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Two scientific papers published in the September issue of the publication Building Research and Information showed the technology alone is not enough to deliver significant domestic energy savings.
In her paper, Sarah Darby at the Environmental Change Institute at the University of Oxford examined how householders used feedback on their energy consumption with and without smart meters. She found that a reduction in energy demand "did not flow naturally from improved billing information."
The worldwide installed base of smart electricity meters will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 31.1 percent between 2009 and 2015 to reach 302.5 million at the end of the period.
During the next five years, penetration rates for smart metering technology are projected to increase from around 15–20 percent today to nearly 50 percent in Europe and North America, while Asia-Pacific is projected to soar from less than 1 percent to 25 percent by 2015.
At an event today at Battelle headquarters in Columbus, Ohio, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced that two million smart grid meters have been installed across the country.
As a result of funding from the Recovery Act, smart grid technology is speeding the modernization of the nation’s electrical grid, helping to reduce the amount of time needed to respond to energy disruptions and enable consumers to monitor their energy consumption and costs.
An investigation into Pacific Gas and Electric Co.'s SmartMeters has found that the residential meters being installed in millions of California homes are "consistent with industry standards and performing accurately."
But the report, released Thursday by the California Public Utilities Commission, blasted PG&E for its defensive customer service culture. Independent investigators found that the San Francisco-based utility did not adequately address customer complaints and concerns about the new technology, which is designed to give consumers more up-to-date data on their energy use.
It found that customers were "consistently treated by PG&E as wrong, until the customer proved to PG&E that they were right," and noted a lack of professionalism among front-line customer service representatives.
In a rush to take advantage of U.S. stimulus money, utilities are quickly deploying thousands of smart meters to homes each day--smart meters that experts say could easily be hacked.
newcomer Arch Rock, which has been selling wireless network products for data centers and buildings for the past five years, and on Monday morning plans to announce its first smart grid wireless network product based completely on open standards.
Arch Rock’s network product, dubbed “PhyNet-Grid,” is designed to connect smart meters to the utility back office using wireless mesh technology
Summary of the smart meter roll-out in California
Italian utility Enel has partnered with Spain’s Endesa to create Meters and More Looks to Create Global Standards, a non-profit association formed to promote the deployment of Smart Meters and achieve standard pan-European Smart Metering solutions. Later this year Endesa will begin installing new meters for all its 13 million customers using the Meters and More protocol, which allows for bidirectional data transfer between smart meters and central billing systems in an advanced SmartMeter environment. "
With many states projecting that they’ll face water shortages in the coming years, smart water meters that provide real-time data on water use can help conserve dwindling supplies.
Traditionally, consumers receive monthly or quarterly water bills, long after the resource has disappeared down the drain. If a smart meter could give real-time information on water use through an in-home video display, the hope is that consumers will curb their consumption when they see, for example, just how many gallons that long shower squanders.
Water districts, on the other hand, can tap such information to detect leaks and other problems and quickly make repairs.
And yet, 64 percent of 300 water districts surveyed in Canada and the United States have no plans to roll out a smart meter program, according to a study by Oracle, the business software company.
GE will partner with the Chinese city of Yangzhou to build a smart grid demonstration center, the company announced Friday.
GE says the initial demonstration phase -- which will include wireless-enabled smart meters, home energy management systems and smart appliances set up in a 100,000-square-foot lab -- is designed to showcase how GE technologies can "help China improve the reliability, efficiency and carbon footprint of its energy delivery."
Trilliant, provider of communications infrastructure used to beam energy consumption data between so-called smart meters, utilities and their customers, announced today that it is partnering with automation company ABB to make sure their technologies can talk to one another. This type of interoperability is one of the major issues impacting how and how fast the Smart Grid — a cleaner, more efficient electrical grid — takes hold in the U.S.
Silver Spring Networks, a startup that provides IP-based networks and advanced wireless meters to utilities and their customers, just announced that it is acquiring Greenbox Technology, a maker of monitor displays that show homeowners how much energy they are using and how much it is costing them. This extends Silver Spring’s lead over the competition as it eyes an increasingly likely IPO.
In addition to generous funding, Silver Spring also enjoys high-profile utility partnerships with Pepco, Pacific Gas & Electric, Florida Power & Light, Commonwealth Edison and the Sacramento Municipal Utility District — accounting for 25 percent of the U.S. population. It also has a substantial presence in Australia and is rolling out new utility deals every day.
Elster is one of the largest companies making smart meters that wirelessly beam energy consumption data between utilities and their customers — making them an integral player in the development of the cleaner, more efficient Smart Grid. The Raleigh, N.C. company had a big news day today, announcing partnerships with Blue Line Innovations, maker of monitor displays showing homeowners how much energy they are using, and Augusta Systems, provider of technology that ties together devices like meters and the networks they use to transmit information.
Pacific Gas and Electric announced today that it’s partnering with the city of San Jose, Calif., to deploy a major project integrating smart meters provided by the utility with the city’s well-developed solar energy infrastructure.
Intel Corp's global investment arm Intel Capital is actively looking at additional investments in cleantech companies and could announce more deals this year, a senior executive said on Wednesday.
"We are actively looking at companies," said Steve Eichenlaub, head of Intel Capital's cleantech investments.
"In this environment where a lot of venture capitalists had to pull back, for whatever reason, ... we are seeing more companies come our way as our doors are open," he added.
Intel Capital said earlier on Wednesday that it has invested about $10 million in five cleantech companies, including energy efficiency company CPower and Grid Net, which builds software for smart meters.
Smart meter pilot programs are being rolled out by many utilities - this will help demand response for utilities
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