Newsletter – November 2014

THIS MONTH…..
–TRENDS
–EYE CATCHING
–ANNUAL PLAN
–DISCUSSIONS
–EXISTING CODE
–SECURITY
–LASTLY

–TRENDS
The stuff going on in the big picture now…..

United States Electricity Price per KWH
Current and Past

August	September	Trend	% Change
$0.143	$0.141	Decrease	-1.40%

Year	September	Trend	% Change	% Since	Difference
2004	$0.099	Same	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%
2005	$0.106	Increase	7.07%	7.07%	7.07%
2006	$0.118	Increase	11.32%	19.19%	12.12%
2007	$0.121	Increase	2.54%	22.22%	3.03%
2008	$0.130	Increase	7.44%	31.31%	9.09%
2009	$0.130	Same	0.00%	31.31%	0.00%
2010	$0.132	Increase	1.54%	33.33%	2.02%
2011	$0.135	Increase	2.27%	36.36%	3.03%
2012	$0.133	Decrease	-1.48%	34.34%	-2.02%
2013	$0.137	Increase	3.01%	38.38%	4.04%
2014	$0.141	Increase	2.92%	42.42%	4.04%

United Kingdom Utility Prices
Current and Past

London by night, seen from the International Space Station

UPDATES TO PREVIOUSLY POSTED ITEMS
The Smart Grid Educational Webinar Series Archives has changed the address of our presentation. We hope you view this presentation. It was an excellent experience for both the GNU remotecontrol Team and “…the world class experts in the field…”

–EYE CATCHING
The stuff that has caught our eye…..

Demand Response

• An article, reporting an appeals court grants a stay on decision to overturn FERC Order 745.
• An article, considering the future of Demand Response in light of this aforementioned ruling.
• An article, discussing the first legal case in the FERC Order 745 matter.
• An article, considering if Smart Phones are the bridge to help achieve automated demand response.
• A review, of the Ecobee3 Wi-Fi Smart Thermostat provides unpleasant results.
• An article, finding the Smart Grid has entered the age of high performance computing.

Smart Grid – Consumer

• An article, reporting Nest has purchased Revolv and discontinued the Revolv offering.
• An article, describing the cultural impact in India from having a national electric Smart Grid.
• A security bulletin, defining point-of-sale security compromises. The ability to compromise a device such as an insecure network connected HVAC thermostat, by either design or configuration, could be much simpler to accomplish than previously understood.
• A review, of Smart Phone enabled door locks. The findings represent insufficient security to the door lock design, increasing the risk of home invasion.
• A survey, finding public utilities will experience strong competition in building a national electrical Smart Grid. What is unclear is how this competition will impact the price of energy, to offset these competitive costs for a public utility.
• An article, finding PJM Interconnection is proposing many rule changes to FERC Order 745.
• An announcement, from the United States Department of Energy, of nearly $8 million to support research and development of the next generation of heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) technologies. This seems to be an attempt to align with the Appliance and Equipment Standards Program, in hope to find best practices for using HVAC technologies with the various other technologies prevalent today.

Smart Grid – Producer

• An article, considering how to best modify Smart Grid analytical thinking.
• An article, finding Southeast Asia to be the next hot spot for Smart Grid investment.
• A thought provoking article, considering the self-contained system of a submarine to improving public utility operations.
• An article, describing how South Korea is well-positioned to export their Smart Grid technologies they have successfully developed.

Smart Grid – Security

• A study, finding smart meters can be hacked to reduce charges on billing cycle invoices.
• A report, finding cellular phone companies are tracking users in possible violation of federal telecommunications and wiretapping laws. This report has been validated.
• An article, finding the interconnection of the three United States electrical grids is held back only by financing. It is unclear how security of this newly interconnected electrical grid will occur.
• An article, finding more vulnerabilities in the Untied States national electrical grid.

–ANNUAL PLAN
Status Update of our 2014 Plan…..

Demand Response

• Further discussions with members of the electronics industry.
• No other work since the April newsletter.

Unattended Server Side Automation

• No other work since the April newsletter.

Power Line Communication

• Further discussions with the members of the electronics industry.
• No other work since the January newsletter.

Talk to us with your comments and suggestions on our plan for this year.

–DISCUSSIONS
The stuff we are talking about now…..

DRIVING THE NETWORK CONNECTED HVAC THERMOSTAT
The rise of electric vehicles is causing a faster build out of the Smart Grid. The collective build out of the Smart Grid will enable cost effectiveness to be found in achieving the network connected HVAC thermostat. The electric vehicle market will also bring innovation to the home, in the form of lower costs for Smart Grid technologies which complement the electric vehicle charging process. It is highly likely the electric vehicle market will accelerate adoption of the network connected HVAC thermostat, simply because of cost reduction to establish the necessary infrastructure in the home.

OTHER TYPES OF THERMOSTATS?
Many people have asked us about adding other types of thermostats to GNU remotecontrol. There are three questions that need to be answered before we can offer GNU remotecontrol support for any IP thermostat. These questions are:

• How to CONNECT to it (NETWORK).
• How to READ from it (CODE).
• How to WRITE to it (CODE).

It is our hope to have dozens and dozens of thermostat types that work with GNU remotecontrol. Let us know if you designed or manufactured a device and you would like to test it with GNU remotecontrol.

–EXISTING CODE
The stuff you may want to consider…..

BUGS
We have 0 new bugs and 0 fixed bugs since our last Blog posting. Please review these changes and apply to your GNU remotecontrol installation, as appropriate.

TASKS
We have 0 new tasks and 1 completed tasks since our last Blog posting. Please review these changes and apply to your GNU remotecontrol installation, as appropriate.

–SECURITY
The stuff you REALLY want to consider…..

ENERGY DISAGGREGATION SOFTWARE
Analytics upstart Bidgely will integrate its tracking and controlling systems with TXU Energy MyEnergy dashboard. The only way this analytical effort can be accomplished is to collect the necessary data. This offering is a milestone in history, as the first public utility now offering appliance level analysis of energy consumption. The annual Texas power consumption is ranked between the United Kingdom and Italy. Privacy on the electrical grid has irrevocably changed.

REMEMBER
GNU remotecontrol relies on OS file access restrictions, Apache authentication, MySQL authentication, and SSL encryption to secure your data. Talk to us you want to find out how you can further strengthen the security of your system, or you have suggestions for improving the security of our current system architecture.

–LASTLY
Whatever you do…..don’t get beat up over your Energy Management strategy. GNU remotecontrol is here to help simplify your life, not make it more complicated. Talk to us if you are stuck or cannot figure out the best option for your GNU remotecontrol framework. The chances are the answer you need is something we have already worked through. We would be happy to help you by discussing your situation with you.

…..UNTIL NEXT MONTH!

Why the Affero GPL?