GridPoint Appliance Showcased by U.S. Department of Energy's Building America Program in Palm Harbor Homes' Energy-efficient Display Home at International Builders' Show

Business Wire, Feb 7, 2007

GridPoint appliances provide instant backup power, energy management and renewable energy integration. GridPoint to unveil new online energy management features at the show.

ORLANDO, Fla. -- GridPoint, Inc.[TM], a provider of intelligent energy management (IEM) products, today announced the award-winning GridPoint Connect[TM] will be showcased by the U.S. Department of Energy's Building America Program in the energy-efficient display home built by Palm Harbor Homes at the International Builders Show in Orlando. In addition, GridPoint will unveil new features of GridPoint Central(SM), the first online energy management portal to provide homeowners with detailed information and control over their energy consumption and costs.

GridPoint appliances provide clean, silent backup power, integrate renewable energy, and automatically increase energy efficiency according to customer preferences. GridPoint appliances are accompanied by GridPoint Central, which enables homeowners to create a personal energy profile that automatically and cost-effectively manages energy based on consumption patterns and a utility's rate schedule.

"GridPoint is pleased to be a part of the DOE's Building America Program to reengineer new and existing homes for energy efficiency, energy security, and affordability," said Peter L. Corsell, President and CEO of GridPoint. "Our total solution for online energy management, renewable energy, and clean backup power helps builders quickly and easily achieve these objectives and meet the rising demand for solar and wind energy technologies."

Located in the outdoor show village area, Palm Harbor Homes' display home features GridPoint Connect as the hub for its solar technologies. The "plug-and-play" advanced "balance of system" simplifies solar integration, reduces installation time from days to hours, and sells excess renewable energy to the utility, reducing the homeowner's energy costs. Additionally, through GridPoint Central, homeowners receive easy-to-understand environmental data based on their renewable energy production efforts; for example, the carbon dioxide emissions avoided is equivalent to removing 100 cars from the road for a day.

During the show, new features of GridPoint Central will be introduced at GridPoint's exhibit in the show's south hall, S10193. New features of the online energy management portal include an aggregated view of several GridPoint appliances, essential for facility managers with multiple locations or builders who wish to monitor the performance of GridPoint products in their developments. Additionally, homeowners can now subscribe to email alerts (e.g., a power outage has occurred) and receive comprehensive energy reports on energy consumption and renewable energy production as well as system performance.

GridPoint Connect was named the top honoree in the home appliances category, International CES Best of Innovations 2007 Design and Engineering Awards, and awarded Green Builder[R] Magazine's 2006 Most Innovative Product. The appliance is the renewable energy management system in three LEED for Homes pilot projects and Los Angeles Magazine's DesignHouse 2005: The Green Home. GridPoint Protect[TM], for traditional energy users, won the 2006 Frost & Sullivan Backup Power Product Innovation of the Year Award.

GridPoint appliances incorporate recyclable batteries, power electronics and an on-board computer in an attractive, self-enclosed appliance. Unlike a generator, they are silent, emissions-free and safe to install and operate inside a home or business. The products do not require fuel, manual exercising or annual maintenance and are monitored by GridPoint's Network Operations Center via broadband or phone line connection for optimal performance.

About U.S. DOE's Building America Program

The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Building America Program is reengineering new and existing American homes for energy efficiency, energy security, and affordability. Building America works with the residential building industry to develop and implement innovative building energy systems - innovations that save builders and home-owners millions of dollars in construction and energy costs. This industry-led, cost-shared partnership program has the following goals: reduce whole-house energy use by 40-70% and reduce construction time and waste, improve indoor air quality and comfort, integrate clean onsite power systems leading to "zero-energy" homes (ZEH), encourage a systems-engineering approach for design and construction of new homes and accelerate the development and adoption of high-performance residential energy systems.

About Palm Harbor Homes

Based in Dallas, Texas, Palm Harbor Homes is one of the nation's largest marketers of factory-built homes. The company's vertically integrated operations set it apart from others in the industry. Palm Harbor builds, sells, finances and insures the best manufactured homes available today. Palm Harbor's focus is the high-end, customized niche of the manufactured home market. Four out of five homes produced in its 18 manufacturing facilities across the country are customized with owner-selected features. Palm Harbor sells its homes through 115 company-owned superstores and more than 350 independent retailers.