Energy Efficiency
- Advanced Metering
- What is the Smart Grid?
- Cannon Meters
- Energy Efficiency
- Demand Response
As energy costs rise, the nationwide search is on for more efficient ways to use energy. Advanced metering infrastructure (AMI), the integration of technologies that monitor and control energy usage, is at the center of new strategies to use electricity more effectively.
A number of companies are offering AMI solutions based on "smart meters." Computer-like intelligence in the electric meter combines with various types of electronic communications technologies to transmit home electric consumption data to the power provider. Add in other intelligent applications, such as Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA), and the power provider has an even better real-time picture of what is happening throughout its service area — the beginnings of a smart grid system.
Load management may be the most important capability that these technologies create for the power provider. More complete knowledge of when and where people use electricity could help the power company and the consumer form highly efficient energy strategies. For example, a load control system could automatically switch between electric and fossil fuel heating based on the outside temperature, or allow the utility to control the load based on consumption and up-to-the-minute electric prices.
Cannon Technologies offers a conservative estimate that such a system could pay for itself within four years. But energy prices across the board are increasing at a rapid rate and more efficient monitoring and usage could lead to even better results.