What Happened?
New technologies and best practices are being deployed to reduce unnecessary energy consumption while increasing overall building efficiency across the country.
Statesville
The Statesville City Council in North Carolina is collaborating with the Electric Utility Department to study the benefits of Advanced Metering Infrastructure. The smart grid technology would allow utility customers to monitor electric systems in real time through the use of two-way communication from the meters and control devices. The monitoring resource would also enable remote control of distribution switches for rerouting power to certain customers to minimize the impacts of or prevent power outages, Statesville Record and Landmark reported.
The smart grid solution would not only inform utility customers of their current energy use behaviors and statistics, but also help them understand how to reduce energy consumption and increase savings. Rather than waiting for a bill to arrive to realize they are using too much energy, utility customers can adjust their consumption in real-time for more immediate, long-term savings.
In addition, the system being tested in Statesville is designed to:
- Reduce the loss of electricity by enhancing the efficacy of the distribution center
- Reducing operational costs through remote reading and control of electrical services
- Increasing customer control of energy usage with customer portals
- Improving operational efficiencies by giving more detailed energy data for analytics and system planning
- Improving customer service with automatic notifications of system inefficiencies
Utility customers can monitor and control their energy systems in the home and remotely 24/7 via online dashboards. The technology will also enable city officials to identify and respond to customer outages faster, which provides deeper insight into voltage problems before outages become prevalent, Statesville Record and Landmark reported.
Holland’s Retrofit Pilot
In Holland, Michigan, a retrofit program is piloting an efficiency plan to update hundreds of local homes each year to reduce energy consumption. The Holland Home Energy Retrofit Pilot Program is utilizing a team of certified energy auditors to conduct on-site evaluations of local homes to create an individualized, cost-effective plan to improve energy efficiency through retrofit upgrades. Teams of professional contractors will then implement the upgrades, and then measure and compare the energy savings achieved.
Interested homeowners can apply for the pilot program and submit a $100 down payment by June 15, 2015. The Holland Board of Public Works is underwriting the costs of the audit and low-interest loans available to homeowners asking for assistance. The goal is to generate energy savings that will repay home improvement expenses within the next 10 to 15 years.
Smart Meter System Advancements
The city of Santa Fe recently decided to install a smart water meter system across all of its water meter endpoints for residential and commercial customers. The city will install 35,000 cellular-enabled smart meters that act as plug-and-play devices that connect with wireless networks to communicate data to remote technologies. The meters require no additional network infrastructure, and the IT network communication elements used for the smart meter system can also be used for monitoring power plants and other utilities.
Similarly, Silicon Labs introduced a complete wireless m-bus platform solution to help develop wirelessly connected smart meters for electricity, gas, water and heat resources. The goal of the solution is to make it easier for smart metering installations to be deployed and connected across a variety of city services with comprehensive starter kits and customizable options.
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