New "green" energy from dirty sources

A key element of reducing energy usage is being able to track it. To do that, utilities are slowly replacing old customer meters with automated systems that allow them to take detailed measurements of energy usage.

Echelon Corp and Itron Inc are two of the companies that make the new meters. Firsthand Funds owns shares in both companies.

"You need to have the information about where the energy is going," Landis said, adding that "the market for it is only every office building and and every home."

Firsthand also holds shares of Honeywell International Inc

because of its building systems automation business, which Landis said will go through "a big renaissance."

California utility PG&E Corp is installing new meters in Bakersfield and Sacramento, some of the hottest areas it serves. The meters give customers up-to-the-minute details about how much energy they use and when, said Randall Wong, PG&E's supervisor of demand response.

The new meters will be available to all PG&E customers by the end of 2011. Add-on "smart thermostats", available in some markets, allow PG&E to control a customer's heat or air conditioning remotely in the event of a supply shortage, Wong said, adding that customers can always choose to opt out if they are unable to participate on a given day.

Not everyone has been pleased with the idea of utilities controlling their air conditioning. The California Energy Commission this month dropped a proposal to require that the new thermostats be installed in new buildings after lawmakers and others complained that participation should be optional.

Nevertheless, with such big opportunities to cut back on energy bills, businesses and consumers may embrace the new meters and the efficiency measures they promise to deliver.

"It's really just the first step in what's likely to be a 20- to 50-year move," said David Kurzman, head of the alternative energy group at research firm Panel Intelligence. "It took us 100 years to get the grid to where we are, and it's going to take us another 50 or so to upgrade it."

(Editing by Tim Dobbyn)