At a recent conference, Knight Center of Digital Excellence team members met James Salter, who has worked on Smart Grid and fiber-to-the-home projects around the country as chief strategy officer for the Atlantic Engineering Group in Braselton, Ga.
In a presentation at the conference, Salter explained why “Smart Grid” planning matters, especially in planning for stimulus spending. A Smart Grid is an ever-widening palette of utility applications that enhance and automate the monitoring and control of electrical distribution.
He agreed to share his views in our blog, and here the primer he prepared for us:
“We need a much more intelligent electrical grid in order to improve efficiency.
“Why? Because today, our system is set up so that we are doomed to waste energy, while also causing needless pollution. Of the electrical generation capacity available in the U.S., we only use 40 percent on average. Yet unless we want blackouts, we have no choice but to build power plants based on peak demand, which is two-and-a-half times average usage.
“If we could level off our demand, by self-regulating our use of air-conditioners, water heaters and major appliances, we could avoid building new power plants for a long time.
“Another benefit: We would also cut down on carbon emissions that contribute to air pollution and global warming.
“So how do we plan for greater efficiency? The key is having an ability to communicate much more intelligently with end customers. Smart Grids allow such communication.
“For example, you might raise your thermostat or turn on your air-conditioning from a remote website. Imagine a hot summer day when the power utility is giving pricing incentives to encourage customers to level their demand. Or think of the times you leave home, expecting to be back shortly, and you get delayed. Why heat your water if you’re not there, particularly when you can remotely turn it off and save money?
“One of the nation’s largest electric utilities – TVA in the southeast U.S. – has set a goal of creating the ability to control 2.8 million residential water heaters with Smart Grid technology. They believe this alone will save them from having to build one very large electric generation facility (3,000 megawatts) in the next 10 years.
“For consumers, Smart Grids would cut the cost of electricity through improved efficiency. And building Smart Grids costs less than building new power plants.
“Now here’s a kicker: If you build the Smart Grid with fiber all the way to the home, you get the dual benefit of being able to provide a 100 megabit (or greater) broadband connection to the customer.
“For that, we’ll need a federal mandate, as there are 3,200 electric utilities around the country, and coordination to this extent will require federal leadership.”
View Salter’s presentation here for more information on Smart Grids.
