Feeling the smart grid love

.

By Jesse Berst

A gentleman stood on stage at DistribuTech last week and suggested 40% of the press about the smart grid in the last year has been negative. I don't know if he got the number exactly right, but the bashing has been loud and prolonged.

Some of it deserved. We haven't done everything right. But that's why it's important to talk about our successes more often – and why I'm hoping you'll join in the spirit of Valentine's Day and add to our list of the things we love about the smart grid.

10 things to love about the smart grid

1. Successful pilots such as Pepco's PowerSense DC and AEP's smart grid project in Ohio.

2. Deployments that scale. Several utilities now have more than one million smart meters in the field – Southern California Edison and Hydro One among them.

3. Not every industry grew during the recession, but thanks in large part to the $4.3 billion in stimulus funds, the smart grid industry stayed the course during the downturn.

4. Speaking of that stimulus money, we're lucky to have supportive political leadership in D.C. as well as in a number of our states.

5. In public and private laboratories, innovators are plotting a smarter energy future that is less dependent on fossil fuels.

6. It may not be a perfect process, but you've got to appreciate the hard work and collaboration going into critical standards development efforts.

7. We also are fortunate to have dedicated, visionary leadership from associations like GridWise Alliance, DSRG and the Smart Grid Consumer Collaborative to name just a few.

8. Private capital investments have been (and projections suggest will continue to be) a major driver of smart grid progress.

9. Smart grid initiatives and the motivation behind them provide a reason for everyday folks to engage in a dialog on some of the most important issues of our time.

10.  http://www.xoxopower.com 

That's my 10. Now it's your turn. Please use the Talk Back form below to tell us why you feel the smart grid love.

Jesse Berst is the founding editor and chief analyst at Smart Grid News.