Back in December, as I sat in the airport waiting to board a long-haul flight, I had a sudden realization: I forgot to turn down the thermostat in my apartment. Drat! Aside from dreading what my utility bill would look like, I also felt guilty. I was using a lot of energy to heat an apartment that would be vacant for two whole weeks!
When I recounted this story to Steve Hauser at GridPoint, the company mentioned in my story tonight, he replied, “Ah, see, with our smart grid software, you could have logged in from the airport and turned your thermostat down remotely.” When you think about it, in today’s world that idea isn’t entirely novel. After all, we pay our bills online, invest online and manage our bank accounts online. Why shouldn’t we be able to control our energy usage online?
That’s just one way in which our current grid isn’t “smart.” It isn’t dumb; it’s just behind the times. There are all sorts of digital efficiencies we could introduce into the system to minimize waste and manage the demand for energy so that our only solution isn’t merely ramping up supply.
One of the major hurdles at this point is cost. This is a project that will cost billions upon billions of dollars. The $11 billion proposed in the economic recovery package would just be a down-payment. Most analysts I spoke with agree that over time, the savings will far outweigh the upfront costs, and proponents say a “smart grid” will create millions of jobs. Others have said it will be a revolution on par with the development of the internet. What do you think?
Comments
We need to utilize everything in out power to reduce our dependence on foreign oil including using our own natural resources.OPEC will continue to cut production until they achieve their desired 80-100. per barrel. The high cost of fuel this past year seriously damaged our economy and society. Oil is finite. We are using oil globally at the rate of 2X faster than new oil is being discovered. We need to take some of these billions in bail out bucks and bail ourselves out of our dependence on foreign oil. Jeff Wilson has a really good new book out called The Manhattan Project of 2009 Energy Independence Now. He explores our uses of oil besides gasoline, our depletion, out reserves and stores as well as viable options to replace oil.Oil is finite, it will run out in the not too distant future. WE need to take some of these billions in bail out bucks and bail America out of it's dependence on foreign oil. The historic high price of gas this past year did serious damage to our economy and society. WE should never allow others to have that much power over our economy again. I wish every member of congress would read this book too.
Smart grid is an example of Pluralitas non est ponenda sine necessitate, commonly known as KISS, Keep It Simple Stupid, or as Ockham's razor.
Al-s you really got to do is design on-site-thermostat to always decrement by one degree each hour but not lower than 40 degrees F.
Here is another example of KISS:
You buy car with roll-up window. You friend buy car with electric window. Sympathetic vibrations of Bay Bridge Wind later dumps you both into deep water of SF Bay. Water shorts out you friend's battery. Best of Good Byes, friend.
How to make it fail-safe? Redundant back-up systems each have their limitations, pit-falls and accidents just waiting to occur.
Enron, as I understand it, was a gaming system for biding, buying, hedging, price of energy on segments of the grid. Not only Enron caved in but blackouts from strange connections supervened.
Before deregulation all connections between major segments were direct current to prevent de-synchronization of the sine waves. After deregulation of the grid for the purpose of the gaming companies and their "profit" thus chaos set in.
You want radio controlled thermostats controlled by big-brother at power company? President Truman knew what people wanted. If we are not careful, we may get it again.
Thanks, Dana, for opportunity to blog on your thread. Happy 30th Birthday, NBR
Ciao, D
H
I agree, Dana, I think a smart energy grid to the homes is revolutionary. Imagine if in the future energy can be traded among homes like goods in eBay and how that will improve the efficiency and lower the costs of energy production and consumption.