Ken Wacks, Management & Engineering Consultant, Gridwise Architecture, Council at U.S. Department of Energy, discusses the challenges the smart energy market is facing:

What are the major barriers impacting consumer adoption of energy related products and services?

The development of tools and appliance features to manage energy will help overcome barriers to adoption of energy products and services. Energy management should be embedded in appliances and performed automatically with minimal consumer involvement.

The utility industry should offer incentives for appliance makers to add energy-management features to appliances. These features may require special hardware and software, a communications interface, and a user interface inserted into appliances (probably as a software feature). More importantly, energy service providers (utilities and third-party energy service companies) should develop an energy management program that can save consumers money and help motivate or subsidize the purchase of appliances with these extra features.

What impact will smart products and smart home services have on consumer adoption of energy solutions?

Entertainment and convenience are drivers for consumer electronic purchases. Energy management is usually a secondary issue unless energy prices have increased substantially or the electricity supply has become unreliable. However, consumers expect new products to operate efficiently and to conserve energy where possible. Therefore, they would probably be willing to accept energy management features as adjuncts to consumer products.

Ken Wacks will be speaking on the panel “Utility Perspectives: Market Impact of New Business Models” at 9:00 AM during Smart Energy Summit in Austin, TX, February 17, 2015. Other panel speakers include representatives from Austin Energy, Schneider Electric, Simple Energy, and Tendril.

For more information on Smart Energy Summit speakers, sessions, or topics, visit www.ses2015.com. Registration is still open!

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