A smart grid is a transactive grid.
- Lynne Kiesling
Archive for July, 2011

Being Gamed: Making Behavior Change Fun…But Not Sustainable

We have reflected in earlier posts on the role that gamification may play in smart grid adoption.  We continue to believe that transactive smart grids (i.e. smart markets) will be the only viable long-term motivation to sustain consumer engagement with their water or energy information, but that has not stopped firms from trying.  Here are […]

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Should Personal Energy Consumption Data Be Monetized?

A lot has been written about the demise of Google’s PowerMeter and Microsoft’s Hohm (including several posts on this forum), however today, via The Smart Grid Library, I’d like to reflect on an interesting article on the importance of allowing individuals the opportunity to benefit from sharing their personal data: “…The recent announcements about the […]

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Google PowerMeter: Smothered by Utilities?

As discussed in an earlier post, there are a number of theories as to why the PowerMeter and Microsoft Hohm met their premature demise.  Among the most logical: 1. limited initial use; 2. early days for the market for home energy management; 3. over-ambitious long-term plan; and 4. opt-in, not opt-out (i.e. in this early […]

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About This Blog And Its Authors
Grid Unlocked is powered by two eco-preneurs who analyze and reference articles, reports, and interviews that can help unlock the nascent, complex and expanding linkages between smart meters, smart grids, and above all: smart markets.

Based on decades of experience and interest in conservation, Monty Simus believes that a truly “smart” grid must be a “transactive” grid, unshackled from its current status as a so-called “natural monopoly.”

In short, an unlocked grid must adopt and harness the power of markets to incentivize individual users, linked to each other on a large scale, who change consumptive behavior in creative ways that drive efficiency and bring equity to use of the planet's finite and increasingly scarce resources.