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Google, Microsoft Perk Up Consumer Smart Grid Market This content requires a paid GigaOM Pro subscription

Yello Strom's broadband-enabled smart meter is one example
of how the smart grid market is changing. Source: Yello Strom

This week, New Zealand's environmental agency warned that smart meters being rolled out by the nation's utilities aren't smart enough. The problem? The smart meters do a great job of communication with the utilities, but they don't talk to consumers' home devices. "Without HAN capability, the benefits from smart meters almost entirely accrue to the retailer," Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Jan Wright told 3News. "Consumers will end up paying for meters that provide them with minimal benefits." Earlier this year, I posed the question, "Will consumers win with the smart grid?" and pointed to some evidence that most of the so-called smart grid initiatives undertaken by utilities were design more to help energy suppliers than energy consumers. Three months later, there's been a noticeable shift in the market to address this very issue. […]

Question of the Week

Would you rather use Google's PowerMeter of Microsoft's Hohm — and why?

Featured Responses

  1. Michael Wolf
    2009/07/02 at 09:26
    Microsoft has a real mixed-history of creating lightweight control layer protocols for home automation and white-good networking.

Green IT Links for this Week

  1. Nokia, Bioplastics and the Big Green Responsibility Debate

    A nice look at what companies are doing to craft a good, green mobile.

    Submitted by Celeste LeCompte

  2. Microsoft Seeks Ad Revenue with Hohm Energy Management App – CE Pro Article from CE Pro

    In-product advertising doesn't seem nefarious as much as smart business. The full interview with Troy Batterberry, here, supports my sense that demand response will be important and that advertising will support the service in its infancy.

    Submitted by Celeste LeCompte

  3. NSA Plans $1.6 Billion Utah Data Center

    I have to wonder: was this really the only solution for the NSA? As an administration pushing advanced and green IT, there likely are less energy-intensive options that this 1-million-square-foot, $1.6 billion, 70-megawatt monster!

    Submitted by Celeste LeCompte

  4. Datamonitor: Green IT gains an upside in the economic downturn

    In common parlance, "Green IT" is rapidly becoming the more marketing-friendly way of describing virtualization, rather than an overall environmentally sensitive approach to IT operations and equipment.

    Submitted by Celeste LeCompte

  5. The World’s Coolest Utility: Yello Strom’s Got Smart Meters that Tweet

    Katie's closer look at German utility Yello Strom's smart metering approach. Very cool!

    Submitted by Celeste LeCompte

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