Going Green Has Never Been Easier!
Apr 20, 2009 8:15 pm US/Eastern
Smart Grid May Make Miami More Energy Savvy
One Thing Appears Certain: Your Grandfather's Electric Grid Is Poised For A 21st Century Makeover.
MIAMI (CBS4) ―
-
-
Your old electric meter may be a thing of the past.
AP
The electric grid, of all things, had corporate titans waxing poetic in Miami Monday. General Electric's Jeffrey Immelt said it can drive "more conservation and access to renewable energy."
John Chambers, the boss at the networking giant Cisco, told a Miami audience, "It's how effective is the internet and the smart grid. Those elements determine the highways on which we drive in the future."
Miamians are poised to drive down a new information highway--one that will allow Florida Power & Light customers real time access to their power usage. It's all part of a new vision that Miami Mayor Manny Diaz is backing. He's proposed using federal stimulus money to help build a $200 million smart grid in the city over the next two years.
If the federal money comes through—and the presence of some of America's most well connected corporate bosses greatly improves those odds—expect to see FPL install more than one million smart meters in homes and businesses across Miami over the next several years. After that, the rollout would extend across Miami-Dade in this largest of its kind pilot project.
Smart meters would allow customers to someday look at an energy readout panel in their home to see how much electricity they are using at any given time: that moment, hour, or day. They can access the same information via a computer or a wireless device when they are away from home.
The thinking is that knowledge will empower choices. FPL and its partners in the project—Cisco, GE and Silver Spring Networks—believe that if you have real time information, it will prompt real-time choices.
FPL president Armando Olivera says, "You are going to be able to say I will have you (the utility) control my thermostats and I'm willing to have you control my water heating."
All of that would be done remotely, via a "smart grid' hookup to utility headquarters. Someday says Olivera, "You will be able to have a whole menu of options and electricity will be priced accordingly."
Use more appliances at peak times (a hot summer afternoon) and pay more. Change your usage to off-peak times (nighttime) and save money. FPL argues that such flexibility will allow you to do your part to go clean and green. Moreover, the energy company says new technology will help workers detect and fix power grid problems more quickly, presumably meaning fewer customer outages.
One reporter asked FPL why it wants to promote a "smart grid" system that means customers might be able to pay less for its product: electricity. The company answers that it's the "right thing to do." Still, corporate decisions are rarely driven by pure altruism. The fact is, observers say, companies realize they may be at a tipping point when "going green" may finally promise long term profits and competitive advantage in a nation increasingly worried about energy independence and global warming forecasts.
Even if federal stimulus money does not materialize, FPL vows to push forward with a "smart meter" rollout, albeit more slowly and on a smaller scale.
One thing appears certain: your grandfather's electric grid is poised for a 21st century makeover.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Eating Green And A Healthful Diet
Click to enlarge
I-Team: Tracking The Florida Stimulus Money Trail 
Stumble It!
Reporting
