The deployment of smart meters combined with the growth of cloud computing infrastructure has created opportunities to build business models around the volume of emerging energy data. Those who use data to solve customer problems and leverage decades of software development and advances in big data will attract investment dollars. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Following several years of development, demand response has now started transforming wholesale markets — and reducing costs for ratepayers. Read more »
By September the European Union may have a new energy efficiency strategy in place. On June 14 negotiators struck a provisional deal on the proposed new EU energy efficiency directive (the “Third Energy Efficiency Directive”). Final approval is likely. Read more »
This quarter the EV market struggled to find its footing. Meanwhile, the smart-grid sector solidified and low-power technology proved itself important in the data center. Read more to learn what these news pieces and others mean for the larger space over the next few months. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Big data now touches everything from enterprises to smart-meter startups, while Hadoop is fast becoming the leading tool to analyze that data, and debates around privacy abound. GigaOM Pro analysts offer insights on what to consider when it comes to big data decisions for your business. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Many have predicted a “big data tsunami” that will transform the energy sector and open an entirely new market for smart-grid data analytics. Stepping into the fray is the next generation of smart-grid companies poised to use data to change energy consumption. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Utility regulators tend to put investments in newer technologies such as smart meters under a microscope. Fortunately policymakers in over 30 states and countries have already found that the benefits of smart meters have exceeded the costs. Read more »
Last week eMeter’s Chris King shared his smart grid predictions for 2012. But also, as the new year turns, he says he’s pondering these important questions, too: Read more »
Meter giant Landis+Gyr has snapped up smart meter data management company Ecologic Analytics, the companies announced on Tuesday. Ecologic Analytics has been around for over a decade, and Landis + Gyr was already a minority shareholder in the firm. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Read more »
It is becoming abundantly apparent that, while there is still focus on install rates of physical smart meters, what will matter in the future is how well the data from these smart meters can be secured by utilities and how well utilities can use that data ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Realizing full benefits from a smart grid ultimately means controlling devices in customers’ homes, businesses, and other facilities. But who should exercise that control, and how? Read more »
One of the key ways that eMeter has developed over the past 20 months since its current CEO Gary Bloom came on board has been to act like an enterprise software company, according to an indepth interview with Bloom in Xconomy. It’s a solid tip. Read more »
For the occasion of Siemens’ swallowing eMeter, we have pulled together our recurring smart grid acquisitions list, including the new ones we have seen in recent months. Read more »
Power and engineering giant Siemens will buy smart meter software company eMeter, the companies announced on Monday. While the companies did not disclose the price, this is one of the most high-profile deals for the smart grid in 2011. Read more »
eMeter’s Chief Regulator Officer Chris King gives us a quick overview of what we need to know about smart grid standards, what standards are important and what we can look forward to. Read more »
It seems — and is — a geeky thing to write about, but Daylight Savings Time can cause serious problems for some smart meters and meter data management systems. 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 »
Maui is set to become a smart grid showcase, courtesy of Japanese giants like Hitachi, Sharp and Hewlett-Packard Japan. These companies are among the partners that signed on to a long-range project announced Tuesday, aimed at integrating the Hawaiian Island’s renewable power and plug-in vehicles to come. Read more »
As energy management becomes decentralized, there’s a great opportunity for apps to help direct the flow. At Green:Net, three experts discussed how the responsibility for managing the smart grid will fall on the utilities, but the process will bring trading-floor approaches down to the consumer level. Read more »
Can the cloud handle the energy and smart meter data of an entire country? The U.K. is working on several nationwide smart meter data clearinghouse projects that could be a start, and companies like IBM are targeting the market. Read more »
Will demand response move to the cloud? Lockheed Martin is linking demand response with a cloud-based smart meter platform for cooperative utilities, and EnerNOC is turning to Salesforce.com for smart grid-customer interaction. Read more »
Deregulated energy markets, with companies competing with one another for customers, could be great places to test how technologies and services engage customers. Whether that will lead to energy savings is less clear, however. Read more »
The cloud can make home energy management both cheap and powerful. But what if it turns out to run afoul of real — or imagined — privacy concerns? Read more »
For months, Verizon has seemed to be trailing rival AT&T on smart grid initiatives. Not anymore, if news from the smart grid conference Distributech in San Diego this week is any indicator, including an announcement to offer a cloud-based smart meter management service with eMeter. Read more »
The greentech industry’s 2010 showing wasn’t so bad, especially for a year that saw the world recovering from a once-in-a-generation economic meltdown. But despite this, venture capitalists won’t be investing in the sector like they used to, solar startups won’t see a great growth year in ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Despite some setbacks, the U.S. smart meter push is continuing at a stimulus-fueled pace. Pike Research reported Monday that more than 90 U.S. utilities have 57.9 million smart meters planned and on the way.That’s 7.9 million more than eMeter counted up. Read more »
Smart meter systems, like cellphone networks, transmit and crunch a lot of real-time customer data, and customers don’t particularly like it when their bills don’t come out right. But tools that phone companies use to make sure bills are accurate can also help utilities. Read more »
Now that Netflix has an app on the iPad and the iPhone, it could make a push into the Android ecosystem based on job postings that have cropped up. An Android app could expand Netflix’s audience base even further, especially on new Android-based tablets. Read more »
Even with smart meters and home energy portals, customers want opt-out options for home energy management rather than plans that ask them to monitor energy use every day. Here’s how the opt-out concept can guide startups and IT giants in the home energy management ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The smart grid investing gurus at Foundation Capital and the venture firm that helped launch the likes of Cisco and Google — Sequoia Capital — have pumped more money into smart meter software maker eMeter. Read more »
Internet companies have made an art out of creating algorithms that can mine data and unleash innovation and opportunities. Picture the famous recommendation engines behind Netflix and Amazon that drive their businesses and have launched new markets for niche content. Google has forever changed advertising and ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Every home and business should have access to “timely, useful and actionable” energy information, said a group of close to 50 companies — including Google, Silicon Valley venture firms, and smart grid startups — in a letter addressed to President Obama on Monday. Read more »
Utilities, tech vendors and trade groups like the Grid Wise Alliance have openly been complaining that it’s taking too long for the billions of dollars in smart grid grants, which the Department of Energy promised back in October, to reach the projects, and ultimately create jobs. […] Read more »
Smart meters have been undergoing a bit of a consumer backlash lately — and that could open the door for alternative ways to bring energy data to homeowners. Certainly the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the federal entity setting smart grid standards, seems to want […] Read more »
A lot of the interest in the smart grid industry tends to swirl around consumers and home energy management. It can be fun to picture consumers one day buying gadgets at big box retailers that will let them micromanage their home heating, cooling and lighting, and ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
We’ve seen smartphones for years but it seems that only recently is the software piece of the equation fitting into the puzzle. Useful mobile apps are surely helping drive sales of smartphones, and in turn, more smartphone sales deliver larger captive audiences to mobile app developers. […] Read more »
A decade-old software firm called Ecologic Analytics has been quietly cleaning up when it comes to the software link that connects smart meter data to a utilities’ back office (commonly called meter data management systems, or MDMS). This morning the company, which has meter maker Landis […] Read more »
On the final morning of the Copenhagen climate talks, as world leaders have but a few hours left to reach some kind of agreement, the smart grid will get a bit of attention. Chris King, the Chief Regulatory Officer of smart meter software company eMeter, plans […] Read more »
From the ownership to the user experience to the embarrassing way the site fell flat on its face at launch, there are plenty of reasons to believe Vevo might not end up being the revolutionary force that Bono thinks it will be. But if there’s one […] Read more »
The idea behind vertically integrated companies is that each of its subsidiaries produces a part of the value-chain that, when connected together, delivers a stronger force. Think of steel barons owning mines, mills and railways, or American Apparel controlling production, distribution and marketing. For the smart […] Read more »
