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RESULTS		Results 26 – 50 of 64
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Headline	Author	Published	Section
Adventures in the smart grid no. 3 Who will lead on advancing smart-grid technologies?	Patrick Mazza	21 Sep 2007	Gristmill
To bring on the amounts of variable wind and solar energy and plug-in vehicles needed to meet our vast energy challenges, we will need a smart grid capable of managing much more complex power flows. Outside of some progressive exemplars, however, don't expect leadership to come from the utility sector. Instead, changes will be forced by new policies and players, including some you might not expect, like big box retailers. Those were my key takeaways from the stell ...
Topics: cars, electricity grid, energy, hybrids (all these topics)

A little karate On electricity deregulation	Sean Casten	20 Sep 2007	Gristmill
In The Karate Kid, Mr. Miyagi advises that 'It is good to know karate. It is good not to know karate. It is not good to know a little karate.' With the price caps now coming off in the few states that partially deregulated their electricity grids, there is a rising backlash against competitive markets, with some of that backlash even coming from normally pro-market groups like The Cato Institute. This backlashers generally argue that partial deregulation has taught us th ...
Topics: business, coal, electricity grid, energy (all these topics)

Discover Brilliant: Trends in smart-grid policy	David Roberts	19 Sep 2007	Gristmill
Next up, a discussion of trends in energy industry smart-grid policy. Starring: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Rob Pratt, Staff Scientist and Manager of Gridwise Activities Gridwise Council, Alison Silverstein Snohomish County PUD, Jessica Wilcox, Government Affairs Wilcox (who is, I add inappropriately, gorgeous): Most people on Capitol Hill don't even know what a smart grid is. Even the people writing the bills that include smart grid provisions ...
Topics: electricity grid, energy, politics (all these topics)

Discover Brilliant: Smart grid R&D	David Roberts	19 Sep 2007	Gristmill
Next up, a discussion of trends in energy industry R&D. Starring: Gridwise Council, Alison Silverstein (Moderator) PIER and California Energy Commission, Merwin Brown, Director of Transmission Research Modern Grid Initiative, NETL, Steve Pullins Bonnevile Power Authority, Terry Oliver, Chief Technology Innovation Officer Oliver: Electric utilities invest tiny amounts of money in R&D -- "less than the dog food industry." This is bad on ...
Topics: business, electricity grid, energy, tech (all these topics)

Discover Brilliant: Renewables + smart grid	David Roberts	19 Sep 2007	Gristmill
Today at the conference, everyone's broken out into small groups and are having more free-form discussions. Consequently, it's somewhat more difficult to summarize. I'm hanging out for the day in the 'State of the Union in Renewables + Smart Grid' room. I'll try to pass along insights as they drift by. For now, there's some fairly animated discussion going on about just what a "smart grid" is and how to talk about it with customers, utilities, regulators, et ...
Topics: electricity grid, energy (all these topics)

Discover Brilliant: Smart grid Grid experts discuss why the grid is broken and how to fix it	David Roberts	18 Sep 2007	Gristmill
Next up, "A Brilliant Energy Grid for North America.' Geek heaven! Here's the line-up: California Energy Commission, Merwin Brown, Director of Transmission Research, PIER (moderator) Modern Grid Initiative, National Energy Technology Laboratory, Steve Pullins, Team Leader, Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), Clark Gellings, VP of Technology Innovation IBM, Ron Ambrosio, Global Research Leader -- Energy & Utilities Itron, Mike�Burns, S ...
Topics: energy, electricity grid (all these topics)

Discover Brilliant: Renewables and buildings	David Roberts	17 Sep 2007	Gristmill
Now it's "Moving the Technology Frontier," about technologies that are going to create "tectonic shifts" in the cleantech space, with Stan Bull, head of R&D at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and Steve Selkowtiz, Building Technologies Program Leader at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Bull is first up. Says NREL's budget is $200-$250 million. That seems tiny to me. Makes the point that available solar energy dwarfs what is avail ...
Topics: electricity grid, energy, green building, renewable energy, tech (all these topics)

Energy storage in the field American Electric Power to install large battery banks to store wind energy	David Roberts	11 Sep 2007	Gristmill
Sweet. A utility called American Electric Power is going to set up a huge bank of batteries to store wind power. The short write-up in the NYT is both exciting, in that it's good to see storage moving to the deployment phase, and sobering, in that it highlights the limitations of current battery technology. Here's the setup: The batteries can each deliver one megawatt of power -- enough to run a medium-size shopping center -- for a little more than seven hours. Re ...
Topics: electricity grid, energy, renewable energy, wind power (all these topics)

Four cents a kilowatt-hour The high price of electricity deregulation	Kristina & Jason Makansi	06 Sep 2007	Gristmill
In David Cay Johnston's NYT article 'A New Push to Regulate Power Costs,' he writes about the fact that many states are rolling back their deregulatory initiatives. The main reason, he says, is price. Ahh, price. That magic number at the nexus of supply and demand. The problem with price in electricity markets is that it is not determined by supply and demand, as in a free, deregulated market -- even in those states where there was, supposedly, d ...
Topics: business, electricity grid, energy (all these topics)

Real-life smart grid adventure Keeping the air conditioners running in muggy Pennsylvania	Patrick Mazza	18 Aug 2007	Gristmill
Just back from visiting the family in Pennsylvania, where temperatures were hitting the high 90s. It was the kind of sticky, muggy, oppressively hot weather that reminds me why I live in the cool corner that is the Pacific Northwest.As air conditioners were blasting away everywhere and lights were flickering, I was thinking that grid operators must be calling on every demand-response resource they could.Back into post-vacation action, I came across an Aug. 10 release [ ...
Topics: electricity grid, energy, Pennsylvania (all these topics)

Interview with Thomas Casten, part two Why aren't people doing this stuff already?	David Roberts	14 Aug 2007	Gristmill
DR: If every industrial facility in the world has been throwing money on the ground, why has it taken so long for somebody to come along and pick it up? What's the catch? TC: EPA did a study and it appears that we can generate 20 percent of our electricity with industrial energy that's now being thrown away. So we can't do everything. There is not silver bullet. DR: That's not small potatoes. TC: No. It would require an investment of somewhere north of $1 ...
Topics: electricity grid, energy, energy efficiency (all these topics)

Interview with Thomas Casten, part one The world's expert on recycled energy discusses ... recycled energy	David Roberts	13 Aug 2007	Gristmill
All across the nation, factories and power plants are wasting energy -- lots and lots of it. If that energy could be captured and put to good use, greenhouse gas emissions could be substantially reduced, at a profit. Thomas Casten has been proclaiming this good news for almost 30 years now. Not only that, he's been trying to make it happen, starting and managing a series of profitable companies, founding and consulting for nonprofits, writings reports, articles, and ...
Topics: electricity grid, energy, energy efficiency (all these topics)

Iraq and electricity again Micropower is smarter military strategy	David Roberts	08 Aug 2007	Gristmill
This post from Tom Grant at his excellent blog Arms & Influence reinforces the point I (channeling Amory Lovins) made in this post, namely: The centralized power grid in Iraq is intrinsically vulnerable to terrorist attack, thereby crippling our efforts to create some measure of security and civil society. Our determination to rebuild it, rather than assisting the development of a decentralized micropower grid, is driven by corporatism rather than clear-eyed stra ...
Topics: electricity grid, international politics, Iraq, politics (all these topics)

Economist stuff	David Roberts	02 Aug 2007	Gristmill
Two short articles of interest in The Economist. One describes the nascent attempts to conceive and build a network of high-voltage DC power lines across Europe, which would enable wind and solar to play the role of baseload power. The other is about compressed-air storage. This is nifty, but confusing: Meanwhile, General Compression, a small firm based in Attleboro, Massachusetts, is taking another approach. Its windmill compresses air directly. This has the adva ...
Topics: electricity grid, energy, renewable energy, wind power (all these topics)

Solar energy, volatility, and the grid No surprises here, please	Kristina & Jason Makansi	01 Aug 2007	Gristmill
The electricity grid doesn't like surprises. Sudden voltage spikes or sags do not a healthy grid make. So proponents of large-scale solar and wind are working to create tools to smooth over volatility issues, so these generating resources can be integrated seamlessly onto the grid. If we're going to be in a position to rely on more solar and wind power and use these to replace significant amounts of power generated from coal, the grid planning and dispat ...
Topics: electricity grid, energy, renewable energy, solar voltaic power, wind power (all these topics)

Adventures in the smart grid no. 2: Demand response Information is power	Patrick Mazza	27 Jul 2007	Gristmill
The day is sweltering, air conditioners are cranked up, and the power grid is straining to meet demand. Today is a 'needle peak' day -- on the annual power demand chart, it shows up as a spike. Out of the year's 8,760 hours, needle peaks will occupy 200 hours or less. An extreme day like this is why the grid maintains roughly twice as much power generating and transmission capacity as it uses on an average day. Even though power plants and lines are idle most of the ye ...
Topics: electricity grid, energy, energy at home, energy efficiency, fossil fuels, renewable energy, wind power (all these topics)

Go Get 'Em, Plugger Plug-in hybrids would reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, says new study		23 Jul 2007	Daily Grist
Go Get 'Em, Plugger Plug-in hybrids would reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, says new study Plug-in hybrid vehicles, long extolled here at Grist HQ, seem always to elicit one question from doubters: Wouldn't running cars on electricity just mean more emissions from power plants? Answer: No! According to a ne ...
Topics: cars, climate, electric vehicles, electricity grid, energy, fuel efficiency, green living, greenhouse-gas emissions, hybrids, news, placemaking (all these topics)

Whose Fault Is It, Anyway? Carmakers, nuclear plant halt operations after Japan quake		19 Jul 2007	Daily Grist
Whose Fault Is It, Anyway? Carmakers, nuclear plant halt operations after Japan quake Aftershocks from Monday's earthquake in Japan continue to be felt -- and not the kind that shake the ground. Yesterday, officials ordered the nuclear plant that was damaged in the quake to shut down indefinitely while operators assess and fix some 53 problems discovered over the course of the last fe ...
Topics: electricity grid, energy, Japan, news, nuclear power, severe weather (all these topics)

Just When You Thought It Was Safe-ish Rush-hour steam-pipe explosion rattles Manhattan		19 Jul 2007	Daily Grist
Just When You Thought It Was Safe-ish Rush-hour steam-pipe explosion rattles Manhattan An 83-year-old underground steam pipe exploded near New York City's Grand Central Terminal during rush hour yesterday, causing one death, more than 40 injuries, and a lot of rattled nerves. After the initial explosion -- a plume as high as the Chrysler Building that onlookers compared to a volcano, the Yel ...
Topics: electricity grid, energy, health, New York City, news, toxics (all these topics)

Benefits of large-scale energy storage A shock absorber for the grid to enhance efficiency, reliability, and security	Kristina & Jason Makansi	17 Jul 2007	Gristmill
In their July 16th piece on solar energy technology in The New York Times, Andrew Revkin and Matthew Wald wrote that, 'With more research, the solar thermal method might allow for storing energy. Currently, all solar power is hampered by a lack of storage capability.' They are certainly right. In fact, a lack of storage capacity hampers a lot of things. While there's been a lot of talk about coupling energy storage to solar (and wind) power, there ar ...
Topics: electricity grid, energy, renewable energy (all these topics)

Leaving Dustbusters in the Dust High-tech gadgets will overtake appliances as energy-suckers, says report		06 Jul 2007	Daily Grist
Leaving Dustbusters in the Dust High-tech gadgets will overtake appliances as energy-suckers, says report Primed to overtake kitchen appliances and lighting as the biggest drain on domestic power, high-tech gadgets -- we're talkin' to you, iPhone -- will use nearly half an average household's energy by 2020, according to U.K. nonprofit Energy Saving Trust. In a report cleverly titled &quo ...
Topics: electricity grid, energy, energy at home, energy efficiency, news (all these topics)

Stick It Where the Sun Do Shine Groovy new battery could change the way energy is stored		05 Jul 2007	Daily Grist
Stick It Where the Sun Do Shine Groovy new battery could change the way energy is stored A type of battery created by Ford Motor Co. in the 1960s for use in electric cars could help utilities around the world. Sodium-sulfur batteries provide efficient energy storage, and could reduce the need for new transmission lines, substations, and power plants. The new generation of room-sized, $2.5 millio ...
Topics: electricity grid, energy, energy storage, innovation, news (all these topics)

Search Engine Engine Search Google pledges $10 million for plug-in hybrid research		19 Jun 2007	Daily Grist
Search Engine Engine Search Google pledges $10 million for plug-in hybrid research Google has gone all googly-eyed over plug-in hybrid vehicles, pledging more than $10 million in funding for the nascent technology. At a sunny photo op at its Mountain View, Calif., headquarters yesterday, company officials showed off a handful of Toyota Prius and Ford Escape cars that ...
Topics: cars, electric vehicles, electricity grid, energy, hybrids, innovation, news, Prius (all these topics)

Google tries to kickstart an energy revolution Google.org funds V2G demonstration projects	David Roberts	18 Jun 2007	Gristmill
Sweet mama! Google.org is going to give vehicle-to-grid technology a much-needed boost, to the tune of $10 million. The company is going to modify six cars, a mix of Toyota Priuses and Ford Escape hybrids, with batteries that can draw juice from the grid and feed juice back in. The promise of this technology is that if it spreads, it will enable distributed electricity storage that can smooth spikes in electricity demand without expensive new generation plants. That ...
Topics: business, cars, electric vehicles, electricity grid, green living, hybrids, placemaking, Prius (all these topics)

Beyond storage, demand, and grid management On smart grids	Gar Lipow	11 Jun 2007	Gristmill
My last post made the points that: Long-distance transmission lines tying different climate zones together reduce storage needs to a few hours capacity, by ensuring that most of the time when one machine is not producing, another is. The least expensive and most ecologically sound way to store electricity on the particular scale needed is with closed-cycle, lined, modular pumped storage that recirculates the same water over and over again, and thus does not draw on ...
Topics: electricity grid, energy, renewable energy (all these topics)

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