Why You Should Care
Adding digital intelligence — software, computing, communication networks — to the power grid.
Smart GridA Cleantech Hot Topic
OK, maybe hacker-types shouldn’t see this, but the iFixit crew has done a teardown of an Elster smart meter, pulling off all the electronics, chips, radios and casing. Read More »
What does Silver Spring Network’s potential IPO mean for the smart grid sector as a whole? Read More »
Silver Spring Networks filed for a potentially $150 million IPO this week, but the group that stands to gain in the short term is Silver Spring’s stead fast venture backer Foundation Capital. Foundation Capital owned 41.5 percent of shares before the offering. Read More »
Now that smart-grid network leader Silver Spring Networks has filed for an IPO, some of the economics of selling a wireless network and connected devices to utilities becomes a little more clear. No joke, folks, it’s a difficult business to be in. Read More »
Silver Spring Network’s IPO filing is basically the first time we’ve been able to get a peek under the hood of the nine-year-old company, which has been a leader in the smart grid network industry. Here’s what you need to know from Silver Spring Network’s S-1. Read More »
Smart grid company Silver Spring Networks has finally filed its long-awaited IPO, and could raise up to $150 million in a public offering on the New York Stock Exchange, according to its filing. Read More »
One of the reasons energy storage for the grid isn’t widely used is that many of the technologies, like batteries, are still too expensive. But what if you could use something that costs a fraction of a battery to deploy for grid storage, like Software-as-a-Service? Read More »
More Must Reads
Opower, a startup using software and big data tools to help utility customers reduce their energy consumption, is expanding outside the U.S. for the first time, and will be working with U.K. energy company First Utility. Read More »
Last week saw California’s big three utilities release in-depth smart grid deployment roadmaps, giving smart grid companies about the closest thing to a detailed plan of attack that they could ask for. Read More »
Internet giants Google and Microsoft have officially given their web-based energy management tools the Donald Trump (as in You’re Fired!), and lannounced that they would be closing them down. But there are still over a dozen options trying to tackle this difficult market. Read More »
Today is the 20th birthday of the first GSM phone call, which in many ways was the start of the global wireless revolution. GSM was adopted in 1987 as a standard. More than 4.4 billion people use phones based on GSM today. Read More »
They’re dropping like flies: the big Internet companies’ online energy tools. Last week, it was Google pulling the plug on PowerMeter, and this week, it’s RIP for Microsoft and its Hohm energy tool. Here’s my assessment of 5 reasons why Microsoft Hohm didn’t take off. Read More »
Utility PG&E unveiled a tome (close to 300 pages) detailing the ins and outs of its smart grid plans on Thursday. Here is what you need to know from the report: Read More »
In the wake of Google pulling the plug on its energy tool PowerMeter, Microsoft says it has now killed its energy service, Hohm, too. Microsoft writes on its blog that it will discontinue its Hohm service starting on May 31, 2012. Read More »
The future of clean power and greener transportation is being carried by FarmVille and online coupons — at least in terms of venture capital portfolios. Read More »
A wireless smart grid networking tech that is supposed to be able to reach many miles with little infrastructure and at a low price point, is ramping up funding. That would be startup On-Ramp Wireless, which has raised $11.5 million of a planned $15 million round. Read More »
There are 17.7 million WiMAX subscribers around the world, and the WiMAX Forum estimates there will be 45 million by 2013, but the future of the technology is bleak. The forum pitches smart grid and airports as potential saviors but neither option looks promising. Read More »
Nokia Siemens Networks, the telecommunications gear joint venture, is running out of options. The Wall Street Journal reported that the companies couldn’t find a private equity buyer for the gear maker and that the companies were thinking of putting more money into the entity. Read More »
Google officially shuttered its web energy tool PowerMeter on Friday after the application failed to bring in enough users. Here are five reasons why I think PowerMeter didn’t take off. Read More »
Google has officially pulled the plug on its web energy management tool PowerMeter. The project, which Google launched two years ago, just “didn’t catch on the way we would have hoped,” said Google. Read More »
On Thursday morning, GE will host a day-long event where it plans to announce the latest winners of its $200 million smart grid challenge that are specifically focused on energy use in the home. Read More »
By Michael Nark
Jun. 21, 2011, 1:58pm PT
Comments Off
There are hundreds of thousands of commercial buildings in the U.S. that are responsible for almost 20 percent of the nation’s annual energy consumption. Changes to our electric infrastructure could have a big impact on the cost to operate these facilities. Read More »
U.S. startup Nuvve is setting its sights on the vehicle-to-grid (V2G) market with a 30-car project in Denmark that it says will sell plug-in car battery power to help stabilize the grid. Can the model scale? Read More »
On the heels of Silion Valley startup iControl securing a deal to provide its software for Comcast’s new home security and energy management service, iControl announced that it has raised another $50 million in a Series D round from its long list of high profile investors Read More »
Big data tools are an incredibly important way to help better manage the world’s resources, like energy consumption, food production and fuel use. Here are 5 companies that are leveraging big data to help the planet: Read More »
Power gear giant Siemens has bought a stake in startup Semprius that makes solar concentrating photovoltaic tech, which use mirrors and lenses to concentrate sunlight onto highly efficient solar cells. Solar concentrating PV is a sort of hybrid between solar panels and solar thermal tech. Read More »
Will huge returns on social media investments — like Groupon, LinkedIn or Pandora — help make up for underperforming greentech investments in a venture firm’s portfolio? If so, perhaps this gives firms time — and wiggle room — to keep up their cleantech investing. Read More »
Energy data startup OPower says its software will be able to save one terawatt hour of energy from U.S. homes by the end of 2012. That’s equivalent to the energy consumed by 100,000 American homes for a year, and is worth $100M in energy savings. Read More »
Who needs smart meters when you’ve got broadband? Two announcements last week — EcoFactor’s energy-saving data and Comcast’s Xfinity Home Security launch — raise that question. If the broadband channel to home energy takes off, it could leave smart meter–dependent home energy startups in the dust. … Read More »
Adding more clean power to the grid will require utilities to redesign the network that transports solar electricity locally. Southern California Edison on Monday laid out its plan to make its distribution grid more responsive to the fluctuating infusion of solar electricity throughout the day. Read More »
Power gear giant Siemens announced on Monday that it has invested in, and will also market technologies from, home energy startup Tendril. Tendril sells software and devices that monitor and manage the home energy consumption of consumers. Read More »
As expected, at an event at the White House on Monday, Obama administration officials unveiled a slew of programs and initiatives that will aim to help add information technology to the power grid to make the grid more efficient and more secure. Read More »
On Monday morning the White House plans to hold an event focused on the smart grid that will discuss new private and public initiatives for how to implement a smarter power grid in the U.S. Read More »
At the IEEE Technology Time Machine Symposium last week I heard the world’s leading academics, engineers, executives, and government officials project what the world will look like in 2020. The future brings technology together for everything from enhancing the human experience to improving environmental sustainability. … Read More »
EcoFactor, a startup that uses big data tools to act as a new brain for connected thermostats, says on average its services can reduce a person’s home energy use by 17 percent compared to a programmable but non-optimized thermostat. Read More »
California’s groundbreaking set of rules on utility customer energy data are facing comment from the smart grid industry this week, and there’s still plenty of confusion over the fine print. In short, CPUC’s rules will need to change to avoid stifling the smart grid-home energy marketplace. Read More »
The next-generation of technology to use compressed air for energy storage is on its way. One of the companies leading the way — General Compression — has raised another $20.39 million Series B round, according to a filing. Read More »
While state and federal legislators are drafting rules to make sure consumers have prompt and secure access to their energy consumption data, consumers themselves are largely unaware of the tools available to manage their own energy. That’s according to a survey out from CEA. Read More »
Power gear giants continue their smart grid shopping spree. Schneider Electric is bidding to buy software maker Telvent for about $2 billion. The acquisition would give Schneider, which is a massive power equipment maker, more software and IT capabilities for the power grid. Read More »
Will utility customers across the U.S. be legally entitled to their own energy usage data? We’ve already seen how California is planning to tackle that tricky subject, and a Senate bill announced last week would bring the same issues to a national stage. Read More »
Large tanks filled with fluids could be the next low-cost way to provide energy storage for the power grid. A company called Primus Power is developing so-called flow batteries, and has now raised a round of $11 million from a group of venture capitalists. Read More »
Two days in Chattanooga, Tenn. show how a municipal broadband network can pay dividends when community leaders focus on the applications a gigabit network can deliver and consider the long-term economic development potential. And yes, it can even generate enough revenue to become profitable. Read More »
California regulators on Thursday approved changes to residential electric rates for customers of Pacific Gas and Electric that could have a major impact on whether consumers will readily sign up for solar and energy efficiency products and services. Read More »
Mark down yet another clean power project that Google plans to back. This morning, Google announced that it’s providing $55 million for part of the construction of a 1.5 GW wind farm being built by Terra-Gen Power in Southern California’s Mojave Desert. Read More »
One benefit of GE launching its smart grid challenge last year is that it has created a decent potential shopping list. This morning, GE said it has acquired one of its 12 grid challenge winners: Irish powerline monitoring company FMC-Tech. Read More »
Most Commented On Smart Grid
Article Comments:
Most Commented
Latest News On Smart-grid
Popular Now
