Now, a significant amount of electric power is always being wasted because more power is being generated than used to prevent blackouts. However, computers could use millions of electric vehicle batteries to balance power generation to usage with only a safe minimum of excess power being wasted. The present DUMB system wastes huge amounts of power 24/7 and especially at “off peak” times. Scheduling non time critical power usage could save most of this electric power that we now waste. Everyone, except OPEC, would benefit. We need to do this NOW not when we start seeing cascading blackouts!!

If the One Million Solar Roofs project succeeds in California, what will happen to all that power not being used during the day? Well the power from those solar roofs could be scheduled to charge the batteries of the home owner’s car plugged-in 40 miles away at work without a long extension cord. The “smart grid” could determine how much power it was getting at any point in time from “environmentally variable” solar power and it could SCHEDULE its use without wasting any. On a sunny day California Roofs could charge PHEV batteries in Oregon. On cloudy days the system would know its limitations.