Another 2GreenEnergy Webinar – Bill Paul on Investing in the Smart Grid

Earlier today I interviewed Bill Paul in our continuing series of webinars – this one on Smart Grid. I could tell that the audience was engaged; they asked terrific questions and really liked the pace of the whole 60-minute session.

To me, the most interesting aspect of the discussion was Bill’s assertion that “this may not happen.” Though he’s bullish on Smart Grid technology overall, Bill sees many impediments standing in the way of implementing it fully – especially in the US. He points out that there are legal issues associated with privacy, and that the power companies themselves are, as usual, in no hurry to bring about a change – especially one that will result in less total power sold. Bill goes on to point out that, while Finland has one regulatory body that can (and did) simply mandate Smart Grid, we Americans have 50 states, each of which has the power to push this hard, or pull even harder in the opposite direction.

Countering Bill’s concerns, I point out that:

1) Even after a rough start out here on the West Coast, people are going to love Smart Grid – especially to the degree that they adopt electric vehicles into their lives and start to spend a couple of bucks per day fueling their cars with electricity (versus about 4 times that much for gasoline). Time-of-use metering that enables people to buy power at 8 cents a kWh versus 30 cents is going to be perceived as very attractive.

2) Smart Grid is going to happen; it’s simply a matter of time. As I like to say, “Do you think we’re going to be driving Hummers in 100 years?” The only real questions are when it’s going to happen, and who is going to profit from it.

It was Bill’s vast subject-matter knowledge — but also this friendly disagreement — that made today’s webinar such a success. To those of you who may have missed this one, I hope you’ll join us next time.