Whenever I speak to an audience about the burgeoning opportunities in clean energy, I’m careful not to overlook the analytics segment. The global EAUA market (energy analytics and utility analytics market, meaning solar analytics, oil & gas analytics, water analytics, and waste analytics), which, according to Global Energy World, is estimated to (more…)

In the last month several green patent complaints were filed in the fields of LEDs, advanced batteries and smart grid.

LEDs

Bayco Products, Inc. v. Philips Intellectual Property & Standards (more…)

Here’s some good news: U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Ron Wyden is a huge supporter of smart grid. In fact, he recently promised to do everything he can to move the government’s “clumsy … machinery” to make the U.S. electric grid a smart grid. (more…)

As I’ve written a few times in the recent past, I believe that we have the proverbial cart before the horse when it comes to smart grid. We tend to think of this concept as “futuristic,” like flying cars, when, in fact, it’s what underpins the transition the world is making right now in the direction of energy efficiency, conservation, and renewables. (more…)

The energy efficiency industry received a nice boost this week during President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address. Obama called for cutting energy use by half over the next 20 years.

Such attention comes at a significant point in the history of the energy efficiency movement. It appears (more…)

Events unfolding in two US Northeast states – New York and Massachusetts – signal increased business opportunity for energy efficiency companies, green architects, lighting contractors, smart grid innovators and others in the business of saving energy.

First, the energy efficiency world should keep an eye (more…)

Advanced meters are the most visible component of recent smart grid deployments, dominating much public and media attention. However, industry members recognize even greater opportunities and imperatives for modernizing distribution infrastructure and operations further up the line. Distribution automation (DA) is a hot topic in the utility industry, encompassing (more…)

It’s easy for those of us who ‘talk’ energy every day to forget that we operate in a bubble. Outside the bubble the average household is at best vaguely aware of the enormous technology revolution about to change the way each of us uses electricity.

Two recent studies provide some insight into how little (more…)

With the relationship between utilities and their customers changing in unprecedented ways, new companies are deploying vast amounts of data and social psychology techniques to try to persuade people to use less electricity in their homes.

Visit the website of Opower and your eye will be (more…)

Here’s an article that points to a controversy about smart grid, i.e., about the concept of two-way communication between the electric generation plant and the customer, and the application of intelligence to flow of information. Apparently, someone is alleging that the money spent in the arena has been misspent, that smart grid won’t improve grid reliability, etc. (more…)