The Grid May Be Smart, But Will It Also Be Green?

[NickB79]

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103415232

"The push is on to make the nation's aging electricity grid smarter, so it can handle growing demand for electricity. Many assume that a smart grid will also be a green grid — delivering clean electricity and helping to address climate change. But that's not necessarily so.

Giving the grid a brain doesn't necessarily mean it will make green decisions. Likewise, the big push to expand the electric grid into areas rich in renewable energy doesn't guarantee that the new, improved grid will be more climate-friendly."


Much more at the above link.

I think they make a good point when they ask where electricity will come from if smart grids encourage us to use electricity at night at off-peak hours. Without some form of storage for electricity generated from sun and wind power during the day (and that storage may yet come), we may see more coal being burned at night.

[Phred42]

1. The Grid is 19th Century technolog in any form

The ‘Grid’ is 19th Century technology.

It is an antiquated dinosaur and an expensive inefficient danger to National Security.
Power sources must implemented that are decentralized and local.

[kristopher]

2. I used to expect more and better from NPR

But today... not so much.

It should be obvious to any journalist worth the label that the smart grid is an essential element of a green, renewable system. If we were to look in isolation at any of the other components of that green renewable system and put them alone in the context of the present system, then no, they aren't "green".

Working together, however, they allow the elimination of the use of fossil fuels.

And that is pretty green.