Grid operators cannot know the purpose of each system attached to the grid. On a college campus, very similar sets of components: fans, ducts, temperature sensors, could provide environmental conditioning for a classroom whose windows can be opened, for office space, or for document archive which requires constant temperature and humidity. The most important attribute of animal quarters might be constant high-volume ventilation, while for a biohazard lab it might be maintaining a negative air pressure in the room. Humidity and temperature changes might make a basketball court slippery, and environmental management is focused on making sure that the All-American is not injured before the NCAA tournament.
Direct control for demand response requires that all parties know these issues and agree on their import. A central operator cannot know this.
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Small Transactions and Smart Energy
The problem of smart energy is distributed intermittent generation laid across unmanageable power use and a fixed distribution grid. Central operators will never be able to keep pace with controlling new technologies that generate, store, and use power. Privacy demands that central operators not track and predict every activity in our homes and buildings. In economic terms, this is a knowledge problem
Markets are a proven means to balance supply and demand without central control. In 1992,...
Read MoreJust-In-Time Infrastructure and Watergy
The future of infrastructure is just-in time. Just-in-time delivery of structures, ready to support people and business, customizable to the site, long lasting, ready for smart energy and water. Just in time delivery of distributed energy, ready to support structures, the people who live and work in them, and the services they need, and ready for smart grids. Just in time delivery of pure water, ready to support people and agriculture, able to work alongside smart power and smart grids...
Read MoreThe End of Net Metering
Net metering can never be more than a fantasy that dissolves once the level of distributed power generation rises beyond the level of noise. This is as true as water is wet.
If any neighborhood were all generating, all houses would produce more than they need at the same time. The only “target” for the power would be a use different than the houses, which means somewhere else. The distribution infrastructure must be in place to get there.
Assuming you could solve the physical problem of power transport, you are still left with...
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