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Energy Metadata Privacy & The Impact of Vehicle Electrification
Who owns your energy data? In California, the customer does. The California Public Utility Commission is currently determining how PG&E can release that data to 3rd parties and still respect customer privacy.1 This will be key to enabling real-time monitoring of energy consumption. In this interview, Andrew Tang of PG&E addresses this topic, as well…
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Challenges in Educating the Customer Regarding New Infrastructure
PG&E made the headlines of today’s San Jose Mercury, as the California Public Utilities Commission ordered this investor-owned utility to devise ways for customers to refuse smart meters. The intent of this order is to placate critics of the meters who have expressed concerns over accuracy of these devices and the potential health effects of…
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Economy of Scope Key to Spread of Residential Energy Management
“Economy of scope” may be the thing that makes the residential connected grid work. Roy Perry of CableLabs uses this term to describe the idea that, thanks to a common IP infrastructure, multiple services help share the cost of infrastructure. In this video interview, he refers to a white paper he co-authored suggesting that a…
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From Smart Appliances to the Smart Grid
Wringing out efficiencies in the grid is big business, with AHAM (The Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers) suggesting a $900M annual savings by shifting just 5% of power consumption from peak to off-peak times. One way to realize this sort of improved efficiency is by controlling the load through communication with so-called smart appliances. In…
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Looking Forward, While Staying Customer Focused
Independent telecommunications companies are typically the technology leaders of their communities. They have to know what is coming in technology, while, at the same time, providing their customers with great service for what is needed today. By bringing broadband to the so-called last mile, they literally connect their rural communities to the World Wide Web.…
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The Smart Phone as a Media Server
PacketVideo announced that their Twonky Mobile streaming application is now available for the iPhone platform. At last month's CES 2011, ViodiTV caught up with Rick Schwartz of PacketVideo, where he described the android release of this offering. This app allows one to use his cell phone as sort of a media director, taking content (photos, audio,…
