March 10
Virtual Peaker Integrates with A. O. Smith Smart Water Heaters
Top consumer smart energy news hand-selected and brought to you by the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative.
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Virtual Peaker, a cloud-based SaaS company that empowers modern utilities with the friendliest distributed energy platform on the planet, and A. O. Smith, a global leader in water heating solutions, have integrated their technologies to create seamless online connections using the Gravity Connect API and A. O. Smith’s fleet of high-efficiency water heaters.
Duke Energy received a lot of attention last week for powering an entire town – Hot Springs, North Carolina – with a microgrid. But the project’s real significance may lie in demonstrating a technology breakthrough that could open a new door to green energy for other communities. First, some background.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) will test the ability of real-time meter data to coordinate rapid energy restoration in remote communities in a $3 million partnership with Copper Labs, a Boulder, Colorado-based manufacturer of real-time meter data collection technology. The partnership will first identify and define community needs.
State energy offices across the U.S. are facing the same challenge – how to make sure new climate investments have the largest impact possible. The Colorado Energy Office (CEO) recently selected CLEAResult, an experienced energy efficiency and decarbonization solutions provider, as the trusted implementing partner to help prioritize the office’s $25 million Clean Air Program (CAP) Grants.
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Industry News
Forest Frizzell, CEO of Shifted Energy, wants to make sure that the rewards from helping his home state of Hawaii move to 100-percent carbon-free electricity don’t just belong to the lucky few who can afford rooftop solar systems and home batteries. That’s why his startup has built one of the country’s most advanced virtual power plants on a ubiquitous piece of Hawaiian household technology – electric water heaters.
Massachusetts’ network of vetted and trained heat pump installers is emerging as an essential asset for achieving the state’s ambitious heating electrification goals. Since its launch in early 2022, the network has enrolled nearly 850 contractors who completed more than 18,000 heat pump installations last year, more than doubling the numbers from the previous year.
According to a new report by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the majority of new, utility-scale generating capacity in 2023 comes from wind, solar and battery storage. The report, Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory, published Monday, said that the three technologies make up 82 percent of the new electric-generating capacity developers plan to bring online in the United States.
One of the biggest steps you can take to reduce your carbon footprint is to electrify your home. But often, that means navigating a confusing thicket of interconnected decisions and steps. For example, before you buy an electric heat pump to replace a fossil-fuel-fired furnace, it’s a good idea to weatherize your home so it doesn’t take as much energy to heat and cool.
