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Tech Companies Urge Obama for Smart Grid Revolution

by Terrence O'Brien on April 8, 2010 at 01:20 PM

Tech Companies Urge Obama for Smart Grid Revolution
The Climate Group, a group of tech companies including Google, AT&T, Intel, GE, HP and Verizon, has written a letter (.PDF) to President Obama urging him to explicitly support the building of a smart grid and the deployment of smart metering technologies to every home and business in the U.S. The use of smart grid technologies is believed to be an essential ingredient in creating more transparency in the energy industry, reducing energy consumption and keeping green-house gasses in check.

The underlying belief is that by giving customers access to real-time data about their energy consumption, via computers and cell phones, consumers will become more energy conscious. In addition to conserving energy, and generally encouraging "green" behavior, the technology could also help consumers save money by providing up-to-the-minute information about their electricity bills and by communicating with smart appliances that automatically disconnect from the grid when not in use.

This is, of course, not a completely altruistic endeavor. These companies all have a vested financial interest in seeing a smart grid come to fruition. Such a massive network would require new appliances built by companies like GE, banks of servers and other computer equipment built by Intel and HP, data connections provided by AT&T or Verizon, and consumer software like Google's PowerMeter.

That isn't to say that this is simply a cynical ploy to cash in. A smart grid would provide many benefits to both consumers and energy companies through conservation and greater control over the flow of power. The technology could potentially prevent or contain catastrophic failures like the one that led to the massive Northeast Blackout of 2003.

President Obama has previously alluded to his support of deploying smart grid technologies, but he has yet to put forth a concrete plan for moving forward on such an initiative. The administration is working towards a comprehensive energy policy, though, and we'd be surprised if trials of such technology weren't included. [From: businessGreen.com, via: GreenBiz.com]

Tags: att, BarackObama, Energy, EnergyConservation, ge, google, government, hp, intel, SmartGrid, SmartMeters, TheClimateGroup, top, verizon

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