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Transforming Buildings into Prosumers with the Smart Grid
The Smart Grid will trigger many transformations. Chief among them is the change in the relationship that consumers have with electricity. We can transform from consumption roles to prosumption roles – producing electricity as well as...
Renewable Energy and the Smart Grid: The Natural Gas Conundrum
Natural gas seems to invoke a win/win perspective as the solution to all problems in some discussions about energy policy and the best fuels for electricity generation and transportation. In these scenarios, the only downside is the pressure...
Energy Harvesting the Next Big Thing for the Smart Grid
Solar panels capture energy from light and convert it to electricity. This is the most visible form of energy harvesting, but it is hardly the only one. Energy harvesting captures energy lost as heat, light, sound, vibration, or...
Smart Grid Investment: Different Priorities Could Lead to Similar Results
In the developed world, we take for granted the infrastructure fundamentals that give us the good life. Healthy drinking water? Naturally. Reliable electricity? Of course. But in the developing world, this...
A Different Green for Earth Day: Investment in Energy Innovations
On April 22, 1970, 20 million Americans demonstrated for a clean and sustainable environment. In October 1973, Americans experienced the first oil embargo, and for the first time thought about the real costs of our reliance on oil for energy....
The Disruptive Possibilities of Microgrids
The past two decades of telecommunications history can serve to illustrate trends and develop insights that apply to electric grid modernization – the evolution to the Smart Grid.Private Branch Exchanges (PBXs) disrupted and disintermediated the...
Grid Resiliency As a Social Benefit
When it comes to grid modernization, understanding some history can help us map the best path forward – particularly in ensuring that the Smart Grid is both reliable and resilient for everyone.For instance, the transformations that occurred in the...
Why We Still Need Utilities
The CEO of NRG, David Crane, was quoted at a recent industry conference as saying “…consumers don’t need the power industry at all.” He was referring to NRG’s plans to bypass utilities by selling solar panels and small natural gas generators...
Does My Smart Meter Make Me Look Fat?
At a Smart Grid industry conference last week, three attendees protested against smart meters based on concerns about the health impacts of the Radio Frequency (RF) signaling technology in them. Smart meters use either RF or Power Line Carrier...
Situational Awareness in Distribution Grid Helps Make Utilities Smarter
Utilities are projected to invest $3 Billion per year by 2015 to upgrade their distribution grids (the low voltage part of the grid) to accommodate increased renewables and energy storage assets and/or replace aging equipment. At a recent...
Money and the Growth of the Smart Grid
The great American musical, Hello Dolly, has catchy songs and a most memorable quote. As the main character, Dolly Levi points out, “Money, pardon the expression, is like manure. It’s not worth a thing unless it’s spread around encouraging...
Quantifying the Real Costs of Outages
The oft-enunciated primary goals for regulated electric utilities are to keep electricity safe, reliable, and inexpensive. An unintended consequence of these objectives have meant that US investor-owned utilities (IOUs) have underinvested in...
