Last year, the Pecan Street smart grid project received 100 Chevy Volts available for purchase by residents. Now, OnStar and General Motors are partnering to assist in obtaining real-world driving and charging information about the patterns of these residents -- the largest community of concentrated Chevrolet Volt owners who also live in managed energy "smart homes."

The Pecan Street project is currently the largest community of concentrated Volt owners in the world. (Credit: Pecan Street)

Researchers from the University of Texas, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Environmental Defense Fund will study the results to determine how the Volts interact with the smart grid, as well as other sustainable technologies, on a daily basis. Over five years, the researchers will test up to 1,000 residences in and around the Pecan Street project community.

"We hope Pecan Street's research will speed up the innovation cycle around smart grid and consumer electronic technology," said Pecan Street Inc. Executive Director Brewster McCracken. "Electric vehicles represent a significant addition to home's energy profile and understanding that impact and how consumers use and charge their vehicles is critically important."

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The incentives needed to promote the use of electric vehicles (EVs) are significantly lacking in the United States.

According to research from Northeast Group LLC, just 6 percent of U.S. electric utilities – 22 across 11 states – offer EV tariffs and less expensive rates designed specifically for EV recharging. EV tariff structures include time-of-use (TOU), flat rate and sliding scale.

EV fueling costs are between 10 and 60 percent cheaper than that of internal combustion engine vehicles, equaling more than $2000 in savings per year over gasoline, according to Northeast Group.

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Smart appliances are becoming a substantial component of the residential demand response capabilities of the smart grid. Next generation of home appliances now have the ability to receive, interpret, and act on a signal received from a utility, then automatically adjust their operation to save energy or perform other functions, according to research from SBI Energy.

Washing machines, alongside the adoption of home energy management systems, are leading the way globally, the research says.

The research says that washing machines are the leading segment for smart appliances and will likely have the greatest return on investment (ROI) of all consumer smart products because of their intermittent use and ability to time defer use during off-peak hours.

"U.S. manufacturers will focus the majority of their product development efforts on washing machines through 2021," said SBI Analyst Darren Bosik and author of the report. "Washing machines alone will make up roughly 2.3 million global units, of the 12 million smart appliances expected to be in production by 2021."

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NextGen Storage is taking its solutions on the road.

Storage Election 2012 is a 35-city educational roadshow beginning August 1. Stops along the way include Arlington, VA; Baltimore, MD; Bellevue, WA; Boston, MA; Dallas, TX; Englewood, CO; Indianapolis, IN; Las Vegas, NV; Milwaukee, WI - New York, NY; North Miami Beach, FL; Palo Alto, CA; Parsippany, NJ; Philadelphia, PA; Portland, OR; Salt Lake City, UT; and Winter Park, FL.

The campaign will focus on three different approaches to integrating solid-state into new or existing infrastructure, as well as the pros and cons of these solid-stage storage systems: Rusty Spindles III, a conventional hybrid system; Flash Made-Off, which represents all-SSD arrays; and Fusion Power, representing shared PCIe solid-state with Storage QoS. The redundant features of these options offer greater security and data protection.

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An AEP Texas smart grid pilot started in 2009 has reached the 500,000 mark – now halfway through its goal of installing Landis+Gyr Gridstream smart meters across its entire service territory (1 million homes and businesses).

The original plan included 720,000 meters and has recently added 280,000 more meters located in rural areas.

"The proven success of the Gridstream RF mesh network in rural applications had a big influence on this contract extension," said Prasanna Venkatesan, Senior Vice President of Systems and Services, Landis+Gyr.

All meters should be replaced by 2014.

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