A smart grid is a transactive grid.
- Lynne Kiesling
Author Archive

Drowning in Derivatives?

Courtesy of Ozy, an interesting commentary on the potential emergence of a full-blown global commodity market for water, like those for oil and gold: If you live in Ireland, you might be upset. Beginning in 2014, Irish citizens will finally have to pay for tap water. Gifted with an abundant supply of freshwater, Ireland has […]

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Transitioning to Transactive Energy

Via The Energy Collective, some interesting commentary on transactive energy, a concept which encompasses smart markets: Last week I discussed the transition to renewable energy sources for our electricity supply.  It is difficult for some to envision a world organized around different sources of energy, but as Greg Abel, the CEO of MidAmerican Energy Holdings […]

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Pilot Project For Transactive Energy

Courtesy of GreenBiz.com, an interesting report on one utilities efforts to pilot a transactive energy trial which, as we’ve discussed in earlier posts, is an innovative approach that contains a number of elements similar to smart markets: Many ongoing smart grid pilots in the U.S. were initiated courtesy of funding from the American Recovery and […]

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Improving Residential Demand Response Via Personalization

Via GreenBiz.com, a look at one effort to improve residential demand response: About 18 million people receive reports from utilities that compare how efficient their household is to neighbors. The company behind those reports — Opower — is now taking on the task of reducing electricity use during peak times. The Arlington, Va.-based company last […]

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Intelligent Water Consumption: Next Frontier For The Smart Grid?

Via The Energy Collective, an interesting look at whether residential customers could curtail water usage in the same ways (and as conveniently) as they are asked to curtail electricity usage?  Namely what tools and programs would be available to help bring such a smart grid to reality: The Rim Fire, a conflagration centered in California’s […]

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Preventing Smart Markets: How Big Power Companies Are Trying To Quash The Disownership Economy

Via Fast Company, an interesting commentary from the cofounder of SunRun on how entrenched utilities are trying to slow the rise of the sharing economy and smart markets: Entrenched industries are working tirelessly to save you from the new products and services you want. As established companies stifle innovation in industries as diverse as energy, […]

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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.