Fresh off winning an award at this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, in-home power control software developer 4Home Inc. has landed a deal to license its technology to smart meter maker Sensus Metering Systems. The two companies announced Thursday that they'll be working together to provide utilities with smart grid-enabled home area networking and demand response "solutions" — that is, systems that can track power usage from thermostats, appliances and electronic devices and communicate that information through a smart meter to utilities and consumers. One of those solutions might well be 4Home Energy, the system for measuring and displaying a home's power usage that Sensus has licensed. A version of 4Home Energy, controlled by 4Home's software and using devices and technology from smart meter maker Echelon, SMC Networks and Radio Thermostat Corporation of America, just won an award from CES for being a top innovator in eco-design and sustainability.  Sensus will presumably be looking to use 4Home's software capabilities in its own home area network trials with utilities. The North Carolina-based company has deals to supply millions of meters to more than 100 customers, including Portland General Electric, Southern Co., Alliant Energy, and most recently Hawaiian Electric Co.   The Sensus and 4Home deal is one of a number of partnerships seeking to deliver on the promise of getting homeowners in closer touch with utilities about how much power they're using — or wasting. Silver Spring Networks, a smart meter wireless communications startup that landed $75 million in October, joined up with home power display developer Greenbox earlier this year to give customers of Oklahoma Gas and Electric the ability to track their power usage in a test of their technology.  And Gridpoint, which makes software to track and control home power usage and raised $120 million in September, is joining advanced metering and demand response hardware and software maker SmartSynch and other partners in Xcel Energy’s $100 million SmartGridCity initiative in Boulder, Colo.  4Home, by the way, is a member of the Z-Wave Alliance, a group promoting the use of the Z-Wave communication standard developed by Zensys, which was purchased by Sigma Designs last month. But the standard hasn't really caught on with utilities for low-power wireless communication within the home. Instead, many of the utilities planning trials of home area networks — including California's big three investor-owned utilities, Pacific Gas & Electric Co., Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric — are planning to use the rival ZigBee communication standard instead.  Tendril Networks, which makes ZigBee-enabled devices and software to give homeowners power use information, said in November that it has trials going with 29 utilities, one of which is expected to start a commercial rollout this year. 

The  Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant has cut power production by 60 percent after a leak in the pipe that provides water to the steam generator was discovered, according to the AP. The leak is dripping about 60 drops a minute and the water is mildly radioactive. On Wednesday, the Vermont Yankee (which is my favorite nuclear power plant name) had a leak in the gasket. Better clean it up, lads. The nuclear industry is promoting itself as a clean and economical and large-scale alternative to coal and natural gas. It's also not intermittent like solar or wind, and a few plants can provide large amounts of baseload power, say proponents. Applications for 34 nuclear plants are expected to be filed with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission between now and 2010. A few outfits are also building nuclear enrichment plants. Debates rage over whether nuclear will be economical or not. See Joe Romm's take on a new report that says new nuclear will cost 15 cents or more a kilowatt hour. But -- ugh -- safety and leaks are tougher to argue over. If the safety and maintenance record gets murky, nuclear advocates are going to have a tough time mustering support.

Carbon taxes got a somewhat unlikely ally today: Rex Tillerson, CEO of ExxonMobil. "My greatest concern is that policy makers will attempt to mandate or ordain solutions that are doomed to fail," such as a cap-and-trade system, Tillerson said in a speech at the Woodrow Wilson Center, according to a report in Dow Jones. "A carbon tax would be a more direct and transparent approach." Tillerson joins a host of others who have come out in recent months in favor of a tax, versus a cap and trade system. Late last year Representative John Larson (D. Conn) said he'd introduce carbon tax legislation. He introduced a bill for carbon taxes in 2007 but it went down in flames. Al Gore likes them and so does James Hansen. British Columbia implemented one last year. Barack Obama has been on record of being a cap and trade kind of guy, but don't forget: he was running for office. Saying you're in favor of any tax is instant death. (John Doerr also testified in front of Congress -- without crying -- and seems to favor both a cap-and-trade and a carbon tax.) Although it's hard to say which will be implemented, there does seem to be momentum for a tax. And there are good reasons for it. One, it raises revenue in a much more rapid manner. Two, everybody pays, eliminating the free pollution problem and adding a sense of fairness. Advocates say it will be easier to implement. Some VCs with connection to Washington have told me that a cap-and-trade system might not even be possible until a second Obama administration. Think about it for a sec. It took the implosion of Wall Street and the economy as a whole to pass the investment tax credits, which are relatively straightforward. You think Congressional committees are really going to hop to it on a cap-and-trade system. At least a carbon tax will be something they can digest. But we shall see.

SpectraWatt seemed to have it all: $50 million in the bank and help from chip giant Intel. Now, the future is a little murkier. The Oregonian reports that the company won't meet its goal of shipping products by the middle of 2009. Instead, the first products may come out five to six months later. Additionally, the firm has suspended construction of its larger, more commercial-scale production facility. The problem? Credit. As a result, the Hillboro, Ore.-based company (which currently sits on land provided from Intel) is shopping itself around to different states looking for incentives. CEO Andrew Wilson wouldn't confirm where SpectaWatt is looking, but he did confirm the delays, that SpecraWatt has suspended construction plans, and that it is looking inside and outside of Oregon for a building to retrofit for a factory. "The capacity of our factory, wherever it is, will still be the same," at 60 megawatts, Wilson told the Oregonian. Asked whether SpectraWatt was considering New York, as Strader said, or Pennsylvania, as rumored, Wilson said: "Both have some nice incentives for this type of facility, and there are certainly others also." The governor's office, which has been trying to recruit green companies, was a bit surprised. "Have them call us," a representative told the Oregonian's reporter.