A 'Smart' Electrical Grid Could Secure the Energy Supply

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How about old people (me being one) being roasted by excess heat when their air conditioners are shut off. Or being charged exorbitant rates because they cannot engage in your intrusive control plans.
(As far as running my air conditioner all that I want in January; Which one of you wizards thought that one up.

Elmer V Koski/Rosalie West of OR 5:21PM June 28, 2010

Smart grid technology is not about the gummament [sic] controlling your use of energy, if you read real hard and not just watch 24hour TV news, you'll notice its actually a market-based solution. The idea is that with a smart grid the utility company will be able to organize and direct energy to consumers as they demand it and so there will be a market price set on that demand. During peak hours of area energy usage energy will cost more encouraging people to seek lower costs and naturally alter their energy usage to be more efficient. Power is actually wasted when too much demand is placed on a grid at any time, thus we'll have cheaper energy costs during off-peak hours like the middle of night or work day. So perhaps you'll buy a washer with a setting that allows it to detect the cheapest time of day to wash your laundry or run your water heater or whatever.
We're still only talking about an optional setting on a consumer product, take a deep breath cause its not socialism or a government take over.

Taxnspend of TX 9:32AM April 19, 2010

The smart grid is a buzz word; it has no meaning, or rather has infinite meanings. How does the LED in my flash light have any connection with the grid? To claim the energy efficiency of an LED as a benefit of the smart grid is just selling snake oil. The true concept is the installation of a control circuit in all large residential energy loads, e.g. air conditioners, and freezers. A signal from the utility will shut them off. Thus you can run your air conditioner all you want during January, but others will control it during August. The hideously expensive system will be paid, either by the taxpayer or the light bill payer. The advantage? Less of those hated power plants. If the US does not build power plants, it must ration the limited supply. You will get juice when they say so. To control the demand, the costs for day time usage will be much higher than at night. To define time of day usage requires a new expensive meter, the "smart meter".
It is true that enemies could temporarily disrupt the grid, via software commands. However each generator has self protection systems which would drop the load if it was endangered. It would reconnect, during normal conditions. War is not a normal condition, and any cyber attack against our grid would be an act of war. The current smart grid circuit boards have little anti cyber capability.
The smart grid requires dumb customers. They and their money will be soon parted.

R. L. Hails Sr. P. E. of MD 11:51PM April 11, 2010

Let the power supplers do the job, they will do it better, cheaper, and reap the benifits.Get the goverment out of it as much as possible and every one will benefit.

Foster Merrill of MN 12:10PM April 10, 2010

Hats off to HobbesDFW and bilbo -- you're both right!
I am so tired of these breezy bs filled articles about green energy and smart grids, I could spit.
Kingsbury writes about homes producing energy to give back to the grid, but fails to mention who will PAY for the solar panels and wind turbines on your property...? Take a guess.
The entire solar panel business in Spain collapsed for just this reason -- the government sold people a story about green energy and then realized no one could afford it, or in the end even wanted it, and then the government (using taxpayer dollars) propped up the industry until it could no longer afford the facade.
I pay my utility company for a service they provide. If I use more, I pay more. But if you read between the lines in all these articles what no one is saying (but is obviously what these people want) is to CONTROL your electricity use, not help you save money.
Again, more "government knows best" and another loss of freedom. There is a big difference between bilbo (above) turning the thermostat to 78 in the summer, and being TOLD that you MUST do so....as our lovely president suggested his first week in office, and then set his own thermostat in the WH at 80.
Classic liberal hypocrisy.

SR of PA 12:04PM April 09, 2010

This article makes the statement "There are several basic components of a smart grid", then goes on to discuss only a few of them; and very incompletely at that.
The first one, two-way power, is only discussed from a perspective of homes that generate power to push back into the system. The second aspect, efficiency, doesn't seem to concern the actual infrastructure at all, and certainly doesn't explain where the $100 billion investment will go.
I concur with the need for "hardening" the computer controlled aspects of the grid, but I would not consider that to be making the grid "smarter". Ironically, the article discusses the need for consumer education - we should start with a better explanation of what we are being asked to purchase.

HobbesDFW of TX 10:47AM April 09, 2010

We shouldn't be wasteful. And we shouldn't leave ourselves half vulnerable to whomever around the world is banging on keyboards and hoping, just hoping, to return some "shock and awe" to the USA.
You know they're out there. Some sponsored by known enemies---some just hacking with the spirit of taggers.

Muser of NM 6:45PM April 08, 2010

Golly gee, I am just one of the great unwashed out here but, I have found a way to impact my electrical usage and hence my "carbon" footprint.
1. I keep my thermostat at 65 in the winter and 78 in the summer.
2. I unplug TVs, stereos, etc., that draw power when they are off....it ain't too hard to plug them back in!!!
3. I turn off lights when not using them!!
So, I don't need all that fancy software and "googling power" to help myself....boy, when did the general population get this dependent on others to think for them.

bilbo of PA 2:37PM April 08, 2010