There has been a lot of buzz this week about smart meters -- electrical meters that allow each of us to parse our use in minute-by-minute increments. There was a particularly intelligent discussion about smart meters and broad band at Unfair Park, the Observer's blog.
Most of the publicity has focused on our pals at Oncor giving us the opportunity to find out just how much difference it makes to run the air conditioning at 76 degrees instead of 78 degrees (or 80 degrees, if you're cheap and from the Midwest). What a lot of the stories have overlooked is that we're not the only piece of the smart meter puzzle.
Much of the enthusiasm about smart meters comes from utilities who want to know exactly when we use electricity. That way, they will be able to do two things: First, charge us a premium when we use it during peak periods, and second, map where they need to send electricity more efficiently. And it's the second thing that is key (though they certainly won't mind the ability to do the first), since it can save them millions and millions of dollars.
Currently, Texas doesn't have enough transmission capacity -- the lines to take electricity from the power source to our homes -- to meet anticipated demand. (There isn't enough generating capacity, either, but that's a post for another day). The state's CREZ plan will increase transmission capacity over the next decade or so, mostly to being wind power from West Texas to Dallas and Houston (which is why I know about this -- I cover this stuff for a trade magazine).
So think of a smart meter as the ultimate traffic cop. If the utilities know exactly when and how much power we use, they can route enough to where it needs to go, despite limited capacity and the vagaries of the system. For example, wind blows more at night than during the day, so that's when you want to take a natural gas plant off line to do maintenance. If you know, minute by minute, how much electricity you need, you can figure out the best time to shut the natural gas plant and use night-time wind power to make up the difference. A smart meter should provide better data than is currently available to do that.
It's an omniscient being moving cars along the freeway system during rush hour to avoid traffic jams, so that everyone gets where they need to go with a minimum of delay.
Too bad we can't get broadband, though.
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