networking
AT&T is offering utilities that buy its smart-grid products a pre-pay option that lets them cover their machine-to-machine (M2M) data expenses up to 10 years in advance. The option will help utility companies by letting them know in advance exactly what their smart-grid-related data costs are, according to
energy efficiency
The company behind the technology NASA is using to cut energy consumption at more than 75 data centers has closed on $13.5 million in funding led by ABB. Other investors in Power Assure, which provides energy management software for data centers, include Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Good Energies, and Judith
networking
Rather than building its own private communications network for a 1.8-million-customer smart-meter rollout across Michigan, Consumers Energy is opting for a cellular-based system. Its decision to deploy the system with SmartSynch makes it the largest utility yet in the US to choose cellular-based communications for a smart-grid deployment. Consumers
analytics
Utilities often find it hard to help commercial-building operators analyze and reduce their energy consumption, because on-site audits are costly and time-consuming. Using analytics to crunch building consumption data, on the other hand, could make it easier for energy companies to help commercial customers cut their electricity use and bills.
Energy
What’s it like to see smart-grid technology in action? A new demonstration center in Chicago features a variety of interactive exhibits showing how everything from self-healing technology to grid-integrated energy storage works. S&C Electric Company launched the Smart Grid Solutions Demonstration Center at its global headquarters as
photovoltaics
Petra Solar, a New Jersey-based cleantech company, has launched a new energy management platform aimed at utilities looking to deploy smart-grid applications. The IntelliView smart-energy platform provides analysis of smart-grid application data to enable remote command and control of large distributed energy systems. The system provides a dashboard that give
smart metering
Some 27 million smart electricity meters have been installed at households across the US so far, and 65 million — more than half of the country’s residences — will have advanced metering systems in place by 2015. That’s according to a new report from the Edison Foundation’s Institute for
carbon emissions
We’ve heard it before, but this time the message comes in the form of a joint statement from 11 of the world’s biggest engineering organizations: we already have all the technology we need to slash global greenhouse gas emissions by 85 percent by 2050. Released a month ahead
smart metering
Compared to the size of its economic output, Uzbekistan has one of the highest electricity consumption levels in the world. At the same time, though, the Central Asian nation also has an aging and hugely inefficient energy infrastructure. The Uzbek government and state-owned utility Uzbekenergo are hoping to change that
peak demand
GE and a power utility in Montana are teaming up with volunteer households to try and find the most effective and user-friendly ways to help people cut their energy costs. Under the two-year “FEC Peak Time” pilot program being run by GE Appliances & Lighting and the Flathead Electric Cooperative
Smart Grid
The streetlights in Norway’s capital city are on track to become a whole lot smarter, with networked controls that will enable targeted dimming to conserve energy, automatic switching and easier identification of problems and failures. The improvements were set in motion when Oslo officials approved a contract with the
energy storage
The name conjures up visions of a New Age musical group, but the project has a serious aim: to provide grid-connected solar power and energy storage that lets us use electricity generated by the sun … even after dark. Public Service Company of New Mexico — PNM, for short — has just brought
