Want to know what your power company thinks about the internet of things? If you live in Austin, you’ll know exactly what it thinks, but for everyone else my podcast with Austin Energy may still provide some valuable insights. Read more »
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 »
Cleantech largely has so far avoided the nasty patent wars that plague a space like mobile, but the Honeywell-Nest lawsuit changes that. A large company using its patent libraries to fight a new product could have chilling effects for startups in the space. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
One of the year’s largest smart grid conferences — DistribuTECH — closes today in San Antonio, Texas. It’s like the CES for utilities, power companies and the vendors that are trying to sell them stuff. Here are the top 10 trends I took away. Read more »
The 2012 CES show hasn’t even officially kicked off and already the smart energy home has emerged as a key target for a variety of sectors, including telcos, big box retailers, startups, chip companies and now cable operators like Time Warner Cable. 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 »
The momentum right now in cleantech is as much about connectivity and how it can drive energy efficiency as it is about advancing sources of renewable energy. And as the web and mobile connectivity change our consumer experiences, the opportunities to redefine cleantech are rich, and they are already happening. This research note examines the cleantech space in that context and analyzes the car-sharing, home-energy-management and smart-grid sectors and their relevant companies to see how connectivity will play into their future endeavors. Companies mentioned in this report include RelayRides, Opower, Silver Spring Networks and Nest. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Connectivity changes everything. That’s the credo driving just about every corner of our day-to-day lives. As human beings, we are now connected to one another through not just our social networks but also our cars, the books we read, the albums we download and even our own health and wellness habits (to name just a few areas). With that in mind, GigaOM Pro has singled out certain areas in the technology industry where we see this shift to constant connectivity taking place most drastically. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Here are photos and a review of one of Best Buy’s new Home Energy sections at its stores, which will sell gear to help home owners reduce energy consumption. While the section is waaay at the back, it’s designed to educate shoppers and promote interactivity. Read more »
Cleantech, meet mobile. The intersection between these two industries has grown over the past twelve months as companies increasingly look to use smartphones as a platform to enable their services. This trend will accelerate in the future as more and more companies realize that mobile phones ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Peddling home energy management gear and software successfully is harder than it seems, and big companies such as Microsoft and Cisco are ditching this market. EnergyHub is staying and on Thursday announced a $14.5 million round to help it sell products and services to consumers. Read more »
Throughout 2009 and 2010, Internet companies like Microsoft, Google and even router giant Cisco launched experimental software and hardware to help building managers and home owners monitor and control their energy consumption. But now these firms are abandoning those plans. Why? Read more »
What does Silver Spring Network’s potential IPO mean for the smart grid sector as a whole? 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 »
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 »
Tendril Networks is finally seeing some of its dozens of utility pilots blossom into full-scale commercial deployments numbering in the millions of homes. But where does Tendril’s classic model of in-home devices linked to smart meters fit into today’s brave new world of home energy management? Read more »
With the world population booming and energy consumption growing, the challenge is on to counter the impacts with smart solutions, said Microsoft’s Rob Bernard. He said cloud-based software, creative uses of data and innovative interfaces will help create smart systems that can address the growing problems. Read more »
If you want to change something, first you have to measure it, and when it comes to energy consumption and generation we don’t have the tools yet to do either. But as Saul Griffith said at Green:Net, we’re still in the dark ages for energy literacy. Read more »
The smart grid industry’s focus is now shifting to the true purpose of the smart grid movement: applications that will improve the efficiency, reliability and versatility of the electric grid. This report analyzes six key smart grid application trends that will help shape the industry landscape in the years to come: distribution automation, data analytics, demand response, carbon management, home energy management and electric vehicles. The applications that prevail in this new arena will define the smart grid experience for industrial, commercial and residential customers. Along the way, new business opportunities that arise from these applications will become available for the providers of software, systems, devices and services, and enhance customer awareness and control of energy consumption. Companies mentioned in this report include Echelon, Google, EnerNOC, ZigBee and Microsoft. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Is the greentech industry headed for a breakout year or is it retrenching for hard times to come? The first three months of 2011 provided evidence that could support both assertions, with a big rise in venture capital investment and a big drop-off in global energy financing. Solar power remained the largest green technology sector in terms of venture capital investment, while in the world of electric vehicles, GM’s Chevy Volt hybrid and Nissan’s all-electric Leaf — the first two mainstream plug-in vehicles — hit the showroom floors in significant numbers. Meanwhile the smart grid sector’s relative dearth of VC investment was more than made up for by the massive round of acquisitions. Companies mentioned in this report include NRG Energy, Microsoft, Silver Spring Networks, Tesla and BrightSource Energy. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
HP Labs has unveiled the company’s first foray into the crowded world of home energy management technology. The tech taps into the cloud, and uses a fresh way to display complicated energy-saving facts, but what will HP ultimately do with its experiment? Read more »
EcoDog is trying to sneak its high-end energy management system into homes as part of a broader rooftop solar power system. Will the high-end buyers of rooftop solar help break open the market for energy-smart home devices? Read more »
The U.S. grid regulator (FERC) issued a report on the state of the U.S. smart meter and demand response markets, laying out a few tidbits for the industry to keep an eye on, like protecting consumer data privacy and using the Internet to connect variable pricing. 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 »
OPower, the startup that gets homeowners to cut energy use with out in-home dashboards and gateways, is looking at home energy automation devices. What are the pros and cons of high-tech automation versus smart behavioral science? Read more »
Schneider Electric launched a bare bones, utility-centric line of home energy management gear on Tuesday, staking its claim to the residential energy market on the premise that homeowners will choose elegant simplicity over flashy high-tech. Read more »
General Electric research shows that ZigBee uses less than half the power of Wi-Fi for home energy networking — a fact that cements its likely role as a key enabler of GE’s home energy management devices to come. Read more »
General Electric has launched a new business around energy-smart household appliances and products. But utilities are its first target customers, not consumers. Read more »
Home energy efficiency startup OPOWER has raised $50 million as it seeks to quadruple its customer base and add new features to its age-old, paper report-based customer outreach. Read more »
People Power has made a lot of changes from its start as a would-be home energy management device maker. Now it’s got a platform that could work in homes and offices — an example of how it and other startups may need to change to ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Buzzy Silicon Valley home energy management startup People Power has opened its arms to an enterprise platform approach, one that may involve targeting the office even more aggressively than the home. Read more »
One device that can read an entire home’s electric load down to the lightbulb — all from one plug? Electronics giant Belkin and stealthy startup Power Map have two different takes on a technology that could disrupt the home energy management marketplace. ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Electronics giant Belkin and stealthy startup PowerMap are taking separate cracks at a holy grail of sorts for home energy management: a device that can read every power load in the house from a single outlet. Read more »
Pacific Gas & Electric has picked two companies to help it aggregate, analyze and present energy data to its customers outside of smart meter channels. Might one of them be OPOWER? Read more »
Comverge has rebranded itself as a provider of “intelligent energy management” services. What does that mean for the demand response provider’s future against big competitor EnerNOC and upstarts in the smart grid space? Read more »
In the race between the wireless standards ZigBee and WiFi to network energy-smart homes, ZigBee is so far the clear winner. But that doesn’t mean ZigBee has proven its superiority to Wi-Fi. 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 »
What if the most successful home energy-saving technology ends up being the one people have to opt out of? Utilities can sign customers up for programs automatically, unless they actively choose not to join. Companies targeting the home energy management space should remember this powerful tool. Read more »
Networking giant Cisco has teamed up with building efficiency startup Pulse Energy to track and manage energy use in city buildings in Vancouver. The partnership is one of the first times that Cisco has brought in a startup to work with its EnergyWise building controls platform. Read more »
Verizon has integrated Clearleap’s content management technology into its architecture to deliver cloud-based video with its video-on-demand architecture. Clearleap’s technology is being used to streamline production for FiOS 1 VOD content to provide hyper-local content such as news, sports, traffic and weather to its subscribers. Read more »
