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[Below is the original script. But a few changes may have been made during the recording of this audio podcast.]
The economic stimulus package will probably end up including more than 15 billion dollars for improvements in energy efficiency like weatherizing homes and some 11 billion dollars to create a so-called smart grid.
But what the heck is a smart grid?
Simplifying drastically, it's bringing the benefits of the internet to our aging system of electrical wires, transformers, and meters
The idea is to reduce the electricity that gets lost in transit—some 7 percent of electricity gets lost that way—and to eliminate unnecessary fossil fuel burning by electric utilities.
But it's also about smarter meters that reveal exactly what is sucking up all that juice. Like our computers or iPods that use energy even when turned off if plugged in.
Google and IBM have already started smart grid projects. The search engine giant has developed an energy tracking program while Big Blue is helping the island nation of Malta develop the world's first intelligent electrical system.
With some 26 billion taxpayer dollars up for grabs in the U.S. and billions more worldwide, that's not just better for the environment, it's smart business. Especially since Google and IBM's server farms are using up so much of that electricity in the first place…
—David Biello 60-Second Earth is a weekly podcast from Scientific American.
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8 Comments
Add CommentSaving penny's and watts is everyone's responsibility, but we can not save ourself out of the energy crises. We need the basic, primordial, paradigm shifting insights and innovations that work, are cheap, and can be widely spread. Energy is one of the few substances where it directly correlates to GDP! Thus, getting the cost to affordable, microeconomics, as well as macro economics will kick in, for all. We have a few such inventions and pursuits, and are fighting the good fight to commercialize our solutions to $.05/kWh, and Universal energy, Sannerwind@gmail.com
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisPower stations supply energy, for, amongst other things, lighting. Only 1.4% of the energy consumed by a power-station is actually converted into light with a bulb. 98.6% is lost as heat all down the line; Electricity. So buy gas or petrol lights which are far more energy efficient?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisExternal power supplies for our electronic gadgets waste gobs of power when they are plugged in but not being used. Why not have them turn off automatically when not being used?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisthey are going after 7% line loss ? with what ? and even if they reduced it by 75% it's still there, never mind that even if the whole 7% on the table it is not enough to do much.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI think the real reason behind all of this is the control that will come with smart meters.
It is way to irresistible of a power grab for utilities or government to pass on.
Smart Grid Scam Rage Against the Machine
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisKen Bosley
Wind Power Services
www.zwind.com
Bozley@zwind.com
800 894 6352 voicemail pager
Summary
Disconnected starving people cant use the Smart Grid. There is an electric and gas glut. People won't be paying for energy at any price. The BGE smart grid scam is the beginning of the end for the worldwide Smart Grid scam. Remember, a wind energy consultant in Maryland stopped the Smart Grid. www.zwind.com
Analysis
Yuppie scum in McMansions want the smart grid. Spoiled green brats want the smart grid. Geeks want the smart grid toys. Real people dont need it and cant use it. You got to have it. You got to do it. You got to want it now. Everybody is getting it. You will save hundreds on your bill. What is next? An Ethernet cable in your belly button and a WIFI nose ring.
Did someone say depression? Ssssh. Disneyland is empty. No body is buying nothing. The smart grid will solve all your problems. Blow into your smart grid Command Control scene and Uncle Slim Pickens will rev up a windmill for you a thousand miles away to recharge your electric Barbie doll. Not. The Cowboys 666 giant windmills are glutting the unused surplus windmill market. Big Hat, no Cattle. Is the closed giant windmill factory in England still occupied by the protesting laid off workers?
Ontarios power glut has shut down any more windmill projects. The hundred-year-old grid works fine. Canada sends down power on hot days to New York at the sped of light. There is no power gap. There is a power glut. The smart grid would not have stopped the 2003 black out. The grid operator didnt blackout a few zip codes first, when they had the chance, as is standard utility procedure to preserve the grid.
How are we going to pay for the smart grid? What are we supposed to do with it? Think of all the money you are going to save from the smart grid.
With the home Smart Grid Command Center, you can play Star Trek Mr. Scott and Mr. Sulu routing your last kilowatt-hour from the phasor banks to life support. When the smart grid is about to disconnect you for not paying your bill, just try to tell it to wait another couple of kilowatt hours while you finish cooking your dog on the stove. You ate the last of his dog food yesterday.
Smart Grid Scam – Rage Against the Machine
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisKen Bosley
Wind Power Services
www.zwind.com
Bozley@zwind.com
800 894 6352 voicemail pager
Summary
Disconnected starving people can’t use the Smart Grid. There is an electric and gas glut. People won't be paying for energy at any price. The BGE smart grid scam is the beginning of the end for the worldwide Smart Grid scam. Remember, a wind energy consultant in Maryland stopped the Smart Grid. www.zwind.com
Analysis
Yuppie scum in McMansions want the smart grid. Spoiled green brats want the smart grid. Geeks want the smart grid toys. Real people don’t need it and can’t use it. You got to have it. You got to do it. You got to want it now. Everybody is getting it. You will save hundreds on your bill. What is next? An Ethernet cable in your belly button and a WIFI nose ring.
Did someone say depression? Ssssh. Disneyland is empty. No body is buying nothing. The smart grid will solve all your problems. Blow into your smart grid Command Control scene and Uncle Slim Pickens will rev up a windmill for you a thousand miles away to recharge your electric Barbie doll. Not. The Cowboy’s 666 giant windmills are glutting the unused surplus windmill market. Big Hat, no Cattle. Is the closed giant windmill factory in England still occupied by the protesting laid off workers?
Ontario’s power glut has shut down any more windmill projects. The hundred-year-old grid works fine. Canada sends down power on hot days to New York at the sped of light. There is no power gap. There is a power glut. The smart grid would not have stopped the 2003 black out. The grid operator didn’t blackout a few zip codes first, when they had the chance, as is standard utility procedure to preserve the grid.
How are we going to pay for the smart grid? What are we supposed to do with it? Think of all the money you are going to save from the smart grid.
With the home Smart Grid Command Center, you can play Star Trek Mr. Scott and Mr. Sulu routing your last kilowatt-hour from the phasor banks to life support. When the smart grid is about to disconnect you for not paying your bill, just try to tell it to wait another couple of kilowatt hours while you finish cooking your dog on the stove. You ate the last of his dog food yesterday.
Thank you for sharing Sparky. Many people are fearful of a loss of privacy and control from smart meters. Is there a worst case scenario you can imagine? Or are your fears more generalized, as in a total lack of trust of big energy companies?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWow, this seems to be a hot button issue for you. To summarize, I hear you saying Big Energy is not to be trusted at all, and therefore we need to switch to independent power generation as soon as possible?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this