long-time strategic smart grid partner, California-based eMeter, for an undisclosed sum, with the deal set to take effect mid-to-late December. eMeter specializes in smart meter data management software and is most famous for its EnergyIP platform, which can provide, readout and manage data produced by smart meters throughout a power grid. Keep reading →

 /  Published December 6, 2011 at 6:00 AM

Smart Meter Resistance Continues: Why Don’t Utilities Tell A Better Story?

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Nobody has ever accused utilities of being good at marketing. This lack of sales sophistication continues to haunt the industry. As you will read below, utilities around the country are facing complaints that the consumer benefits of smart meters don’t justify the cost. That’s because utilities have foolishly focused only on bill savings, failing to connect smart meters to reliability. This is particularly ironic in Connecticut, where policymakers and the public alike are up in arms about outages. Yet the state’s largest utility is only now starting to talk about the reliability benefits from grid modernization.

Even though at least 25% of U.S. homes and businesses already have a smart meter, the concept continues to face resistance in other parts of the country, according to an Associated Press story. Privacy and health concerns are often part of consumers’ fears. But the most difficult hurdle, it turns out, is documenting consumer benefits. Keep reading →

 /  Published November 22, 2011 at 9:00 AM

How To Manage 150,000 Meters With A Staff Of Zero

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What if you could get all the benefits of advanced metering without buying a single meter or hiring a single person? That’s the proposition put forth by SAIC’s “Smart Grid as a Service.”

The $11 billion, McLean, VA-based contractor provides a wide range of information technology services. It does about 90% of its business with the government and the balance with private industry. SAIC has decades of experience serving the defense industry. That gives it deep expertise in security, large databases and complex event processing. Although not as well-known as some of its competing systems integrators, SAIC also has a lot of energy and utility experience. For instance, SAIC manages a large swatch of Entergy’s operations. Keep reading →

 /  Published November 11, 2011 at 3:30 PM

The Grid’s Dumbest Component (And How To Make It Smart)

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What is the single dumbest electrical component? It’s the load panel (the circuit breakers) in your home or office, which typically has a digital quotient of exactly zero. Even door locks are going digital more quickly.

An Israeli company wants to change that, and they’ve come a long way already. Computerized Electricity Systems (CES) stuffs the following functionality into its CES Smart Distribution Panel: Keep reading →

 /  Published November 7, 2011 at 6:00 AM

The Five Reasons Federal Government Energy Research Has Led Innovation

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Governments play an important role in innovation, says David Sandalow.

The role of the federal government is up for question, Sandalow, Assistant Secretary for Policy and International Affairs at the Department of Energy, acknowledges. But failures in promoting innovation through basic research should not force a change of direction, and the government must keep its resolve despite challenging times. Sandalow does not mention Solyndra by name in this video shot at the US Association for Energy Economics Summit in Washington, DC, but the solar company’s high-profile collapse has weighed on the entire energy sector and cast a long shadow over both the summit and this address. Keep reading →

 /  Published November 3, 2011 at 10:30 AM

Administration Says It Wants To Lead By Example On Efficiency

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The current White House administration says it is hoping to lead by example, at least in terms of energy usage.

As part of the White House Council on Environmental Quality GreenGov Symposium, Mother Nature Network hosted a live panel discussion on Tuesday with five leaders on energy efficiency within the Obama adminstration. The panel was moderated by MNN Board of Advisors member and Director of Communications and Senior Research Scientist for Climate Central, Dr. Heidi Cullen. Keep reading →

 /  Published November 3, 2011 at 6:00 AM

Smart Grid Staffing: Outsource To… Argentina?

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Eric Miller, former senior VP at Trilliant, has decamped the U.S. He is in search of the ideal spot to set up a software development shop focused on electric power and related clean technology. He thinks he has found it in Argentina.

The problem Keep reading →

 /  Published October 31, 2011 at 6:00 AM

Are Today’s Smart Meters Already Obsolete?

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Should smart meters ship with additional memory and processing power, plus an operating system to run applications? Several meter and communications vendors have taken a step down that road, including Echelon and SmartSynch. Now a UK firm called Sentec wants to take things to the next level. If it succeeds, next-generation meters will look less like old-fashioned meters with a communications module grafted on. And more like smart phones for energy (with apps and all).

I use the Discovery Showcase series to highlight new companies and new ideas. I bumped into this latest concept at Metering Europe in Amsterdam this October. If the concept takes off it could insulate utilities against the obsolescence issue – the fear that smart meters will need to be swapped out in just a few years. And it could send meter makers scrambling back to their labs to catch up. Keep reading →

 /  Published October 24, 2011 at 2:30 PM

Get Your Energy Plan In Order

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Does your business have a comprehensive energy plan?

Implementing a plan can save energy and drastically reduce costs and emissions, while creating a culture that fosters continuous improvement in sustainability and building performance. Keep reading →

 /  Published October 24, 2011 at 6:00 AM

The Daily Stat: Saving Energy Because The Neighbors Do

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The Daily Stat: Saving Energy Because the Neighbors Do http://s.hbr.org/qnMl4a HarvardBiz

 /  Published October 19, 2011 at 11:00 AM
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