Smart Grid Library

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change begins its latest meeting today in Durban, South Africa.  Only the sunniest of optimists expect real progress in forging a global agreement as developing and developed nations argue about voluntary versus legally binding emissions reductions and funding measures.     There’s no single answer to the climate change [...]

The political events in the Middle East and North Africa are raising global oil prices and causing economies to wobble.  The easy and inexpensively extracted oil has been exploited, and what sources remain, like tar sands, consume ever more energy, water, and money for extraction.  Oil, as one of the primary fossil fuels in our [...]

There’s a lot of fear, uncertainty, and doubt – the FUD factor – around Smart Grid technologies and what’s in store in our energy future.  Everyone is concerned about rising electricity costs.  Everyone should recognize that global warming is a real threat to our national security.  The Smart Grid can address these concerns, but the [...]

It seems like most of the discussion about changes that Smart Grid technologies will introduce focus on changes to utilities and to consumers.  Let’s not forget cities and towns.  It’s becoming very apparent that many technologies that improve the electrical grid can also improve other networks – whether these are water, gas, or even transportation.  [...]

“The world hates change, yet it is the only thing that has brought progress.”  Charles F. Kettering, American inventor of the electrical ignition system and early distributed generation devices, made this observation.  As an inventor, he had ample experience as a change agent in trying to explain new ideas and technologies to skeptical potential customers [...]

A couple of statistics recently caught my attention.  The first was that in the month of May, Americans purchased more SUVs than any other type of vehicle.  Gas guzzlers, not hybrids or gas-sipping vehicles.  This happens while we have a catastrophic oil spill fouling critical habitat for land and marine species, along with the massive [...]

The greatest environmental disaster in US history began on April 20, two days before Earth Day.  Even if a miracle occurred and the well stopped leaking now, the damage to the marine and coastal environments will need years to recover.  Who knows – any hurricane that whips up these oiled waters may deposit pollutants miles [...]

The Gulf of Mexico oil spill now polluting fragile wetlands of several states is an environmental and economic disaster.  This is the downside of an addiction to oil, and it should serve as a potent reminder of the strategic value that electric vehicles will have to eliminating significant sources of carbon emissions and that crap [...]

Electric vehicles (EVs) are important pieces in the Smart Grid puzzle.  EVs will play an increasingly important dual role in transport and energy storage.  This role change has consequences that impact consumer lifestyles, wallets, and decision-making processes.  And unfortunately, there’s little being communicated to consumers at this point in time.  For example, I recently attended [...]

The latest electric vehicle (EV) or plug-in hybrid EV (PHEV) announcements from Detroit deliver good and bad news.  While the Chevy Volt may not actually give the average driver 230 miles per gallon, it is certainly much better than the current fleet.  I’m pleased with that news.  However, recent announcements that GM and other manufacturers – [...]