COMPETE Members' Innovative Technologies Featured at FCC Energy Management Showcase

Innovative new technologies to reduce energy demand, empower customers to make smart energy decisions and reduce greenhouse gas emissions were on display this week at the “Clean Technology Showcase.” Nearly two dozen companies showcased solutions to improve energy efficiency and help consumers manage their energy usage.

COMPETE Coalition members Johnson Controls, Current Group, and EnerNOC exhibited alongside information technology powerhouses Intel, Google and Microsoft; international telecommunications companies Ericsson and Alcatel-Lucent; and PJM Interconnection, the world’s largest grid operator.

Consumer energy management is central to the Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC) newly released National Broadband Plan. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski toured the exhibits with Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Chairman Jon Wellinghoff and Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Steven Chu.

Chairman Genachowski touted smart grid and smart meter technology’s potential to “empower consumers with information so they can make the market for clean energy work.” Chairman Wellinghoff hailed the ability to ensure consumers make energy efficiency decisions that serve their “economic purposes,” and Secretary Chu called the technologies transformative because they enable investments that allow consumers to save money.

EnerNOC demonstrated its SiteSMART energy management application. By providing real-time energy data to customers, the technology can help large energy users “shave off anywhere from 10 to 15 percent of their energy usage,” said Sangeeta Ranade. The company’s technology is installed in markets across the country, including California and New York.

The Current Group touted the OpenGrid smart grid sensors and data management software that reduces energy loss. Utilities can observe and optimize voltage in real-time across the distribution system, reducing the amount of generated power required to meet demand. “This is what we call consumer-less energy efficiency,” said Lori Reslock. “If you can drive efficiency without getting consumers aboard and requiring them to reduce their energy use, that’s a ton of carbon saved.”

Johnson Controls displayed the Smart Building Management System, which lets large buildings reduce energy consumption when energy demand peaks. Communication between utilities and customers is central to the technology, which has reduced energy use 38 percent and energy costs $4.4 million annually in the Empire State Building. “Real-time pricing is critical in making energy use decisions, said Mark Wagner. “It’s all about the pricing and about being able to react to it.”

Access to data and real-time pricing, a trademark of competitive markets, are central to these technologies. Once again, competition is encouraging the innovative solutions to help meet energy demand and low-carbon environmental goals, while keeping consumer costs down.

Joel Malina | May 20, 2010