Smart Grid Projects Take On Added Urgency
by Daniel Stouffer
In an effort to reduce harmful greenhouse gases that cause global warming and in a move towards energy independence, business enterprises and entities, in addition to the retail sector, are putting in place smart grid projects. The goal is to save on energy costs.
There are a number of different smart grid projects available to business entities. Companies can select, according to their particular infrastructure, from renewable generation techniques — solar panels or wind power –, energy management software to monitor and report the usage of energy, or smart meters, which have been shown to be particularly effective at monitoring electricity use.
As time goes on, regulators and policymakers at the federal level, together with environmentalists, are increasing their push toward energy efficiency. The recent economic stimulus plan introduced by the Obama administration introduced billions of dollars to help modernize the country’s energy grid. Business entities have been told to tap into this federal funding to help them improve and update their energy infrastructure.
In the retail sector, as in business in general, electricity and energy efficiency is moving to center stage. As security and reliability is sought, there will surely be a need for information technology and management on the road to success. Entities need to ensure interoperability of systems and devices throughout their infrastructure.
Smart grid projects are aimed at leaving a lasting legacy in energy independence and prosperity. There are several key factors in which entities can realize success, including tracking how power is used and being able to control their own usage; having the ability to lower their energy bills by shifting a portion of their usage to off-peak times; being capable of monitoring energy usage at the device level; and being able to better fulfill energy needs through demand response.
Because certain energy types are a major contributor to global warming, smart grid projects will benefit the environment immensely by reducing pollutants, greenhouse gas emissions and water usage. Action is needed in order to preserve the health of our planet in the future.
There are several initiatives underway aimed at energy efficiency and independence. For instance, the U.S. Congress has directed the National Institute of Standards and Technology under the U.S. Commerce Department to create a Smart Grid Interoperability Standards Roadmap that establishes priorities in the areas of transmission and distribution; building to grid for commercial entities; home to grid for residential customers; industrial to grid for the industry sector; business and policy to address business and political issues; and cyber security. The document is expected to be released in September 2009.
Energy management software will be one of the keys to provide companies with extensive information about their consumption as energy costs continue to rise. This will be a valuable tool to compare usage throughout their sites and locations, and by combining historical with real-time data, will be able to manage usage, control costs and implement energy efficiency projects.
