From PESWiki

Directory of technologies and resources relating to the Smart Grid, which is an effort to bring about better communication and response between the various grid components, preventing brownouts and leveling out peak loads.

See also Directory:Electrical Grid

Overviews

• What exactly is a smart grid? - A 5-page primer by Carnagie Mellon University, The Many Meanings of 'Smart Grid' presents an accessible, circumspect explanation of the smart grid concept and all of it's major components. "Some of the things that get talked about are relatively inexpensive and can go a long way toward solving key problems. Others will likely be very expensive, and at this stage may better be left to the realm of research." (Treehugger; July 8, 2009)
  

• 'Smart grid' is new buzz of electric power industry - What smart grid visionaries see coming are home thermostats and appliances that adjust automatically depending on the cost of power; where a water heater may get juice from a neighbor's rooftop solar panel; and where on a scorching hot day a plug-in hybrid electric car charges one minute and the next sends electricity back to the grid to help head off a brownout. (Globe Gazette; June 7, 2009)
  

• Smart Grid Goes Prime Time with GE Super Bowl Ad - This is clearly only the beginning in an outreach effort to utilities, legislators, and the public. The campaign places special emphasis on the Smart Grid as one area that is especially deployable and offers great benefits. See "Scarecrow", "Pluck" (Smart Grid News; Feb. 2, 2009)
  

Action

• 
  Featured: Grid > Smart >
  NIST presently setting grid connectivity backbone - Right now at this very instant of time and for a very short period of time in the near future the standards for the transmission, formats and processes for all of the data handled in the Smart Grid are being written. Everything that proceeds for decades after this time will hinge on what we do in the next approximately 25 days. (PESN; June 13, 2009) (Comment at Examiner.com)
  

• Security Interoperability Standards will be a key in Smart Grid backbone being formed by NIST - A teleconference will be held June 24, 1 PM Eastern to address the Security Interoperability Standards being set into place for the smart grid by NIST for the next 25 years. "Everything will come out of these and be based upon these." Attendance urged if you have knowledge/wisdom to impart for this key meeting. (PESN; June 23, 2009 update)
  

Technologies

• Natural Gas >
  Distributed Natural Gas Power - VW plans to put thousands of workers on the assembly line to make home-sized natural gas furnace/hot water heater/generators. These generators, based on a natural gas engine already used in the Golf, are 92 percent efficient (because they can use the waste heat for heating water or homes) and can either produce electricity for home use or put it out on the grid. (The Atlantic; Sep 17, 2009) (Thanks Phil Vogel) (P2P Comments)
  

• An Intelligent Electric Grid - In this video, Peter L. Corsell, founder and CEO of GridPoint, talks about the problems inherent in today’s electric grid and describes how GridPoint’s technology improves the system’s efficiency, flexibility, and reliability. (Technology Review; Sept. Oct. 2008)
  

• GridPoint Inc Unveils First Intelligent Energy Management Appliance for Renewable Energy Customers - To provide instant, automatic, silent back-up power during outages. Claims to be the first energy management and backup power appliances to seamlessly combine advanced battery storage with power electronics into a single "plug-and-play" cabinet. (PESN; Sept. 23, 2005)
  

• Gadgets to Spur Energy Conservation by Peter Fairley - This winter, about a thousand participants in Manhattan-based ConsumerPowerline's energy-conservation program will receive small plug-in boxes that glow red when power demand peaks, urging them to turn off space heaters, defer dishwasher runs, or otherwise save electricity. (MIT Technology Review; Nov. 14, 2007)
  

• Making the Power Grid Smarter - Gridwise is networking home appliances and thermostats to electricity grids, lowering utility costs and electricity loads. (MIT Technology Review; May 12, 2006)
  

Resources

• http://www.SmartGridNews.com
• SmartGridCareers.com - A resource portal for Smart Grid jobs, news, events, directory and networking opportunities.
  

Down Sides

• From Smart Grid to Big Brother? - The main stated benefits are: A more efficient use of energy, and a higher capacity to handle intermittent renewable power sources. But there is another important issue that gets shoved under the rug: Privacy. These smart meters and appliances will be sending lots of data to power companies. (TreeHugger; Oct. 14, 2009)
  

• Conspiracy >
  Get ready! Here come the energy police - Google is developing an Internet-based power monitor designed to monitor energy usage inside homes. As a result, the meter will provide utilities and any government regulators access to data on a household's energy footprint and carbon footprint. Such access will also enable them to bill and/or control any offending appliances. (WorldNetDaily; Sept. 21, 2009)
  

See also

• Directory:Electrical Grid

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