Parks Associates to Moderate a Session at Broadband Properties Summit

Parks Associates is supporting Broadband Properties Summit. The summit will take place April 26-28 2011 in Dallas, TX.

Harry Wang, Director, Health & Mobile Product Research, Parks Associates is moderating the session, “Advances in Broadband-Enabled Telemedicine and Telehealth" on Wednesday, April 27.

Bill Ablondi, Director of Home Systems Research, Parks Associates is presenting during the session, "Editor’s Choice Track: Energy Management: The Smart Grid, and Being Smart on the Grid Date" Wednesday, April 27 from 3:20 PM – 4:20 PM.

The Broadband Properties Summit is the leading venue for information on digital and broadband technologies for buildings and communities. With a focus on residential properties, developments and municipalities, the Summit has become a must-attend event for network builders and large-scale and wholesale buyers and users of broadband technologies, equipment, and services. More Info

Wi-Fi Alliance joins forces with HomePlug Powerline

The Wi-Fi Alliance and the HomePlug Powerline Alliance announced a recent agreement to collaborate on applications that allow smart energy grids to interoperate with "connected" homes.

The two alliances are part of the Smart Grid Interoperability Panel, a forum that coordinates smart grid standards. They plan to collaborate on wireless and wired network applications for what the forum calls its Smart Energy 2 Applications Profile.

To read more about this collaboration, click here.

Parks Associates is supporting GridWeek

Parks Associates is supporting GridWeek, on October 18th 2010 in Washington, D.C.

Globally recognized as the must-attend Smart Grid gathering, GridWeek is the only event with a proven history of attracting the complete diversity of global Smart Grid stakeholders to explore Smart Grid’s impact on the economy, utility infrastructure, consumers and the environment.

Planned by a representative committee of industry stakeholders, GridWeek’s agenda is focused on the most relevant industry topics, defining the agenda for Smart Grid advancement.

For more information, please click here.

Parks Associates presents new consumer data at CEDIA Expo

Parks Associates’ Director of Home Systems Research, Bill Ablondi will lead and moderate the keynote panel session “The Future of Energy Management” during the CEDIA Expo on Friday, September 24 in Atlanta, GA. Leaders in consumer technology, energy management, and smart grid technology will deliver the state of the union as it relates to energy management and the electronic systems industry during this keynote panel. Speakers include: Control4 Energy Systems, Direct Energy, GlobalSmartEnergy, Home Automation, Inc. (HAI), and Intel Corp.

Bill will present findings from Parks Associates’ Residential Energy Management project, including consumer research, new opportunities for manufacturers and service providers to deliver energy solutions, and strategies for companies to communicate the benefits of smart grid technologies and successfully engage consumers.

In the new white paper “Consumer Attitudes and the Benefits of Smart Grid Technologies,” Parks Associates reports more than 80% of U.S. broadband households are interested in learning about ways to cut energy expenditures, but utilities and their partners will be challenged in designing solutions to meet consumers’ varying needs and budgets.

Parks Associates' Director of Home Systems Research speaking at Smart Grid V-Summit

Bill Ablondi, Director of Home Systems Research, Parks Associates is moderating the panel, "Providing Demand-Based Ancillary Services via the Smart Grid" at the Smart Grid V-Summit on July 29 at 4 PM.

The Summer 2010 V-Summit will zero in on the perspectives of leading utilities, technology companies, systems integrators, and regulators in making the smart grid a reality. The emphasis is on real-world pilots, rollouts, and experiences from the field, with discussions led by key thought leaders and pioneers in the global smart grid industry.

For more information about this event, click here.

50% of U.S. households are interested in home energy monitoring

Home monitoring and controls companies will need to take alternate, more indirect routes to reach mass-market status, according to international research firm Parks Associates.

Almost 50% of U.S. households are very interested in an energy-monitoring device, with nearly 80% willing to pay $100 provided it saves 10-30% on their electricity bill. Energy applications are popular now because of the need for cost savings, but in the end, all home systems will need to be interconnected. By embedding their technologies into energy-related appliances and systems, controls and monitoring companies can get a foothold in the home and start to build traction on a mass scale with consumers.

Controls and monitoring companies can form strategic partnerships with system manufacturers, service providers, and utilities to build these inroads. Many utilities have smart grid programs, which have partnership opportunities, but the popularity of energy solutions has attracted new, nontraditional players. For example, Intel recently announced a sensor that monitors power usage throughout a home and shows the homeowner the amount of power used by different appliances and systems.

U.S. consumers still unaware of smart grid benefits

Parks Associates research indicates over 40% of consumers unfamiliar with term “Smart Grid.”

Consumer knowledge of smart grid technologies is low, even as utilities have deployed 13 million smart meters to U.S. households. In the report, “Residential Energy Management: Opportunities for Digital Systems and Services,” only 11% of U.S. consumers are familiar with the term “Smart Grid.” This low awareness poses a risk to future deployment plans and opens the door for communications service providers to grab market share from utilities by offering their own energy monitoring solutions.

Utilities plan to deploy more than 50 million smart meters by 2014, but they need to improve their educational outreach if they want consumers to embrace this technology.

Consumers in Texas and California have filed lawsuits in which they blame smart meters for unexpected hikes in their electricity bills. The backlash from these stories threatens customer compliance with future smart grid deployments and could disrupt utility plans to create a more robust, interconnected grid that offers advanced services such as monitoring and time-of-use billing.

Parks Associates Analysts speaking at Broadband Properties Summit 2010

Parks Associates is supporting and speaking at the upcoming Broadband Properties Summit from April 26th-28th in Dallas, Texas.

Harry Wang, Director, Health & Mobile Product Research, Parks Associates, is moderating the panel, "The Growth of Telemedicine in FTTH Communities" on Tuesday, April 27 from 8:00 a.m. – 8:50 a.m.

Bill Ablondi, Director Home Systems, Parks Associates, is moderating the panel, "How FTTH Enables the Smart Grid" on Tuesday, April 27 from 3:50 p.m. - 4:50 p.m.

The 7th annual Broadband Properties Summit is the premier fiber-to-the-premises industry event. Each year, it enables a comprehensive look at the FTTP landscape, from today’s success stories to tomorrow’s deployments, technology, and consumer demands. More Info

Parks Associates hosting Residential Energy Management Webcast

Parks Associates is hosting a Residential Energy Management on Thursday, February 25th at 1 PM Central.

With the president’s stimulus bill squarely behind Smart Grid development, 2010 should see significant investment in new technologies from the back office to the network to the meter and to devices in the home. Will consumers pay to purchase devices with energy savings potential?

For more information, visit
http://www.parksassociates.com/events/webcasts.htm

Parks Associates Research Findings

Smart Energy Summit: Engaging the Consumer examines the roadmap for the in-home energy management technology market, offering consumer and industry research and strategic insight. Parks Associates research finds:

· Over 80% of consumers are very interested in learning about how to cut their energy costs, but less than half want to learn more about smart grids.

· 80% to 85% of households are willing to pay $80 to $100 for cost saving equipment if they are guaranteed to save 10% to 30% off their monthly electricity bill.

· Only 15% to 20% of consumers are likely to sign up for time-of-use or demand response programs; 35% do not want utilities to control systems in their home no matter what the potential savings.

· Less than 5% of households have any type of electronic lighting system, but 55% are very interested in light dimming systems that can save them money.

View Agenda

NIST efforts critical as U.S. consumers look to cut energy costs

Parks Associates announced today that George Arnold, National Coordinator for Smart Grid Interoperability, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), U.S. Department of Commerce, will deliver the afternoon keynote “NIST Smart Grid Interoperability Standards and the Home Area Network” at Smart Energy Summit.

Smart Energy Summit: Engaging the Consumer, hosted by Parks Associates in cooperation with Austin Energy on January 25-27 at the Hyatt Regency, Austin, Tex., focuses on the opportunities and challenges in residential energy technologies and identifies business strategies for in-home energy monitoring and management systems.

Sessions will include research from Parks Associates’ Residential Energy Management project, which features nationwide consumer surveys and industry profiles to assess the market for energy-related digital systems and services. The most recent consumer survey reports 80-85% of U.S. households are willing to pay for in-home energy monitors if these solutions can lower their electric bills.

In his keynote on January 26, 1:45 p.m., Dr. Arnold will discuss the challenges that need to be addressed in developing the interface between the Smart Grid and the Home Area Network. NIST is coordinating the development of a robust, interoperable framework of technical standards that will help transform the nation’s electric infrastructure into an “energy internet.”

Dr. Arnold was appointed National Coordinator for Smart Grid Interoperability at the NIST in April 2009. He is responsible for leading the development of standards underpinning the nation’s Smart Grid. He joined NIST in September 2006 after a 33-year career in the telecommunications and information technology industry.

For the full press release, click here.

Smart Energy Summit to focus on in-home energy management and control solutions

U.S. Department of Commerce, Austin Energy to keynote conference --

International research firm Parks Associates announced the preliminary agenda and current speakers, sponsors, and advisory board for the Smart Energy Summit: Engaging the Consumer. This conference, hosted in cooperation with Austin Energy on January 25-27 at the Hyatt Regency in Austin, Tex., focuses on opportunities in residential energy management and the challenges of bringing Smart Grid technologies to U.S. households.

Sessions include the latest consumer research from Parks Associates’ landmark Residential Energy Management service, which surveys both consumers and utilities on attitudes and trends in this growing industry. Early sponsors for Smart Energy Summit include Direct Energy, Exceptional Innovation, HAI, iControl Networks, and OpenPeak. Event supporters include AltEnergyMag, CABA, Energy Priorities, Home Toys, SmartGrid Today, VB/Research, and WinSmartGrid.

Andres Carvallo, CIO, Austin Energy, will present the keynote “A New Journey: Utility 2.0” on Tuesday, January 26 at 9:30 a.m. He will share his vision of the utility of the future, informed by his company’s experiences developing and deploying its Smart Grid, and highlight new paradigms of business models and technologies that will transform consumers into “prosumers” - producers and consumers all in one.

Dr. George W. Arnold, National Coordinator for Smart Grid Interoperability, National Institute of Standards and Technology, U.S. Department of Commerce, will also be a keynote speaker at the conference.

Confirmed speakers:

- Susan Cashen, VP, Marketing, Control4
- Steve Cashman, Chief Strategy Officer, Exceptional Innovation
- David Dollihite, VP, Direct Energy
- David Friedman, Senior Director, Strategic Marketing, ZeroG Wireless, Inc.
- Dan Gittleman, Chairman & CEO, OpenPeak
- Vince Groff, Executive Director, Cox Communications
- Jim Johnson, President & CEO, uControl
- Thomas Pickral, Business Development, HAI

The Smart Energy Summit Advisory Board provides input into the design and content of the event, focusing particularly on the market opportunities and business issues associated with engaging the consumer in energy management. Current Advisory Board participants:

- Andres Carvallo, Chief Information Officer, Austin Energy
- Steve Cashman, Chief Strategy Officer, Exceptional Innovation
- Ken Wacks, Member, GridWise Architecture Council, U.S. Department of Energy
- Brian Woods, CMO, OpenPeak

For more information, visit www.smartenergysummit2010.com.

GreenBeat 2009, supported by Parks Associates

Parks Associates is supporting GreenBeat 2009 to be held November 18-19, 2009 in San Mateo, California.

The seminal conference on the Smart Grid, GreenBeat 2009 will bring together leading entrepreneurs, investors, utilities, technology executives, and policymakers to accelerate the development of a leaner, more efficient electrical grid. GreenBeat 2009 is the place to connect with the people leading Smart Grid initiatives, including Noble Peace Prize winner Al Gore and John Doerr. Join the most influential leaders of the national discussion around the Smart Grid, when John Doerr kicks off GreenBeat 2009 with a keynote on the eve of November 18 followed by a full day of provocative panel discussions, roundtables, and start-up company presentations — with the highlight being a keynote presentation from Al Gore.

For more information about GreenBeat 2009, please click here.

Smart Energy Summit: Engaging the Consumer

Parks Associates is accepting submissions to be considered a speaker at the Smart Energy Summit, held in January, in Austin.

The agenda for Smart Energy Summit: Engaging the Consumer focuses on the roadmap for the emerging in-home energy management technology market, offering consumer and industry research and strategic insight:

Current status of REM and Smart Grid technologies
Consumer interest in REM solutions
Engaging the consumer: Strategies and tactics to communicate benefits successfully
Leveraging applications: Think energy ….and more
Impact of government stimulus and green initiatives
Technical and business requirements for succeeding in REM
Business strategies for utilities, manufacturers, installers, and service
providers
Unit and revenue forecasts for Smart Meters and REM residential solutions

More info: www.smartenergysummit2010.com

Smart Energy Summit addresses emerging market for in-home energy management devices and services

Parks Associates to host Residential Energy Management event in Austin

International research firm Parks Associates announced plans to host the inaugural Smart Energy Summit: Engaging the Consumer, in cooperation with Austin Energy, on January 25-27, 2010. The event will feature expert speakers and analysts discussing the latest developments in residential energy management (REM) and the successful strategies capable of engaging consumers in new programs for energy conservation and cost savings.

The event, taking place at the Hyatt Regency in Austin, Texas, will feature market research from Parks Associates’ landmark Residential Energy Management service and real-world expertise derived from Austin Energy's Smart Grid, the largest working Smart Grid in the U.S.

Government initiatives and stimulus funds have stoked demand for REM technologies with their emphasis on energy conservation and greater efficiency in the home. Already over six percent of all U.S. meters are smart meters, and many U.S. utilities are announcing new deployments and pilot programs, which will push the number of smart meters to almost 50 million by 2012. This event identifies the business opportunities for in-home energy monitoring and management systems, accelerated by deployment of energy smart grids.

Early sponsors for Smart Energy Summit include Exceptional Innovation and OpenPeak. Andres Carvallo, CIO, Austin Energy, will present a keynote detailing his company’s experiences in developing and deploying its Smart Grid.

The event agenda will focus on the roadmap for the emerging in-home energy management technology market, offering consumer and industry research and strategic insight:

• Current status of REM and Smart Grid technologies
• Consumer interest in REM solutions
• Engaging the consumer: Strategies and tactics to communicate benefits successfully
• Leveraging applications: Think energy … and more
• Impact of government stimulus and green initiatives
• Technical and business requirements for succeeding in REM
• Business strategies for utilities, manufacturers, installers, and service providers
• Unit and revenue forecasts for Smart Meters and REM residential solutions

For more information, or to submit to speak at the event, visit www.smartenergysummit2010.com.

CONNECTIONS™ Summit at CES to focus on connected products and services and business strategies for 3D TV, advertising, and energy management

Parks Associates today released the preliminary agenda for CONNECTIONS™ Summit at CES, which focuses on new business strategies for connected CE, service providers, 3D video, Smart Grid technologies, and other connected home solutions.

The international research firm will host this event on January 7, 2010, in the Las Vegas Convention Center, on the first day of 2010 International CES. Parks Associates’ expert analysts will moderate the Summit sessions, presenting consumer research on buying habits, purchase intentions, and interest in a variety of connected home solutions. The sessions also feature executives in the digital living markets, who will discuss the challenges of today’s business climate and the areas of service and innovation that fit best with the changing needs of households throughout the world.

Summit Sessions:
• Consumer Electronics Purchases: Are Consumers Back in the Buying Mood?
• The Connected TV – Displays and Beyond
• Service Provider Strategies for the Connected Home
• The Mobile Aspect of Unified Infotainment: Opportunities and Challenges
• Advances in Television Advertising
• Bringing the Smart Grid to the Smart Home
• 3D: Adding New Dimensions to Entertainment

For more information, visit www.connectionssummit.com.

Parks Associates is also hosting CONNECTIONS™ Europe Summit, in Amsterdam, Netherlands, on November 4, 2009.

Electronic Systems Contractors diversify their services with green and retrofit opportunities

Majority expect sales drop to continue through 2009, expanding business in retrofit and energy management to compensate

The majority of U.S. home systems integrators, who have had average revenues fall almost 17% since 2007, are making adjustments to compensate for declines in new-home construction and consumer spending by diving into the green and retrofit markets according to Parks Associates’ Channel and Consumer Monitor and CEDIA.

Parks Associates conducts quarterly surveys of the home systems channel, including online surveys of integrators installing home controls, entertainment systems, and energy management solutions. The most recent report, based on a second-quarter 2009 survey, was conducted as a joint effort from Parks Associates and the Custom Electronic Design & Installation Association (CEDIA).

Channel and Consumer Monitor reports that integrators, who have traditionally installed expensive control and entertainment systems in new homes, now get the majority of their revenues from retrofit jobs, which represents a major shift in this business sector.

The survey also found awareness of Smart Grid terms and technologies, such as smart meter and AMI, was low among installers, although almost one-third of integrators have installed some type of energy-monitoring system in the last year.

Results of the recent survey are only available to participants.

For the full press release, click here.

4 Steps to Residential Energy Management

From most news sources this week we hear progress, or lack thereof, of our government’s work on a comprehensive health plan. The most credible voices of opposition hammer on the notion that loss of choice and control will reduce the ability for consumers to reduce the costs of their care. Apply that same thinking to energy consumption. Today I have the choice, on a balmy Texas-in-July afternoon, to reduce my energy consumption by changing the thermostat. But aside from choosing to be uncomfortable, do I know how to improve my energy efficiency? As green technology proponents frequently remind us, if we don’t know what our home systems cost to run, we certainly are not equipped to fine tune them to more efficiently fit our lifestyles.

The four elements required to put the consumer in charge of his or her energy costs are:
1. Sufficient motivation for the consumer to make changes in current consumption behavior (this is implied).
2. An understanding of the energy used by each home system, measured in kilowatt hours and dollars.
3. The ability to program and control at least the major home systems, using common and easy to understand intelligent user interfaces.
4. A feedback loop which confirms which systems are responding to which programs and to what extent they are impacting consumption of kilowatts and dollars.

It is interesting to watch the development of these four elements. Parks Associates will, in the next thirty days, complete a survey of consumers which will quantify how strongly consumers desire the ability to impact their energy costs. Are they willing to purchase devices and technologies that will enable elements of control and monitoring? Are they (we) willing to replace costly home systems with ones that can be controlled and programmed? Are we willing to pay service companies, perhaps including our electric utility, our broadband and phone providers, or local tradesmen to install devices with a potential payback of a year or more? These answers are critical to the growth potential of a number of emerging industries.

The market is awash with the promise of new devices from companies as diverse as Black & Decker, Google, GE and Control4 – all with the technology to monitor or control some number of home systems. Network infrastructures inside the home are rapidly maturing. Unlikely partners ZigBee and HomePlug have joined forces to develop the Smart Energy market requirements – a roadmap of sorts to suggest how wireless and wired technologies may be used to develop an in-home control network. The table is being set and the silverware polished for arrival of the Big Guests – that is, energy utilities with their Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) or Smart Grids. Analysts Bill Ablondi and Farhan Abid report that nearly 9 million AMI meters are currently installed on U.S. homes, and that Obama’s Stimulus Bill fuels the rapid deployment of Smart Grids with $11 billion in federal funding.

The Big Guests are coming to the table and will be showcasing solutions, as currently in Colorado Springs and Austin, Texas, which provide consumers with frequent feedback on energy consumption. Here is how the party will unfold; as the Smart Grid is in place, we will see first a growing number of technologies that provide in home monitoring of our home’s usage. This will be followed by introduction of smart appliances – refrigerators and water heaters which, like existing programmable thermostats for HVAC systems, can be programmed. This development will create demand for simple unified interfaces – applications that bring the control of several appliances together under an orchestrated master plan. Finally, we will see our Internet, mobile phone and even TV service providers cautiously join the party – seeking to provide control applications as extensions of the mobile phone service, or as a widget on TV, with the assumption that simpler controls will garner a few extra dollars on the monthly bill.

Unlike the current health care policy quagmire, our stimulus dollars at work combined with private enterprise will empower consumers with a growing variety of technologies to tailor energy costs to meet particular lifestyle needs.

Over Eight Million Smart Meters Deployed in U.S., with Millions More to Come

Report profiles key players in Residential Energy Management, analyzes new opportunities for companies in the Smart Grid value chain--

With over eight million smart meters already deployed in the U.S., the market for residential energy management (REM) has taken the first significant steps in deploying Smart Grid technologies and advanced meter infrastructure (AMI) on a broad scale.

The recently completed report, Residential Energy Management: Company, Alliance & Technology Profiles, says these deployments will open up significant opportunities for companies in the REM value chain. Public, private, and consumer factors are all driving this growth, and the Federal stimulus bill, with the support of the Obama Administration, allocates $11 billion for smart grid initiatives through 2010.

Residential Energy Management: Company, Alliance & Technology Profiles provides coverage of more than 60 companies and ten alliances, including Home Area Network (HAN) solutions and component suppliers; metering solutions manufacturers; Smart Grid enablers; and technology enablers.

This report is the first deliverable in Parks Associates’ comprehensive industry and consumer research service called Residential Energy Management: Opportunities for Digital Systems and Services.

For the full press release, visit click here.

What's Hot? Residential Energy Management

During difficult times, the true optimists find the silver lining and recall that great opportunities are borne out of change. There are great opportunities in technologies for residential energy management now rising from the ashes of the global economic meltdown.

Parks Associates has been tracking home automation including energy management solutions since the late 80’s. Many solutions have come and gone, lacking sufficient support for mass adoption. If your average monthly energy bills are north of $300, then a little quick math suggests you could justify spending several hundred or a thousand dollars on home technologies which provide measurable savings by managing when certain systems in your home operate and hibernate.

Parks Associates tracks the companies playing leading roles in residential energy management. Many of these companies facilitate utility companies’ development of a nationwide smart grid, but many products work today with existing meters and can be purchased at retail. Some solutions involve a wireless monitoring device or thermostat and some, such as Google’s PowerMeter, are Internet applications which allow a homeowner to monitor energy usage from any Internet connected location.

It is uncertain if residential energy management technology will be driven into the home by utility companies or pulled in by economizing consumers, but it is likely to be both. What is certain is that several network protocols are well entrenched in near term solutions. These include IP (Internet protocol and specifically IP for Smart Objects), ZigBee, Z-Wave and Wi-Fi. While there is certainly time for other protocols to enter the race, the majority of early products incorporate these standards. Consumers have grown comfortable with Wi-Fi on their laptops, home routers and iPod Touch devices, but are not familiar with other technologies, e.g. ZigBee. ZigBee is a network protocol optimized for low power devices, strongly endorsed by many utilities. The combination of these technologies provides an array of relatively low cost products that enable us to track our current energy usage, and, in some solutions, control how and when we run certain systems.

Parks Associates is bullish on the prospects of consumers deploying products now which will begin the transformation of our attitudes and usage of energy. As Google states, the first step in changing consumption is measuring what and when we consume. We hope that energy utilities will jump start the process by providing incentives or even selling and installing products which will heighten our awareness of how much energy we use.

The global crisis of rising energy costs will first transform our attitudes and eventually modify our energy consumption habits – strengthening our economy with the help of technology.