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.

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.

Comverge Strengthens Management Team With Addition of Energy Industry Veteran

Comverge, Inc., the leading provider of Intelligent Energy Management solutions for Residential and Commercial & Industrial customers, announced it has appointed Jeff Bladen as vice president of regulatory, markets and government affairs. Bladen has more than 15 years of management experience in the energy sector and before joining Comverge.

He joins Comverge during a very successful 2010. In August, the company announced a contract extension to support the TXU Energy iThermostat program through to 2012, which includes the installation of 100,000 residential and commercial energy management devices. Earlier in the year, Comverge signed a new agreement with PECO to install 145,000 residential and commercial energy management devices and also extended a long-standing and successful agreement with NV Energy to enable the industry's largest smart grid ready residential program.

In addition, Comverge secured more than $74 million in expected future contracted revenues in the PJM Interconnection market as a result of the 2013/2014 Reliability Pricing Model Base Residual Auction. The award extends Comverge's recent growth in the C+I market, following an increase of more than 456 megawatts (MW) under management in the first half of 2010.