Working Smarter, Not Harder: An Introduction to the "Smart Grid"

Consider, for a moment, how communications have changed in the latter half of the 20th century through the first decade of the 21st. In the span of a few decades, we have progressed from rotary-dial telephones and expensive long-distance calling to the Internet, e-mail, cell phones, videoconferencing, IP telephony, and video chats. We are more connected to information and to distant people and places than ever before. Now consider how our relationship to the electric grid has changed over that same time period. Odds are, you still plug your appliances into an AC outlet, and the way that the power is generated and brought to your home or office doesn’t significantly affect how you consume that power. The development of the electrical grid has been one of the key technical advancements of the 20th century. Both its scale and the scope of its distribution speak volumes about how important it has become to modern life. The modern grid, however, is still largely based on the original design that Westinghouse and Edison debated in the late 1800s, and isn’t designed for modern electrical loads, distributed energy sources, or optimal efficiency. Power is generated and distributed by utility companies, without local competition to speak of, and with fairly little communication between utilities and end users in terms of how to get more out of the system. To date, the revolutions that we have seen in communications have very few analogs in the electric grid. Nearly all the existing electric transmission and distribution infrastructure in the United States was built prior to 1965. Since then, that system has had five major outages. While this may seem like an impressive track record, three of the five outages have occurred in the past decade. Every year, American businesses lose an estimated $100 billion as a result of power quality problems and blackouts. Nonetheless, it took the massive blackout across the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada in 2003, which resulted in a loss of $6 billion Working Smarter, Not Harder: An Introduction to the “Smart Grid”