The Humble Home Emerges as the Power Market’s Big Untapped Opportunity
Tools that enable homeowners to provide flexibility to the grid, and be rewarded for it, are set to become more important as electrification increases power needs.
Stephen Bedford, a renewable energy specialist and master electrician, shows a smart breaker panel during a March 19 smart-home tour in Houston presented by NRG Energy. The panel can track and control how much power is drawn by different circuits in the house.
Photographer: Danielle Villasana/BloombergA short drive away from the gleaming glass skyscrapers of downtown Houston, in a leafy neighborhood known for good schools, biking trails and hipster bars, sits a home of the future, at least as far as energy is concerned.
Its roof is festooned with solar panels, its garage replete with lithium-ion batteries and bidirectional charging equipment, which can enable an electric vehicle to send power back into the house or the grid. It features the latest in energy-saving appliances, such as electric stovetops, front-loading washing machines and heat pumps. And at its center are the electronics and software that control it all, known as power management systems.