Smart Meters Open Up New Software Sector

By Chris de Morsella on March 30, 2009 7 Comments carbon accounting systems, energy efficiency, firewalls, home energy controllers, network stack, networking, peak load, PG&E, smart appliances, smart grid, smart meters, software applications, software business, software development, software opportunities

Smart meters, which are meters that are hooked up to a network so that they can deliver information about current usage in a timely manner, are rapidly becoming ubiquitous. Smart meters will enable real time energy decisions in response to current conditions. They form a critical cornerstone of the smart grid; in fact in many ways they are the “smart” in the smart grid. This opens up a whole slew of new opportunities for smart software developers and smart entrepreneurs [no pun intended] to build the software applications and services to support and to add value to these new smart networked grids. What kinds of software opportunities exist in this newly opening sector?