If you would believe Assistant Secretary Patricia Hoffman's latest Department of Energy blog post, all is well with the Smart Grid roll-out. According to Hoffman, utility companies (and their customers) in Oklahoma, Idaho and Tennessee have all benefited from Smart...
Energy Efficient Products & Technologies
Department of Energy Works to Protect Smart Grid
Worried about your privacy on the Smart Grid? How about National Security? The Department of Energy is on it. In the most recent initiative, a "maturity model" is being developed to allow utility companies and grid operators to check for "gaps in their cyber...
Renovate Your World’s Top Home New Year’s Resolutions
Resolutions for one self are so selfish and 2011. How about making a New Year's Resolution for the home? Here are some of the top around-the-home, promise-to-be-better-ats for 2012: Improve the Home's Energy Usage. You know what else is so 2011? Excessive consumption...
ENERGY STAR Heating Tips
With temps low and heating costs high, now is a good time to go over ENERGY STAR's Heating Tips for the upcoming winter. No surprise that "Use a Programmable Thermostat" makes the list. We at Renovate Your World have been pushing those devices for years. If you're...
Light Bulb Saver App
Want to save money by swapping out your light bulbs? The new Light Bulb Finder app will help you do just that. The free smart phone app lets you check out light bulb images, cost, anticipated savings and environmental impact. You can also create shopping lists and buy...
HeatSeeker Technology Comes to Philadelphia
It's no surprise that Philadelphia is the first city in the U.S. to adopt a state-of-the-art heat loss detection technology to help combat high utility costs. Already established in the UK, the HeatSeeker by Mark Group uses "award-winning thermal imaging technology"...
Comparing Energy Usage
Speaking of comparing energy usage, the Department of Energy has two great maps featured on their website that lets you do just that, state by state. One map shows how each state rates for energy consumption per person (based on 2009 figures), measured in Millions of...
Monitor Energy Usage Through Facebook
Facebook has teamed up with the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and Opower to launch an app designed to help people monitor and decrease their energy usage -- a sort of social networking smart meter. Due out early next year, the application will include the...
Europe’s Smart Meter Plan
Can smart meters avert the impending European financial meltdown? Probably not, but anything is worth a shot. At the annual Metering, Billing/CRM Europe Conference in Amsterdam more than 4000 smart metering experts will gather to discuss the practicality of the EU's...
San Diego’s Blackout Blues
My sister-in-law in San Diego sent me a message late last week after I tried getting in touch with her: "Hey! We're in the middle of a rolling black out! The power is out in all of SD!…It's been 100 degrees for three days straight…Killed the power…" The blackout...