My Clean Break column yesterday takes a look at an overlooked issue on the smart-grid file: privacy and security. Last week Toronto Hydro disclosed that 179,000 customer online accounts had been illegally accessed, along with some personal information. Now, this could have happened to any Web site that gives online access to billing — retailers, banks, your phone or cable company — so this isn’t directly a “smart grid” issue. What it highlights, however, is that utilities are a target like anyone else, and could increasingly be a target as they deploy smart meters and begin to offer energy-management services through the Web. How much energy we use at various times of the day can, surprisingly, say a lot about you and your home. For one, it can tell someone you’re not home. And it can allow someone to track your activities throughout the day. As I point out in the column, the Black Hat conference in Las Vegas last week showed just how easy it can be to remotely infiltrate a network of smart meters and seize control. Of course, we also have to worry about the upstream as well, keeping security issues top of mind  as we modernize our transmission systems. This is critical infrastructure, and with more and more points of access being created to enable the “smart grid,” this infrastructure will be increasingly vulnerable to attack.

Toronto-based Ecobee Inc., which has developed a cool-looking smart thermostat that connects to your home Wi-Fi network, will soon be launching a new application that lets a person control the thermostat from their iPhone wherever they happen to be. “Basically we have created an iPhone application that turns the iPhone into a thermostat replica,” a spokesperson told me. “So, it’s displayed horizontally on the screen and gives you some of the functionality of the thermostat. You can adjust the temperature and humidity, receive and set up alerts… and control multiple thermostats.”

Ecobee already offered the ability to control its user-friendly smart thermostat through a Web portal, but the new iPhone app allows for remote mobile control of your household energy use. I should add that Ecobee’s thermostat can also be used for demand-response programs. Neat little tool.

Been crazy busy this past week but there’s been no shortage of interesting news in the cleantech and green energy space, so I’ll summarize a few of them here instead of doing individual posts. BTW: Hope everyone is enjoying their summer.

Click to the next page to read about General Fusion’s new infusion of cash, new fluids that can make enhanced geothermal more efficient, a McKinsey report that details the incredible payback of investments in energy efficency, and a University of Calgary report that says Alberta would benefit tremendously by plugging into electric transportation.

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