Thomas Weirich
Vice President of Membership & Corporate Relations, The American Council On Renewable Energy (ACORE)

Last week, notable renewable energy and energy efficiency leaders met in London to discuss the future of new energy finance. “Digital Energy” in the context of Smart Grid came up, and a comprehensive definition was applied that I wanted to share it with you all for your thoughts.

ACORE in addition is working with ASE, USGBC, Johnson Controls, Verizon and the Gridwise Alliance on the comprehensive White Paper on renewable role in smart grid. More information will be forthcoming.

Bloomberg New Energy Finance states that,

“Digital Energy is not a single technology, but a set of themes or characteristics that will underpin the future energy system:

•    Ubiquitous sensing, control, communication, and automation everywhere in the network – from bulk generators, through the transmission and distribution system, to distributed power assets, the active demand side and all other grid-connected devices;
•    Ability to integrate all forms of energy resources on to the network, including large and growing amounts of intermittent renewable generation – and a shift from centralized bulk production to more numerous, smaller distributed resources such as micro-generation, power storage and demand response;
•    Real-time balancing power demand and supply through optimized use of all energy resources, including bulk- and micro-generation, power storage and demand side management;
•    Empowerment of all energy consumers to become active, informed participants in energy markets through control of such resources;
•    Distribution of intelligence and decisions (such as demand and supply management decisions) throughout the network, especially at the distribution level and at customer sites;
•    Reliable, resilient, high quality supply through improved monitoring and self-healing;
•    Economically efficient market operation enabled by greater transparency and access to information, better interconnectedness and asset utilization, real-time allocation of resources and greater consumer participation; and
•    Longer-term expansion in the use of data for optimizing the energy system, including resource forecasting, carbon measurement, and other forms of data.

These themes drive a set of benefits which can be divided across six stakeholder groups: energy companies; government and regulators; consumers; vendors; environmental outcomes; and economic and societal outcomes.”

What are everyone’s thoughts?

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Sumir Karayi of 1E – a software and services company that helps its customers reduce their IT costs and environmental footprints with its leading-edge automation solutions – talks about energy efficiency’s unique role in the IT industry, and the forward motion of investments and innovation in this space.