Weighing the Benefits of Smart Grid

Like Jesse Berst, my colleague at SmartGridNews, I too am suspicious of claims that consumers of electrical power are motivated solely by lower costs.  However, I find it hard to believe that some of these other benefits of smart grid, e.g., resetting your thermostat with your cell phone, are of great value either.  You’re coming home from work and you want your house warm when you get there, so you use your Internet connection to crank the heat.  I understand that, but I sure can’t get too excited about it.  Maybe that’s just me. 

What is of obvious value is using IT and communication technology to lower the overall environmental footprint of providing us the power we need.  And this comes in dozens of different forms, like demand response and other forms of peak-shaving, as well as charging our electric vehicles at times when renewable energy is available for the purpose.