Smart grid technology and the future of our aging electrical grid system is big talk around the white house and congress these days. Our president Barack Obama says we must increase the development of solar and wind power. We must get people to use less energy and we must work on the global warming and climate change issue.
So what is smart grid technology? It is basically the electrical system moving into the digital age. What they are looking at are home thermostats and appliances that will adjust themselves for the cost of power. Water heaters that can draw power from a neighbor's rooftop solar panel. Cars that will run on electricity and can be charged in one minute.
We will see the electrical utilities running off of wind power whenever possible but able to switch in a moments notice back to a coal burning plant when the wind stops blowing, then back again to wind when it kicks up.
Power companies will be able to see into homes and automatically adjust thermostats and power usage depending upon demand and any arrangements you make with them in advance. Technology companies, investors and all the utility companies want a piece of the action! The president included 4.5 billion in his economic recovery package for development of smart grid technology.
There are a lot of things to look at with this technology. First upgrading to an all digital system such as the smart grid they envision will not be cheap so who is going to pay for it? Well the consumer will unless you make your own little smart grid at your house with solar and or wind power and get off their grid altogether. Is this new technology going to be too intrusive to our lives? If they can view our thermostats and adjust them to whatever they want this could be intrusive and an invasion of privacy. If they monitor that what else can they monitor without your knowledge. Could this lead to cyber attacks and more terrorism for us.Smart grid technology sounds like a great, idea or is it?
