More Reasons for Going Green 
The U.S. is barely generating enough electricity to meet current needs, and demand is expected to grow 26% over the next 20 years, according to the Energy Information Administration. This is one of the reasons we as consumers need to go green with alternative energy and find ways to conserve energy.
A new report from the North American Electric Reliability
Corporation, a national group that oversees electrical-grid
operators, predicts that power shortages will occur
across the Northeast and West as well as in Texas within two years
after the economy rebounds. Besides finding new sources to generate
power, the U.S. must change how it is distributed—and that could mean
an overhaul of the national grid.
"Our electric grid was never designed to move power from one region to
another," says Glenn English of the National Rural Electric Cooperative
Association, which represents more than 900 utilities across the U.S.
"It's overloaded and desperately needs to be expanded.
Many experts
believe that "smart-grid" technology could ease problems by allowing
utility companies to better manage demand. This would also enable
consumers who
generate excess power (through solar panels, for example) to return it
to the grid. Congress authorized some $500 million for smart-grid
development in 2007, and the stimulus
package added $5 billion.
A chunk of stimulus cash aimed at promoting a "smart grid" designed to foster renewable energy generation and let people and utilities better manage electricity use has IBM in alliances with a growing host of startups.
"Smart grid was starting to get hotter, but during the post-stimulus period it is dead center at IBM and in the venture community we deal with," said Drew Clark, director of strategy at IBM's venture capital group.
"What really got the juices flowing is that we see what is in the bill."
President Barack Obama's stimulus package devotes 10 billion dollars to smart energy technology, with nearly half of the money designated for new power grid inovations, according to Clark. You can read more about the power grid innovations.
IBM is helping utilities add a layer of digital intelligence to their grids. These smart grids use sensors, meters, digital controls and analytic tools to automate, monitor and control the two-way flow of energy across operations—from power plant to plug. A power company can optimize grid performance, prevent outages, restore outages faster and allow consumers to manage energy usage right down to the individual networked appliance.
"Smart" grids can also incorporate new sustainable energies such as wind and solar generation, and interact locally with distributed power sources, or plug-in electric vehicles.
A "proof-of-concept" lab at IBM's campus in Austin is being used to simulate many different living and working situations to analyze how we use electricity in different environments to predict how usage is different in every work and living enviroment. This data will be used in designing the smart grid concept.
A mannequin lies in a bed in a mock hospital room equipped with sensors capable of detecting the presence of doctors, providing them details about patients, and even knowing whether medical personnel wash their hands.
Nearby are recreations of a living room, kitchen, cafe, and utility control center, each featuring sensors that enable devices to anticipate the desires of those that enter.Solutions Experience Lab IT architect Jeff Mausolf plays a utility control center worker reacting to a surge in demand due to a heat wave.
Mausolf taps a few computer keys, commanding a thermostat setting in a stage home to rise a few degrees, turning off power-gobbling air conditioning. As the pseudo-emergency escalates, Mausolf turns off lights and appliances in houses by sending orders through "e-meters" to "smart outlets."
The technology is already being used in Austin.Mausolf dons a
white hard hat and walks to a utility repair crew van
outfitted with computer gear that helps him swiftly diagnose outages
and what is required to fix the problems.
With the new Federal incentives and new available State incentives we can help with the power shortages that are being projected. These incentives will allow homeowners and companies to convert to alternative energy. Thus,putting less demand on the power grid.
Leading the way is Austin, Tex., which began building a smart grid in 2003 and now has 270,000 devices online that regulate electricity use.
