So where does big brother looking over our shoulder and 'regulating' us end? Maybe they'll decide there's just too many consumers of electricy in an
area, let's say Southern California, using more than their fair share of energy. Maybe some intelligent design for population density should be incoporated by big brother? Let's break up you liberal nirvana and ship you off to Alaska where you won't need air conditioning. Then let's turn on your smart grid and limit your heat to 68 degrees.
john anderson - 02/13/2009 - 11:10
Re: Mr. Anderson's concerns
Acually, I expect all of this feed-forward control technology will be implemented on an opt-in basis. The power company will give discounts to customers who agree to have their largest loads "prioritized" in the demand pool. It could be as unobtrusive as having the element in your electric water heater cycling on and off in real time depending on wind-turbine output (which could change by the second). Your water will still be heated, but the power consumption will not be steady.
If we don't do something SOON about renewable energy, the ultimate "big brother" is going to be the people that own the remaining supply of oil, gas, and coal. That is the scenario I fear.
Ed Brown - 11/25/2009 - 10:09
Re:Mr Andersons concerns
The intent of Smart Grid in places such as Southern California is not for the utility to control things such as thermostats but to provide information so consumers can make choices. If a consumer were to receive a pricing signal that indicated energy was going to be higher at a given point in the day they could chose to act on that information to reduce consumption and their related bill. Load Control, where the utility decides who to limit power to reduce consumption on the grid is not very popular any more although it is still used in some peak shaving schemes.
Michael Mayer - 02/25/2010 - 04:25
Smart Grid
reducing future investment is only part of the issue! Rising costs of fuel, labor, material, rights of way, government regulation, all have a hage effect on the present and future costs of energy. New costs related to creating, regulating, marketing and implementing smart grid technology will all allow other companies (who are not regulated) get the profits (and most likely these will be out of country)
George Orwell - 03/03/2010 - 07:41
Embedded Intelligence
As the relationship between supplier and consumer becomes bi-directional the opportunity for individual trades, i.e. arbitrage of personal / local generation or 'feed-in' with consumption becomes a new market dynamic...
Richard Barrington - 04/26/2010 - 03:09
To much control again
While I feel it is important for each individual family/person to do what the can to save on energy and thus save on their cost, I do not believe we need the GOVERNMENT passing laws (CAP and TAX) to make sure we are doing what they want or pay a heafty price for their wants, desires and vision of how our lives and comfort should be. It's always about their control over the people, not ours over them.
Natural gas is getting so cheap that it may become cheaper and faster to slap up a gas-fired peaking plant than to implement a complicated demand response or renewable project - two of the biggest drivers of a smart grid. Yikes! Will natural gas alternatives make the smart grid too expensive by comparison? That's this week's Tuesday Topic in our discussion forum. Please join in.
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