Duke Energy Connects Smart Meters over Verizon's LTE

Duke Energy has selected Verizon Wireless to connect the digital meters, signs and media players that will be used in project Envision: Charlotte.



Using Verizon Wireless' LTE network, Duke Energy will gather and aggregate energy usage data from about 70 participating buildings in Charlotte's 1.94 square mile I-277 inner-belt loop. The information will then be streamed to large interactive lobby-level screens provided by Cisco.



Building tenants will see the nearly real-time commercial energy consumption data for the community and suggested actions they can take to reduce their personal energy usage in the office.



"We are pleased that Verizon Wireless has joined along with Cisco in making this very important initiative possible," said Vincent Davis, Duke Energy's director of smart energy community projects. "Having near real-time energy usage information – that's not available today with analog technology – is the first step toward awareness and proactive human engagement to reduce the amount of energy that's wasted in commercial buildings."



Envision: Charlotte aims to reduce energy use by up to 20 percent and avoid approximately 220,000 metric tons of greenhouse gases by 2016.http:// www.duke-energy.com http://www.envisioncharlotte.com/