2nd Green Revolution » Behavior

Itron: A Global Leader in Smart Meters

John Basalla — Mon, 21 May 2012 11:17:00 +0000

For today’s company spotlight, I wanted to look at smart meters.

Smart meters have been in use since 2006 in the United States and have gained wide penetration in some areas and caused backlashes in others. In the near future many utilities will be switching their customers over to this technology. So what exactly are smart meters, why are they sometimes controversial, how do they help consumers and utilities save money, and who is the industry leader in the field?

A smart meter is a device that collects electric consumption data from a home or business and communicates that data back to the utility. This communication is accomplished by the use of Radio-Frequency (RF) technology. Smart meters provide several advantages to the customer as they allow the customer to monitor their energy use in real time and allow for the customer to receive real versus estimated electric bills. For the utilities there are several major benefits as well. Primary among these is that smart meters allow the utility to adjust its billing policies to entice customers to use electricity during non-peak hours. This is vital as during peak electric usage periods the utilities must bring on-line less efficient energy methods or purchase power from other entities. Both of these methods increase costs to the utility. Incentivizing customers to adjust their energy use to off-peak hours helps the utilities keep costs down and potentially produce electricity using more environmentally-friendly methods. A good example of this approach can be seen with TXU Energy’s Free Nights program which is designed to encourage customers to change their electricity usage habits and as a reward not be billed for electricity usage between 10 PM and 6 AM, non-peak hours for the utility. Another use of smart meters is that they allow utilities to more quickly respond to power outages or problems as they are now receiving almost real time information from customers.

The level of penetration of smart meters in the United States varies dramatically by region of the country. PG&E just recently announced that it had installed its 9 millionth unit in Northern California while other areas of the country have almost no units in place. Current levels of penetration in the United States are estimated at 35%. In some areas there has been a backlash against smart meters due to health concerns regarding the RF technology used to communicate between the readers and utilities as well as concerns about customer privacy. Although the use of RF technology has been approved and deemed safe by the Federal Government, fears still remain.

The global leader in the smart meter industry is Itron (Nasdaq: ITRI) with 8,000 customers in 130 countries. With energy consumption continuing to grow and regulatory initiatives aimed at increasing energy efficiency being put in place around the world, the market for smart meter technology seems destined to continue to expand. Per Itron estimates, there are 2.8 billion meters in use around the world with only approximately 10% being smart meters. One significant risk facing Itron is that they are almost totally dependent on utility industry capital spending. The recent slowdown in the global economy has had a direct effect on Itron’s fortunes as such slowdown reduces the industry’s capital spending. However, with its strong financial results and healthy cash flow, Itron seems well positioned to take advantage of the growth in smart grids and smart meters in the future.

Disclaimer: This article is intended to be informative and should not be construed as personalized investment advice. You are responsible for your own investment decisions.

Disclosure: The author has no position in Itron and no plans to initiate a position in the next 72 hours.

Image Source: whatisworking.com

From Parking Lots to Parking Garages

Eric Wilson — Sun, 20 May 2012 10:15:09 +0000

Last week I wrote about parking lots and my distaste for them. While parking garages are a much better use of land, they can be quite ugly.

My argument today is not an aesthetic one though. While riding the light rail the other day (where I also composed this op-ed), I passed a large parking garage, four levels high or so. Right before getting on the train I walked passed another one downtown. The downtown garage had shops and restaurants on the ground floor, a good use of space, especially in the urban center. However, it is this other garage that got me thinking.

When explorers landed on Rapa Nui (aka Easter Island), what did they think of the giant moai (see the image accompanying this post), the enormous stone statues that populated the coastline? Those vestiges are pretty much the line remnants of a once powerful civilization. Jared Diamond writes about them in Collapse, as well as an article for Discover magazine several years ago. He likens the stone statues to the massive homes built by Hollywood producers, namely the 50,000+ square foot home of Aaron Spelling (recently featured on HGTV). Diamond makes the argument that these shows of power waste resources in an attempt to mark one’s territory by showing off their wealth. The disregard for consumption inevitably led to the downfall of civilization on Rapa Nui.

I realize this is a bit of a stretch to parking garages, but will future civilizations view them similarly? Will they be seen as monuments to the car, an anachronistic structure that sucked up resources (both the garage itself and the cars they housed)? My intention is not to paint a stark picture in which people do not play a role, or in which vehicles are a relic of some bygone era. Rather, as pointed out in another recent post, the future might hold some semblance of pedestrian-centric ethos that will make parking garages the Stonehenge of the future.

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Where the Sidewalk Never Begins

The Angry Pedestrian — Sat, 19 May 2012 11:12:48 +0000

Dear Shel Silverstein,

My apologies for misusing, but hopefully not abusing the title of your wonderful work of poetry.

Cordially,

The Angry Pedestrian

Now that that’s out of the way, let me tell you about the place where the sidewalk never begins; it’s called the suburbs. I don’t live in the suburbs, but I had to go there the other day and “do some business.” As I mentioned in my introductory post, I do own a car. It was the car that dragged me to the suburbs. I took it in for a 2-year, 25,000 mile service; the odometer read 14,134 miles. I was under the impression that it was covered by the 2-year, 25,000 mile service package that came with the vehicle when I bought it. I was wrong.

I dropped off my car at the dealership’s service center and walked approximately one-half mile across the street to eat. That’s right, I walked half a mile to cross the street. Here is an aerial view of the intersection. It’s mostly parking lots and, if memory serves, 9 lanes of traffic. I finally crossed the street only to find the sidewalk did not go to the restaurant at which I was hoping to eat. Instead I had to cut across some grass, the drive through lane, and the parking lot. The pedestrian loses again.

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The Angry Pedestrian: An Introduction

The Angry Pedestrian — Sun, 13 May 2012 03:29:53 +0000

Let me say first off that I own a car. I drive. I don’t drive a ton, I don’t drive everyday, I don’t drive to my job, but I understand the role of the car in today’s society (in America at least). I can’t walk everywhere and I cover four miles in an hour, not nearly as fast as motorized transit (or a bike for that matter). Having said that, I can’t stand when drivers block the crosswalk. I can remember as a child my stepfather getting in a fight with someone who pulled into the intersection he was trying to cross. (It wasn’t quite this bad, but you get the idea.) He walked with a cane and took longer than I do to walk across the intersection.

Here’s the other thing about me, I’m “frugal”. I don’t like spending money, at least not when there’s a free alternative.Why would I pay for gas when I can walk somewhere? Furthermore, I was under the impression that pedestrians still have the right of way. Perhaps I was mistaken. It seems as though cars (yes, I’m aware they don’t think for themselves) have free reign to do as they please. It doesn’t matter if someone is following the walk signal and crossing the street. There’s a reason some cities and states maintain “No right turn on red” laws. The pedestrian has to be the hyper-vigilant. I know the car reigns supreme in this country, but sometimes it feels like there is borderline hostility toward pedestrians. We were here first!

Walking has lost its luster. It’s time to restore the pedestrian to their rightful place atop the transportation pyramid.

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CFL Bulb Recycling Around 2 Percent

Chris DeArmond — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 21:35:25 +0000

With all the attention compact fluorescent lightbulbs (CFLs) get for saving energy, it seems like the importance of recycling them has taken a back seat. A study by the Association of Lighting and Mercury Recyclers (ALMR) cited in a 2011 Consumer Reports article found that only 2 percent of consumers said they actually recycle their CFLs (24 percent of all fluorescent lamps are recycled). This means the majority of them end up in the landfill, where they are likely to break and release mercury.

While each fluorescent bulb contains on average just 4 milligrams of mercury (an old thermometer contains roughly 500 milligrams), the numbers start to add up. A study by the Solid Waste Association of North America estimates that roughly 500 million fluorescent bulbs (not just CFLs) are thrown away, and likely broken, each year. While coal-fired powerplants represent the largest unregulated industrial source of mercury emissions, releases from fluorescent lamps can accumulate in lakes and rivers, and therefore, enter the food chain.

However, even when accounting for the mercury emissions of broken bulbs, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says the use of high-efficiency bulbs actually reduces total mercury emissions. Since they use about 75 percent less electricity than incandescent lightbulbs, they significantly reduce the demand for energy, and therefore the amount of coal that is burned in power plants. Furthermore, manufacturers have been working to reduce the amount of mercury used in CFLs for the last several years. Though it remains an essential component, EnergyStar says manufacturers have cut mercury content by an average of 20 percent, with some bulbs containing just 1 milligram of mercury. Consumer Reports says they found similar results.

So how can we motivate people to recycle their spent CFLs? Paul Abernathy, executive director of ALMR, said to Consumer Reports that there needs to be a federal “policy or program that compels people to recycle CFLs—as in you get in trouble or are rewarded.” I think a lot of us can agree on that.

Image by Paul Keller