Punch and Judy and Energy Usage

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The collection and display of energy usage information is a hotly contested area of smart energy standards. This small, seemingly obvious issue has generated more fights than all other issues, and more open political involvement. One model sees the utility collecting energy usage information and sharing that information later the customer or his designees. The other model sees the meter as an information appliance on the premises, just one of a number of real time information sources for demand side management.

For now, visibility is all. Up-to-the-hour energy...

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Microgrids Big and Small

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p> Last summer, we used the call “Every end node is a microgrid” to focus smart energy standards activities. Like the regional grids, a microgrid is responsible for running its own operations, and for supporting its own needs. Like the regional grids, a microgrid uses market operations to acquire what it cannot make itself, and what it can buy more economically than it can make itself. Like the regional grids, a microgrid can contain....

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Has the Plug-In Vehicle’s time ended before it began?

I am still skeptical about plug-in electric vehicles (PEV).. It is hard to get any range beyond that needed for mid-distance commuting from them. A simple calculation converting kilowatts to horsepower will show you that they will always take too long to charge, at least using anything that looks like today’s plugs. Power management, including brake harvesting, introduces possible software errors. Regulatory barriers and privacy concerns have taken the shine off of the solution. Maybe their day has already past, before it ever came.

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Spam & Smart Grid Operations, Privacy & Civil Rights

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Spam has changed how we think about email, and automated monitoring and control needs to change how we think about privacy. If you make something very much easier and cheaper, it is no longer what it once was. Smart phones, smart buildings, and smart grids are now at the center of privacy law. Privacy is the ground upon which the battle for the preservation of the 4th amendment will be won or lost.

A serious of court decisions, each looking more to a desired end than to the constitution, are using technology to redefine what “reasonable” means in the 4th amendment to the US Constitution. If we are not careful, smart grids might destroy the last remaining realms...

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