In-Home Display Units: An Evolving Market, Part 2

This Energy Insights report is the second in a two-part series that examines in-home display (IHD) products that are currently available and their planned upgrades. In-home display devices on the market today are now moving from a utility-centric model, helping the utility control and achieve better demand response during peak events, to a customer-centric model, allowing the customer to respond at the level of energy use they are comfortable with.

"Improvements in wireless and wired devices are giving impetus to control and management in energy efficiency. With the recent approval of the ZigBee home automation standard, more functionality for both the utility and the consumer will be added," says Karen Blackmore, program director of customer operations strategies, Energy Insights. "Additional standards for smart energy usage and for industrial and commercial building automation will further propel the market and have greater applicability to commercial entities." As more smart meters are installed across North America, the next generation of IHDs will have greater functionality to take advantage of the two-way communications inherent in those systems.