The days are short in the northern hemisphere during the holiday season. But they are brightened by the millions of lights festooned on buildings, plants, and practically any structure to which a string of lights can be attached. Most people simply enjoy the lights, or at worst are indifferent to them. But as someone [...]
Archive | 2011
Smart Meters and Smart Grid Misconceptions
It seems there’s a new story every week on consumer concerns about AMI programs, like this recent AP story. And with every negative story about AMI, the general public’s perception of the smart grid as a whole—which continue to be closely linked to AMI—gets worse. There’s a simple solution to this problem. Just get rid [...]
Renewable Energy and the Energy Efficiency Puzzle
The Brattle Group’s recent study on Energy Efficiency and Demand Response in 2020 (featured in Smart Grid News) shares an interesting prediction: U.S. electricity consumption will drop 5-15% by 2020 relative to forecast trends, while peak demand will drop 7.5-15% compared to forecasts. The push to reduce energy costs and consumption will no doubt be [...]
Six Solutions to the Billion-Dollar Copper Theft Problem
In my previous post I talked about how copper theft impacts projects in the electric industry. It’s easy to talk about the problems, but how can this type of theft be prevented? Here are the pros and cons of six different solutions that can reduce the risk of copper theft: Control Access. Thieves look for easy [...]
Copper Theft: A Billion Dollar Problem
It’s 4 a.m. on a Monday morning and you are driving to your job site to continue construction on a new substation. You arrive as the sun is rising only to find that the fence to your material storage area is cut and your copper wire is gone. Sound familiar? It should, as this is [...]
Rapid Response for Transmission Lines? Think Distribution Grid Technology
To many, government equals bureaucracy. And there’s no better case in point than the process for siting new transmission lines. As anyone involved in securing right-of-way (ROW) for transmission lines knows, local, state, federal, and tribal agencies can all have jurisdiction and all need to provide approval through their own review processes. The resulting compliance [...]
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