by Staff Writers
Dublin, Ireland (SPX) Sep 29, 2008

The term "smart energy" refers to the approach of using the most cost effective long term products to satisfy home residents' needs of energy. Cost and resource effective usage may come from purchasing new products that were originally manufactured to achieve energy savings, and/or employing effective methods for using existing products that were not originally designed to support smart energy goals. Improving energy efficiency in homes is an important first step in the growing trend of green remodeling since the existing energy is generally produced from non-clean and/or renewable resources such as burning of fossil fuels at power plants, which contributes to smog, acid rain, and global warming.

Smart Energy Home - Single-user Edition represents a study about constructing new homes from energy prospective including preparation, construction and certification. The report also addresses certification efforts within communities and organizations such as the U.S Green Building Council's LEEDs program. The report provides examples of real world projects that met LEEDs certifications standards.

The report also provides a detailed case study about smart grids, which are used by the utility industry today to face various challenges including supplying resources to accommodate the projected growth in demand for energy and minimizing and reducing the impact existing on the environment from producing that energy. The report provides an overview of the smart grid comparing it to the traditional electric grid. A study for smart grid technologies is also included. As a practical study, the report includes a study for a smart grid from the Xcel's Energy approach including various efforts and activities presented by the Xcel's Energy like Smart Grid City.