Peter Jansen, Capgemini

Today’s world needs a sustainable energy future. Capgemini, like Itron, understands that being more resourceful means making the most of what we have. At Capgemini, we are committed to providing the right services to implement the right solutions (for today and tomorrow), which will help us better manage the world's energy and water.

So why the need to be resourceful? Much of our energy comes from fossil fuels, like petroleum and coal, which provide electricity and gas to power our growing energy needs. Needless to say, these resources are non-renewable, which means that we will eventually run out. Another reason is the health and well-being of the planet. Using fossil fuels, such as coal, to produce energy contributes to the carbon footprint. Capgemini is committed to resourceful solutions. Internally, we have formed a North American Sustainably Board, designed to build an energy efficiency plan to reduce our own carbon footprint through a reduction in business travel, optimizing our real estate, and energy and waste reductions.

For our Utility clients, we have several Smart Grid/Smart Meter/Smart Home solutions and services that are focused on successfully assisting our clients in achieving a culture of conservation with their customers – be it electricity; gas; and/or water.

These services and solutions help reduce waste (such as detecting wasted water due to leaks), support greater customer choice and control (such as supporting advanced rate tariffs like TOU, PTR, etc.) and support new uses of energy (such as micro grids and renewables). These solutions not only reduce consumption, but also help to spread consumption to off-peak periods. Studies show that just by becoming aware of their homes’ daily electricity usage, customers can lower their electric bills up to 10 percent; and that customer demand response programs can reduce U.S. peak demand by 20 percent.

Capgemini has been successfully providing these services to utilities around the globe for more than fifteen years.

Related to this, we have also provided services to help utilities implement the Green Button initiative. The Green Button initiative is an industry-led effort to provide utility customers with easy and secure access to their energy usage information in a consumer-friendly format. With their own data in hand, consumers can take advantage of a growing array of online services to help them manage energy use and save on their bills. For example, programming their home energy management devices, sizing and financing rooftop solar panels and helping a contractor to verify their home energy savings more cost-effectively. Capgemini was recently awarded a three year contract to support a major Canadian utility in implementing its Green Button initiative and Energy Data Platform (EDP), which are designed to provide customers with easy, secure access to energy usage information as well as applications to manage efficiency.

At Capgemini, we believe that a sustainable energy future is obtainable. Our Smart Grid/Smart Meter/Smart Home solutions facilitate the co-ordination of the capabilities of generators, grid operators, end-users and electricity market stakeholders to allow them to operate all parts of the system as efficiently as possible, minimizing costs and environmental impacts while maximizing system reliability, resilience and stability.