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谷哥开发开放智能电表软件/服务，一是利用了其自身在能源使用及管控方面的经验与优势，二也是借助了绿色产业兴起的趋势由原有的IT领域向消费者生活的领域进行扩张，使自己既有的技术和能力多元化发展。
有关智能电网，可参考美国西北大学网站上由Lynne Kiesling, PhD发表的文章<a href='http://scienceinsociety.northwestern.ed ... rt-savings' target='_blank'>Smart Savings</a>

May 20, 2009 5:19 AM PDT
<span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>Google dribbles out PowerMeter smart-grid service</span>
by Martin LaMonica
Updated at 9:25 a.m. PT with comments from San Diego Gas & Electric.

Google has signed on smart-meter manufacturer Itron and eight utilities to offer Google's PowerMeter Web service for monitoring home energy use.

PowerMeter reads a home's electricity meter and gives the consumer a detailed readout of usage. The idea is that a better understanding of electricity usage--presented via daily trends and data on individual appliances--will help people figure out how to cut consumption.


PowerMeter creates a readout of a home's electricity use over the course of a day. (Credit: Google)

Google's home energy-monitoring software relies on meters, or add-on devices, that can communicate usage information back to utilties. In a blog post on Tuesday, Google engineer Ed Lu said that the company is seeking to find more smart-meter vendors and utilities to offer PowerMeter.

"For now, Google PowerMeter is only available to a limited group of customers, but we plan to expand our roll out later this year," Lu wrote.

In a document prepared for utilities, Google says that PowerMeter is a free, opt-in service.

Google's push into home energy monitoring is likely to be well received by consumers who want details on how they are consuming electricity. It is estimated that simply surfacing information on trends and individual appliances will allow the typical consumer to lower electricity use by 5 to 15 percent.

Within the smart-grid industry, Google is poised to make an impact as well. A number of start-ups offer home energy monitoring, through Web sites or a small device in the home.

Large IT and telecommunications providers are developing smart-grid technology as well. Cisco Systems said Monday that it intends to offer home energy monitoring, potentially as an add-on to its home network hardware. Telecommunications companies including Verizon Communicationsare exploring adding energy monitoring to their broadband services.

San Diego Gas & Electric, which has been working with Google for a year on PowerMeter, plans to have over 200,000 Itron smart meters installed this year and have its entire territory of 1.4 million customers covered by the end of 2011.

The utility will offer the same information on usage, in addition to billing records, to its customers through its own Web site. It decided to go with PowerMeter because it ties into Google's popular Web services, which allows SDG&E to provide links to its rebate and energy-efficiency programs, said Hal Snynder, the vice president of customer solutions.

"It's about getting products and programs in customers' hands in the most efficient way we possibly can. Right now, it's a challenge to get that information to them. That's where Google can be a great conduit," he said.

Snyder said that tracking energy usage is the first step in a longer smart-grid plan the utility is pursuing. Automation tools will let consumers program home appliances to take advantage of the lowest electricity rates, he said.

source: <a href='http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10245295-54.html' target='_blank'>CNET news</a> <a href='http://www.cnetnews.com.cn/2009/0526/1370994.shtml' target='_blank'>CNET科技资讯网</a>

ref links:
Google's PowerMeter Lets You Know If the Lights Are on
<a href='http://www.pcworld.com/article/159254/g ... re_on.html' target='_blank'>http://www.pcworld.com/article/159254/g ... on.html</a>
How Google’s PowerMeter Will Affect the Smart Meter Industry
<a href='http://earth2tech.com/2009/02/11/how-go ... -industry/' target='_blank'>http://earth2tech.com/2009/02/11/how-go ... dustry/</a>
Google PowerMeter Official Webpage
<a href='http://www.google.org/powermeter/' target='_blank'>http://www.google.org/powermeter/</a>

<span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>Google Jumps Into Organizing Smart Meter Energy Data</span>
Written by Katie Fehrenbacher
Posted February 9th, 2009 at 10:59 pm in Energy

Just as Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt hinted over the past few months, <span style='color:blue'>Google is moving from managing the world’s information to managing your personal energy data</span>. On Monday night Google tells us it is developing an online tool called “PowerMeter” that will <span style='color:blue'>allow users to monitor their home energy consumption</span>. For now Google is testing the web-based software with Google employees, but the search engine giant is looking to partner with utilities and smart energy device makers and will eventually roll out the tool to consumers.



It’s not such a big stretch — Google has clearly been eager to move into helping manage energy consumption — announcing a partnership with GE for smart grid technology last year — and will be able to <span style='color:blue'>use its long history of developing consumer facing services to streamline the interface</span>. So how does it work? <span style='color:blue'>Google’s PowerMeter will take the energy consumption information provided by a smart electricity meter and display the energy info on the users iGoogle home page</span>. Yep, only residents with a smart meter will be able to get the most out of the tool — so good thing President Obama is calling for another 40 million smart meters installed using funds from the stimulus program.

We’ve actually been hearing a lot about Google’s energy management plans over the past few months, largely from startups that are building competitive products. We’ve heard that Google’s tool is based on a more open source model, which could really shake up energy software developers that are building more proprietary tools. Incumbent smart meter companies are already concerned over an emphasis on Internet Protocol-based smart meter standards in the stimulus package. <span style='color:blue'>Google’s tool is free, and its foray into smart meter software will likely just ratchet that up a notch</span>.

<span style='color:blue'>But with Google’s history of organizing the world’s information, how could it resist the most important data of our time — energy data, which through smart organization could be used to help fight climate change? And as opposed to its &#036;45 million investments in other energy-related startups and its plug-in vehicle project, energy data management could actually be one of the only places where Google plans to generate revenues.</span> Schmidt said during a speech last year that there is an internal debate going on at the company as to how much of its energy initiatives will turn into real revenues, but that, “[T]o the degree that we can be in the information businesses or communications businesses about energy and its impact on the world, we are clearly going to be there.”

Schmidt went on to say: “It seems obvious to me that if you give [energy] information to end users they behave smartly . . . So we are working on that.” As Google said in its web preview of PowerMeter:

Google believes consumers have a right to detailed information about their home energy use. After all, real-time energy information helps people make smarter choices so they can save energy and money. Studies show that people save 5-15% of their energy costs when they have access to information about their energy consumption.

Ultimately PowerMeter could be the most important contribution Google makes to fighting climate change.

source: <a href='http://earth2tech.com/2009/02/09/google ... ergy-data/' target='_blank'>http://earth2tech.com/2009/02/09/google ... y-data/</a>

<span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>Utility Perspective: Why Partner With Google PowerMeter?</span>
Written by Katie Fehrenbacher
Posted May 20th, 2009 at 9:47 am in Energy

The news that utilities like San Diego Gas & Electric and incumbent meter maker Itron will be offering Google’s PowerMeter energy tool to their customers offers <span style='color:blue'>a glimpse of how the old-skool power industry is starting to be shaped by the new world of the Internet, with free and easy access to information</span>. Consumers are increasingly relying on the web to easily manage their bills, buy goods and find information online, and <span style='color:blue'>there’s a whole host of companies (like Google) that, having built up a trusted relationship with the consumer, are moving into the business of energy management.</span> Whether companies in the traditional power space feel threatened or embrace the emergence of these new players could determine how well their businesses do.

San Diego Gas & Electric’s vice president of customer solutions, Hal Snyder, put it succinctly in a call with me this morning:

“To pretend that we’re going to completely own that relationship with the customer and not work with companies like Google is naive. It’s the customer’s data, we should be seen as a facilitator.”

His argument rings true of another industry that faced a similar dilemma: telecom. For years phone companies worried that they would become “dump pipes” that just acted as a channel over which other companies could sell services. But the more savvy companies (AT&T and its Apple deal) discovered other business models and applications to sell. <span style='color:blue'>Will the power industry follow the same path?</span> Well, utilities are in a different business than telcos, and have to deal with different regulations and worry about things like utility-grade service. But the companies building the hardware and software for smart meters and the smart grid will have to consider the debate carefully.

While SDG&E is one of the first utilities to partner with Google for PowerMeter, the utility isn’t tying its hands in an exclusive deal with the search engine giant. Snyder was clear in the call that Google is just the first company that SDG&E is working with for smart meter software and emphasized the fact that other partnerships would soon follow suit. Snyder also said that SDG&E’s web site for consumers will provide more info than the energy data services for Google’s PowerMeter tool. So SDG&E’s customers will have a choice between a variety of energy tools, one of which will be Google PowerMeter. It’s a good thing for customers and for Google, that’s what they do best: compete.

source: <a href='http://earth2tech.com/2009/05/20/utilit ... owermeter/' target='_blank'>http://earth2tech.com/2009/05/20/utilit ... rmeter/</a>