CalPlug Workshop Series: Oct 2012

Calit2 Building, UC Irvine

CalPlug’s second full-day set-top box workshop held at the end of October brought together 75 academics, manufacturers, service providers, utility and public agency representatives, who brainstormed energy-saving approaches to device usage. CalPlug’s “5w5s” research roadmap is introduced with the Phase I prototype demonstration taking place after the event. The workshop also forecasted future applications for set-top boxes, including home energy-management, security and telemedicine systems. From power consumption trends and sleep modes, to incentive programs and consumer education, attendees spent the productive day discussing opportunities, sharing ideas and asking questions of each other.

8am Registration and Continental Breakfast
9am – 12pm Plenary Session I

Speaker: Organization:
G.P. Li CalPlug / Calit2 Irvine

STB Power Consumption Trends: Waste Not, Want Not

Are new technologies such as “multi-room” and “System-on-a-Chip” making STBs more efficient? How many “Rosenfelds” are we at this month? The CalPlug team has been working with leading service providers from different categories to characterize actual energy consumption in various operational settings, using industry standard test methods. CalPlug seeks to generate a power consumption report next January for mainstream STB systems.

Speakers: Organization:
Gary Langille – Presentation Dish Network
Noah Horowitz Natural Resources Defense Council
Martin Vu So Cal Edison
Craig Chamberlain – Presentation CableLabs

5W5s: Goodnight Irene

Imagine a world where all STBs go to sleep at less than five watts and wake up in five seconds. CalPlug is working with project champions on this “5W5s”. With ever advancing software, firmware, hardware and chipsets for STBs, the usage pattern and behavior of the users eventually dictate the final true energy consumption. How to integrate cutting-edge power management with drastically different usage behavior in one package?

Speakers: Organization:
Arthur Zhang – Presentation Calplug
Gregg Hardy Ecova
Bruce Nordman – Presentation Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Thinking Outside the Box

Set-top boxes and small network equipment are great candidates for the hub of future efficient “smart homes.” CalPlug has worked with the champions to investigate the various value-added features for STBs, such as home energy management, home security and home telemedicine systems. Peripheral wired and wireless demand-response and power pattern recognition devices are also interesting topics for utilities.

Speakers: Organization:
Joe Jankosky – Presentation So Cal Edison
Kuriacose Joseph DirecTV
Kevin Strong – Presentation FutureDash
Michael Cook Comcast

12 pm – 1 pm Lunch
1:00 pm – 2:40 pm Plenary Session II

STB power modes: “Hibernate” or “Sleep?” That is the question

Currently, there is a mix of terms used on the market and within the technical community to refer to various STB operation modes, such as “active,” “idle,” “light sleep,” “deep sleep,” “hibernation,” “shut-down,” or “scalable power modes.” However, their associations with levels of energy saving are confusing for both technical communications and consumer education. CalPlug is addressing this issue by examining both industry standards and consumer acceptance in depth. The goal is to establish a common set of terms and labels associated with expected savings.

Speakers: Organization:
G.P. Li – Presentation CalPlug / Calit2 Irvine
Jay Yang – Presentation Motorola Mobility
Jeremy Dommu – Presentation US Department of Energy
Ken Rider California Energy Commission

Incentive programs and consumer education: the “Slippery Frog”

Upstream, midstream and downstream, where can the incentive dollar be used most effectively to promote more efficient STB systems? The industry targets the end of 2014 to ensure 90% of new STB stock qualifying for Energy Star 3.0. CalPlug will assist the design of an incentive program based on studies of consumer behavior and adoption pattern in collaboration with utilities and service providers. Besides rigorous comparison of cost sharing models, how to stimulate consumer awareness of such programs will also be discussed.

Speakers: Organization:
Derek Okada – Presentation So Cal Edison
Stephen Dulac – Presentation DirecTV
Thomas Bolioli – Presentation Energy Star

2:50 pm – 4 pm Working Groups (Concurrent Sessions)

Working Groups Conference Room Session Lead Project Champions
Power trends and sleep modes Auditorium G.P. Li Gary Langille (Dish Network)
Martin Vu (SCE)
Beyond STBs CalPlug Conference Room Arthur Zhang Kuriacose Joseph (DirecTV)
Kevin Strong (FutureDash)
Consumers, incentives and terminology Seminar Room 3008 Stuart Ross Jay Yang (Motorola)
Derek Okada (SCE)
George Jang (PG&E)
Stephen Dulac (DirecTV)

4pm – 4:30pm Report from working groups; schedule next STB workshop
4:30pm Networking Reception; CalPlug open house

Speakers and Panelists

(in order of their appearance)

G.P. Li is the director of the UC Irvine division of the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2) and the interim director of the CalPlug Center. He is a professor of electrical engineering and computer science, biomedical engineering, and chemical engineering and materials science. He is also director of the Integrated Nanosystems Research Facility. He holds 12 U.S. patents with 15 patents pending and has published more than 270 research papers. Prior to joining UCI, Li served as a research staff member and manager of the technology group at IBM T. J. Watson Research Center. He serves as director for UCI’s NSF Integrative Graduate Education and Research Training (IGERT) “LifeChips” to promote research collaboration among life scientists and technologists. Li has been involved in several startup companies as a co-founder or technical advisor. Currently, he directs TechPortal, a technology business incubator housed at the UCI division of Calit2. His current research interests focus on improvement of energy efficiency in plug load devices, and on empowering human health and wellness with IT/communication and healthcare technologies.

Gary Langille is a systems engineer at EchoStar Communications Corp. He was previously director of new business development, vice president and general manager of the Digital Color Science and Imaging R&D Center at Eastman Kodak and vice president of engineering at Electronic Printing Systems Inc. Langille received his bachelor’s degree in electrical and electronic engineering from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, and his master’s in engineering management from Northeastern University.

Noah Horowitz is a Senior Scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), a leading environmental advocacy organization. Noah is the Director of NRDC’s Center for Energy Efficiency Standards, which seeks to improve the energy efficiency of buildings and the equipment inside them. Noah is an internationally recognized energy efficiency expert in the areas of residential lighting and consumer electronics. Prior to joining NRDC, he served as the Worldwide Manager – Environmental Programs for the Quaker Oats Company. His academic training includes an MS in Environmental Engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology and a BS in Chemical Engineering from Carnegie-Mellon University.

Martin Vu is the Engineering Lead at SCE’s Technology Test Centers supporting the testing of integrated demand side management technologies and systems. Martin has 9 years in performing technical field audits and aiding customers in making informed decisions in reducing energy costs. Martin’s background is in Electronic and Computer Engineering with a graduate degree in Business Administration.

Craig Chamberlain is Vice President of Systems Evaluation for Cable Television Laboratories, Inc. He is responsible for certification and testing across the CableHome, DOCSIS, PacketCable and OpenCable initiatives. Mr. Chamberlain was previously Director of Certification for Broadband Access at CableLabs. Prior to CableLabs, Mr. Chamberlain worked for Motorola’s Broadband Communications Sector, Hewlett-Packard, and as a Project Director in CableLabs’s engineering department. Mr. Chamberlain earned a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Colorado. His Master’s thesis was in the field of communications and laser diode clipping. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, from the University of South Florida, Tampa.

Arthur Zhang manages technology strategies and applications for the California Plug Load Research Center. Arthur oversees the daily operation of CalPlug research projects and supervises the center’s research staff and students. He is actively involved with technology commercialization of new products in energy efficiency, telecommunications, and micro devices for medical and industrial applications. He has filed over ten U.S. patents. Arthur received his B.S. degree in Applied Physics with honors from the University of Science and Technology of China. His Ph.D. work in experimental plasma physics from the University of California, Irvine was supported by a Regents’ Fellowship and a Department of Energy grant.

Gregg Hardy is vice president of research and policy at Ecova, an energy and sustainability management company. He has an aerospace engineering degree from Princeton, an MBA from MIT’s Sloan School of Management, and 20 years of government and industry experience in leading organizations including General Electric, the U.S. Air Force, Intel and ESI.

Bruce Nordman is a researcher in the Building Technology and Urban Systems Department of Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, with principal focuses on energy savings in electronics and in networks. He works with the technology industry and standards organizations to develop new technologies to save energy in electronics and networks. Recently he helped launch a process to make Ethernet technology much more energy efficient, and another one to enable networked devices to sleep without sacrificing network connectivity. He also works on low-power mode energy consumption, on user interface issues for electronics power control and lighting, and on developing network architecture concepts for future building networks. Nordman has a BA in Architecture and MA in Energy & Resources, both from UC Berkeley.

Joe Jankosky develops strategic alliances with the energy information services industry at Southern California Edison. His previous work at SCE has included negotiating energy and transmission agreements with independent power producers and investment banks. Mr. Jankosky holds a BA in Economics, MBA and Master of Public Policy from Stanford, USC and Harvard University, respectively.

Kevin Strong has experience in management, marketing and business development in high technology industries, primarily in the communications semiconductor sector. Prior to joining FutureDash, Kevin was Executive Vice President of Marketing for GPS chip startup GloNav. He helped lead the business to acquisition by NXP Semiconductors. Prior roles included being an angel investor in RFDomus, serving as founding CEO during the spinout of Pictos Technologies from Conexant Systems, and serving at Conexant from 1998 – 2002 as the Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Personal Imaging Division. He held various management, marketing and engineering positions at Conexant’s predecessor, Rockwell Semiconductor Systems. Kevin earned a bachelor’s degree in Electronic Engineering with honors from Southampton University in the United Kingdom.

Jeremy Dommu is an energy analyst in the building technologies program of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. Dommu is focused on reducing energy consumption from consumer and commercial appliances by setting regulatory rulemakings on energy efficiency appliance standards. He holds a master’s in business administration from the George Washington University, where he concentrated in energy and environmental policy.

Michael Cook is the vice president of technology in the CPE technology group at Comcast Cable in Philadelphia. His background is in software engineering and new product development. He was formerly with Telcordia Technologies, as a vice president of software development. One of his primary responsibilities is to lead the work on energy reduction across Comcast CPE. Michael has 19 patents issued or pending and is actively involved in new technology development.

Jay Yang is a Principal Staff System Engineer at Motorola Mobility. He is responsible for the systems design and development for set top boxes as well as leading the set-top energy efficiency design and implementation. Prior to joining Motorola, Yang worked at Filtronic Signal Solutions, where he was responsible for leading systems and hardware development on communication devices and equipment including DOCSIS analyzers, WiMax and WCDMA base stations. Yang holds a MSEE from Penn State University, and a BSEE from Fu-Jen Catholic University in Taipei, Taiwan. He also earned his MBA from Temple University, Fox school of Business.

Allen Tsao has five years of experience designing digital integrated circuit and power management techniques for low power and high performance CPUs. For the last two years, he’s been supporting the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) on Set-top Box rulemaking activities as well as test procedure development for ENERGY STAR consumer electronics and information technology products.

Ken Rider is an Electrical Engineer with the California Energy Commission’s Appliances and Process Energy Office. Ken has worked for more than three years on efficiency standards, labeling, enforcement, lighting, the certification and test procedures for consumer electronics as well as pools and spas for the state of California. Ken is also a member of the California Plug Load Research Center’s advisory board, which guides research and development to improve the efficiency of miscellaneous and consumer electronic building energy loads. Ken holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering with a minor in technology management.

Derek Okada is a strategic planning project manager with Southern California Edison’s Customer Energy Efficiency (EE) and Solar Division. He currently leads EE program strategy development in the areas of plug loads, appliances and consumer behaviors. He is responsible for identifying new EE opportunities within SCE’s residential portfolio and collaborating with utility, industry and regulatory stakeholders to implement new EE offerings. Prior to joining SCE in 2008, Okada held strategic planning and financial planning roles with the Los Angeles Times/Tribune Company, Ingram Micro and Toyota Motor Sales USA. He also worked in litigation and financial consulting with Arthur Andersen LLP and Simpson and Company LLP. Derek holds a B.A. in Economics from UCLA and a M.A. in Public Policy Studies from the University of Chicago.

Stephen Dulac is director of engineering for DIRECTV, Inc., El Segundo, Calif. Steve has been with DIRECTV since 1997 in system engineering roles supporting service launches including HDTV, local channel rebroadcasts, DVR, interactive services and home networking. As director of the standards and regulatory group in DIRECTV’s engineering organization, he represents DIRECTV in the Consumer Electronics Association, the Digital Living Network Alliance and the RVU Alliance. He is also responsible for DIRECTV’s participation in the ENERGY STAR program. A senior member of IEEE, Steve holds 14 patents. He received a B.S. degree in electrical engineering and an MSEE degree in telecommunications engineering from UCLA.

Thomas Bolioli is a consultant for Terra Novum, LLC specializing in environmental information technology. For the last six years he has served as a technical advisor to the EPA ENERGY STAR program on the energy efficiency of IT & electronics. In support of the EPA, Bolioli has worked with everyone from Fortune 500 clients to small businesses to promote the use of monitor and computer-power management in the enterprise. He is also the author of the C++ based “GPO Tool for Power Management.” Currently Bolioli is working with a team of experts on the development of the Tier 2 Computer Specification (having assisted on Workstations in Tier 1) as well as specifications for digital television adapters and advanced set top boxes.

Matt Malinowski is a senior associate with ICF International, which partners with government and commercial clients to deliver professional services and technology solutions in the areas of energy and climate change; environment and infrastructure; health, human services, and social programs; and homeland security and defense markets. Previously, he worked with Navigant Consulting, MIT Media Laboratory, Infineon Technologies and Maxim Integrated Products. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering, and electrical engineering and computer science, respectively, from MIT.

Cathleen Fogel is a Senior Analyst on residential new construction and residential Zero Net Energy Programs at the Energy Division of the California Public Utilities Commission, where she has worked for the last five years. In 2007-2009, she served as statewide project manager of the California Long Term Energy Efficiency Strategic Plan, and also served during that time as Supervisor of the Energy Efficiency Planning section at the CPUC. Prior to joining the CPUC, Cathy worked as a policy and political analyst for a variety of non-profits organizations, including the Climate Group, the Center for Resource Solutions, and the National Wildlife Federation. She has a Ph.D. in Environmental Studies — an interdisciplinary degree – from U.C. Santa Cruz (2002).

Stuart A. Ross is Assistant Director for Research Development at the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (”Calit2”). Stu is the lead staff person for preparing grant and contract proposals to funding sponsors; he also advises on research compliance issues and coordinates the institute’s summer research program for undergraduates. He has assisted in the formation and growth of CalPlug from its beginning. He taught political science at Texas A&M University and has worked on grants management at the University of Southern California and California State University Fullerton. Stu has a bachelor’s degree in physics and a doctorate in political science, which included work on energy policy.