by Angela Guess
A new article takes a look at the application of Big Data in the energy industry, data gained from the so-called Smart Grid: “While utilities do have a learning curve to climb about data management and analytics, end users (residential, commercial, and industrial customers) also need to learn the ramifications of the creation and use of entirely new data about them. This new data will be valuable to consumers, energy service providers, and a myriad of third parties. Utilities need to determine the most cost and time-effective ways to handle the ‘big data’ at the consumer edge of the Smart Grid. Consumers need to pay attention to how that data is managed and used, and the monetization of its value as recently highlighted in the Apple iPhone tracking disclosure.”
The article continues, “Location data is relatively new, and there are few policies in place about its management. In fact, Verizon Wireless just added a warning sticker –basically a ‘user beware’ message to its phones. Energy consumption data is also new, and should have a similar ‘handle with care’ sticker on it. Data from smart meters is very new, and while consensus seems to have coalesced around consumer ownership of their own energy consumption data, the policies and practices are still being defined. Here is a great example of a utility’s data privacy policy regarding how they work with consumer and energy usage data. However, one of the complexities about energy consumption data is that it can be derived from a couple of different sources. Some data is collected by utilities from smart meters, but other data may be collected from devices that communicate over the Internet, and this data does not necessarily end up with utilities. A consumer using a Home Energy Management System (HEMS) solution that is supplied by a service provider other than their utility needs to understand that service provider’s policies about their energy data.”
Learn more about this topic here.
