Smart grid

There are three innovative technologies that will transform people's perception of clean energy and cause disruptive change in the industry, says NRG Energy CEO David Crane.

At the Cleantech Forum in San Francisco this week, Crane discussed those three innovations: smart meters, distributed-solar projects, and plug-in electric vehicles.

This video originally appeared on SmartPlanet with the headline "Three green technologies set to transform energy."

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Anonymous has so far plied its trade in "hactivist" exploits. But according to the director of the National Security Agency, it might soon turn its focus to U.S. infrastructure.

According to the Wall Street Journal, citing sources, Gen. Keith Alexander has said in private meetings at the White House and elsewhere that the U.S. must keep a close eye on Anonymous' growth. He reportedly warned that if the organization continues to gain power, it might even take down a part of the U.S. power grid within the next couple of years.

How serious might such … Read more

Sony is looking to revolutionize the inefficient way in which we consume power.

A new concept video from the electronics giant shows how we could use power more efficiently in the year 2030 by switching to smart outlets with authentication and wireless charging on a broad scale, assuming we survive the zombie Mayan apocalypse.

The prototype power outlet, integrated with a short-range wireless FeliCa transmitter (and a new RFID over power line technology), allows the user to swipe a pay card across the faceplate and pay for energy on the spot. What makes it truly interesting is if humankind keeps progressing towards alternative energies (such as wind, solar, and biomass), then our outlets could give us options as to what source from which we obtain our power. The video description notes that with this outlet, "the user can actively control and manage power consumption on a user basis as well as on a device basis." … Read more

The average consumer isn't likely to spend much effort managing home energy. Big power users in businesses, on the other hand, will go out of their way cut down on waste.

Start-up company Tenrehte, based near Rochester, New York, launched its PicoWatt smart outlet at CES two years ago, aiming to appeal to green-minded consumers. The idea is that a sub-$100 Wi-Fi-enabled smart outlet would transmit energy data to an online app which would let consumers save money by scheduling things to run at off-peak times.

Now two years later, Tenrehte has changed its focus to industrial and … Read more

A home full of "smart" devices that can communicate still needs apps to give people a reason to use them.

Grid upstart Tendril today opened up a developer site to encourage the creation of applications that do something interesting with energy-related information. Tendril had already published some of the APIs for its cloud-based platform in a closed beta, but it is now opening up the service to more developers and adding documentation.

The Tendril Connect platform provides some of the plumbing to collect energy consumption data and present it back to consumers on different devices, such as computers, … Read more

Energy heavyweight Siemens is buying some Silicon Valley software savvy to make sense of the smart grid.

Siemens Energy today announced that it has acquired San Mateo, Calif.-based eMeter and that its meter data software will be integrated into Siemens product line. Financial terms were not disclosed, and the deal is expected to close later this month.

eMeter's software is designed to collect data from two-way meters and feed it into utilities' back-end business systems. The venture capital-backed company is headed by former Oracle executive and Veritas CEO Gary Bloom.

By collecting data such as customer power consumption … Read more

The time has come for the U.S. government to focus a single agency's efforts on reinforcing the security of the electrical grid, MIT researchers said today in a wide-ranging report.

The issue, MIT's researchers say, is that the many stakeholders involved in maintaining the U.S. electrical grid aren't working together, even though "cybersecurity regulations for bulk power systems already exist in the form of the NERC Critical Infrastructure Protection reliability standards." For one, the researchers point out, those standards only apply to "the bulk power system and [do] not include the distribution … Read more

About 250 consumers in Maine have reported that smart meters cause interference with Internet routers and other electronics.

The Office of the Public Advocate, a state-authorized advocacy group for utility customers in Maine, reported last week that Central Maine Power customers have contacted the group about interference within their homes from smart meters. The utility has installed about 440,000 two-way meters that automatically report power outages and allow the utility to read meters remotely.

The smart meters use the unlicensed 2.4GHz frequency band. So if a Wi-Fi router or other device, such as a garage door opener, overlaps … Read more

Home energy management systems may finally be hitting the mainstream, thanks to lower-cost technology (think smartphones) and increased investment to develop the smart grid.

One such home energy system, from Energy Hub, was actually inspired by the Toyota Prius, according to CEO Seth Frader-Thompson. In this SmartPlanet video, Frader-Thompson explains the inspiration and offers a look at the Energy Hub device.

This video first appeared at SmartPlanet under the headline "Saving energy with a press of a button."