Energy Management

The entire energy sector eyes are on Hawaii’s second largest island of Maui.  The island's electricity provider Maui Electric Company (MECO) and the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute at the University of Hawaii (HNEI) said they want to reduce their dependency on imported Diesel Oil.  Currently 15 percent of the island’s electricity is generated by renewable energy and they have set themselves an ambitious target of increasing this number to 70 percent by the year 2030. Therefore, Maui Island has become a test bed for the latest in smart grid technologies under a Japanese-businesses and US joint partnership. Read more »

The Portuguese are building a city that has never been see or built before, except in the minds of the designers.  A place where the environment feeds off us and wee feed off it. Through the use of the Urban Operating System (UOS^tm) the physical structure will be fitted with embedded sensor technology that allows it to manage it resources based on feeds it gets from us and the other systems, such as other machines and the atmosphere. Read more »

For a while Google and Microsoft were encouraging utilities and consumer to get connected through their solutions to learn more about their energy use.  Google launched the Google PowerMeter through it iGoogle platform, Microsoft launched Microsoft Hohm and Cisco launched the Home Energy Controller gadgets and software. They all promised information at our finger tips so we can make more informed decisions on how we use our home energy. Read more »

While much of the smart grid development in Europe mirrors programs underway in North America and other parts of the globe, there are important differences in priorities and emphasis. In particular, aggressive goals for energy efficiency and carbon emissions reductions are major drivers for smart grid and smart meter deployments in Europe. Over the next five to 10 years, these deployments will be closely linked with the achievement of 2020 carbon reduction goals in the European Union. Read more »

Sensinode an embedded applications and web service vendor has released two reference applications for machine-to-machine (M2M) solutions developers.  Finnish based Sensinode said the two reference applications; one for the connected home and the other for commercial lighting will help M2M solutions vendors to develop and deploy their solutions faster. The Connected Home application supports automated monitoring and control of electric and electronic devices for energy savings, safety and security. Read more »

The Smart Grid Consumer Collaborative (SGCC) has found out in a survey of US citizens that consumers weigh society and personal benefits equally when considering Smart Grid technologies.  Market Strategies gathered the findings from the latest Consumer Pulse survey conduct for the SGCC between August and September this year. Read more »

For its new range of wireless and home automation products Panasonic has selected Dialog’s DECT  ULE (ultra low energy) Technology.  Its modules are the industry's first commercially available DECT ULE devices.  The DECT  ULE platform forms the core of Dialog's newly introduced SmartPulse wireless sensor network devices. Read more »

GE has announced the start of another phase in its "GE Ecomagination Challenge" initiative. Yesterday they and a group venture capital partners launched the second round of funding, titled the "Powering Your Home" phase, where they will be investing up to $63 million in 10 innovative home energy technology companies. Seen as one the Largest open innovation challenge of its kind, so far it has approximately 5,000 submissions from 74,000 innovators. Read more »

The Tianjin Eco-City project in China has selected GreenWave to provide the home energy management solution. The project called "The Elegance" is a joint venture between Philippines' Ayala Land and Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City Investment and Development. The GreenWave Reality platform will be implemented to give residents of this modern housing community automation at their fingertips. Read more »

Semitech Semiconductor Powerline communication SoC (System-0n-Chip) solution has been selected by GK Smart Energy for European Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) deployment. The Semitech SM6401 chipset will be integrated into the GK Smart Energy Solutions AMI platform, which allows operators to remotely manage smart meters, street lights and connected machines. Read more »