The Smart Energy Home

1. Summary

There is a major transformation underway in the U.S. electric grid, driven by an aging infrastructure and growing concern over the environment. Well-established firms, like IBM and SAP, have launched energy and utility practices aimed at capturing emerging opportunities to revolutionize the way electricity is delivered to our homes. But there is a similar shift about to occur on the demand side as well, leaving the residential market ripe with opportunities for both established and new technology innovators to revolutionize the ways in which we use that energy. This briefing looks at the trends and challenges facing this large and growing market.

What is smart energy?

At its most basic, “smart” energy applies information technology innovations to the way we generate, distribute and use energy in order to make the system more efficient.

But smart energy goes beyond just energy efficiency to help orchestrate the flow of elec- trons across the nation’s sprawling, distributed electric infrastructure. Innovations in smart energy benefit both utilities and consumers, by reducing waste, setting energy use priori- ties and taking advantage of existing resources. For consumers, that may mean energy savings and lower bills. For utilities, it means meeting future electricity demand with fewer, more efficient power plants.

While federal, state and local policies impact the short-term adoption of smart energy programs, technology innovators will set the stage for the long-term transition to an infor-mation-intensive, not energy-intensive, future.