I believe that, for society’s sake, the most important criteria to consider in evaluating Smart Grid technologies is weighing whether they enable the use of sustainable energy and increase energy efficiency without reducing productivity. But this is not how the energy industry evaluates smart technologies. Rather, the “smarts” they are looking for are the kind that reduces demand and, even then, only during spot times when their supply or grid conditions necessitate it.

 

Generally, “cheap and clean” for society as a whole does not play a role in their equation. Personally, I think they have the right and, in fact, the obligation to be primarily concerned with running their business as efficiently as possible. But at the same time, I believe government has an even bigger obligation of making sure that businesses are constrained in a way that not only prevents hurting society but actually meets the needs of society as well.

 

I don’t want to be misquoted as being critical of the current initiatives or the demand response type model for energy management.

 

Quite the opposite, apart from being desperately needed by utilities and the nation’s grid reliability, I think it’s a good step towards tackling the fundamental energy problem facing the world. However, what we should affirm is that much more needs to be done; a more reliable grid and lower capital expenditures is by far not the end of the game. We have to make sure that when it comes to energy, the ultimate goal of smart homes, smart grids and really, more than anything, smart people is in continually evolving towards meeting our efficiency and sustainability requirements.

 

Having said that, I’d like to shift our attention to an industrial sector where near real-time price signaling and energy management as being defined by the energy industry can, in fact, directly correspond to energy efficiency and sustainability. This industrial sector is the IT and telecoms industry. In our next article we will dive in and explore how the Smart Grid can reduce the ICT industry’s energy costs by 90 percent while at the same time reducing the world’s carbon dioxide emissions by up to 2 percent. Then in our third article we will explore what the energy industry needs to do and consider in bringing this sort of progress to consumer’s homes.

Shidan Gouran is co-founder of Intelligent Communications Partners (ICP), a strategic advisory consultancy focused on the emerging Smart Grid opportunity. To read more of his Smart Grid articles, please visit his columnist page.

 

---

---