A smart grid is a transactive grid.
- Lynne Kiesling
Archive for April, 2014

‘Water Shares’ Would Create Mutual Responsibility To Preserve Water

Via the Farmers Guardian, some background detail on the United Kingdom’s Department of Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (Defra) proposed new ‘Water Shares’ system which would see all water abstractors own a share in their local water catchment.  This proposed system is expected to create a sense of mutual responsibility among abstractors to preserve water […]

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Could Google’s Disdain For Utilities Ruin Its Nest?

Via Smart Grid News, an interesting argument that, while Google is focused on value streams from home appliances and energy services, utilities have access to other value streams such as “grid-side savings”, as well as, moving away from average cost to serve to true cost to serve based on the locational differences between premises.  The article […]

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Democratizing Energy Data: A Prelude To Smart Markets?

Via GigaOm, an interesting look at  Ohmconnect, an innovative company built around energy data: After a combination of federal and state initiatives, as well as a far-reaching rollout of smart meters, home energy data in California has finally emerged as a platform for innovation and entrepreneurs. New startups working with energy data don’t need tens […]

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The Energy Data Nexus: Introducing IT-Enabled Negawatts

Via Greentech Media, an interesting commentary on the potential offered by what some have termed the energy data nexus: After the recent Facebook/Oculus announcement, I was struck by Fred Wilson’s blog post on the subject. Essentially, Fred argues that this deal, along with the acquisitions and explorations by Google (such as Nest, driverless cars, etc.), […]

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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.