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This article first appeared as a featured post on Greenwala. If you're unaware or confused by the 'Smart Grid', then you're in good company.  A recent poll from Harris Interactive concluded that consumers have little awareness of smart grid or smart meters.  With billions in stimulus cash and private investment dollars being funneled into improving the intelligence and reliability of our nation's electrical grid, this is s     Read More...

In my previous post (See More E-bills, Please) I discussed some reasons to think about converting more of the paper statements we receive by (snail) mail to an e-bill format, and what utilities can do to increase their e-bill adoption rates. Here, we’ll take it a step further and address some of the other unwanted mail delivered to our homes. When was the last time you let your fingers do the walking? If you enjoy thumbing through the Yellow Pages and you’re aware that 99% of this information is available online, then carry on. However, if you’re like me     Read More...

“Raise your hand if you receive your utility bill by email.” This was an ad-hoc survey posed by Linda Jackman, VP of Product Management for Oracle's Utilities Division, to an audience of smart grid enthusiasts at a recent industry conference. I believe the show of hands from this ‘smart’ audience was less than half. I happened to be in the group that raised their hands, but more importantly, the question to the audience immediately reminded me that the smart grid hoopla must be balanced by the objectives of our investments. Investments in smart grid technologies offers many benefits which include the potential to better manage our energy usage, lower our energy bills, reduce our c     Read More...

If there’s a large market, you can bet that Google will be there if it isn’t already. Today, Google launched its own Android Smartphone called Nexus One.  Google recently turned the mapping/GIS industry on its head when it announced that it was going to provide its maps with turn-by-turn directions for free. Most people have to pay for GPS functionality.  It has also quietly upped the ante on its geolocation game with the launch of Latitude and Favorite Places.  There will be plenty more w     Read More...

Now that utilities have access to the gear necessary to deploy smart grid technologies in the tens of millions this year, one of the remaining burning questions is how to improve dialogue with customers and develop more meaningful relationships. This topic warrants discussing a couple factors that will help shape the dialogue that can lead to those meaningful relationships: - How should we engage customers (by what means)? - What should we talk about? How should we engage customers? Energy Management Displays, Web Based Applications, Mobile Applications One of the relevant concerns that has emerged in the rollout of smart meters, is the incongruous deployment of energy management displays and other complementary smart devices. Along with providing highly convenient access to the real-time energy consumption data that can affect positive change, these tools can also be used in various ways to readily engage customers. These devices certainly add another cos     Read More...

Ten years ago, when the clock struck midnight on 1/1/00, nothing happened... At one time, the world expected everything from airplanes to cardiac monitors to stop functioning.  This doomsday vision was referred to as Y2K - a computer bug that had the potential to disrupt all life upon the arrival of the new century. Achieving 21st century global consensus and cooperation will require more effort and creativity. Slate technology columnist, Farhad Manjoo, has garnered some recent attention for suggesting that we can learn something from Y2K.  Mr. Manjoo makes a reasonable assertion that we averted a potential crisis in Y2K because we achieved global consensus and cooperation. Over the past decade, the rest of the world grew up.  The United States is no longer the biggest kid on the block.  We’ve been humbled by financial busts, terrorism, natural disaster, prolonged wars, and th     Read More...

A while back I wrote of the public backlash against PG&E’s smart meter deployments in Bakersfield, CA (see Incident in Bakersfield). Since that time a lawsuit has been filed against the utility. As a result, PG&E has slowed their pace of smart meter deployments in Bakersfield, however they maintain that the new meters have been working correctly. Moreover, it was the combination of approved price hikes over the past year and a longer, hotter summer that lead to the higher electric bills. Central to the educational shortcomings of PG&E’s smart meter deployment program are the lack of tools and incentives for customers to stay knowledgeable about their energy usage, particularly once they have real-time energy usage data via the smart meter. The smart meter is the first and most essential component of a true smart grid enabled home. The advantage to PG&E’s rapid deployment strategy (12,0     Read More...

I was discussing energy conservation with a friend recently. I posited that over time people would need to adopt a new mindset. Example: Instead of my wife telling me repeatedly to turn off the lights after I leave a room, eventually it will be ingrained in my mind to consistently do this on my own. My friend challenged me on this concept and I’m glad she did. Even though I am proof that it is possible to become “much better” about turning off the lights, her position was that you shouldn't have to remember. “The lights should just turn off automatically when you leave the room.” She was right. But in fact, both these scenarios are going to play out over time. Knowledge is Power Numerous utilities are pointing to early data suggesting that consumers will reduce their energy consumption simply by understanding how much electricity they are actually using. This basic ‘knowledge is power’ argument does hold water and will materialize in two residentia     Read More...

A friend of mine showed me an interesting piece of mail he received recently. It was a traffic violation ticket! A few weeks earlier, he got tripped up in a red light on New York City’s West Side Highway (not that hard to do if you’ve ever driven it). Sure enough, a camera snapped a photo of his license plate, routed the information to the appropriate city department, and issued him a ticket by mail. Given all the comparisons of our nation’s electrical grid to our vast system of roads and highways, I couldn’t help but think about the factors that made this ticket so noteworthy. For one, there was some novelty in getting a ticket by mail because of a hidden camera. The ticket was also costly. Finally, it was unexpected. Utilities are not planning on installing cameras outside your home, however they are investing billions in new technologies to monitor the health of the grid and the utilization of energy in real-time.     Read More...