Title: EnerNOC and how demand response suddenly got sexy - VentureBeat

Industry sector: Energy efficiency, Energy service

EnerNOC and how demand response suddenly got sexy

April 16, 2010 | Camille Ricketts

The movement toward a cleaner, more efficient Smart Grid is off and running, with the Department of Energy allocating billions to the cause, and utilities revamping how they do business after decades of inertia. Now, the global effort is breathing new life into old concepts: Zigbee wireless communications, for one — but perhaps most importantly, demand response.

Here’s demand response in a nutshell: Utilities make deals with their rate payers, whether they be homeowners or businesses, to reduce the amount of energy they use when it looks like power demand is about to exceed supply. At its core, demand response shaves just enough energy off the grid’s peak loads to avert brownouts, blackouts and other disruptions that annoy customers and cost utilities millions in maintenance fees.

This has been happening for more than 20 years, particularly in warm states like Arizona and Texas, where air conditioners bust the grid every summer. Run mostly by technical back-end companies with boring names like Utility Integration Solutions and Corporate System Engineering, demand response programs have traditionally been relegated to big manufacturers, data center owners, and other major energy hogs.

But all that is starting to change, and fast.

Read the full story at VentureBeat.