Earth Day and the Smart Grid
Posted: April 23, 2010
Yesterday was Earth Day. It got me thinking about all the benefits that we hope the smart grid can bring as far as helping reduce our negative impact on our planet. I thought I would write a bit about the smart grid and the environment. Much of the smart grid initiative by the government focuses on reducing our carbon footprint. When it comes to the smart grid there are many ways it can help reduce our negative impact on the earth.
When we speak of the carbon footprint we think of coal burning, oil, emissions and smog. Much of the generation that produces the electricity we use during peak times comes from burning these types of fossil fuels. Remember, just because you do not see the emissions rising from your home AC during a hot afternoon doesn’t mean that the electricity it uses came without leaving any trace at all. Some generation is clean, hydro, wind, solar, even nuclear in some ways have many benefits when it comes to eco friendliness. The problem is that it is difficult to incorporate some of the less consistent methods of generating electricity mentioned above. The smart grid will help to allow more additions of smaller alternative energy generators in greater numbers.
Another benefit of the smart grid initiative is the idea of helping to eliminate the high demand peaks. These very high use times are short lived however they make up much of the costs and emissions associated with electricity generation. Smart meters will help people become aware of their use and enable the utilities to let consumers know when we are in a peak demand time. Using dynamic pricing models or price discounts and passing the costs or savings on to the consumer will allow us to cut back on the peak generation.
If the grid were just 5% more efficient, the energy savings would equate to permanently eliminating the fuel and greenhouse gas emissions from 53 million cars.
http://www.oe.energy.gov
Overall when the smart grid is rolled out in larger areas it will help reduce our impact on earth.
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April 23rd, 2010 at 9:42 am
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April 26th, 2010 at 7:49 am
Thanks for a great article. There’s clearly a lot to discuss.
There are many varied reasons for the utilities to upgrade the grid infrastructure and it will happen. But what is even more powerful is we know that consumers are becoming more interested and engaged in their electricity consumption. It’s a big budget line item and for a long time we have just accepted and paid it each and every month. We really see consumers getting much more interested in becoming more active in managing electricity consumption and taking steps to drive it down. $’s and cents are the primary motivator but there is also a great deal of satisfaction taken for doing the right thing and making a difference.
What we know definitively is access to better information – real time information can make a huge difference in reducing electricity consumption. There are many academic, utility sponsored and manufacturer sponsored research studies and the general conclusion is just better information alone can reduce consumption by 5-15%. For a family spending $100 – $250 per month on electricity that’s a big deal. When we aggregate the potential impact from millions of homes reducing their consumption by 5-15% that’s a huge impact for the economy and a huge positive impact on the climate.
The utilities will bring solutions to the market……but there are proven energy monitoring options on the market today. For as little as $100 families could gain access to this real time information today and begin to take control of this important issue and important monthly budget item.
We have been in the business of real time electricity information since 2003 and it’s gratifying to see this momentum. You can find more information from us at http://www.bluelineinnovations.com.