I mentioned this was coming, but Rogers Communications has made it official: it has now started offering a smart home monitoring service to its customers in Ontario, and as part of this service it can give users the ability to (remotely) control in-house lighting, heating/cooling settings, and certain appliances as part of a broader home automation package, which wisely puts the emphasis on home security — something homeowners are more likely to pay for. As expected, the platform behind this service offering is iControl, which Rogers invested in back in June.

Here’s how Rogers describes it: “At the heart of the system is an ultra-rugged, easy-to-use touchpad that consumers use to arm/disarm and manage their system. Available in wall-mount or table-top, the touchpad provides quick 1-touch access to home security functions, home automation apps for lighting, cameras and thermostats as well as multimedia apps for photos, traffic, weather and sports. When an alarm occurs, the touchpad instantly connects with the Rogers central monitoring station simultaneously over both Rogers cable and wireless networks. The touchpad constantly communicates with its highly encrypted smart sensors throughout the home, checking their status, signal strength, battery level and even room temperature.”

The customer can control the systems through a wireless device, such as an iPhone, and alternatively, the customer can get alerts on his/her wireless device via text message or e-mail.

Sounds quite comprehensive, and certainly using this kind of platform makes it easier for Rogers to add new sensors and services to the mix as its customer base becomes more comfortable with the system. Now, the issue of cost. This doesn’t come cheap. You can get the starter kit for $149 if you sign up for a three-year term, which isn’t a bad deal given that most people usually stick with the security services they choose. (If you don’t sign a multi-year deal, the kit will cost $749).  Monthly plans start at $39.99 for basic service, and sensors can be added on an a-la-carte basis or as part of “value packs” that can be purchased at a discount. You also can’t install the system yourself, so there’s also a one-time installation fee of $99.

Then again, if home security is the focus and the rest is gravy, then maybe consumers won’t balk at the cost. Whatever the outcome, I’m glad Rogers is testing the waters with this because I truly believe this is the only way energy management technologies will be widely introduced into the residential market. Here’s a Rogers video explaining the service here (notice the big emphasis on security).

Toronto-based Enbala Networks has brought demand-response to a new level — just don’t call it demand-response.

In traditional demand-response, companies such as Comverge and EnerNOC sign up dozens, potentially hundreds of clients that agree to reduce their energy demand when asked.  When a heat wave hits and electricity demand spikes, a power system operator will ask a Comverge or EnerNOC to orchestrate a large-scale demand reduction for a specific period of time. These companies (and their clients) get paid to reduce their electricity, with the idea being that the cost of such programs is far less expensive than the cost of building (and paying for) a natural gas peaker plant to do the job — that is, negawatts is cheaper than natural gas megawatts.

EnerNOC, for example, said it was able to reduce power demand across the United States last week by 1,230 megawatts when asked to kick its services into action.

But this is only one form of demand-response. What about the second-by-second fluctuations on the grid that require what the industry calls “regulation”? Regulation is a way to constantly balance supply and demand on the system, and it’s usually accomplished by power generators that get paid a hefty premium to do the job (In Ontario hydroelectric facilities in Niagara Falls play a major role). In early 2010, Enbala Networks decided to participate in an Ontario Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) program aimed at proving that demand-response could work for regulation services as well.

The company issued a call in June 2010 for municipal and industrial partners that had the flexibility, when asked, to reduce power demand regularly throughout the day and night. Ideal candidates were water and wastewater treatment facilities, wood chipping and rock crushing facilities, companies that had large electric boilers, chillers and battery charging loads, and partners that relied heavily on industrial ventilation. In other words, anyone that used lots of electricity for equipment that could easily be turned on and off without materially affecting the overall operation of the organization. You might call it flexibility harvesting, and Enbala has built a smart grid platform that does it well.

Enbala went ahead with the pilot project and a year later the company and the IESO appear satisfied with the outcome. Now that proof-of-concept is out of the way, it will be interesting to see where it leads. Will Enbala be able to replicate it in other jurisdictions and turn it into a vibrant money-making business? Will the IESO expand the pilot into a full-scale commercial program, giving the Ontario grid a faster and cheaper way to balance supply and demand?

The smart grid demands no less, and this approach will become increasingly important, along with energy storage, as we add more intermittent renewables to the power mix.

Hi all, I’m delighted to report that the first review of my upcoming book, Mad Like Tesla: Underdog Inventors and Their Relentless Pursuit of Clean Energy, is in and it’s, well, pretty encouraging. Here’s what Library Journal, an important industry trade magazine used as a purchasing guide by library buyer and book wholesalers, had to say:

Hamilton, energy and technology writer for the Toronto Star, examines some of the latest, most far-out green energy innovations and the people behind them. How far-out? Take, for example, a retired engineer’s idea to produce electricity via an artificial tornado, or a plan for a space-based power station that would harvest the sun’s energy, using microwaves to beam it down to earth. Other gizmos and processes seem more amenable to commercial success and social acceptance: Hamilton tells of a secretive company called EEStor that claims to have made a breakthrough in energy storage, and of a team building a low-cost nuclear fusion reactor. He strikes a fine balance between hope and hard realism when considering barriers to energy transition. As the “tornado guy” says, upon considering financial and regulatory obstacles: “Holy crap, that’s a lot to get through.” VERDICT: Mad Like Tesla is easy to get through, even for readers with only a basic knowledge of energy issues. Hamilton makes complex technologies comprehensible, and he clearly enjoys the remarkable human stories behind the science. Many of the risk takers and visionaries portrayed are Canadian (rocker Neil Young makes a cameo appearance!), but this book’s strong appeal should transcend all borders.

Can’t complain with that. The book is scheduled for public release on Sept. 1 and is already available for pre-order on a number of sites, including Amazon.com/Amazon.ca and Indigo.ca. The book won’t break the bank, either. We decided to do paperback release on first run to make the book more accessible to a larger audience. You can likely pick it up for $13 or so. I built a Web site I’m not entirely happy with, so plan to have a newly designed site finished by the end of August. Stay tuned!

My Clean Break column this week takes a closer look at Air Miles for Social Change, a new division within LoyaltyOne, which runs the popular billion-dollar Air Miles rewards program. This new business division has spent the past 18 months partnering with government agencies, utilities and environmental groups on programs that get consumers to buy greener products, take transit, consume less energy, reduce their waste and embrace healthier diets and lifestyles. Normally I’m skeptical of anything having to do with loyalty programs, but here’s the thing: it seems to work, and work really well.

For some reason, a large percentage of the population really dig getting Air Miles. There’s trophy value to them, and while they’re worth much less than cash itself, members of the Air Miles program seem to treasure these rewards more than cash. An odd phenomenon, but a good one. That’s because for government agencies and utilities and transit authorities, handing out Air Miles in exchange for good behaviour is much cheaper than handing out cash in the form of discounts and rebates. And because they’re partnered up with LoyaltyGroup, which has direct access to and detailed information on nearly three-quarters of Canadian households (i.e. about 10 million), it gives them a less expensive yet highly more targeted way to reach out to consumers — at least when compared to that relatively ineffective and expensive medium called advertising. The Ontario Power Authority, the first agency to work with Air Miles on such a program to encourage energy conservation, found that it spent two-thirds less but got seven times the results compared to its advertising- and rebates-based approach a year earlier. You’ll get more details on that if you read the column.

Since working with the OPA, Air Miles for Social Change has run with the concept and now has about 25 similar programs on the go across Canada. It’s catching on.

It’s not that issuing rewards for good behaviour is an entirely new thing. It’s what Toronto’s Lowfoot.com is doing, as well as New York City-based Efficiency 2.0 — both focused on energy management for consumers. But what Air Miles brings to the equation, at least in Canada, is unmatched reach into households. And with that comes the power to influence positive change with carrots instead of sticks — not that we don’t need both.

Sorry for the extended lull. I’ve been off sick. My Clean Break column today takes a look at the overcrowded market for home-energy management devices and systems. There are many — arguably too many — different flavours and approaches out there, and for the average consumer it must be pretty darn confusing and at times overwhelming to hear about what’s coming, but not have a sense of what it means and why, beyond the hype, anyone should buy into it.

That’s assuming consumers are even listening. To be fair it is still early days, but you have to wonder whether market expectations placed on consumers — and by that I mean people who get an electricity bill every month — are unrealistically high.

I mean, we all know energy prices are rising and that, to help manage the impact, we’ll need to start consuming electricity more wisely and less often. Energy management technologies are one way to do this, but at what cost and sacrifice of time? You can spend hundreds of dollars on some of the options out there, but do the savings justify the upfront expense? Large commercial building owners are one thing, but are consumers going to go through that complex calculation for each new product on the market? I doubt it. Plus, as I write in my column, energy management as a product or service has other hurdles to jump:

As cool as these technologies are — at least for the tech-heads among us — let’s remember they’re not offering the kind of entertainment or services that might convince folks to upgrade their cable package or Internet hardware, or buy that big-screen TV.

Monitoring your electricity use isn’t enjoyable and getting to know the operation of your refrigerator better isn’t what I’d call fun. It’s not like hanging out on Facebook, Skyping with friends, or tuning into your favourite prime-time TV show.

There’s nothing sexy about energy management. It’s likely to be an annoyance to most people already suffering from information overload and other complexities of life. For this reason alone, the simpler and least intrusive the energy management technology the better.

On that note, I’m convinced that energy management will only fully penetrate the home by piggy-backing on other products and services that consumers are truly interested in, whether it be electronic entertainment, online connectivity or mobility, or home security. In this sense, energy management is just another “app” — and maybe even a free one — that’s part of a bundle of services on offer that are embedded in a single technology platform. People don’t want to buy more devices unnecessarily to accommodate some new communications protocol, like ZigBee. They also want services and devices that can accommodate new applications. For example, energy management today is largely focused on electricity consumption but shouldn’t we also have a strong sense of how much natural gas and water we’re using?

This seems to be the thinking, increasingly, of large broadband providers. Recently, Palo Alto, Calif.-based iControl announced it had raised more than $50 million in a Series D financing.  The company has a home automation platform and supporting devices that combines home security, healthcare monitoring and energy management in a single package, all capable of being remotely monitored through the Web or mobile devices. U.S. cable giant Comcast was part of the round, which isn’t surprising given that it has already started to offer iControl’s services to its existing customer base. Canadian readers should find it interesting that Rogers Communications also invested in the round, meaning the new home automation platform it talked about launching earlier this year will likely be based on iControl technology. The company’s “smart home monitoring” is “coming soon,” according to its Web site, which shows a picture of the same iControl display being used by Comcast. (Control4 is another platform I like)

This, in my view, is how energy management is going to be sold to homeowners. As a standalone service it won’t get traction, but by riding on the coattails of other offerings there’s a chance that, over time, we can at least put the necessary tools in the hands of consumers. Whether they use them or not will be their choice, but if it costs too much, is difficult to set up or navigate, or doesn’t deliver the expected benefits within a short period of time, it’s destined to fail.