A smart grid is a transactive grid.
- Lynne Kiesling
Archive for December, 2009

Smart Grid Market Forecast

Courtesy of Earth2Tech, a forecast from Pike Research that the smart grid market will bring in $200 billion in worldwide investment between 2008 and 2015. Out of that total investment, annual smart grid global revenues will grow to $35 billion in 2013 from about $10 billion in 2009.  As the article notes: “…Pike Research says […]

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The Birth Of Retail Energy – Will Smart Grids Turn Utilities Into Energy Marketplaces?

Courtesy of Earth2Tech, an interesting forecast of the top 10 trends for the Smart Grid in 2010.  Several caught our eye since they tie in – to a certain extent – to our belief that smart grids need to be transactive.  We also believe that the Grand Slam (#9 below) is an emerging trend, but […]

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Smart Meters: “Dumb” Implementations and Inactionable Data Hampering Deployments

Via Venture Chronicles and The Energy Collective, two further musings on the deployment of smart meters in California and reasons why these early initiatives have not gone well.   While most of the observations revolve around lack of communication or transparency, we find a nugget buried in one of the pieces, namely:  “…the data they are […]

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‘Smart’ Electric Utility Meters Prompt Questions / Revolt?

Courtesy of The New York Times, another article on how smart meters – intended to create savings – have instead prompted customer dissatisfaction.  Since we’ve covered a few such instances earlier, we want to be clear that we are not wholly pessimistic on the long-term utility of smart meters, although we believe that solutions such […]

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Will ‘Smart’ Electric Meters Lead to Smarter Consumers?

Courtesy of The New York Times, an interesting report on some studies that Stanford University – in conjunction with utilities, tech companies and state and federal agencies – is conducting to see how psychology affects people’s energy consumption.  As frequent visitors to this blog know, we believe that smart meters and smart consumers will only […]

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Smart Consumers Trump Smart Meters

Courtesy of The San Francisco Chronicle, an interesting article that again emphasizes the importance and relevance of smart consumers over smart meters.  As the report notes: “…California has become an international leader in fighting global warming, with a commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, increasing our use of renewable energy and using energy more efficiently. […]

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About This Blog And Its Authors
Grid Unlocked is powered by two eco-preneurs who analyze and reference articles, reports, and interviews that can help unlock the nascent, complex and expanding linkages between smart meters, smart grids, and above all: smart markets.

Based on decades of experience and interest in conservation, Monty Simus believes that a truly “smart” grid must be a “transactive” grid, unshackled from its current status as a so-called “natural monopoly.”

In short, an unlocked grid must adopt and harness the power of markets to incentivize individual users, linked to each other on a large scale, who change consumptive behavior in creative ways that drive efficiency and bring equity to use of the planet's finite and increasingly scarce resources.