New Blog Address

Thank you for following the Smart Energy Insights Blog with Smart Energy Summit and industry news. We look forward to you joining us at our new blog address. Please click here to be re-directed to the new site.

Thank you again!

Silver Spring expands Partnership with OG&E on Customer Engagement and Demand Response

Silver Spring Networks is leading provider of smart grid platforms. Recently, they announced that their company is expanding its partnership with Oklahoma’s largest electric company, OG&E. The electric company is expanding its work with Silver Spring as they begin their second year of its demand response study, which currently serves 6,000 OG&E customers. OG&E will leverage Silver Spring for installation, demand management software, in-home energy management technologies, online enrollment services, and program management for the study.

By providing the Silver Spring’s CustomerIQ web portal to its entire smart meter customer base, OG&E has dramatically increased its smart grid leadership in consumer engagement, delivering customer participation, outreach, research and the economic benefits of deploying smart grid technology. Efficiencies created by the Positive Energy Together® program, OG&E estimates it could avoid building two new peaking generation plants between now and 2016.

OG&E is the first utility to offer the recently enhanced and expanded version of the CustomerIQ web portal to all 775,000 of its customers. CustomerIQ enables utilities to directly engage customers to reduce support costs and deliver energy efficiency improvements in meeting overall demand reduction goals.

Silver Spring is leading OG&E’s implementation of a fully integrated demand response solution this summer, to an additional 3,000 residential and business customers. OG&E uses the Silver Spring UtilityIQTM Demand Response Manager back-office software, because the software leverages the Silver Spring IP-based network, which supports multiple smart grid applications on common infrastructure.

For the summer of 2011, participants who volunteer for the second phase of the study will have the opportunity to manage their electricity use and costs with Control4® EC-100 in-home energy displays and the Energate Pioneer PCT. OG&E will use study results from 2010 and 2011 to determine how customers respond to price signals and information delivered via smart technology to reduce energy consumption during peak demand and price periods.

Tendril Partners with UISOL to Provide Smart Grid Technology

Tendril, an Energy Platform company, is partnering with Utility Integration Solutions, Inc. (UISOL), the leading provider of demand response management and automation systems, on a Price Response Demand demonstration project for PJM Interconnection. This project will show how Locational Marginal Price, paired with distributed intelligence, can drive automated residential Demand Response in the home.

The project will also allow PJM to test the end-to-end integration of a near real-time Price Response Demand program, in order to better manage electricity demand. There are two fairly obvious benefits to utilities and other Demand Response providers. The first, by adjusting temperatures on thermostats by one or two degrees throughout the day, utilities can lower overall demand in their service area, which will ultimately result in cost savings for consumers. The second main benefit is that lower level consumption, could also lead to better integration of renewable energy into the grid, which will minimize utilities' need to purchase high-priced energy on the wholesale markets, which in turn, ends up putting savings back in consumers' pockets.

Additionally, a price-responsive demand program can provide significant environmental benefits, as well. By trying to conserve our energy, a price responsive demand program can help reduce consumer reliance on peaking combustion turbines and diesel energy generators, thus allowing for a cleaner environment.

GE, Fuji Electric Joint Venture to Provide Smart Grid Technology in Japan

GE and Fuji Electric Holdings Co., Ltd. has announced a joint venture to design, build, market and service a new generation of electric meters. The joint venture was finalized February 1, 2011. The company has been named GE Fuji Meter Co., Ltd.

These electric meters will be supporting Japan’s advancement towards a smart grid infrastructure. The newly formed joint venture will build upon GE’s proven smart meter technology, as well as, Fuji Electric’s Japan-based manufacturing and sales network, to provide quality, cost-effective meters.

Smart grid advances include easier integration of renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar power, as well as, efficiency and reliability gains. With these advances, Japan will be better equipped to use more zero-emission energy and shrink its carbon footprint.

To read complete article, please click here.

Entergy Selects Sensus Technologies for Home Area Network Pilot

Entergy New Orleans, Inc. has selected Sensus to provide its FlexNet™ Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) system, electric AMI meters, in-home displays and programmable thermostats to support a Home Area Networking pilot program. The pilot program is partially funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, and is designed to encourage energy conservation by providing information to consumers about their electricity usage and their associated costs.

Starting in June, for a period of 24 months, Entergy New Orleans will track and analyze the consumption behaviors of four specific customer control groups within the city of New Orleans. Customers in the first group will receive a smart meter; the second group will receive a smart meter and an in-home display; the third group will receive a smart meter and programmable thermostat, and they will also be offered a rebate if they participate in a program to minimize their air conditioning usage during summer peak periods; and the fourth group will have access to an Internet portal that will show close to real-time information about electricity usage and associated costs.

If you would like to read the full article, click here.

Tendril Teams with Whirlpool Corporation to Usher in New Era of Smart Appliances

Tendril, a leading energy platform company, and Whirlpool Corporation, the world's leading appliance maker, unveiled a relationship that sets the stage for the rollout of smart home appliances in the U.S. The Tendril platform has the capability to support millions of smart appliances in homes across America.

Tendril will provide the back-end technology infrastructure to support the commercial deployment of smart appliances, including a range of connectivity-enabled services and applications. Whirlpool Corporation will integrate its smart appliances with the Smart Grid infrastructure by extending Tendril’s open standards-based, scalable and secure technology platform. This integrated platform will enable a dialogue between appliances, consumers and energy providers — making the connected home and home energy management a reality. For example, for a refrigerator to actively manage its energy consumption, it must be able to quickly, reliably and seamlessly communicate with the electric utility company.

In this case, the refrigerator will automatically move its defrost cycle to a non-peak time without impacting the performance of the appliance.

Smart appliances can have an even more profound impact on reducing expensive peak demand as well as supporting renewables (e.g., solar and wind) on the Grid. Consumers will also be excited by the new convenience features enabled by a smart appliance.

HAI, Entergy New Orleans join forces on energy management

HAI Smart Grid Solutions has been selected for a partnership with Entergy New Orleans to facilitate the SmartView Energy Management program. HAI will provide nearly 5,000 Home Area Network (HAN) devices for demand response, energy display and comfort control.

Co-sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and Entergy New Orleans, homeowners receive tools and training from Entergy that assists with tracking electricity usage, assists with reducing costs, and in some cases, provides credits on electrical bills. HAI devices are being provided at no cost to users thanks to a Smart Grid Investment Grant program. Enrollment begins now and the official rollout is April 1, 2011.

All 7,000 participants receive a smart meter installed at no charge. A total of 4,400 homes will receive HAI's In-Home Energy Display and 400 homes will receive HAI's Omnistat2 programmable communicating thermostats. On both devices, homeowners can view exact bill to date, projected monthly bill, and see the instantaneous demand plus energy trend of the past hour.

For the complete article, please click here.

HomeGrid Forum and ZigBee Alliance Team to Establish Wired and Wireless Smart Home Applications

The HomeGrid Forum recently announced a new liaison agreement with the ZigBee Alliance to extend their collaboration on the ZigBee Smart Energy standard development. This work will pave the way for consumers and utilities to use ZigBee Smart Energy version 2.0 wireless or wired networks to further advance Smart Grid programs and deliver new energy, financial and environmental savings.

Both organizations will collaborate on ensuring ZigBee Smart Energy version 2 and HomeGrid Forum’s ITU-T G.hn and G.hnem standards can be utilized in a wide variety of smart grid usage models. When finalized, applications such as AMI (Advanced Metering Infrastructure), Demand Response (DR), Plug-in Electric Vehicles (PEV) and any other Smart Grid application/service that needs a reliable Home Area Network (HAN) or distribution/access network will benefit.

Pecan Street Project Goes Live with First Phase of Smart Grid Deployment

Pecan Street Project Inc. announced that it has completed systems installation and has gone live with the first phase of its smart grid demonstration project in Austin’s Mueller community.

Deployed by Austin-based Incenergy LLC, the home smart grid systems capture minute-to-minute energy usage for the whole home and six major appliances or systems. The project achieved an installed cost per home of $341 ($241 for equipment plus $100 for installation).

The systems are deployed in 100 homes at Mueller, all of which are green built and 11 of which have rooftop solar PV systems. This spring, Pecan Street Project will deploy Incenergy systems in a second group of 100 homes outside Mueller that are at least 10 years old. All participants in both groups are volunteers.

During the 12-month first phase, project researchers will learn about how homeowners use electricity, gas and specific appliances during the course of the day. This will mark only the second publicly-reported research on the daily energy profiles of Sunbelt homes (the other is a 1999 University of Central Florida study) and the first to incorporate data on output from rooftop solar panels and on the homes’ energy efficiency attributes.

For the complete article, please click here.

Control4, NV Energy to begin EMS rollout in June

The first real-world smart grid rollout of home energy management systems will take place this year in Nevada, according to home control company Control4.

Control4 will provide Nevada’s NV Energy with 20,000 of its EMS 100 energy management systems, which consist of a 5-inch EC-100 touchscreen display and a WT-100 wireless thermostat. The rollouts will begin in June 2011, likely in southern Nevada, and continue through 2012.

NV Energy customers voluntarily participating in NV Energy’s programs will be able to access and use the data collected by smart meters to wisely manage energy in their homes. The EC-100 energy controller’s color touchscreen interface will provide up-to-the-minute feedback on their electricity consumption and costs. The system will analyze their electricity usage and accommodate additional energy management applications and load controllers on their home area network.

According to Control4, the EMS 100 can also directly control some lights, such as turning off outdoor lighting. The system contains radios to connect to the two-way smart meter, a ZigBee-based radio to communicate with smart appliances, and a Wi-Fi radio for the home network. Plug-in modules and other devices will allow control of a variety of home systems.

For the complete article, please click here.

FREE Webcast: Enabling the Home Area Network

Join Parks Associates and the Z-Wave Alliance on Thursday, February 17th at 2 pm CENTRAL for the webcast, Enabling the Home Area Network: Solutions that work for Consumers and Utilities, and learn about the market outlook for residential energy management (REM) products and services.

Parks Associates research finds:
-- By 2015, less than 5% of U.S. households will have a utility-based home area network (HAN).
-- By 2022, that number will grow to almost 40%.

Registration:
http://www.parksassociates.com/events/webcasts/2011/webcasts_sigma.htm

Presenters include:
-- Bill Ablondi, Director, Home Systems Research, Parks Associates
-- Dan Goodman, CTO, Radio Thermostat Company of America
-- Letha McLaren, Vice President of Product Management, iControl Networks
-- Steve Samolinski, Director of Solution Management, Connected Home Solutions, Ingersoll Rand

The interactive panel discussion includes industry executives from leading-edge companies and utilities as they examine the latest innovative solutions and share their perspectives on the key trends and opportunities in 2011. Attendees will learn what to watch in 2011 and what to expect from both consumers and business as this growing market continues to expand into the home.

CEA Study Finds Dramatic Increase in TV Energy Efficiency

A new study commissioned by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) shows manufacturers have made huge strides in creating more energy efficient televisions.

This new study, “Power Consumption Trends in Digital TVs Produced Since 2003,” reviewed power consumption data on best-selling digital TV models from 2003 to 2010 – in both active and standby modes – on high-definition liquid crystal (LCD) and plasma display models with screen sizes ranging from 13- to 65-inches. Some highlights:

• LCD active power use fell 63 percent from 2003 to 2010.
  
• LCD standby power use dropped 87 percent from 2004 to 2010.
  
• Plasma TV active power use dropped 41 percent from 2008 to 2010.
  
• Plasma TV standby use fell 85 percent from 2008 to 2010.

To put the gains in context, the power consumption of the average TV sold in 2010 consumes less energy than a 100 watt incandescent light bulb and less power than what is needed to light a typical living room.

As the study explains, standard fluorescent backlighting for LCD TVs is rapidly being replaced with light emitting diodes, or LEDs, which will make TVs even more efficient along with enhancing the brightness and contrast of the display.

Along with these technology improvements, the study also attributed energy efficiency gains to manufacturers seeking to meet the latest Energy Star specifications.

For the full article, click here.

Intel joins with Cap Gemini on tablet for energy efficiency

Cap Gemini SA and Intel Corp. will offer a home energy-management system to consumers and utilities as the French and U.S. partners seek to beat rivals onto the market for power-saving upgrades to electric grids.

Cap Gemini, Europe’s largest computer-services company, and Intel, the world’s biggest chipmaker, will cooperate on a tablet-style computer that will let customers adjust appliances’ power use, Steven Harris, Cap Gemini’s head of smart home services, said in a phone interview. Later versions may include a smartphone application or may allow the device to be used as a data source for utilities looking to allocate electricity.

Cap Gemini will soon face a stronger local rival in Atos, which is scheduled this year to complete a merger with Siemens AG’s computer-services unit to leapfrog the Paris-based company as the No. 1 computer-services provider in Europe. Cap Gemini and Intel also face competition in the home-energy market from Google Inc., which is partnering with utilities including India’s Reliance Energy to expand its PowerMeter service.

For the complete article, please click here.

Companies have new focus on managing consumers’ electricity usage

Today there are 1.9 million homes with energy management networks. We are entering a period of pervasive growth. … We estimate there will be 16.2 million by 2015.

Parks Associates hosted the Smart Energy Summit in Austin last week. It focused on ways to find customers for such services. The three-day affair showed enthusiasm is high among corporations and entrepreneurs, who sense an emerging market. Parks Associates' Director of Research, Bill Ablondi said there were about 75 companies in the market last year, but now there are as many as 250, including such big names as GE, Intel, Verizon and AT&T.

Consumers, however, remain largely in the dark about the possibilities. Smart grid technologies promise to provide big gains in efficiency for electricity generators, transmitters and consumers. That means cost savings, less pollution and fewer power plants.

Integrating information technology into the electric power grid should also make it far easier to connect renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power.

The technologies should also make it possible to manage a fleet of electric cars so that they can be fueled without putting crushing demands on the system and double as available storage devices for power when parked.

But with electricity prices flat or falling (they were down 11.5 percent last year in Dallas), consumers are not motivated to jump in.

Oncor and other Texas electricity transmission companies have installed more than 3 million smart meters across the state under a mandate from the state government. The meters are providing an ocean of data to the utilities about electricity consumption, but consumers have seen little advantage.

Reliant and TXU Energy can also use the smart meter data to send e-mail alerts to consumers when their electricity usage starts to balloon, along with recommendations on ways to conserve.

A thermostat equipped with wireless radio communications, however, can be configured remotely. TXU Energy offers thermostats that can be programmed from a smart phone.

Parks Associates said energy management systems independent of smart meters would outsell the utility plans for several more years. He estimated that wireless thermostats would grow into a $1.1 billion market by 2015, and that remote-control lighting systems would equal that market.

Speaker after speaker at the conference said the key to this market, however, is raising consumer awareness of the cost savings such systems can bring — without sacrificing comfort or demanding a lot of skill.

To view the full Dallas Morning News Article, click here.

Calico Energy Solution to Enable Chicago Suburb to Realize a City- wide, Energy-efficient Smart Grid

Calico Energy Services today announced it has executed contractual agreements with the City of Naperville, IL and its Department of Public Utility-Electric to deploy an advanced energy management platform.

As part of the City of Naperville’s smart grid deployment, Calico is providing their award-winning Energy Intelligence Suite™ (EIS) energy management platform and hardware from Schneider Electric. In addition, Calico’s platform connects to the city’s new Elster AMI meters.

Calico’s EIS™ platform gives Naperville’s Public Utility complete command-and-control over its smart grid data system, allowing the utility to manage demand, improve reliability, reduce costs, and quantify the impact of energy management programs through integrated analytics. The platform also gives utility customers the ability to view and control their energy use through energy management portals, on-premise displays, energy management devices, and electric vehicle charging (EV) systems.

Naperville’s smart grid program represents one of the broadest deployments of an integrated energy management platform at a municipality to date, and includes Calico’s EIS OpCenter™ for load control management, HomeSMART™ for home automation, BusinessSMART™ for small commercial automation, and EIS Mobile™ energy management module.

The combined solution helps automate the City’s electric, water, and natural gas systems, boost energy efficiency, and manage energy demand. In addition, residents will be able to purchase a variety of home automation devices through local retailers to manage their energy use, including: in-home displays, programmable/controllable thermostats, electricity load control devices, and on-premise electricity storage units. The complete smart grid solution is scheduled to be rolled out in Q3 2011.

The City’s smart grid project will empower customers with expanded choices about how they consume energy, education about how to conserve energy and automate savings, and the ability to view water, natural gas, and electricity usage and costs. The program will also ensure greater reliability of energy through demand response, and provide a variety of electricity rate structures that enable customer cost- savings. The combined technologies provided by Calico, Schneider Electric, and Elster will expand the City’s communications network by installing an Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) and smart meters, automating its distribution grid, and implementing Conservation Voltage Reduction (CVR) to increase power quality.

HomeGrid Forum speaking at 2011 Smart Energy Summit, Austin TX

The HomeGrid Forum, speaking at today’s Smart Energy Summit in Austin, Texas, unveiled an exciting and ambitious roadmap towards the widespread adoption of G.hn as the de facto standard in wired home networking.

Speaking at the Summit, the Forum’s co-Chair of Marketing, Chano Gomez, said that first deployments of G.hn products will occur during 2011 and the organization’s Compliance & Interoperability (C&I) Roadmap outlines a range of practical steps for service providers and equipment manufacturers. This roadmap includes the appointment of accredited test houses, the first interoperability plugfests, and the first shipments of certified products.

There have been also key developments in G.hnem – the ITU-T standard for energy management – during 2011, enabling cost-effective SmartGrid applications such as smart meters, smart appliances and advanced re-charging systems for electric vehicles. While participating in a panel on home gateways, Gomez said that consent of G.hnem is expected during the first quarter of 2011 by the United Nations International Telecommunications Union (ITU-T).

At the Summit, Gomez also said: “This past year showed a remarkable growth in interest in G.hn and G.hnem, and looking back, 2010 will be remembered as the year that home networking took off. HomeGrid Forum membership more than doubled during the year: a clear indicator of the growth of home networking and the value the industry is placing on G.hn and G.hnem as the technologies of choice for the next generation of home networking and Smart Grid applications.”

Gomez is Director of Business Development at Lantiq North America and has more than 10 years of experience in home networking and SmartGrid applications semiconductor industry, with a special focus on powerline communications for voice, video and data transmission. Since 2008, Chano has been actively involved in the development of ITU-T standards G.9960 and G.9961 (G.hn). He currently serves as co-chair of HomeGrid Forum Marketing Working Group, and previously as chair of the HomeGrid Forum G.hn Contributions Working Group.

PassivSystems: consumer needs must be at the heart of any smart energy solutions

PassivSystems, the UK smart home technology firm, has called on businesses attending the Smart Energy Summit in Austin, Texas to ensure that consumer energy efficiency needs are at the top of the agenda during the summit, January 24-26.

Smart meter roll-outs have been hit by controversy in California, Australia and Holland over the past 12 months. The UK plans to install smart meters in every home by 2020 at the latest, yet the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has stated smart meters will be able to reduce energy usage by just two to three per cent.

Speaking ahead of the summit, PassivSystems CEO Colin Calder said that the recent backlash against smart meters was primarily due to those smart meters being rolled out without due consideration of consumer needs.

“We’ve seen several examples of late where consumers have rejected smart meters and that’s not something that surprises me. Smart meters only facilitate more accurate billing and are a solution for utilities, not consumers. Even used in conjunction with an in-home energy monitor they offer only short-term value for consumers and short-term energy reduction.”

PassivSystems launched its home energy management solution PassivEnergy in 2010, a product that intuitively learns a household’s energy requirements to automate energy use in the home. It focuses on heating and hot water and can also integrate the management and monitoring of renewable energy on the same platform as legacy systems.

It was designed with consumer needs at its heart, so is very straight forward to use. The user simply tells the system their occupancy status - whether they are in, out, asleep or on holiday - and PassivEnergy looks after the rest, providing exactly the required amount of hot water and heat for that status. Early results have seen a 25 per cent reduction in household energy use.

“Saving up to a quarter on your energy bill is a significant saving and we’ve seen a huge consumer demand for PassivEnergy,” concluded Colin Calder. “It works because it fits so seamlessly with people’s lives and effectively manages their energy for them, valued qualities as people’s lives are so busy.”

“As the debate moves from smart metering to the smart grid, the energy industry needs to make sure consumers become more of a focus or the enormous global investment in smart energy technology could be wasted, as would appear to be the case with some of the smart metering roll-outs.”

For more information about PassivSystems, please click here

-- Content submitted by PassivSystems

Power cord lights up as electricity flows

Here's one of electricity's dirty little secrets: You can't see it moving, so it's hard to know when you're wasting a bunch of it. Think about the "vampire electronics" in your kitchen -- all of those blenders, coffee pots, toasters and toaster ovens that are sucking down power simply because they're plugged into an outlet.These electronics gobble an estimated 5% to 10% of all the electricity used in U.S. homes, according to the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. But what if you could see your money going down the drain? Would visualizing power use help you save energy?

That's one possible effect of a new smartphone charger from Dexim. When electricity is flowing down the charger's cord, blue lights travel down the cord, too, letting users see the energy that's needed to charge their smartphones. The lights zip down the cord more quickly when the phone is almost out of juice, since more electricity is needed.

The charger, which only works with Apple devices such as the iPhone and iPod, is expected to be available for $40 in February. It will be sold on Amazon.com and on Dexim's website.

For the complete article, please click here.

Panamax/Furman Becomes the Newest Smart Energy Summit Sponsor

Parks Associates wecomes Panamax/Furman as the newest sponsor of the 2011 Smart Energy Summit in Austin, TX.

Panamax/Furman’s BlueBOLT® technology provides an integrated hardware/cloud-based software solution for power and energy management of home electronics. With BlueBOLT, users can monitor energy usage, define budgets and alerts, control power to electronics in real time, and schedule conservation to eliminate energy waste when electronics are not in use.

For more information, visit www.mybluebolt.com.

Control4 Selected to Deploy Home Energy Management Solution

Control4, a leader in affordable IP-based home control systems, announced that they have been chosen by AEP Ohio, a unit of American Electric Power, to pilot customer experiences with home energy management.

The selection of Control4 is part of AEP Ohio's gridSMART® Demonstration Project, funded in part by a Smart Grid Demonstration Grant from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The $150 million project is being deployed in northeast central Ohio. The project is designed to demonstrate the full benefits of installing a comprehensive distribution smart grid for consumers and the utility and includes approximately 110,000 advanced electricity meters, new distribution grid technology, distributed energy sources, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, smart appliances, and consumer systems and products to help customers manage electricity use and costs.

Control4’s in-home devices will increase awareness of the cost and impact of energy consumption for AEP Ohio customers. AEP Ohio plans to implement the Control4® Energy Management System (EMS 100) solution, equipping a select group of 1,000 customers with Control4® EC-100 energy controllers; 200 of those customers will also be able to use the EC-100 for automated load control via Control4® WT-100 thermostats. Beyond basic feedback of daily electricity use or cost, AEP Ohio consumers with Control4 devices will be given more ways to engage in home energy management with features like HAN management, automated device control, and the delivery of utility signals over broadband to trigger energy use decisions and actions in the home.


For the complete article, please click here.

Sponsors for three-day Energy Summit represent market diversity as cloud-based services expand energy management field

Consumer interest in energy-saving solutions will help push the number of households with remote monitoring and control to over 14 million by 2015, with security system and broadband service providers joining utilities in this market.

Parks Associates, a leader in the consumer energy market research space, will host the 2nd Annual Smart Energy Summit: Engaging the Consumer, in Austin, January 24-26, which will feature a diverse list of utilities, solution developers, and technology companies as sponsors.

AlertMe provides simple and affordable home energy management and connected home services directly to consumers and through channel partners.

Broadcom Corporation is a major technology innovator and global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications.

Direct Energy is one of North America’s largest energy and energy-related services providers with over 6 million residential and commercial customer relationships.

DMN3 is a marketing firm founded in 1992 and delivers value to clients by focusing on three industries -- energy, financial and healthcare.

ecobee delivers intelligent conservation solutions for real people. The company is building its product platform around The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System.

The GreenWave Reality platform creates smart energy- efficient homes through the monitoring and controlling of devices. This system benefits both utilities and consumers.

HomeGrid Forum is a global, non-profit trade group promoting the International Telecommunication Union’s G.hn standardization efforts for next-generation wired home networking and Smart Grid applications.

The HomePlug Powerline Alliance is the leading industry association for powerline networking with more than 70 member companies and more than 200 HomePlug-certified devices.

Ingersoll Rand Residential Solutions, a business comprised of well-known brands like Schlage and Trane, delivers safety, comfort and efficiency to homeowners throughout North America.

Motorola Mobility now offers the 4Home software platform, an exciting new way to expand your service offerings for Home Control, Home and Health Monitoring and Energy Management.

NextEnergy is a solar PV contractor with over 30 years experience demonstrating innovation in home energy management.

Panamax/Furman’s BlueBOLT® technology provides an integrated hardware/cloud-based software solution for power and energy management of home electronics.

Reliant Energy provides electricity and energy services to more than 1.5 million retail customers—including homes, small and large businesses, manufacturing facilities, government entities and institutions across Texas.

The Z-Wave Alliance is an open consortium of over 160 industry-leading manufacturers who create products and services to provide advanced yet practical solutions for energy savings, comfort and convenience, safety and security in the residential market based on Z-Wave, the standard in wireless home control.

Visit www.smartenergysummit2011.com for information.

Motorola Mobility's 4Home Solution Becomes the Newest Smart Energy Summit Sponsor

Parks Associates would like to introduce the newest sponsor for the Smart Energy Summit 2011, Motorola Mobility's 4Home Solution.

Motorola Mobility now offers the 4Home software platform, an exciting new way to expand your service offerings for Home Control, Home and Health Monitoring and Energy Management. With 4Home, your customers can now simplify their lives efficiently and affordably by:
• Analyzing and optimizing energy consumption
• Monitoring and securing their residence
• Managing personal health
• Controlling climate systems, lighting and appliances

To learn more about the 4Home Solution, please click here.

Smart Grid Consumer Collaborative Grows to 50 Members

Five new members of the Smart Grid Consumer Collaborative (SGCC) put the nonprofit over its goal of fifty members in its first year. The group, which last week announced its first permanent executive director in Patty Durand, continues to gain momentum with these new members:

•San Diego Gas & Electric is one of the nation’s largest public electric utilities.

•The Alliance to Save Energy, the Natural Resources Defense Council, Green DMV, and the Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance are environmental and consumer advocacy groups.

•Vertex Business Services is a business process outsourcing and IT services company which promotes improved customer experience.

The SGCC is a consumer focused non-profit organization aiming to promote the understanding and benefits of modernized electrical systems among all stakeholders in the United States. Membership is open to all consumer and environmental advocates, technology vendors, research scientists, and electric utilities for sharing in research, best practices, and collaborative efforts of the group.

For the complete article, please click here.

New consumer research at Smart Energy Summit Workshop, including panel discussion with Austin Energy, TXU, Motorola Mobility, and Ingersoll Rand

Parks Associates, a leader in the consumer energy market research space, will host the 2nd Annual Smart Energy Summit: Engaging the Consumer, in Austin, January 24-26, 2011, to analyze the growing energy management market.

Utilities will be slow to ramp up their home area network efforts, reaching a mere 5% of U.S. homes by 2015, but they will deploy rapidly beyond that point, reaching nearly 40% by 2022. The energy management market will encompass a unique blend of utility deployments and independent solutions from a variety of players, and we look forward to hosting over 150 industry leaders at Smart Energy Summit to discuss new strategies and opportunities.

Parks Associates will present new research findings and strategic recommendations at a half-day workshop prior to the Summit, Monday, January 24. The workshop, “Energy: Consumer Demand and New Business Models,” will include an interactive session "Emerging Business Models – Alternative Approaches," with panelists from Austin Energy, TXU Energy, Motorola Mobility, and Ingersoll Rand.

The Smart Energy Summit features an incredible line-up of speakers, including keynotes from Grid Net, IBM, and NIST, who provide research, business, and regulatory expertise in analyzing the benefits of smart grid technologies and key strategies to engage consumers.

Smart Energy Summit is the premier event examining business opportunities and technical challenges as smart grid technologies move into the home.

Visit www.smartenergysummit2011.com for more information.

Control4 and Silver Spring Networks Announce Strategic Reseller Agreement

Control4, a leader in affordable IP-based home control systems, announced the signing of a strategic reselling agreement with Silver Spring Networks, a leading Smart Grid solutions provider. Together, they now offer a Home Area Network (HAN) solution interoperable with utility Smart Grid and Demand Response systems.

By offering the Control4® Energy Management System (EMS) 100, Silver Spring extends its Demand Response solution to deliver an engaging in-home experience, exchanging up-to-the minute consumption data between customer and utility and providing intelligent automation and control of smart devices throughout the house. The combined solution incorporates Silver Spring’s Advanced Metering, UtilityIQ and CustomerIQ applications with Control4® ADVANTAGE software, Control4® EC-100 Energy Controllers, and Control4® WT-100 wireless programmable thermostats, providing a comprehensive solution set for utilities of all sizes.

The EC-100 is one of the several ways that Control4 addresses energy management in the home. Control4’s energy solutions span from energy management applications in the 4Store to utility driven deployments of the EC-100, offering consumers a variety of cost effective, energy saving options.

For the complete article, please click here.

Smart Energy Summit examines opportunities in energy management for utilities, service and security providers, retailers, and CE manufacturers

Parks Associates announced the list of speakers for its upcoming Smart Energy Summit: Engaging the Consumer, January 24-26, Austin, Texas.

Parks Associates will also host a special pre-show workshop on January 24, Energy: Consumer Demand and New Business Models, which will feature a special speaker session "Emerging Business Models – Alternative Approaches."

John Heflin Baker, Jr., Chief Strategy Officer, Austin Energy

Utz Baldwin, CEO, CEDIA

David Bercovich, Vice President, Business Development, AlertMe

Kris Bowring, Sr. Director, Emerging Business, Best Buy

Eric Bruno, Senior Vice President Consumer Product Management & Development, Verizon

Scott Burns, Manager, Smart Energy Product Management, Reliant Energy

Colin Calder, CEO, PassivSystems

Gavin Cato, Director of Strategic Alliances, Elster Solutions

Al Choperena, President, SimpleHomeNet, Inc.

Brian Dawson, CEO, Calico Energy

Christopher Deutschen, Senior Manager, Direct Energy

Greg Ennis, Technical Director, Wi-Fi Alliance

Sheri Givens, Public Counsel, Texas Office of Public Utility Counsel

Chano Gomez, Director of Business Development, Lantiq North America, Inc representing Homegrid Forum

David Hennekes, Vice President, Residential Markets, TXU Energy

Randy Kauffman, President, NextEnergy

Mark Komanecky, Vice President of Sales & Marketing, Eragy

John Lacour, COO, DMN3

Stuart Lombard, President and CEO, ecobee

Steve Malnight, Vice President of Integrated Demand Side Management, PG&E

Andy Melder, Powerline Marketing, Broadcom

Greg Memo, CEO, GreenWave Reality

Bill Muston, Manager, Research & Development, Oncor Electric Delivery Company LLC

Ivan O'Neill, Strategic Alliance Manager, Southern California Edison

Roy Perry, Director, Technology Integration, CableLabs

Rob Ranck, President, HomePlug Powerline Alliance

Steve Samolinski, Director of Solution Management for Connected Home Solutions, Ingersoll Rand

Bill Scheffler, Senior Director of North American Business Development, Z-Wave Alliance

JT Thompson, Utility Sales Leader, GE Appliances and Lighting

Kenneth Wacks, Member, GridWise Architecture Council, U.S. Department of Energy

Steve Widergren, Principal Engineer, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Visit www.smartenergysummit2011.com for information.