The US needs more consistent and up-to-date ways to identify “cyber assets” that could be vulnerable to attacks on the nation’s energy grid, according to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The agency has recommended the the electric industry and the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) revise current
smart metering
The utility company RheinEnergie plans to use Cuculus’ ZONOS platform to support its rollout of 30,000 smart meters, one of the largest-yet deployments in Germany. RheinEnergie has worked with Cuculus since first adopting the ZONOS platform for a 3,000-meter smart-metering pilot in 2009. The pilot was aimed at
energy management
Constellation Energy’s latest version of its online energy management application for commercial customers is also available as an app for the iPhone and iPad. VirtuWatt 3.0 provides commercial customers with minute-to-minute meter telemetry, real-time pricing information, marketplace bidding capabilities and automated energy reduction strategies. It also lets users
energy management
Silver Spring Networks has released a new energy monitoring platform that lets utilities provide customers with daily insights into their consumption patterns even if they don’t yet have a smart meter installed. The CustomerIQ2.0 platform is designed for both residential and commercial utility customers. “Utilities no longer have
What sorts of benefits boost support for smart meters and smart-grid technologies? A consumer survey finds that saving money, reducing wasted energy and promoting greater US energy independence rank at the top of the list. The survey of 1,200 residential consumers, conducted for the Smart Grid Consumer Collaborative (SGCC)
sustainability
Countries in the Asia-Pacific region plan to keep working to make their transportation systems more energy efficient while making efforts to reduce existing fossil fuel subsidies. Those goals were among the topics discussed by energy and transportation ministers from 21 countries during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) gathering taking place
grid
A new energy infrastructure will need a new type of pylon — or electricity tower — to transmit that power to homes and businesses, and the UK is trying to decide what those pylons will look like. Since launching a pylon design contest earlier this year, the Royal Institute of British Architects
information and communication technologies
GE Energy has released a new portfolio of systems aimed at telecoms seeking to cut their energy use and expenses. The Retrofit Power Systems are designed to help carriers cost-effectively meet their sustainability goals by reducing telecom power consumption and cooling costs. “While the promise of reducing energy loss by
utilities
Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn this week vetoed a measure that would have raised billions for utility companies seeking to update the state’s electricity grid. Senate Bill 1652 would have allowed Illinois utility companies to impose annual, automatic rate hikes for the next decade to pay for grid improvements. Quinn
demand response
Canada’s Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO) plans to use EnerNOC’s DemandSMART application to implement 150 megawatts (MW) of automated demand response. The program will allow participating industries to automatically reduce their electricity consumption when the grid is stressed, and earn payments for doing so. By using DemandSMART in
economy
Senior officials with the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) are meeting in San Francisco this week to discuss a variety of sustainability challenges facing their region, including energy, transport, anticorruption measures and women in the economy. A conference on transportation and energy is set for the gathering today, to be
social media
Simple Energy, a company that uses social gaming to encourage energy efficiency, is using Tendril’s Connect platform to help utilities engage customers in saving energy through online play. San Diego Gas & Electric is already offering Simple Energy’s application via Tendril Connect as part of the Biggest Energy
