Press Releases, News & Technical Documents
Hinson in ei magazine: Residential Power Quality
As utilities across the country experience an increase in densities of grid-tied solar photovoltaic (PV) installation and electric vehicles (EVs), as well as shifting consumption profiles, an important question emerges: What is the impact of the modern home on overall grid control and stability? Pecan Street has an answer.
GreenTech Podcast: This Data on How Consumers Use Energy May Surprise You
In this week’s podcast, we’ll talk with Brewster McCracken, the CEO of Pecan Street Inc., about the organization’s analysis of consumer energy use, utility efficiency programs and electric vehicle charging.
How California is incentivizing solar to beat the peak
Pecan Street participants featured in EDF Clean Energy Campaign
Smart grid project moves closer toward implementation
Time Mag: Tracking Carbon Footprints and Saving Money
Smart Grid Project Saves Money and Energy in Texas
Using smart grid technologies, the project provides 1,000 residences, 25 small commercial properties and three public schools energy data in real-time. Customers can now set and track utility bill budgets, use software to manage the electricity use of individual appliances, and even sell energy back to the grid when they are using less than they produce. By integrating smart meters, solar panels, electric vehicles and energy storage capabilities, the project is already seeing the benefits of smart grid integration and providing customers with control over their electric usage.
Time Magazine: Is this America’s smartest city?
The Pecan Street devices are even smarter than smart meters, recording data from different appliances essentially in real time. At any given moment, the Pecan Street engineers–who work in partnership with the University of Texas and local utility Austin Energy–know exactly how much electricity their subjects are using and how that use changes in response to the time of day, weather patterns, even fluctuations in power price.
Bloomberg on the Aging U.S. Grid
Some consumers are raving about the benefits of the smart grid, too. For Austin, Texas, resident Luke Downs, a participant in the Pecan Street project, access to the smart grid has changed his energy life. “Suddenly, I could see what I was doing,” he said. Downs, 44, lives in a 3-bedroom row house in what’s known as the Mueller neighborhood, a planned urban redevelopment on the grounds of Austin’s former municipal airport.