Smart Grid Library

Ben Franklin, the first American genius, achieved fame and notoriety for his electricity research, which included that famous kite-flying experiment.  But did you know that he first described the concept of treating energy efficiency as an energy resource?  He memorably stated “A penny saved is a penny earned,” back in the 1700s, but today he [...]

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 [...]

Buildings consume an extraordinary amount of energy in the USA.  Commercial, industrial, or residential expend their energy in different categories, but numerous studies have shown that energy efficiency and intelligent building technologies reduce energy bills.  Not only that, but smart buildings can have a strong multiplier effect in terms of shifting expenditures from utility bills [...]

Games are identified as one of the biggest trends for social media and mobile devices.  Gamification is called the next big thing for marketing.  Both have exciting implications for behavior change in the health care sector.  So will social games and gamification play a significant role in changing consumption behaviors for electricity, gas, and water?  [...]

The Smart Grid delivers disruptive technologies and services that will impact the entire electricity value chain of generation, transmission, distribution and consumption- meaning utilities and consumers.  Utility operations in generation, transmission, and distribution will be disrupted as work processes, business models, and service expectations change.  Overall, these disruptions are beneficial.  For instance, utilities know that [...]

The United Nations Climate Change Conference is convening in Cancun, Mexico from November 29 to December 10 to discuss reduction strategies for global warming and funding for programs developing nations can put in place to mitigate the impacts of climate changes.   Can the Smart Grid solve climate change?  No, but it can reduce the amounts [...]

The Smart Grid has traditionally been used to describe the electrical grid 2.0.  The distinctions between the traditional electrical grid, or version 1.0, and the Smart Grid cover the bidirectional flow of electricity and communications.  We need to extend our thinking about the smart grid to add distributed intelligence and communications to other parts of [...]

Energy efficiency is “the first fuel to set priorities about design, deployment, and use of any devices or materials that consume electricity or contribute to its consumption.” (Definition from the Smart Grid Dictionary, 2nd Edition). It is also called “low-hanging fruit” to describe that it is the easiest and cheapest way to avoid the purchase [...]

There is welcome evidence that the intellectual and financial resources in Silicon Valley are starting to seriously engage in Smart Grid activities.  Take a look at where Smart Grid investment funds are based.  Of course, the Federal government’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) stimulus fund kickstart of $3.4B beat all other sources of money.  [...]

As a telecom veteran, I sometimes get a sense of deja vu at Smart Grid conferences.  There are some strong similarities between the telecom industry of 25 years ago and electric utilities today.  I know how much the utility industry hates to hear that but it is true.  Here are the similarities and important lessons [...]