smart buildings
What makes a smart building? Efficiency and minimal waste are critical, but it takes more than just green construction materials to achieve that. Really smart buildings have to be networked and automated to the max. Here, then, are five of the world’s smartest buildings (and it’s interesting to
energy security
How do you transform the energy system of a nation of 300 million people? The US Department of Energy (DOE) has outlined a strategic plan to help the country catch up with — and, it hopes, leap past — other parts of the world now leading in the clean-energy development race. The
solar energy
How can you encourage the growth of solar energy in communities where, say, many of the residents are renters who can’t put up their own solar panels? Across the US, more and more utility companies are finding the answer lies with community solar programs. These programs let customers buy
grid monitoring
Power plants and end-user buildings aren’t the only spots where utilities need to monitor energy flow and quality for reliable electricity service. The more electric companies know about what’s happening at points throughout the transmission and distribution systems, the smarter and more secure they can make the grid.
efficiency
In a perfect world, we’d pursue any technological advancement and scientific achievement worth pursuing, no matter what the cost. But we can’t afford that attitude in today’s far-less-than-perfect society. The US Fed and the Bank of England, among other institutions practicing quantitative easing, can’t continue to
analytics
More and more, technology companies are realising “there’s gold in them thar data” … as in all the data that is being, or will be, generated by smart meters and other sensors deployed across the future smart grid. Just look at all the data-related products and services targeting utilities: data
smart metering
Here’s a refreshing development in the world of smart metering rollouts: a pledge by a utility to not only deploy AMI (advanced metering infrastructure) on a large scale, but to actually try and make the process as user-friendly for customers as possible. For both those actions — committing to the
high concentration photovoltaics
Around this time next year, energy customers in Colorado will be getting some of their electricity from a new type of solar-energy facility: the largest — and first utility-scale — high concentration solar photovoltaic (HCPV) plant in the world. The Alamosa Solar Generating Project, which will be located near the south-central Colorado
smart metering
Despite continued opposition by some in the public (and in government as well), cities across the US continue to roll out smart meters and other improvements aimed at reducing energy consumption, cutting carbon emissions and smoothing out grid-stressing peaks and troughs in electricity demand. The latest to come on board
renewables
With the help of the right public policies, the world could get most — close to 80 per cent — of the energy it needs from renewable sources by mid-century, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). A new IPCC report, backed with findings from more than 120 researchers, finds
When one hand giveth and the other taketh away, it’s never a good thing. But how will the giving and taking going on today affect our chances for a clean and stable energy future? You’d be right to cheer the fact that efficiency- and sustainability-focused efforts continue on
big data
You know it and we know it … for all the excitement surrounding virtualisation and “the cloud,” there will always be a need for physical data storage somewhere. And when you’re talking smart grids and “big data,” that physical storage better have some serious capacity. IBM knows that too. And
