Archive for the 'Smart Grid' Category

May 04 2010

Utilities, operators collaborate on electric grid efficiency project

A group of utilities and transmission systems operators affiliated with the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) are getting together to share information about “transmission efficiency.” The goal of the collaborative is to analyze performance data from different grid projects in order to come up with a common framework around costs, benefits and technical needs associated with [...]

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May 04 2010

Green innovation takes spotlight at upcoming light-tech show

Starting to hear some green tech buzz related to an upcoming commercial lighting show called Lightfair International. Given that many commercial building and facilities managers see lighting controls and advances as especially key to their energy efficiency goals, its little wonder that this is a focus for severa of the new products that I’ve heard [...]

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Apr 30 2010

Cisco’s Chambers talks up smart grid opportunity

Published by Heather Clancy under Smart Grid, green tech

Standards, security play to networking giant's core strengths.

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Apr 21 2010

Getting things together on the smart grid networking front

Worth noting that the IEEE P1901 Working Group – which is working on global standards for powerline networking – has given the thumbs-up to the current draft of the standard. A final version of the IEEE 1901 powerline networking standard should be available in the third quarter. This is a big victory for the HomePlug Powerline Alliance, [...]

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Apr 21 2010

SmartSynch, AuthenTec team up in strategic smart grid security relationship

Published by Heather Clancy under Smart Grid, green tech

You could probably see this one coming, but now it’s official: Smart grid infrastructure player SmartSynch has signed a deal with AuthenTec to add what it is calling “carrier-grade” open security standards to its product line. AuthenTec’s security — which covers everything from identity management to touch controls and biometrics — actually already is part of [...]

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Apr 20 2010

Smart grid backlash? Survey finds consumers leery of automated energy management plays

This one crossed my inbox this morning, but my colleague Larry Dignan was quicker on the uptake. He’s got an article over at SmartPlanet about a new survey released by Accenture. The high-level results, which represent the opinions of about 9,000 consumers from all over the world, indicate that many people are skeptical of technologies [...]

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Apr 14 2010

International Battery tests energy storage tech in Hawaii, Ohio

My quest to find companies working on renewable energy storage technology recently led me to International Battery, an Allentown, Pa., company that makes large-format rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. (With apologies to Billy Joel, I didn’t make it to Allentown in person, just a phone visit.) International Battery is worth watching because its technology is at the center [...]

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Apr 13 2010

Echelon charges up LonWorks energy management technology

One of the better-known technology players in smart buildings and energy management technology, Echelon, has updated its core networking and control platform, LonWorks. The LonWorks 2.0 updates are focused on several key areas, especially performance improvements and ease of installation. The latter focus, in particular, is intended to help cut deployment costs for the technology. Echelon [...]

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Apr 12 2010

Industrial Ethernet provider signs 5 partners in smart grid push

Climate controlled data centers are one thing, electrical substations thousands of miles from nowhere in hostile climates are another matter entirely. Which means the usual suspects might not, in reality, be the best suspects. That’s why Sixnet, a maker of industrial-strength Ethernet switches, is pushing hard to become a player in the burgeoning smart grid and [...]

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Apr 08 2010

Should smart meters be mandated federally? Group pushes for universal access

Published by Heather Clancy under Smart Grid, green tech

Good story on the BusinessGreen.com Web site this week about a push by the Climate Group in collaboration with Google and many of the big players in the smart meter business (ala GE, AT&T, Verizon, Intel and Hewlett-Packard) to lobby the federal government for what the article describes as universal smart meters. The argument by [...]

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