What is the smart grid?

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I don't think he's explained the why of smart grids

I don't think he's explained the WHY of smart
grids, which is really the most important
question to answer. Why do we need smart grids
and more importantly, why do we need to spend
MONEY investing in smart grids.

Smart grids basically manage power distribution
in a way that allows us to get more out of our
existing power infrastructure and the existing
supply. This is not a substitute for more
supply which we will eventually need due to our
growth, but smart grids can reduce the kind of
black out and brown out problems we have today.

Here in Silicon Valley, I've suffered 4 major
power outages in the last 2 years. The reason
for this is that too many devices (mostly air
conditioners) coincidentally turned on at the
same time which blew out the infrastructure and
forced a shutdown. When we have a smart grid,
we can more intelligently stagger the times
when air conditioners turn on. People can use
the same amount of power overall to cool their
homes, but they would be using it at slightly
different times in such a way that we don't
cause a spike that brings down the
infrastructure. This is one of the main
selling points of a smart grid. It's kind of
like a smart Internet network in the sense that
we get more out of the existing infrastructure
and more out of future infrastructures.

Posted by: georgeou   Posted on: 03/26/09 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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